shock and awe: RAO vs Scot: Evacuation from KL by sea

[el cid again]

One of two people I wrote a new RAO start turn for is Scot McConnachie. He and I have played such games over half a century - often in much more difficult, expensive and complicated forms. He prefers to play the Allies because they are less fragile than the japanese - no matter what you lose you are going to get more to work with. It is far easier for Japan to lose the war in a few minutes - witness Midway.
He is interesed in the strictly historical scenario - and elected not to make many changes to Allied orders - because they had not mastered the indications war was immediatley upon them.

In prepairing this turn I thought of a new approach, in several elements:

1) similar to the historical Japanese - and modern US Marines - I decided not to land in the teeth of enemy opposition - but where the enemy is not - consolidate - and move on the strong points. There is no attack on Kota Bharu or one Linguyan Gulf. Nor does the Imperial Guards Division march across Thailand - but hops aboard ship at Bangkok - and sails down the coast. There are landings all along the coast- and this is actually what happened in the Philippines (where US impressions are flawed: landings occurred north of the expected site - with no firm defense in position to repel them - just isolated light infantry companies. Once ashore the Japanese came down the road/rail line (which are in sight of each other).

2) Use forward airfields immediately - not waiting for support to reach them - and use air transport and pre loaded convoys to deliver support elements ASAP. Also have air support for one field stop at another en route - and provide temporary services - until the campaign moves forward and it moves on to the more distant objective (for which it is planning).

3) Use unexpected lines of march. Create the impression of interest in classical objectives by recon - bombardment - even faints - and then go another way. Thus I hope to succer the USAFFE forces into a fighte I won't fight for Linguyan - because I will go around it - take Baguio and then Clark - isolating the forces at Linguyan and Olangapo. THOSE are malaria hexes - while Baguio and Clark and Mainla are malaaria free.

4) Exploit developed airfields ASAP. I started out taking Cayagan to get rid of the B-17s - but now I put Nells on them in the first 2 or 3 days - to cut off enemy shipping running South. I like to take forward bases - and potential bases - very early - instead of months into the waar as IRL. I stage second and sometimes third echelon units on the first day - so follow up elements are able to be in play almost immediately. If a field is not big enough - the first thing to follow the assault troops is construction battalions.

The object is not simply to move at a faster pace - but to isolate and trap enemy forces - preventing them from escape even if and where that is the enemy strategy. It also is to cause so much consternation about how fast things are happening the enemy is driven into a state of dismay and discouragement - afraid to send things forward into the meat grinder - and feeling a need to defend hings far to the rear. Deep penetration siezure of air bases and port facilities may make it seem there is no end in sight - but limited resources and shipping means there is an end in sight. The object is to make it unclear just how far back one must worry - and to lop off whole units


which then won't be around later to be a problem.

[el cid again]

Scot (the spelling is right with one T - he is really Scots) had some trouble coming to terms with the changes between UV and WITP - and took some time producing a second turn. But finally we are moving.

At Hawaii KB stayed in range a second day - and managed to blow up USS Nevada (will there be a USS Nevada memorial in this alternate universe?). This causes me to think we should keep dropping 800 kg "bombs" (they are 16 inch AP shells) on the damaged ships - which are not covered by fighters. Bomber losses are fairly high - but it will never be so cheap to sink battleships again.

The assault on Sinkuliwang failed a second day in a row - astonishing given the weak base force there - and Force Z showed up one hex away - apparently refueling to make a bombardment run. G3M attacks at long range managed to put a single 250 kg bomb in HMS Repulse - but that allegedly did "catastriphic damage." The planes and ships at Sinkuliwang escaped - which is unforturnate and rare - and the small naval infantry unit there may be in trouble. So I supported it with long range bombers - both in ground support terms and naval attack terms to mes with Prince of Wales - and I threw in a premature airborne assault with a tiny element of the Airborne Brigade - just barely moving forward with three fragmented air transport elements - out of Bien Hua.

Lead elements of the invaders of Malaya organized at Singora - and started marches toward Kota Bahru and Alor Star - we are not landing on the coast. There being no ground battles, we are focused on killing air units - this time at Georgetown. Similarly - anti air strikes are going in at Rangoon - as the units are still marching on Burma. But they are using the Thai river system as well as rail net - and engineers are going to build a string of Level 3 river ports to facilitate moving supplies to forward air bases as far as Raeing. This will be an early and powerful invasion of Burma. Not taking damage - and unloading faster at ports - seems to be a good idea in Malaya.

12 plane squadrons of Claudes are at Legaspi and Appari - not yet supported by ground support - and I sent the best Betty and Nell units forward to Cagayan - and am flying in a major ground support element - to dominate the area and sink ships trying to flee the Philippines.
Three surface action groups - one of them heavy - and a light carrier force - are already in the area - so I hope to sink most of the ships that otherwise would escape to fight in the future. Manado failed to fall- but I hope it will - and I am staging up a risky deep penetration raid on Thursday Island - using an SNLF on fast ships suported by a surface action gorup on cruisers. I have begun to take places along he New Guinea coast - but am staging up Hollandia first with engineers and air support - this will take some days to arrive and build up the base to a level that can be offensive - but as it already is an airfield - we can fly in supplies (today) and units after the ships arrive - construction engineers first - a aviation support unit second. This base will support the ships headed at Thrursday Island.

Finally I seem to have the Sourthern offensive right: Kavieng fell - of course - defended only by two platoons - and it has engineers en route to turn into an airfield - and also it will be a supply/refueling point for the units assaulting Rabaul. This is essentially Tanaka's surface action group and a transport group with South Seas Regiment. Meanwhile - a small force is trying to take Lae - while airborne prevents retreat to Wau or Salamua. Dobradura - taken by airborne - has a construction battalion landing to work it up - lead elements came in by flying goat -
and a naval security element is next. South Seas Regiment is planning for Port Moresby - and all three naval air borne units are too - and we own the forward villages near Port Moresby - by light air assault where there were airfields. We are creating the impression of an overland threat - and really will build an air base at Dobradura - but South Seas Regiment will assault by sea - lanidng BESIDE the target - and marching overland from Kappa Kappa - which we already own. This in a week or so.

Subs made many attacks - but were unlucky and all missed. I have moved the subs with planes into a patrol line to catch the carriers if they approach Hawaii from the West. Tarawa fell - and is getting a seaplane tender to support forward recon. I do not like to build airfields the enemy can capture in this area - so I am building fortifications for now - and that is only in theory - until some engineers show up. The big plan in this area is to get resource rich Nauru Island as soon as we can. Right now we are consolodating Wake - and another seaplane tender and air support element are going there. We got hurt by the Marine Defense Battalion - several warships and transports are burning. But it fell in one day - to an SNLF, the original SNGF and a light tank company.

[el cid again]

Scot - who knows my playing style well - decided to hunt submarines wherever possible - sort of as a damage limiting measure - and in two cases caused enough damage to send them home. Otherwise - he no doubt formed up a combined carrier task force in the Central Pacific - and since it is not in the South - I think it is in the North. He also has Force Z out of sight somewhere - almost certainly reinforced by lighter units - and is waiting to raid some poorly protected landing force. My attempt to get ships at sea with land based bombers (in SRA) did some damage, but resulted in a total loss of the Eleventh Air Fleet bombers as operational units (because morale went down too much).

Reasoning that the chance to damage battleships would never be better - I sent another raid into Pearl Harbor. I wanted more 800 kg bomb hits - and AI permitted none at all (I think I ran out of bombs - rationalizing). All the Kates went in at 200 feet instead of 14000 - above medium AA - as I set. I lost 12 of them. The force scored 11 hits with torpedoes on battleships - and sank CA Northampton outright - so it was probably a good choice. But I have to go somewhere to rebuild the air groups after three days of intensive operations.

The situation in China is complex. Four battles were one along LOC that matter - but two were lost - guerilla regiments held the ground vs major assaults with air support - the first time I ever saw that. The most dramatic case was 20 Chinese casualties vs 60 Japanese - a de facto battalion facing a division. Still - I fight for LOC and I try to isolate major units in pockets that can be reduced - and my biggest concern is that they will simply come back 30 days later.

5th Division did not make it to Kota Bahru - it landed on Singora - but will tomorrow. San Fernando fell - as did Naga - and air support is flying into Appari. I am flying in 21st Air Flotilla HQ to Cagayan - so when the bombers regain their morale - this will be a significant base.

