2/2/1942
Busy turn. Bad move sending the cruisers back to Wake, but I suspect it wouldn't have made any odds!
Burma/India
Got two resources hits on Tavoy today with medium bombers. He has only 3 Oscars on CAP there. Must be pretty beaten and bloodied.
The numpty Allies can at least beat up a lone Oscar squadron it seems.
Bombing will continue daily as its a short flight and easy on fatigue. And the bombers are even escorted!
DEI/Malaya
Malang falls so in the south Soerabaja is now on its own. I bombard his troops at Batavia to see whats there - a division plus engineers.
The AVG at Sabang prove unable to defend the AK I sent in to resupply them, though he did pay a small price in the air at least.
Jap landings continue in the Dutch half of New Guinea.
I sent those little LCIs at Singapore with a few intrepid people to evac, he strafed them today for their troubles. So he noticed! and on thinking about it taking an empty Singora with six LCIs worth of squads is probably in breach of our house rules so I'll send em back anyway.
Massive naval bombardments of Batavia and Singkep, day and night. He knows he's safe now to wander around with impunity even in daylight hours near Singapore.
The heroic Malayan FMSV brigade, which has been in the mountains without supply for almost a month, finally surrendered today. 3000 men pass into the tender care of the Jap POW system.
China
A third of a corp surrenders in the Wenchow pocket today under heavy attack. It Begins. All quiet on the Nanchang road, both licking our wounds I guess.
Ordered some airstrikes out of Yenan today. Let the training begin!
SWPAC
SigInt reports a Jap division prepping for Port Morebsy - not exactly a surprise. Kates from Lae with Zero escort hit the unloading APs, the Wirraways did manage to damage a few Zeroes and didnt suffer any losses to my surprise, though they failed to engage the Kates, not to my surprise. One AP was torpedoed but damage was light. Hopefully most if not all of the Bde will be landed in the night.
Fuel is a major problem in SWPAC but its about to change. Past Pago Pago now are the first wave of TKs and AOs.
I'm about to send some SEAC B-17s from Darwin to India via Singapore. Hopefully he wont bomb Singapore at the precise moment they come over... he's not bombed Singapore at all so far.
CENTPAC
Well, some Jap CVs turned up and smeared my cruiser force all over the wall. All sunk. He even had some bombs to spare for the crippled Detroit.
The USN ships did double back on Wake though and while they didnt cover themselves with glory Portland did manage to hit several Japanese ships with 8" shells, so hopefully they'll be at least refitting for a bit.
NORPAC
Another AP convoy left Seattle today carrying valuable baseforces to Anchorage, and from there possibly to atolls in the cold north. Depending.
Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
I must've got the dates screwed up - because /this/ is
2/2/1942
Busy day. Which is bad, for me, of course.
India/Burma
Bombing of Tavoy continues, its milk run stuff. 1 resources hit.
DEI/Malaya
Well, it had to happen eventually. Massive air attack on Sabang. Fortunately there are no bombers on the deck waiting to be evacuated. There is, however, the AVG and some P-40Es.
17 Tomahawks of varying types, with pretty much the best pilots in the Allies have, meet 100 fighters, half of them Zeroes. And are annihilated. 2 Oscars are shot down, in exchange for every single Allied frame flying. Absolute massacre. 
...the Zero is apparently completely unstoppable. [:(] on the rare occasions I outnumber the foe the Allies barely engage.
All I can say is - oh man, the coming few years when the Allies are on the up are going to be sweet, sweet revenge. 
Heavy ASW activity in the Java Sea, so heavy its even putting sub transports at risk. KXII (badly rattled), USS Shark, USS Tarpon (in the South China Sea, not Java), USS Sculpin (rattled slightly) and KXVI are all attacked. The Dutch must be annoyed by the loss of the DEI, though, because at Tarakan O19 attacked a lone Japanese AK twice on the surface, putting a total of six fish into her and a whole bunch of 88 fire. With enough explosive to sink a battleship, needless to say the AK sinks.
China
Heavy fighting in the Wenchow pocket still. My bombers in the north are totally ineffective - but of course they are, they got 25 exp. There is no opposition, thats the main thing.
SWPAC
Another aerial slaughter here. The AM is fairly limited. Zeroes and a few Kates from Lae raid the transports at Port Moresby, the 4 Kates prove far more accurate than the muppet Allied bombers can ever be and score multiple hits, though damage is remarkably light. There were 2 squadrons of Wirraways covering them - they are brave lads in their flying coffins, but the flying coffin is aptly named. Several Zeroes are damaged, but the massacre is pretty horrendous on the Aussie side. The Kates arent even engaged.
Then 15 Nells with Zero escort raid from Rabaul. The Wirraways fail to engage them but the Nells are far less competent pilots and dont score any hits.
The PM period is mercifully quiet, so the convoy had a more or less undisturbed day of unloading. If that Bde is not ashore, then something has been seriously misjudged, as it should have been a very quick unloading indeed. I only have the combat report atm though so I'm not quite sure. Assuming it has unloaded, it is thus far an acceptable exchange I suppose, a damaged but survivable AK and ~20 odd Wirraways in exchange for a fresh Bde in position.
Hopefully that will be the worst situation in which PM will need resupply though. Lexington and Yorktown will be in the Coral Sea soon, only fuel is the limiting factor for them and within a month even that will be a non issue. In addition the first trickle of American fighter aircraft are coming in, and no matter how crap Airacobras and P-36s are, they cannot possibly be worse than Wirraways (though looking at the stats the P-36 looks like it could be a contender for the golden toilet award... [8|]).
However, speaking of that, AK Mercury, carrying some of those fighters, was torpedoed twice by a ninja sub somewhere south of Noumea. A four DD escort proved ineffective. [8|] Nearest beach is a good four hexes away, those are probably a gonner.
CENTPAC
The subs are back. Suddenly the sea NE of Pearl is awash with red IJN submarines. An AO, Platte, is torpedoed, not for heavy damage but bad enough as thats a fast, big oiler and thus useful. This was a convoy deemed less vital than the many aircraft carrying vessels, so Platte was unescorted, travellign with a whole bunch of TKs. Fortunately Pearl is right next door so it wont sink, just be out of the war for a bit. A sub at Baker Island torpedoes AD Whitney there for heavy damage but is rattled by the SC escort. Near Pago Pago, USS King, escorting some of those fighter AKs, attacks and scores a hit on the IJN submarine I-8, though apparently not for heavy damage.
2/2/1942
Busy day. Which is bad, for me, of course.
India/Burma
Bombing of Tavoy continues, its milk run stuff. 1 resources hit.
DEI/Malaya
Well, it had to happen eventually. Massive air attack on Sabang. Fortunately there are no bombers on the deck waiting to be evacuated. There is, however, the AVG and some P-40Es.
17 Tomahawks of varying types, with pretty much the best pilots in the Allies have, meet 100 fighters, half of them Zeroes. And are annihilated. 2 Oscars are shot down, in exchange for every single Allied frame flying. Absolute massacre.
...the Zero is apparently completely unstoppable. [:(] on the rare occasions I outnumber the foe the Allies barely engage.
All I can say is - oh man, the coming few years when the Allies are on the up are going to be sweet, sweet revenge.
Heavy ASW activity in the Java Sea, so heavy its even putting sub transports at risk. KXII (badly rattled), USS Shark, USS Tarpon (in the South China Sea, not Java), USS Sculpin (rattled slightly) and KXVI are all attacked. The Dutch must be annoyed by the loss of the DEI, though, because at Tarakan O19 attacked a lone Japanese AK twice on the surface, putting a total of six fish into her and a whole bunch of 88 fire. With enough explosive to sink a battleship, needless to say the AK sinks.
China
Heavy fighting in the Wenchow pocket still. My bombers in the north are totally ineffective - but of course they are, they got 25 exp. There is no opposition, thats the main thing.
SWPAC
Another aerial slaughter here. The AM is fairly limited. Zeroes and a few Kates from Lae raid the transports at Port Moresby, the 4 Kates prove far more accurate than the muppet Allied bombers can ever be and score multiple hits, though damage is remarkably light. There were 2 squadrons of Wirraways covering them - they are brave lads in their flying coffins, but the flying coffin is aptly named. Several Zeroes are damaged, but the massacre is pretty horrendous on the Aussie side. The Kates arent even engaged.
Then 15 Nells with Zero escort raid from Rabaul. The Wirraways fail to engage them but the Nells are far less competent pilots and dont score any hits.
The PM period is mercifully quiet, so the convoy had a more or less undisturbed day of unloading. If that Bde is not ashore, then something has been seriously misjudged, as it should have been a very quick unloading indeed. I only have the combat report atm though so I'm not quite sure. Assuming it has unloaded, it is thus far an acceptable exchange I suppose, a damaged but survivable AK and ~20 odd Wirraways in exchange for a fresh Bde in position.
