Bloody Pacific: Undercovergeek (Japan) vs. Yank (Allies)

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

31 Zeros sweep Pearl - no fighters meet the attack

43 Zeros then take off to intercept 6 incoming bombers going after unprotected shipping around Lahaina - 3 are destroyed and 1 damaged for no loss

8 B17s meet the CAP as they try to bomb shipping at Pearl - 1 Zero is destroyed and 4 bombers damaged or destroyed.

Hilo reaches level 5 for the airfield - the construction engineers here are shipped out to the SoPac islands to assist in fort building - troops from Hilo are headed to Palmyra, Baker, Canton, Tarawa, Jaluit, and Mili.

The mini KB is approaching Christmas and the TFs reappear around the island.

At Suva the DD Thanet attacks I-10 and hits her 4 times before withdrawing.

The resting IJA forces here do not bombard - but the Allies inflict an annoying 540 casualties - the artillery should land next turn and then a renewed bombardment will take place.

Japan & Korea

Not the best turn for the merchant fleet at all particularly here and Borneo - at Moppo the SS Skipjack hits an empty xAK heading to Port Arthur to reload resources, she then attacks and misses another passing xAK, and then rises to the surface to attack a passing TK, full, on its way to Kobe - fuel cargo burns.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

The ever diminishing MTB forces tries its luck at San Fernando again but runs into the waiting 6 SCs, 2 PBs and DMS - 1 is hit and sinks.

56 Lillys bomb Lautem and inflict 98 casualties on the garrison forces - this end of the island seems fairly unprotected.

All the invasion troops start to rendevous and reload at Ambon - this includes the 124th, 65th, 90th, 66th and Guards Brigade - for what its worth they will split and land at either end of Timor providing foundations for a base force and some engineers to improve the largest of the airfields and then Darwin is within range of the Japanese - after this the forces involved here will rest before heading to Rabaul and Port Moresby - the 115th has also been putrchased at Wenchow and this is en route to provide further support here.

Miracles will never cease off the west of Borneo and the blindfolded bombers aboard their 139WH-3s hit and sink both a TK and an AO fully loaded delivering oil from Miri to Badelbaob - of all the times to get your flying right!!! [:@]

Malaya & Burma

24 miles to go and then Kuantan is mine - hopefully!!! - there are 13 units here

China

The Chengchow bombardment finally happens and all 1819 guns fire at once - 1292 casualties are inflicted and amazingly no IJA troops manage to blow themselves up like at Pearl.

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

39 Zeros sweep Pearl destroying 2 fighters for no loss.

8 Dauntless with a 2 fighter escort attacks the shipping at Lahaina - the CAP destroys 1 fighter and bomber, and destroys 3 more bombers.

The artillery forces unload and with great anticipation bombard the Allied forces - the IJA manage to cause themselves 308 casualties whilst inflicting 41 on the Allies - geniuses - is it disorganisation or fatigue?

The replying Allied bombardment causes another 601 IJA casualties - if this is going to be the best the artillery can do the IJA HQ orders a shock attack across the whole island next turn - lets see what this throws up.

Further south the mini KB comes across an unloading TF at Christmas Is - 14 Vals are damaged across 2 waves of attack but 6 xAKs are sunk causing 264 casualties to the troops unloading too - the one DD here managed to avoid uncountable bombs and torpedoes.

The xAK Ohioan is sunk in Suva harbour - the I-17 takes 3 deckgun hits before the AK goes down

Java/Timor

Koepang is bombed by Sallys from Kendari - the garrison forces here take 28 casualties - again the ground forces targeted here lead me to believe there is nothing other than base garrison forces - the invasion regiments at Ambon will set off shortly.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

The 139WH-3s return to form and miss the 3 xAKs sent to Sampit to collect the marrooned 91st Naval Guards - they are been sent to Bendjarsamin to finish off the invasion of Borneo - 1 base remains at the top of the island after this.

The 84th Naval Guard at Atimonan is strafed again from Manilla but the CAP arrives this time and destroys 2 Aircobras for 1 loss.