Three surface action groujps are near Jolo - hoping to catch fleeing ships - out in numbers. We will see. The light carrier TF is also too depleted to do air combat - but will cover the SAGs when they return to Jolo with fighters and ASW. Recon says he sent ships to pick up the ground support unit that retreated from Jolo to Zamboanga - and I am going to try to get them into surface battle - hopefully loaded. For safety sake, I will try to bombard Tarakan - an air station - and Manado fell to an SNLF on the second assault today. So did Sankuliwang - when the company of naval infantry was backed up by a platoon of airborne. My worry is Miri - taken by engineers - enemy subs have appeared - and there is lots of shipping inbound. So I sent a surface action group - and an AV (which unfortunately will take some time to get ther) to support ASW aircraft operations. I also put the Eleventh Air Fleet on ASW duty - maybe we will get some with long range air. Anyway - that intensive sort of recon sets up the surface action groups.

Recon shows 48 fighters at Rangoon - I think AVG went there. We will hit it with lots of Ki-21s - covered by Oscars - out of Bangkok. Lots of troops arriving at Bangkok are sailing upriver and taking trains to build up bases - or invade Burma. Ships that brought some of these units loaded Imperial Guards Division which will sail to Singora - to speed its introduction into Malaya. The battleship task group is set to bombard Kota Bahru just as 5th Division arrives by land - killing the planes that seem to be based (but not flying) there. Ki-48s are also starting bombardment of ground units there - to weaken them.

[el cid again]

The Hopei Militia Regiment - a bit of a burried gem in terms of chrome - was left behind enemy lines - with a charismatic leader - and massive amounts of burried supplies - never mind that as a ROC guerilla unit it does not need supplies in the same sense other units do. [It is self supplying to 2/3 of non battle needs - and will tend to rebuild itself] It stood up to a full division assault for the second day in a row - not in mountains - but in the flat rice paddies East of the Yellow River flood area (the swamp). I must relieve that division commander. I would let them have a path to leave - their route of retreat is now blocked because other guerilla units have fled the area - but I don't think they EVER intend to move.

KB is rebuilding morale nicely - but I have no sense of where Halsey is - assuming he commands Enterprise and Saragoga. I cannot stay around bombing Pearl forever - and the ability to fight is critically dependent on munitions, fuel and morale - so I am retiring on to the tanker formation - putting flying boat and sub recon eyes out in case they get spotted. We seem only to have blown up USS Nevada (and sunk USS Northhampton) - but it appears that so much damage was inflicted on the battlefleet it is likely to suffer the historical fate. [THREE battleships were lost - one did not sink until 1946 - but it was never used again - and two lay still at the bottom of the harbor] It may be some time before they burn out or flood out - and longer still before we know.

The first assault on Kota Bahru will go in tomorrow - lead elements of 5th Division reinforced by an engineer regiment have reached it from Singora. [Engineer regiments have assault engineer squads - the only Japanese Army units with flamethrowers - although NAVAL forces also have them] I will soften up the place by air bombardment - and we already hit it with naval gunfire - and will do so again - just to put em in the mood to evacuate. The only time I ever did this before - it fell - first day.

The situation in the Philippines is complex - too many air strikes - with great results vs mostly lousy ships (but including a Brooklyn class CL) have the air units depleted too much to attack in the Celebes Sea area. The base at Cagayan has too few supplies - and none in sight - so we are airlifting in some more - while Jolo has not yet become an air base (but construction engineers are 12 hours sailing out - with supplies).
But three surface action groups are in the area - the light carrier force has a heavy cruiser - and we will see what we can do? Today the seaplanes on those forces delivered numbers of bombs - so did Claudes - while the Kates went over to sub hunting (which spots surface ships as well ) while they rebuild their confidence.


We are turning Kavieng and Lae into forward bases - but focused on Dobradura - where we sent the only construction engineers we have - even before Rabaul falls. The idea is to come up fast with forward air support - so South Seas Regiment can go in on Port Moresby with it.
Before the place builds up. We make it seem we are coming by land - taking Kappa Kappa and Kokota - but really we will come by sea - and land beside the place at pre held Kappa Kappa. Supply loss is too great over more than one hex distance - and I have learned how to parachute supplies directly into a battle hex. But that is for the future - January probably.

[el cid again]

The turn featured a long series of one sided naval actions - usually featuring balanced IJN forces with cruisers or battleships vs transports or PT boats. This uniformly did not work out for the Allies - and virtually every Allied vessel was sunk. These battles mainly occurred in the Celebes Sea area or (in the case of the five PT boat actions - Linguyan Gulf). Enemy surfae ships seem to have diverted North of Borneo to avoid thee trap of the Celebes Sea - so a SAG at Mili will try to intercept these - and others will try to raid points they are assembling in the Visaya's.

KB planes cam up in morale - and sub recon detected some sort of enemies collecting along the path of return to Kwajalein - which I interpreted to be submarines. So we reversed course and will hit PH again tomorrow - surely some ship flooding and buring out can be sunk if we put more 800 kg bombs or torpedoes into it? And maybe he will bring out something too soon? We are shifting subs Northward - hoping to catch Halsey trying to sneak back to Pearl.

I do not like the fuel state of the SAG sent to escort the Thursday Island raiders - so I pulled it back to Palau - detaching a light cruiser to stay with the raiders.

A strong air raid of B-10s hit Sankuliwang - but we managed tro fly in air support units - so we moved forward a strong Oscar units - and a recon flight - and set the Oscars to defend and attack any ships in the nearby strait. We are asssembling the airborne brigade at Bien Hoa - alnog with its airmobile support elements - and the company that went forward to take Sinkuliwang (when hte sailors failed) will be flown out tomorrow to rejoin the brigade - which is partly already airlifted into position - or at sea en route from Hainan. In about three days we can do a brigade sized airborne assault (if two battalions is a brigade). Byt then the organic air transport unit may be at strength.

Malaya is way ahead of plan - and we are using engineers to repair Kota Bahru - a Level 6 air base - and we will be able to take Alor Star in two days - the assault elements will all reach there tomorrow (18th Division is 75% marched - the armor and artillery already there). It appears that he has bombers at Kuala Lumput - so we will smash its airfield in the next day's raids.

All the naval long range bombers in the South China Sea area are demoralized or marginal - so they are doing ASW and search and recon duty - while some Ki-21 and Ki-30 units are doing naval strikes. The light carrier force picked up replacement aircraft and it will refuel tomorrow - in the Celebes Sea - it is a demigod - weak as it is.

The Shoestring Offensive for the NE approaches to Australia is working up. Engineers reached Hollandia today - and will build it up to support the THrusday Island raiders and teh Port Moresby Assault. Many units will arrive at Dobradura and Kavieng over the next 2 days - both are building up for what may be nearly simultaneous offensives at Port Moresby and Rabaul. Heavy and medium surface uints are starting to arrive in the area to support this. Somesmall units are moving up from Japan to support this. A similar effort is being mounted on a smaller scale out of Kwajalein - vs Nauru Island - which is resource rich.

China will feature five attacks - 3 vs small units and 2 large ones - in the next day. Clearing out the LOC net is a bit of a chore. We hope to wipe out isolated units - to isolate others - and to clear Eastern China - then Southern China - but are ignoring North China and Western China for now.

After HMS Repulse took a single 260 kg bomb, Force Z got away clean - and my efforts to get it have failed - likely because it went down into the Java Sea where I cannot yet see very well. I have almost no submarine eyes there either- Scot is aggressive at ASW - and all but two subs were forced to retire - and the others are new arrivals just on the edge: I will see more with Ki-15s out of Sinkuliwang than I do with them.

What Scot has done brilliantly - probably - is defend Baguio City in force - the first player I have ever seen do so. It is malaria free (RHS only).
It has mountains. It produces a lot of its own supply (and resources - which Manila will turn into supply and fuel too - using oil stored in the city). I cannot take it cheap and easy - and may have to get tricky. What he has NOT done is defend the South - I see nothing South of Mainla -and ordered 16th Division up the rail line to the outskirts of the city. If we get there - maybe we go for it from that direction - using ships to go around his strong position in the North.

[el cid again]

This turn began with three night surface actions (battles is too strong a term):

First - off Miri six destroyers caught a fleeing transport group - sank two outright - and messed up the rest

Second - off Samarinda a heavy surface action group caught a transport group already damaged by surface battles - and sank two more -
and messed up the rest

Third - the same heavy group ran into to other damaged ships and sank one of them

All three were deliberate - the two forces were there just for that reason against exactly those forces - which had been spotted.

During the day a modest number of air strikes - land and sea - went in around the Celebes Sea and the South China Sea and the Java Sea -
all against isolated or minor vessels.

But the excitement was at Pearl: the KB struck again - and it worked far more brilliantly than intended. No opposition was encountered - except heavy AA fire - and all the Kates dropped 800 kg bombs - which should not happen (just as last time all dropped torpedoes - which should not happen in port). We did better than on any of the previous days - and we learned all the BB except the Nevada (reported sunk) were still there - none had been scuttled - none had fled - none had sunk. We learned it by hitting them all. In the past we thought 3 800 kg hits was good - today it was poor shooting - 7 was the record. On badly damaged ships - this cannot have done them any good. There may yet be sinkings or scuttlings. We hit these battleships four days out of five, three times with heavy bombs, once with torpedoes (although in game theory both weapons should have been used in all attacks). The airfields seem down - and 68 more runway hits will help keep em that way.

