Rising Sun over the Rockies - F.K. vs OSO - Wake captured by US

[FeurerKrieg]

April 8th, 1942
I-165 dodged some depth charges near India.

Zeros flew a sweep over Dutch Harbor, and afterwards Jakes bombed the place. No hits were scored on any ships there though.
[center]
Air attacks on Dutch Harbor.[/center]

Noumea port facilities were finished and ships can now safely dock and undertake minor repairs. (size 3)

The small island south of Singapore, Singkep, was captured today. Vanau Levu, north of Suva, also was secured.

[FeurerKrieg]

April 9th, 1942
Scattered small scale air to ground attacks.

Artillery fire along most of the Chinese front. The Chinese attempted to break the siege of Sian, but were easily repulsed.
[center]
Chinese attack is repulsed.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

April 10th, 1942
I-156 misses a ship in the Indian Ocean.
[center][/center]


Chinese again attack at Sian, and are again repulsed.

Airfield expansions occur at Munda and Luganville.

[FeurerKrieg]

April 11th, 1942
Zeros and Jakes attack Dutch Harbor. No ships hits, but light damage to the port facilities there.

Our army at Sian takes advantage of the last two repelled attacks and launches an attack of their own. The attack goes very well, and the city is further reduced. (3 to 1 odds, forts 7 -> 6)

Our NLF 'raider' group reaches Coen on the Australian mainland and seized the town from the local citizens. They will now leave to the north, having achieved their goal of demoralizing the Australian citizens.
[center]
Japanese raiders terrorize the local population.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

April 12th, 1942
P-40B's sweep over Adak, but don't find our Zeros. They are on the way to sweep over Dutch Harbor where they meet a large group of P-39D Airacobras. The Zeros do well, even the new recruits in that group, and down 10 P-39Ds for the loss of 3 Zeros. After the fight, many of the rookies gained a great deal of experience that will help in future battles. (I was surprised to see several pilots gained 4-7 pts each just from this one fight.)
[center]
Air battle in the north.[/center]

Wau airfield expands, as well as Christmas Island. Christmas Island expansion is complete and can now support 2 engined torpedo bombers.

[Alikchi2]

Seems like a quiet few days, outside of the big battle in China. How is Sakura shaping up?

[FeurerKrieg]

Definitely the calm before the storm.

Game date is actually 5/1/42. OSO's PC died, so I'm using the break to get this AAR caught up. April was a pretty quiet month, outside of Burma and China.

Sakura moves along - all the piece are getting into place. KB is at Kwajelein repairing a bit, all the CVE,CVL and CS are at Rabaul doing the same. There hundreds of ships gathering at Truk, Rabaul and Kwaj. This is definitely the largest operation I've undertaken so far in any WITP game I've played.

[FeurerKrieg]

April 13th, 1942
Since it appears most enemy units have vacated Mandalay, we have decided to charge the river and attempt to take the city by force. To prepare for the assault, all available bombers and fighters in the area were ordered to pound the area today. An initial attack of 51 navy fighters and 134 army fighters escorted 78 two-engined Army bombers. This attack met minor resistance which our Oscars easily brushed aside. A short time later, 44 G5N Liz four-engined bombers also passed over Mandalay bombing the enemy airfields there. Overall, 4 Oscars, 2 Liz and 3 Sally planes were lost while 11 Hurricanes and 8 P-40E's were destroyed in the air and on the ground. Also, the Mandalay airfield appears heavily damaged.
[center]
Imperial air forces attack Mandalay. [/center]

Two army groups have been ordered to cross the river into Mandalay in 3-4 days, ideally the attacks will occur simultaneously for maximum effect.

Another assault on Sian continued to make progress. (1 to 1, forts 7 ->6)

The TK Imlay, damaged by Jakes at Dutch Harbor, was reported sunk at Kodiak Island.

Abemama airfield was expanded. (size 3)

[FeurerKrieg]

April 14th, 1942
Another large raid hit Mandalay, but all enemy aircraft had fled the area.

At Yenan, in China, our force attacked and pushed the defenders back into the city. (1 to 1, forts 8 -> 7) Baring any disasters at Sian, it is just a matter of time before Yenan falls. The city is surrounded, and more IJA forces are on the way.
[center]
The noose tightens at Yenan.[/center]

Southlands and Adak Island both had airfield expansions (size 2 and 3, respectively).

[FeurerKrieg]

April 15th, 1942
Zeros and Jakes attacked Dutch Harbor again today, but with results. AVD Mackinac was hit with a 100kg bomb and a large explosion was reported.
[center]
AVD Mackinac, hit at Dutch Harbor.[/center]

In China, half of the 18th Mixed Bge pushed back 3 depleted Chinese Corps under the 22nd group army. They will follow and continue to keep our flanks from Ichang and Sian secure.
[center]
Jungle warfare in China.[/center]

Suva airfield can now support 2 engined torpedo bombers and Tongatapu has a rudimentary airfield it can use for fighter defense. (size 4 and size 1, respectively.)

