The Leader Bug strikes - BigB 1.5 Japanese version

[Rainer79]

January 29th, 1942:

A good day to be a sub captain.

My ASW task force at Etorofu played cat and mouse with SS Tuna for much of the day. After several attacks which leave the sub slightly damaged, the Tuna retaliates and plants an (exploding) torpedo into DD Minegumo. The destroyer has been disbanded into the port where the workers will have to do their utmost to save this valuable ship.

ASW efforts against SS Tautog near Tokyo also failed to provide any results.

On the plus side the captain of I-23 continued to be lucky and found an replenishment squadron. One torpedo hit AO Guadalupe amidships and the fuel cargo began to burn. While the ship did not show up as heavily damaged, at least the American squadron will have to retreat further if it wants to replenish its stores.

Speaking of the American warships in the Aleutans, as expected Kiska received a bombardment run. BBs Colorado and Arizona, 4 CAs and 2 CLs have been identified.

Meanwhile my destroyers raided Palembang again and sank two more PTs. Hatsuyuki received a few MG hits but nothing serious. A single dutch PT is still alive - for now.

Kongo and Haruna also visited Pontianak after escorting the Java transports to safety.

At Soerabaja the attack came off at 4:1 and reduced forts to 2. The end should be near.

On Borneo both Sampit and Pontianak were seized and the whole island is now under undisputed Japanese control. While there are a few rumors of dutch stragglers hiding in the jungle the IJA is confident that any remaining troops will either soon surrender or starve.

The final resistance on Timor also ceased today as two units surrendered to a NLF east of Koepang.

Here is also a screenshot of the industry pools. Exploitation and shipping of the captured raw materials has already begun and the economy is expected to grow nicely.

[Rainer79]

January 30th, 1942:

A good day for the empire.

It began with I-26 taking a shot at another AO east of Kiska. AO Platte got lucky though and escaped unharmed.

The I-23 continues to be my favourite sub. Today it put two torpedoes into DD Henley which later sank. Even better, it completely evaded the counter-attack of the 5 other DDs in the task force.

To add insult to the injury CA Salt Lake City then hit a mine at Dutch Harbor. [:D]

Near Palembang the last dutch PT boat was destroyed by a DD task force. The last allied surface presence within the DEI has now been eliminated.

In Burma a Sally Sentai tried to attack Lashio without any escorts (despite having ~100 fighters available) and ran into a surviving part of the AVG. 7 Warhawks intercepted the bombers but thankfully only shot a single one down. The airfield received a few token hits afterwards.

In the PI 3 SNLF units evicted a Philippine regiment from Tacloban and forced them to retreat to Ormoc. We'll invade that base soon as well.

The biggest news was the capture of Soerabaja. The last attack was a nice 13:1 and lead to the surrender of more than 8000 KNIL soldiers. Engineers reported some damage to the resource and oil centers but their overall condition is acceptable. The troops will now rest for a day or two and then begin the reduction of Batavia.

[Rainer79]

January 31st, 1942:

ASW efforts are an ongoing concern. Several subs were attacked but we only got a single Type 95 hit on Tautog. Since the sub was not reported as being on fire, I think it may have been FOW.

Otherwise the turn was fairly quiet. Daniel has started to bomb some out of the way bases (e.g. Merauke) which I'll ignore for now. Though if he wants to fly regular milk-runs he may soon find a fighter ambush or two to keep him honest.

The Allies seem to have evacuated most aircraft from Palembang. An Oscar sweep has only found empty air and recon Dinahs report only 1 transport type aircraft at the base. The IJN has been tasked with providing some closer recon.

Our bombers have been switched over to provide some attention to the two Australian brigades in Singapore in preparation for the next attack. Flak fire over both Singapore and Bataan is still strong.

Our two damaged destroyers have put out all fires and started to pump out the water. The one in Kendari is down to 28 flood damage and should be safe. The one in Etorofu is down to 46 flot damage so I am also somewhat optimistic. APD-34 sits with 56 flot damage in Legaspi though and shows no signs of improving.