The 8th Sasebo SNLF at Bayombong receives the same treatment but is CAP-less and suffers 13 casualties

Troops at Aparri have been split as the level 1 port is having difficulty loading them in time - 50% of the troops move west and will wait for transports there too.

Malaya & Burma

Trudge, plod - 14 miles to go

China

The attack at Chengchow goes in - the AV is 6117 to the IJA and 461 to the Allies. At odds of 39:1 the attack is a great success - 9454 Allied troops surrender and 12 units are destroyed in one swoop. They turn immediately north to attack the other of the two bases that were here - forces are merging to surround the base and there will be no trouble in destroying the 12 units that are here too - then the choice is to go back north and clear the area here and take Yenan or continue south to Singyang and Ichang - i think it will be South - combined here after leaving garrisons will be a force of approx 9000 AV to clear the Chinese west of Hong Kong completely.

Four Allied units attack 2 IJA divisions immediately south of here that were forming part of the encirclement - the Allies lose at 1:2 - they will be encircled as the troops come south later.

At Wuchang the Allies shock attack and get odds of 2:1 but only reduce the forts to level 2 and suffer 2677 casualties to the IJAs 209 - support for these troops is someway out - but it looks like they can hold.

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

The stage is set for the largest ground battle seen in the Pacific ever before - the results will give me some indication of the likelihood of future success - will let me see the full list of ground troops and will will hint at the AV and its adjustments and should let me know about the future possibilities here.

Looking at the troops here and comparing Pearl to a default set up i would say Yank has drafted in quite a few replacements - were i to play this tactic again i would keep the KB stationed east of Pearl to intercept any reinforcements....... anyway........

The annoying, undestroyable bombers at Pearl take off again - 7 B17s and 6 fighters and attempt to disrupt the shipping just off the island - 16 Zeros meet them on CAP and damage/destroy 4 bombers and a fighter - the ships are unharmed.

Out to the east just off Lanai the SS Grenadier is found by ASW and takes 7 hits.

The forces are ready and launch the shock attack - 79473 IJA troops, 822 guns, 358 vehicles and an AV of 2699
The opposing Allied forces consist of 58903 Allied troops, 1250 guns, 1526 vehicles and an AV of 915.........

Looks good so far - i can manage a shift in AV of 700 and still get 1:1, dropping the forts from level 5 and moving forward.......

The IJA AV is adjusted to 881 - crap, the Allied AV is adjusted to...... 4978...... holy crap!!!!

860 brave Allied souls give their lives in the attack but before they go, they manage to destroy 11198 IJA troops - 100s of squads are decimated - the AV of the invasion force has 699 wiped off its ability in one foul stroke - heres a dent in the Emporers plan if ever i saw one - im fully supplied so i assume its disruption and fatigue - all the troops are put on accept replacements, and this may have to turn into a waiting game - suffering the bombardments until the fatigue and disruption is down - this shouldnt take too long - or i may have to consider leaving Pearl as a POW camp - noone is leaving this island and noone is getting on it with the LBA that is here....... i could leave and finish the SoPac missions and return - decisions decisions.

To rub salt into the wounds the Allied bombardment kills another 218 IJA troops.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

The TF sent to move the troops from Sampit to Bandjarsamin comes under attack from the 139WH-3s again but the Oscar CAP serves them well and damages/destoys 9 bombers for no loss or damage to the ships.

On Luzon the 84th Naval Guard is strafed again but the Oscars come to the rescue destroying a fighter for no loss and preventing any casualties.

The same happens further north to the Sasebo 8th here the Oscars dont CAP and minor casualties are caused.

Java/Timor

The invasion regiments are almost fully loaded - and destinations are designated and they will leave next turn - the 66th is going to Dilli to close down retreat options, the 90th and 65th is going to Lautem and Koepang with the biggest airfield will be attacked by the 124th and Guards brigade - the KB has just arrived to provide cover.

Recon is arriving from Takao and will be sent to Hollandia to reconn Kaeving as the initial landiong for this area of the SoPac.