Hopefully that will be the worst situation in which PM will need resupply though. Lexington and Yorktown will be in the Coral Sea soon, only fuel is the limiting factor for them and within a month even that will be a non issue. In addition the first trickle of American fighter aircraft are coming in, and no matter how crap Airacobras and P-36s are, they cannot possibly be worse than Wirraways (though looking at the stats the P-36 looks like it could be a contender for the golden toilet award... [8|]).
However, speaking of that, AK Mercury, carrying some of those fighters, was torpedoed twice by a ninja sub somewhere south of Noumea. A four DD escort proved ineffective. [8|] Nearest beach is a good four hexes away, those are probably a gonner.
CENTPAC
The subs are back. Suddenly the sea NE of Pearl is awash with red IJN submarines. An AO, Platte, is torpedoed, not for heavy damage but bad enough as thats a fast, big oiler and thus useful. This was a convoy deemed less vital than the many aircraft carrying vessels, so Platte was unescorted, travellign with a whole bunch of TKs. Fortunately Pearl is right next door so it wont sink, just be out of the war for a bit. A sub at Baker Island torpedoes AD Whitney there for heavy damage but is rattled by the SC escort. Near Pago Pago, USS King, escorting some of those fighter AKs, attacks and scores a hit on the IJN submarine I-8, though apparently not for heavy damage.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
Done the turn now rather than just read the combat report.
Only a couple of things to add - Sabang is being depopulated and there is almost no need for its existence anymore, because almost every air unit in the DEI/Malaya has been pulled out.
The 130th Bde at Port Moresby did manage to unload in its entirety with the exception of an AK, which was carrying the heavy guns. So the convoy has been ordered back to Cairns with the exception of that AK which continues to unload in port and will no doubt have a short life. PM is on 16k supply and I thank the gods that it was resupplied pretty much in turn 1, before it came under the Jap aerial umbrella.
ASW patrols formed up in Pearl once again to hunt the subs to the NE, I had zero luck doing this in the past, though. [:(]
Fast transports continue to shuttle back and forth between Port Blair and Trimcomalee. Its a Tokyo Express style op, there are a large number of ships involved! about 20 odd. When he turns his beady eye on the place the Buffaloes there will be evacuated and I suspect that will save a lot of supply.
Only a couple of things to add - Sabang is being depopulated and there is almost no need for its existence anymore, because almost every air unit in the DEI/Malaya has been pulled out.
The 130th Bde at Port Moresby did manage to unload in its entirety with the exception of an AK, which was carrying the heavy guns. So the convoy has been ordered back to Cairns with the exception of that AK which continues to unload in port and will no doubt have a short life. PM is on 16k supply and I thank the gods that it was resupplied pretty much in turn 1, before it came under the Jap aerial umbrella.
ASW patrols formed up in Pearl once again to hunt the subs to the NE, I had zero luck doing this in the past, though. [:(]
Fast transports continue to shuttle back and forth between Port Blair and Trimcomalee. Its a Tokyo Express style op, there are a large number of ships involved! about 20 odd. When he turns his beady eye on the place the Buffaloes there will be evacuated and I suspect that will save a lot of supply.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/3/1942
Terrible weather all across Asia so a lot of cancelled air missions on both sides. Generally quiet.
India/Burma
Raids on Victoria Point again to coincide with fast transports to Port Blair. Costs me a Mitchell this time, does no damage to the airfield.
Transports begin to amass at Ledo... we're up to 3 squadrons now. And it will more. A lot more!
DEI/Malaya
Very quiet here except for ground fighting on Java. Bulk of his force is up north so it looks like Soerabaja is isolated while Batavia will fall first. Bombardments at Singapore, place is still solid but he has 2000 AV vs my 800, so its just when he wants to go for it I guess.
B-17s make it from Singers to Calcutta having flown from San Francisco originally! They have fatigue 65 upon arrival. They get some R&R, richly deserved.
PI
The siege of Manila continues.
China
2000 Allied AV vs 800 on the Nanchang road but he has 9 units in Nanchang itself so I'm not getting through there. Surrenders are going on in the Wenchow pocket, within a week he will have mopped up most of it. i'm not pressing him too hard anymore, as I gotta be ready for an assault when that pocket has drained.
SWPAC
The lone AK was attacked by 4 Kates out of Lae again, and once again 3 hits out of 4. [8|] But the AK did unload apparently everything bar perhaps a gun or two so the Bde is fine.
Two Jap ships sighted between Cairns and Port Moresby - looks suspiciously like those two AMCs. A heavy cruiser squadron which was sitting in the middle of the Coral Sea is ordered to rev over there at top speed, four DDs at Cairns, for ASW originally, also move. My CVs are in Noumea paralysed due to lack of fuel (not totally out but this isnt an emergency) so they stay put.
I tighten up the Aussie air defences, a lot of planes on the coast were set to ASW. A lot more naval attack/search is ordered. Same goes for the Dauntlesses at PM who were resting.
The AK he torpedoed definitely isnt gonna make it. A P-40B squadron is going to bite the dust. And subs seem everywhere between Noumea and Australia, and indeed between Fiji and New Zealand. Basically if there is a sea hex, chances are theres a Jap sub in it somewhere, and that sub will not miss. [8|]
CENTPAC
Very quiet. Convoy convoy.
NORPAC
Warspite retires to Dutch Harbor. The convoy that went to Amchitka Island that she was covering is pretty much done.
Terrible weather all across Asia so a lot of cancelled air missions on both sides. Generally quiet.
India/Burma
Raids on Victoria Point again to coincide with fast transports to Port Blair. Costs me a Mitchell this time, does no damage to the airfield.
Transports begin to amass at Ledo... we're up to 3 squadrons now. And it will more. A lot more!
DEI/Malaya
Very quiet here except for ground fighting on Java. Bulk of his force is up north so it looks like Soerabaja is isolated while Batavia will fall first. Bombardments at Singapore, place is still solid but he has 2000 AV vs my 800, so its just when he wants to go for it I guess.
B-17s make it from Singers to Calcutta having flown from San Francisco originally! They have fatigue 65 upon arrival. They get some R&R, richly deserved.
PI
The siege of Manila continues.
China
2000 Allied AV vs 800 on the Nanchang road but he has 9 units in Nanchang itself so I'm not getting through there. Surrenders are going on in the Wenchow pocket, within a week he will have mopped up most of it. i'm not pressing him too hard anymore, as I gotta be ready for an assault when that pocket has drained.
SWPAC
The lone AK was attacked by 4 Kates out of Lae again, and once again 3 hits out of 4. [8|] But the AK did unload apparently everything bar perhaps a gun or two so the Bde is fine.
Two Jap ships sighted between Cairns and Port Moresby - looks suspiciously like those two AMCs. A heavy cruiser squadron which was sitting in the middle of the Coral Sea is ordered to rev over there at top speed, four DDs at Cairns, for ASW originally, also move. My CVs are in Noumea paralysed due to lack of fuel (not totally out but this isnt an emergency) so they stay put.
I tighten up the Aussie air defences, a lot of planes on the coast were set to ASW. A lot more naval attack/search is ordered. Same goes for the Dauntlesses at PM who were resting.
The AK he torpedoed definitely isnt gonna make it. A P-40B squadron is going to bite the dust. And subs seem everywhere between Noumea and Australia, and indeed between Fiji and New Zealand. Basically if there is a sea hex, chances are theres a Jap sub in it somewhere, and that sub will not miss. [8|]
CENTPAC
Very quiet. Convoy convoy.
NORPAC
Warspite retires to Dutch Harbor. The convoy that went to Amchitka Island that she was covering is pretty much done.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
Yup.ORIGINAL: EUBanana
When does the Japanese invasion bonus expire? April?
Just finished reading your AAR, very nice. [:)] A couple of additional hits on your opponent's carriers would have been fair, I agree - better luck in 1943, I guess. It's good to see that you haven't lost your humour because of this, though. [8D]
I'm curious why you've split your own carrier forces, when the Japanese carriers are operating in 1/2 CV TFs all over the map. If you combine your carriers, you should be able to ambush one of these CV TFs in the near future - say, early March, when the Zero bonus is down another point.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/4/1942
Generally quiet. in fact there have been no air-to-air casualties for several days, now.
Burma/India
Burma is taking a rest, only stuff going on here is recon. More Dakotas congregating slowly at Ledo.