Current naval losses:
Japan: 1 PC, 2 MSW, 1 SS, 5 AP, 2 AK
Allies: BB Tennessee, 1 DD, 1 DMS, 4 AVD, 4 ML, 19 MSW, 1 PC, 18 PT, 7 SS, 1 AD, 8 AP, 21 AK, 2 TK


Here is also a large scale map of the empire:

[Rainer79]

double post

[Grotius]

Very enjoyable AAR. Did he make any effort to bomb your newly-acquired oil centers in the DEI? I'm still puzzling over how to grab all the oil centers without exposing at least some to enemy bombing attacks. I know people say "grab the level 4 airfields first", but you sooner or later you've got to grab an oil field. E.g., you got Tarakan before Balikpapan; did he bomb you from Balikpapan?

Also: how many divisions did you send to Java? For that matter, how many to the Philippines, how many to Malaya/Singapore, and how many to Burma?

[Rainer79]

February 1st, 1942:

MSWs have arrived to clear Soerabaja's harbor. Another group of MSWs have been assembled near Singapore to move in once the base is taken.

In the Aleutians a small transport TF was spotted east of Attu. A SAG will try to intercept. At Dutch harbor recon shows about 10 APs and 5 DDs. The weather up there shows up as thunderstorms / blizzards - every single turn.

A Claude Daitai in training conducted a sweep over Wuchow and shot down 4 of 5 I-153c. The Chinese airforce has been moved forward again and we will try to exploit this.

The B-17s over Burma have started to bomb Mandalay. At the same time 54 Zeros swept Lashio and encountered 6 Warhawks of the AVG/A. All enemy fighters were shot down in exchange for a single A6M2.

A shock attack at Singapore yielded a 1:1 (adjusted AV 1950 vs. 1000) and reduced forts to 1. Losses continue to be favorable. The lead brigades are down to ~65/95 but that can't be helped. Once disruption is down the next attack will be scheduled.

In the PI an empty Roxas was seized. The focus here is to clean up the empty bases and then put a few SNLFs into the defended ones to stop resource and supply production.

[Rainer79]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Very enjoyable AAR. Did he make any effort to bomb your newly-acquired oil centers in the DEI? I'm still puzzling over how to grab all the oil centers without exposing at least some to enemy bombing attacks. I know people say "grab the level 4 airfields first", but you sooner or later you've got to grab an oil field. E.g., you got Tarakan before Balikpapan; did he bomb you from Balikpapan?

Thanks for your interest. I would say that any lvl. 3 airfield is dangerous. Daniel did not try to bomb the oil centers for which I am thankful but I did send a fighter Daitai immediately into any captured base just in case.

I still need to capture Palembang at least somewhat intact though.

Also: how many divisions did you send to Java? For that matter, how many to the Philippines, how many to Malaya/Singapore, and how many to Burma?

Burma:
33rd and 55th Divisions, 1 tank regiment, 2 para regiments

PI:
2nd, 16th, 21st and 48th Divisions, 65th Brigade, 56th Brigade (Cagayan), 3 tank regiments, various SNLFs, engineer and artillery regiments

Java:
4th and 38th Divisions, 35th and 4th Mixed Brigade

Malaya:
IG, 5th and 18th Divisions, 21st Mixed and 23rd Mixed Brigade, 3 tank regiments, various artillery and engineer regiments

Strategic Reserve:
56th Division plus a few Naval Gd units

[Rainer79]

February 2nd, 1942:

The planned surface intercept near Attu did not quite happen as planned. Great was the consternation at the Combined Fleet HQ when there was no nighttime surface battle. Initially the planners assumed that the American AKs had been ordered back but then the SAG fought a daytime action at Attu instead. 5 AKs were attacked by a slightly superior IJN task force (see screenshot). 4 of the AKs were sunk outright while the last was reported as heavily damaged. 21 shell hits (of which at least 6 were 8+") should doom that vessel. No enemy troops have been reported by our sailors so this was likely a resupply mission. Nobody knows why the squadron only moved 3 hexes during the night instead of the 4 it was entitled to, especially as the DDs' fuel status had been very good but I won't complain too much.

The Americans were also very lucky today. Our carriers had positioned themselves near Dutch Harbor hoping to pick off several targets. The Kate and Val patrols reported quite a number of merchant and escort vessels there and even a strike was launched - which promptly failed to locate the target.