Tiny packets of units are streaming forward to Kavieng, Lae, Buna, Hollendia - preparing for attacks on Port Moresby and Rabaul - and bombardment began today. There is a similar smaller stream of units headed at Nauru island - which takes time to reduce - and we hit it for the first time tomorrow with a port attack - because a ship is still docked there.

On Luzon we moved into Lucena South of Manila and it is undefended - so we attack it tomorrow. Baguio seems too strong to take - so I am going to see if we can kick them out of Linguyan - but it will take some time (probably). Just in case - a small force will move in today and try tomorrow - to test the water.


Fifth Division caught about two brigades on the central RR in Malaya - and it is heavly reinforced by every kind of unit. Also supported by bombers of many units from many bases. We may send them packing in a single assault - which so far has been the pattern in Malaya. We seem to be in a situation where we can do a major attack each day - alternating between east and west where it is.

In China the Hopei Militia Regiment stood up to another division assault - gave no ground - and seems to have taken few casualties. It has apparently inspired the next regiment over to do the same thing - and we are at a loss to understand this. More troops are moving in - we will see what two divisions can do? But I feel like a fool - except the Chinese guerillas are a brilliant success. Not one unit has been lost in any game - although most retreat when attacked. These tiny units are not easy to deal with. Otherwise - things seem to be going well - and the LOC are not messed up except in East China where we are not clearing them. Tomorrow we only assault four guerilla bands - other places are in need of recovery from todays assaults. A naval expedition upriver ran into units not reported by recon - most came back - and some have had to walk into the interior. Since we are resting at Hong Kong - air power is doing port strikes - lots of ships remain in harbor there.

The force raiding Thursday island is on a critical part of the trip - rounding New Guinea - and this force is neither covered nor supported at this time - although it has a couple of destoryers along. I hope to bring up Hollendia to support them - and I hope a surface force can catch them - but it is a gamble.

[bbbf]

It is hard to sink big ships in a large port like Pearl - they will stay at 99 damage for a lot of hits - so they may yet come back.  Especially true of Allied ships
 
In real life, these ships would have to be written off - in WITP, he will have them back in a few years - but he will have soaked up a lot of repair points that may have been useful elsewhere. 

[el cid again]

This is going to be an exciting few days: an Aussie unit showed up at Kappa Kappa - held by only a weak company of airborne - isolated because Jaure is not yet capured.

If Rabaul had not fallen today - it did fall unexpectedly early - we would abandon the position.

If forces to storm Rabaul were not already at Kavieng or streaming forward toward it - we would abandon the position.

If we had not concentrated all three IJN airmobile battalions in the Truk area - or all three long range L3Y transport units -
or the one G5N flight - or both military and civil H6K2-L transport units - at Truk - we would abandon the position.

If we had not converted the forward squadron of Claudes to Zeros - or if we had some other crisis - we would abandon the position.

If engineers and AA had not landed at Buna - or supplies were not unloading there and at Kavient - or if we had not had time to get engineers and aviation support to Hollendia - we would abandon the position.

The plan is to assault PM in January 1942 - not early December 1941. But it is always cheaper to do it sooner rather than later - and we have just enough to attempt it - with forces small enough we can afford to lose if the die rolls badly.


If we did not have half a dozen submarines rounding the tip of New Guinea - or four minelayers (which can be high speed transports) had not completed their missions - all in the immediate area - or if Adm Tanaka's surface action group had not almost arrived at Kavieng (from the bombardment of Wake island) - we would abandone the position.

Australia must have flown a light battalion to PM in the first few days - we torpedoed the only ships present and we have had a sub present every day - no ships came in.

We did a minimalist multi mission attempt to save the forward position at Kappa Kappa:

we flew in flying boats to Rabaul and are airlifting the South Sea's Detachment advance elements to Kappa Kappa (a position with no airfield - so airlift requires flying boats).

we flew other flying boats to Kavieng - to fly air support to Rabaul - so air units there will not go down.

we few in the lead elements of a Naval HQ - which will fly in air support and support as its first choice (code does that) - to help bring up air support at Rabaul fast.

we flew in L2D2 to the tiny srip at Kokota - and are flying the company of the 1st Airborne to Joure - one hex away - so the position at Kappa Kappa has a retreat path - and a supply path

we flew in the command element of the first airborn - with an elite commander - also to Joure

and we are flying in the remainder of the Truk NGF to Kokota - which unit - mostly there already - was ordered to march on Port Moresby - not to defeat it - but to weaken it - provide lots of intel and prevent any local supply production - (the 144 th - when at Kappa Kappa - is the assault force de main)

[el cid again]

There were only two squadrons of Nells in the South Pacific (Nanyo): small units of 18 planes at Truk and Kwajalein. But a squadron just upgraded to Bettys somewhere else - so there were 18 in the pool: each was assigned 9 more pilots and planes so in a couple of days they will be the JNAF standard of 27. The Kwajalein unit moved to Truk - and was assighed to hit the airfield at Port Moresby - which has been sending out small strikes daily against Japanese ships - sometimes hitting them with 260 pound bombs. The one already at Truk was assigned to hit the enemy ground unit at Kappa Kappa - starting the process of reducing its chances for combat success.

The only Betty unit in theater is a small one of 12 at Truck. So overworked was it that morale is horrible - so it was given the task of replacing the flying boats (now on transport duty) for recon and naval search - in which roles its morale will come back in a few days. At Palau - which lost its flying boats to this operation - a demoralized unit of Ki-21s was upgraded to Ki-47s - which are not yet operational. There are almost no replacements - so this is an ideal role for them - recon and search will make them able to contribute with so few losses the unit may well keep them until the summer - when production finally begins.

Three squadrons of Nells - one newly formed - are the strategic reserve in the Home Islands. The oldest of these had an amazing 99 morale rating - so it was transferred to Truk and also assighed to hit the airfield at Port Moresby. The other two may be sent anywhere - and likely to this battle - if added punch is required. They are all 30 plane formations - 3 "units" of 9 and a command flight of 3.

One of the Zero formations from Formosa was already transferred to Palau - and it is further transferred to Truk - and issued replacements to bring it up to full strength (48 which is 4 units of 12). It is out of range for tomorrows operations, but can move to Rabaul as the air support there comes up - and should be decisive.

The only Zero unit already forward was a single unit of 12 at Truk - of which only 10 were operational - and none was in range of anything useful. This unit transferred to Rabaul - losing one plane to damaged status - and there is NOTHING at Rabaul except a damaged airfield and the South Seas Detachment (i.e. no air support). This unit will fly long range CAP over Buna - to protect the two ships still unloading there - and likely only three fighters will be over the target if enemy strikes come in. But these strikes are always small - and 3 should matter. But this shows how thin the margins for this op are.

The civil DNKKK airline unit is moving air support from Kavieng to Rabaul (as stated already): the MILITARY transport flying boat unit stays at Truk and flies supplies directly to Kappa Kappa. The flight of 4 DC-4 copies flies supplies to Kokota. More evidence of the thin nature of this op.

The risks in this plan are significant: except for a flight of 3 patrol planes in the Aleutians, and a strategic reserve of 8 at Tokyo - every flying boat - military and civil - in the empire is committed - and NONE are available in ANY OTHER aire of operations. Further - the long transfer flights took as many as 1/3 of them down. That is, five squadrons of 8 H6K4 (32 machines) and one unit of 11 military and another of 14 civil H6K4-L trransport flying boats are committed to this area. All three L3 long range transport squadrons and one of only two L2 (DC3) units in the Navy are also committed - which is to say almost all the naval transport force. Production was shut off to force L3 and H5K4-L production at every opportunity - a desperate measure. But this is an air transport campaign - and the margin of superiority is so thin it matters to concentrate.

Until today, Port Moresby was beyond the effective logistic reach of Japanese forces - and until Rabaul is really operational, it really won't be in practical logistic reach either. We moved to bring up Rabaul ASAP - diverting ships en route to Kavieng and other places - and sending more. An air support unit is both flying in from Kavieng and sailing in at the same time. Fully two of the air transport units - one fixed wing and one flying boat - are flying in air support elements. AAA, engineer, coast defense and other units are already en route - none of them largre.


The Kiddo Butai is retiring on Kwajalein - so it can be in a central location and be a strategic trump if any enemy opposition of significance appears.

[el cid again]

Up in China the logjam broke:

Two guerilla units that long had blocked the major East West rail line from Tientsin both were wiped out. Chengchow - next to Kaifeng at the "end" of the Yellow River - fell - somewhat by surprise - and four "armies" are trapped - the ONLY thing left on the main North South rail line to Wuhan. The remaining guerillas in Eastern China are either engaged or about to be - and we are attempting to pocket the many armies near Shanghai as well. Once digested - we will return to the fight for the occupied part of Wuhan - with a logistic foundation.