Northern Australia

At Darwin the I-166 is attacked by the AM Toowoomba and takes 6 hits.

Malaya & Burma

Plod, splodge - the troops should actually arrive next turn - there are 13 units at Kuantan - the 18th division is moving from Malacca to Mersing where this will be landed by sea at Kuantan as reserve.

China

Yank shocks again at Wuchang and i understand his frustration in light of the Pearl attack - he has 27k troops attacking 5.5k troops with an AV of 892 to 201 - but he is adjusted to 296 and at 1:2 he loses another 2711 troops to my 234.

[Ghertz]

Re:  Hawaii - In the "Nomonhan Redux: Seydlitz (Japan) vs. MBatch729 (Allies)", Seydlitz would put most of his infantry in "Reserve" in order to allow the infantry to rebuild morale more rapidly.  He relied on bombardment & bombing to keep the Russian troops at Voroshilov from recovering.  As I recall, the Japanese losses would be taken by the units in combat and would be lighter in artillery exchanges.

[FatR]

Shock attacks against decent troops seem to be a very dangerous gamble, particularly now, when you cannot realy decimate enemy with artillery bombardments before attempting one. After hotfix 2, I prefer deliberate attacks when significant stacks collide. At least if an attack fails, my troops won't be hurt nearly as badly.

[undercovergeek]

i have to confess to ordering the shock attack in a fit of temper and impatience - a very foolish mistake - ill take note of the reserve thing - i believe Yank will never attack here - simply bombard and therefore they will be safer in reserve

[Fishbed]

Sounds like historical behaviour though, we can't say you don't roleplay ^^

You'll have to send fresh troops too, and bombard the crap out of the US troops there. Do your BBs and CAs have any forward base able to feed them around Pearl?

[bklooste]

Keep most of your units on Reserve get them in good combat nick . What is the state of the forts you may need to send engineers on a fast AP.

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

35 Zeros sweep Pearl and meet 7 fighters - 2 are destroyed for no loss - these losses must be FOW ive destroyed at least 2 almost every turn for the last 10(?) turns.

88 Nells and Bettys and 14 Sallys then bomb the ground forces - the reported damage to the bombers is horrendous and they only rack up 33 casualties on the ground - i just cant crack the ground forces this way - im going to try and affect his supplies more by switching back to airfield attack - at least i will see some reward for the damage - i will also bomb from 20k feet - less accurate but there will be more bombers in the air.

80k tonnes of fuel and 30k tonnes of supplies arrive from Japan and unload at Lahaina - the supplies will probably unload straight away, the tankers which cannot dock will take longer - there are 4 AKEs at Lahaina, i will load these with the new supplies and try and rearm the BB TF and bombard Pearl too - the BB TF will leave Pearl next turn, im losing 2 xAKs a turn for the sake of unloading 500 supplies - the forces here are massively over-supplied already - the BB TF will withdraw.

4 bombers attempt a run over Lahaina from Pearl - without a CAP - the Zeros are resting - i expect some damage but all the bombers are destroyed or damaged as they descend. 5 B17s come next and hit one empty xAK, 4 of the bombers return to Pearl damaged.

Im assuming the entire TF at Christmas Is was destroyed as i have found no stragglers, the mini KB is heading further south to see if any shipping is passing through here to Oz and Fiji. Ive also only just noticed Christmas is not an atoll and probably has a larger garrison than i expect - i will have to rethink here - this will be an important base to Yank - the only way to land here will be to either use the Invasion Regiments at work in Timor or pull the Divs from Pearl.

The unanswered Allied bombardment causes 380 casualties - i hope and expect this to come down gradually the more damage i can cause and the more i increase Yanks need for supplies here by damaging the base. A thought occurs to me to bring here every artillery piece that needs no PPs spending on it - particularly after Singapore falls.

Wotje increases its forts - the strengthening of the outer ring begins!!

At Suva the I-17 puts 2 torps into an xAKL here - im perturbed by how busy Suva is - i suspect reinforcements are coming in here.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

139WH-3s are still trying to interrupt evacuation procedures at Sampit, and the Oscars save the day again, 1 bomber is destroyed and 5 more damaged.

