Japanese advance into Manila. Alor Starr defenses breached!

ACTION SUMMARY: The vanguard of the Japanese Southern Luzon force met resistance from the entrapped 71st and 91st Phillipino Divisions in the outskirts of Manila. Bridges were demolished and hasty entrenchments were dug as the full breadth of the Japanese assault up southern Luzon is expected to make contact tomorrow.



Meanwhile, Japanese forces have also blasted through the last line of jungle defenses at Alor Starr, the Commonwealth military depot in Malaya. Commonwealth forces are preparing to evacuate the untenable position and fall back to Georgetown.

Ground fighting was reported elsewhere in Rabaul where additional Japanese naval infantry from the Maizura SNLF landed under sparodic and uncoordinated fire from ANZAC beach patrols. Sorties from the few ANZAC bombers left at both Ambon and Rabaul failed to score any hits on the Japanese transports lying at anchor. No reports on the Kido Butai, or the light carrier forces spotted at Ambon two days ago.

The offensive in China, since quiet for over two weeks, kicked off again with a renewed counter-offensive at Wuchow. The results were disasterous for the ill-equipped, poorly-supplies Chinese as 3,200 casualties were reported in the first day of fighting. The Japanese are well dug into Wuchow, and trench warfare appears to have set in among the maze of improvised entrenchments among the ricefields outside of Wuchow. The Chinese will not be renewing their offensive tomorrow. An uneasy stalemate hangs over China as the Japanese have not pressed their three main axes of advance at Wuchow, Changsha or Yenen. Chinese forces, however, remain cut off at Hanoi.

Fighting was also reported at Tavoy in Burma where the 1st Burma Brigade is trapped and fighting tooth and nail against the whole of the 55th Japanese Army Division. Also, heavy Betty raids over Manila Bay struck two transports from Singapore unloading supplies off the beaches of the Bataan Redoubt. I was surprised that these transports even made it, having run the gauntlet through the South China Sea where Japanese airpower dominates the approaches to the Phillipines.

No other activity today. I've ordered new sub deployments to the Congo theatre and saw off two troop and aircraft convoys for Pearl Harbor and Canton Island. Spruance's task force is moving into position just south Palmyra in case the Kido Butai is sighted off Canton Island. Sherman's carrier group is moving into position east of Canton for the same reasons. The Japanese will be at a disadvantage if they move any of their carrier forces beyond the range of their land-based recon, the closest of which is in Tarawa off the Marianas.

No warroom today.