Imperial Japanese Pacific Tour 1941-46 (Walker84 vs ADB123)

[Walker84]

This is a companion to the AAR started by ADB123 when we commenced this Scenario 1 campaign several months back. My opponent is the allied player and I am playing as Japan.

Now that I'm back down to playing one PBEM (as opposed to two) Anthony suggested that I start an AAR to provide a contrasting viewpoint to the one he has been running for a while now. I thought well, why not? - especially as I will never make Matrix veteran unless I can up considerably the volume of posts I have been making on this forum to date [:D]

We are now into April 1942 and the war has reached a very interesting point. Having captured a lot of territory, the Imperial forces are now finely poised between striking out at additional targets of opportunity and consolidating the gains that have already been made. I will describe the strategic position in my next post but first I had better fill in some of the background to the current campaign.

We agreed to play the non-historic start with surprise on and most of the ‘standard’ options. We also agreed to allow player-defined upgrades, which I have found to be a benefit as you have to micromanage pilot training in any case and having the ability to define the upgrade path for squadrons allows for greater flexibility. Hardly any house rules were set apart from a gentleman’s agreement not to employ anything too ‘gamey’. Oh, and we must pay full PPs to move units between commands e.g. Kwantung Army.

Allowing the benefit of hindsight I wanted to play this campaign as closely as I could to an historical simulation (without losing of course!!!). So although we used the non-historical start I kept the Pearl Harbour attack in place plus the main landings in Malaya and the Philippines and for the most part confined myself to refining the dispositions of my other invasion forces. Here are the main adjustments made to initial Imperial objectives:

- Rerouting some of the Malayan invasion forces to capture Mersing. If you can pull this off and split the Malayan peninsula, it denies the Allied forces the opportunity to fall back on Singapore and means they can be defeated in detail.
- Deploying additional forces to capture Cagayan and Jolo. Taking these bases early along with the scheduled Davao invasion really helps to close the noose tightly around the Allied forces in the Philippines.
- Taking the key bases along the north Borneo coast as soon as possible to interdict S Malaya and the Sumatran approaches
- A favourite ploy is for the US carriers to gatecrash the invasion forces in the Marshalls so I used the available forces to strengthen the Wake invasion instead and sent the KB that way once the Pearl attack was finished to provide air cover against any sneaky attacks.
- 4th Division in Japan started prepping immediately for Operation MO, the early capture of Port Moresby.

Despite the limited capabilities of initial allied forces, in particular land-based air’s virtual inability to hit ships, its important to avoid overreaching in Imperial Japan's initial obectives. Submarines remain a constant threat, especially the Dutch and British boats that don’t suffer from dud torpedoes, and Allied surface units can seriously interdict invasion forces that are escorted too lightly in DEI waters.

So that’s the end of the first report and we're all ready to begin. Next time, I’ll summarise the course of the campaign to bring this AAR up to date and pose the strategic options now being faced by Imperial Japan in mid-1942.

I guess that means that ADB will have to stop reading from this point on [:-]

[topeverest]

Banzai!

[Fletcher]

Walker84, the best of lucks in your new adventure !!... BANZAI and Long live to the Emperor!. I´ll follow your AAR closely
Best wishes,
Ramón

[Cribtop]

Banzai from me as well. Should be a good read.

[Walker84]

Topeverest, Fletcher, Cribtop,
 
Many thanks, your support is much appreciated. Banzai!
 
-----------------------------------------------------
 

[Walker84]

For this next post, I’ll summarise the progress to date in each of the main theatres of operations. That way I can record the highlights, plus any key observations I have made along the way.
The game has now reached April 25th 1942 playing daily turns. Given our respective time zones we generally manage a single turn a day, occasionally two at weekends so, like many AE aficionados, we are in this for the long haul!


Pearl Harbor – following Yamamoto’s ‘cunning plan’
It seems a long time ago since I watched the Dec 7 combat report! As far as I could tell with FOW on the initial strike was pretty effective in hitting shipping, planes and installations and my pilot casualties were fairly light. I resolved not to stay around in order to preserve my precious navy pilots and the KB set course for Wake Island to provide air cover for the troops landing there. I reasoned that if I was lucky enough I might intercept his carriers en route. In the event however, he caught up with my returning fleet oilers on Dec 12 and sank 4 plus 2 escorts DDs. Note to file for next time.


