Lives for the Emperor - Cuttlefish (J) vs erstad (A)

[Cuttlefish]

December 10, 1941

Private Haruka Endo shuffles down the pier towards the gangway leading up towards the deck of Mizuho Maru. Ahead and behind him snakes a long line of soldiers, all carrying a heavy load of gear. Endo’s unit, the 213th Infantry Regiment, is going to war. So is the rest of the 33rd Division. Twelve transports are loading the division and four escort vessels are standing by to shepherd them to Bangkok.

Endo is a veteran, having fought with the rest of the division in China during the unsuccessful attempt to capture Changsa two years ago. He and the other veterans have tried to impress on the new recruits that they are not on their way to a picnic but it does little good. The new men are filled with fire by Japan’s string of victories so far against Britain and America and can’t wait to do their part. Endo is not immune to this excitement but his attitude is tempered by a veteran’s caution. He knows what a terrible business battle is and respects the British soldiers they will be facing. They are not on their way to a picnic, no. They are on their way to Rangoon.

At least he gets to travel in some style, Endo thinks. Mizuho Maru is a converted liner and the accommodations are tolerable. Some of the division is sailing in converted freighters. Endo has traveled in such before and they are not comfortable, especially not for a long voyage such as this. Endo squints up at the cloudy skies as he shuffles towards the gangway and hopes the weather won’t be too bad. A ship crowded with seasick men, he knows, is a misery like none other.

[Cuttlefish]

December 11, 1941

Kazuki Hatakeda once again looks out across the water at Kota Bharu. The green-clad coastline is quiet now. Japanese forces have forced the defenders to retreat and the battle has moved inland. Transports sit closer to shore sending landing barges full of supplies towards the beach to support the offensive.

The last couple of days have been quiet except for a few ineffective air raids. The famous British Force Z never appeared and seems to have vanished. The general consensus seems to be that both Repulse and Prince of Wales were damaged but survived.

“Do you think they will release us soon to go hunting the enemy?” Hatakeda asks Godo, his friend and fellow searchlight operator. Godo shrugs.

“Maybe,” he says. Godo is nearly six feet tall and powerfully built but rarely says much. He is regarded by many who know him as slightly stupid but Hatakeda has a suspicion this is not necessarily the case.

“So far all we have done is watch other people fight,” Hatakeda says. “We can’t earn any glory like this, can we?”

“No,” agrees Godo phlegmatically. Hatakeda turns and looks at him.

“Do you ever say more than one word at a time?” he asks in a slightly exasperated tone.

Godo looks impassively down at him. “No,” he says after a moment, then turns away. But Hatakeda thinks for a second that he sees his friend smile just slightly.

[Cuttlefish]

December 12, 1941

Lieutenant Commander Sagara, captain of Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-155, peers ahead through the rain-streaked glass of one of the ports set around three sides of the open bridge. Rain drips off the bill of his cap and stipples the glassy sea around the submarine. Other lookouts peer through the darkness but Sagara doubts they can see any better than he can. This bothers him little. The rainy night is the perfect cloak for his submarine.

They are making their way at 16 knots east along the south coast of Borneo. I-155 has been ordered to take up station in the Makassar Strait. There they will lie in wait for enemy ships attempting to flee the Japanese invasion forces even now landing on Luzon.

I-I55 is not a new boat. It was launched in 1925 and at the time it was an impressive submarine. Sagara knows, however, that in 1941 the 330-foot submarine is large, clumsy, and slow compared to the German boats the British have been fighting for over two years. But he also knows that the enemy is disorganized and that his submarine carries sixteen of the fine Type 95 torpedoes. He considers it a fair fight.

The rain intensifies. Sagara remains on the bridge a while longer, then goes below. The only way they will find something tonight is by running into it. But there are targets coming their way soon. Sagara can feel it in his bones.

