The Ever Rising Sun - Chuck vs Pat - Banzai!

[ctangus]

No Pats allowed!

This is my third game against Pat (aka George Patton), however unlike our first two games I'm currently commanding the glorious liberators of Southeast Asia while Pat is commanding the evil colonialist-imperialists.

This is a CHS scenario 157 (Nik-mod adjustments) game.

BANZAI!

[ctangus]

Summary of the war so far

We're about a month into the war now. (These initial screenshots are after the Jan 1st turn.)

While it was a non-historic first turn, I kept it relatively conservative - no deep strikes & in fact I cancelled/postponed several of the initial invasions. My basic strategy, like in my game against VSWG, is to come with overwhelming force whenever I attack so as to minimize risk and avoid failed invasions, long attrition battles, etc. I'm not going to try to conquer the map but do want to establish a defensible perimeter in as short a time as possible.

So far it's mostly going well, with a few setbacks.

4th Fleet

The war opened with my glorious samurai making a defensive strike against the enemy fleet at Pearl Harbor:

12/07/41
Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 114,72
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 57
D3A2 Val x 149
B5N2 Kate x 157
E8N Dave x 2
Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 2
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 24 damaged
D3A2 Val: 7 destroyed, 62 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 9 destroyed, 55 damaged
E8N Dave: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 5 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
PBY Catalina: 10 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 6 destroyed
B-18A Bolo: 6 destroyed
P-36A Mohawk: 3 destroyed
C-47 Dakota: 2 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 3 destroyed
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 2 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 6 destroyed
P-26A: 2 destroyed
Allied Ships
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hull, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB California, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1
AK Vega, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Dolphin, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Allied ground losses:
56 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Airbase hits 52
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 405

No BBs were sunk but I suppose that's fair as Pat never sunk any of my BBs on Dec 7th in our prior games. Plus at least 7 of them are out of action for quite a while.

KB then covered landings at Wake, Tarawa, Baker & Canton Islands. While I've taken them all I didn't prep the Canton invasion enough and the initial assault was unsuccessful. I took it four days later. KB was ordered back to Truk after Canton Island was liberated.

[ctangus]

Southeast Fleet

I'm going to wait for reinforcements before I make any major moves in this area, but I did take Madang & Kavieng on Dec 8th, built them up a little & took Rabaul on Jan 1st. I'll use KB to cover further moves if it's not needed to secure the SRA.

[ctangus]

The screenshot doesn't want to show - I'll try it again.

Edit: it still doesn't want to show up. [:(]

[ctangus]

Celebes & nearby

I landed on Manado on Dec 7th but only just freed up naval forces to support further moves. I have 150 AV of naval infantry headed towards both Amboina & then Kendari. An NLF is loaded as a reserve - I'll land it at Makassar if it's not needed to capture the other locations. While 1 NLF might not be enough to take Makassar I do have another 2 SNLF about 7-10 days away.

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Mindanao

I sent two full divisions to take Cagayan, which they promptly did. They're now resting at Palau, prepping for Java. The whole island has been liberated to the great delight of the Filipinos.

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Luzon

It's definitely gone well here. I managed to separate the defenders of Luzon into 3 pockets. I'll be able to defeat them piecemeal & hopefully will own the entire island by the end of January.

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Borneo

I've been making steady, if not spectacular, progress here. After I finish taking Celebes I'll concentrate on taking the rest of Borneo in preparation for the Java landings.

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Malaya

I've steadily driven down the Malayan peninsula. Not only did I inflict 2 or 3 forced retreats, but also I surrounded 4 units at Makassar. They included 2 enemy brigades IIRC. Like Luzon, I hope to hold Singapore before the end of the month.

[ctangus]

CBI

China's been mostly a war of maneuver so far & nothing significant has happened yet.

In Burma it looks like Moulmein has been abandoned. That works for me as I've stripped the Burma Area Army in order to send an extra-strong force to Singapore.

[ctangus]

Intel screen, etc., at the end of December. Not a lot of naval combat yet.

[ctangus]

I never really got this AAR going like I wanted to. That's partly because my offensive has been boring up to now. [:D] It should get interesting soon, though - allied resistance is picking up & there should be some big battles ahead. I'll try to keep it up.

I also had some free time today...

Anyway, the current game date is Feb 10th, 1942. First here's the intel screen - the point score went in my favor sometime during January (I think when I took Rangoon). I've now sunk a ton of allied shipping in the DEI. I also have to be pleased with the A2A losses:

[ctangus]

4th Fleet

Other than taking a few dot bases I haven't advanced here at all. In two days I get infantry reinforcements for this theater and in a few weeks I plan to take the Ellice Islands with KB support.

I'm not yet sure if I'll advance further towards Samoa or the Fijis - I'll recon them at least.

[ctangus]

Southeast Fleet

The last two weeks have seen some action here as I've taken most of Papua New Guinea and I'm about to land in the Solomons. KB is currently supporting these moves.

I intend to keep further moves here well-covered since about a week ago one of my minelaying subs was run over by what appeared to be the escort for a US CV near Rockhampton. I keep getting small glimpses of the allied fleet like that, but it's always just out of range.

I'd like to move on PM in the next 4-6 weeks but that will require freeing up infantry from either Luzon or Malaya.

[ctangus]

DEI

I've slowly & steadily taken all of Celebes & most of Borneo now. CL Naka & Natori both ate torpedoes during these ops, but are now currently safe & on their way to Tokyo for repair.

[ctangus]

Java

I wanted to establish an early foothold on Java, and I have by taking Malang on the 7th of Feb.

However, just this last turn it looks like an enemy CV or 4 has just shown up!!! Bad weather kept planes from either side flying, but radio intercepts reported that several Albacore torpedo bombers couldn't locate their target.

Certainly there's at least one British CV in the area. But my opponent knows I have Baby KB nearby and I don't think he'd bring a single CV to battle & he could have a US CV or two here by now. The next couple turns might be exciting... [:)]

[ctangus]

Malaya

After a prolonged siege, it looks like Singapore's on its last legs.

[ctangus]

Burma

I've been advancing unopposed. It's hard to tell from this screenshot (since I haven't recon'ed it in about a week) but it looks like the enemy is building up at Akyab. I think I'll have the Burma road cut in about a week.

[ctangus]

South China

I'm slowly working on clearing out the Chinese east & southeast of Nanchang. Wuchow's being more problematic than I expected but I have another 28K troops on their way:

[ctangus]

North China

My last post for the day. North China's been very quiet on both sides. I've been slowly gathering strength to surround & eliminate the Chinese at Yenan. I'll launch the attack in about 2-3 weeks.