The Marshalls and Wake Is
My reinforced attack took Wake pretty easily, although not before the CD guns holed some of my transports and their escorts pretty badly. I later put an AF unit and some long range Mavis’s on the Island to keep watch towards Midway. Wake gets a nice CD gun reinforcement in early '42.

I consider the Marshalls pretty exposed to carrier 'tip and run' raids so initially pulled back most shipping and HQ units to reinforce my drive on Rabaul and Port Moresby. Late in December, I sent well-supported TFs out from Truk and occupied Makin, Tarawa plus Nauru and its sister island. The latter two yield a nice levy in resources as well. Mainly guano I seem to recall from memory.

As things stand, I have built my Marshalls defences up as a kind of early warning picket line – there are now enough assets on the ground and in the air to make my opponent fight for them if he wants to occupy the islands as a stepping stone to other ends.


Philippines
My main innovation to the standard Philippine invasion plan was to employ an accelerated envelopment doctrine, with landings at Cagayan and Jolo as well as Davao to establish LBA quickly enough to interdict his escaping shipping, plus hinder any naval countermeasures in the DEI and Sulu Sea. This tactic reaped major dividends as my supporting cruiser and light carrier squadrons found themselves amidst of shoals of shipping fleeing Luzon. My notes from the time record that my escorts expended all of their ammo and even some of my seaplanes scored hits during the ‘Carnage in the Sulu Sea’.

Davao fell on Dec 11th and Jolo and Cagayan a few days later. I sent an Air Flotilla to Cagayan so that Nells could fly torpedo runs from there. It took several months before all of the Allied forces on Mindanao were tracked down but I wasn’t too bothered as long as I held the main bases.

Luzon is a tougher nut to crack, especially if the Allied player does a General Douglas McArthur and hightails it towards Bataan to concentrate his forces in this rather good defensive position. I allocated minimum forces to Luzon – enough to capture the beachheads and drive on Manila from both north and south. Once the Allied forces were bottled up on Bataan I was happy to let them sit on their dwindling supplies where they could no longer influence the outcome of the campaign. I used the extra troops to reinforce the push on Singapore and knew I would have to bring some divisions back to Bataan when the time came for the big push. [In the event Bataan finally fell to a deliberate attack on April 9th 1942. The downside of this is that it kept troops tied up for longer than optimal but at least I secured my earlier objectives quicker and avoided many casualties as the defenders were out of supply by this time].


Malaya
I wanted to take Singapore as quickly as possible so tried the Mersing gambit, reinforcing Yamashita’s 25th Army with whatever I didn’t need immediately in the Philippines. Mersing worked well and the Malay peninsula was cut by IJA armoured forces within a matter of days. It helped considerably that Nells flying from Indo-China caught Force Z in open sea and sent both capital ships to the bottom. All the same it took enough time to defeat the Allied forces up country in detail and invest the island fortress fully. Singapore finally fell on Feb 12th 1942, releasing considerable forces which were deployed for operations in Sumatra and Java as well as for the final push against Bataan.


Burma
The 15th Army deployed towards Moulmein, which fell on December 31st following a long slog along the minor roads from Rahaeng. Victoria Point and Tavoy were also seized and, with IJA forces quickly converging on Rangoon, it quickly became apparent that my opponent had pulled back to defend beyond Mandalay. This was good news as it took me a while to bring up sufficient support troops and supplies to base my air support. My relatively light forces continued to advance during January, taking Rangoon and Magwe which were quickly built up as forward air bases and it wasn’t until the advanced echelons reached Lashio that Allied resistance really stiffened.

I had to take Lashio to protect my eastern flank and because my opponent had based the AVG and some Hurris there to support his LBA for punitive raids on my forces toiling up the central Burmese plain towards Swebo. To counter the threat of the B-17 and LB30 ‘death star’ formations against lightly armed and armoured IJA fighters I have ended up basing up to three sentai of Oscars and one of Zeros at Magwe/Rangoon, crewed with some of my most experienced pilots.