On the ground an American base force was forced to surrender at San Jose Buenavista. The campaign to clear out all these small islands in the PI will continue.

The 14th Army also tested the defences of Bataan for the first time. A deliberate attack came off at 0:1 but the engineers did manage to reduce forts to 3. The enemy adjusted AV (905-->1225) does not look too bad.

[Rainer79]

February 3rd + 4th, 1942:

Bad news. We have been hit by the synch bug and are trying to get rid of it. It seems that in the alternate version of reality Japan had been a lot more successful (Singapore falling, the carrier raid destroying the allied convoys) but no such luck.

Because of that the two turns have been fairly quiet. A BB task force bombarded Broome, sank AVD Heron and destroyed a few PBYs on the ground. Broome and Darwin are the only lvl. 3 airfields on the North Australian coast so I assume that the bases will build up forts instead. The runway at Alice Springs is being expanded however.

In Burma a Para regiment took an abandoned Taung Gyi. A Chinese Divison shock attacked into Mandalay and received a warm welcome there. No follow-on forces have been detected yet. 12 enemy units are sitting at Lashio though.

[Rainer79]

February 5th, 1942:

I hope we are back in synch again since this was a good turn.

It began with AO Guadalipe sinking off Kodiak. I must remember to look at the stats of I-23's captain one of these days.

Ship repair is also going well. CA Chokai has also finished her repairs and will join the fleet again. DD Minegumo is nearly pumped out and should be able to head for Japan soon. Yukikaze has already left Kendari for a major repair yard. Even APD-34 has reduced its flooding slightly (it is now fluctuating between 40-45).

During the night Kongo and Haruna visited Palembang again and shelled the defenders. Damage to the base facilities is slight but I'll try to close it before a invasion convoy sails.

Over China the Tojos proved to be pretty ineffective dogfighters as 6 I-153c completly evaded them and shot down two Lilys afterwards.

The best part of the turn was the capture of Singapore however. After the IJAAF softened up the defenders, our combat engineers reduced the forts to zero and our soldiers then swept away the feable resistance (7:1). Nearly 60.000 British soliders surrendered to Gen. Yamashita before they had a chance to sabotage the industry. Our units may now rest for a few days until a group of MSWs arrives to clear the harbor. Then a horde of APs will come...

[Rainer79]

February 6th, 1942:

The curse of the allied MSWs has reared its head again. CA Takao and DDs Asashio, Michishio and Hibiki found MSWs Colac and Warrnambool 60 miles NW of Derby and executed a text book long-lance attack. Extensive mine-laying campaigns are looking very attractive, at least in the western half of the map.

In China Il-4c have begun attacking the ground units at Canton. The 3-4 plane elements seem to have no problem to penetrate the (admittedly weak) CAP though usually most of them end up damaged by AA fire. Lilys have torched some I-153cs at Wuchow in response.

A first strike against Palembang was rather successful though no planes were destroyed on the ground. Compared to Singapore's AA defense such attacks should be milk-runs.

Nells escorted by Zeros raided Broome though for negligible effect. No CAP was encountered.

A Nav Gd unit has been offloaded at Derby. So far it looks like the base is undefended.

Our tank regiments tried to eliminate the Mersing pocket again. The base force finally surrendered leaving a weak Indian brigade behind.

At Ormoc our SNLFs overran a PA regiment and forced it to surrender. Only two bases remain in allied hands in the central PI although each of them has a "division" guarding them.

The only bleak spot of the turn was an attack SE of Homan. About 1750 AV crossed the river into the railroad hex where 3 Chinese corps and 2 weak guerrilla brigades were waiting. The adjusted AV looked horribly though and lead to a 0:1 attack. While this attack is mostly a feint it would be nice to establish a ZOC on this hex and most importantly force a couple of mobile units to suffer a retreat.

[Rainer79]

February 7th, 1942:

We have now been at war with the allies for two months and overall the emperor is pleased with the situation. Most of our goals have already been accomplished and the others should be achieved within a reasonable amount of time.

The current goals are (in order of priority):

1) Seize the remainder of the DEI
2) Capture Amchitka and Attu
3) Clear out Burma
4) Seize Northern Australia


The Pacific is very quiet. The only occasional action is when a NLF takes another empty dot hex in the Solomons. This represents a deliberate policy to take over every single dot within the DEI and Southeast Fleet area. If Daniel wants to build up a forward base there, then at least he won't be able to do it stealthily.