On Luzon Lucena fell - 60 miles from Manila - and it was still not defended. Enemy submarines seem to be withdrawing fron the frey - and with one exception - transports have all fled along the North coast of Borneo - those that tried to do otherwise being sunk - or hovering near islands - probably damaged. Others hide in ports.

Many units have arrived at Miri - including lead elements of the brigade assigned to hit Kuching - and a march on Brunei has begun. More units will stream in for the next three days - and in a few days Brunei will come up as a significant air base. On the other side of the island, at Sinkawang on the map (Sankuliwang the way I was taught), Force Z - minus Repulse - with Dutch cruisers added - conducted a bombardment attack - and got away clean. But the base remains operational - and we sent reinforcemnts to the Ki-43 unit there - so it is at full strength. Enemy bombers also hit the base twice - at only 1000 feet - which is too low for Allied doctrine in 1941 and is questionable - but while they evaded figher intercept - they had almost no success.

A large number of ships is nearing the West end of the North coast of Borneo - and will escape into the Java sea - exept for lumps issued by Ki-43s at Sinkawang - and long range strikes out of Cochin China (Southern Viet Nam). But a heavy unit with two Kongo class battleships is going to bombard Kuantan tomorrow - and then cross to intercept any crippleis. Meanwhile, a cruiser group at Miri will attempt to overtake others - and bombard Kuching for the first time - also tomorrow.

In Malaya Alor Star fell to the first assault - and seems not to have been defended by mobile units. 5th Divison advanced into the hex SW of Kota Bahru and will attack two weak brigades there tomorrow. Air units began to move into Kota - which is mostly repaired - but it has no air support - and it is doubtful it it will arrive by rail in one day - but in two it will be a major air base. Air power remains focused on ground support - with the most obvoius enemy air base being hit as a supplimental - and recon looking for where airplanes are moving to next? His air units remain active in Malaya and are sunning many strikes out of it vs ships - and against Sinkawang.

In Burma Rangoon airfield is down - so no fighters appear to oppose raids - but fighters - Buffalos and AVG P-40s - are lost in every raid. But these raids have demoralized the Ki-21 units making them - so we pulled one out - and are setting a new one to hit ships - either at sea (none are now) or in port (many are hiding there - possibly damaged). It will be more than a few days before our units emerge from the jungles - and we are focused on build up air bases - and river ports to support them - in Thailand - these bases can operate BEFORE we can send ships around Malaya with supplies.

One of Scot's ASW groups at Singapore cought a sub - twice - and it is not likely to make Saigon - but it is uable to scuttle - so it will try. To my surprise, a Japanese ASW group off Singora cought a Dutch sub - twice - and likely sent it home with several hits. Usually this sort of group misses every try - but this group must have enough experience - two of its destroyers detected every pass.

A different submarine one hex off Palembang got an old WWI cruiser - first with one torpedo - then two more - and likely she will sink. Its destroyer escort was ineffective. It may have been Danae.


Troops at Hong Kong were too demoralized to attack - so instead bombers hit the port - and seven (of apparently seven total) ships were hit - many times - with 50 kg and 100 pound bombs (these latter represent 3 x 15 kg bombs each) - and badly damaged them - so likely none will be able to escape.


A surface action group of 4 CA, 1 CL and 6 DD sank AK Hai Lea North of Borneo. Aircraft attacked and mostly sank 3 AK, 2 TK and 1 PB - all but one with bombs.

Not a bad day for Japan at all - in spite of the panic caused by the unexpected battalion entering Kappa Kappa hex - surely to attack tomorrow. We hope so much of South Seas Detachment is present that turns into a bad thing.

[el cid again]

Things are behaving more like real life than I like - or than my opponent likes I am sure.

His long laid plan to kill the detachment at Kappa Kappa with a battalion failed - and he took 11 casualties for none for Japan.
But while that was something I organized - I sent several different elements there to make it stronger - only a few elements of the
same 1st airborne landed. The flying boats failed to deliver any of the South Seas Detachment - so instead of 0 to 1 odds - he got
1 to 1 - and was not hurt badly as I intended.

On the other hand, airborne DID take Joure - so the unit now has a LOC for retreat and supply - such as it is.

Otherwise - we both had ASW groups take on a submarien - and seriously damage it.

The Nells out of Cayagan managed to sink two AKs outright - but the Ocsars out of Sinkuliwang managed to miss every time in about five raids - and his ships pretty much have escaped around the tip of New Guinea now. 3 river craft units were hit at the mouth of the Irrawaddy by Ki-21s out of Thailand - none close to sinking. Otherwise the JNAF failed to strike - not enough tracking data I guess for long range strikes.

A heavy group bombarded Kuantan - killing 3 Buffalos - and a medium group bombarded Rabaul - doing moderate damage.

We are still in the approach to combat at Rabaul and Port Moresby.

But SW of Kota, two brigades were sent packing with a vengeance.

In China three attacks on guerilla regiments produced casualties - but no movement or wipe outs. China is almost a stalemate theater - and that seems right. It will only pay if one gets its economy functioning - either side.

[el cid again]

Aside from various naval bombardments, the turn begins with the first sinking of a Japanese sunk by enemy action: a fleet boat up in the Ryuku's - near Okinawa - torpedoed and sank an AK - in spite of a dud 2 other torpedoes went off - and while it is not reported as sunk in the combat reports - it sank almost immediately.

The really big deal event of the day was that Wuchang/Wuhan fell - the first time it has ever fallen I have seen - and a major achievement - it can be fortified - it generates supplies - and it helps set up Central China LOC. Only a single hex of the main line - and only one hex of the secondary lines runing to Nanking laterally - are still contested by enemy units. In addition, a guerilla unit surrendered. We are moving on those two remainng LOC hexes - and waiting to build up supplies and move in more units to try to trap the armies (corps) in SE China after that.
A drive out of Hanoi cought up with a guerilla unit for the second time - and we will attack it tomorrow - no doubt driving it back again. We will take the coastal towns - then drive on Nanning.

Canton is out of supplies - I failed to turn repair off and this is a bad thing - and Hong Kong must wait a few days.

The exciting events of the day were near Port Moresby. A single weak company took a second day of battalion assault - without being demoralized - never mind taking casualties. The First Airborne are really the tip of the spear - they not only take undefended hexes (their real job) they defend them. I did help with an air strike on the enemy unit.

Tanaka picked up a battalion of naval troops at Kavieng yesterday - and is half way to Kappa Kappa with them. They cannot arrive tomorrow - he is short of fuel - but he decided to get there anyway: detaching all but one destoryer he will try a full speed run - and bombard the hex. He can unload the day after that - and his destroyers should catch up with him by then too. One day after that the SNLF tasked for Thursday Island should arrive - diverted - after going down the backside of New Guinea and bypassing their objective. Tanaka has four CA and 4 DD - and a half size force of 2 CA and 4 DD is only two days out from Rabaul to back him op. A tanker is one day out, another two days out - and otherwise we found a Combined SNLF and a Tank Regiment able to divert in case the South Seas Detachment is not up to the job. More likely they will continue on from Port Moresby to capture Thursday Island (with the SNLF originally assigned) - and then maybe we try for Darwin or Ambon.

A tanker and I think Lapwing escaped from Guam - unusual - and are approaching Wake from the West. Kiddo Butai is approaching Wake from the East - both on the same line of longitude. I expect these ships will not make it. But to insure we track them I sent back a squadron of Mavis flying boats - operating out of Wake from an AV - since there is no aviation support there per se.

Bases are coming up fast in Thailand - and ships in Rangoon and the mouth of the Irrawaddy next to it are taking horrible losses. Rangoon is down for air - but AVG is there - and we keep killing its planes on the ground - probably easier than it would be in the sky. I have to keep rotating bomber units - because they get demoralized.

Troops have begun to walk to Brunei from Mili - and Mili is up for defensive air - under its own Ki-43 squadron. We will use Brunei as a forward offensive base - and source of fuel and oil. Sinkawang is recovering from air strike damage - no more air strikes are coming in - and it can become a good base after we get some supplies to it. Right now it is being supplied by air - out of Bien Hua - so the airlift does not impact offensive air operations out of Saigon or Soc Trang.