I will include a map illustrating the current situation in Burma.


As you can see he is building his defences at Myitkyina (which now has 20,000 troops) and the base directly north, and is amassing his fighters in both bases. His 4E bombers probably sweep in from bases out of my range around Calcutta. I have one division at Mandalay with some armour and artillery and a reinforced regiment at Lashio. A further two divisions were released after the fall of Bataan and are en route to assist with the campaign to push his forces and fighter bases back into India.

I decided on an offensive/defensive strategy in Burma and India and have read that the front here can start to become a problem for Japan in AE as early as 1943 if the Allied player is aggressive enough. Accordingly, I plan to develop a very strong defence in depth along the natural defence lines offered by Burma’s rivers and jungles. This line will be supported by strong LBA cover, including Netties based at Rangoon to interdict any movement out at sea. [Clearly I have decided at this point not to invade India, although I have reserved the option of an Indian Ocean excursion for the KB if I think there is an opportunity to draw his naval forces out from where they are currently skulking].

This post has become long enough so I will cover the other main theatres, plus my invasion of Australia next time.

[Walker84]

The conquest of Borneo and Sarawak

The sinking of Force Z on the first day of the war gave Japanese forces free rein along the North Borneo/Sarawak coast and within days landings were made at Miri, Brunei and Kuching. Sinkawang fell on Dec 21st and Imperial staff immediately began planning for an attack on Palembang to secure the rich oilfields there that would become vital to the war economy as the war continued.

On Jan 4th 1942, IJA forces landed at Tarakan, storming the base, which fell the following day, despite B17s flying ground attack from the DEI. During the month of January forces based at Brunei also captured the small bases of Jesselton and Kudat in the north. Tarakan received a datai each of Zeroes and Nells to provide air support for further operations. Although limited as an oil producing and refining centre the base quickly proved its value as a refuelling point for IJN ships in the vicinity.

In terms of volume of oil production, the bigger prize of Balikpapan fell to Imperial forces on 5th February. Tanker convoys were standing by to start transporting the oil back to Japan immediately.

Although as April 1942 drew to a close several bases remained to be taken, notably Bandjermasin and Ketapang on the west coast, the conquest of Borneo was relatively straightforward. Given the weakness of the local Allied ground forces, mines, submarines and LBA posed the main threat, with several AKs being sunk during operations. A PT boat trap at Palembang was avoided when a strong bombardment TF preceded the invasion and sank all the PT boats.

The map shows the current position. In addition to forces deployed to protect convoys using Balikpapan, bases are being expanded and fortified at Kuching, Brunei and Tarakan for the defence of the SRA. Next I will turn to the campaign in the DEI itself.

[Walker84]

Eastern Dutch East Indies

Taking the DEI is quite a logistical undertaking and requires extensive planning, especially to keep forward momentum and bring in vital air support quickly. I captured Manado on Dec 26th as the springboard to the eastern DEI, and followed up with amphibious assaults on Kendari (Jan 7th) and Ambon (Jan 22nd), both excellent forward bases. Ternate fell to airborne assault, one immediate advantage being that my precious APs were not exposed to prowling Dutch subs on this occasion. An attempt by an ABDA cruiser TF to ambush my forces near Ambon failed when my seaplanes spotted the incursion and I was able to despatch a light carrier TF in support.

By this point I was formulating a plan to hit Darwin and wanted to secure Timor as a base for operations. Accordingly forces were dispatched and Koepang was captured on 16th Feb while Dili fell on 20th Feb. I am building the former up into a strong regional base and the 11th Air Fleet HQ is currently deployed there. On 18th Feb Makassar was also taken, bringing Soerabaja within range of my marauding Zeros.

Campaigns in Java and Sumatra are up next.