Air combat over Wuchow resulted in 2 more I-153c being destroyed. A few supply hits were an added bonus.

A sweep over Batavia noticed 13 obsolete enemy fighters on CAP. We destroyed 6 of them in exchange for a single Zero.

In Burma enemy bombers returned to Mandalay where they were met by a few Zeros on (leaking) CAP. A couple of Blenheim bombers won't return though the B-17Ds proved to be more worrying as they did cause more damage to the fighters than they received.

A SNLF was landed at Cebu and two more should follow within the next few days. The Allies have 85 AV defending the island.

An empty Derby was also taken. Darwin has been emptied of aircraft although the invasion force has not even sailed yet.

Finally today began the invasion of Amchitka. It was chosen over Attu since it is a clear hex and the troop number is fairly low (recon said ~2000 troops and 20 guns). The weather is bad but apparently every day in the region is a blizzard. A brigade was landed and while the casualties were severe there are acceptable. Ground combat showed an allied AV of 7 so there should be no problem to take the island.

[bigbaba]

you are makeing a realy good progress. i can imagine that playing such a MOD as the japanese is a logistical nightmare. i play the allied side in a CHS game and even thats hard enough.[&o]

[Rainer79]

The hardest turns are the initial ones IMO when you have to redistribute units, supplies and fuel across the empire on a grand scale. Right now the turns are not really complicated as most of the units are where they are supposed to be.

As for the speed of advance Daniel certainly helped me there by withdrawing nearly all of his surface assets. That meant the IJN could concentrate its efforts on ASW and coastal bombardments. Nevertheless quite a few of the ships have now sys damage of 10+ and will need a bit of rest. Also the older destroyer classes will gain their first refits during the coming months which will be completed ASAP.

[Rainer79]

February 8th, 1942:

Hyuga and Ise shelled the defenders of Amchitka today. Not that the outcome of the attack was in any doubt but suppressing any further CD fire is always a good idea. Since the parent fragment unloaded last the ground attack order was of course canceled.

Near Palmyra 6 enemy DDs spotted and attacked I-173. After missing the sub with their depth charges our brave captain counter-attacked but also missed. The second attack by the ASW task-force was sadly better timed and scored a single direct hit. The sub will try to reach Kwajalain with 75 flot damage.

Over Burma the Allies did begin their aerial muscles. 30 fighters swept Mandalay in two different formations and then 60 bombers came in to crater the base. We thankfully did not oppose that raid.

A Nav Gd took Broome from a base force fragment and destroyed a few Catalinas on the ground. A special base force will soon unload and make the base operational again.

[Rainer79]

February 9th, 1942:

Again the Allies made their 2 x sweep + follow-on bomber attack combo over Mandalay. Since it would be suicide for our fighters to oppose that we will try a more indirect method to stop these attacks. Damage to the base facilities is rising though the runway is still operational for now.

The first step was to order a sweep of our own against Imphal where 25 Zeros found 9 Curtis H81-3A. Six of the defenders were shot down for no friendly loss.

130 IJA bombers also visited Palembang and further cratered the runway. It seems that there are only Dornier float-planes left at the base.

In China we continue to slowly attrit the I-153c and IL-4c pools. If nothing else, it is good experience for our training Daitais.

3 construction battalions came ashore at Toboali. They will take the hex and then begin to expand its port.

A first bombardment attack at Batavia showed 493 AV defending against 1333 AV of our own. The 5th Division which had been earmarked as possible reinforcements will be diverted to Northern Oz instead.

Finally the brigade took Amchitka and forced 1200 US soldiers to surrender. The unit is fairly beat-up and will be transported back to northern Japan to recuperate. A base force will be unloaded fairly shortly. This operation has taught me to wait for the winter effects to cease before tackling Attu. That base is mountainous instead of clear terrain and the bulk of the 4th US Regiment will probably be found there. On the bright side Kiska went to airfield level 2 which means we have the only decent airfield in that area under our control. A Kate Daitai will take up residency shortly.

