The Battle Under: Japan looks to the South

[SierraJuliet]

Here is the current situation in China and Burma.  The focus in China, at present, is on getting across the river and cutting off the 5 Chinese Units based at Ichang.  It should be an obvious move and one that will take a while to achieve.  I will be surprised if Todd lets the Japanese make the river crossing and cut off Ichang.  If the move succeeds Japanese forces will surround Ichang and cut out these 5 units.  At the same time I want some forces to belt up the road as indicated by the dotted yellow line with the intention of cutting off the forces based in Homan and Sian.  Could be ambitious but time will tell how far Todd will let things go here.  I’ve also sent some units up the road towards Chunking in the hope that this will distract Todd from the goings on nearer to Ichang.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]In Burma I’m planning on making a drive towards Lashio to capture this town and also attempt to encircle and eliminate the British forces that have just vacated Taung Gyi. Edit - Arrow for river crossing at Ichang is in the wrong place. It should be next to the Japanese units closest to Ichang.

[align=left] [/align] 

[flaggelant]

how about some recon towards Myitkyina & Lashio, to see if a paradrop could cut off retreat lines?
 
and on Ichang; as long as your opponent doesnt have bordering units he won't have a clue about you
cutting in trough the jungle, so i'd say you have a good chance of encircleing Ichang
 
do you plan these moves with arm. units, who are faster off the road or with any available units?

[Capt. Harlock]

I now have a size 8 port and size 4 airfield to base by DEI operations out of. Supplies captured are 3495 and fuel is at 67 920. Oil stored is 50 799 and resources are at 13 734. There is no damage at all to the port, airfield or the runway. Manpower is at (1)x1, resources at (0)x600 and oil at (0)x100 – this is an excellent result.

Hmm -- the allies should have put some engineers there to damage the facilities. The Japanese steamroller just got a good boost.

[SierraJuliet]

09 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Northwest of Hanoi 19 Sonia and 14 Sally bomb 21st Chinese Corps and cause 22 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Iloilo 19 Helen bomb 61st PA Division and cause 100 casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Iloilo causes 14 Allied casualties.  The return Allied bombardment causes 5 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Bandoeng 24 Zero fly sweep and take on 13 CW-21B Demon.  At the end of the action 7 Demon are reported destroyed.[align=left] [/align]At Malang 12 Nell bomb 6th Dutch Regiment and cause 37 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Not a whole lot to report today other than the Demon demolition.  Some quick R & R going on at Soerabaja before the push starts towards Batavia.  Things in China are quiet whilst my forces are regrouping.  Same goes for Burma.

Capt. H...... I agree; Soerabaja was a good pick up.  I'm thinking that Todd was expecting me to make landfall at Batavia (I had the Imperial Guards prepping for an assault on Batavia in the hope his intel picked up on that and he would deploy acccordingly and my recon did report 8 units in Batavia - which helped make up my mind to sail onto Soerabaja).  So I'm hoping that the fleet sailing on past Batavia from Singapore was a surprise for him.  A good result in the end and the Imperial Guards are still in good shape to carry on.  I have another division on the way from Singapore to assist in the assault, when it comes, on Batavia.

[SierraJuliet]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

how about some recon towards Myitkyina & Lashio, to see if a paradrop could cut off retreat lines?

and on Ichang; as long as your opponent doesnt have bordering units he won't have a clue about you
cutting in trough the jungle, so i'd say you have a good chance of encircleing Ichang

do you plan these moves with arm. units, who are faster off the road or with any available units?

Hi flaggelant. I'm on to the recon of Myitkyina and Lashio. I have parachute guys in Tavoy waiting for the opportunity to make a drop.


As for Ichang one of the divisions making the river crossing is over half way there so it will not be too much longer before they are across and we shall what is on the other side. The 5 units are still reported to be sitting tight in Ichang so I'd be very happy to have a couple of divisions pop up on the other side of Ichang. I do have plenty of supporting units nearby but did not want to move too much in the direction of Ichang until the trap is sprung. I currently have a couple of divisions heading in the direction of Chunking to try of divert attention there. Todd still has 24 units holed up there so I'm not sure he will take the bait there. He has moved 1 unit out down the road to meet my 2 divisions so he is showing interest in what is happening there.

