The end of the world as we know it?

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, I believe we can now sleep easier in our beds. The last few days have been a time of some tension. The Japanese advance down the Malayan peninsula looked to be a powerful and determined one. They pushed the 18th Division back from Sogkhia and Alor Setar to Georgetown and had they turned then to assault Georgetown we might have ben hard pushed to hold it. However their advance seems to have bypassed this and they took Taiping and are now poised to take Kuala Lumpur. Thye could still attack us at Georgetown, but if they do, with our backs to the sea and our fresh forces disembarked they will find us resolute defenders. Their 'punch' has also diminished as they have had to drop off units to defend their flank and rear as they advance - this line is now vulnerable to our counter punch at our time of choice. Additionally these troops are now burning up the supplies they have carried with them, they have no resupply. In short gentlemen, we feel they are rapidly running out of steam. Their advance was in no small measure aided by dreadful weather which stopped our planes flying for days. We have now had two days of clear and the results have been very significant harassment to these troops by 200+ heavy bombers. Adding to their discomfort we have now been joined by the battleships Mississippi, Tennessee and Arizona who are contributing with bombardments of their forces at Alor Setar, With landings at Victoria Point and an ever strengthening defence at Bangkok (being supplied by sea with no Japanese air interdiction possible) their forces inn Malaya are living on borrowed time. Their forces in Indo China likewise are effectively trapped and 'prisoners in waiting'.

While this has been going on the joint Carrier forces continued Operation Dangle with a move to 120 NM off Manila. There they launched another series of raids on shipping in and around Manila. There are 14 ships in Manila harbour, several of them are CAs and CLs - all are now burning fiercely and unlikely to ever leave for repairs at home! Photo reconnaissance indicates the following on the last raid:
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CA Kumano, Bomb hits 9, on fire
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CA Kako, Bomb hits 5, on fire
CA Suzuya, Bomb hits 3
DD Otori, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ikazuchi, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

The Japanese again made valiant efforts to counter this by launching another massive attack on our Carriers. Over 150 enemy planes, Zeros, Tonies, Helens, Sallys and Betties attempted to strike the carriers. this was a determined raid, pressed home hard but not one plane managed to land a bomb or hit with a torpedo and their losses were severe:
A6M2 Zero: 31 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 19 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 9 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 4 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 4 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 19 destroyed

In three days of air battles in total the Japanese have lost 190 planes confirmed. We have lost heavily too with 135 downed. Although we must have sympathy with the brave airmen who sacrificed themselves to achieve this we must also point out that the planes are easily replaced, many of the crews have been rescued whereas the Japanese industry cannot, we predict, replace these airframes, nor can they train new pilots as fast as they are losing them. I have had Smithers tracking all confirmed losses since this conflict began. We have lost 5181 planes, many of them obsolete in the early days of the war when they were outgunned and outflown by our opponents. They have lost 5586 of their front line planes. Over 1000 of these have been Betties, over 1000 Zeros and 658 Tonies. In September we were losing 1.15 planes for each of their killed, this figure is now steadily dropping to .9 for each of their planes killed. We are clearly winning the air war.

[kaleun]

Good show!

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, an acquaintance of mine has produced a nice little scoreboard to hang in the map room. Perhaps if I unveil the results of a bombing attack on Hong Kong harbour you will get the effect? I do not think we need worry about these titans of the Japanese navy again.....

[Roger Neilson II]

Just in case readers are wondering, the game has slowed right down recently as Ddog has had some work changes to contend with. We are currently on 22nd Feb, so expect a briefing in the near future. Following a schedule where we often got 10 days in a week we are now on 3 or so a week.

Its not over by a long shot, and there's more fun in store.

Roger

[kaleun]

Phew!

[ADM Halsey]

I am also in a game with Ddog. I have agreed to a break until things calm down for him. I do enjoy playing him.

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, it seems a long time since we were last convened together, yet it is only a small space of days. The war continues, indeed it is getting quite interesting.




In Malaya a lead tank unit has now taken Malacca, however his forces at Alor Setar are bombarded daily and a Chinese Division has now moved into this area from Georgetown and he has failed to eject it. This suggests that his forces are suffering from lack of supply as one would normally expect a Japanese division, for that is what occupies Alor Setar to give short shrift to our Chinese allies. This means that effectively his forces that were driving down towards Singapore are stopped dead and they have no fresh supplies.



