18/4/1942
As predicted, Port Moresby fell quickly. But there is other stuff going on too!
BURMA/INDIA
Three squadrons of Hurricanes moved up to Rangoon and he prompted did a massive raid on the place. Damage to the airfield was light but a large number of Hurricanes were damaged. Its a few days later now and they are still on about 70% strength with 30% damaged.
Catalinas at Port Blair have spotted two Jap TFs in deep water, which is unlike him, near Victoria Point headed NE. They could be headed for Port Blair or Rangoon. There are quite a few bombers in Burma now, I set them to naval attack. And at Ceylon, CVL Hermes leaves port with all the R battleships and a very heavy on cruisers CVTF. They are going to loiter 4 hexes NW of Port Blair, which should be safe-ish. The cruiser heavy force will let me detach a SAG if Port Blair really is the target.
CHINA
The AVG saw action in China again for the first time in many weeks with their new P-40Es. Results over Yenen were a bit disappointing, 2 P40s lost for 1 Zero. They remain there though and P40 replacements are (relatively) plentiful.
Japs close in towards Sian... but the Chinese army is rapidly recovering from the Wenchow disaster, still got 0 Chinese rifle squads in the pool, so they've been reinforced since game start to the tune of many corps already!
Australia
S-46, on war patrol off Darwin, scores the first real Allied submarine success for some time when she takes on a Jap APD and hits with a torpedo, evading all depth charges! Those APDs are dripping with depth charges and represent the best ASW ships he has, so a hit on one of those is good stuff.
Port Moresby fell as predicted, and he's taken Milne Bay, also as predicted, so all of PNG is in his hands now. The Aussies did not surrender but retreated into the Owen Stanleys of all places. I'm working on getting them to the coast in the hope of evacuating them.
The Japs are still busy though, the Jap carriers were sighted by LB-30s a good six or seven hexes south of PNG headed south, so maybe raiding is afoot. I've ordered all Allied ships in the region (there is a 3 BB SAG near Townsville) to Brisbane just in case.
On land he's paused, concentrating his forces. Alice Springs is now fortified to level 2 and has 2 divisions in it, with a third division one hex away on the railroad just in case. I tried to bomb Daly Waters but it was a disaster, with many Hudsons shot down by Zeroes, fortunately Hudsons are plentiful. I've since reverted to bombing his tanks, the Wirraway has found a use as a semi-adequate tankbuster! Every day sees one toasted.
In the west CL Sumatra and a DD raided Broome, looking for targets, but the place was empty, they are en route to Perth. 2 CL + 2 DD of the Royal Navy have just reached Geraldton as well, so I have my west coast raiders all sorted out now.
SOPAC/CENTPAC
Americal Division is en route to Noumea from Fiji. Evacuation of Nukefetau continues quite happily, he has not moved to cause trouble here.
At Baker Island a base force is now in position, as is a squadron of Wildcats. Its already covered by PT boats. A Marine CD detachment is also en route.
USS Bonita and USS Barracuda, in a two sub TF at Tarawa, were attacked by a pretty hefty ASW patrol which is often to be found around Tarawa. USS Trenton has been dispatched from Pearl to Baker Island, and I plan on a quick raid. I think a light cruiser should make short work of a bunch of PCs and PGs, and hopefully a lone, very fast warship will get in and out without being noticed. CL Sumatra managed that at Broome at least!
Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
RE: Here it is...
20/4/1942
This was a day of max effort for the Allies.
As usual it was gory, and not for him.
BURMA/INDIA
30 Hurricanes escort 30 Blenheims from Rangoon to Tavoy, where they meet about 25 Oscars and 25 Zeroes. The result is Allied massacre - a total of 34 Allied a/c are shot down today, 2/3rds of those Hurricanes and 1/3 Blenheims. In exchange a handful of Japanese a/c are shot down, mostly Oscars.
A bit later a larger but unescorted raid hits - 30 Fortresses, 10 Wellingtons and 10 Blenheims from Magwe. The CAP has a hard time with the 4Es, though every single B-17 is damaged one way or another and a couple more Blenheims shot down. Damage done to the airfield is pathetic, 10 Jap fighters get it on the ground which is nice, but 8 airbase hits and 10 runway hits are pretty poor results for such a (low level) raid.
However it could be that the combat reports lie, because not so many B17s were damaged on my turn. Either that, or the engineers worked overtime.
CVL Hermes is on station by Port Blair.
CHINA
2nd AVG is far ahead of all other Allied squadrons in effectiveness - average experience 75. This does not seem t help them in combat though which so far has been less than amazing.
The CAF is hurting and currently the air war is on pause here as everybody is in Chungking R&Ring. Not so the Japs, who are bombing the tar out of Yenan and Honan without opposition.
AUSTRALIA
He sent over a carrier TF and a cruiser SAG to Exmouth. His cruisers encountered Sumatra and Vampire in a chance high seas encounter at night - it seems to be a confused encounter with neither side being effective, Sumatra took a single non penetrating 5.5" hit and Vampire two 5.5" hits, no Jap ship was hit. The Jap surface assets then sunk an AK and the AVD at Exmouth harbour.
His carriers did sortie about 20 Kates and some Vals at Sumatra and Vampire, but scored no hits. He did lose a couple of torpedo bombers to AA fire. Very lucky Allied cruisers!
They've been ordered to flee to Perth, where they will rendezvous with the RN cruiser force sent from India. I hope this is a raid and not an invasion, the sole defence of W.Aus is one brigade.
His forces are now one hex from Tennant Creek, they are being strafed and bombed daily by Wirraways and Mohawks and they are taking some damage from this without any Allied loss.
S-43 torpedoes a minelayer at Port Moresby and evades the depth charges, good work! But not for heavy damage, the Allies seem to be using baby torpedoes or something. On 11 damage from rattles, she retires to Townsville. I-1 meanwhile torpedoes an AK carrying a third of a US artillery battery twice off Sydney, it doesnt immediately sink but wont make it home, I-1 also evaded the depth charges. Four destroyers are being dispatched from Sydney to escort the convoy in the final few hexes.
Jap carriers still loitering in the Coral Sea.
CENTPAC
A Q ship encounters a submarine at Nukufetau, the Japs aren't very sporting and chose not to engage this lone ship on the surface. A torpedo hit later and it looks like the Q ship is toast.
Hornet is almost at PM, and is fully ready to go, though this represents the lone Allied carrier atm that is ready so she wont be doing much I imagine. :/
The other US carriers are near to Pearl now. Shipping space has been made available for them by removing all US subs with sys > 5, who will be fixed up at Los Angeles.
My activities at Baker Island have aroused his attentions, I've landed a baseforce there already but the CD guns of a marine coastal defence unit have yet to land so things will be dicey here, specially if he intervenes with his carriers, which he does have a love of doing. I hazard he wont though - because 24 Wildcats are already in position at Baker Island and past experience suggests that he is extremely cautious when it comes to losing even one unnecessary naval pilot.
This was a day of max effort for the Allies.
As usual it was gory, and not for him.
BURMA/INDIA
30 Hurricanes escort 30 Blenheims from Rangoon to Tavoy, where they meet about 25 Oscars and 25 Zeroes. The result is Allied massacre - a total of 34 Allied a/c are shot down today, 2/3rds of those Hurricanes and 1/3 Blenheims. In exchange a handful of Japanese a/c are shot down, mostly Oscars.