[el cid again]

Today was breathtaking at Kappa Kappa:

Yet another battalion assault by one of the Aussie mobile special units caused the weak combat team of the 1st Airborne SNLF to retreat in good order up the Kappa Kappa trail to Joure - where they met three times their number from their own unit - and they passed members of the 2nd Airborn SNLF marching the other direction along the way. A different naval landing party - bigger than either - is marching in down the Kokota Trail. But the dramatic event was that, as the day ended, Adm Tanaka (the best Japanese commander) managed to arrive - not in time to do anything - but he has four fine heavy cruisers and another naval battalion embarked. He could bombard - but will land the troops first - and his escorts are close enough to do the same thing - and they have the rest of the battalion: this puts a battalion ashore on the position tomorrow - able to attack the day after that - on which occasion Tanaka will use his big guns to most effect - and be stronger having combined with his destroyer division again. On THAT day the Thursday Island force will arrive with a proper SNLF - with artillery - and about two days after that most of the rest of the South Seas Detachment will arrive - with 2 more CA and another destroyer division. The fight for Kappa Kappa may have served a good purpose - if it caused any fatigue or casualties - and this fight is not by any means over. Recon indicates no enemy ships nearby -- except Adelade which sank from flooding (apparently).

The armor cought up with the enemy in central Malaya, but we will wait a day for 5th Division to catch up. We also need to move on Taiping on the coast - so for a change no attacks at all in Malaya - and planes are set to recon and ship hunting. In Burma there is a positive slaughter of ships in port and at sea - all near Rangoon - enough to make me wonder why they were there. The AVG is pinned still in Rangoon - maybe they were to take it out by AK??? We keep pounding it to keep the airfield down - easier to kill them on the ground - and we will bomb the port again - to sink the presumably damaged 8 ships already in it.

On Luzon I am afraid to attack at Baguio until the entire 48th division is there - and I am sending lots of artillery and a tank regiment to back it up. This is mountains - and while I don't think it can be taken - I want to be sure. In the South we divided 16th division to send a regiment to the hex East of Manila - the historical landing point for this unit - and drive out the one unit there. The purpose is mainly that we want every possible hex generating local supplies - and no enemy units in a position to cut our LOC by a flanking move. Basically this also is a theater in movement to the next attacks - likely tomorrow or the next day.

I have ran into another of those Chinese guerilla regiments that won't surrender or retreat - so I brought in Gen Ichii's Unit 731 biological bombers - to see what they do to infantry? [The Uji bomb is optimized for soft targets - this is a test of it] Otherwise we are also in movement here - and moving/building supplies - with air power stood down or bombing that pesky guerilla band - which will die because it cannot retreat - if only we persuade them convincingly enough. [This being the third such unit in this game - and never have I met one otherwise - I wonder if Scot has some sort of magic inspiration? I guess he could be picking good leaders.]

The Kiddo Butai met the tankers and refueled - and is in fine shape. I don't know what to do - the tanker from Guam - with escort - probably USS Lapwing - has disapperared. I have flying boat recon too. It must be bound NE to the open North Pacific - so I decided to sail NW on a path that might put KB recon in front of it. This is my style of warfare - hunt merchant ships with airplanes, submarines and warships - especially tankers. These are fights one always wins - and they matter logistically - a sunk ship early in the war cannot carry all the cargos it would have done if you let it go. I wonder if we should go back to PH and hit those damaged ships again? Or try to catch some at sea headed to San Francisco? No evidence (via subs) this is happening yet - but it should - soon.

[el cid again]

It was a heartbreaking day for both sides at Kappa Kappa.

Both the cruiser division and the escort division of Adm Tanaka's force delivered troops over the beach - but they turned out not to be a naval infantry unit - and cannot attack (except by bombardment). Worse - both divisions had been set to Kappa Kappa as a home port - so they would not try to leave - but when it was captured - the home port changed - and so both bounced away. So they are not in position to do a double bombardment as planned - and may not even be able to do one bombardment.

During the day - a strong air strike came in out of Port Moresby - he reinforced with bombers - 56 are reported there but most did not fly -
and they managed to miss Nagara in two attacks. But even though the two Tanaka divisions left the scene - and are not in a position to raid PM (which Scot said he feared) - yet another Japanese force showed up: the Thursday Island raiders - on two transports, two destroyers and another light cruiser. This unit IS naval infantry and will land tomorrow - and it will unusually not be penalized for lack of support - since the support is already ashore. If he attacks - he may get hurt.

Needing more troops to counter arriving enemy forces, Scot tried to run in a small convoy of an AP (Karoomba or something like that) and an escort. Somehow the escort failed to do its job - or even try - and it is reporting as a CA (which he says it is not) - but a submarine at PM emptied its tubes - putting 3 fish into the AP - sinking it outright - and killing its captain and the entire unit on board (no doubt a battalion of troops on which scarce political points had been invested).

Japanese bombers are too demoralized to make effective attacks - and so we will only use the best unit to attack the troops at Kappa Kappa - and ignore the Port Moresby airfields. We shuld be able to hit them with cruisers in a couple of days. Ships strung out from Rabaul and Kavieng to Port Moresby are reorganizing themselves - and they contain supplies, fuel, the entire 144th regimental combat team AKA South Seas Detachment - and the rest of the support element already at Kappa Kappa. A weak airborne unit is marching in from Joure. A small naval landing force is marching in from Kokota. Other ships are en route to Lae to pick up another SNLF - and a combined SNLF and tank regiment are most of the way to Rabaul from Palau - in case more is required.

There is no defense of Taiping in Malaya - but we must stop to capture it - and there is no defense between it and Kuala Lumpur - which is strongly held by 11 units. In the central pennensula there are 7 units - and while motorized armore and HQ have reached them - they are afraid to attack. 5 th division is strung out all the way to Singora - and we need another day for enough of it to reach the front to attack. Many ships are sighted in the Malacca Strait - so planes are sent to ship hunting - and two units of fresh Ki-48s moved to Kota Bahru to back up a unit of Ki-51s at Alor Star. The small bombs on these planes will badly hurt unarmored ships - and there are so many the chance of a hit is high.

In Malaya the slaughter of many ships near Rangoon continued - but airfield damage fell below 50 per cent - so the AVG can fly again. Our bomers are too tired to be effective - and 1/4 are damaged. So all three Ki-21 units are standing down - and we will engage AVG with Ki-41 sweeps - two of them (one large, one small). The naval bombers are too demoralized - so one went over to search - one went to Cam Rahn to rest - and the best unit on the board transferred in to Bangkok - to torpedo at least some of the ships at sea - either in Malacca Strait or in the Bay of Bengal.


China is still in reorganization and movement - and only one guerilla regiment will be attacked - with strong air support - tomorrow. We took a lot of casualties today - one must have supplies, air support and high morale - and a good force ratio - or one gets hurt in China. We are bringing in supplies by ship - and moving some units back to the coast to feed of supply sources. There will be an offensive to complete the main north south rail line - to reduce two pockets of guerillas - and to trap and isolate the forces in SE China - but it will be a deliberate one - focused on isolation and cutting LOC. We also will try to reduce enemy air bases forward to the point they are combat ineffective: none of their bombers hit anything today - they came tiny numbers - the way we like them.

The Philippines is still in movement as well - but we did land at Tacloban today and will attack it tomorrow. Battleships and more units are en route to the SE arm of Luzon - and 48th division is still trying to link up its separated parts at Baguio. No attacks tomorrow except at Tacloban.
Cayagan is becoming a strong air base - and Jolo a good logistic base.

[el cid again]

In the hot Kappa Kappa area, our Thursday Island Force (an SNLF) landed without incident at that location - and it attacks today supported by a naval station force. The cruisers of Tanaka did manage a bombardment - and tomorow two cruiser groups will do this. We also did a bomber raid - and learned the opfor is the New Guinea Voluntter Regiment. Not sure how that can be - since I see it by Lae - maybe that is a fragment?
The South Seas Detachment main body is about two days out. I have dispatched ships to pick up the SNLF at Lae and already sent another NGF from Kavieng. There is a combined SNLF and a tank regiment about five days out. We are going to take Kappa Kappa, then Port Moresby - and then Thursday Island. Rabaul is coming up nicely as a forward base - and in about two days we will commense air operations from Buna/Dobradura.

Our bomber squadrons at Truk were too demoralized to raid Port Moresby with effect - and contented themselves with making life miserable for the enemy at Kappa Kappa. The fighters at Rabaul can cover convoys most of the way - but not at Kappa Kappa itself (we need Lae up for that) - so we had to take half a dozen air strikes by the over 50 bombers at PM - but none scored at all. It is exciting watching the water splash though.

In Malaya Taiping fell without a fight - as expected - but some kind of transpot force was there - loading? - and three ships were so badly damaged by bombs they are likely to be sinking. We need another day to move forward to engage at Kuala Lumpur,
Kuantan and the rail junction North of Singapore - where seven units await us. We launch the first attack on Clark/Angeles City/Balinta Pass tomorrow. We need more time to get ready for attacks in China - one guerilla regiment excepted.

Both Guam and Nauru Island Fell - releasing air units and, in the latter case, two SNLFs and a stream of minor convoys, which reversed to consolodate back at Kwajalein - and we need to come up with another objective in that area.