In the Philippines the 1st USMC with Australian support has moved from Cagayan to Cotobato and ejected the Japanese forces who were there. We also were able to paradrop forces onto San Jose and the 3rd USMC Paras have now been joined by support personnel and fighter cover.



Our opponent has shifted a significant portion of troops into the Southern Chinese theatre. Initially we thought this was to break the siege at Wuchow however recon planes have since seen them move through Nanning, brushing aside some Chinese forces there and are now strung out on the road towards Hanoi/Haiphong. We have witnessed such moves of large forces before, both in China and in Malaya - they tend to be effective but leave their flanks very vulnerable to interdiction of their supply lines....

There are moves afoot elsewhere Gentlemen, but let us await more good news in the next few days.

[Roger Neilson II]

Ok, turns are very slow due to a whole host of real life at Ddog's end. However, I have been stumbling around (for those who haven't discovered it try Stumbleupon' to waste a few spare hours in your life) and have come across this nifty little new development.
http://www.jingproject.com/

Here is an example of what can be done, I simply picked this bit as its got some action in it. Took a while to upload, and don't know how fast it downloads, but for really classic sequences in the game it might be popular - then again people might hate it..... but at least you have a heads up on it.

http://www.screencast.com/t/nGj0WHPu

Roger

had a go at watching it, seems to stream fine on my broadband link......

[Yava]

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson II

Ok, turns are very slow due to a whole host of real life at Ddog's end. However, I have been stumbling around (for those who haven't discovered it try Stumbleupon' to waste a few spare hours in your life) and have come across this nifty little new development.
http://www.jingproject.com/

Here is an example of what can be done, I simply picked this bit as its got some action in it. Took a while to upload, and don't know how fast it downloads, but for really classic sequences in the game it might be popular - then again people might hate it..... but at least you have a heads up on it.

http://www.screencast.com/t/nGj0WHPu

Roger

had a go at watching it, seems to stream fine on my broadband link......

Well, I must say Roger that your stumbling around profits[:)]
I was trying to record a small movie using Fraps software but somehow it doesn't like both of my computers[:(] But this can be quite useful[:)]

[kaleun]

Nifty

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, it seems as if we have been away for ages (indeed last night I dreamt I had been on holiday). However the reality is the war has progressed two more days.... but what a couple of days!

In most areas things move as expected, however we had moves afoot to cause further problems to our erstwhile enemy. Those plans were somewhat damaged yesterday when a Tf of American forces bound for a destination that remains secret were steaming around 100 nm off Camranh Bay. They were attacked by a group of carrier borne enemy planes and several ships were lost. This was unfortunate but alerted us to the presence of what we believed were 3 CVs or lesser CVLs. The enemy either did not realise, or did not care, about the possible presence of our own CVs in the area.

Today 6 American CVs (including the Essex)plus at least 6 CVEs joined battle with the Japanese carriers. We also had all of our Royal Navy carriers operating in the same area. 200 NM NNW of Tatay our planes found the Japanese carriers... except there were not 3 of them but 5 CVs and 2 CVLs. I gather that our strikes found their ships first and whilst the initial attacks were beaten off by their CAP this quickly diminished to allow later strikes a much easier run in on target.

Damage assessments suggest every one of their ships is badly damaged, and at least three were observed to suffer massive internal explosions. At dawn tomorrow our CVs will be hunting the cripples to ensure that they do not make safe harbours.

Over 300 enemy planes attempted strikes on our four CV Tfs. In total they scored two torpedo hits, neither a mortal blow to the ships concerned.

This has been a decisive naval encounter from which the enemy will not recover.

Expect a further briefing tomorrow gentlemen.

[kaleun]

Wow.
That was a one sided battle

[cantona2]

Just like to say I love this AAR and the style its written

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, I see from your faces the sense of expecation that I am about to announce the sinking of the Jap carriers. I am sorry, I have no such news.

We know where they are, some of our escort ships have caught glimpses of them, but they have been mere glimpses in a raging storm that has run for two days now which renders the CV flight decks inoperable. We assume they are making for Manila, so be it. They will not leave. Should they instead try to skirt the Luzon coast and head for major repair ports they will not succeed. They are living on borrowed time Gentlemen.

Elsewhere Pnomh Penh has been taken without contest cutting off another 14K enemy with nowhere to retreat. The Japanese made a massive assault across the river into the outskirts of Hanoi with approximately 150K troops that have marched from Canton. They suffered around 8K casualties and made no impact on our defences. They were supplied from Canton, but this supply line is now cut, Nanning is under fierce daily bombardment and its airfield is reduced to ploughed field status. These troops have nowhere to go, and no options but to remain to be rounded up when they run out of supply.