DEI/Malaya
Usual bombardments, nothing more serious than that! That includes battleship bombardment of the defenders of Batavia. O19 at Tarakan torpedoed yet again though, one of his armed merchant cruisers this time, Nisshu Maru, a solid target! One torpedo hit, not for heavy damage. B-17s from Darwin raided Koepang at 15k altitude ineffectually.
China
36k Chinese troops surrendered at Pucheng today. So far 50k Chinese have been picked up and we're not even done yet, I think his total bag is going to be 150k in the Wenchow pocket. Disaster. Its lucky that its China I suppose, the only Allied nation that can potentially weather such losses! My force on the Nanchang road outnumbers him about 1.5 to 1, but in the attack their AV is 1000 and his is 2000, a reversal from what it was when he was bombarding! Clearly I misjudged their attacking ability massively, and it has a cost, 2500 Chinese casualties. I'm going to have to pull them back I think to Changsha and dig in, go defensive.
SWPAC
The expected raiders showed up between Cairns and PM, but for some truly bizarre reason they found two APs rather than my convoy proper. I dont remember ordering that taskforce to split up, but there it is. Maybe they just happened to be in the area, its possible I suppose. In any case one AP was torpedoed, the other slightly damaged. The Allied warships are escorting the others back to Cairns.
Dauntlesses at PM scrambled to attack Jap shipping one hex SE of Lae, scoring two 1000lb hits on a Japanese minelayer, which is a good result.
AK Mercury with a P-40B squadron aboard sank SE of Efate.
First US fighter squadron unloaded now at Brisbane - shame its P-36s. Another convoy with 1 fighter squadron and 3 bomber squadrons is near Noumea and zigzagging in a vain attempt to dodge the apparent multitudes of subs. It is 4 AKs and 4 DDs so a heavily escorted convoy. But that didn't help AK Mercury, did it.
CENTPAC/NORPAC
Pretty quiet. He's doing minesweeping ops at Hokkaido now, I guess thats good? Means the proper degree of paranoia will be involved and he'll know the need to keep ASW assets all over the Pacific.
Generally quiet. in fact there have been no air-to-air casualties for several days, now.
Burma/India
Burma is taking a rest, only stuff going on here is recon. More Dakotas congregating slowly at Ledo.
DEI/Malaya
Usual bombardments, nothing more serious than that! That includes battleship bombardment of the defenders of Batavia. O19 at Tarakan torpedoed yet again though, one of his armed merchant cruisers this time, Nisshu Maru, a solid target! One torpedo hit, not for heavy damage. B-17s from Darwin raided Koepang at 15k altitude ineffectually.
China
36k Chinese troops surrendered at Pucheng today. So far 50k Chinese have been picked up and we're not even done yet, I think his total bag is going to be 150k in the Wenchow pocket. Disaster. Its lucky that its China I suppose, the only Allied nation that can potentially weather such losses! My force on the Nanchang road outnumbers him about 1.5 to 1, but in the attack their AV is 1000 and his is 2000, a reversal from what it was when he was bombarding! Clearly I misjudged their attacking ability massively, and it has a cost, 2500 Chinese casualties. I'm going to have to pull them back I think to Changsha and dig in, go defensive.
SWPAC
The expected raiders showed up between Cairns and PM, but for some truly bizarre reason they found two APs rather than my convoy proper. I dont remember ordering that taskforce to split up, but there it is. Maybe they just happened to be in the area, its possible I suppose. In any case one AP was torpedoed, the other slightly damaged. The Allied warships are escorting the others back to Cairns.
Dauntlesses at PM scrambled to attack Jap shipping one hex SE of Lae, scoring two 1000lb hits on a Japanese minelayer, which is a good result.
AK Mercury with a P-40B squadron aboard sank SE of Efate.
First US fighter squadron unloaded now at Brisbane - shame its P-36s. Another convoy with 1 fighter squadron and 3 bomber squadrons is near Noumea and zigzagging in a vain attempt to dodge the apparent multitudes of subs. It is 4 AKs and 4 DDs so a heavily escorted convoy. But that didn't help AK Mercury, did it.
CENTPAC/NORPAC
Pretty quiet. He's doing minesweeping ops at Hokkaido now, I guess thats good? Means the proper degree of paranoia will be involved and he'll know the need to keep ASW assets all over the Pacific.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
ORIGINAL: VSWG
I'm curious why you've split your own carrier forces, when the Japanese carriers are operating in 1/2 CV TFs all over the map. If you combine your carriers, you should be able to ambush one of these CV TFs in the near future - say, early March, when the Zero bonus is down another point.
Lack of escorts. I would have ideally liked to have sent all four to the South Pacific but I was only going to commit them with adequate AAA, and I just don't have any.
I only sortied the other two because he was apparently making moves at NORPAC and I wanted to make sure all my convoys got through. They have now, so they will probably return to Pearl, and as more escorts become available, make their way to SWPAC.
I anticipate a fight in the Coral Sea if he makes a move on Port Moresby, its a pretty ideal location for an Allied carrier battle, lots of Allied LBA nearby. Depends if he concentrates though and I suspect he will, in which case I'll hold off.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/5/1942
A bit busier. A fair bit of submarine action.
Burma/India
The weather cleared in Burma, so a whole bunch of Allied medium bombers hit the resources at Tavoy again. 8 resources hits in total, not bad, its down to ~35 resources. Any resources hit is good, anything denied Jap industry is excellent.
Oscars out of Bangkok swept Moulmein but all my Hurricanes were escorting bombers over Tavoy so - nothing for him. Zeroes swept Port Blair as well but failed to engage the Buffalo CAP.
I'm very happy with how quickly evacuated cadres are building up. The Allied ground replacement pools in all important areas are 0 across the board. There is no problem in taking goodies from the pool and putting it on the map at least. Calcutta is packed with reforming cadres.
DEI/Malaya
A big air raid hits Sabang again, six Hawks on the ground are destroyed but this is the dregs.
Merak falls to an amphibious assault but an AP hits a mine in the process, Batavia is now completely surrounded.
USS Salmon attempts to torpedo a TK at Brunei but misses.
HMS Trusty, marking Balikpapan, is attacked by ASW but is undamaged.
In Malaya he's moved on to the next two cut off Bdes. These actually have a few dregs of supply and are holed up in the mountains. If past performance is anythign to go by its going to take him a good while to weed them out.
China
Heavy bombing of China, some more guerilla corps in the pocket surrendered today, it won't take long for him to mop things up.
SWPAC
This is where the action was. All sub related.
At Lae an S-boat torpedoed a Jap MSW, and gets away with it.
At Cairns an IJN RO type submarine torpedoes an AK, which will survive, but is pounced on by the escort, which was heavy (this was my Port Moresby convoy). Several near misses and one direct hit are scored, not for heavy damage but presumably that sub will be limping home.
Off the coast of Sydney a Jap submarine torpedoes an escorted but empty tanker 3 times, which promptly sinks it. The escort (a single MSW) fails to engage.
A plan is afoot to evacuate Tasmania completely, PPs allowing, so the convoy at Cairns is headed that way now. The base forces are what I really want but the Bde won't hurt either.
A Dutch base force, the 7th, I dunno where that was from originally, has been prepping for Port Moresby for quite a while and though it was only a cadre its already built up to the point that its useful (over 20 av support). Its headed from Sydney to Cairns and will be airlifted over, giving PM 50 av support, enough to station these American fighters which are probably just 2 or 3 weeks away from deployment now.
CENTPAC
Palmyra is getting quite a major reinforcement, a big base force is being unloaded now. A six DD hunter-killer TF is headed for that huge convoy (178 aircraft embarked) which I mentioned left SF a while ago. I really want that convoy to make it to Australia without loss, so all the stops are being pulled out here - intrinsic and extrinsic escort.
Major reinforcements for Noumea are a way off but are on the way, the first, an AA unit, is approaching Pago Pago. More significant reinforcements are clearing the Galapagos Islands now - long way to go!
NORPAC
Seems quiet. My CVs are giving the islands a quick once over. I'm getting cold feet on Hokkaido, seems like much to risk for little to gain other than the psychological value of a Doolittle-esque raid. Which strikes me as not worth it. After they've buzzed the cold north I think they are going to head back to Pearl again, NORPAC should be able to fend for itself fairly soon, with airfields being built, a few Catalinas now in position, and an Allied battleship on the prowl, so the reason for them being there has passed.
A bit busier. A fair bit of submarine action.
Burma/India
The weather cleared in Burma, so a whole bunch of Allied medium bombers hit the resources at Tavoy again. 8 resources hits in total, not bad, its down to ~35 resources. Any resources hit is good, anything denied Jap industry is excellent.
Oscars out of Bangkok swept Moulmein but all my Hurricanes were escorting bombers over Tavoy so - nothing for him. Zeroes swept Port Blair as well but failed to engage the Buffalo CAP.
