Tenno heika banzai! A 2x2 Da Big Babes from the Japanese perspective (Japanese fanboys only, please)

[PresterJohn001]

Sumatra News:

The slog continues, although allied air seems to have less of a presence.

Allies (RN) carriers appear North of Sumtra, south of Port Blair, probably looking for some cheap transport kills. Kido Butai sent North to intercept, unlikely
to suceed but you have to try. Am aware this may be a ruse to draw the KB north leaving Padang (OOsthaven even) open so am pullling the transports from Padang.
Lesson from this is to get Port Blair operational.

[PresterJohn001]

The Emperor has decreed that PresterJohn- san will be the exalted commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, whilst Vicberg-san will take command of the less prestigous but still important Imperial Army. [:D]


Sumatra remains the major focus of combat at the moment.Over the past week the air war has swung dramtically in favour of the Japanese with the allied air force all but destroyed as a fighting force. A few allied bomber raids still occur but Palembang air space is now safe enough to bomb the air fields.

Bataan fell to a shock attack expertly orchestrated by the new Army Commander. A case of my personal Sake has been sent in recognition of this excellent achievement.

This all means that several divisions are now available for the Sumatra campaign at the Armies discretion...

[PresterJohn001]

Its worth noting that the KB revealed itself at Singapore. It was a glorious sight to see sweeps of almost 100 Zero's over Palembang a couple of days ago. What will be interesting to see is if the Allies make any moves in the S.Pac with their carriers. So far they have been cautious. Lets see what it takes to get them to come out to play...

[vicberg]

Our glorious empire has expanded (and expended) it's size 10 fold. This is Sopac

[vicberg]

In north china, our situation is not so good....though I love that the glorious army has conquered the far north oil fields, chinese bombers are taking a toll daily. Movement accross the river to the northern moutains is slow at best...at least another 2 weeks before they can make it. There are 2 regiments racing south to reinforce and another farther away to the north. The chinese have not moved to defend against it, so my guess is that they haven't noticed them yet.

The problem right now is that there isn't an airbase close or within quick movement for air support units to do anything about it. I'm building kaifeng into a larger airbase for 2 engine bomber operations to see if we can conduct an operation against their bombers.

[vicberg]

In mid china, it's basically a manuveur war right now. After losing 1000 AV (and then getting notified by the former japanese player that the movement was a feint...oi!)...I've moved them south and now west. Once in position, I'm going to chose a spot to cross. To make it more interesting for my chinese opponent, I'm going to send small units in all locations so he can guess where the crossing will be and not fully stacked. In the west, elements of the 104th division are assaulting nannning...I achieved a 1-1 last turn and will continue with a shock attack next turn.

[vicberg]

The Army Commander must now give the floor to the Minister of Finance....

As the Minister of Finance, I have some bad news. Both Army and Navy operations have put our supply situation in the Home Islands, China and Malaysia at critical levels. Please note paper the in front you.

Notice that supplies in the homelands are at 660k. China has no reserves and malaysia even less. We will need at least 200k more for continued china and malaysia activities. I'm afraid our situation is not quite desparate, but not very good. This is due in part to the enormous expansion in our R&D, air production, land expansion and of course, naval shipyards...the next few months will be critical for the success of the empire.

[vicberg]

Discussion of Future Objectives....Japanese High Command, March 18th, 1942.

The army must inform the high command that the continued expansion of the japanese empire must pause in order to rebuild it's air squadrons. Almost all of the bomber squadrons are at 50-80% depletion levels. The fighter squadrons are at 50% depletion or more. In order to conquer china, the army has pressed into service antiquated bomber models (idas, marys and anns)...though they are showing well, all of the replacement pools, including the antiquated models are empty.

In light of the information the minister of finance has provided...what, he committed sepuku?...why didn't you inform me of this?....er umm, *former* minister of finance, it would not be prudent to push forward attacks into Northern Australia, in spite of the Navy's insistence. Now of course, if the Army had Nells and Betties....we'll that's a discussion for another day....Since the Army is so clearly superior to the Navy, we hope the high command can see the wisdom of the Army's choice in this matter.

Thank you

[vicberg]

Lord High Overseer of Logistics: "tell me what's happening"
Lackey of Logistics: "Well sir, most of our tankers are in balikpan. Oil and Fuel are stacking up in China.  Oil and Fuel in the home lands is being reduced at an alarming rate.  We've diverted a few faster oilers to help allieviate the overflow in China.  Transports are light in the home islands.  We have few transports to move troops off Luzon.  Supplies in China and Malaysia are critical, as well as the Home Islands."
Overseer: "Any good news?"
Lackey: "We took the Chinese city of Nanning and the Dutch base of Koepang...some oil and fuel should starting moving to Hong Kong...however the allied strategic bombers are bombing Koepang"
Overseer:"Do we have any air support to protect the base?"
Lackey:"Umm...no sir...air support in the region (gulp) is light"
Overseer: no response
Lackey:"Well Sopac is well supplied with fast transports everywhere"
Overseer:"Are you telling me that the Navy has dominated our logistics strategy?"
Lackey:"Absolutely not sir, just stating facts"
Overseer: "I have a meeting with high command in a few minutes, what should I tell them?"
Lackey:"the glorious empire is expanding on all fronts, sir"

[PresterJohn001]

The Admiralty informs High Command that its fighter squadrons are at 70-100% effectiveness and its Nells and Betties are all at 100%.
Comment , its a bit poor that the Army has let its airforce degenerate so much. So its probably a good job that the Nells and Betties are under Navy control.