A bit later a larger but unescorted raid hits - 30 Fortresses, 10 Wellingtons and 10 Blenheims from Magwe. The CAP has a hard time with the 4Es, though every single B-17 is damaged one way or another and a couple more Blenheims shot down. Damage done to the airfield is pathetic, 10 Jap fighters get it on the ground which is nice, but 8 airbase hits and 10 runway hits are pretty poor results for such a (low level) raid.
However it could be that the combat reports lie, because not so many B17s were damaged on my turn. Either that, or the engineers worked overtime.
CVL Hermes is on station by Port Blair.
CHINA
2nd AVG is far ahead of all other Allied squadrons in effectiveness - average experience 75. This does not seem t help them in combat though which so far has been less than amazing.
The CAF is hurting and currently the air war is on pause here as everybody is in Chungking R&Ring. Not so the Japs, who are bombing the tar out of Yenan and Honan without opposition.
AUSTRALIA
He sent over a carrier TF and a cruiser SAG to Exmouth. His cruisers encountered Sumatra and Vampire in a chance high seas encounter at night - it seems to be a confused encounter with neither side being effective, Sumatra took a single non penetrating 5.5" hit and Vampire two 5.5" hits, no Jap ship was hit. The Jap surface assets then sunk an AK and the AVD at Exmouth harbour.
His carriers did sortie about 20 Kates and some Vals at Sumatra and Vampire, but scored no hits. He did lose a couple of torpedo bombers to AA fire. Very lucky Allied cruisers!
They've been ordered to flee to Perth, where they will rendezvous with the RN cruiser force sent from India. I hope this is a raid and not an invasion, the sole defence of W.Aus is one brigade.
His forces are now one hex from Tennant Creek, they are being strafed and bombed daily by Wirraways and Mohawks and they are taking some damage from this without any Allied loss.
S-43 torpedoes a minelayer at Port Moresby and evades the depth charges, good work! But not for heavy damage, the Allies seem to be using baby torpedoes or something. On 11 damage from rattles, she retires to Townsville. I-1 meanwhile torpedoes an AK carrying a third of a US artillery battery twice off Sydney, it doesnt immediately sink but wont make it home, I-1 also evaded the depth charges. Four destroyers are being dispatched from Sydney to escort the convoy in the final few hexes.
Jap carriers still loitering in the Coral Sea.
CENTPAC
A Q ship encounters a submarine at Nukufetau, the Japs aren't very sporting and chose not to engage this lone ship on the surface. A torpedo hit later and it looks like the Q ship is toast.
Hornet is almost at PM, and is fully ready to go, though this represents the lone Allied carrier atm that is ready so she wont be doing much I imagine. :/
The other US carriers are near to Pearl now. Shipping space has been made available for them by removing all US subs with sys > 5, who will be fixed up at Los Angeles.
My activities at Baker Island have aroused his attentions, I've landed a baseforce there already but the CD guns of a marine coastal defence unit have yet to land so things will be dicey here, specially if he intervenes with his carriers, which he does have a love of doing. I hazard he wont though - because 24 Wildcats are already in position at Baker Island and past experience suggests that he is extremely cautious when it comes to losing even one unnecessary naval pilot.
RE: Here it is...
Here is the state of affairs as the final week of April 1942 begins...
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RE: Here it is...
It might be too late to defend Tennet Creek, but it's fairly defensible. He's going to have the same problem I had (as Allies) attacking him at Daly Waters - long supply chain. You shouldn't have any trouble defending Alice Springs, given that it's connected by rail. Start digging in and building your AFs. I'd start by flying simple CAP over Alice Springs.
He'll have a bugger of a time dislodging you from Alice Springs, from Tennet Creek. It's just a road from TC to AS. He'll be pulling supplies for attack -or- bombing. It's been my experience that you can't do both. If he wants to flatten your airfield (you task will be easier just flying CAP), to keep you from building forts, he'll have to use lots of bombers. To use those bombers, he denies supplies to the front line units. In order to draw supplies to his LCUs, he'll have to forgo bombing, in which case your repair and build forts.
Combined with his supply "choice", and your rail (you can draw supplies and TROOPS) faster, you should be able to hold. You'll need to push most of your ANZAC divs there asap, and work on Whyalla (get a BF there, and CAP it). If he's going after Perth, the next step will be to close Whaylla, which -will- kill your defense at Alice Springs.
-F-
He'll have a bugger of a time dislodging you from Alice Springs, from Tennet Creek. It's just a road from TC to AS. He'll be pulling supplies for attack -or- bombing. It's been my experience that you can't do both. If he wants to flatten your airfield (you task will be easier just flying CAP), to keep you from building forts, he'll have to use lots of bombers. To use those bombers, he denies supplies to the front line units. In order to draw supplies to his LCUs, he'll have to forgo bombing, in which case your repair and build forts.
Combined with his supply "choice", and your rail (you can draw supplies and TROOPS) faster, you should be able to hold. You'll need to push most of your ANZAC divs there asap, and work on Whyalla (get a BF there, and CAP it). If he's going after Perth, the next step will be to close Whaylla, which -will- kill your defense at Alice Springs.
-F-
"It is obvious that you have greatly over-estimated my regard for your opinion." - Me
RE: Here it is...
Hi Feinder, thanks for the advice.
I didn't think much of Whyalla, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I think I have a spare base force somewhere to plonk down there. I have 3 NZ brigades landing at Sydney now too, so I guess they can defend Whyalla.
I don't think I really plan on doing more than a delaying action at Tennant Creek. There is only about 300 AV there and he has at least 1000 AV coming down the road. Also fortifications are quite small. I think it'll force him to concentrate though, and that'll buy a week or so of precious time.
I have 3 ANZAC divisions at Alice Springs now - I would be very surprised if he seriously threatens that.
I didn't think much of Whyalla, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I think I have a spare base force somewhere to plonk down there. I have 3 NZ brigades landing at Sydney now too, so I guess they can defend Whyalla.
I don't think I really plan on doing more than a delaying action at Tennant Creek. There is only about 300 AV there and he has at least 1000 AV coming down the road. Also fortifications are quite small. I think it'll force him to concentrate though, and that'll buy a week or so of precious time.
I have 3 ANZAC divisions at Alice Springs now - I would be very surprised if he seriously threatens that.
RE: Here it is...
Whyalla is useful, because it's considerably closer to the central rail, than Sydney. If you're reinforcing AS, you might as well haul them up to Whalla (expanding the PORT at Whyalla is useful, to unload faster, and marshal more supplies). But if he takes Whyalla, he can quickly move north to sever that rail hub from Sydney, in which case your army is cut off, and you're really screwed.
-F-
-F-
"It is obvious that you have greatly over-estimated my regard for your opinion." - Me
RE: Here it is...
25/4/1942
A quiet few days. No invasions, no nothing.
BURMA/INDIA
Very quiet here, I pulled out of Rangoon again to Calcutta to R&R. Port Blair has dipped into the low 1000s in supply and so another RN naval operation has begun to resupply it, fortunately the RN has a lot of cruisers. CVL Hermes' battlegroup was attacked by a Jap submarine NW of Port Blair, HMS Exeter was hit and lightly damaged all things considered (19 sys), she made it back to Colombo and is being fixed.