Kiddo Butai failed to find the tanker from Guam - and is cutting due North on the West of Midway - and likely is being tracked. No trace of the carrier we did not see either - nor of any ships en route to or from US West Coast - or even between Panama and the West Coast. Sub recon is apparently able to miss traffic.


Attacks go in at Lamon Bay (East of Manila) and Tacloban (the third most important port in the Philippines, after Manila and Cebu) tomorrow, the former with heavy SAG and much air power in support. This will generage more supplies for the growing force on South Luzon. We need about two more days before we can try to reduce Baguio City- but at least we have shut down supply generation there - it is too strongly held to attack before the bulk of 48th Division comes in. Once Lamon Bay falls we will similarly shut down supply generation and manufacturing at Manila - by rotating in an element of 16th division - which may not work if he is strong enough to attack it - but so far his defense is passive on land - only air and naval attacks.

[el cid again]

The turn began with a sort of reverse raid on Balikpapan - four IJN destroyer minelayers tried to drop mines - and were surprised and ambushed by three divisions of Dutch PT boats. One was torpedoed and the raid was aborted. Two PT boat units took moderate shell damage.

Next Adm Tanaka's recombined cruiser destroyer force pounded Kappa Kappa - and Adm Ozawa's larger battleship force pounded Mouban Bay East of Manila. Both attacks were effective - in a tactical sense - and in operational effects - leading to land victories later in the turn.

The first air raid of the day was a strong one by tactical aircraft at Changsha, China - resulting in the loss of 3 biplane I-153s and moderate airfield damage in exchange for 1 Ki-51 dive bomber - a paltry result considering the size of the effort. The I-153s were remarkably effective at breaking up the raid - and did not give up too soon.

An even stronger raid came in at Rangoon next - and again a long fight by tired Allied fighters (both P-40s and Buffalos eventually ran) prevented a lot of hits or damage - one Ki-21 was lost for 4 fighers. Yet in spite of this poor showing, airfield damage is now reported at 61 per cent - and I am not sure why?


Both sides hit enemy ground units at Kappa Kappa - and Japanese bombers hit the bomber base (it has no fighters still) at Port Moresby - all with moderate effect. The bombers on both sides are too tired. Allied bombers failed to hit any ships, and Japanese bombers were not even allowed to try to hit Allied ships.

Japanese bw bombs from Ki-36s were fairly effective. They have a trapped guerilla unit for the test. They were not a "mace weapon" in PLA terminology - not superman pieces - which was my design intent. Just slightly more damaging to a soft target than regular bombs - and not effective at all vs a hard target.

Many air strikes hit a Philippine division - newly reinforced by artillery - at Mauban bay - most with modest effect - but the cumulative effect of this and battleship bombardment was apparently what I intended. The land attack by a single RCT of 16th division drove both from the hex later in the turn. Scot turned the tables here - and sent 7 units from Manila to Lucena - SE of it - where now only 2/3 of 16th division sits - and it threatens to isolate the Mauban Bay position LOC. We shifted air bombardment to this hex - and moved the battleships to Legaspi - from which they can hit Lucena in two days.

A long air battle occurred over Singapore - with vastly outnumbered Buffalos performing very well - losing 4 but killing 2 - and not much damage was done otherwise. Why the Buffalos were effective is a mystery - but it may be they had altitude. Scot may have studied my attack profile and tried to come in above the fighters. But it failed to get him any bombers - which unusually came in high this time - to avoid Flak - not fighters - but it worked. The bombers were not cut up at all.

Japanese reinforcements and supplies reached Sinkawang - and Allied bombers responded with two strong raids - which were stopped by the Ki-41s in effective cover.

Late in the day a reinforcement cruiser destroyer group (2 CA, 1 CL, 4 DD) bombarded Kappa Kappa again. It didn't hurt. A single SNLF attacking on the first day after landing (this is the Thursday Island raiding force) took the place - about three days after the airborne lost it - and immediately began to march on Port Moresby. Not to take it - but it will arrive second - after a battalion coming in from Kokota - and it will prevent supply generation, weaken the enemy and generate good intel reports. The South Seas Regiment will land in force in about two days - and march in behind it - to administer the coup de grace.

The Philippine army battalion at Tacloban retreated after the very first attack by an SNLF which is not as strong - and which is weak in support - in spite of a lack of air bombardment or naval gunfire support.

An attack at Hong Kong reduced fortifications to zero for the first time - and casualties indicate the enemy is weakening. We need to wait two days to recover morale and land supplies - but the next attack should be the last one.

Both axis of advance in Malaya are still bringing up infantry - and both are strongly opposed - 11 units at Kuala Lumpur - 7 in the middile of the pennensula. Air power is devoted to hitting enemy air bases again tomorrow.

A Dutch sub was damaged by an ASW group near Miri - and strong forces to reduce Brunei were finally dispatched to it from Indochina. Forces at Kuching are recovering - and the CVE group there went to cover another wave of reinforcements (the rest of 4th Regiment) coming in from Saigon. During the day Claudes from a single CVE repelled three air strikes - often completely discouraging the raiders - but always preventing their being effective.

Finally, KB found its missing two ships - we think. Two ships appeared at Midway - they got behind us. We try to engage them - and Midway - tomorrow. We think this is a tanker and USS Lapwing out of Guam - the first ever to escape Guam I have seen.

Allied flying statistics are down - about 2400 sortees vs my 2700. Overall air losses to all causes are about 2:1 in favor of Japan.
In the air it is almost 10:1. On the ground it is 70:1. But we lose a lot more to flak - we attack into it more often - and we lose many times more to attrition. I cannot explan the dip in Allied air ops - particularly as so many of their ops are pretty effective. Maybe he has learned ONLY to fly with good morale.

[el cid again]

The day seemed to begin good - with a successful torpedo attack in the Sunda Strait by RO-34 and a successful pair of ASW attacks at Sinkawang - scoring 4 hits. It didn't look so good when Ro-33 took 5 hits at Tabaoli - and then sank.

A large air strike at Malacca took down the air base - but all enemy aircraft seem to have been moved - and none were destroyed. A much smaller raid (12 Nells escorted by 28 Zeros) did far better: 6 Buffalos in the sky and 1 Blenheim on the ground.

KB launched a major strike entirely composed of Vals vs Midway - and took it down including 5 Vindicators and 4 Catalinas - but the tanker and her escort - or whatever the two ships were we spotted yesterday - disappeared. [The RHS rule limiting air search range seems to be working well - we do not let small numbers of planes search vast areas] We will drop SE - then return to Wake to refuel. The tanker force is dropping 5/6 of its fuel at Wake.

3 air strikes at Kappa Kappa out of Port Moresby failed to score. I had to rotate in a bomber unit - and we only have it 20 per cent damaged -
but tomorrow we should be able to transfer Zeros to Buna - and cover the landing site. One battalion of the South Seas Detachment landed today and the rest will follow in 2 or 3 days. A Combined SNLF is about to arrive at Rabaul - as is a Tank Regiment - and it appears we will win this fight in a week or ten days. I plan to move on Westward to Thursday Island while units in this area develope selected bases. By then KB will be around to add some muscle.

2 air strikes out of Sinkawang at 4 ships at Pontianak - 3 ML and a PG - sankd 3 outright and put many 30 kg bombs into the fourth - which likely will burn or flood out. This first truly effective air attack out of Sinkawang occurred because Hosho was covering the landing of troops - and its bombers did most of the damage: the 41 Ki-41s did their part as well however - both supported by a Ki-15 recon unit to detect targets. Two enemy subs are here - but one was badly mauled and the other kept its head down. We finally have significant supplies here - but it is not yet a really effective base.

I began loading 4th division - newly landed at Singapore - to invest Kuching - and created a surface group from undamaged warships to support it - in about 4 or 5 days we will land there. About that time we may have marched overland to Brunei from Miri.

In Malaya 5th Division stalled - losing all its march when a fragment cought up with it from behind on the LOC. The rest of the central drive force will attack 7 units tomorrow anyway - with strong air support from all directions. The first attack - not supported - will go in at Kuala Lumpur - vs 11 units - and that likely will not work well - but this is a test to find out. A fresh division should join the fray tomorrow - and I intend to use my "semi continuous pressure" technique to see how well it works vs a large sink?

Kingfishers operating out of Masbate (the Visaya's or central Philippines) and Walrus at Hong Kong managed to attack - without effect - but still aggressive play for them to be forward and ordered to engage so far into the campaign.