[SierraJuliet]

10 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: At Lashio the 2nd Parachute Regiment is flown in from Tavoy and captures the undefended base.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: Northeast of Homan 13 Sonia bomb 3rd New Chinese Corps causing 35 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Iloilo 14 Helen bomb 61st PA Division and cause 21 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese shock attack at Iloilo reduces forts to level 0 and achieves assault odds of 2 to 1.  Japanese casualties are 665 with 29 guns lost to 61 Allied casualties and 3 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Malang 17 Nell bomb 6th Dutch Regiment causing 23 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Lashio gives me a base to anchor the encirclement of 1st and 2nd Burma Rifles near Taung Gyi.  It is slow going though with all that jungle to move through.  There was a fair bit of cloud around so a number of air missions were scrubbed.

[SierraJuliet]

11 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: Northwest of Taung Gyi 11 Nell and 15 Betty bomb 2nd Burma Rifles Brigade and cause 15 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land: North of Mandalay the Japanese forces ford the river and with a shock attack defeat the single Allied unit stationed on the other side.  Assault odds of 548 to 1 are achieved and the Allied unit loses 67 casualties and 1 gun.  The Allied unit retreats across the river in the direction of Myitkyina.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: Northwest of Hanoi 22 Sonia and 14 Sally bomb 21st Chinese Corps and cause 11 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Iloilo 16 Helen bomb 61st PA Division and cause 48 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land:  At Iloilo Japanese bombardment causes 11 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Batavia 27 Zero carry out a sweep against 6 Brewster 339D and 5 Brewster are claimed as destroyed.[align=left] [/align]At Malang 18 Nell bomb 6th Dutch Regiment and cause 46 casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Pamakasan.[align=left] [/align]The undefended base at Madioen is captured by a Japanese armoured unit deployed in advance of the main Japanese thrust towards Batavia.[align=left] [/align]Sea: At Bali 8 Zero locate a couple of Dutch PT and obtain 4 shell hits on PT TM-7 and 4 shell hits on TM-9.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action to report.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The two Burma rifles units are now cut off and the encirclement continues.  Good ground made in the advance towards Batavia.  Not sure if the Zero attacks on the PTs are causing much damage but hopefully they are achieving the desired effect of making Todd wary of committing these forces in range of Zeros.

[SierraJuliet]

12 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: Northeast of Mandalay BFF Brigade (the third unit in company with the 2 Burma Rifles) is bombed by 21 Nell, 18 Betty causing 58 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: Northwest of Hanoi 3 Sonia and 7 Sally bomb 21st Chinese Corps and cause 15 casualties.  At the same location 50th Chinese Corps is bombed by 19 Sonia and 10 Sally causing 13 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Northeast of Homan 58th Chinese Corps is bombed by 13 Sonia causing 6 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  At Iloilo Japanese shock attack against level 0 forts achieves 19 to 1 assault odds and the base is captured.  Japanese loses reported as 209 casualties and 5 gun lost.  108th USAAF Base Force and 61st PA Division surrender 6590 men and 29 guns.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Malang 6th Dutch Regiment is bombed by 18 Nell causing 10 casualties.  Later in the day 6 more Nell and 17 Sally follow and cause 49 casualties to the 6th Dutch.[align=left] [/align]Sea: Near Bali 20 Zero jump TM-7 (4 shell hits) and TM-4 (24 shell hits).[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]Off shore from Rabaul SS S-27 shoots 1 torpedo into DD Akigumo for 38 21 08 damage.  A Val attacks the sub but there is no report of any hit.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil

[align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The attack by S-27 could have been more costly.  Akigumo is one of the escorts for CV Junyo, enroute to Rabaul, and it appears Todd got a peak at the carrier.  This should have him wondering if this is a lone carrier or more.  Akagi and Zuikaku also happen to be in the same task force.  Fortunately, for Akiugumo, Rabaul is close at hand and the flooding is controllable.  Cebu is now the only Allied occupied base in the Philippines and not surprisingly is next on the list of islands to be cleared.