[ny59giants]

Thanks for adding a "silent service" member to your plot line. [:)]

[Cuttlefish]

December 13, 1941

Tokyo, Japan

The newsroom at one of Japan’s largest newspapers, Asahi Shimbun, is strikingly similar to newsrooms in Chicago, New York, or London. Correspondent Shigeo Hata sits at his desk amid a subdued chaos of ringing telephones, hurrying people, and editors bellowing for copy pounding out a story on his typewriter. It has been a busy day for news – reports have been coming in all day of fresh Japanese conquests in the war. Guam, Wake Island, the oil center of Miri on the Borneo coast, Aparri, Vigan, and Altimonen on Luzon.

Hata’s typewriter is larger and bulkier than those used by his Western counterparts, however. It took some time for the Japanese to invent one capable of using the complicated Japanese characters. By 1941, however, they are commonplace.

Hata looks up for a minute to see his boss, Abe, come storming out of his office. Abe is a stocky man whose sparse hair is going grey at the temples. He is also a veteran newsman and has earned both the respect of his peers and his post as chief editor.

Abe plows his way across the newsroom floor like an icebreaker crashing through a floe. He is heading directly for Hata. Hata stubs out his cigarette and looks up. Abe looms over him and drops several typewritten sheets on his desk.

“I’m killing this,” he growls. “You should know better than to write such a story.” Hata looks at it. It is the story he submitted this morning about the previous day’s disaster over Manila. He thought he had done a pretty good job on it.

“What do you mean, Chief?” he asks.

“It’s negative,” grunts Abe. ”We are not printing stories about defeats or setbacks. We are printing stories about victories.”

“There was a mistake,” protests Hata. “Our bombers went in without escort. The American planes were ready and shot down almost twenty of them. It was a screw-up! They happen in war. People should know about it.”

“The government wouldn’t like it,” says Abe. “We support the government. No negative stories.” There is a ring of finality to this statement.

Slowly Hata stands. He is a small man and has to look up at Abe but his gaze is steady.

“Do you remember the old days?” he asks. “We…this paper…opposed expansionism. We criticized the entanglement in China. We were critical of the government. If a story happened we reported it.” Abe holds Hata’s eyes for a moment and then lowers his gaze.

“Things are different now,” he says in a low voice. “Japan has staked everything on this war. The military needs the people completely behind the war. They will do…what they need to do to get that. If we want to keep reporting anything at all we must do it their way. If you want to keep reporting you will do the same.”

In his heart Hata is not surprised. He has felt the fervor for the war, even here at the paper. He has not been immune to it, despite his misgivings about the wisdom of such an attack. And the message is clear; if he wants to keep his job he must toe the line. The nail that stands up is the one that gets hammered down, as they say in Japan. Slowly he nods.

“Good,” says Abe. He spins on his heel and stalks back towards his office.

“Tanida!” he bellows at another reporter as he goes. “I need that story about Wake Island! Now!”

---

Toshiba typewriter, circa 1940. The linear strips on the cylinder show characters corresponding to the type keys underneath. The cylinder is positioned so that the pointer is aimed at the desired character and then the print key is struck.

[BrucePowers]

You learn something new (about typewriters) every day[:)]

[aprezto]

You must be a typewriter enthusiast Bruce. Certainly I have to wait many days before more typewriter wisdom increases. Although sometimes I re-learn some wisdom on typewriters after the braincell in charge of remembering typewriter trivia becomes the weakest Buffalo in the herd and is culled by the alcohol wolf.

[Cuttlefish]

December 14, 1941

Makassar Straits

“It’s not large,” says Sagara. “Maybe 2500 tons. But it’s a target. Load tubes one through four.” He is looking through the darkness at a small freighter, faintly visible in the moonlight, slipping south down the west side of the Makassar Strait. There is no sign the freighter has seen I-155.

“Range is two thousand three hundred and forty meters,” comes the announcement. “Speed nine knots.” A moment passes. “We have a firing solution, sir.”

“Flood tubes,” says Sagara. And a moment later: “Fire tubes one through four.” Four torpedoes streak through the night towards the unfortunate target*.

