Dixie (J) vs Yava (A) This AAR has no name...

[dennishe]

Here is what I would do: I would definitively go for Java first. There is nothing that the allies can do at singapore, except for building up some fortresses that will cost him supplies. Keep bombing Singapore with your planes and artillery. Once Java has been taken, you bring in more troops and a lot of engineers to bring the fortresses down. For taking out these large bases like Manila and Singapore I always take my time. If you attack too often en too early your AV goes down fast en you're in big problems.
 

[Dixie]

[center]30th January 1942[/center]

THE BURMA FRONT
After yesterday's (too costly) dogfight over Mandalay the Zeroes stayed home today. I was expecting Yava to try a raid of some sort against Rangoon, and I was right. USAAF P-40 fighters were escorting an RAF Hudson on a recce mission expecting only light resistance, but a mixed force of Army Ki-43s and Navy A6Ms rose up to greet them. In a one sided 'fight' 9 P-40s were hacked down with another crashing on the way home for a loss of 1 Zero. The recce kite was also damaged by the AA defences around Rangoon.
To the north of Rangoon, Guards Division engaged the Brits in fighting. The demoralised Commonwealth troops did not put up a real fight and were pushed back to the NE of Rangoon. There are now three options open to the division:
1) March back to Rangoon and then NE to Mandalay
2) March N to Magwe or Akyab
3) March back to Rangoon and wait for reinforcements


MALAYA AND SINGAPORE
A quiet day in the peninsula. The air units are back to refusing to fly so nothing happened in the sky. The capitulation of the British Army outside of Singapore meant a quiet day for the IJA. The forces assigned to 25th Army are now all prepping for Singapore, these units will be the backbone of the final assault on the great fortress and should all be at 100% strength and preperation by the time the assault begins.
Two IJAAF dive-bomber units are now based at Mersing, I am hoping that these guys will have sufficient morale to actually fly tomorrow. By basing them at Mersing I am hoping to reduce ops losses for damaged bombers flying home from Singapore. I don't expect too much from these units in terms of tempo, after tomorrow they will be used alternately for 2-3 days at a time then the same period of rest.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
Bad weather meant that all of the missions planned for the Palembang based heavy bombers were cancelled today [:(] There hasn't been anything else to report in terms of action. Away from the front lines another brigade has arrived in Java and the NLF assigned to Maumere has boarded it's transportation for the invasion.
Shipping is gathering in Southern Borneo to take the rested 48th Div to Java, via the long way round North Borneo to avoid the swarms of Dutch bombers. By the time they get to Java the northern end of the island should be mine, along with the larger port facilities at Batavia.


NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMONS
The New Guinea campaign is nearing it's conclusion as Japanese troops waded ashore at Port Moresby. South Seas Det got ashore without too many casualties, the forces ashore already outnumber the Australians defending the capital with more to arrive soon in the shape of 21st Division. The only problem with the fall of Port Moresby will be that the Aussies will retreat into the jungle, when this happens I either have to leave them to die or spend ages trekking through the jungle to finish them off.


THE SOUTH PACIFIC
The first units for the upcoming operation against Fiji are on their way. The submarine scouts will set up a loose line east of Fiji with float plane transporting subs anchoring the two ends. Another sub will be operating south of Fiji with it's float plane.


CHINA
Things are mostly quiet on the mainland. Canton based dive-bomers struck at 52nd Corps causing a decent amount of casualties (163 troops + 2 guns lost) for no losses to themselves. The experience of combat has already been beneficial to the IJNAF dive-bomber school which has been moved here from the Home Islands. After less than a month of combat the average experience of the pilots has risen from the low 40s up to 63. Plans are afoot to move all of the IJNAF operational training units into China for combat blooding. The Navy's heavy bomber training school has also been involved over China, flying from their base in Japan has given the rookie pilots experience of combat and long range navigation over water, skills which will come in handy when they reach the front lines.