[flaggelant]

ORIGINAL: SierraJuliet


[align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The attack by S-27 could have been more costly.  Akigumo is one of the escorts for CV Junyo, enroute to Rabaul, and it appears Todd got a peak at the carrier.  This should have him wondering if this is a lone carrier or more.  Akagi and Zuikaku also happen to be in the same task force.  Fortunately, for Akiugumo, Rabaul is close at hand and the flooding is controllable.  Cebu is now the only Allied occupied base in the Philippines and not surprisingly is next on the list of islands to be cleared.

i read something of to many CV's in the same TF can result into unorganised strikes
(like 20 vals escorted by 30 zero's and the next airstrike running without any escort)

have you encountered any of this or is the AC limit not yet reached (i had about 200 AC on my mind, which should be just about 3 CV's )

when i group up CV's i tend to make them form up into groups of 2 carriers per TF (with the slowest CV being on a waypoint and the rest set to follow that TF)


does anyone know about the max amount of AC within a CV single TF?

[n01487477]

Yep indeed, strike coordination is something of a concern to all CVTF's.

[SierraJuliet]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

ORIGINAL: SierraJuliet


[align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The attack by S-27 could have been more costly.  Akigumo is one of the escorts for CV Junyo, enroute to Rabaul, and it appears Todd got a peak at the carrier.  This should have him wondering if this is a lone carrier or more.  Akagi and Zuikaku also happen to be in the same task force.  Fortunately, for Akiugumo, Rabaul is close at hand and the flooding is controllable.  Cebu is now the only Allied occupied base in the Philippines and not surprisingly is next on the list of islands to be cleared.

i read something of to many CV's in the same TF can result into unorganised strikes
(like 20 vals escorted by 30 zero's and the next airstrike running without any escort)

have you encountered any of this or is the AC limit not yet reached (i had about 200 AC on my mind, which should be just about 3 CV's )

when i group up CV's i tend to make them form up into groups of 2 carriers per TF (with the slowest CV being on a waypoint and the rest set to follow that TF)


does anyone know about the max amount of AC within a CV single TF?

Flaggelant. You may find this of interest. It is the reports of the attacks exchanged between KB (all 6 carriers together) and the Enterprise task force. As you can see Enterprise got in the first strike. There after every attack was initiated by KB. Most went direct to the Enterprise task force and the last couple diverted to the nearby replenishment task force. The first couple of attacks were well balanced with a good escort but after that the escort was either minimal or non existent. From memory I had CAP skewed towards something like 60% for KB defence and the other 40% for escort duty - hence the 60 Zero CAP (actually thinking about it I may have even gone for a 50 50 split).

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 60

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14
SBD Dauntless x 30


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
D3A Val x 49
B5N Kate x 40

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13



Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
D3A Val x 49
B5N Kate x 40

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13


Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 15


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
D3A Val x 15
B5N Kate x 17


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
B5N Kate x 17


Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 12


Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 48
B5N Kate x 44


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
D3A Val x 11


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
B5N Kate x 20

[flaggelant]

thnx for the info
 
looks like there were several "uncoordinated attacks" like the 48 val & 44 kates (and the two smaller strikes with 10 to 15 planes), that could have really went wrong if there would have been sufficient (or any at all) cap (of course that would have resulted in another approach as well, but still it's a confirmation of what i was trying to point out)
 
 
how is your CV doing by the way?
how many days has she spent in port so far and what did it do to her damage lvl's?
 