---

The unfortunate target is the 2332-ton Latouche, built for Alaska Steamship Lines and launched in Seattle in 1910. The ship had the misfortune to be sold to a Manila-based line in 1940 and thus finds itself in the same position as many other ships, trying to escape the sudden and overwhelming Japanese onslaught in the Philippines.

Latouche is not destined to be one of ones that makes it. At 2:15 AM a torpedo from I-155 strikes the freighter slightly forward. Flames billow across the tilting deck as Latouche immediately begins to sink.

---

Sagara peers through the binoculars. By the light of the flames he can see men scrambling across the deck and frantically trying to launch lifeboats before the ship goes down. He figures they had better hurry. It’s sinking fast.

Sagara lowers the binoculars and orders his submarine to move south. Though he is a hard man he is not without feeling for the poor devils aboard the freighter. But this is war and there is nothing to be gained by thinking about the people aboard the ships he attacks. It is more practical to just think of targets.

“Well done,” he announces to the rest of the men on the bridge. They are pleased; words of praise from Sagara are rare. “Now look sharp, everyone. We still have torpedoes and I mean to use them.” I-155 comes slowly about and chugs off into the darkness.

---

Over Manila

PO2 Ishihara brings his fighter around and onto the tail of a P-40. All around him the sky is full of swirling planes and streaks of smoke. He and the rest of Tainan AG had bounced a large number of enemy fighters, over thirty of them, and had shot down several before the stunned enemy could react. Now, however, the melee had become general and the American pilots were fighting back with skill and tenacity.

Ishihara fires and machine gun bullets chew into the enemy’s tail. He thumbs the cannon button but the P-40 flips into a sudden dive and the burst misses. Trailing smoke but with surprising speed the enemy pilot dives for the deck. Ishihara lets him go. He knows he is unlikely to catch the heavier plane in a dive.

Off to the side he sees a Zero explode into flames. Nozawa! Ishihara curses and turns toward the enemy plane. The P-40 also rolls into a turn, doubtless hoping for a belly shot on him, but this is a mistake. Ishihara cuts sharply inside him and fires. His bullets pour into the P-40’s fuselage. The enemy pilot tries to evade but Ishihara stays with him and tries to line up a killing shot.

Suddenly he feels his Type Zero shudder as bullets rip into the plane. The enemy’s wingman! Ishihara should have been watching for him. He breaks off his attack and throws his plane into a split-S. The wingman diving on him does not fall for the trap, though, and continues his dive.

Ishihara's engine coughs, then catches again. It is time for him to leave the battle. He looks down and far below sees Nozawa’s plane plummeting towards the earth. He does not see a parachute.

---

That night there is both satisfaction and sadness in the enlisted pilot’s barracks. The AG has been credited with a dozen kills for this day’s work, along with a number of probables. But there are four empty bunks. Nozawa is dead, as is Nishiyama. Sakai took a bullet through the foot and is in the hospital, though telling jokes and vowing to return as soon as possible. Kurauchi is in the bed beside him, wounded in the shoulder.

Ishihara tries to sleep but for a long while he is too keyed up. Images from the day’s combat keep flashing through his head like a series of photographs playing over and over on the inside of his eyes. He is lucky to be alive, he knows. His crew counted eleven bullet holes in his plane. He had been too eager to get that first kill and had made mistakes. At least he is alive to learn from them. If he is to survive and leave his mark on this war he must do better.

And he will, he vows. Finally exhaustion takes over. The picture show inside his head fades to black and he sleeps.

---

*I know that in the game I-155 fired a full spread of eight torpedoes at Latouche; it has to, that’s the way weapons work. But I’m going to take a little artistic license here and there if I think it makes for a better read.

[Capt. Harlock]

*I know that in the game I-155 fired a full spread of eight torpedoes at Latouche; it has to, that’s the way weapons work. But I’m going to take a little artistic license here and there if I think it makes for a better read.