I'm very happy with how quickly evacuated cadres are building up. The Allied ground replacement pools in all important areas are 0 across the board. There is no problem in taking goodies from the pool and putting it on the map at least. Calcutta is packed with reforming cadres.
DEI/Malaya
A big air raid hits Sabang again, six Hawks on the ground are destroyed but this is the dregs.
Merak falls to an amphibious assault but an AP hits a mine in the process, Batavia is now completely surrounded.
USS Salmon attempts to torpedo a TK at Brunei but misses.
HMS Trusty, marking Balikpapan, is attacked by ASW but is undamaged.
In Malaya he's moved on to the next two cut off Bdes. These actually have a few dregs of supply and are holed up in the mountains. If past performance is anythign to go by its going to take him a good while to weed them out.
China
Heavy bombing of China, some more guerilla corps in the pocket surrendered today, it won't take long for him to mop things up.
SWPAC
This is where the action was. All sub related.
At Lae an S-boat torpedoed a Jap MSW, and gets away with it.
At Cairns an IJN RO type submarine torpedoes an AK, which will survive, but is pounced on by the escort, which was heavy (this was my Port Moresby convoy). Several near misses and one direct hit are scored, not for heavy damage but presumably that sub will be limping home.
Off the coast of Sydney a Jap submarine torpedoes an escorted but empty tanker 3 times, which promptly sinks it. The escort (a single MSW) fails to engage.
A plan is afoot to evacuate Tasmania completely, PPs allowing, so the convoy at Cairns is headed that way now. The base forces are what I really want but the Bde won't hurt either.
A Dutch base force, the 7th, I dunno where that was from originally, has been prepping for Port Moresby for quite a while and though it was only a cadre its already built up to the point that its useful (over 20 av support). Its headed from Sydney to Cairns and will be airlifted over, giving PM 50 av support, enough to station these American fighters which are probably just 2 or 3 weeks away from deployment now.
CENTPAC
Palmyra is getting quite a major reinforcement, a big base force is being unloaded now. A six DD hunter-killer TF is headed for that huge convoy (178 aircraft embarked) which I mentioned left SF a while ago. I really want that convoy to make it to Australia without loss, so all the stops are being pulled out here - intrinsic and extrinsic escort.
Major reinforcements for Noumea are a way off but are on the way, the first, an AA unit, is approaching Pago Pago. More significant reinforcements are clearing the Galapagos Islands now - long way to go!
NORPAC
Seems quiet. My CVs are giving the islands a quick once over. I'm getting cold feet on Hokkaido, seems like much to risk for little to gain other than the psychological value of a Doolittle-esque raid. Which strikes me as not worth it. After they've buzzed the cold north I think they are going to head back to Pearl again, NORPAC should be able to fend for itself fairly soon, with airfields being built, a few Catalinas now in position, and an Allied battleship on the prowl, so the reason for them being there has passed.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/6/1942
Burma/India
Another 3 resources hits on Tavoy. Its a daily tally pretty much... day off tomorrow though due to forecast storms/mounting fatigue.
Major reinforcements in 6 days - an Aussie division and a lot of AA units. Aden is packed with transports in readiness.
A Ceres class CL and two old S class destroyers are being offered up in sacrifice to Winston, I have decided. At this stage in the war, i'd rather have the PPs then these junkers.
DEI/Malaya/Manila
USS Sculpin was sunk by Jap APDs off Pontiniak. Decisively so, 5 direct hits! Batavia is subjected to another day of land and naval bombardment. Soerabaja is quiet, in fact i ordered a bombardment of him today. Palembang hit by a nuclear bombardment, 1800 casualties. I guess this is the weakness of a base packed with engineers... they seem kinda soft when shelled! Another three subs will approach Singapore tomorrow to lift off cadres. Manila subjected to a massive bomber raid again, "our arrows will blot out the sun" style.
Supply at Singapore is ~20k. At Manila, Batavia and Soerabaja its about 8k eacj. Looks like he plans on starving them out as the number of deliberate attacks has been very limited, he's taking is time, conserving his forces so his divisions are not all shot up.
China
Fairly quiet, my ROCAF units actually sortied today, most of the time they seem to not take off. Even with aggressive commanders.
SWPAC
Recon over Lae reports that he has massively increased his air power there. 50 fighters, 50 bombers, 133 auxiliaries?? what is /that/. Is he planning on a massive paradrop? He did mention before that his failed para assault on Tavoy was due to "too limited numbers of air transports", if thats the case, well, he's not repeating his error! PM is only a level 3 airfield and I'm only digging fortifications there at the moment so I can't do anything too crass, like move B-17s up and kick his ass. And a carrier raid against that sort of firepower isn't happening with just 2 carriers either.
I will be reinforcing PM with a second pretty fresh Bde (from Tasmania), another base force (the Dutch one mentioned before), and probably maybe hopefully by the end of the month, a P-40B squadron, assuming it survives running the gauntlet to Brisbane.
CENTPAC
Pretty quiet here. USS Plunger is ostensibly hit by several depth charges at Kwajalein but damage actually looks very minor when I look at her. He has apparently heavily reinforced Wake and Tarawa, so he has quite a bastion of force here, lots of angry red crosses. I will have to consult with him as to whether sub suicide commando recon is allowed.
NORPAC
Quiet. My CVs are on the way home. The battleship Warspite is settled with USS Gilmer as escort at Dutch Harbor. Anchorage is packed with aircraft. Airfields are being built at Amchitka Island and the other one, "Um" something, next to Dutch Harbor, nothing to say here until those airfields are built.
Burma/India
Another 3 resources hits on Tavoy. Its a daily tally pretty much... day off tomorrow though due to forecast storms/mounting fatigue.
Major reinforcements in 6 days - an Aussie division and a lot of AA units. Aden is packed with transports in readiness.
A Ceres class CL and two old S class destroyers are being offered up in sacrifice to Winston, I have decided. At this stage in the war, i'd rather have the PPs then these junkers.
DEI/Malaya/Manila
USS Sculpin was sunk by Jap APDs off Pontiniak. Decisively so, 5 direct hits! Batavia is subjected to another day of land and naval bombardment. Soerabaja is quiet, in fact i ordered a bombardment of him today. Palembang hit by a nuclear bombardment, 1800 casualties. I guess this is the weakness of a base packed with engineers... they seem kinda soft when shelled! Another three subs will approach Singapore tomorrow to lift off cadres. Manila subjected to a massive bomber raid again, "our arrows will blot out the sun" style.
Supply at Singapore is ~20k. At Manila, Batavia and Soerabaja its about 8k eacj. Looks like he plans on starving them out as the number of deliberate attacks has been very limited, he's taking is time, conserving his forces so his divisions are not all shot up.
China
Fairly quiet, my ROCAF units actually sortied today, most of the time they seem to not take off. Even with aggressive commanders.
SWPAC
Recon over Lae reports that he has massively increased his air power there. 50 fighters, 50 bombers, 133 auxiliaries?? what is /that/. Is he planning on a massive paradrop? He did mention before that his failed para assault on Tavoy was due to "too limited numbers of air transports", if thats the case, well, he's not repeating his error! PM is only a level 3 airfield and I'm only digging fortifications there at the moment so I can't do anything too crass, like move B-17s up and kick his ass. And a carrier raid against that sort of firepower isn't happening with just 2 carriers either.
I will be reinforcing PM with a second pretty fresh Bde (from Tasmania), another base force (the Dutch one mentioned before), and probably maybe hopefully by the end of the month, a P-40B squadron, assuming it survives running the gauntlet to Brisbane.
CENTPAC
Pretty quiet here. USS Plunger is ostensibly hit by several depth charges at Kwajalein but damage actually looks very minor when I look at her. He has apparently heavily reinforced Wake and Tarawa, so he has quite a bastion of force here, lots of angry red crosses. I will have to consult with him as to whether sub suicide commando recon is allowed.
NORPAC
Quiet. My CVs are on the way home. The battleship Warspite is settled with USS Gilmer as escort at Dutch Harbor. Anchorage is packed with aircraft. Airfields are being built at Amchitka Island and the other one, "Um" something, next to Dutch Harbor, nothing to say here until those airfields are built.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/7/1942
Burma/India
Burma is grounded today due to bad weather. Port Blair almost up to 4000 supply now, after the last batch of fast transports has gone through I'm calling it a day there. Fast transports (led by BC Repulse, dont have many ships to spare!) are picking up the MAF Aviation unit which was partly airlifted out of Singapore to Sabang, that would be a nice addition to Colombo. British CVTF is sortied to cover Repulse via LRCAP at the critical moment.