 
 
 

[SierraJuliet]

13 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: At Port Moresby 15 Nell bomb 4th Dutch Regiment and cause 20 casualties.[align=left] [/align][align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Sea: Near Pamakasan 20 Zero locate PT TM-9 and score 20 shell hits.  Later in the day an ASW task force of 6 PC locate TM-9 and sink her with 7 shell hits.[align=left] [/align]Near Raba 8 Zero locate PT TM-7 and score 4 shell hits and PT TM-4 and score 4 shell hits.[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Malang 18 Nell bomb 6th Dutch Regiment and cause 22 casualties and destroy 2 guns.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Sampit.[align=left] [/align]At Malang Japanese shock attack reduces fort level to 1 and achieves assault odds of 266 to 1 and the base is captured.  Japanese forces report 7 casualties whilst 6th Dutch Regiment and 2 DAF Aviation surrender 6113 men and 2 guns.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]North of Rabaul an ASW task force locates SS S-27 and report 5 hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]PT TM-9[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]PT threat in DEI nullified for the time being.  Aerial attack at Port Moresby reveals a Dutch Regiment in residence.  This accounts for 1 of the 4 units the recon has reported garrisoned at this base.   [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Hiryu is currently sitting on 33 system damage and has been in port for 27 days after arriving with system damage at 50.

[n01487477]

Steve,
while Hiryu's repairs are reasonable, with 70 durability, what port, what repair size, what other ships are anchored or disbanded there ?
 
--Damian-- 

[SierraJuliet]

14 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: Northeast of Mandalay 15 Nell and 10 Betty bomb 2nd Burma Rifles Brigade and cause 11 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: Northeast of Homan 12 Sonia bomb 60th Chinese Corps and cause 4 casualties.[align=left] [/align] 
[align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Cebu 15 Helen bomb 81st PA Division and cause 26 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Cebu.  Allied bombardment causes 7 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Bandoeng 29 Oscar perform a sweep mission and destroy all 3 CW-21B Demon they find.[align=left] [/align]At Tjilitjap 13 Nell bomb 5th Coastal Bun Battalion and cause 25 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese deliberate attack at Sampit captures the undefended base.  [align=left] [/align]Japanese deliberate attack at Djokjakarta captures the undefended base.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The capture of Sampit sees all of Borneo under Japanese control.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Damian.  I’m 5 turns behind with the AAR and at present the crew of Hiryu is enjoying the delights of Maizuru.  Maizuru has 520 ship repair points and the only other ship in for repairs is Yamashiro.  The battleship is sitting on 5 system damage after undergoing her March ’42 upgrade (this had bumped her up to 8 damage after she had worked off most of her torpedo damage of 11).  The people of Nagasaki didn’t seem to appreciate the presence of this fine ship as no one at that dock seemed interested in devoting any attention to her upgrade.  The dock workers at Maizuru are a champion group and got stuck into her straight away.  The work on Hiryu has generally been going on a regular pace.  Since your email I have moved out the following undamaged ships 1 AG, 3 AK, 1AP and 2 MSW and sent them off to do some productive work.

[SierraJuliet]

15 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: West of Mandalay 55th Division launches a deliberate attack on a single land unit and achieves assault odds of 544 to 1.  The allied unit suffers 18 casualties and 2 guns lost and then continue a retreat away from Mandalay.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Cebu causes 7 Allied casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: Northeast of Homan the 12 Sonia sent to bomb 60th Chinese Corps meets a CAP of 5 AVG Tomahawk.  5 Sonia are cut from the sky whilst the Chinese Corps has casualties of 4 reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Cebu 81st PA Division is bombed by 18 Helen with 4 casualties reported.

[align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]North of Balikpapan SS Grayback picks out TK Kaijo Maru #2 with 2 torpedoes resulting in 55 96 33 damage.  DD Shirakumo reports 1 hit on the submarine.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The appearance of the AVG flying CAP over Chinese ground forces in the field have bought an end to my sending bombers out unescorted.  For the time being all bombing operations are suspended while I reassess my aerial approach in this theatre.