I seriously considered an Allied push from Burma into Japanese territory today, given that every signal suggests he's giving Australia and SOPAC his all. unfortunately Rangoon is the only Allied port able to supply such an operation, Rangoon is very much closed due to Japanese air activity, the Allied air force in this region appears to be totally outclassed, and the infrastructure in the area in question (Tavoy, Victoria Point) is terrible. So this would appear unfeasible, at least atm.
In a couple of months 4E bombers start arriving in much larger numbers, and the Allied airforce will thus expand in power drastically. Assuming Burma has not been attacked and crushed in the meantime, that may enable pressure to be applied.
CHINA
Pretty quiet here too, due to weather mainly as I've been trying to wield the AVG in Yenen. They seem to be doing passably, at least until he concentrates Zeroes on them. They get a respectable kill ratio of around 3 to 1 on average when they go up against the Japs.
Australia
All quiet around Perth/Exmouth. I am, however, convinced that he is putting Australia under blockade, with CVs between Perth and India, and CVs between Brisbane and Noumea. His CVs at Perth and last seen in the Coral Sea have disappeared, but an Allied coastwatcher spotted a heavy battlegroup - included reported CVs - near Lunga, headed west, presumably to reinforce the 2-3 CVs known to be operating there already . I would suggest that that is the Shokaku + 1 possible other, which he has apparently had based in the Marshalls all along so far, and who crashed my little party at Nukufetau the other day. The presence of AOs known to be operating near Perth and near the Coral Sea reinforce my suspicions that a long term blockade is planned, just like he did to Java earlier. Given that I feel quite lucky that I have landed 3 NZ Bdes and the US tanks when I did. Recon in the form of lone sacrificial AKs and submarines is headed out to test my blockade theory.
On land he has paused outside Tennant Creek. My bombers are trashing as best they can. Troops (2 NZ Bde) have been dispatched to Whyalla, a second base force is in Cloncurry which can host a huge force of P38s and B-17s/Hudsons now if need be, and LB-30s have been spread out along the east coast for naval search duties, as they are the only a/c I have that can theoretically reach out and pretty much touch the arc of the Catalinas at Noumea.
3 S-boats are now by Darwin, they've not seen targets though but I'm happy that the place is now pretty firmly interdicted. I expect them to find plenty of custom there.
SOPAC
Noumea has been reinforced by the Americal Division, putting its AV up to 500. Its fort level is only 1, I am concentrating on fortification now. I'm trying to get more fighter aircraft down here stat, currently the air defence consists of 24 P40Es and 24 Airacobras, woefully inadequate. Another 20 P40Bs is close by, island hopping to Noumea, and 24 USMC Wildcats left Pearl loaded onto CVE Long Island a few days ago. When everything is in position then Noumea will have almost 100 fighter aircraft, and pretty much 100 bombers as well - enough to make a Japanese carrier raid a somewhat risky proposition at least.
My evac of Nukufetau is continuing nicely, taking a while due to it being an airlift.
USN is very much in a state of refit, theres barely a modern US destroyer in state to act anywhere on the map.
A SOPAC US Army division left the West Coast a few days ago, headed for Noumea.
A quiet few days. No invasions, no nothing.
BURMA/INDIA
Very quiet here, I pulled out of Rangoon again to Calcutta to R&R. Port Blair has dipped into the low 1000s in supply and so another RN naval operation has begun to resupply it, fortunately the RN has a lot of cruisers. CVL Hermes' battlegroup was attacked by a Jap submarine NW of Port Blair, HMS Exeter was hit and lightly damaged all things considered (19 sys), she made it back to Colombo and is being fixed.
I seriously considered an Allied push from Burma into Japanese territory today, given that every signal suggests he's giving Australia and SOPAC his all. unfortunately Rangoon is the only Allied port able to supply such an operation, Rangoon is very much closed due to Japanese air activity, the Allied air force in this region appears to be totally outclassed, and the infrastructure in the area in question (Tavoy, Victoria Point) is terrible. So this would appear unfeasible, at least atm.
In a couple of months 4E bombers start arriving in much larger numbers, and the Allied airforce will thus expand in power drastically. Assuming Burma has not been attacked and crushed in the meantime, that may enable pressure to be applied.
CHINA
Pretty quiet here too, due to weather mainly as I've been trying to wield the AVG in Yenen. They seem to be doing passably, at least until he concentrates Zeroes on them. They get a respectable kill ratio of around 3 to 1 on average when they go up against the Japs.
Australia
All quiet around Perth/Exmouth. I am, however, convinced that he is putting Australia under blockade, with CVs between Perth and India, and CVs between Brisbane and Noumea. His CVs at Perth and last seen in the Coral Sea have disappeared, but an Allied coastwatcher spotted a heavy battlegroup - included reported CVs - near Lunga, headed west, presumably to reinforce the 2-3 CVs known to be operating there already . I would suggest that that is the Shokaku + 1 possible other, which he has apparently had based in the Marshalls all along so far, and who crashed my little party at Nukufetau the other day. The presence of AOs known to be operating near Perth and near the Coral Sea reinforce my suspicions that a long term blockade is planned, just like he did to Java earlier. Given that I feel quite lucky that I have landed 3 NZ Bdes and the US tanks when I did. Recon in the form of lone sacrificial AKs and submarines is headed out to test my blockade theory.
On land he has paused outside Tennant Creek. My bombers are trashing as best they can. Troops (2 NZ Bde) have been dispatched to Whyalla, a second base force is in Cloncurry which can host a huge force of P38s and B-17s/Hudsons now if need be, and LB-30s have been spread out along the east coast for naval search duties, as they are the only a/c I have that can theoretically reach out and pretty much touch the arc of the Catalinas at Noumea.
3 S-boats are now by Darwin, they've not seen targets though but I'm happy that the place is now pretty firmly interdicted. I expect them to find plenty of custom there.
SOPAC
Noumea has been reinforced by the Americal Division, putting its AV up to 500. Its fort level is only 1, I am concentrating on fortification now. I'm trying to get more fighter aircraft down here stat, currently the air defence consists of 24 P40Es and 24 Airacobras, woefully inadequate. Another 20 P40Bs is close by, island hopping to Noumea, and 24 USMC Wildcats left Pearl loaded onto CVE Long Island a few days ago. When everything is in position then Noumea will have almost 100 fighter aircraft, and pretty much 100 bombers as well - enough to make a Japanese carrier raid a somewhat risky proposition at least.
My evac of Nukufetau is continuing nicely, taking a while due to it being an airlift.
USN is very much in a state of refit, theres barely a modern US destroyer in state to act anywhere on the map.
A SOPAC US Army division left the West Coast a few days ago, headed for Noumea.
RE: Here it is...
Only done one more turn.
State of the US navy
44 US destroyers at Pearl in refit! Sys damage between 10 and 25 for the vast majority. Probably the main limiter on fleet action, I have a tiny handful of fleet destroyers available. Convoy escort is not affected, Clemson and Wickes class destroyers are used for that, they are reasonably abundant and in good shape. Australia has a half dozen of thse older types sitting at Sydney just in case, many more are assigned to convoys around the map. Auckland also houses a destroyer flotilla, one Clemson and several later models being upgraded, they are in the green on sys but need to wait a while yet really.
Also 5 CVs at Pearl, four of which are in need of repair. Hornet is good to go, Lexington is upgraded and on 6 sys damage so is more or less good to go, the others are not upgraded and on at least 6 sys so have a while to wait. Enterprise is worse off, not upgraded and on 11 sys.