[Walker84]

Sumatra

As you can see from the map, the campaign in Sumatra is still going as April 1942 draws to a close. Palembang and its oil wells fell to a determined assault on Feb 5th. Several vessels were lost to mines, coastal defence and air attack in the process but the price is worth paying when you see all that oil flowing! I based an air flotilla there and brought in plenty of Zeros once I realised that my opponent was going to buzz the base regularly for targets of opportunity. My ground forces then branched out to take Benkoelen to the west and Oosthaven to the south, which is nice and handy being just across the channel from Batavia itself.

The one remaining Dutch concentration in southern Sumatra is at Padang and I really need to eliminate this soon because my opponent is basing recon planes there to snoop on my dispositions.

With everything else going on it took me until April 42 to get organised to invade northern Sumatra. To keep the sea passage short and reduce the risk from subs I sent the landing force to Georgetown by rail from where they made the short hop to debark at the port north of Medan. After Medan fell on Apr 14th the Dutch defenders fell back and are now retreating to Sibolga on the west coast to make a last stand. One thing that has surprised me in this campaign has been the resilience of the Dutch forces who rarely surrender and have to be kicked out of one town after another. According to sources I have been reading the Dutch capitulated pretty quickly IRL once the landings were made to avoid (Dutch) civilian casualties. I guess this is hard to recreate in game terms and all it does is delay the inevitable.

[Walker84]

Java

I didn’t like the look of either Batavia or Soerabaja as landing spots so thought I’d split the difference and go for Semarang which was lightly defended and a reasonably sized port to boot. By late Feb I was all set and the first assault echelons hit the beaches on Feb 25th. Carrier-borne CAP proved invaluable, downing ten Allied bombers for no loss on the first day alone. Semarang fell two days later and I took Djakarta on Mar 5th, effectively splitting Java in two. At this point I realised that I would need to bring up more forces if I wanted to roll up the island in both directions simultaneously. Fortunately I had a reserve to deploy at Singapore.

Bandoeng was a tough nut to crack – the terrain really favouring the defender – but it fell eventually on Apr 21st and my 25th Army veterans are now heading back down to the plains to invest Batavia itself. The southern arm fared a bit better, taking Soerabaja on Apr 8th and there is just a bit more mopping up to do at the southern tip of Java. Soerabaja will get an Air HQ and will function as a submarine base to interdict Allied shipping heading for Perth, Australia and all points south and east.

[Walker84]

New Britain, Papua and the Solomon Islands

Rabaul on New Britain is the jumping off point for Papua and the Solomons and I attacked this vital base as early as possible using the forces at my disposal at Truk. The defenders held out for several days before being ejected on Dec 19th. Eight days later a coup was staged when the 4th Division, which had sailed straight from Japan, stormed ashore at Port Moresby after a preliminary naval air bombardment. Port Moresby fell a day later on Dec 28th, the landing having cost three transports to CD fire and a DD which suffered major mine damage. On that same day naval guards landed unopposed at Milne Bay to protect the flank of the Papua invasion. Horn Island was also captured in January to strengthen control over the Torres Strait.

With Rabaul and Port Moresby held, landings were made safely in early January at Lae and Buna on Papua, and Shortlands in the Solomons. Further landings took place at Tulagi and Lunga (Guadalcanal) in February to provide forward bases for long range float reconnaissance planes. Munda was occupied in April to link Shortlands to the more southerly bases.

Although Rabaul will be my regional HQ and submarine base, I am also developing Buna as a major airbase to accommodate torpedo bombers with sufficient range to interdict Cooktown, Cairns and the Solomon Sea approaches.

[Walker84]

Here is the progress in the Solomon Islands by April 25th 1942.

[Walker84]

Time out for some musings about my overall game strategy as the Japanese player

Wow, the AAR forum is certainly going strong these days - I don’t post for a week and find I’m already relegated to p2!

I mentioned above that by this point in the war I was formulating a plan to take Darwin. The AARs I had been reading had impressed two things on me:
1. Taking Northern Australia is very do-able at this stage in the war due to the weakness of Allied forces in the vicinity and the difficulty of keeping Darwin supplied overland.
2. A successful Allied game strategy has seen operations being mounted in the DEI as early as late '42 to begin cutting Japan off from the critical SRA resources it requires to keep in the war for any length of time.