THE HOME ISLANDS
Not too much to report. To fill in the space I will list the major surface ships under repair around Japan.
BB Kongo, 41 sys
CA Ashigari, 63 sys
CL Nagara, 9 sys
CA Chokai, 6 sys
CA Atago, 2 sys
CA Maya, 31 sys
CL Kashii, 32 sys

[Dixie]

31st January - 1st February 1942

BURMA
Things were quiet in Malaya. USAAF B-17s raided Rangoon on the 31st, but damage was minor as were the casualties on both sides.


SINGAPORE
On the ground there is still not much happening. Army units have been moved into position to prevent any possibility of a British breakout. The air campaign is starting to build up, the first targets are the airfields in case the RAF moves back in then the port facilities in an effort to burn off supplies.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
The campaign against the Dutch continues to grind onwards. Another attack at Batavia achieved a ratio of 2:1 and reduced the fort level down to 2. Fighter sweeps over Java knocked down the few Dutch aircraft which tried to oppose them as well as shooting down a transport believed to be trying to fly supplies into the base.
The fall of Batavis would appear to be near at hand, and with it will come decent port and airfield facilities [:)]


NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMONS
The main event in this region during the past two days was the first assault on the Australian positions at Port Moresby. The attack easily forged past the first defensive lines (3:1 odds reduced forts to lvl 2).
An Allied convoy has been spotted at Portland Roads. The convoy is only small (3 ships), but it would appear that Yava is planning something on the NE Aussie coast....

[Dixie]

2nd February 1942

Updates have been a bit lax of late, sorry chaps [:(] This update will (hopefully) be a lot better than recent ones.

THE BURMA FRONT
Recent Actions
Since the attack on the fleeing Brits to the north of Rangoon there has been nothing much happening. The USAAF have not shown up over Rangoon since their drubbing vs the Zeroes.

Overview
This region is still lacking forces whilst the war rages further south. With most Allied resistance around Malaya subdued I am gathering transports in Japan to form a troop convoy which will bring one of the Malaya Army divisions over from China. At this point the most likely candidate is 33rd Div which has alredy started prepping for a future attack against Mandalay. 55th Div are currently on the Siam/Burma border (slowly) marching into Burma.
The main objective here in the medium term is to get some base forces in and build up some fighter bases in the Burmese jungle to protect my long supply lines on the route to Mandalay.
I am not sure whether a push along the coastal road to Akyab will be a worthwhile venture, any troops assigned to an offensive would have to trek along worse roads than heading to Mandalay, but they might not be expected there. This would only really work if Yava does not spot them, else he can rush reinforcements in via Chittagong where the roads are better.
Depending on the outcome of the South Pacific attacks there is the possibility of an attack by the KB in the region. Much like the historical Indian Ocean raid I would be aiming to blunt the threat of the RN for a while, in particular sinking some carriers would be helpful...


SINGAPORE
Recent Actions
Another attack today by the divebombers, and more heavy casualties. Today's target was Singapore Fortress which cost 4 a/c shot down by AA fire and 10 more damaged. At least all of the damaged planes returned home... One other raid went up against the Brits today with 13 G4M bombers striking Kalang airfield. Whilst there are currently no RAF aircraft based at Singapore hitting the airfield will a) discourage the Brits from moving aircraft in and b) eat up supplies through repair work. I think that tomorrow's raids would possibly be better served with the aircraft roles reversed, the dive-bombers may take less casualties against the airfields while the level bombers can hit the troops from a higher altitude.