DEI
Usual round of bombardments and depth charges. USS Stingray was hit at Palembang - direct hit. Singapore is close though so she'll probably make it to Singers, though she may well be bombed upon arrival.
China
Massive Jap air raid on Changsha does about 30% damage to the airfield but fails to destroy any aircraft as they are all in the air, bombing his ground troops on the road. On that road my arty units are being brought up, and I am winning the attritional battle in the bombardments. Allied ROCAF bombers make a few high level training sorties, they do no damage.
SWPAC
"I got a bad feeling about this"
In addition to the apparently 20,000 men at Lae in 4 units, he has 15 units at Rabaul. [X(] APs seem to be gathering as well. I'm getting a little paranoid that he will be making his move on Port Moresby sooner rather than later. So. I sortie the CVs at Noumea, as replenishment TFs are now almost in position in the Coral Sea. They will hang around somewhere south of Port Moresby, ready to act. If its a false alarm they can retire to Cairns where they will be ready for a Coral Sea clash.
P-36s were railroaded to Cairns and are being uncrated, unfortunately their range is too short to send them to PM, but they can free up more Wirraways at Cairns. I'm desperately hoping the P-40Bs that are 14 days out will make it.
If he advances down the Solomons I'm tempted to let him take whereever he wants up to Efate at least without a fight. I can LBA my way up the island chain quite happily later on, but from Australia to PNG is a bit of a bigger jump and more, IMHO, worth fighting over.
CENTPAC
USS Plunger was not undamaged, she was actually very badly damaged, I dunno what I was smoking in the above post. So damaged she is almost certainly going to sink in fact. Right now I got 3 subs on the map on the verge of death. And people moan about Allied ASW being too good? [8|]
Fiddle around with DDs a bit, dispatching some from Pearl to rush out to convoys and join them as they pass by. I peel off quite a few TKs from my big Australia bound convoys and divert them to various atolls which have been sucked dry by the USN.
Logistical (ie fuel) situation in SWPAC is very dicey still but I think I'll have enough AOs in station for short term action at least. In a couple of months, when these tankers arrive, things will improve greatly across the board and give me a much freer hand to deploy my ships than I've had so far. Supply situation is on the other hand quite good at the moment.
Burma/India
Burma is grounded today due to bad weather. Port Blair almost up to 4000 supply now, after the last batch of fast transports has gone through I'm calling it a day there. Fast transports (led by BC Repulse, dont have many ships to spare!) are picking up the MAF Aviation unit which was partly airlifted out of Singapore to Sabang, that would be a nice addition to Colombo. British CVTF is sortied to cover Repulse via LRCAP at the critical moment.
DEI
Usual round of bombardments and depth charges. USS Stingray was hit at Palembang - direct hit. Singapore is close though so she'll probably make it to Singers, though she may well be bombed upon arrival.
China
Massive Jap air raid on Changsha does about 30% damage to the airfield but fails to destroy any aircraft as they are all in the air, bombing his ground troops on the road. On that road my arty units are being brought up, and I am winning the attritional battle in the bombardments. Allied ROCAF bombers make a few high level training sorties, they do no damage.
SWPAC
"I got a bad feeling about this"
In addition to the apparently 20,000 men at Lae in 4 units, he has 15 units at Rabaul. [X(] APs seem to be gathering as well. I'm getting a little paranoid that he will be making his move on Port Moresby sooner rather than later. So. I sortie the CVs at Noumea, as replenishment TFs are now almost in position in the Coral Sea. They will hang around somewhere south of Port Moresby, ready to act. If its a false alarm they can retire to Cairns where they will be ready for a Coral Sea clash.
P-36s were railroaded to Cairns and are being uncrated, unfortunately their range is too short to send them to PM, but they can free up more Wirraways at Cairns. I'm desperately hoping the P-40Bs that are 14 days out will make it.
If he advances down the Solomons I'm tempted to let him take whereever he wants up to Efate at least without a fight. I can LBA my way up the island chain quite happily later on, but from Australia to PNG is a bit of a bigger jump and more, IMHO, worth fighting over.
CENTPAC
USS Plunger was not undamaged, she was actually very badly damaged, I dunno what I was smoking in the above post. So damaged she is almost certainly going to sink in fact. Right now I got 3 subs on the map on the verge of death. And people moan about Allied ASW being too good? [8|]
Fiddle around with DDs a bit, dispatching some from Pearl to rush out to convoys and join them as they pass by. I peel off quite a few TKs from my big Australia bound convoys and divert them to various atolls which have been sucked dry by the USN.
Logistical (ie fuel) situation in SWPAC is very dicey still but I think I'll have enough AOs in station for short term action at least. In a couple of months, when these tankers arrive, things will improve greatly across the board and give me a much freer hand to deploy my ships than I've had so far. Supply situation is on the other hand quite good at the moment.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/8/1942
Well, almost nobody had to die today. Another day of no air losses, though there were a thousand or so casualties across the theatre from bombardments in the sieges.
We're in a lull. He's sieging four Allied cities - Singapore, Batavia, Manila, Soerabaja. Singers, Batavia and Soerabaja all have 17k supply (odd. Maybe the Dutch cities are self sufficient in supply? seems to be going up anyway). Manila has only 5000 supply but on the other hand its not tying down many Japs.
I imagine not much is going to happen until these cities fall, aside from possibly in SWPAC. My photo recon unit picked up about 15 APs in multiple TFs, around 200 guns, and 20,000 troops. Aside from the fall of an Allied fortress if something is going to erupt, it'll be here.
Well, almost nobody had to die today. Another day of no air losses, though there were a thousand or so casualties across the theatre from bombardments in the sieges.
We're in a lull. He's sieging four Allied cities - Singapore, Batavia, Manila, Soerabaja. Singers, Batavia and Soerabaja all have 17k supply (odd. Maybe the Dutch cities are self sufficient in supply? seems to be going up anyway). Manila has only 5000 supply but on the other hand its not tying down many Japs.
I imagine not much is going to happen until these cities fall, aside from possibly in SWPAC. My photo recon unit picked up about 15 APs in multiple TFs, around 200 guns, and 20,000 troops. Aside from the fall of an Allied fortress if something is going to erupt, it'll be here.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
Its been pretty much two months of war now, so time to take stock.
In the air, air to air losses are running at 4.8 to 1, in Japan's favour. (104 vs 482 planes shot down). Almost 130 of these 480 were P-40Bs or P-40Es, with a pretty much equal number of Buffaloes of various incarnations. He's lost ~40 Oscars and ~40 Zeroes. The low number of Oscars is mainly because he's not been putting those on the front line very much, they do tend to suffer when they fight. Two out of 3 AVG squadrons have been pretty badly mauled, the third (in Yenan, quiet spot) is still with average experience 70 plus. Even the mauled squadrons have a number of very good pilots, though.
The submarine war has been almost as bad. I've been bitching about Japanese ninja submariners every other post I think, well, the hard statistics back up the bitching.
Allied submarines have managed the following :-
2 AKs, 2 APs, 1 PC, 1 PG, 1 ML from the Dutch sub fleet
1 TK from the British sub fleet such as it is
US S-boats have sunk two DDs, an AK and an MSW (probably as a result of giving them aggressive commanders, they take on the ASW forces a lot!)
The crappy Mark 14 torpedo of the other US sub classes has managed 2 AKs, an AO and a PC.
So a total of 16 ships due to various causes, and a number more damaged.
The Allies have lost nine submarines (two Dutch, two S-boats, the rest were Salmon or P class US submarines).
Japanese submarines have sank 19 AKs, 7 APs, 5 TKs, 3 AOs, an AVD, two AVs, an AR, one PG, 3 PCs, 2 MSWs, 7 MLs ([X(][X(][8|]), 3 DDs, one DM, and 2 BBs. They have sustained 5 losses (one of which was a Glen carrier).
Some of the early successes can be explained by the number of unescorted convoys running around in the opening weeks. However thats not the whole story, because as you can see by the number of Allied ASW ships that were sunk, which are not inconsiderable, even Allied escorts are apparently little more than hapless targets in some Japanese sub captains torpedo sights. [8|] So bad was it that US aircraft carriers had to be deployed as ASW platforms!
Mines have been pretty muted but Allied mines have proven to be more effective so far. Not too surprising given he is on the offensive and thus assaulting ports where the Allies have prepared warm welcomes. Allied mines have sunk a Jap DD, a minesweeper (ironic), an AP and a PG. The Allies have lost an AK and a DD to Japanese mines.
I'm not even going to go into the aircraft kills, for the Jap side thats just too vast for me to even begin to add up. Overall Allied shipping losses have been very heavy though, due to my tendency to only evacuate ships at the last minute. On the one hand that has given me some options (like, concentrating engineers at Palembang). On the other hand it means a lot of Allied merchants have gone down in flames.