Still the Army did a good job at Bataan.

[vicberg]

The Army wishes to inform the High Command that it's air losses have nothing to do with durability, guns and or lack or armor, but rather in the name of the planes...Please note the comparison below:

Zero - simply cool name
Nell - The beautiful girl next door
Betty - Everyone knows that Betty Rubble is hotter than Wilma Flinstone

Oscar - not nearly as cool a name as the zero
Sally - that girl who always wanted to get together with you, but..umm...not
Lillie - they fall apart in battle like a flower

The following name changes are put forward for a vote:

Oscar is renamed to the Samson...the name will overcome the lack of guns
Sally is renamed to the Jessica...Jessica Alba is hot hot hot
The Lillie is herby renamed to the Angelina (jolie)...but worried that the squardron commanders may try to adopt babies. 

We believe the above will provide the necessary changes to put the Army back in a position of pre-eminance...well this and the Tojo and the Helen.

[PresterJohn001]

We've been tracking an allied surface force heading towards Suva (Fiji) for a couple of days. Looks like the allies have grown some [:D] with the KB well away. We have a couple of nettie, actutally i'll call them Belle squadrons (much sexier, and if the Army Commander is right...) in range but lacking torpedoes. Thats the Armies fault btw. Anyway we have a decent fleet at Suva, the allies are still over a day out, if they continue in, and theres no sign of carriers i'll sortie.

Also a small transport fleet spotted en route to Horn or maybe Darwin (from e coast of oz) - i have a DD in hot pursuit, if it going to Horn Isle it should be toast by the end of the day...




edits for spelling..

[vicberg]

The new Minister of Finance walks onto the stage, puts a graph on an easel, approaches the podium and tests the microphone.  A loud screech fills the room. 

Addressing a large auditorium of official looking individuals, "As you can see from the chart, the precipitous decline in supplies in the home islands has stopped and is now on an upward trend.  This is due in large part to a stoppage of supply outflows.  As a result of this, I'm announcing an immediate halt to the transportation of supplies outside the home islands"

Another bureaucratic looking man approaches and whispers in the ministers’ ear.  Not realizing that the microphone is still on...

"What do you mean I don't have the power to do this?  I"m the Minister of Finance for Buddha's sake"

More whispering

"I'll talk with the emperor himself if I have to.”

Yet more whispering…

“It's a military dictatorship?  Dominated by the Navy?  And no one thought this important to tell me before I accepted this post!?  Why are those guards coming this way?"

Microphone abruptly ends

[vicberg]

Well, it looks like Admiral Yamamoto screwed the pootch....

Afternoon Air attack on Suva , at 132,160

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
     F1M2 Pete x 9 

Allied aircraft
     F4F-3A Wildcat x 16
     F4F-3 Wildcat x 16
     SBD-2 Dauntless x 16
     SBD-3 Dauntless x 51
     TBD-1 Devastator x 26


Japanese aircraft losses
     F1M2 Pete: 2 destroyed
     G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground 

Japanese Ships
     CA Kako, Bomb hits 2,  on fire
     BB Hiei, Bomb hits 14,  heavy fires
     DD Yukikaze, Bomb hits 2,  on fire
     xAP Yoshino Maru, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 1
     CL Nagara, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     CA Aoba, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     CA Myoko, Bomb hits 1,  on fire

Japanese ground losses:
     17 casualties reported
        Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
        Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
        Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

That's not an attack on Fiji...that's an attack on the interior of Suva.  We are moving mass numbers of HQ and AF units to the area, but they will still be at least a week or more away.  KB is moving to the area, but the question is how much damage they can do before it arrives?

Sopac is a priority now for getting support and construction units in place for defense.  There's plenty of ACMs in Truk, so mining won't be a problem either. 

The fortress Sumatra approach seems to be paying off.  66 Units in Palembang...another 15 in Oosthaven.  Quite a few north.  While we are focusing on this, they can nibble on our exterior (though the above attack is more than a nibble)...If they can muster enough troops anywhere else, we may be in for a bit of a fight. 

The 8th division (from Manchuko) and 21st, plus a number of regiments are in route to sumatra.   