Overview
This theatre is really just a waiting game now. The forces already in country are all prepping for Singapore and moving into position across the causeway. I intend to bomb the Brits (lots and lots) before moving in to attack. With any luck I can cause enough damage through bombing to make the eventual capture less bloody (for me at least). Currently this is scheduled for March/April time depending on progress on Java (and the Philippines).
There are currently 15 Brit units in Singers, so with proper interdiction their supplies should start to run low soon. Nothing much can get in by sea (I hope) due to the aerial blockade and there will be patrols of fighter planes over the city to stop aerial resupply.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
Recent Actions
On Java the battle for Batavia is continuing, today was a 'rest' day for the attacking units as they bombarded the Dutch positions. There was plenty of aerial action in the skies for both sides to watch. The IJNAF sent across two seperate raids, one from Sumatra and another from Borneo. The two raids caused heavy casualties on Mobiele Eenheid and among troops stationed around the airfield. In contrast the ABDA response came in smaller groups, both with and without fighter escort. In an annoying series of dogfights the escorting Allied fighters managed to (in the most part) protect their charges although at a cost to themselves. 10 out of 14 Allied fighters encountered over Java today were shot down or crashed after damage (a loss rate of 71% [X(]) for no loss to my own fighters.
Further south the slower paced campaign against the smaller islands is kicking off again as SNLF troops landed on the undefended island of Maumere. Whilst the island is of little strategic value taking it will give Yava something to think about as troops are drawing closer to Timor, his last major bastion outside of Java. Bombing raids have started to fly against the defenders here, in particular Koepang where is suspect the main defence to be situated. 46 bombers and 4 zeroes attacked the airfield and port facilities causing moderate damage, and some useful intel when it was revealed that a P-40E fighter was destroyed on the ground. Are they making a stand here, or just fleeing from Java? Or even heading into Java?

Overview
Things are progressing nicely here, on Java the Dutch are not puting up much resistance and Batavia should be mine (I hope inside of a week). I plan to continue alternating 'proper' attacks with 'rest' days of bombardents. Further NLF units and aviation support is moving to Java, along with 48th Div which is still boarding transport on Borneo. Taking Batavia would make their unloading quicker and therefore safer due to the larger port facilities.
To the south I am slowly preparing to attack Timor, the main problem is that the island is at the extreme range of my fighter cover and my carriers are all assigned to a bigger mission at the moment. The options are either 1) a slow advance which includes building one or more airfields to the north of Timor OR 2) a straight charge into battle and hope that the RAAF response from Northern Oz is limited. At the moment I am leaning towards 2 which has so far worked fairly well [:D]


THE PHILIPPINES
This has been a secondary consideration so far with troops assigned to taking the more valuable bases in the DEI. A few reinforcements have been trickling in slowly, but nothing over brigade size. This evidently given Yava the courage to mount a counter attack at Baguio. There are currently two American units there which are being held by the defending troops, but I am already outnembered and I expect more US forces to pitch up soon. Luckily I have another NLF a few days out which will disembark and march to aid there colleagues.
I do have one advantage over the Yanks here though, I have control of the air and I plan to use it. To this end there was a sizeable raid sent against the US forces. The 45th PS RCT was hit by a mix of LB and DB causing 200 casualties [8D] a few more days of this attrition should nullify the American threat at Baguio (I hope)


NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS
Recent Actions
A red letter day for the Japanese High Command and a dark one for the Aussies. Port Moresby has fallen after just two days of fighting! This outpost could prove vital in the coming months. I now have a base to strike at the Australian mainland, and Yava will have to give serious consideration to a potential mainland invasion (either North Oz or the East coast). More importantly it will delay his inevitable counter attack as he no longer has an unsinkable CV to use as a springboard. I can't remeber the exact losses I took but IIRC they were under 800 men which is a decent exchange. The Aussies have buggered off into the jungle to the east of Port Moresby along the Kokoda trail. I am expecting Java to march from here, probably east to Buna to try and take the base there. The other Australian base on New Guinea is at Wau where the former defenders of Lae are holed up, the campaign against this outpost should be swift once my guys finally arrive there.
There is still an Australian presence on the Bismarck Archipelago where the defenders of Kavieng are holding on in the jungle. Daily air raids by Rabaul based navy divebombers have ceased to cause casualties so I suspect that they are on their last legs. They are being (very slowly) persued by a Nav Gd unit, once they have been pushed back further (or destroyed) the Gd will move back to Kavieng.

