Port Darwin and Port Moresby were bombed again, but things are looking up. VoF reported an air attack in New Guinea that sank or badly damaged 23 Japanese ships, and that another attack in Burma destroyed 15 Japanese planes on the ground. MacArthur has boosted Australian confidence and there's now talk of going on the offensive!

The Japanese are just itching to restart some of our mines, but after 102 days of occupation they haven't even visited one. Early in the occupation, one Japanese engineer went to the Acoje Mine in Zambales and was never heard from again. An armed Japanese expedition with engineers and a couple of Filipino mine officials had to be postponed in the last moment because the Filipinos balked due to the guerilla situation. The conversation went something like this:

J: "How do you know?"

F: "Goodness, everybody knows. It's no secret."

J: "We can clean them out. There can't be too many guerrillas there."

F: "No... not more than 20,000."

J: "Wha-at!? Where could they have come from?"

F: "The mountains, out-of-the-way places.... They are regular soldiers that stayed behind, plus trainees and volunteers."

J: "I think you're exaggerating."

F: "Maybe, but I'm too scared to go."