Nates provide CAP over the forces in Luzon been strafed by the fighters - one fighter on each side is lost but the strafing produces no casualties in either base as the CAP disrupts the fighters.

Undefended Lucena just south of Manilla falls.

The KB moves south to defend the TFs transporting the invasion regiments to Timor - my fear is a collection of cruisers and destroyers getting in amongst the landings - i want to get in and out ASAP

Malaya & Burma

Force B and the Imp Guards arrive at Kuantan at last - disruption and fatigue are checked and come within acceptable standards - a shock attack is ordered next turn (i know, i know) but this is done out of strategy not impatience.

China

Maneuvering

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

78 Zeros sweep Pearl - no one comes out to play - surely, surely i havent destroyed all the fighters!

71 Nells and Bettys and 97 Sallys bomb Pearl ground targets before switching to airfield attack next turn - 93 casualties are caused but this isnt what i need - i need supplies to be haemmoraging from the place - airbase first and port second.

41 Zeros destroy or damage 4 B17s attempting to bomb shipping at Lahaina - no fighters are lost.

Only 155 casualties are caused by the Allied bombardment at Pearl and they even blow 5 of themselves up for a change - there a less guns involved here this time - i dont know whether Yank is resting some or changing strategy here.

As per advice on the AAR my infantry are placed into Reserve mode and all out and out artillery units are placed on bombardment - 150 AV has been recovered already but i need much much more success here before another ground assault occurs.

SS Finback attacks two empty xAKLs at Pearl - the first with torpedoes which all miss - the next on the surface - she takes 1 shell hit to the xAKLs 9 and retires.

All transports are rounded up, merged under the protection of the BB TF and sent back to Lahaina - sitting at Pearl is too costly.

Christmas now shows 7 units - god knows whats here now - but if its that well covered Yank must need it - it therefore becomes the priority target in the area.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

1 Nate is destroyed trying to prevent the Aircobras strafing at newly acquired Lucena - no Allied losses occur and the ground forces remain unhindered.

7 Oscars provide the same service at Bayombong and destroy 1 P40E for 1 lost Oscar.

Further South the KB turns and heads south of Timor - i see no danger north or west of Timor from the sea, but south of here from the likes of Darwin, and Sydney and Perth particularly as this is where the Allied CVs disappeared to - the KB will stand of Timors south coast until the landings are complete and will then either head further south to raid Darwin or will cover the collective regiments as they head out to Port Moresby and Rabaul.

Malaya & Burma

Kuantan falls easy - there is an Allied AV of 609 adjusted to 305 and the IJAs 1346 AV is adjusted to 754 due to disruption - odds of 2:1 bring a long awaited victory but not the anticipated surrender - the survivors head off to the island of georgetown - without a boat - good luck with that - this causes the immediate problem of having approx 500 AV wandering around mid Malaya while im trying to head south to capture Singapore - some garrison needs leaving at Kuantan or he'll just walk back in again - but whats the fine line between enough without threatening the success of the Singapore attack - decisions decisions - its worth bearing in mind that it was at this point Mrs Undercover asked why this game always made me look unhappy and stressed - i explained she didnt see the Pearl attack, she wasnt there, she wouldnt understand!!!

Everything not at Johore Bharu heads here apart from the Kuantan force while i decide how much to leave - if i take everything i have over 3000AV and a lot of artillery.

In Burma undefended Prome is retaken by Yank but with quite a sizeable force - 547 AV and a lot of units - i think this was maybe everything from Rangoon - i will recon Rangoon and see whos left here - the 6th Thai div and the 141st regiment are just round the corner and may well sneak in here.

China

Maneuver maneuver - i will post pics tomorrow

Wuchang eventually falls to Yank on the 3rd shock attack - im not sure of his thoughts here, there is a 10k AV storm coming down this railway line in a month that he cant possibly hope to stop - hes 2 turns away from losing 12 more units and he cant escape from this encirclement either - i dont see any units heading west, only heading east to attack me - we'll see what happens here.