I can't help but think that four of the fine Japanese torpedoes are still worth more than a 2000-ton circa 1910 freighter![;)]

[BrucePowers]

any hull you can kill is worth torpedos. Think of the supplies not carried.

[princep01]

Cap't H. Much, much easier to produce eight torpedos than to produce even a small freighter, train a crew and produce any cargo it may have carried. Build'em to use'em.

Cuttlefish, so glad to see you back in the novel mode. Have you considered taking the time to polish your first effort for a run at publication? There is gold in those hills. You are so close to a finished product that has a great chance to sale that it would pain many of us to see it lanquish as only an entertaining event in the lives of a few forum readers.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Cuttlefish, so glad to see you back in the novel mode. Have you considered taking the time to polish your first effort for a run at publication? There is gold in those hills. You are so close to a finished product that has a great chance to sale that it would pain many of us to see it lanquish as only an entertaining event in the lives of a few forum readers.

I'm still editing "Small Ship" with an eye towards publishing it on Lulu.com or something. So far I've gotten to early '43. That thing is pretty huge, even with only my entries included. I'll make an announcement over on the old thread when it's ready.

[Cuttlefish]

December 15, 1941

Makassar Strait, near Donggala

“I’m not wasting more torpedoes on another one of these,” says Captain Sagara. “The gun crew needs practice. Prepare for attack!”

I-155 has sighted another small freighter running south, this one quite near the coast. Orders are barked and men scramble topsides and down to the deck. Just forward of the sail sits the 12 cm. deck gun, which is quickly uncovered and ready for action.

“Commence firing!” barks Sagara. The submarine rocks as the gun fires. The first shell strikes well in front of the freighter. The next is closer and the third shell hits the target almost dead center, holing her in the side.

Sagara watches impassively. As more shells strike home the freighter begins to burn and the reflected light of leaping flames dances across the water. Sagara can see men frantically running toward’s the freighter’s lone gun and after a moment it fires. The shell whistles well over the submarine.

The freighter’s crew is not given time to find the range. They get off one more shot and then the sixth shell to strike the freighter explodes nearby, killing most of the enemy gun crew. The men have a steady rhythm now and Chief Sato’s commands to the gun crew synchronize with the sound of the breech being worked, the clang of brass against the deck, and the bark of the gun.

More shells tear into the doomed ship, which by now is in flames from stem to stern.

“Cease fire,” commands Sagara. “Our work is done and we should leave before the fire attracts the wrong kind of attention.” The gun is secured and Sagara gives Chief Sato a nod as Sato goes below. Once again I-155 moves off into the night, seeking prey.

Behind them the 2604-ton Soochow continues to burn until morning, when it finally sinks.

---

Outside Manila Bay

Heavy cruisers Maya and Ashigara, along with their escorts, are on blockade duty outside Manila Bay. The big guns on the islands in the harbor prevent them from approaching but cannot keep them from taking up a commanding position outside the bay.

Shortly after midnight the Allied ships trapped inside attempt to escape. PT boats come buzzing out, followed by destroyers Pope, Peary, Pillsbury, and John D. Ford. Behind them come a gaggle of other ships. Allied air power over Luzon has almost ceased to exist and Japanese bombers are roaming with impunity over the island. If they don’t escape now they never will.

The PT boats engage first, providing a potentially lethal distraction. They press their attack well but the firepower from the screen of Japanese destroyers is just too great. Their torpedoes miss and after one of the PTs is obliterated by a direct hit their commander orders them to break off. They buzz off into the darkness, losing themselves in the maze of islands to the south.

The old American flush-deck destroyers also attack with courage and gallantry but in the face of the cruiser’s big guns their attack is doomed. Soon three of the four are hit and heavily damaged. They make smoke and limp back into the harbor.

The Japanese now turn and hunt the other ships. Three are caught and sunk; a large tanker, a gunboat, and a minesweeper. Perhaps other ships escape; it is hard for the Japanese to tell amid the darkness and confusion.