The USN battleship force is in much better nick, aside from the ones hit at Pearl they are all deployable - there are 2 in Australia already, 2 more at Pearl.
Cruisers - I think about half are ready for action, I have quite a few available actually but they are mostly at the West Coast.
Situation
Only one day but a few things of note.
* Jap carriers confirmed to be loitering North of Geraldton on the west coast of Aus, with AOs in attendance. They will be there for a long time, I have no doubt. There is no way past them from India, the map edge means they block the route. I may well challenge this TF, I think its of limited size.
* Perth has been reinforced with Kittyhawks and the new Beaufort torpedo bomber squadron. Just in case.
* Jap transport TF sighted off south Australia??? It is somewhere southeast of Perth atm, a fair distance out to sea. Whats this then? 2 ships sighted. AMCs? In any case the cruiser force assigned to Perth is off hunting. Those old Caledon class CLs have floatplanes, so they arent as useless as all that! The RN ships also have uber crews, with experience 70 plus day and night. Even if they are AMCs, with armament equivalent to the cruisers, I am confident. Just in case this is a raider group defences around Adelaide have been built up, bombers are settled in at Adelaide.
* British AO torpedoed and sank in the Indian Ocean, which is serious as it means my carrier TF will be pretty much on bingo fuel by the time it arrives at Perth. Decisions decisions.
* Reinforcement of Baker Island is complete, a marine CD detachment is now in position there, Catalinas are now settled in and providing recon of Tarawa. Baker is within Dakota range of Canton Island so there should be no need to risk any more ships to resupply it.
* The cruiser USS Trenton did a nighttime raid on Tarawa, looking for ASW assets to raid. Place was empty, Trenton is returning to Canton Island.
* USS Bonita was depth charged heavily and sunk immediately just south of Rabaul. Bonita was operating in a wolfpack with USS Barracuda - which was also attacked and sustained a direct hit, leaving her on 33 flotation damage and scurrying home asap. Japanese ASW is crap? Yeah Right! I wish my flush deck destroyers with ASW 8 were even half as good.
State of the US navy
44 US destroyers at Pearl in refit! Sys damage between 10 and 25 for the vast majority. Probably the main limiter on fleet action, I have a tiny handful of fleet destroyers available. Convoy escort is not affected, Clemson and Wickes class destroyers are used for that, they are reasonably abundant and in good shape. Australia has a half dozen of thse older types sitting at Sydney just in case, many more are assigned to convoys around the map. Auckland also houses a destroyer flotilla, one Clemson and several later models being upgraded, they are in the green on sys but need to wait a while yet really.
Also 5 CVs at Pearl, four of which are in need of repair. Hornet is good to go, Lexington is upgraded and on 6 sys damage so is more or less good to go, the others are not upgraded and on at least 6 sys so have a while to wait. Enterprise is worse off, not upgraded and on 11 sys.
The USN battleship force is in much better nick, aside from the ones hit at Pearl they are all deployable - there are 2 in Australia already, 2 more at Pearl.
Cruisers - I think about half are ready for action, I have quite a few available actually but they are mostly at the West Coast.
Situation
Only one day but a few things of note.
* Jap carriers confirmed to be loitering North of Geraldton on the west coast of Aus, with AOs in attendance. They will be there for a long time, I have no doubt. There is no way past them from India, the map edge means they block the route. I may well challenge this TF, I think its of limited size.
* Perth has been reinforced with Kittyhawks and the new Beaufort torpedo bomber squadron. Just in case.
* Jap transport TF sighted off south Australia??? It is somewhere southeast of Perth atm, a fair distance out to sea. Whats this then? 2 ships sighted. AMCs? In any case the cruiser force assigned to Perth is off hunting. Those old Caledon class CLs have floatplanes, so they arent as useless as all that! The RN ships also have uber crews, with experience 70 plus day and night. Even if they are AMCs, with armament equivalent to the cruisers, I am confident. Just in case this is a raider group defences around Adelaide have been built up, bombers are settled in at Adelaide.
* British AO torpedoed and sank in the Indian Ocean, which is serious as it means my carrier TF will be pretty much on bingo fuel by the time it arrives at Perth. Decisions decisions.
* Reinforcement of Baker Island is complete, a marine CD detachment is now in position there, Catalinas are now settled in and providing recon of Tarawa. Baker is within Dakota range of Canton Island so there should be no need to risk any more ships to resupply it.
* The cruiser USS Trenton did a nighttime raid on Tarawa, looking for ASW assets to raid. Place was empty, Trenton is returning to Canton Island.
* USS Bonita was depth charged heavily and sunk immediately just south of Rabaul. Bonita was operating in a wolfpack with USS Barracuda - which was also attacked and sustained a direct hit, leaving her on 33 flotation damage and scurrying home asap. Japanese ASW is crap? Yeah Right! I wish my flush deck destroyers with ASW 8 were even half as good.
Merry May
5/1/1942!
The merry month of May! Winston wants a CV though, damn him. He's not getting it, so no political points for a while. [:(]
A skim of the state of the Allied war machine is pretty sobering. The state of the USN I mentioned before. But the submarine arm of the Allies has been slaughtered. A good 15-18 subs have been sunk by now, which still leaves plenty more admittedly - but the "plenty more" are mostly damaged and in port. There are less than a dozen subs on active war patrol on the whole map atm (and that includes the five sent out today). Such is the effectiveness of the Jap ASW effort.
BURMA/INDIA
Happy day! I skip around the RAF units, and upgrade every Blenheim I or IV squadron (bar one each) to Wellington IIIs, thus at a stroke over doubling the amount of bombs the RAF can drop every day. OK, so it wont matter much without fighters to cover them, but hey, it made me happy. Also some Lysanders have been swapped for Hurricanes, and the Fulmars on CVL Hermes downgraded to Sea Hurricanes. Some Vildebeest got upped to Swordfish ,which let me pad out the spare Vildebeest squadron which was getting low on replacements. And a Blenheim squadron got turned into a Beaufort squadron, thus giving Colombo some more punch against an amphibious assault.
Also five submarines depart Colombo today, all fixed to 3 sys or less, some with radar, and head for the Java Sea to hunt. I waited to get enough ready to send a big wodge out rather than trickle them in. There are many many more subs in Colombo and Aden being fixed - hopefully the repair yards will keep up with the damage the Japs are inflicting on the sub force (yeah right).
On the minus side.
A raid of 60 bombers (40 B17, 10 Wellington, 10 Blenheim) hit Tavoy. 10 were shot down (6 of them B17), ouch, and morale plummetted. No Zeroes or Oscars were lost in the air, and the remaining bombers managed 6 runway hits.
6??? [8|]
So a bad day.
I plan on switching to night bombing with my new shiny Wellingtons.
CHINA
Disaster!
The ROCAF got caught at Yenen and shot up real bad today. 10 P43 Lancers destroyed. The ROCAF is always on a knife edge as it is, and the loss of practically an entire squadron in one day means they will be licking their wounds for months. The AVG is doing alright but just one P40E squadron is in theatre atm - not enough. I was going to send the RAF in but now I cant as PPs are short thanks to Winston.
AUSTRALIA
Little new to report. a CV was sighted at Lunga on its own, I dont believe it, but USS Drum was one hex away and is sent into Lunga's hex to poke around. Drum has radar, maybe that'll help.