There's not enough anywhere right now.  Personally, as Army Commander, and therefore superior to Navy, this scenario doesn't lend itself to the deep Sopac strikes.  There's simply not enough Air support and engineers to make this happen.  However, my Navy counterpart will make this happen...or else!

[PresterJohn001]

Turns out the Surface Force was a Carrier force. Need more and better naval search in the region. Slower base building is having an effect on operations and we are just about as extended
as we can be at the moment. Still KB will be in area soon enough and then we shall have some fun...

[PresterJohn001]

Allies withdraw their carrier force back towards Tahiti. Overall losses a couple of planes and some dock time for 4 cruisers and a Battleship. We are still deseprately short of air cover in S.Pac, but that will change over the next few weeks. A short breath before offensive ops are resumed again.

[SoliInvictus202]

ORIGINAL: vicberg

The Army wishes to inform the High Command that it's air losses have nothing to do with durability, guns and or lack or armor, but rather in the name of the planes...Please note the comparison below:

Zero - simply cool name
Nell - The beautiful girl next door
Betty - Everyone knows that Betty Rubble is hotter than Wilma Flinstone

Oscar - not nearly as cool a name as the zero
Sally - that girl who always wanted to get together with you, but..umm...not
Lillie - they fall apart in battle like a flower

The following name changes are put forward for a vote:

Oscar is renamed to the Samson...the name will overcome the lack of guns
Sally is renamed to the Jessica...Jessica Alba is hot hot hot
The Lillie is herby renamed to the Angelina (jolie)...but worried that the squardron commanders may try to adopt babies. 

We believe the above will provide the necessary changes to put the Army back in a position of pre-eminance...well this and the Tojo and the Helen.

although a little late.... [8D] [:D]

I am really enjoying your AAR - awesome style of writing.....
and I am looking forward to the "differences" between Army and Navy!

good luck to you both in your game!

Roland

[Enigma6584]

I agree.  Beautifully written.

[vicberg]

China Theatre Sitrep, March 22nd, 1942...

Around a conference table far too large for the room, sit a number of uniformed officers.  At the head is overweight general, sweating profusely.  A handkerchief in his hand, he constant dabs at the beads of sweat forming on this brow.

General: "What the status in china"
Lackey: "It's big"
Lackey #2: "and there's a lot of Chinese"
General: "What about the north?"
Lackey: "Umm, we’re stymied there"

(more dabbing across the brow)

General: "And the middle?"
Lackey: "Well, we're stymied there as well"
General: "Last report was that we were making progress in the south"
Lackey: "We were, then we ran out of garrisons.” 
Lackey #2: “The sake convoy was ambushed in Nanning.  Our combat troops almost revolted"

(reaches for another handkerchief)

General: "And the air war"
Lackey: "Before today? Very Good Sir"
General: "and after today?"
Lackey: "Not so good...69 Nates didn't even damage a single flying tiger"
Lackey #2: "We stopped counting losses after 20"
General: “Didn’t the name change to our air planes make a difference?”
Lackey: “We didn’t change the Mary, Ida or Ann and they were the ones that were decimated”

(a deep cough, followed by a period of wheezing)

General: “What’s the plan for resolving this?”
Lackey:  “We are repositioning forces for a continued offensive”
General: “Good, that’s something I can tell the high command.  How long will it take?”
Lackey: “3 months”
General: “3 months! Why?”
Lackey: “It’s big”
Lackey #2: “And there’s a lot of chinese”

[vicberg]

Meeting of High Command, March 28th, 1942…..
 
Purpose: To discuss the empty Minister of Finance Position
 
This is Private Kitami’s first time standing guard at a High Command Meeting.  He’s in a large room with a long, ornately carved conference table.  A row of Army Officers sit opposite a row of Navy Officers.  The officers are whispering to others seated to the right and left of them, but not talking at all to their counterparts opposite them.
 
Perplexed by this, Kitami whispers to the guard next to him, “why are they not talking?”
Guard: “the army and navy don’t actually talk with one another.  They write on a piece of paper, crumple it into a ball and wing it at the recipient”
Kitami “Why is the Army Air Commander being pelted by all the Navy guys?"
Guard: “Have you seen the army air losses?”
 
[font="times new roman"]Pretty soon, both sides are writing furiously and winging balls of papers across the table.  [/font]
 
The guard whispers to Katami, “This is nothing.  Pretty soon one guy is going to get angry and challenge someone on the other side to a dual“
Kitami stifles a reaction.
Guard: “We go through a lot of officers this way. Probably why they only meet a few times year”
 
After a few more minutes of this, both sides stand up triumphantly and shake hands.  Neither side shakes the other side’s hand.  Paper litters the floor and table.
 
Kitami: “What happened?”
Guard: “Looks like the economy and the merchant fleet will be at the disposal of both sides and must take orders from both, including countermanding orders.”
Kitami: “And that’s a good thing?”
Guard: “Hey, no one died today.”