Overview
This is another region where I have been pleased with progress. With Aussie resitance pretty much neutralised on New Guinea I can concentrate on the drive southwards. Port Moresby will be built up into a fortress in an effort to prevent an Allied counter landing in the future.
My foothold in the Solomons chain is growing as well, there are now airlfields at Buin and Lunga. There is already aviation support at Buin and a unit has been earmarked for basing at Lunga to support a torpedo bomber unit. Future offensives here will be limited as forces are mainly assigned to the Fiji operation.


CHINA
Recent Actions
Since the fall of Hong Kong things have slowed down in China. My bombers are still attacking the Chinese forces marching away from Canton and causing heavy casualties. The offensive in the north would appear to have stalled through a lack of forces...

Overview
With the capture of Hong Kong and the Chinese withdrawl from Canton I am at a loose end in China. The garrisson requirements are keeping me from mounting an all out offensive across the country and the Chinese hoard is well dug-in. Whilst I have control of the air, most of my units are short-legged divebombers and I don't want to expand too many airfields to support offensive ops as that just creates the need for more garrisson forces.
The only place where I feel that offensive ops can be sustained is the southern region, in particular the march against Wenchow. With four divisions under the command of 13th Army taking the last Chinese port in the area should be easy enough. At least one division will have to return to Shanghai to relieve the Burma divisions though.


THE SOUTH PACIFIC
For now things would appear to be all quiet. Long range naval searches have spotted nothing in the seas around Fiji to Canton Island. The main invasion force will be sailing in the next couple of days for the south seas. With the KB, battleships and three smaller carriers in direct support the island should fall quickly. I m hoping that Yava will react to this attack by sending his carriers to oppose me. If not then I will move eastwards to threaten the Line Islands which he has to defend to keep Oz in the fight.
The worst case scenario for me here is that Yava does not come out to play at all, in that case I am unsure whether it will be worth keeping the KB at Kwaj to block any potential attacks in the region.

Nips at the wire! Nips at the wire!
Pvt Bruce Wlliams,Australian Army, Fall of Port Moresby, 1st-2nd Feb 1942

[Dixie]

[center]3rd & 4th February 1942[/center]

Due to the combat replay sync bug these two days are being lumped together, luckily not much too much happened on the 3rd.

THE BURMA FRONT
The action here has recently been limited to small scale aerial skirmishes. British aircraft continue to recce Rangoon and escape from my fighter patrols. In return JNAF fighters have been sweeping along the Burmese coast as far as Akyab although they have not had any successes in recent days. 81st Recce Chutai have continued their sterling work in photographing the British bases along the road to Mandalay ready for the next offensive.


SINGAPORE
For the most part the action here as also been limited. The heavy bombers in Northern Malaya are not flying [:@] (the one exception being the JNAF Takao Daitai) An 22nd aviation HQ is being moved across to Malaya in an effort to install some discipline in the men.
To the south the divebombers based at Mersing are resting after 2 days of heavy losses over the Singapore airfields. Maybe they should be shifted to support the Burma advance.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
My troops are continuing to wear down the Dutch troops at Batavia, alternate days of attacks and bombardments in conjuction with heavy bombing have worn down the Dutch and Australian defenders and the forts are currently at level 2 with the last attack achieving odds of 2:1.
In the air the Allied fighters have been taking the brunt of the casualties as they have strived to keep Japanese fighters from attacking their charges. Losses for the outclassed Dutch and RAF aircraft are still hovering around the 60% mark, although the bombers are faring much better. In fact I can't actually remember the last time an Allied bomber was shot down over Java although several have been damaged [:(] Luckily their attacks against my troops have been poor, in the last two days casualties from bombing have totalled less than 100 troops. In comparison enemy casualties from a single raid today were 230 troops, if only the guys in Malaya would put this much effort in....