He's paused outside Tennant Creek, now has 9 units all ready there, that'll be the 2 and a half divisions.
Alice Springs is up to level 3 forts, half way to level 4. Engineers are gathering. Whyalla is about to have a whole division as a guard, mainly as I'm quite happy with Whyalla as a fairly neutral spot for a reserve force anyway.
My cruisers are hunting his two APs (AMCs?) in the Southern Sea, no joy yet. A Jake was sighted flying over one of them today, so he's out there somewhere. A DD squadron is almost at Adelaide and will soon join the hunt.
CENTPAC
Still extricating engineers from Nukefetau, almost done though, they will find a new home on Baker Island. I've ordered some cruiser raids on Marcus Island (currently a level 1 Jap airfield, looks mostly abandoned), USS Trenton continues to buzz Tarawa regularly but finds nothing, and a submarine is now loitering by Tarawa as well. I'm actually hoping the sub will draw in Jap ASW assets for Trenton to catch. [:D]
Extreme shortage of cargo ships in the right place. There are a good 40 odd cargo ships around Pearl headed for SF, even more around Noumea headed back to the USA from Australia. They need to be in SF, major reinforcements in May to deploy - a new marine division and lots of engineers and SeaBees.
The merry month of May! Winston wants a CV though, damn him. He's not getting it, so no political points for a while. [:(]
A skim of the state of the Allied war machine is pretty sobering. The state of the USN I mentioned before. But the submarine arm of the Allies has been slaughtered. A good 15-18 subs have been sunk by now, which still leaves plenty more admittedly - but the "plenty more" are mostly damaged and in port. There are less than a dozen subs on active war patrol on the whole map atm (and that includes the five sent out today). Such is the effectiveness of the Jap ASW effort.
BURMA/INDIA
Happy day! I skip around the RAF units, and upgrade every Blenheim I or IV squadron (bar one each) to Wellington IIIs, thus at a stroke over doubling the amount of bombs the RAF can drop every day. OK, so it wont matter much without fighters to cover them, but hey, it made me happy. Also some Lysanders have been swapped for Hurricanes, and the Fulmars on CVL Hermes downgraded to Sea Hurricanes. Some Vildebeest got upped to Swordfish ,which let me pad out the spare Vildebeest squadron which was getting low on replacements. And a Blenheim squadron got turned into a Beaufort squadron, thus giving Colombo some more punch against an amphibious assault.
Also five submarines depart Colombo today, all fixed to 3 sys or less, some with radar, and head for the Java Sea to hunt. I waited to get enough ready to send a big wodge out rather than trickle them in. There are many many more subs in Colombo and Aden being fixed - hopefully the repair yards will keep up with the damage the Japs are inflicting on the sub force (yeah right).
On the minus side.
A raid of 60 bombers (40 B17, 10 Wellington, 10 Blenheim) hit Tavoy. 10 were shot down (6 of them B17), ouch, and morale plummetted. No Zeroes or Oscars were lost in the air, and the remaining bombers managed 6 runway hits.
6??? [8|]
So a bad day.
I plan on switching to night bombing with my new shiny Wellingtons.
CHINA
Disaster!
The ROCAF got caught at Yenen and shot up real bad today. 10 P43 Lancers destroyed. The ROCAF is always on a knife edge as it is, and the loss of practically an entire squadron in one day means they will be licking their wounds for months. The AVG is doing alright but just one P40E squadron is in theatre atm - not enough. I was going to send the RAF in but now I cant as PPs are short thanks to Winston.
AUSTRALIA
Little new to report. a CV was sighted at Lunga on its own, I dont believe it, but USS Drum was one hex away and is sent into Lunga's hex to poke around. Drum has radar, maybe that'll help.
He's paused outside Tennant Creek, now has 9 units all ready there, that'll be the 2 and a half divisions.
Alice Springs is up to level 3 forts, half way to level 4. Engineers are gathering. Whyalla is about to have a whole division as a guard, mainly as I'm quite happy with Whyalla as a fairly neutral spot for a reserve force anyway.
My cruisers are hunting his two APs (AMCs?) in the Southern Sea, no joy yet. A Jake was sighted flying over one of them today, so he's out there somewhere. A DD squadron is almost at Adelaide and will soon join the hunt.
CENTPAC
Still extricating engineers from Nukefetau, almost done though, they will find a new home on Baker Island. I've ordered some cruiser raids on Marcus Island (currently a level 1 Jap airfield, looks mostly abandoned), USS Trenton continues to buzz Tarawa regularly but finds nothing, and a submarine is now loitering by Tarawa as well. I'm actually hoping the sub will draw in Jap ASW assets for Trenton to catch. [:D]
Extreme shortage of cargo ships in the right place. There are a good 40 odd cargo ships around Pearl headed for SF, even more around Noumea headed back to the USA from Australia. They need to be in SF, major reinforcements in May to deploy - a new marine division and lots of engineers and SeaBees.
RE: Merry May
This isn't looking too good is it.
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RE: Merry May
5/3/1942
BURMA/INDIA
A patrol boat hits a mine at Victoria Point, courtesy of O20.
All quiet here aside from that. I'm working on mining up Akyab now Colombo and southern India have been mined to my satisfaction.
CHINA
All quiet here too. I had a five corps thrust aimed east of Yenen but he has seen it, perceptive chap, and the pack is blocked by five Jap units. I'm not going to cross the river to be mauled, so I've ordered a halt, at least it spreads his units out some and stops him from sending them to Australia...
ROCAF is licking its wounds.
Australia
Feinder - you were right on the money with Whyalla. [:D] His AMCs - which have given my cruisers the slip - showed up off Whyalla and reconned it, finding an ANZAC division there. Thus I got to send a witty comment to him about back doors being closed in the last email. [:D]
I'm anticipating some poking around Tasmania now so a cruiser and some DDs are going there just in case.
He's pausing by Tennant Creek, gathering up a big land death star before attacking. This is ideal really. My force there could probably be speedbumped by his armour but i guess it looks big enough to make him want to pause. Alice Springs meanwhile is now on fort level 3 and is half way to 4.
SOPAC
A picture speaks a thousand works...
CENTPAC
Baker Island is coming along nicely, I hope to be able to pressure Tarawa from here in good time.
USS Trenton got attacked by Betties at Tarawa as the place just upgraded to a level 4 airfield as she was fleeing from her raid! Somehow all 20 torpedo bombers missed her, she's going back to Pearl now.
Wake Island was raided by USS Nashville during the night, nothing there though. Marcus Island is next to have a poke and a looksee.
BURMA/INDIA
A patrol boat hits a mine at Victoria Point, courtesy of O20.
All quiet here aside from that. I'm working on mining up Akyab now Colombo and southern India have been mined to my satisfaction.
CHINA
All quiet here too. I had a five corps thrust aimed east of Yenen but he has seen it, perceptive chap, and the pack is blocked by five Jap units. I'm not going to cross the river to be mauled, so I've ordered a halt, at least it spreads his units out some and stops him from sending them to Australia...
ROCAF is licking its wounds.
Australia
Feinder - you were right on the money with Whyalla. [:D] His AMCs - which have given my cruisers the slip - showed up off Whyalla and reconned it, finding an ANZAC division there. Thus I got to send a witty comment to him about back doors being closed in the last email. [:D]
I'm anticipating some poking around Tasmania now so a cruiser and some DDs are going there just in case.