[Rainer79]

February 10th, 1942:

An ASW TF 2 hexes east of Kwajalain found and engaged SS Narwhal. 1 direct hit was reported but no fires.

CA Atago shelled Bali for little effect. A single gun was knocked out. It was just a reminder to prepare the beaches for a few tourists that will arrive soon.

It seems that the IJN is not the only service that likes sub-laid mines. A couple of them were found at Kiska and our MSWs have begun to dispatch them.

Our MSWs at Singapore have stopped sweeping although there are still enemy mines left. We have sent a number of APs regardless of the danger. At least 2 more division will be immediately dispatched to Burma.

Recon over Darwin showed 2 units present there. It is unknown how much the Australians will further retreat inland.

Over Burma it seems that both sides have outsmarted each other. Zero sweeps over Cox's Basar found only empty air while the enemy targeted an undefended Magwe instead. The base is a little dinged up and the Zero Daitai stationed there has been exchanged for a Dinah chutai to hopefully fool allied intelligence. The Zero's will stay at Rangoon to get rid of their fatigue.

At Wuchow we torched 5 more I-153cs at the ground although the bad news is that the airfield there was built up to level 2. If Daniel wants to fly IL-4cs out of there, more forceful measures will have to be taken.

Today was a very bad day for the dutch airforce. First a Zero sweep destroyed 5 enemy planes over Batavia for a single A6M2. Then the remaining dutch planes launched a daring attack against the Toboali invasion force which was covered by the Mini-KB. The attack featured 13 TBs escorted by 16 fighters. Opposing them were 26 Zeros and 3 Petes. Our fighters soon downed 10 of the enemy fighters and then attacked the dangerous bombers. Only 5 would survive to launch torpedoes at CVEs Taiyo and Hosho which all missed their targets. The IJN brass was most impressed that even the Petes managed to shot down a Wirraway and a Swordfish.

The construction engineers on the ground seized Toboali with ease and will now expand the facilities so that the resources can be efficiently loaded.

At Batavia the first deliberate attack failed though. Our adjusted AV was quartered which lead to a 0:1 attack against 5 forts. Casualties were fairly low for both sides. At least the dutch AV also did not look very good.

[Rainer79]

February 11th, 1942:

RO-67 found and missed the AK Sipora at Luganville. It appears that Daniel has moved a base force fragment there (a tactic he seems to like very much) and the plane symbol has lit up.

At the same time the O-20 tried unsuccessfully to attack the DD Shinonome near Toboali. The Mini-KBs escorts dropped a few depth charges but did not damage the minelayer sub.

The Allies continued to pound Magwe. The weather forecast is thunderstorms so I won't try to intervene just yet.

At Wuchow a couple of more I-153cs got torched.... [>:]

On the railway hex SE of Honan our troops tried another attack. It came off at 2:1 but none of the Chinese units retreated. Grrrrr.

A massive number of ground units (2 CEA divisions, several Nav Gds and base forces) arrived today and pretty much wiped out our armament pools.

[Rainer79]

February 12th, 1942:

A pretty quiet day.

Blenheim IFs have been flying night air attacks against Mandalay for a while now. Since they are achieving exactly nothing they may continue to do so.

CL Natori shelled the defenders of Cebu in preparation for our first probing attack during the night. The results were pretty good for a single CL.

The enemy airstrikes in Burma failed to locate their targets today. It was a good choice to not try anything yet. Magwe is still in bad shape though hopefully the addition of a construction battalion will help repair the damage faster.

At Cebu the first attack came off at 1:1 and reduced forts to 1. Our troops will have to rest though. We took about double the losses of the PA troops.

Near Mersing the 22nd Indian Brigade finally surrendered to our troops ending the resistance in Malaya. The tanks will now move into Singapore to be shipped elsewhere.

[Rainer79]

February 13th, 1942:

The 13th was a bit unlucky for us as KXI found and hit a medium AP near Bali with 2 533mm torpedoes. The Keisho Maru will likely sink during the night but we will try to off-load a bit more supply. At least the Nav Gd tasked with taking the island has been fully unloaded. The sub escaped unharmed.

Otherwise it was another pretty boring turn as bad weather scrapped most of the air attacks.

The only other noteworthy happening was the invasion of Wyndham. 2 units have been detected defending the base.