To the south I have now relocated the British Swordfish that evacuated Singapore, they are currently based on Timor. With Maumere captured the troops are back on board their transports and will be sailing away from torp range of the British bombers.


NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS
Forces here are still recovering from the brief campaign against the Aussie defenders of New Guinea. Efforts are being made to repair the port and airfield facilities at Port Moresby but progress has been slow so far. The Maizure 1st SNLF have completed their overland march to Wau and will shortly be joined by 8th NLF for their joint attack on the defenders of the town.
A big plus point was a brief action near the Australian coast at Portland Roads. After bried reports from patrol planes indicating that there were a pair of APD ships there the submarine RO-62 was sent to investigate. Instead the submarine found a once in a lifetime target in the form of the massive liner RMS Aquitania. An attack was carried out which resulted in the liner taking a torpedo which caused heavy damage. Yava now has to make the choice to either send her North where there are no repair facilities, or south where the IJN subs are blocking the route to safe ports.


THE SOUTH PACIFIC
The first intel reports are coming in from the Southern Pacific. Patrol aircraft based at Nukufetau have spotted an Allied cruiser and an unidentified escort steaming NE from Fiji towards their base. The 'planes and the seaplane tender that has been suporting them are moving north for a few days in case of bombardment.
The invasion fleets have left Truk for their final destinations. Three seperate forces are en route to Fiji, with another reserve force waiting in the Marshalls. The reserve force will set sail soon, should they be needed at Fiji then they will be thrown into the action or if the attack works as planned they will be directed towards Wallis Island.


THE PHILIPPINES
American forces are still trying to take back the base at Baguio but have yet to be comitted in sufficient numbers to achieve anything. Whilst this is annoying it has provided some good target practice for the bombers based nearby which have been hammering the US forces causing heavy casualties among the US troops.

[Dixie]

5th February 1942

THE BURMA FRONT

It was another quiet day in the jungle skies today. LTJG Nakajima and his wingman flew an offensive patrol along the Burmese coast. Near Akyab they engaged a group of 17 P-40E fighters and shot down one before making good their escape back to friendle territory.
On the ground Guards (2nd) Div continued their pursuit of the disorganised British troops fleeing towards Mandalay. They will advance as far as Meiktila before waiting for reinforcements for a big push towards Mandalay.
[center]

P-40E fighter shot down near Akyab[/center]


SINGAPORE

Nothing happening today [:(]


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES

Batavia has fallen! Despite the best efforts of RAF and Dutch bombers to support their beleagured ground forces the port city fell today after a brief but fierce battle. The Dutch engineers have done a good job of making the facilities unusable, the airfield facilities are a mixed bag, whilst most of the servicing facilities are OK (22 dmg) the defenders have rendered the grass runways unusable for now. Craters, wrecked vehicles and large stakes are littering the surface (99 dmg) and will take some time to clear away. The port facilities are also wrecked, the Dutch have destroyed all of the unloading facilities and the quays and entrance are choked with a dozen sunk and scuttled ships (99 dmg). My engineers are already working on repairs and more are incoming from Sumatra.
The aerial battles today were fairly tame compared to recent days with only a single Brewster being shot down over Batavia. Unfortunatly I lost 3 fighters when they returned to base with battle damage.

[center]
Pvt Tsuru, IJA 16th Div. Photo sent home to parents prior to the Battle of Batavia[/center]



NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS

I have lost contact with Aquitania, I assume she is heading north away from the immediate threat of my forces on New Guinea. Sinking her will be something of a propaganda victory so I will be shifting some Betties onto Ambon in an effort to take her out [;)]
There are now enough forces at Wau to mount my planned attack there, this should remove the last Australian held base from Yava's control, although I have yet to take Madang which has no formal defence.
127th IJNAF Base Force and a construction Bn have arrived at Port Moresby and will begin unloading. Their task is to get the airfield up and running as soon as possible, and expand it to suport Rikko operations.

THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Lt Kumugaya has been a busy man recently, as the pilot of the floatplane assigned to I-9 he has been flying daily patrols searching for Allied shipping that might hinder the forthcoming operations. As a result of these flights he has spotted three seperate convoys in the Pago Pago region although there have not been any warship sightings yet.
The KB and surface support groups are leaving Truk and will catch up with the invasion transports, they will shortly be followed by the fleet support train (5 repair ships, 4 ammo freighters, 1 sub tender, 1 destroyer depot ship, 8 oliers plus various freighters and tankers carrying supplies to get Fiji up and running as a base.


THE PHILLIPINES & CHINA

Nothing of interest has happened here.

[Dixie]

[center]6th February 1942[/center]

BURMA

Nine zeroes flew a sweep as far as Akyab today but failed to score any successes, perhaps the Americans were wary of engaging such a large force? Elsewhere things are still ticking over.


SINGAPORE

With the divebombers out of the fight for now it was up to the level bombers to take the fight to Singapore. As usual the heavy bombers didn't bother [:@], the air HQ cannot arrive at Alor Star. The unit of G4Ms is moving to Kota Bharu where it will pick up some replacement airframes and pilots before they move south to Sumatra and then onto Java.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES

Now that Batavia has fallen the Dutch and RAF seem to have ceased their attacks on my troop concentrations around the city. After a brief rest the Sumatra based bombers will resume their campaign against Java. The G4Ms will be targetting the troops around Bandoeng whilst the G3Ms will hit the airfield area.
In the Makassar Strait the freighter Kinrei Maru was sunk by a US submarine, whether it was due to a lack of shipping in the area or just plain luck I hadn't seen any subs for a while and I thought (hoped) that they had buggered off. In an effort to nullify the threat from submarines, especially against my valuable tanker convoys I am sending more escort ships to southern Borneo. Of particular note are the IJN APDs with an ASW value of 10! [X(] Even the Royal Navy doesn't have that, although the lower experience of my ships will limit the results.
The build-up towards the Timor invasion continues, Raba was 'captured' by a detachment of IJN marines who went ashore yesterday. The few Dutch civilian officials have been rounded up and held in the island's small prison. Against Timor itself there was some action as G4M bombers on Celebes hit the airfield and port facilities. Over the past week or so the raids have caused moderate damage to the airfield and port as well as sinking a Dutch patrol boat in the harbour. Fighter sweeps by Zeroes have also taken a small but steady toll of the Dutch fighters over the island.


NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS

Wau has fallen leaving only Madang under nominal Australian control, but only until I can be bothered to sort out an occupation force. The goals on New Guinea are to build up the airfields and forts at Port Moresby, Milne Bay, Dobadura, Lae, Wewak, Hollandia and the Admiralty Islands. If I can build up a sufficient network of airfields on New Guinea it will make taking them back that much more costly for Yava should he decide to to so.
Truk is also being expanded, in particular the shore facilities. When the work is finished the base will be able to support pretty much every type of vessel in the Navy, although a repair facility would be nice...


THE SOUTH PACIFIC

More developments today as the surface TF that was spotted two days ago turned up at Nukufetau for a bombardment attack. The force consisted of most of the RAN main battle fleet, Canberra, Australia and Perth were in the bombardment force (how the island managed to I.D. these ships is a mystery) and I expect I will face them again at Fiji.

[Dixie]

[center]7th & 8th February 1942[/center]

THE BURMA FRONT

Guards 2nd Division have been carrying on with their advance towards Meiktila. As part of the advance they again engaged British troops on the road, sending them scurrying for safety once again. Lead elements of the division are now just 60 miles from the major resource centre of Meiktila. The fighting ability of the remaining British troops has been reduced to almost nothing, so capture of Meiktila itself should not be a problem.
Aerial activity has been scarce for the last two days. USAAF heavy bombers attacked the Gd Div on the 7th causing a few casualties, but they did not return today. My Rangoon based fighters have been resting up, and will resume offensive patrols along the Burmese coast in order to keep the Allied air forces occupied.