[SierraJuliet]

16 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: 25 Zero sweep the skies over Imphal and meet 10 Hurricane II.  The attackers lose 1 Zero and in reply claim 7 Hurricane as downed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: At Port Moresby 11 Nell attack Lark Force Battalion and lose 1 of their number for no result on the ground.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Medan 10 Sally and 13 Helen bomb 2nd WS Garrison Battalion and cause 31 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Home Islands[align=left] [/align]Sea: Near Sasebo ML Ashizaki hits a mine and sinks.  ML Saishu also hits a mine which causes 60 78 25 damage.  Sasebo is not far away so she may be saved.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]TK Kaijo Maru #2 (scuttled after those torpedo hits last turn), ML Ashizaki[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Sneaky submarine.  I saw it loitering off the home islands but far enough out not to be attacked.  Must have snuck in a dropped off some presents for me.  The Zero v Hurricane action turned out to be an excellent result for the Empire.

[SierraJuliet]

17 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Imphal 23 Zero are on sweep duty.  They meet 6 Buffalo I and destroy all 6.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: At Homan 42 Zero are on sweep duty.  They meet 6 Tomahawk.  3 Zero and 2 Tomahawk are destroyed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Cebu 12 Helen bomb 81st PA Division and cause 17 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Land: At Pamakasan Japanese shock attack achieves 10 to 1 assault odds (fort level 2) and the base is captured.  Japanese loses reported at 168 casualties and 2 guns lost.  Barison Regiment and 12th DAF Base Force surrender 2239 men and 8 guns.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]LT JG C. Kanda of F2/Yamada Daitai becomes an ace in the skies above Homan.  WO Masuyama F1/3 Daitai becomes an ace in a day in the skies over Imphal.  I suspect this doesn’t happen too often for the Japanese player so I feel it is not to over the top to trumpet such a rare feat from the Empire of the Sun.  These 2 airmen are the 4th and 5th Japanese aces.

[SierraJuliet]

18 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Imphal 23 Zero fly sweep against 5 Buffalo I.  1 Babs on recon is destroyed while the Zeros sweep all 5 Buffalo from the skies.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Cebu 16 Helen bomb 81st PA Division and cause 17 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Cebu Island.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Bankha.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Imphal is looking good as a Zero hunting ground.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Below is the current situation in China and Burma.  I have sent 55th Division off to Myitkyina to see what is there.  Along the way they have been chasing a single Brit unit which I think is an anti aircraft unit.  Intel reveals 3 units in the town but not their size.  After the experience at Taung Gyi I might opt for a look see and then move back.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Back towards Mandalay I’m trying for an encirclement of the 3 British units here (2 of them being Burma Rifles).  Not sure how this will pan out with the terrain to deal with and the British units clearly on the move and looking to beat a path to China.  In concert with this I have decided to send a force of 3 Divisions and a HQ unit along the axis of the long yellow line and see if they can’t force back the Chinese units camped outside Hanoi.  My thinking here is to possibly close off the line of retreat for the British units and also draw off some of Chinese units whilst the assault on Ichang gets underway.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]At Ichang I have 1 division almost across the river to be in a position to cut off the road retreat of the units in Ichang.  Assuming they get across ok other units will then move in and attempt an encirclement of this position.
 

[SierraJuliet]

 [align=left] [/align]19 March 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: At Homan 50 Zero fly a sweep mission and come up against 15 Tomahawk from the AVG.  1 Zero is lost in exchange for 8 Tomahawk.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Cebu causes 80 Allied casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: At Port Moresby 23 Zero on sweep duty come up against 14 Warhawk.  2 Zero reported lost for 3 Warhawk destroyed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Tjilatjap the Garrison Battalion is bombed by 3 Nell causing 4 casualties.  A second strike by 13 Nell causes 11 casualties, 1 gun and 1 vehicle lost.  The third strike for the day by 4 Nell causes 6 casualties on 5th Coastal Gun Battalion.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Kragen.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]WO K. Kubota of F2/Tainan Daitai, flying out of Chengting, is credited with 3 kills to become my 6th ace and tops the list with 6 kills to his credit.  MAJ G. Mahony of the AVG bails out over Homan and is rescued.  Another good result posted by my airman; this time over Homan.  Over the last few day I have been getting as much out of the dwindling Zero bonus as I can.  The first of the troops are over the river and have moved into behind Ichang – lets see if this provokes a reaction.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Here is the current position in Java.  Bali is the next island to be invaded.  Intel suggests it is undefended.