At 1500 hours on October 6th BB Divisions 2 and 3 found Halsey in the South Philippine Trench. The damaged IJN Nagato would play a restricted roll because of the damage she had recently received. Despite knowing where the American fleet was it still managed to gain a positional advantage over Namoru who was commanding the combined fleets.
The Heavy Battleship IJN Musashi would sink the 26th Destroyer Division inside two hours, but the gunnery officer onboard made a terrible target alteration, and instead of targetting an American ship he aimed at 14 Kuchikukantai.
Fortunately for the Japanese Destroyer Flotilla the USS Guam was particularly accurate and had managed to knock out most of IJN Musashi's main guns before it could sink one of its own ships.
Despite the damage IJN Nagato had sustained from the bombers she still managed to sink the Light Cruiser USS Honolulu which had sunk two Submarine Flotillas recently. The Battleship IJN Fuso would sink the 28th Destroyer Division as Halsey opened the range with his faster fleet.
Neither Japanese Battlefleet had lost a ship but some had been badly damaged and would need to head back to Japan for repairs.
Five ships in all turned north after being split from their respective Battefleets. Admiral Koga would switch his Flagship to the Battleship IJN Fuso as IJN Nagato headed home. IJN Musashi would also head back to Japan where its gunnery officer would be subject to a court martial. The remaining ships of BB Divisions 2 and 3 headed after Halsey.
The situation on the Celebes had stabalised enough for a Japanese counter attack. Lt. General Kuribyashi would lead the successful attack on Palu supported by Close Air Support aircraft.
Halsey had made another mistake by heading south. His faster fleet had managed to avoid a further confrontation with Japanese Battleships but he had wandered into the sea zone patrolled by Ozawa and Genda. By the time he reached the North Banda Sea, after transitting through the Ceram Sea, he had lost the USS Guam and the 16th Destroyer Division.
0000 October 8th 1945.
Intelligence Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
One of the two research projects due to be completed during October had finished. Hisaichi Terauchi had completed his project and brought Japanese Land Doctrine fully up to date. Japanese ground troops would now have an advantage during night time engagements.
Kuniaki tasked the Kure Naval Yard with updating the current Aircraft Carrier design to try and keep pace with the Allies. The Americans were already ahead in this research and could not be allowed to increase that lead.
1000 October 8th 1945.
The Skies Above the Arafura Shelf.
Genda had taken command of the latest bombing run of Japanese Naval bombers with Ozawa taking a back seat for once.
Halsey's once formidable fleet had lost the Heavy Cruiser USS Pensacola, the Light Cruiser USS Trenton and the 17th Destroyer Division on its transit south. Halsey would be left with just two Divisions after the bombers had finished and one of those was crippled.
Yamamoto was informed of the presence of a defensive division in Darwin which was protected by a formidable set of sea fortifications.
2300 October 8th 1945.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.
Higashikuni had little to do since the cessation of hosilities in mainland Asia. His defences had been checked multiple times and were satisfactory, in fact at this moment he could easlily advance into Soviet territory as there was no forces facing him except for the Mongolians.
A runner approached him as he was making his way towards his headquarters. "Field Marshall we have been attacked." was all the messenger was given time to say as Higashikuni increased his pace towards his command center.
General Abe was Higashikuni's nominated second in command and the message had originated from him. The commander of the North China Army was well aware of the province Abe was assigned to defend. The report he read did not make for good reading.
The British had built up sufficient forces facing Karachi to launch an attack and they had done so just before dawn. Bad weather was slowing them up to some extent but Abe would withdraw after thirteen hours of fighting as it was clear that he could not hold. He would move to Hyderabhad and hold there for the time being.
Higashikuni's request for bomber assistance was denied until the situation in the Celebes was under complete control. The bombers would arrive soon enough but not be of much use when they did. The lack of oil in Asia would continue to plague the aircraft and only sporadic bombing runs would be achieved until the situation was sorted out.