[center]OVERVIEW
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NEW GUINEA, NEW BRITAIN AND THE SOLOMONS
With Rabaul and Gasmata captured, and the Australian defenders in captivity, my forces are going to prepare for the invasion of New Guinea, and expansion through the Solomons. A base force is already in position at Rabaul, and bombing raids are planned against the AF at Port Moresby. A Daitai of Zeroes will be moved south to provide fighter cover against Allied forces on NG. The invasion of Kavieng is expected in 2 days, I expect this base to fall swiftly. The 5th NLF will continue to work it's way along the Northern coast up to Malang. The Kaga and the Hiei are still in this region whilst the other carrier TFs carry out their assigned raids.
PACIFIC
The Shokaku and Zuikaku are currently 240 miles north of Johnston Island, there are no indications they have been spotted yet, so the raid should come as a surprise to Yava. In the South Pacific the Akagi/Hiryu/Soryu TF is SOuth-West of the Ellice Islands, the strike against Suva has been scrapped after recon from a submarine's float plane indicated there was no shipping in the harbour. Instead they will now strike East toward Pago Pago, before moving North towards Canton/Baker Island. I suspect Yava has some cruisers somewhere in these three islands.
A landing is being prepared on Nukufetau, operations any further south than this wil require a decent size invasion force, so for now at least, this will mark the limit of expansion in this direction.
SRA
Most major AFs are under my control now, as are the oil fields, tin mines and rubber plantations on Borneo. The Dutch garrison at Samarinda will be left to starve for a while before I move in to clear them out. The Zuiho TF has returned to Palau and replaced their A5Ms with A6Ms, they are heading back to the Malacca Straits at their best speed as I half-expect Yava to try a naval bombardment of the base at Balikpapan.
The Palembang invasion is expected to steamroller the defenders there, and the strong surface combat TFs adn air umbrella will more than likely put Yava off of attacking the landing sites with a naval force.
Preparations are already afoot for the invasion of Makassar itself, the three NLF forces at Tarakan will start loading in a few days, they will be joined by one of the Palau base forces. At the same time 2 NLF units will land at Kendari with another base force. Taking these bases will provide more resources, allow bombing raids on southern Java, interdict more forces attempting to flee the East Indies and also provide bases for fighter cover for the invasion of Timor.
A paratrooper invasion of northern Sumatra could be a possibility, the Allied forces here are weak, and the bases are within easy reach of AFs in Malaya. Once the fighting has moved away from Georgetown this plan will be looked at in greater depth.
MALAYA
The British forces fleeing along the Malayan Peninsula have ran away (again) after the 6th Tank Regiment attack. The 25th Army will advance to Johore Bharu once all the elements have arrived at the same location. The plan to isolate the troops in the north from those at Singapore seems to be working well so far. The RAF in Malaya seems to have either been withdrawn or grounded recently. There have been some air attacks on my shipping, but most seem to be by Dutch units. Kuantan has been bypassed, it is too heavily damaged to be much use to me at the moment, I'll let the Brits use up their supplies repairing it before moving a force to seize it. My last recon (out of date now) indicated that there were 12 units in Singapore with an estimated strength of less than 5000 troops. I suspect that Yava has probably pulled most, if not all, of the Australian AIF forces out of Singapore.
CHINA
A big, horrible mess really. I have 3-4 'spare' divisions available for an offensive. However, any offensive will be limited in it's gains due to the sheer size of the forces Yava can bring against me in the long run. An attack is being initiated in the north, where the Communist units seem to be less willing to move much [:D]. Ichang is being evacuated apart from an SNLF unit, realistically there is no way this city can hold so the division there will be put to better use.
Once the HK operation has finished the division there will probably be assigned to mainland operations, there is also the possibility of reassigning the 5th (?) Division from the Home Island Defence to the Chinese mainland.
Overall everything is proceeding to plan and schedule. The lack of naval resistance is unexpected, will Yava stand and fight, or have the RN (in particular) run away? China looks like being a major issue [:@]. The main limit on my expansion in the Pacific and Solomons chain is the lack of available air cover, especially bomber bases.
Amazing AAR !
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