Maya and Ashigara return and take up position outside the bay once again. Other ships may try to escape, and if so they will be ready.

[Q-Ball]

Interesting action off Manila. Surprised those DDs didn't leave on the 7th; it's pretty much impossible to catch them if they leave right away. Too late now, Maya and friends are blocking the door. Nice job!

I would port attack the ships in Manila to finish them off.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Interesting action off Manila. Surprised those DDs didn't leave on the 7th; it's pretty much impossible to catch them if they leave right away. Too late now, Maya and friends are blocking the door. Nice job!

I would port attack the ships in Manila to finish them off.

Thank you, sir. In a way this is all your fault. After you destroyed or badly damaged several invasion convoys in our game I took a much more aggressive approach against erstad. Japanese surface forces have been all over the place, sweeping ahead of the invasion forces. In a game with two-day turns like this one I think the result is rather unnerving; it must seem at times like the IJN is everywhere. At any rate I find it to be much more effective at protecting the invasion forces than letting Allied ships come to me!

[Cuttlefish]

December 16, 1941

Tarawa

Shockwaves travel through the Allied world ahead of the speed and ferocity of the Japanese attack. The once lightly-regarded Japanese armed forces have become feared almost overnight. In America there is near-hysteria over reports of submarines off the west coast. In England the newspapers castigate the military for withdrawing down the Malay Peninsula ahead of the Japanese advance on Alor Star and Georgetown. Every effort to stem the Japanese advance on land, sea, or air has so far ended in failure.

On the morning of December 16, however, the Americans score a victory. It is small and does nothing to slow the Japanese but it does hearten the public and puts a crack in the façade of Japanese invincibility.

As Japanese invasion forces approach Tarawa a U.S. aircraft carrier is lurking to the south. An attack by dive bombers hits two small freighters. One, badly holed, sinks within half an hour. The other survives long enough to run up on a reef near the island. Frantic soldiers evacuate, coming ashore however they can. For those that end up in the water their gear swiftly pulls them down. Though the landing is unopposed the bodies of Japanese soldiers can be seen washing around in the surf.

The planes return in the afternoon, though by now all the remaining Japanese troops are ashore. Another freighter, this one larger, is sunk. The American carrier, unidentified in the news reports as yet to avoid giving information to the Japanese, withdraws. The location of the Japanese carriers is unknown and it is too dangerous to linger.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

any hull you can kill is worth torpedos. Think of the supplies not carried.

Maybe I'm wrong about AE, but in other games the Allies have not suffered greatly from want of lifting capacity. Those supplies will be delivered wherever there are open sea lanes.

[Alikchi2]

I'm really liking these vignettes. It must be a bit easier to write, too, not being tied to one view of the war.

Count me as someone interested in the Lulu version.

[FatR]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Thank you, sir. In a way this is all your fault. After you destroyed or badly damaged several invasion convoys in our game I took a much more aggressive approach against erstad. Japanese surface forces have been all over the place, sweeping ahead of the invasion forces. In a game with two-day turns like this one I think the result is rather unnerving; it must seem at times like the IJN is everywhere. At any rate I find it to be much more effective at protecting the invasion forces than letting Allied ships come to me!

Looking at other AARs, that's a new tactics. May I ask, in which areas, besides outside of Manila bay, you are deploying your forces? Chokepoints in DEI west of Borneo are obvious, but blockading raids from Singapore doesn't seem possible without swiftly moving small carriers there, particularly if invasion of Mersing or early landing at Singkawang or south of Singapore are planned.

[FatR]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Maybe I'm wrong about AE, but in other games the Allies have not suffered greatly from want of lifting capacity. Those supplies will be delivered wherever there are open sea lanes.

Allies have a near-limitless supply of xAKs and AKs, particularly by the time of their offensive. However, losing too much fast APs might hurt, and tankers are in relatively limited supply. Even without taking large losses, hauling fuel for major operations might prove to be a problem in late 1942.