He's pausing by Tennant Creek, gathering up a big land death star before attacking. This is ideal really. My force there could probably be speedbumped by his armour but i guess it looks big enough to make him want to pause. Alice Springs meanwhile is now on fort level 3 and is half way to 4.
SOPAC
A picture speaks a thousand works...
CENTPAC
Baker Island is coming along nicely, I hope to be able to pressure Tarawa from here in good time.
USS Trenton got attacked by Betties at Tarawa as the place just upgraded to a level 4 airfield as she was fleeing from her raid! Somehow all 20 torpedo bombers missed her, she's going back to Pearl now.
Wake Island was raided by USS Nashville during the night, nothing there though. Marcus Island is next to have a poke and a looksee.
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RE: Merry May
Luganville is where all the action is still - looks like Luganville is his target after all!
I dunno what was going on at Ndeni, he must have landed them and then picked them up again.
The Dauntlesses should have been set to range 0 at Luganville so they went for the transports - instead they hit the carriers and were shredded by a 100 Zero CAP. Though given the 30 Zero LRCAP over the landing grounds that made a mess even of the B26s, its doubtful it would have made much difference. 1 Dauntless got through to bomb BB Haruna but missed.
I dunno what was going on at Ndeni, he must have landed them and then picked them up again.
The Dauntlesses should have been set to range 0 at Luganville so they went for the transports - instead they hit the carriers and were shredded by a 100 Zero CAP. Though given the 30 Zero LRCAP over the landing grounds that made a mess even of the B26s, its doubtful it would have made much difference. 1 Dauntless got through to bomb BB Haruna but missed.
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Rob Brennan UK
- Posts: 3685
- Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2002 8:36 pm
- Location: London UK
RE: Merry May
Looking interesting at Luganville, how about and allied artillery strike ? wont hurt you
at all and gives 'magic' recon on what you'll be facing. Although he'll find out what you have by the same token, as he's invaded it hardly matters if he knows your TOE.
Interesting Japanese attack on Oz, i've always considered a jap landing in Australia (bar to deny the north airfields ) to be an utter waste of troops and give you a huge
force multiplier as you can actually use the Australia command units which otherwise are idle and awaiting winnies good graces (ie PP's) to activate.
I'm unsure about CHS but in stock winnie only ever gets back the 'useless' brit DD's (vampire class ?), the others are too few and valuable to send home imo. What is the PP situation at present?
anyhoo good read and good luck !
at all and gives 'magic' recon on what you'll be facing. Although he'll find out what you have by the same token, as he's invaded it hardly matters if he knows your TOE.
Interesting Japanese attack on Oz, i've always considered a jap landing in Australia (bar to deny the north airfields ) to be an utter waste of troops and give you a huge
force multiplier as you can actually use the Australia command units which otherwise are idle and awaiting winnies good graces (ie PP's) to activate.
I'm unsure about CHS but in stock winnie only ever gets back the 'useless' brit DD's (vampire class ?), the others are too few and valuable to send home imo. What is the PP situation at present?
anyhoo good read and good luck !
sorry for the spelling . English is my main language , I just can't type . and i'm too lazy to edit 
RE: Merry May
PP situation is terrible, I currently have 300 odd and Winston wants a CV. There is no chance he's getting one, so I'm going to have very few PPs for some time.
RE: Merry May
Luganville gets most of the action again today.
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RE: Merry May
5/7/1942
Catastrophic day in the South Pacific.
San Francisco and her two DDs run into a Jap SAG at Luganville based around a BB. The US performance here was absolutely terrible, I've not seen such a one sided surface battle yet in fact. The Allied taskforce managed to fire one salvo in the entire engagement (a single 5" inch on the BB, nice job guys!). The Japanese had no such problems, and pumped the best part of a hundred shells of all calibres into the three Allied ships, not to mention multiple torpedo hits. The BB only fired its 6" guns as they so often do in buggy WitP but the big shells were hardly needed, all three Allied ships were sunk during the battle, damage was so severe.
Making matters worse apparently I ordered California to sortie! I think that was a brainfart on my part, as I wanted the BB to cover Noumea. The weather compounded this problem because the forecast thunderstorms did not arrive, and California and CL Durban were wiped off the face of the earth by a 200 bomber carrier strike. Somehow Georges Averoff was not attacked, I guess the bombers dont go for PGs much.
This means the entire surface defence of Noumea is now 3 PT boats and a Greek pre-dreadnought that was obsolete in WW1. [X(][X(][X(] A bombardment of that packed airfield now would be catastrophic.
"To coin a phrase - oops?"
Luganville fell to the Japanese SNLF today, but half the RAN baseforce and a few of the EAB engineers there were pulled out by S-35 and Dakotas from Port Moresby before the surrender. Uamaga considers this battle to be over now judging from his mail, he's probably right, assuming he doesnt press Noumea any more closely. Uamaga also said that he considers me to be a highly aggressive commander and is sure that it'll hot up again soon. [:D]
For my part at least the USN is not battleship poor, unusually. Two more BBs are headed to Noumea from Brisbane, they left port a few days ago in fact so Noumea's vulnerability to bombardment will be a fleeting window of opportunity. I've also unchained the P38s and the bombers at Noumea, weather forecast is good, if he still has ships in the vicinity of Luganville I hope to score some hits.
I'm waiting a while to see how things develop but given the Australian assault I'm certain Noumea is his next target so currently everything is being battened down in defence. There is 500 AV of troops at Noumea with a lot of prep points, but fort level is only 3. I'm working to smuggle some engineers in from Fiji (the ones foolishly sent to Nukufetau who were evacuated) but the poor military situation around Noumea will make this quite risky. I would sortie the US carrier force for Noumea's sake but I have hardened my heart, its too far away for them to travel in time and all I'll do is prevent them from getting the repair they badly need and keep them unavailable for months to come. I figure I just got to bite the bullet and get over the carrier poor refit days asap.
Catastrophic day in the South Pacific.
San Francisco and her two DDs run into a Jap SAG at Luganville based around a BB. The US performance here was absolutely terrible, I've not seen such a one sided surface battle yet in fact. The Allied taskforce managed to fire one salvo in the entire engagement (a single 5" inch on the BB, nice job guys!). The Japanese had no such problems, and pumped the best part of a hundred shells of all calibres into the three Allied ships, not to mention multiple torpedo hits. The BB only fired its 6" guns as they so often do in buggy WitP but the big shells were hardly needed, all three Allied ships were sunk during the battle, damage was so severe.
Making matters worse apparently I ordered California to sortie! I think that was a brainfart on my part, as I wanted the BB to cover Noumea. The weather compounded this problem because the forecast thunderstorms did not arrive, and California and CL Durban were wiped off the face of the earth by a 200 bomber carrier strike. Somehow Georges Averoff was not attacked, I guess the bombers dont go for PGs much.
This means the entire surface defence of Noumea is now 3 PT boats and a Greek pre-dreadnought that was obsolete in WW1. [X(][X(][X(] A bombardment of that packed airfield now would be catastrophic.
"To coin a phrase - oops?"