In terms of ships lost, no Jap ship bigger than a destroyer has been lost so far. I've seen worse Allied losses but they are pretty bad. Two BBs, 2 CAs, 7 CLs, 14 DDs. Surface combatant, submarine and air dropped torpedoes pretty much account for a third each of the Allied losses. Only 1 Allied warship has been sunk by a gun (USS Helm, sunk by a Jap heavy cruiser at Wake).
So in pretty much every aspect of the war, the Allies are getting a six of the best pants down thrashing. Not good!
In the air, air to air losses are running at 4.8 to 1, in Japan's favour. (104 vs 482 planes shot down). Almost 130 of these 480 were P-40Bs or P-40Es, with a pretty much equal number of Buffaloes of various incarnations. He's lost ~40 Oscars and ~40 Zeroes. The low number of Oscars is mainly because he's not been putting those on the front line very much, they do tend to suffer when they fight. Two out of 3 AVG squadrons have been pretty badly mauled, the third (in Yenan, quiet spot) is still with average experience 70 plus. Even the mauled squadrons have a number of very good pilots, though.
The submarine war has been almost as bad. I've been bitching about Japanese ninja submariners every other post I think, well, the hard statistics back up the bitching.
Allied submarines have managed the following :-
2 AKs, 2 APs, 1 PC, 1 PG, 1 ML from the Dutch sub fleet
1 TK from the British sub fleet such as it is
US S-boats have sunk two DDs, an AK and an MSW (probably as a result of giving them aggressive commanders, they take on the ASW forces a lot!)
The crappy Mark 14 torpedo of the other US sub classes has managed 2 AKs, an AO and a PC.
So a total of 16 ships due to various causes, and a number more damaged.
The Allies have lost nine submarines (two Dutch, two S-boats, the rest were Salmon or P class US submarines).
Japanese submarines have sank 19 AKs, 7 APs, 5 TKs, 3 AOs, an AVD, two AVs, an AR, one PG, 3 PCs, 2 MSWs, 7 MLs ([X(][X(][8|]), 3 DDs, one DM, and 2 BBs. They have sustained 5 losses (one of which was a Glen carrier).
Some of the early successes can be explained by the number of unescorted convoys running around in the opening weeks. However thats not the whole story, because as you can see by the number of Allied ASW ships that were sunk, which are not inconsiderable, even Allied escorts are apparently little more than hapless targets in some Japanese sub captains torpedo sights. [8|] So bad was it that US aircraft carriers had to be deployed as ASW platforms!
Mines have been pretty muted but Allied mines have proven to be more effective so far. Not too surprising given he is on the offensive and thus assaulting ports where the Allies have prepared warm welcomes. Allied mines have sunk a Jap DD, a minesweeper (ironic), an AP and a PG. The Allies have lost an AK and a DD to Japanese mines.
I'm not even going to go into the aircraft kills, for the Jap side thats just too vast for me to even begin to add up. Overall Allied shipping losses have been very heavy though, due to my tendency to only evacuate ships at the last minute. On the one hand that has given me some options (like, concentrating engineers at Palembang). On the other hand it means a lot of Allied merchants have gone down in flames.
In terms of ships lost, no Jap ship bigger than a destroyer has been lost so far. I've seen worse Allied losses but they are pretty bad. Two BBs, 2 CAs, 7 CLs, 14 DDs. Surface combatant, submarine and air dropped torpedoes pretty much account for a third each of the Allied losses. Only 1 Allied warship has been sunk by a gun (USS Helm, sunk by a Jap heavy cruiser at Wake).
So in pretty much every aspect of the war, the Allies are getting a six of the best pants down thrashing. Not good!
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/9/1942
Quiet in the air, and at sea! No sub attacks anywhere though there was a failed ASW attack.
Burma/India
The fast transport TF headed for Sabang encounters a Jap submarine on the way, first time one of those little terrors has showed up prowling around India. The sub is attacked, but no damage done. Bad news, as a lot of unescorted convoys are running out of Aden still, that will have to end.
Bad weather grounds me in Burma.
My Dutch base force at Trivandrum has taken root. Its suddenly gained 150mm CD guns, which are static! 150mm guns are not on the T&OE. Weird! Well, I'm not complaining really!
A Jap Zero sweep hits Port Blair, a single Buffalo is shot down. The only air to air casualty in the game today.
China
He's reinforced the Nanchang road heavily, now he has 2000 AV there. Not enough to move me out though. Both sides exchange volleys of bombs to little effect.
Malaya/DEI
The heroic Allied brigades in the Malayan highlands are putting up fierce resistance despite being out of supply. 133 Jap casualties for 28 Allied. Singapore bombarded heavily, he actually attacks at Batavia and the forts drop to 3, with him scoring 1:1 odds on the attack. (Fort level is 88% built, though). Soerabaja quiet.
He landed at Teloekbetong and booted out the base force there today, so he's finally landed on Sumatra.
A Jap DD hit a mine at Batavia but damage seemed minor.
SWPAC
No movement at Rabaul.
A P-40 and a Mitchell squadron are mere days away from Brisbane! Base force at Derby is being evacuated by AP with LRCAP cover, its headed for Perth, part of my bid to evacuate northern Australia.
CENTPAC
US CVs are a day out of Pearl now. Quiet day. No sub attacks anywhere!
Quiet in the air, and at sea! No sub attacks anywhere though there was a failed ASW attack.
Burma/India
The fast transport TF headed for Sabang encounters a Jap submarine on the way, first time one of those little terrors has showed up prowling around India. The sub is attacked, but no damage done. Bad news, as a lot of unescorted convoys are running out of Aden still, that will have to end.
Bad weather grounds me in Burma.
My Dutch base force at Trivandrum has taken root. Its suddenly gained 150mm CD guns, which are static! 150mm guns are not on the T&OE. Weird! Well, I'm not complaining really!
A Jap Zero sweep hits Port Blair, a single Buffalo is shot down. The only air to air casualty in the game today.
China
He's reinforced the Nanchang road heavily, now he has 2000 AV there. Not enough to move me out though. Both sides exchange volleys of bombs to little effect.
Malaya/DEI
The heroic Allied brigades in the Malayan highlands are putting up fierce resistance despite being out of supply. 133 Jap casualties for 28 Allied. Singapore bombarded heavily, he actually attacks at Batavia and the forts drop to 3, with him scoring 1:1 odds on the attack. (Fort level is 88% built, though). Soerabaja quiet.
He landed at Teloekbetong and booted out the base force there today, so he's finally landed on Sumatra.
A Jap DD hit a mine at Batavia but damage seemed minor.
SWPAC
No movement at Rabaul.
A P-40 and a Mitchell squadron are mere days away from Brisbane! Base force at Derby is being evacuated by AP with LRCAP cover, its headed for Perth, part of my bid to evacuate northern Australia.
CENTPAC
US CVs are a day out of Pearl now. Quiet day. No sub attacks anywhere!
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/10/1942
Still quiet...
Burma/India
Tavoy is pretty much being used as a training ground. In fact I moved a recently reconstituted P-40 squadron, 22 aircraft, to Rangoon to start bombing the place to up their experience. [:D] Scored two more resources hits on the place today.
China
Deadlocked on the Nanchang road. Looks like we are both happy to train here at the moment, both our air forces are avoiding each other and working over exposed ground units.
DEI/Malaya
A Jap AP hit another mine at Teleokbetoeng again, not for heavy damage though. He did a paradrop on Djambi, which is the town north of Palembang, cutting those units off. There isn't much intent of evacuation from Palembang though, engineers standing by with the charges is about it. I'll have the sub exodus evacuate cadres from there though asap.
I moved down some Mitchells from Rangoon to Singapore, he has fighter defence but Mitchells are pretty tough, and I feel the burning need to attrition his navy more.
Repulse will be picking up some aviation support from Sabang and fast transporting it to Colombo either tomorrow or the day after. The British aircraft carriers are already in position west of Sabang with the LRCAP cover.
SWPAC
Darwin upgrades to a level 5 airfield, which may be relevant if he chooses not to invade Australia. I switch off airfield upgrading and stick to fortresses now.
A third of Derby's baseforce is aboard AP Ormiston and headed for Perth.
Lots of Jap subs sighted in a line between Cairns and Port Moresby. I don't plan on any more merchant shipping making that run though. On other hand, I send some MSWs and DDs up to Cairns once more so I can run some ASW taskforces through that spot.
Lexington and Saratoga are parked in the Coral Sea as planned now.
My P-40Bs and medium bombers have made it to Aus it looks like! One hex from Brisbane, so they should be unloading tomorrow.