Two deliberate attacks in Central China failed. One - vs 5 guerilla units driven back from East China - will be repeated tomorrow - with lots of air support. When this pocket collapses they will die (for a whole 30 days I think). The other - directly West of them - vs 3 field armies - should be short of supply - but we are still achieving 0 to 1 odds - and I wonder if it sucks supplies without a LOC from adjacent units? It is the very last hex held on the N-S rail line - and we will stay at it until we have it. But we must back off and restore morale and gather supplies. Supply limits offensive ops in China- and attacks without supplies seem ineffective - so we move units and air units back - or leave them inactive - and only attack with good morale and supply. Having secured Wuhan (for the first time in any game) and an E-W road/rail net - we are not doing too badly with this approach - but the SE pocket has not collapsed as expected - and I am unable to explain that given the lack of supply to the dozen ROC units in the area. Nor can we attack in Hong kong until more supplies arrive - by ship.

[el cid again]

This was not a good day for Imperial forces. It began with USS Salmon - one of a whole squadron of submarines operaing off the coast of Honshu - attacking and sinking a Japanese frigate (Fuyo) - a ship part of the only "powerful" ASW force out hunting subs in this area. NONE of the Japanese vessels even detected Salmon - even after she attacked. This is not a good sign - although these vessels will improve with experience.

We did manage to destroy 2 I-153 biplane fighters at Changsha - but the battle between 26 Claudes and only 5 of these ancient Russian biplanes did not pay the dividends one might have expected - and this was one of the few "bright spots" of the day. Another was a strong pair air attacks on Rangoon by Sallys and Oscars - bagging five enemy fighters - for the loss of one bomber - and that to FLAK rather than to enemy air power (because they cannot fly - we are killing them on the ground - and we raid daily to keep the airfield closed). AVG is trapped here - along with some British formation of Buffalos. The daily raid on Singapore by Zeros only got three Buffalos for the loss of one Zero - these Allied fighters continue to do better than I like - but I can live with a 3:1 loss ratio.

A minor bit of bad news was the KB failed to find the two ships it is hunting - it is certainly identified as near Midway - and an air strike there lost 7 Vals to Flak - bagging no planes. We seem to have killed them all - there is no longer an aircraft symbol there today - so there was no danger and no need to hit the base. I did decide to invade it - and began loading units at Kwajalein to do so - in a week or so. Meanwhile KB must retire, refuel and rebuild air groups. This we will do at Wake - where tankers are offloading fuel.

The daily raid on Port Moresby was almost combat ineffective - only 1 hit - in spite of still no fighter opposition. Our bomber units in the area are all too demoralized to be effective. This is bad - a submarine at PM torpedoed the French super destroyer Le Triumphant - and spotted a division of warships led by CL Adelade. Air recon spoted five or six task groups with a total of nearly twenty ships - very bad news. It also spotted a new (unidentified) ground unit - likely a combat battalion. But the presence of AKs means he has managed to run in supplies - and the presence of soem warships means a raid on Kappa Kappa (and its vulnerable transports) is likely. Worst of all - it means the enemy has not given up on keeping Port Moresby - and means to fight - and is in a position to do so just as our forces are approaching their worst moment in terms of being strung out and without air cover. It will be another day at least before Buna becomes an airfield - and likely two: air suppot will arrive tomorrow but need another day to offload - and engineers need at least a day and likely two days to get the runway up. All bomber units and both fighter units in the area are below acceptable morale levels as well. Not the ideal time to fight a battle.

Nevertheless, we are going to proceed and attack by land, sea and air. Tanaka is in position - stronger than ever before - having swapped the best ships from two cruiser destroyer forces and refueled - and he will run in on PM in surface combat mode - retiring to Kappa Kappa to engage any serious opposition that goes there. Almost half the transports, a pair of minesweepers and a pair of sub chasers have stopped unloading - they are nearly empty - and left KK for Rabaul. With them will go a large AK with over 7000 tons of supply - it should not be here - but we were desperate to get supplies forward and this LOC ship was pressed. She and her cargo are too valuable to risk - and Rabaul needs supplies. The commander of the Nanyo (South Seas) detachment - aboard the ships in harbor - is unwilling to leave - most of his regiment is ashore and already marching on PM - and he is resolved to offload as much as possible: he reasons that running only risks being sunk anyway. Three minesweepers with tiny elements of his formation will also run in during the night as fast transports - so the Regiment will be stronger tomorrow in any case - no matter what happens. Probably strong enough to win - given it will reach PM third - after two battalions of naval troops - ahead of it in terms of time - marching in by jungle trails. Still other ships have diverted from Rabaul as a destination to KK - bringing in a Combined SNLF and a Tank Regiment (battalion) - and so if a reinforcement is required - it should be available. If not needed - they will insure we can go on to take Thursday Island.

Air power was a problem. The main air power in the area is air transports - 3 squadrons of L3Y - 1 of L2D - 2 of Mavis flying boats (one civil only able to run things into Rabaul) - supplimented sometimes by Mavis patrol units or even bombers. Only one squadron of Kates (land based) is in good shape - and it is out of range - even based on Rabaul. There is no way to get carriers here in time to matter. So I transferred in a unit of Ki-49s (not yet operational) - which were supposed to be recon/search planes only - and assigned them to naval air strikes. They should be dangerous to AKs and small warships. But one of these rare planes NOT in production was lost in the transfer in. And there are only 18 of them in this squadron - not likely to be decisive. Yet they join six submarines and a major cruiser destroyer group in being anti ship units - and I think this will be sufficient to gain sea control in a day or two.

Many air strikes went in with effect from China to Malaya to the Philippines - and battleships hit Lucena near Manila - not that any of this was decisive in the days ground combat. Allied naval air attacks in many places failed to hit anything, and the only Japanese naval air strike - out of Bangkok - hit two barge groups near the mouth of the Irrawaddy up in Burma.

Intel reported aircraft at Memborau SW of Manila - on an island - and we landed there. A screw up put only a tiny fraction of the SNLF ashort - but there is NO enemy present - except planes - something I cannot explain unless they were abandoned. We will attack it tomorrow - and bring in the rest of the "lost" SNLF the day after that.

IJA ground attacks were uniformly unsuccessful - causing no surrenders or retreats - and offering poor exchange rates - the best was even. A rare shock attack at Baguio was a disaster. [This was a deliberate "mistake" - to test if the mountains work - and work they do. I wanted to be sure that a strong attack by heavily reinforced 48th division would not work - as it usually does in the flatlands on Luzon. IT does not - and we decided to bypass this position to reduce it later. 65th Brigade - reinforced - finally united as well at San Fernando - is marching on Linguyan.] This little experiment cost over 2500 Japanese casualties. The attacks in China will be weakening the enemy - and the attack in Central Malaya was made without a division present - it will succeed when it arrives. The attack on Kuala Lumpur could not succeed this time - but it is necessary to begin reducing the place - properly defended by 11 units - only one of them a supply sink. It will take a while to reduce this area. We are working up for effective ground attacks - some of them tomorrow.

[el cid again]

This day did not turn out much better than yesterday did - although there was no disaster like the (test) attack to proove the mountains at Baguio City work (boy do they work). It began with a series of actions involving Japanese submarines - and these were all bad. Two were failed attacks by submarines - one missed - one hit and failed to detonate. Two involved successful attacks on submarines - one of them almost certainly fatal (8 hits). On the other hand, there remains a strong patrol line South of the Home Islands - no one else is doing this in any other game - and why they can survive hundreds of ASW sortees every day is a mystery to me. They are not scoring - I route around them - but that still causes inefficiency and wastes supply points (on aircraft sortees).

A cruiser group bombarded Kuching for the first time - retiring to Miri to refuel. It will repeat the process in a day or two - and most of 4th Division is inbound to conquer the place. Other troops are landing at Pakhoi near Hainan Island, and 6 or 7 small units will march in by the coastal road tomorrow. Two units landed already - cutting supply production - and four fighter units are attacking the two units there - one of them a guerilla regiment we drove down the coast road (and therefore not very strong). A brigade attack drove a field army down the secondary rail line toward Nanning - and we do not seem to be having a lot of trouble with a shoestring offensive in South China (there is only one brigade, no divisions, and small change units conducting it - backed up by fighter planes - not bombers). Hong Kong has 0 fortifications and took sufficient losses - and the attackers were for a change not demoralized - so I think it will fall soon - possibly today. That will free up some bombers to join the assault on Packhoi - which is surprisingly hard to take - it is a supply source and the field army based there is usually at unusually high strength. This unit - like the SNLF marching on PM from Kappa Kappa - is planning for Thursday Island (a follow on operation).

The invasion force for Midway is still loading at Kwajalein - and the KB is still retiring on Wake - which is slowly picking up fuel from tankers. I wish I knew where Halsey was - and I assume he now has three carriers under command - probably out of PH. Since he knows I am near Midway - they COULD divert to the South - and cause trouble.



Attacks on Rangoon did damage, but got no planes. I failed to notice the runway was less than 50 per cent disabled - the enemy flew out the AVG and some Buffalos - and there are only two planes (presumably damaged) remaining. Since I ordered more attacks tomorrow - we won't get any planes then either. So far we have done well harvesting planes on the ground - and Rangoon was a good target - but no more. He seems to have put recon at Moulmein - and we have failed to target it - so we need to remember to shift targets tomorrow. The trek through the jungle is slow - but someday soon we will take that place.