Luganville fell to the Japanese SNLF today, but half the RAN baseforce and a few of the EAB engineers there were pulled out by S-35 and Dakotas from Port Moresby before the surrender. Uamaga considers this battle to be over now judging from his mail, he's probably right, assuming he doesnt press Noumea any more closely. Uamaga also said that he considers me to be a highly aggressive commander and is sure that it'll hot up again soon. [:D]
For my part at least the USN is not battleship poor, unusually. Two more BBs are headed to Noumea from Brisbane, they left port a few days ago in fact so Noumea's vulnerability to bombardment will be a fleeting window of opportunity. I've also unchained the P38s and the bombers at Noumea, weather forecast is good, if he still has ships in the vicinity of Luganville I hope to score some hits.
I'm waiting a while to see how things develop but given the Australian assault I'm certain Noumea is his next target so currently everything is being battened down in defence. There is 500 AV of troops at Noumea with a lot of prep points, but fort level is only 3. I'm working to smuggle some engineers in from Fiji (the ones foolishly sent to Nukufetau who were evacuated) but the poor military situation around Noumea will make this quite risky. I would sortie the US carrier force for Noumea's sake but I have hardened my heart, its too far away for them to travel in time and all I'll do is prevent them from getting the repair they badly need and keep them unavailable for months to come. I figure I just got to bite the bullet and get over the carrier poor refit days asap.
RE: Merry May
I post the combat report for the action at Luganville, because its just that bad.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 71,111
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-3 Seagull: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Takao, Shell hits 1
CA Atago
DD Asashio
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Akatsuki
Allied Ships
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Cushing, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
OK, not quite a hundred shells. But the torpedo hits made up for it!
Night Time Surface Combat, near Luganville at 71,111
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-3 Seagull: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Takao, Shell hits 1
CA Atago
DD Asashio
DD Michishio
DD Arashio
DD Akatsuki
Allied Ships
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Cushing, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
OK, not quite a hundred shells. But the torpedo hits made up for it!
RE: Merry May
5/9/1942
I think the First Battle of the New Hebrides is over.
BURMA/INDIA
Ineffective night bombing of Tavoy continues, I'm actually losing one bomber per raid, a loss rate of about 2%, seems quite high. Not done any damage yet, but its all good training.
My submarines are in position in the SRA and already making their presence felt, a Jap DE was torpedoed by an S boat just off Singapore, and USS Finback, in position between Borneo and Mindanao, attacked an AO but missed in the last week.
An AK picket ship is in position off NW Australia - looks quiet. 6th AIF is resuming its journey to Aus, its been on pause the last week. I've taken the opportunity to dash the Brit CVs back to Colombo - half of their fighters have been swapped for Martlets.
CHINA
He's been bombing relentlessly in the northeast but the AVG 2nd squadron has been upgraded to P38s. Soon it'll be time to spring them!
Stalemate on the ground.
Australia
Tennant Creek is still mine. A land death star is now in position next to it though, so I dont think it will be mine for long. But thats quite a delay on his part. Alice Springs is well on the way to level 4 forts.
SOPAC
No Japanese attacks past Luganville so far, so I think the flurry of activity is over. I actually like the current situation, Noumea is the biggest concentration of Allied airpower at the front yet, and with 500 AV I think its pretty solid. He got a foretaste of what is to come today when 50 Mitchells escorted by 24 P38s hit Luganville. 5 out of 6 Zeroes were shot down without Allied loss. The B25s didnt do much damage but their experience is terrible - that will improve. I'm hoping Luganville will be his Guadalcanal... Attritional warfare involving Mitchells, P40s and P38s and a small Jap airfield = good news for me.
I think the First Battle of the New Hebrides is over.
BURMA/INDIA
Ineffective night bombing of Tavoy continues, I'm actually losing one bomber per raid, a loss rate of about 2%, seems quite high. Not done any damage yet, but its all good training.
My submarines are in position in the SRA and already making their presence felt, a Jap DE was torpedoed by an S boat just off Singapore, and USS Finback, in position between Borneo and Mindanao, attacked an AO but missed in the last week.
An AK picket ship is in position off NW Australia - looks quiet. 6th AIF is resuming its journey to Aus, its been on pause the last week. I've taken the opportunity to dash the Brit CVs back to Colombo - half of their fighters have been swapped for Martlets.
CHINA
He's been bombing relentlessly in the northeast but the AVG 2nd squadron has been upgraded to P38s. Soon it'll be time to spring them!
Stalemate on the ground.
Australia
Tennant Creek is still mine. A land death star is now in position next to it though, so I dont think it will be mine for long. But thats quite a delay on his part. Alice Springs is well on the way to level 4 forts.
SOPAC
No Japanese attacks past Luganville so far, so I think the flurry of activity is over. I actually like the current situation, Noumea is the biggest concentration of Allied airpower at the front yet, and with 500 AV I think its pretty solid. He got a foretaste of what is to come today when 50 Mitchells escorted by 24 P38s hit Luganville. 5 out of 6 Zeroes were shot down without Allied loss. The B25s didnt do much damage but their experience is terrible - that will improve. I'm hoping Luganville will be his Guadalcanal... Attritional warfare involving Mitchells, P40s and P38s and a small Jap airfield = good news for me.
RE: Merry May
5/10/1942
* Sub War : 3 Japanese ASW ships of various types torpedoed across the map, all by S boats. He's spitting blood in his email about how my S boats are tearing him apart. One Dutch sub at Tavoy depth charged and retreating to Calcutta. [:D]
* South Pacific - Mitchells hit shipping at Luganville but get cut up by Zeroes on CAP, the P38s don't fly for some reason. [&:] No hits caused, 15 Mitchells shot down. A massacre, but hey. 100 are built a month, I dont think I'm gonna run out.
"We have reserves. Attack!"
* Jap AMCs are now around Tasmania, reconning. Yeah, its empty. Surely he isnt planning on landing there... that would be crazy. Still, I have some cruisers poking around there and I sent the USS Indianapolis, which is at Noumea, down to Hobart. Just in case.
* The USN battleships have arrived at Noumea, 2 BBs + escort. They are staying put, defence against bombardments in the night.
* No repairs to the US CVs for a while now, but the DD force is slowly being knocked into shape. It'll need another 3-4 weeks I think.
* Big oil transport TF is just passing Noumea now headed for Australia (100k oil, should last a while). Another division is approaching the SOPAC area, which will bring up the Allied strength there to two US divisions, one RCT, one NZ brigade and a couple of sundries, like the French or Fijian units, or the US tank destroyer unit. Engineers are being loaded onto APs at Suva, which is now fortified to level 4 and still has plenty of engineers, to move them to Noumea.
* Noumea's forts are at 2 / 80% to 3, hence why I want more engineers, stat.
* Sub War : 3 Japanese ASW ships of various types torpedoed across the map, all by S boats. He's spitting blood in his email about how my S boats are tearing him apart. One Dutch sub at Tavoy depth charged and retreating to Calcutta. [:D]
* South Pacific - Mitchells hit shipping at Luganville but get cut up by Zeroes on CAP, the P38s don't fly for some reason. [&:] No hits caused, 15 Mitchells shot down. A massacre, but hey. 100 are built a month, I dont think I'm gonna run out.
"We have reserves. Attack!"
* Jap AMCs are now around Tasmania, reconning. Yeah, its empty. Surely he isnt planning on landing there... that would be crazy. Still, I have some cruisers poking around there and I sent the USS Indianapolis, which is at Noumea, down to Hobart. Just in case.
* The USN battleships have arrived at Noumea, 2 BBs + escort. They are staying put, defence against bombardments in the night.
