March of the Penguins: Onime vs. Fabertong

[Onime No Kyo]

In other theatres of the war, 1/11/42 saw the war progress in equally ominous ways. Two bombardment TFs hit Batavia. In the event, both the Jintsu and the Hatsushima struck mines. The following bombardment took a heavy toll of the planes based there. An air raid later in the day decimated the CAP fighters for little loss to itself. Looks like the landing at Batavia will be a fait accompli very soon. Among the IJN units at Batavia are Ise, Fuso and Nagato, Maya, Takao, Kumano, Suzuya and Ashigara plus lighter units.

The USS Pollack opened the sub score in Japanese waters by sinking the PC Shonan Maru 1 and escaping unscathed.

Johore withstood a day of heavy bombing and then repulsed a mass assault killing over 1200 penguins for the loss of under 300 of our own. The forts stand at 3. I think that Fabers infantry is either fatigued/disorganized or he has prematurely switched his preparations to Singapore. In either case, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few more days of active resistance in Malaya.

US/Philippine forces at Clark repulsed an assault, the first in a week, killing over 3900 penguins but losing almost 2100 of our own troops and many guns.

Troop movements previously outlined continue in China.

The 35th FG will arrive in SF tomorrow for immediate embarkation for the South Pacific.

The 45th FS has begun to unload at Midway. The BF should also arrive soon as well.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Yava

Time will show what is the Penguins army goal...[:)]

Actually, its his navy I'm worried about. [;)]

[BrucePowers]

At least you are worried about the right thing[:)]

[Onime No Kyo]

That remains to be seen. I'm actually more worried about Faber's devious mind will come up with next.

[Onime No Kyo]

1/12/42



I found out that I was right about at least 1 thing. The cruisers were not going after Gili Gili. Morning search found them on the western side of Gili, headed up the coast towards Moresby. The search also discovered something new, another cruiser. It seems that the Furutaka was hiding somewhere during yesterday's flyover. There is also at least one DD, the Kikuzuki, in company.

The only other thing the search discovered in the entire region between Rabaul, Shortlands and Buna is that there is a 4 ship TF docked in Rabaul. Surely Faber wont try to take PM with what he can carry in 4 ships?

A morning strike of 30 Hudsons and 12 Beauforts produced no hits and 1 Hudson and 2 Beauforts were lost to AA fire. At least half of the remaining planes were damaged to one extent or another. The afternoon strike of 13 Hunsons and 7 Beauforts was likewise unable to get a hit, but at least lost no planes.

TF 5 is now halfway to its designated patrol area, still moving at full speed. If the cruisers continue to move north along the coast next turn, I should have them firmly boxed in by the 14th.

TF 4 is moving along fine as well but is still far from the area.

Mind you, I'm still not sure what to make of this. Maybe my Catalinas are missing the transport TF. Sure hope that is not the case and keeping my fingers crossed for a successful intercept of the cruisers.

The other important event for today was the death of the last of the Dutch PTs off Palembang. Ordered in to search for merchant targets, they fell afoul of a TF headed by the Ise and Fuso and were wiped out.

The 5th BG hit Lautem for the first time today with 30 planes. The 7th has been grounded for repairs and will be moving north, probably to India, given the current situation in Java, as soon as the repairs are finished.

The USS Triton hit a big, fat AP with one torpedo. However, instead of a resounding explosion, only a muffled thud was heard, followed by a few choice words from the Triton's skipper.

Batavia's CAP has pulled itself together for today, bringing down 5 Nells, and so thoroughly disorganizing the rest of the formation that the results of the bombing were pretty light.

The Chinese 11th Squadron did some good work over Yenen today, bringing down 4 Sonias (albeit unescorted) and damaging 3 more. Pilots from this unit now occupy the first and second spots of the allied fighter pilot honor roll. This is despite the fact that my leading ace has yet to fly a mission. I'm starting to think that he's just a very good AA gunner.

[Onime No Kyo]

So guess what happened with those cruisers? Nothing! [:@]

On the 13th, my search found neither hide nor hair of them. On the 14th, the Catalinas spotted a TF consisting of a "BB, CA, CA" in Rabaul. I'll wager that thats them. Unfortunately for me, he didnt go far enough north to be trapped. If only he had spent one more turn moving that way, I would have had him. I had the thought that perhaps the post title clued him in.

I dont have the CR for the 13th with me here at work, but nothing exciting occured anyway.

1/14/42

Two bombardment forces and a heavy air strike combined to destroy or damage most of the planes at Batavia. In addition, the invasion force is on its way. One of its transports was hit by the O-24 as well as the DD Wakaba from one of the bombardment TFs. Good work for the Dutch sub.

The PI B-17Cs that were relocated to India made their first strike at Rangoon today. A CAP of 11 Oscars damaged 5 planes and made several turn back. In return, the strike destroyed an Oscar in the air and a Sally on the ground.

Meanwhile, 26 Zeros from Rangoon made a sweep of Mandalay. My CAP of 7 Huris and 5 40Bs gave their best shot but came out the worse, losing 5 Huris and 4 Tomahawks to 2 Zeros shot down. Since Faber's infantry is about 60 miles away, I'm leaving.

Clark defenders beat back another assault, however, forts are down to 2 and the casualties were only slightly in my favor. The PI conclusion is not far off.

Neither is the sad ending far away in Malaya. After letting his troops rest for 2 days, Faber launched another attack. He lost ~1000 guys to my 350, but knocked the forts down to 2.