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

40 Zeros escort 54 Nells and Bettys and 99 Sallys over Pearls airfield - minor damage occurs to the airfield but more than i thought (its 16 at the end of the day) - 8 more days of this and the airfield is closed - a Catalina is destroyed on the ground and the punishment taken by the bombers is much less - i will go again next turn.

The IJAs guns cause 66 casualties and there is no Allied reply - so.... the fighters have either gone or are resting and the bombardment has stopped - i sense an evil plan.

The BB TF arrives at Lahaina and resupplies for a bombardment of Pearl - im trying to cause as much damage and disruption as possible.

The mini KB moves past Christmas and will ultimately head towards Pago Pago and out past Fiji and refuel at Kwajelein.

At Suva another xAKL is hit by 3 torpedoes from the I-17 - very busy shipping lanes here.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

19 Nates and 5 Oscars prevent any of the ground forces taking damage at the bases in Luzon - 2 Nates and an Oscar are lost for a P40E.

The Allies take back undefended San Fernando.

Further South forces are starting to deploy and unload on Timor - Dili is undefended and will fall next turn, Lautems forces are hugely outnumbered and the Koepang invasion force should arrive next turn - Timor will be Japanese in 2 turns then its time to look for a destination for these forces here - i want to leave Sumatra and Java to the forces released by the fall of Singapore. I can take all the islands upto the main island of Java but i would prefer a small number of SNLFs and Naval Guard units for this, i can go east and start to take New Guinea with intent, or sail past Darwin and head for Port Moresby, or go round New Guinea and take Rabaul - the 115th recently purchased from China is heading to Truk to help if this is the decision here.

The 91st Guards land at Bandjermasin and attack but at odds of 1:1 are going to need help from elsewhere - the Kure 1st is on its way.

Malaya & Burma

All available shipping is being routed to Kuantan - it will take far too long to march back towards Mersing and JB - i will ship them around - i dont think Yank has decided what to do with the evacuees here and there is no march direction arrow on the forces that i kicked out to determine whether they are coming back or not.

Undefended Pegu is captured by the IJA - namely the 6th Thai Division and the 141st Regiment, Rangoon is also empty apart from the base force that just escaped from Pegu - the 141st marches on to Rangoon while keeping a wary eye on Yanks forces to the North who are either retiring or thought to crush me at Prome only to find i wasnt there, the 1st raiders are also tasked to drop on Rangoon.

China

The encirclement is almost complete around the northern base - further forces move to reinforce - pics to follow

[undercovergeek]

Pearl and Hawaii - Kona is the Sally base, Hilo the Zero base and Lahaina, Bettys and Nells. The subs that wewre patrolling west of the chain have moved south to cover the gap between Palmyra and Christmas.

[undercovergeek]

Timor - Dili is mine, Lautem will fall next turn and then Koepang the turn after that. That is the KB south of the island - about 8 hexes west and 5 hexes south is a 10 ship Allied TF that shows up as all CAs - the KB is headed this way.

All the small islands are been reconned in preparation for a mass arrival of SNLFs and small engineer companies to take them in one go

[undercovergeek]

Malaya - to the north of Kuantan about 450AV but badly beat up, to the east of Kuala Lumpur 3 previously defeated engineer units and an infantry unit, to the south of Kuantan 8 very badly beaten, out of supply infantry units.

[undercovergeek]

Luzon - little by little Yank is coming back out of Manilla to check his borders - theres nobody here - not for a long time - if there was it would be the perfect trap to tease out about 400AV which is whats happened here and then encircle them - it might be worth a try when its time to go get Luzon proper.

[undercovergeek]

China - the 2nd great encirclement is about to occur at Loyang, next to the base with the red exlamation mark, next to Kaifing - there are 88k troops here, crossing over from the base to the SE is the 6k AV IJA steamroller and they will arrive next turn too.

After this it will be down to Singyang - already encircled and then a recapture of Wuchang and Ichang this will be the front - half of the forces will go back north and take yenan and clear the area here while the southern forces head east shutting down base by base

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

While the sweepers rest, 40 Zeros escort 69 Nells and Bettys and 93 Sallys against the airfield at Pearl - 26 points of damage are done to the runways, but nothing is hit on the airfield.