SINGAPORE

Things are looking up here now, the air offensive is beginning to pick up. The Army heavy bombers are still variable in their efforts often refusing to fly, but the light bombers have been performing better. Despite taking some moderate casualties on the 7th the 75th, 89th & 90th Sentais sent up another raid against Singapore today (the 8th). This time the attack was more succesful and although 1 aircraft was shot down by flak heavy casualties were caused among the British troops at Kallang Airfield.
Something that is bugging me is the fact that my bombers do not seem to carry out ground attack missions. It's not just the units based in Malaya, but also the ones at Palembang which should be attacking Dutch forces on Java. Any ideas on this? Lack of recon? Although Singers has been recced pretty well...
For the ground troops it's hurry up and wait. Plenty of drill and combat practice is being carried out, including mock river assaults. Whether this training will pay of or not is anyone's guess.


THE DUTCH EAST INDIES
With the Cloggies main force hiding out at Bandoeng my Sumatra based heavy bombers have been given orders to attack the base. The G3Ms have been directed to attack the airfield and the G4Ms have orders to attack troops. However, once again the G4M crews have let me down and they did nothing [:@] The Nell units though have excelled (no, not through spreadsheets) themselves today. 89 bombers escorted by 16 fighters attacked Bandoeng airfield. Two Dutch fighters were shot down by the escorts and five more aircraft (Vildebeest and CW-22) were destroyed on the ground and heavy damage was claimed on the airfield facilities.
The ground forces have been ordered to march out of Batavia and on to Bandoeng before Yava has chance to consolidate his forces there. The Java campaign will be concentrated along the Southern coastal route through Bandoeng down to Djokarta. I will have to leave a small garrison force at Batavia in case of an Allied counter attack though, probably an NLF and a base force/aviation unit. I am hoping to take Bandoeng AF in better condition than Batavia and I will move aviation support here ASAP.



THE PHILIPPINES

The US counter attack is still temporarily stalled at Baguio despite another attack by the American tanks. Although I am holding Yava here for now, should he commit much more in the way of AV I probably won't be able to hold on. More forces are being shipped into the island, but it could be close. If the troops can hold out long enough then 56th Bde is being shipped from the Home Islands after their help was not needed at Hong Kong. There is also the possibility of bringing one of the below strength divisions that took part in the HK assault in order to shore up the defence.
If the weather clears enough then the bombers based at San Fernando should prove decisive in keeping the Americans at bay....

[font="Courier New"]Ground combat at Baguio

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6242 troops, 24 guns, 190 vehicles, Assault Value = 134

Defending force 4004 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 111

Allied max assault: 131 - adjusted assault: 155

Japanese max defense: 103 - adjusted defense: 181

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)


Japanese ground losses:
415 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
124 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 4[/font]

NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS

Nothing to report here really. The rebuilding of Port Moresby continues, and D3A dive-bombers have been moved to Lae from Truk to harry the Australian troops on the trail north of the town.
The Vals based at Rabaul now have an experience of 83 after spending some time beating up the Aussies across the water on the Bismarck Archipelago.




THE SOUTH PACIFIC

After the RAN bombardment of Nukefetau I am again moving forces back to the island. The long range patrols by H8K Emilys will prove useful in the forthcoming invasions.
Yava has said that he is 99% certain of my next invasion, and he has also said he has narrowed it down to either Noumea, Fiji or Canton Island. Whether or not he will be right I will not know for another couple of weeks... Of course he could just be bluffing. The fact that things have gone quiet has also been noted by the enemy....