NORPAC
I finally have an AVD and Catalinas and supply all at Attu Island at once, so my early warning system is up. BB Warspite has been parked at Attu Island as well, in case he raids it. Feeling quite secure up here now.
CENTPAC
Reinforcements are streaming in to just about everywhere. Jap subs are nowhere to be found, though I'm sure they are out there. Troop convoys are all escorted, there are some unescorted TK convoys headed around though. I have a surfeit of tankers, so they are considerably more expendable than my precious APs.
In fact I dispatched 10 British APs from Aden to Perth a while back, they'll be much more useful to me in the Pacific I feel.
Major reinforcements of all kinds in 2 days!
Still quiet...
Burma/India
Tavoy is pretty much being used as a training ground. In fact I moved a recently reconstituted P-40 squadron, 22 aircraft, to Rangoon to start bombing the place to up their experience. [:D] Scored two more resources hits on the place today.
China
Deadlocked on the Nanchang road. Looks like we are both happy to train here at the moment, both our air forces are avoiding each other and working over exposed ground units.
DEI/Malaya
A Jap AP hit another mine at Teleokbetoeng again, not for heavy damage though. He did a paradrop on Djambi, which is the town north of Palembang, cutting those units off. There isn't much intent of evacuation from Palembang though, engineers standing by with the charges is about it. I'll have the sub exodus evacuate cadres from there though asap.
I moved down some Mitchells from Rangoon to Singapore, he has fighter defence but Mitchells are pretty tough, and I feel the burning need to attrition his navy more.
Repulse will be picking up some aviation support from Sabang and fast transporting it to Colombo either tomorrow or the day after. The British aircraft carriers are already in position west of Sabang with the LRCAP cover.
SWPAC
Darwin upgrades to a level 5 airfield, which may be relevant if he chooses not to invade Australia. I switch off airfield upgrading and stick to fortresses now.
A third of Derby's baseforce is aboard AP Ormiston and headed for Perth.
Lots of Jap subs sighted in a line between Cairns and Port Moresby. I don't plan on any more merchant shipping making that run though. On other hand, I send some MSWs and DDs up to Cairns once more so I can run some ASW taskforces through that spot.
Lexington and Saratoga are parked in the Coral Sea as planned now.
My P-40Bs and medium bombers have made it to Aus it looks like! One hex from Brisbane, so they should be unloading tomorrow.
NORPAC
I finally have an AVD and Catalinas and supply all at Attu Island at once, so my early warning system is up. BB Warspite has been parked at Attu Island as well, in case he raids it. Feeling quite secure up here now.
CENTPAC
Reinforcements are streaming in to just about everywhere. Jap subs are nowhere to be found, though I'm sure they are out there. Troop convoys are all escorted, there are some unescorted TK convoys headed around though. I have a surfeit of tankers, so they are considerably more expendable than my precious APs.
In fact I dispatched 10 British APs from Aden to Perth a while back, they'll be much more useful to me in the Pacific I feel.
Major reinforcements of all kinds in 2 days!
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/12/1942
Two days in one here as I'm getting lazy. 
Burma/India
On the 11th there was a favourable air battle over Tavoy, in which my Hurricanes shot down 2 Zeroes without loss and the bombers went on to score six resource hits. On the 12th they tried again, this time going for the airfield given his reinforced Zero presence and it went much worse, 5 Hurricanes lost for 1 Zero. That said the replacements who just got sucked in from the pool are crack. I dunno where these boys came from! 5 pilots with experience between 79 and 90 out of the 16 in the squadron.
The Mitchells seem rugged but the Blenheims suffer against fighters. 7 airbase hits though, not bad. Though this paled when a massive Jap airstrike from Bangkok hit Moulmein, scoring 50 runway hits.
China
Massive raid on Changsha meant that the small victory at Tavoy was more than overshadowed, with half a dozen precious and almost irreplaceable P-40Bs destroyed on the ground and the AVG being handled roughly in the air. Chinese bombers did reach their targets though, and seem to be training up at quite a rate.
My US combat engineers have showed up at Chungking having been transferred to China Command. [:D] When the Chinese have recovered and I have the Ledo air transport lifeline going on, that should give the Chinese the ability to actually have a chance at taking some Japanese fortified positions.
DEI/Malaya
Batavia fell on the 11th, to my surprise. He had moved up some reinforcements and hit the place hard, 6 to 1 odds meant it fell despite many forts. Soon as they move to Soerabaja the same will happen there. A valuable Do patrol squadron was lost in the process.
On the 12th Mitchells who had been surreptitiously moved to the no longer bombed Singapore scrambled, and went for CVL Ryujo which had only a four Zero CAP. One bomber was shot down, the remaining 11 made bombing runs at 6000', but despite having experience in some cases in the 70s, no hits were scored as usual. [8|]
USS Salmon was sunk by Jap patrol craft at Brunei. The DEI is becoming a dangerous place for Allied submarines. That said there are none left on war patrols. All Allied subs in the area are becoming burned out with incessant sub transportation - some are doing it even with sys damage as high as 23. They'll be drydocked for quite a while so the sub campaign in the DEI will come to a complete halt around April-May.
SWPAC
Its gone kinda quiet. My carriers are loitering in the Coral Sea.
The three Barracuda class subs just mined Truk. Two of them are staying on station around the Rabaul/Admiralty Islands/Truk area, the third is going to Cairns to rearm. There is quite a bit of Allied submarine activity here but pickings have been very poor.
CENTPAC
He's chasing the badly damaged USS Plunger with an ASW taskforce. I dont even bother to evade, given Plunger will almost certainly never make it to Pago Pago - she has to take the shortest route to have even a glimmer of hope!
The Aquitania liner is almost at Panama City, where she will take the Americal Division aboard. Americal will probably end up going to Suva. Hard tour they will have!
West Coast/NORPAC
A lone Japanese submarine heading over is the sole apparent Japanese presence. Some extra material is being sent up there from the West Coast though. Engineers and an air HQ, provisionally going to Umchitka Island.
Two days in one here as I'm getting lazy.
Burma/India
On the 11th there was a favourable air battle over Tavoy, in which my Hurricanes shot down 2 Zeroes without loss and the bombers went on to score six resource hits. On the 12th they tried again, this time going for the airfield given his reinforced Zero presence and it went much worse, 5 Hurricanes lost for 1 Zero. That said the replacements who just got sucked in from the pool are crack. I dunno where these boys came from! 5 pilots with experience between 79 and 90 out of the 16 in the squadron.
The Mitchells seem rugged but the Blenheims suffer against fighters. 7 airbase hits though, not bad. Though this paled when a massive Jap airstrike from Bangkok hit Moulmein, scoring 50 runway hits.
China
Massive raid on Changsha meant that the small victory at Tavoy was more than overshadowed, with half a dozen precious and almost irreplaceable P-40Bs destroyed on the ground and the AVG being handled roughly in the air. Chinese bombers did reach their targets though, and seem to be training up at quite a rate.
My US combat engineers have showed up at Chungking having been transferred to China Command. [:D] When the Chinese have recovered and I have the Ledo air transport lifeline going on, that should give the Chinese the ability to actually have a chance at taking some Japanese fortified positions.
DEI/Malaya
Batavia fell on the 11th, to my surprise. He had moved up some reinforcements and hit the place hard, 6 to 1 odds meant it fell despite many forts. Soon as they move to Soerabaja the same will happen there. A valuable Do patrol squadron was lost in the process.
On the 12th Mitchells who had been surreptitiously moved to the no longer bombed Singapore scrambled, and went for CVL Ryujo which had only a four Zero CAP. One bomber was shot down, the remaining 11 made bombing runs at 6000', but despite having experience in some cases in the 70s, no hits were scored as usual. [8|]
USS Salmon was sunk by Jap patrol craft at Brunei. The DEI is becoming a dangerous place for Allied submarines. That said there are none left on war patrols. All Allied subs in the area are becoming burned out with incessant sub transportation - some are doing it even with sys damage as high as 23. They'll be drydocked for quite a while so the sub campaign in the DEI will come to a complete halt around April-May.
SWPAC
Its gone kinda quiet. My carriers are loitering in the Coral Sea.
The three Barracuda class subs just mined Truk. Two of them are staying on station around the Rabaul/Admiralty Islands/Truk area, the third is going to Cairns to rearm. There is quite a bit of Allied submarine activity here but pickings have been very poor.
CENTPAC
He's chasing the badly damaged USS Plunger with an ASW taskforce. I dont even bother to evade, given Plunger will almost certainly never make it to Pago Pago - she has to take the shortest route to have even a glimmer of hope!