The subs that were patrolling the west of the Hawaiian islands are sent further south to form a picket line between Palmyra and Christmas, and between Christmas and the small islands to the south.

For the second time in a row only the IJA bombardment attacks - scoring 66 casualties - as disruption and fatigue are coming down quite nicely ive put the 16th and the 33rd divisions on bombardment too - the AV is back to 2325 - the pre shock debacle was 2700 - i am thinking though even at 0/0 for fatigue and disruption and plenty of supplies what the AV will be modified to in a deliberate attack bearing in mind the 5 forts - only one way to find out - if that doesnt work its time to leave and head south to Fiji.

The naval bombardment didnt happen for some reason, i have taken the ships off retire and we'll see if that helps - if i can get 125-150 with the bombarding every second turn and 100 upwards with the bombardments ill keep at it.

Wotje, Mili, Jaluit, Palmyra and Baker all increase their fortifications.

Tabiteaus airfield expands to 2.

Suva is spied on by a Glen - there is a lot of activity here - im thinking maybe too much for just a regiment or two to come and see - this looks pretty major. The mini KB is still heading for Pago Pago to recon there.

The second raiding regiment is almost at Truk where it will be dropped in Kavieng - i dont know what to do here yet but i want this airstrip to help make my mind up.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

Ships heading from Celebes to Kuantan passing Soerbaja are attacked by 139WH-3s - no success for the bombers today im afraid.

Recon from Ambon starts to have a look at all the little islands around Timor and southern Java - im scouring the map for little AV units to land here and move on and take the islands on masse.

Timor

86 Lillys bomb Lautems ground forces in preparation for the attack next turn - 44 casualties are inflicted, they return home to be ordewred to attack Koepang tomorrow.

All the ships are unloaded at Lautem and Dilli and return home - there are enough supplies at Dilli and Ambon has gone into the red since the troops left.

The guards, the 90th and the 9th base force start to unload at Koepang - and i see 6 hexes south of here an Allied TF - 10 ships all CAs says the spotter so far but no direction, the KB just south of Lautem heads to intercept - i dont know if Yank knows its here or not!!!!

Undefended Dilli falls.

Malaya & Burma

%*&^!!! Kuantan is a size one port and i have 2 divs, 2 regiments, 1 armour, artillery, engineers and a HQ here!!

The 5th Div is loaded onto the transports, everyone else except the 2 regiments marches back west to Timuleh where they will catch the train to Johore Bharu - there is approx 300AV left at Kuantan, with supplies - i suspect this will do the job of defending the base.

Up north at Pegu both infantry units are bombed by B17s and Blenheims - the tired Oscar pilots only manage to deter the B17s and minor casualties are taken by the Blenheims bombs. The 141st is still heading west to Rangoon.

China

Maneouvers - see the pic - its the best way to describe the slow process of encirclement

[undercovergeek]

Pacific

The BB bombardment TF arrives off Pearl in the night and fires at the garrison - no casualties are inflicted [&:], the CL Kuma takes 2 hits in return.

39 Zeros escort 74 Nells and Bettys and 91 Sallys over Pearls airfield - 44 runway hits occur and minor damage to the airbase.

54 Sallys are upgraded to Helens and put on training while the refit takes place. The bombing run from 20k feet is far less arduous on the aircraft and morale and fatigue are all good here.

AV is still steadily climbing at Pearl and the fatigue and disruption is dropping nicely except in the bombarding units - they may be ordered to rest, i dont want any negative modifiers for the next attack to evaluate whether its worth continuing here. I have enough PP points for the 7th Div from Sapporro and this maybe brought down to Pearl also.

The IJA bombardment increases as the 2 divisions come on line - 119 casualties are inflicted.

Fortifications are increasing across the SoPac and the mini-KB is approaching Pago Pago - after this it will head for Truk and then rendevous with the KB to go hunt for the Allied CVs and help with the landings at Rabaul.