* No repairs to the US CVs for a while now, but the DD force is slowly being knocked into shape. It'll need another 3-4 weeks I think.
* Big oil transport TF is just passing Noumea now headed for Australia (100k oil, should last a while). Another division is approaching the SOPAC area, which will bring up the Allied strength there to two US divisions, one RCT, one NZ brigade and a couple of sundries, like the French or Fijian units, or the US tank destroyer unit. Engineers are being loaded onto APs at Suva, which is now fortified to level 4 and still has plenty of engineers, to move them to Noumea.
* Noumea's forts are at 2 / 80% to 3, hence why I want more engineers, stat.
RE: Merry May
5/12/1942
May seems to be quite a busy month.
BURMA/INDIA/SRA
I moved up several squadrons to Rangoon again with an eye to hitting his shipping at Tavoy. Tavoy seems to be being constantly resupplied, I guess the many aircraft he has there are thirsty. 6 Beauforts and 21 Wellingtons sortie escorted by about 30 fighters, against a 50 fighter CAP. There is quite a tussle between the fighters - 5 Japs shot down for 15 Allied - but no bomber is lost. The Beauforts miss but the Wimpys prove quite effective, one AK is hit by five 500lb bombs, another AK hit by 1 bomb.
I've sent a cruiser force from Colombo to Cox's Bazaar with an eye to hitting his Tavoy shipping under LRCAP. A dangerous mission, it'll depend on the state of air superiority on the Burma/Thailand border, which so far has been entirely his.
HMS Truant torpedoes a PG off Singapore, is depth charged and suffers an unlucky hit. 30 flotation, she's limping home - its a long way.
CHINA
2nd AVG is still getting P38Fs uncrated.
Chinese rifle squad pool is now on 80 squads. Up till now its been <20. There are plenty of Chinese units needing refit though, so I put this down to lack of supply in the important areas. Which makes sense, a lot of action lately has been around Yenen, which is somewhat out on a limb.
A cavalry unit crosses a river near Yenen and runs into four Japanese corps. Oops. Casualties are quite light though.
AUSTRALIA
All quiet on land, though S boats off north Australia are picking off a PG every day. I guess I'm being quite lucky here. 
The land death star by Tennant Creek is presumably advancing now as it has formed up. I will be very curious to see what he has brought to the party here. I would estimate that Alice Springs is secure unless he has at least about five divisions, though I kinda expect the decisive bit of any battle for Alice Springs to be a clash of armour in the deserts around the city in an envelopment attempt. Hence why I've concentrated Allied armour especially there.
His recon of Tasmania continues.
SOPAC
Bad weather today grounds Noumea's aircraft. One of the B25 squadrons has been converted to B17Ds - a telling sign of my lack of heavy bombers, I've downgraded over half a dozen 4E or potential 4E units to B25s. But looking at the reinforcement schedule my lack of heavy bombers will be solved when the B24 Liberator starts rolling off the production line. At that point, the Japs are gonna be in trouble. [:D] And that point is mere weeks away now.
Three engineer aviation battalion units, a tank destroyer unit and some more artillery are going to be landing at Noumea within 3 days. Another division is about 10 days out. When all that lot is landed I'll feel much more secure in New Caledonia.
USS Drum torpedoes a PG between Lunga and Luganville after having sighted what looks like a large convoy headed SE towards Luganville, is depth charged for slight damage (11 sys). Drum is mostly out of torpedoes so I send her back to Sydney to be fixed. Drum was about to be relieved by a Dutch submarine anyway. USS Argonaut draws near Lunga as well with a cargo of mines.
USS Phoenix and four destroyers is now in position at Suva, just in case this South Pacific contest extends to there.
CENTPAC
Another BB plus escort is dispatched from Pearl Harbor on the long trip to SOPAC. USS Hornet is leaving Pearl for SOPAC as well - another Yorktown class CV will be on her way soon, there is a shortage of escorts in reasonable nick for now.
A lot of activity on the West Coast, there are quite a few reinforcements still there awaiting transport (including 1st Marine Division), there are a lot of convoys either going to SF or leaving SF.
May seems to be quite a busy month.
BURMA/INDIA/SRA
I moved up several squadrons to Rangoon again with an eye to hitting his shipping at Tavoy. Tavoy seems to be being constantly resupplied, I guess the many aircraft he has there are thirsty. 6 Beauforts and 21 Wellingtons sortie escorted by about 30 fighters, against a 50 fighter CAP. There is quite a tussle between the fighters - 5 Japs shot down for 15 Allied - but no bomber is lost. The Beauforts miss but the Wimpys prove quite effective, one AK is hit by five 500lb bombs, another AK hit by 1 bomb.
I've sent a cruiser force from Colombo to Cox's Bazaar with an eye to hitting his Tavoy shipping under LRCAP. A dangerous mission, it'll depend on the state of air superiority on the Burma/Thailand border, which so far has been entirely his.
HMS Truant torpedoes a PG off Singapore, is depth charged and suffers an unlucky hit. 30 flotation, she's limping home - its a long way.
CHINA
2nd AVG is still getting P38Fs uncrated.
Chinese rifle squad pool is now on 80 squads. Up till now its been <20. There are plenty of Chinese units needing refit though, so I put this down to lack of supply in the important areas. Which makes sense, a lot of action lately has been around Yenen, which is somewhat out on a limb.
A cavalry unit crosses a river near Yenen and runs into four Japanese corps. Oops. Casualties are quite light though.
AUSTRALIA
All quiet on land, though S boats off north Australia are picking off a PG every day. I guess I'm being quite lucky here.
The land death star by Tennant Creek is presumably advancing now as it has formed up. I will be very curious to see what he has brought to the party here. I would estimate that Alice Springs is secure unless he has at least about five divisions, though I kinda expect the decisive bit of any battle for Alice Springs to be a clash of armour in the deserts around the city in an envelopment attempt. Hence why I've concentrated Allied armour especially there.His recon of Tasmania continues.
SOPAC
Bad weather today grounds Noumea's aircraft. One of the B25 squadrons has been converted to B17Ds - a telling sign of my lack of heavy bombers, I've downgraded over half a dozen 4E or potential 4E units to B25s. But looking at the reinforcement schedule my lack of heavy bombers will be solved when the B24 Liberator starts rolling off the production line. At that point, the Japs are gonna be in trouble. [:D] And that point is mere weeks away now.
Three engineer aviation battalion units, a tank destroyer unit and some more artillery are going to be landing at Noumea within 3 days. Another division is about 10 days out. When all that lot is landed I'll feel much more secure in New Caledonia.
USS Drum torpedoes a PG between Lunga and Luganville after having sighted what looks like a large convoy headed SE towards Luganville, is depth charged for slight damage (11 sys). Drum is mostly out of torpedoes so I send her back to Sydney to be fixed. Drum was about to be relieved by a Dutch submarine anyway. USS Argonaut draws near Lunga as well with a cargo of mines.
USS Phoenix and four destroyers is now in position at Suva, just in case this South Pacific contest extends to there.
CENTPAC
Another BB plus escort is dispatched from Pearl Harbor on the long trip to SOPAC. USS Hornet is leaving Pearl for SOPAC as well - another Yorktown class CV will be on her way soon, there is a shortage of escorts in reasonable nick for now.
A lot of activity on the West Coast, there are quite a few reinforcements still there awaiting transport (including 1st Marine Division), there are a lot of convoys either going to SF or leaving SF.