I had also seen it suggested in some posts that not all Japanese players have thought through a coherent strategy once the initial run of ‘easy’ victories is over and must end up ‘bowing to the inevitable’ once Allied materiel might starts to kick in. Without wanting to sound defeatist, I didn’t consider it a high probability that I could achieve an auto victory in my first serious AE campaign. I was also equally guilty of starting off without any clear plan beyond the obvious expansionist moves that Japan must take by early ‘42. However, I was not too bothered by this as I saw the game fundamentally as a learning experience and test bed for my ideas on how to improve on Japan’s wartime experience, not being bound as an armchair strategist by the type of command control and doctrinal constraints that beset Imperial planners in real life.

As I read through more AARs and thought some more about it, I realised that, short of achieving auto-victory, my game strategy had, de facto, become two-fold:

1. In 1941 to mid-1942, to expand aggressively and occupy sufficient territory in order to protect the SRA, while extracting maximum oil and resources to keep my war industry going for as long as possible.
2. In mid to late 1942, to switch to fighting an offensive/defensive campaign, keeping my opponent off balance and seeking one or more decisive air/naval engagements on the most favourable of terms to keep the balance of power in my favour at least well into 1943 when the Allied build-up will inevitably put Japan firmly on the defensive.

In support of the first objective, I was already planning to push as far into Burma as Imphal/Kohima and cut the Burma road at Ledo but to go no further unless it was to consolidate my defensive line. A secondary defensive line would be built along the Thai border as insurance against the fall of Burma should the Allies push sufficiently hard on this front in 1943.

I now also resolved to invade northern Australia, essentially to deny my opponent Darwin and the smaller northern ports as a convenient base from which to mount any operations against DEI at least until the end of '42 and hopefully well into '43. Accordingly, I secured Timor as a base for operations by the end of Feb 1942 and, during the month of March, feverish preparations were made for 'Operation DO'.

Here is how the eastern DEI looked at the end of April. Next up will be the campaign in northern Australia itself.

[Walker84]

Adventures in the Outback (1)

For the invasion of northern Australia I chose to make two initial landings – one at Darwin and one further to the west at Wyndham - so that I could establish mutually supporting beachheads with their own airbases.

Wyndham was undefended and my Recon showed that Darwin was lightly held by a few thousand troops so clearly my opponent was not planning to hold the port at all costs should I descend on it in force. I was aware however that deadly (pre-patch) coastal defence guns would be present at Darwin and it was at this point in the game that I committed a grave error which showed that I had not studied the game mechanics sufficiently – or else was not exercising enough care and attention when setting orders for key operations.

Basically, I had ordered a SCTF bombardment of Darwin which went fairly well until I decided that I should follow up with more bombardment attacks in order to suppress the coastal guns more fully before my assault went in. What I omitted to check in the meantime was whether my ships had any ammunition left on board. As the screenshot shows, this resulted in utter carnage as my completely defenceless ships steamed into Darwin to allow the Aussie gunners extensive, uninterrupted target practice on them. I bring this up because, after we had discussed a potential campaign restart for this and other reasons, ADB graciously agreed to let me re-order this particular TF and then we ran the turn again. Needless to say, I owe him for this.

The invasion of Darwin was thus delayed as my covering warships scuttled ignominiously for the nearest naval supply base while IJA bombers continued to mount suppressing raids from Koepang.

[Walker84]

Adventures in the Outback (2)

The landings at Darwin and Wyndham finally went in successfully on March 26th 1942 and both ports were quickly captured with IJA paratroops also landing at Darwin to help secure key installations. I had allocated a full division to Darwin and with Allied forces in full flight southwards I deployed additional regiment-sized detachments by sea to take the ports of Derby and Broome to the west of Wyndham.

My opponent showed no inclination to make any sort of stand until his forces reached Tennant Creek although he started launching his 4E bombers on opportunistic raids on my forces strung out along the road to Daly Waters. I had brought in two strong units of Zeros and these divided their time between flying CAP over my ground forces and sweeping Tennant Creek where they quickly established air superiority over the Brewster Buffalos based there.