THE HOME ISLANDS

Air reinforcements are arriving soon [:)] The most important units are the Mavis and Helen groups. There are lots of Mavis' in the replen pool and plenty of Helens and Babs as well. I don't really like the Rufes, so these will not be seeing much action. Instead they will be staying in Japan to free up a 'proper' fighter unit for the front lines. Rufe production has been halted for now, I will build a few replacements and then shut off the factory again to conserve industry for useful 'planes.

[anarchyintheuk]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

[center]7th & 8th February 1942[/center]

THE BURMA FRONT

Something that is bugging me is the fact that my bombers do not seem to carry out ground attack missions. It's not just the units based in Malaya, but also the ones at Palembang which should be attacking Dutch forces on Java. Any ideas on this? Lack of recon? Although Singers has been recced pretty well...

Amount of recon and range to target are important. Did the max ranges for ground attack missions ever get changed? Thought they were 8 hexes for Japan, 6 for Allies.

BTW, great aar.

[Dino]

Something that is bugging me is the fact that my bombers do not seem to carry out ground attack missions. It's not just the units based in Malaya, but also the ones at Palembang which should be attacking Dutch forces on Java. Any ideas on this?

Not sure if this is the case here, but ground attack missions cannot be flown simultaneously with AF/port attack missions...i.e., if you order an airfield attack from base A on base B, then any concurrent ground attacks from A to B will be...well...grounded.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Dino

Something that is bugging me is the fact that my bombers do not seem to carry out ground attack missions. It's not just the units based in Malaya, but also the ones at Palembang which should be attacking Dutch forces on Java. Any ideas on this?

Not sure if this is the case here, but ground attack missions cannot be flown simultaneously with AF/port attack missions...i.e., if you order an airfield attack from base A on base B, then any concurrent ground attacks from A to B will be...well...grounded.

Wow, that's news to me! Taking notes.......

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: Dino

Something that is bugging me is the fact that my bombers do not seem to carry out ground attack missions. It's not just the units based in Malaya, but also the ones at Palembang which should be attacking Dutch forces on Java. Any ideas on this?

Not sure if this is the case here, but ground attack missions cannot be flown simultaneously with AF/port attack missions...i.e., if you order an airfield attack from base A on base B, then any concurrent ground attacks from A to B will be...well...grounded.

[X(][X(][X(] Now this explains something...

[Dino]

USSAmerica & Mistmatz

Yeah...I had the same reaction...[:D]

[Mike Solli]

Dixie, concerning your shortage of Bettys, you may want to take your chances and hope the unit arrives with Nells.  On the other hand, you can always convert one of your on map Betty Daitai/Chutai to Nells so you do have enough Bettys.  I've had problems with this in the past.  Japanese air reinforcements have arrived and drawn all the aircraft that were available in the pool and had an equal number of pilots.  I lost the difference in trained pilots!

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Dixie, concerning your shortage of Bettys, you may want to take your chances and hope the unit arrives with Nells. On the other hand, you can always convert one of your on map Betty Daitai/Chutai to Nells so you do have enough Bettys. I've had problems with this in the past. Japanese air reinforcements have arrived and drawn all the aircraft that were available in the pool and had an equal number of pilots. I lost the difference in trained pilots!

I may well do that. I have a unit that can be spared for a bit, I can't afford to lose any trained pilots...

To Dino, thanks for the thoughts. I'll have a look when I get my next turn back. I do believe that you are right though. Now that I think about it, the bases where my bombers are flying ground support (china & Philippines mostly)are those where there aren't any bombers on airfield attacks etc.

[Dino]

Mind you...you CAN have both missions flown from the same base, but not on the same target.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Dino

Mind you...you CAN have both missions flown from the same base, but not on the same target.

That apparently is the same from Air TFs too. I had KB attempting to hit the airfield and ground troops at Noumea in the Threadwar and only the airfield attacks occurred. [8|]

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Dino

Mind you...you CAN have both missions flown from the same base, but not on the same target.

Ohhhhhh, ok. [8D]