Japs secure foothold in Luzon! Asiatic fleets deploy!

December 8, 1941

The Japanese have landed in brigade strength at four beachheads on Luzon, three of in the north. Two Phillipino divisions in the north and one in the south are dug in waiting for the enemy to advance. Since they have no vehicles, no air cover, and would be advancing into range of naval guns, it would be foolish to advance. I have ordered the submarine forces of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet to attack the beachheads where the Japanese are probably unloading second-line troops and supplies by now. Twenty-five submarines in six "wolfpacks" have put to sea from Cavite. The rest of the 4 DD's at Cavite have set sail for the ABDA fleet concentration in Java, though they may make a night run against the Japanese landings on Jolo Island by night. I've also deployed some gunboats to patrol the waters of the central Phillipines.

I've also set the homebases for the entire Asiatic fleet to the ADBA command bases in Java and Darwin, Australia. They are still under Hart's command, however. MacArthur's HQ and Hart's Asiatic Fleet HQ will stay in the Phillipines for now since they provide operational support to my units in the area. The moment it gets rough, I'll evacuate the HQ's and other essential personnel (particularly engineering units) for Australia.

As for Admiral Phillips's Force Z, I have put it to sea. The Prince of Wales took a torpedo hit that reduced her speed to 16 kts. The Repulse can still make 23 knots. I've split the BB's into two groups, each escorted by a CL and a handful of DD's. The Prince of Wales will make for Batavia before sailing west for Ceylon for repairs. Renown will sail for the ADBA staging area where all my warships are concentrating in this theatre. Hopefully she can make minor repairs there before being the centerpiece of a Java Sea battlegroup. This seriously hurts my prospects for bringing the Japanese to battle when they invade oil-rich Borneo.

I've ferried over an entire group of 25+ B-17's from Los Angeles to Hawaii. I will continue to leap them to the Southern Pacific theatre where they may be in range of Japan's outer island perimeter. I'll shuttle their aviation support in Catalina flying boats. Meanwhile, damage to my B-17's at Clark AB is worse than thought. I managed to transfer only 3 B-17's to Mindinao! Seventeen of the rest were damaged and are being repaired. All 30+ Tomahawk fighters flying from Manila have been transferred to Mindinao. The Phillipino and American forces in Luzon are now sacrificial lambs without aircover, dug in to slow the Japanese drive toward Manila.

Lastly, Operation Fullback was launched whereby I replace two brigades at Rangoon with two deployed at the Thai border. The Rangoon brigades shift north to the Mandalay-Ledo defensive zone meant to guard the Burma Road. An important element of Fullback will be fortifying the Andaman Islands. I'll be loading base personnel, engineers and coastal defense units tomorrow to Andaman. This will always keep a British naval and air threat in the Japanese rear if they advance on Mandalay and Leto. Seeing as how annoying this may be for him, he may attempt to invade the Andamans, which may force a major naval confrontation. So it will be nice if the PoW battlegroup can limp back to Ceylon and repair in time. I expect it will be another two months before the Burma theatre heats up.