[FeurerKrieg]

April 16th, 1942
PG Sutlej hit a sub laid Type 88 Mine near Diamond Harbor and sinks.

The Army attacks Sian again, but falls to maintain momentum. At Yenan, another push does surprisingly well, perhaps the communists are running low on supplies. (2 to 1, forts 7 -> 6)

On Java, several Dutch units are finally captured. Approximately 1500 POWs are captured.
[center]
Dutch units are dissolved.[/center]

On Sumatra, the first combat flights of our newest bomber, the Ki-48-II "Lily" are launched against Dutch surviors in the jungle.
[center]
Trial attacks with the new Ki-48-II bombers.[/center]

[center]
Ki-48-II Lily[/center]

The Ki-48-II differed little from its predecessor, but it incorporated a slightly lengthened fuselage, improved engines (Nakajima Ha-115s with a two-stage blower), some fuel-tank protection, and some armour for the crew, including a 12.5mm plate behind the bombardier's seat, a 6.5mm plate under the pilot's seat, 16.5mm armour behind the pilot's seat, and 16.5mm plates to protect the dorsal and ventral ammunition boxes. Within two months of its first flight, the Ki-48-II entered production as the Ki-48-IIa. These production planes differed from the prototypes only in minor details, such as local strengthening of the fuselage. The maximum bomb-load of the Ki-48-II was double that of the -I

[FeurerKrieg]

April 17th, 1942
Our troops at Yenan and Sian both take a rest today.

In Burma, over 80,000 mean flooded across the river and easily routed the Chinese units stationed at Mandalay. Aside from a small base force, no British troops were present. Apparently the solidarity of the Allies only goes so far. Two divisions will drive up the road to Myitkina to clear the rail and capture the last remaining base of our original objectives. Then, we will distribute men, artillery and AA guns over the region to ensure base defense from air, sea and land. NLF units will act as scouts and remain in place in the jungle to provide early warning of any British invasions of Burma. Additional AA guns are already being prepared for shipment from Korea and will arrive in a few weeks.

[center]
The last significant resistance in Burma is washed away.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

April 18th, 1942
The Allied heavy bombers, quiet for a while now, attacked Meiktila today, bombing various food and material production centers. 2 Blenheim IVs and 1 Liberator were brought down with flak but the production areas still took significant damage.
[center]
Enemy bombers flying again.[/center]

In China, the 1st Yoki Eki Rgt and the 'C' bge of the 51st Div attacked Nanning. The city is surrounded and small units are posted at the river crossings to prevent any rescue attempts. This first attack went well. (1 to 1, forts 5 -> 4) Once Yenan is captured, some bombers will rebase to Canton and assist at Nanning.

In the north pacific, Zeros flew sweep over Umnak killing 3 P-39Ds for the loss of 3 of their own. They did their job of clearing the way for Nell bombers which came in afterwards and hit the airfield, destroying one P-40E on the ground.

[FeurerKrieg]

April 19th, 1942
Scattered air to ground strikes in Burma, but most action was in China today.

Our attack on Sian again moved forward. (1 to 1, forts 6 -> 5). And in an major surprise, the IJA troops at Yenan forces the surrender of the Communists defenders! 20,000 POWs were captured, including the Red Chinese Army HQ. Most of these troops will now move on to support the offensive against Sian. An attack at Nanning make little progress.
[center]
Yenan captured in a stunning surge of IJA strength.[/center]

Koumac airfield opened today as well.

[Alikchi2]

Mao is probably rotting away in a Manchurian prison now. [:D]

[FeurerKrieg]

April 20th, 1942
Mostly quiet today. Jakes and Zeros at Dutch Harbor put another bomb into the AVD Mackinac.
[center]
Another bomb for the Mackinac.[/center]

With all the troops building up at Suva and Noumea, plenty of engineers are around to help build up the facilities. Noumea opened up new larger piers today. (port size 4)

[FeurerKrieg]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

Mao is probably rotting away in a Manchurian prison now. [:D]

Yes, I think you are correct. Either prison or the gallows...

[FeurerKrieg]

April 21st, 1942
The attack at Sian grinds to a halt again. (0 to 1)

I-153 hits the MSW Poole, but our tanker, Hokki Maru, hits an enemy sub laid mine at Tarawa. The tanker will survive and thankfully it was an empty headed back to Kwajelein.
[center]
I-153 scores a hit.[/center]

Iwo Jima and Kai Island opened up airfields (sz 1), and Thursday Island can now support offensive missions (sz 2).

[FeurerKrieg]

April 22nd, 1942
MSW Poole reported sunk.

Our troops move up the road to Myitkina.
[center]
Mopping up in Burma.[/center]

Meiktila AF (in Burma) expands. (sz 2)

[FeurerKrieg]

April 23rd, 1942
The 40th Division finally reach the front lines northwest of Ichang and forced two Chinese Corps and the 2nd Group Army HQ to retreat over the river. An SNLF and an artillery regiment will stay on station to guard the river, but the 40th Div and the 18th Mixed Bge/B will head back to Ichang.
[center]
Chinese pushed back across the river.[/center]