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, good to gather together again. The weather cleared around Luzon yesterday and stayed clear. We can only second guess our opponent's intentions but a sortie by his Heavy Cruiser Squadron was executed. Whether he hoped to catch and fight a surface action with our CV Tfs or whether he was attempting to take this group to less dangerous waters we have no idea. Our CVs were patrolling somewhat to the SW of his course but turned and launched their strikes. Initial hits scored significant damage, slowing the ships down and making them easy targets for torpedo planes. By the end of day 1 all but the Atago, Haguro and Takao were still afloat. By the end of today, only the Atago has not been seen to sink, though nor has she been spotted - so we presume she sank during the night.

Damage assessments are as follows:

CA Atago, Bomb hits 7,Torpedo hits 2, on fire, presumed sunk
CA Chikuma, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 4, confirmed sunk
CA Haguro, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, confirmed sunk
CA Mikuma, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, confirmed sunk
CA Nachi, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, confirmed sunk
CA Takao, Bomb hits16, Torpedo hits 3, confirmed sunk
CA Tone, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, confirmed sunk

This has been a potent threat to our forces, our Naval commanders have remarked that they were fine ships, even if those of the enemy. With their destruction goes much of the remaining offensive ability of the Japanese navy. We are aware that there are ships in port and certainly there are CVs and BBs in various stages of repair, but they are dispersed and the Japanese industry must be crippled with lack of oil and raw materials now. Manila houses some battleships and some aircraft carriers but all are attempting to repair, and all are under our air supremacy - just looking anxiously at the skies for the raids to begin. We have our reasons why this has not yet happened, but rest assured it will.

In a separate action the CV Taiho, untouched by the recent carrier 'duel' between our forces was spotted making her way out of Manila harbour. Our forces waited until she was well clear of the approaches so that she would not become a hazard to our ships once we were back in control of the area and then struck. Pilots based on the Essex fittingly delivered the attack.

CV Taiho, Bomb hits 27, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, confirmed sunk

We gather the admiral went down with his ship.

Other news is the unloading of American ground forces at Haiphong - this was the TF that almost got intercepted by the Japanese Carriers. Recon flights report that there are a mass of Japanese forces in Saigon, though the lack of offensive activity from them against our landings and advances in Thailand suggests they are base personnel mainly. Bien Hoa has been taken by the 13th Australian brigade supported by the 14th Chindits and the disembarkation of the 2nd USMC Divn at Kompong Trach should begin to indicate the focus of our advance strategically. All areas taken by the Japs breaking out from Alor Star have now been recaptured, leaving them occupying there, Songkia and Bandou. The force, predominantly a tank brigade we think, has been wiped out by bombing as it made its way towards Singapore.

[aztez]

[:D] ...Keep up the good work. Nice AAR.

[Mike Dixon]

Let us know when/if you get the carriers.....[:)]

[Roger Neilson II]

If?

Roger

[Mike Dixon]

Ok when...........

[Roger Neilson II]

Gentlemen, developments again. In our own sphere it is a steady degrading of the enemy's ability to fight at Alor Star, Singapore, Rangoon, Saigon. In China we can announce that the main Japanese attack on Hanoi has now been encircled and is now effectively out of the war. In Northern China there are are large enemy forces moving towards Homan and Ichang. Doubtless these will be stopped in the near future.

The main action occurs in the vicinity of Manila. Our carrier forces retired to resupply at Jesselton and then made good speed back to their station about 100 nm off Manila. Over three days there have been fierce attacks on the Carriers by a mix of Japanese aircraft mainly based at Clark Field. The results of these air battles have been the loss to the Japanese of 374 aircraft for a loss of our aircraft amounting to around 100. There has been some damage to our shipping, with a couple of torpedo strikes on our battleships - though none that will endanger their flotation. On the third day we launched a serious attack on Manila port from all the carriers in the combined task forces. The results of this strike have been assessed as follows:

CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 17, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 18, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage


Reviewing the overall losses of the Japanese navy in terms of their capital ships you will all see they can have little left to threaten us now. Likewise losses in total of over 6500 planes mean their airforce is now a shadow of its former self. From now on it may be a long hard slog on the ground gentlemen, and we know how tough the Jap is when he cannot be blown out of the air or fed to the sharks.