Phillipines/Formosa/South China Sea/Borneo

Off Borneo's west coast transport TFs heading towards Kuantan are attacked again by 139WH-3s, one is hit. The larger of the 2 TFs here head back to Manado - not as much shipping as first thought is required at Kuantan as the forces here will march.

Recon from Ambon starts to investigate all the small islands near Timor and the north of New Guinea, this turn 8 SNLFs arrive in Japan and they will be immediately dispatched to this area to take the islands en masse.

Timor

Im not sure who would be most surprised at the sight in their binoculars this morning between Darwin and Koepang - the Allied commander sailing nochalantly east towards Darwin who is suddenly confronted with the whole of the KB and its escorts at 13k yards, or Nagumo who on a path to attack the Allied force finds them at 13k yards and not 120 miles which he expected!! Needless to say the Allies get in amongst the carriers and its an awful 10 minutes to watch as the naval battle plays out. At the end of the replay the Kaga (2 shells), Soryu (1 shell), Zuikaku (1 shell) and Shoho (4 shells) are on fire as well as the CL Kiso - various DDs took single hits. In reply the CA Canberra is crippled after 18 hits, the CA Pensacola takes 1, CL Perth takes 2 and the DD Triomphant takes 3 shells, the CAs Australia, Leander and Achilles escape unhurt.

It will be an awful long wait to see if anything takes off from the decks as an indication as to the damage received from this 'incident'.

95 Lilys attack the garrison at Koepang to soften up the ground forces for the Guards brigade and the 90th regiment - still no KB launch.

At last!!! Some decks are still open - 31 Kates and 21 Vals attack the cruiser force - Pensacola takes a bomb hit, Australia takes a torp, Achilles takes one each and La Triomphant takes a bomb.

11 Vals attack the Canberra that looks to be in a seperate TF heading north west, presumably towards Soerbaja - she takes 6 bombs.

11 more Vals attack the main cruiser force and plant another bomb on CA Australia.

21 Kates and 21 Vals then attack the main force again Leander is bombed once, La Triomphant takes a torpedo and sinks - no more attacks occur - in the end the Shoho is the only deck unable to launch aircraft, the Soryu has a system damage of 26 but nothing else, all the other CVs have their fires out and have damage from 2-7 - a very lucky escape. I transfer Soryus wings amongst the rest of the KB who have just enough room, and with her the Shoho and a small escort head towards Kendari for repairs - there is no major damage so i will rest them at Kendari to get the very minor float damage down and then assess whether they need to go to Japan or just Truk for repairs.

A TF is seen heading out of Darwin eastbound but this is my only info - the KB sails on further south to catch the retreating cruisers and hopefully catch whatevers leaving Darwin.

Lautem falls and the garrison surrenders, AV support troops from Makassar and Kendari are immediately made ready to sail to this most southerly of airbases - when the dust settles Koepang will be expanded to allow the Bettys and Nells that will be based here to reach Darwin - im desperately short of garrison troops, i need to decide what needs guarding and what doesnt and move forces round accordingly.

Malaya & Burma

The 5th is still loading, and the rest are now heading back west and made 16 miles in one day - everyone else caught the train and is now waiting in Johore Bharu only want to carry out 1 crossing into Singapore so will wait for everyone to cross at once.

In the north Rangoon falls as the 1st raiders drop from the sky and evict the RM Vipers from the base - the 141st regiment is still westbound to reinforce here.

China

The encirclement of Loyang is almost complete, for now a mass bombardment is ordered.

[Smeulders]

Hey, I don't know if you've seen it, but there is a thread over in the main forum discussing an invasion of PH and then especially the effectiveness of the CD emplacements. Just like in you game, they apparently completely ignored the transports carrying the invasion force and instead killed a bunch of PB 'escorts' 10 times over. It might be interesting if you could give some of your observations about this, as you're probably one of the only people who has ever faced the PH CD emplacements in a PBEM.

[undercovergeek]

yeah i saw it - i posted the same happened to me but then the shock attack got decimated