The Aquitania liner is almost at Panama City, where she will take the Americal Division aboard. Americal will probably end up going to Suva. Hard tour they will have!
West Coast/NORPAC
A lone Japanese submarine heading over is the sole apparent Japanese presence. Some extra material is being sent up there from the West Coast though. Engineers and an air HQ, provisionally going to Umchitka Island.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
2/13/1942
Busy day to day. The 13th, unlucky for some... Two big air battles, one over Tavoy and one over Changsha. In the air the Allies do well, 15 Japs shot down for 14 losses. This is made up for by 30 Allied aircraft destroyed on the ground however.
Burma/India
Most of the dying happens at Moulmein. He comes back in force, but he runs into pretty much the entire Hurricane squadron I mentioned on CAP, and the fur flies! Losses are heavy, on both sides. The 90 exp Hurricane pilot is among them. [8|] But the Hurricanes do give out as much as they take, and they are shooting down Zeroes as well. My usual tactic of making sure the bombers aren't on the deck didn't work as they happened to be resting today, so it is here that most of the 30 a/c destroyed on the ground get it. On the plus side, this doesn't mean many dead pilots, and the bombers lost are Blenheims and Mitchells, which are in plentiful supply.
Later on in the morning 30 P-40s escort 8 Fortresses to Tavoy, where they encounter a light CAP. The P-40s dont do as well as the Hurricanes being much less experienced, and barely engage. The 8 Forts do alright though, 7 airbase hits, quite good!
China
Air battles rage over Changsha as well between the AVG and the Japs. There are a lot of Japs here, he's routinely sending over 70 fighter escorts, and he's outnumbering the AVG 4 to 1. AVG losses are pretty heavy again but he does pay a reasonable price. The bombers do destroy a lot of the obsolete chinese bombers though, which are hard to replace.
DEI/Malaya
An Allied bombardment at Soerabaja causes more Allied casualties than it does Japanese - not good. One of the Dutch KNIL regiments and a Dutch baseforce there has had a cadre picked up and evacuated to Darwin via sub. He doesn't seem to be moving from Teloekbetoeng just yet, but he's keeping up naval bombardment of Palembang. Evacuation of cadres from Singapore is pretty much done now, so Palembang is going to be next.
SWPAC
If I had four carriers in the Coral Sea I'd probably raid Rabaul. As it is I think its too risky and not worth letting him know where I am. I'd rather make a move on him as he's in transit. Hudsons attack some Jap shipping, a small AK TF resupplying PNG, but miss.
CENTPAC
Jap ninja sub torpedoes a DM somewhere NE of Canton Island. Its in with a whole bunch of DMs and DMS's, but needless to say none of them manage to attack the sub back. [8|] Allied ASW, hello? [8|] 79 flotation damage and a week from a tiny portless atoll, its toast. And so yet another Allied minelayer buys it. [8|][8|][8|][8|]
<censored> subs.
Busy day to day. The 13th, unlucky for some... Two big air battles, one over Tavoy and one over Changsha. In the air the Allies do well, 15 Japs shot down for 14 losses. This is made up for by 30 Allied aircraft destroyed on the ground however.
Burma/India
Most of the dying happens at Moulmein. He comes back in force, but he runs into pretty much the entire Hurricane squadron I mentioned on CAP, and the fur flies! Losses are heavy, on both sides. The 90 exp Hurricane pilot is among them. [8|] But the Hurricanes do give out as much as they take, and they are shooting down Zeroes as well. My usual tactic of making sure the bombers aren't on the deck didn't work as they happened to be resting today, so it is here that most of the 30 a/c destroyed on the ground get it. On the plus side, this doesn't mean many dead pilots, and the bombers lost are Blenheims and Mitchells, which are in plentiful supply.
Later on in the morning 30 P-40s escort 8 Fortresses to Tavoy, where they encounter a light CAP. The P-40s dont do as well as the Hurricanes being much less experienced, and barely engage. The 8 Forts do alright though, 7 airbase hits, quite good!
China
Air battles rage over Changsha as well between the AVG and the Japs. There are a lot of Japs here, he's routinely sending over 70 fighter escorts, and he's outnumbering the AVG 4 to 1. AVG losses are pretty heavy again but he does pay a reasonable price. The bombers do destroy a lot of the obsolete chinese bombers though, which are hard to replace.
DEI/Malaya
An Allied bombardment at Soerabaja causes more Allied casualties than it does Japanese - not good. One of the Dutch KNIL regiments and a Dutch baseforce there has had a cadre picked up and evacuated to Darwin via sub. He doesn't seem to be moving from Teloekbetoeng just yet, but he's keeping up naval bombardment of Palembang. Evacuation of cadres from Singapore is pretty much done now, so Palembang is going to be next.
SWPAC
If I had four carriers in the Coral Sea I'd probably raid Rabaul. As it is I think its too risky and not worth letting him know where I am. I'd rather make a move on him as he's in transit. Hudsons attack some Jap shipping, a small AK TF resupplying PNG, but miss.
CENTPAC
Jap ninja sub torpedoes a DM somewhere NE of Canton Island. Its in with a whole bunch of DMs and DMS's, but needless to say none of them manage to attack the sub back. [8|] Allied ASW, hello? [8|] 79 flotation damage and a week from a tiny portless atoll, its toast. And so yet another Allied minelayer buys it. [8|][8|][8|][8|]
<censored> subs.
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
ORIGINAL: EUBanana
1/17/1942
PI
Clark Field fell today, the defenders retreated to Bataan. I had ordered the troops at Manila to fall back to Clark a couple of days ago, but they didn't budge an inch. Clearly I do not understand ground combat in this game. In any case, they are split up now, and so, fecked. [8|]
Isnt' it about Zone of Control: you can't get from one zone to another. You must find a free zone hex to move in before going to another...
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
ORIGINAL: gladiatt
ORIGINAL: EUBanana
1/17/1942
PI
Clark Field fell today, the defenders retreated to Bataan. I had ordered the troops at Manila to fall back to Clark a couple of days ago, but they didn't budge an inch. Clearly I do not understand ground combat in this game. In any case, they are split up now, and so, fecked. [8|]
Isnt' it about Zone of Control: you can't get from one zone to another. You must find a free zone hex to move in before going to another...
Yeah. I have since discovered the marvels of the W key.
It does mean that in the PI Manila has to be abandoned quite early then. Also in Malaya my withdrawal was far too late.
I think its better that these hard lessons are learned now when the outcome is certain anyway rather than at a more critical time.
And on the plus side... Feb 16th. I'm doing better than General Percival managed historically!
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
14/2/1942
Burma/India
The boys at Moulmein were chewed up and resting and I was expecting him to continue, so 30 odd P-40s from Rangoon LRCAPPED. Bad move, he hit it hard alright but the less experienced P-40s were swept away despite their large numbers. 15 lost in air to air in exchange for 3 kills, the 21st Fighter Squadron did not cover itself with glory. Such a massacre was it that the Allied air presence in Burma is now seriously endangered until more P-40s are built or until I rotate some Hurricane squadrons in - which may deny India its air defence if they get massacred too.
For now, I pull out of Moulmein what I can, and Rangoon stands down to try and fix the many damaged aircraft.
China
Similar tale here, Changsha is being bombed around the clock by hundreds of Jap bombers. The AVG hasn't got a hope against those odds, and I have to pull them out, along with the Chinese bombers. A lot of frames have been destroyed but few pilots killed at least so my quality hasn't suffered much.
Quiet everywhere else! Except 60 miles from Tokyo USS Tautog torpedoed an AP. [:D] In the lair of the Jap beast!
Burma/India
The boys at Moulmein were chewed up and resting and I was expecting him to continue, so 30 odd P-40s from Rangoon LRCAPPED. Bad move, he hit it hard alright but the less experienced P-40s were swept away despite their large numbers. 15 lost in air to air in exchange for 3 kills, the 21st Fighter Squadron did not cover itself with glory. Such a massacre was it that the Allied air presence in Burma is now seriously endangered until more P-40s are built or until I rotate some Hurricane squadrons in - which may deny India its air defence if they get massacred too.
For now, I pull out of Moulmein what I can, and Rangoon stands down to try and fix the many damaged aircraft.
China
Similar tale here, Changsha is being bombed around the clock by hundreds of Jap bombers. The AVG hasn't got a hope against those odds, and I have to pull them out, along with the Chinese bombers. A lot of frames have been destroyed but few pilots killed at least so my quality hasn't suffered much.
Quiet everywhere else! Except 60 miles from Tokyo USS Tautog torpedoed an AP. [:D] In the lair of the Jap beast!
RE: Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland
ORIGINAL: EUBanana
And on the plus side... Feb 16th. I'm doing better than General Percival managed historically!
[:D]