Once Daly Waters fell on April 20th, I decided to pull my advanced echelons back to Katherine under the CAP umbrella - with the addition of Port Hedland on Apr 18th completing the bag of north coast ports all of the immediate operational objectives had now been secured.

I have brought in some Oscars and Sallies of the 5th Air Division to augment naval air and the plan is to base a unit of Betties at either Port Hedland or Broome to interdict Allied shipping down the west coast. IJA units are also digging in everywhere.

The map shows the position as of Apr 25th.

[Walker84]

Whither China?

This post will bring the AAR up to the current campaign date of May 1, 1942. Anthony has been away so I will be able to start filing regular reports once we start the turns rolling again on Monday.

China is the theatre that probably gives more headaches to inexperienced players than any other in AE. It’s a vast country and the starting front line is messy so that you are immediately pitched into a situation where you are not sure what to address first and the temptation might be to do very little since you are not under too much pressure initially from the numerically superior but weak Chinese forces.

Through December I found myself busy chasing various Chinese elements behind my own lines while trying to rationalise my units by moving garrison forces around until I could free up enough units to mount more offensives. In the meantime my opponent went for the low-hanging fruit, capturing Ichang which starts off weakly defended and can be taken before any relief force arrives if the Chinese move quickly enough.

That was pretty much the sum total of Chinese offensive operations however as I quickly got my stuff together and started my own offensive rolling.

During Dec/Jan my objectives were two-fold.
1. To capture Hong Kong, and all the remaining cities and ports in southern China (plus rout any pockets of Chinese resistance left behind the main front line) in order to consolidate my LOCs.
2. To secure the railway line between Hankow and Chengting. This would enable my forces to be rapidly deployed in order to exploit any weaknesses that were identified in future by my probing attacks along this axis.

Perhaps that doesn’t sound too ambitious, but the plan involved coordinating a series of large-scale offensives culminating in the ejection of Chinese forces from Changchun, Loyang and Nanyang. Having then spent some time redeploying my units and developing Nanyang into a strong regional airbase, the next stage of the operation commenced in April 1942 and will centre on the key city of Sian with strong attacking columns converging from both south and east.

Meanwhile, probing attacks will continue in the Changsha area to maintain the pressure in southern China and, by pinning down the forces there, hopefully prevent my opponent reinforcing the Sian front.

I will post two maps to show the current position in northern and southern China which will bring the current AAR up to date.

[Walker84]

And in the south...

[Walker84]

Campaign Report, May 1-6, 1942


The Fleet
It has now been many days since I have spotted an Allied warship larger than a PT or HDML. Little Sir Robin where can you be? The KB is standing off Cairns at the moment to support landings there, minus Kaga which took a single torp in the DEI campaign and is 30 days away from full repair at Yokohama. Junyo just arrived and is currently resizing it’s air groups. I have land-based A6Ms at Cooktown so KB will swing SE to cover the landings planned at Luganville. If Anthony tries to contest these in any way so much the better as my carrier air is well trained and rested. BTW, I cottoned on to pilot training a little late so have shortages of top quality naval fighter and dive bomber-trained pilots but the training sqns are now working flat out to make good the deficit.
With the USN and RN nowhere in sight I can’t afford to get complacent and my strategy is to try and smoke him out be threatening the supply routes to Oz from both ends. Accordingly, I will soon have long range patrols flying from Luganville as well as Lunga, plus I am about to take the Cocos Is to the West of Java where I will base an AV with a rapid reaction SCTF. The mini KB is currently sitting at Singapore and will probably be rebased to Java soon to protect the flank of my forces in northern Australia.

Sub Wars
Not a lot to report that’s positive; my opponent seems to be running his convoys well away from the normal shipping lanes so I have resorted to setting up my subs in picket lines to see if I can trawl anything either to the west of Java or south and east of New Caledonia. Once I have the search planes in place I should be able to spot shipping more easily and vector my subs in to exploit opportunities. My opponent’s subs have started reappearing in home waters - I assume he has equipped them with radar now as one of my xAKs shells damaged a radar installation in a surface duel with a US sub near Nagoya. Incredibly the sub came off worse in the encounter and had to submerge! However, I am now starting to lose the odd ship to torpedoes and have started overhauling my convoy system as best I can to meet the growing threat.