Similarly, at Malacca, a large air attack went in - killing 3 (probably damaged) Vildebeeste on the ground - but the enemy air units had fled - and not much was harvested - including no fighters in the air - because they are all gone. Today we shift to targeting ground units in the center of the penninsula - and we will attack both there and at Kuala Lumpur - in both cases with a division not participating for morale reasons. We attack at KL because its supply state is horrible - and some units might flee or surrender - and because this is the path to a fast victory if they do not - they die faster when forced to fight (and consume supplies - which kills and disables squads). The disabled unit in the center is marching on Kuantan - to attempt to take it (giving us a forward air base and more supplies - we have problems with tactical aircraft range now - and supplies are low - as of course they should be - but not as low as I think they ought to be). Blenheims out of Singapore caused 10 casualties in 18th Division - a consistent enemy tactic. We are not taking down Singapore as an effective base with our moderate raids.

The daily sweep of Manila pitted 15 Zeros vs 16 P-26 and P-35 - for a fairly long and even fight - without loss to either side. I am demoralized!

Betty's did manage to devastate the 4th Burma Barge Group near the mouth of the Irrawaddy. This may be the bright spot in the day's air war.

The fight for the approaches to Port Moresby was full of unpleasant surprises. The feared enemy surface raid did not occur. The observed enemy landing at PM - subjected to a heavy surface raid by Tanaka - came up empty - the enemy fled the area - except six ships went to the town North of PM - and 2 land units appeared there. A Ki-49 raid - the first offensive action for the not yet in service type - ordered because it had the best moreale in the area - was a total disaster: 1 plane lost, no hits, 17 planes badly demoralized. [A lot like a new plane with teething troubles, but still not something I expected - and as it was the only anti-ship bomber unit on duty - not good news] Since the enemy (with about 20 ships) left PM - three subs there had nothing to shoot at - and all are in bad fuel state - so we will retire - one at a time - to Kappa Kappa to refuel - leave one at PM (I think he will run in by fast transport - marching 120 miles of trail takes too long) - and send one north to Karikau (or however you spell it). I sent a sub from Truk - this battle is not yet over and the subs will surely have a role (as when they got Le Triumphant yesterday).

There is worse: five transports got lost during the night (plausable IRL - there were no charts - USN fought the battle on National Geographic Maps) - and landed elements of Nanyo Detachment in the jungle. These will need another day to arrive. The command element DID land at Kappa Kappa - but stopped the march through the jungle when it did. I found yet another element on a withdrawing minelayer - and it needs two or three days to return to the village. Nanyo Detachment is substantially forward - with a couple thousand tons of supply - but it has made no progress marching - and a month of marching in jungle will not do it any good: maybe we should go in by sea after all? A tank regiment and an artillery unit are en route - and a CSNLF - the reserve - is diverting to hunt down the New Guinea Volunteer force at Finischhafen. We made an abortive landing there yesterday - but it was too weak - and we had to reload and need about three days to get the whole unit there.

The operational position is strong: he is afraid of Tanaka's cruisers, his bombers are combat ineffective, we got Zeros and recon up at Buna today for the first time - and we have adequate ground power building at Kappa Kappa. Fuel and supplies are coming in steadily (if not rapidly) - and the enemy was not able to land where he needed to - at PM - which shows only about 5000 troops. Buna will build faster now - Rabaul will become a better air base as well - and only an enemy carrier force could mess this up. Just as well - we have a score of tiny task groups strung out from PM to Rabaul.

In the Philippines we landed at Memborau and got two C-32 transports - probably a mistake - and we have two SNLFs moving around the central Visayas - mainly to gather supply/resource generating hexes. We are withdrawing from Mauban/Lemon Bay tomorrow - the LOC is cut - and I don't want a problem - and we have divided 48th Division into three parts - one to keep Baguio from producing - one to defend the Cayagan valley (a major supply generator) - and one to defend San Fernando. 65th brigade will probably reach Linguyan tomorrow - with lots of help - and we are dispatching tanks and artillery to back it up from Baguio as well. My usual strategy did not work - he defended Baguio (unlike all other players) - and I cannot take it economically unless it is isolated.

[el cid again]

Small naval landing forces from Taan (Hainan Island) continued to land at Pakhoi - joining half a dozen units that marched overland from Hanoi (one artillery unit is still marching). The combined force will conduct a general attack tomorrow - with lots of fighter air support - vs an enemy in a strong supply but otherwise hopeless situation. The attack is to suck supplies and morale from the enemy - and they have a retreat path - so they won't fight too hard for the place.

I-8 - already withdrawing due to damage (I withdraw subs at damage level 2) - was hit by a 6 destroyer ASW group and hit 8 times - but she should still make the fairly long haul back to Cam Rahn Bay (from the narrows between Borneo and Celebes.

The junks at Wenchow never sailed - so we are bombing them from Shanghai. Most of the ships at Hong Kong also never sailed - and all were scuttled when the city surrendered to today's attack. Hong Kong changes the situation in South China. Ground and air units needed to reduce it become available, supplies, fuel and industry are captured, and it combines with Canton to form a base/industry/resource complex. This frees some aircraft for other operations - and we are using them to attack an air base in Central China (combined with other aircraft out of Wuhan - which now it is controlled - is a major supply source).

The attacks (two of them) I should not have sent in at Rangoon hurt the runway again - and cost a Sally. We will shift to Moulmein - the only air base in range - and get "auxiliaries" (recon??) - rest some tired units - and otherwise hunt ships - with Bettys - in this area. RTAF is a problem - it sucks pilots and planes because I didn't do it right- but the costs and time involved are not that bad in terms of it should not be an instant and effective Japanese auxiliary. I have it building up at a base in central Cambodia and at Bangkok. One division is eating up "enemy" Thai hexes - so they will produce for us. This is partly a simulation of the hostility of Thailand and much of its armed forces to the idea of joining the Axis. But the national leader was a true Nazi type - racist (anti-Chinese in this case - not just anti-white - and the word for Caucasian has dirty implications) - expansionist (he annexed parts of Malaya, Burma and Cambodia - nationalist - he renamed the country and focused on military and military industrial development - but not democratic - he was at home with the Axis - and in fact he was the most successful Axis leader - and the only Fachista other than Franco to hold power in the 1950s.

The daily sweep of Manila yielded nothing. So did the daily Allied bomber raid out of Port Moresby into Kappa Kappa. In this area the enemy withdrew all naval units - there is a line of them running back to Australia- and we feel foolish for fearing them. He didn't want to fight at sea - just as he is unwilling to engage in fighter combat in this area - and we have never seen a sub here either. He intends to fight - delay really - on the ground - with supplies and small land units. The operational outcome apparently is foreordained. We consolodated many small ship formations and continued to start new ones into the stream to Truk, Rabaul, Buna and Kappa Kappa - all the way back to Japan. We moved more air units forward to Rabaul and Buna - and slowly but certainly the noose is tightening. The big threats remain theoretical: something like Force Z might appear - and so might a large Allied carrier force (3 or 4 CVs is possible - we have no idea where they are?)

KB ran short of fuel and slowed down - so the tankers are coming out to meet it. The Midway Invasion Force diverted to Wake - so it won't get there too soon.

An attack will go in at Kuala Lumpur - just on principle to suck supplies out of the 11 units there - this is a strong position - and we have sent another division to join the two already there. A smaller force faces 7 or 8 units in the middile - and it will attack with air support tomorrow. We hope to send them reeling - but they have assembled in force - had time to build up supplies and morale - and he is really fighting for the center of the country. This position is due E of KL - so there is a sort of front.

On Luzon he attacked AND TOOK Lucena in a very marginal 2:1 odds situation - we fell back on Naga - and we are evacuating Lemon Bay in favor of Naga as well. We are more interested in an attack down the traditional route in the North - and units finally are getting into position for this - after laniding in the wrong places and a failed test assault to insure Baguio is strong (it is that) - if defended (as he is defending it - it now is an air base as well as a strong land base - and very fortified). We continued to eat parts of the Visayas with 2 SNLFs.

A surprise in the Celebes Sea - a six ship SAG with Houston, Exeter and Marbelhead was spotted - and attacks by a Nell group decimated the Nell group !!! We have some high morale Bettys - and we decided to bring up Manado early - with Ki-21s, recon and fighters - no air support is there but we are sending some in by air and fast transport. We sent a SAG of our own there at high speed - and the Fast Transports include two more heavy cruisers. We hope to catch cripples retiring in surface battle. We think he intended to hit two transports unloading at Manado - and we have ordered ALL transports to open the range with this unexpected enemy force in what had become a quiet sector.