[Onime No Kyo]

1/15/42
 
Like Faber said in The Thread, today was a relatively slow day. The PI B-17Cs could only put up 3 planes for the sstrike at Rangoon. After being forcefully disuaded by 32 escorting Oscars, the trio decided that discretion was the better part of valor.
 
Faber is trowing fighter sweeps at Yenen, where I now have a squadron of Chaikas in addition to the 11th flying I-16s. Fortunately, my Chinese pilots seem to be smarter than my British and US ones and refuse to engage. Faber's Bombers took a break today. Either that, or he moved them elsewhere.
 
With a heavy heart I have given the order to abandon Johore today. After yet another attack, which cost him over 1000 people, Faber has lowered the forts to 1 (and 2:1 odds). The troops fought bravely and accomplished everything I expected of them and more. They will now have to retreat to their last bastion and face their fate. C'est la guere.
 
Deciding that it will take entirely too long to transfer the NZ Bde (which belongs to SoPac in any case) to PM, I have transferred the 1st Australian Bde. to the control of SwPac HQ and have ordered its embarkation for Moresby.
 
The 24 Mohawks of 78th FS have finished unloading and have been ordered transferred via rail to Darwin. It may not be much, but theyre at least marginally better than Throwaways. The SBDs and 40Bs will wait to be reassembled and then will be off to PM.
 
TFs bearing 2 CD units and an RCT intended for Midway are almost in the PH area. Once they unload at Midway, I can at least rest easy that Faber will lose a few teeth if he ever tries anything there (which I do not think he will).
 
 
The Yorkie arrives tomorow.

[Yava]

[:)]

[DuckofTindalos]

Penguins don't have teeth...[:'(]

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Penguins don't have teeth...[:'(]

That's odd. So what's been leaving those tooth-like marks on my butt? [&:]

[Onime No Kyo]

1/16-17/42

Last few days have been relatively slow. The major event has been Faber's landing at Batavia. The landing of one infantry division was unopposed and Batavia fell on the 17th. The only remaining vestiges of Dutch military presence were the half-dozen abandoned aircraft on the airfield. Faber also conducted a supporting airborne drop, but the area is being successfully avoided by the last retreating units, a BF and a CD unit, by marching over jungle trails. The defense of Java is now confined to Soerabaja.

The some 200 mines at Batavia caused some damage, most notably to an APD and several APs.

Mandalay fell on the 17th as well. Four damaged planes were captured on the airfield, but the last 2 BFs are well gone.

Johore fell on the 17th as well. Most of the combats units had successfully retreated, but the 2nd Malaya and an Indian Bde. as well as several BFs had gotten caught in the last assault.

I spoke too soon about how smart my Chinese pilots were. In the last 2 days, I have lost 8 fighters to Japanese sweeps. The Yenen fighter units are being stood down. Hopefully, Faber will get tired of flying sweeps and move his units elsewhere. Still no sign of where his bombers went, but virtually all of mine are now flying ground attack missions from Chunking.

An attempt to hurt the pursuing armor by my units north of Ichang was foiled by the timely arrival of Japanese infantry and was beaten back with heavy loss.

One of Faber’s subs sunk an empty and unescorted AK between Pago and Noumea. While I have several patrol and bomber units flying ASW in the area, I had no idea it was there. Luckily, the ship was empty.

The defenders of Clark Field have beaten back another assault at 2k to 1.5k losses.

In one of the most desperately heartwarming episodes of the war so far, the cut-off Khota Bharu infantry has finally emerged from the jungle covered hills and retook Kuala Lumpur. I think I’ll march them north as far as they will go from there. While I have very little hope of salvaging any part of these units, perhaps they can make enough of a stink to make Faber commit major forces to hunting them down.

The major operations in the Hawaiian/WC areas are the approach of major infantry and CD reinforcements for Midway and the departure of several TFs loaded with hundreds of thousands of units of supply and fuel for Australia.

QUESTION: Is there any way to offload this stuff in Australia without having it be dispersed over all the useless bases on the continent? My intention is to offload it in Brisbane and have it transported overland to Darwin. Is this possible?

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Penguins don't have teeth...[:'(]

That's odd. So what's been leaving those tooth-like marks on my butt? [&:]

I don't want to know...[X(]

[Yava]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Penguins don't have teeth...[:'(]

That's odd. So what's been leaving those tooth-like marks on my butt? [&:]

I don't want to know...[X(]

I'm not surprised...[X(]

[Onime No Kyo]

T, stop thinking about my @ss and tell me how I keep supplies from getting dispersed all over the place in OZ.

[DuckofTindalos]

Oooh, good way to make me do your work for you...

[Onime No Kyo]

What? I cant ask for tips now? How...what was the word? Snooty? [8|]

[DuckofTindalos]

You can ask, but don't insinuate that I'm thinking about your backside. I get enough of that from Nik...

As to your question, that's nearly impossible to achieve. Australian industry and static will eat most of the supplies it generates. If you want to stockpile stuff, it's convoying time (from CONUS).

[Onime No Kyo]

Exactly. But if I dump, say, 400,000 units worth of supply in Brisbane, wont it get dragged off to Perth and such?

[DuckofTindalos]

Eventually...

[BrucePowers]

Onime, I know it is slow, but I sent Many small TFs from Karachi to Austrailia. By scattering them I think I lowered their detection levels. I don't know where Faber's subs are but I started feeding them towards Darwin from Perth in small groups. It is just a thought.