Burma
I am planning to push on Myitkyina where he appears to be heavily entrenched with some 22,000 troops and an airbase with 30 fighters and 24 bombers. I have the 9th and 33rd divisions plus supporting units and will launch a flanking move from Lashio to interdict any Chines incursion plus eject his light forces in Bhamo.

DEI
Nearly all objectives have been taken - Batavia is down to fort level 1 and should fall in a day or two. Mopping up operations against isolated minor bases continue. I will be reinforcing Sumatra as landing on the west coast could provide my opponent with opportunities to close the Malacca Strait plus interdict oil flowing from Palembang.

Oz
My forces hold northern Australia from Port Hedland to Daly Waters. He is dug in at Tennant Creek and I’m not inclined to pursue as the supply lines are tenuous and his 4E bombers can hit my ground forces in the open. Anyway, the major goal of protecting the DEI’s southern flank has been achieved for the moment.
I debated the wisdom of making further landings on the north east coast but decided to go ahead as I still have the initiative plus overwhelming local superiority and my landings at Cooktown and Cairns provide an additional front on which he will have to react, dividing his forces further in response – we will have to see what his first priority is when he seeks to regain the initiative.

Eastern perimeter - Marshalls, Solomons etc
No sign of any Allied activity so far. I am reinforcing along the entire perimeter to develop a network of interlapping, mutually supporting bases. I will keep LBA reserves available to move against any naval invasions or CV raids. Betties and Zeros are protecting the Marshalls. Once the KB completes its current mission I want it to disappear from sight to keep him guessing where it will emerge next time. Army reserves will be based in the Marianas, Truk and Rabaul to reinforce the forces dug in along the perimeter.

China
Having stabilised the front facing Changsha the main focus is Sian at present. My intent is to inflict casualties on the Chinese and hopefully erode their supply to the extent that they will struggle to launch any meaningful offensive action. I hope to cut the Burma Road in the next month or so to help with this objective.

Production
I have not made massive changes to this aspect of the game and all the levels look pretty good at the moment. Shinano was halted and I have rationalised air production, favouring Helen, Tojo and Tony over Sally and Oscar as my mid-war staples.

[Walker84]

Campaign Report, May 7- 13, 1942

Oz
Seeing the most combat activity here at the moment while mopping up in DEI continues. The Darwin sector has quietened down considerably, although I have started launching coordinated sweeps and bombing runs to keep Anthony’s LBA at Tennant Creek occupied while I build up on the east coast.

I had reservations about the Cairns invasion and indeed it has proven costly – I lost nearly 1/3 of the 4th division when his PT boats encroaching from Townsville were able to get to within 1000 yds and sink an AP despite the presence of numerous CL and DD escorts. Even so, I am ashore in force and there doesn’t appear to be much ground opposition this side of Rockhampton. A few more units now need to brave the SS/PT boat picket to get ashore and I will be able to exploit the bridgehead. I have already rebased plenty of Zeros at Cooktown to provide close CAP support. I also set an SCTF picket to patrol south of Cairns to neutralise the threat of any further PT boat incursions (hopefully).

China
Making glacial progress towards Sian although I pushed the Chinese back in two places inflicting fairly heavy losses. He has upgraded his Chinese air to H81s and they are doing rather well against my Oscars so air superiority cannot be assured at this stage. As this puts my close support bombers at risk something will have to be done about it.

Air war
My opponent’s main weapon continues to be his 4e LBA which he likes to move around to where I am least expecting it. However, I have managed to shoot down some Liberators and as I suspect he has suffered some operational losses I have noticed the frequency of attacks tailing off of late. I am also tooling up my first Nick ‘bomber-killer’ unit which will be deployed somewhere in ambush shortly.

Economy
I decided to post some numbers. Would be good to see a comparison of the stats – does this look healthy, and what levels should one be expecting to hit in a Scenario 1 game at this stage in the war?

[Walker84]

Another month has elapsed in game time so it's high time to provide another update...


Campaign Report May 14 - June 14, 1942

We are now beyond the point when the Battle of Midway took place IRL and there have been no major surface engagements yet, the game so far resembling an elaborate 'shadow boxing fest' on the naval side at least. This update is based around the AAR for 14 June which is very representative of the cut and thrust of the campaign over the last few weeks. I have annotated with comments where appropriate.



AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jun 14, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Tetiaroa at 173,175

Japanese Ships
SS I-8

Allied Ships
DD Dewey, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Farragut
TK Pat Doheny
TK Mobilstation
TK Alfred Clegg
xAP Idomeneus
xAK Laida
DD Aylwin


SS I-8 launches 6 torpedoes at DD Dewey
I-8 diving deep ....
DD Aylwin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Aylwin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Aylwin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Aylwin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Aylwin fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

Result! For months I have been trying to track down his convoys and clearly they are going the long route via Tahiti. Vectoring additional subs into the area and we will see what happens. Dewey was later reported as sunk. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Utsonomiya at 116,62

Japanese Ships
xAK Zinzan Maru
xAK Tosei Maru
xAK Hiteru Maru
PB Uruboko Maru

Allied Ships
SS Gudgeon


SS Gudgeon launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Zinzan Maru
Gudgeon diving deep ....
PB Uruboko Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Uruboko Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Uruboko Maru attacking submerged sub ....
PB Uruboko Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Uruboko Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub
Anthony has had mixed success in attacking my convoys and has already lost quite a few subs to my ASW and mines, especially in the Singapore approaches where I offloaded extra mines at Tandjoengpinang to set a trap for unwary submariners. Sub losses so far total 11 Allied to 1 IJN not counting the midgets I lost at PH.
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Morning Air attack on Tennant Creek , at 76,137

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 8
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12
Ki-48-IIa Lily x 13


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 damaged


Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 6

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Ki-48-IIa Lily bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb
8 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb


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Morning Air attack on Tennant Creek , at 76,137

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 10
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 1


No Japanese losses


Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 7000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb

I am keeping the pressure on here to forestall any Allied build up. My opponent has pulled his air back as far as Alice Springs as they couldn't compete with my high-flying Oscars. Alternately hitting his ground units and airfields should drain his supply nicely.
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Morning Air attack on Katherine , at 76,128

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 9


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6
LB-30 Liberator x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 6 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged


Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 1000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
5 x LB-30 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (3 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes

Of course if you worry a hornet's nest you must expect to get stung back sometimes. At least these B17s were not bombing my supply ships unloading at Townsville!
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Afternoon Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Despite the consistently poor weather the war of attrition continues in the air over Burma. I have been hitting Myitkyina to soften the place up for when my land units arrive next turn. Anthony seems intent on shutting down my main airbase at Mandalay...
Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 37,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14


Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 8

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

CAP engaged:
11th Sentai/B with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Raid is overhead
11th Sentai/C with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes
64th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38000 , scrambling fighters to 38000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes

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Afternoon Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet. As you can see he's started coming in real low with his light bombers and they are destroying my planes on the ground.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14



Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 15
B-17E Fortress x 3


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 7 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-49-Ia Helen: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 7 damaged



Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 1000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
15 x Blenheim IV bombing from 1000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
11th Sentai/B with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes
11th Sentai/C with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Raid is overhead
64th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38000 , scrambling fighters to 38000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes



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Afternoon Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14



Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 14
Hurricane IIb Trop x 29
B-17E Fortress x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 destroyed on ground
Ki-49-Ia Helen: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hurricane IIb Trop: 3 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged



Airbase hits 7
Runway hits 31

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Blenheim IV bombing from 1000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 1000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
11th Sentai/B with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000
Raid is overhead
11th Sentai/C with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Raid is overhead
64th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 38000
Raid is overhead

According to the Intelligence Report (see next post) I came out top on in air to air combat but lost far too many planes to successful low level bombing. Clearly a rethink is required and I will reorganise my forces this afternoon.