Hi. I've never produced one of these ungainly things, nor played a PBEM game. Or taken an AI game past...March 1942? (my computer's ancient, so turns are slooooow). So, this should be a learning experience. Saros has played one PBEM game before, as far as I'm aware ended by a decisive battle in the Java Sea he (the Allies) came out on top of, the twit, presumably also around March 1942.
Game is:
Scen. 1
Non-historical-ish start (Force Z buggered off, but I didn't do much else);
US torpedoes engineered by brain-damaged weasels;
Manual sub ops;
No strategic bombing into China (out of China fine)
"Let's not do anything too dumb with fighter ceilings"
I'm not going to puke combat reports at anyone and probably won't post many screenshots (too lazy), so it'll just be me condensing and yapping, I'm afraid.
Unlike I suspect most people who play this game, I don't have a 'wargaming' background, so WITP is still a little alien even after quite a few months. Unfortunately it's ruined Hearts of Iron for me completely, so I'm stuck with it. Since this is a Scen1 game, and since it's my first 'consequences' game, I'm going to be giving in to my natural urge to be a hypercautious ditherer for the foreseeable future in the expectation (well...hope, really) that I'll get away with it, rather than going straight for the throat and taking some Japanese with me. ANYWAY:
Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
We're about a week and a half into the game, so the first few days I'm going to write up from memory over the next 24 hours or so.
Dec. 7
Raid on Pearl Harbour and...basically nowhere else. Maryland is wrecked topside but all the fleet can make 18kts bar a couple of destroyers and California, which ate three torpedoes - two from Kates and one from a midget. Considered putting them to sea but decided further sinkings were unlikely in port but likely out in the deep blue - I'm pretty hypercautious so force preservation takes priority over winning battles in my head. Overcoming that will probably be important at some point in the near future. Sometimes there are consequences and sometimes there are not. Besides, it'd be a pretty short game if it worked, and running away, while actually fairly practical, probably wouldn't have been contemplated.
Insanity prevails in Singapore, and Force Z sails for the Bangka Strait and then on to Batavia. The Phillippines aren't attacked at all; apparently the Japanese pilots got into the sake.
Dec. 8
Hawaiian forces set for night searches and naval attacks. Unfortunately while the Japanese did a poor job on the fleet they did an excellent job on the airfield infrastructure, which I guess can't support raids today. Carrier location unknown; Enterprise, Lexington and the minesweeper group are headed for Christmas Island and then on to the Golden Gate.
Asiatic Fleet combat units in Manila depart. An eager-beaver destroyer squadron streaks past the minesweeping group into Bataan, and three of four choke on mines. Evacuation isn't total - the game being what it is I don't expect many fugitives to make it, so the submarine tenders and some small merchants stay to keep things running for a couple of weeks. USS Houston is lunging for Surabaya via Tarakan, USS Boise for Batavia via North Borneo. Hedging bets.
Landings on northern Luzon hit an undefended beach, and landing on the Malay peninsula hit Kota Bharu. A large force also disgorges Japanese at Kuching.
Heavy mining operations off eastern Malaya - Mersing is worrying and has seen a lot of overflights. I am dithering over which side of the Johore strait to defend, and fortifying both for the time being. Forces in northern Malaya are beginning to withdraw bar a pair of independent batallions, which will attempt to buy a day or two in poor terrain. The first of several merchant convoys follows - HMS Mauritius inhales a torpedo from I-15something. Damage is not critical but will need a holiday in Suf Ifrika.
Hong Kong MTB squadron lunges towards the Pescadores and runs into a destroyer flotilla, returning at half strength. I literally flipped a coin on Pescadores vs Samah - didn't quite work out. Hong Kong is not expected to last long; evacuation of critical supplies direction Manila is probably expected, so the merchants are instead loading for Kwangchouwan except the largest, which will test the China Sea just in case. Poor buggers. HK destroyer squadron is departing fast to the south; Manila, North Borneo and Singapore being the objectives.
Dec. 7
Raid on Pearl Harbour and...basically nowhere else. Maryland is wrecked topside but all the fleet can make 18kts bar a couple of destroyers and California, which ate three torpedoes - two from Kates and one from a midget. Considered putting them to sea but decided further sinkings were unlikely in port but likely out in the deep blue - I'm pretty hypercautious so force preservation takes priority over winning battles in my head. Overcoming that will probably be important at some point in the near future. Sometimes there are consequences and sometimes there are not. Besides, it'd be a pretty short game if it worked, and running away, while actually fairly practical, probably wouldn't have been contemplated.
Insanity prevails in Singapore, and Force Z sails for the Bangka Strait and then on to Batavia. The Phillippines aren't attacked at all; apparently the Japanese pilots got into the sake.
Dec. 8
Hawaiian forces set for night searches and naval attacks. Unfortunately while the Japanese did a poor job on the fleet they did an excellent job on the airfield infrastructure, which I guess can't support raids today. Carrier location unknown; Enterprise, Lexington and the minesweeper group are headed for Christmas Island and then on to the Golden Gate.
Asiatic Fleet combat units in Manila depart. An eager-beaver destroyer squadron streaks past the minesweeping group into Bataan, and three of four choke on mines. Evacuation isn't total - the game being what it is I don't expect many fugitives to make it, so the submarine tenders and some small merchants stay to keep things running for a couple of weeks. USS Houston is lunging for Surabaya via Tarakan, USS Boise for Batavia via North Borneo. Hedging bets.
Landings on northern Luzon hit an undefended beach, and landing on the Malay peninsula hit Kota Bharu. A large force also disgorges Japanese at Kuching.
Heavy mining operations off eastern Malaya - Mersing is worrying and has seen a lot of overflights. I am dithering over which side of the Johore strait to defend, and fortifying both for the time being. Forces in northern Malaya are beginning to withdraw bar a pair of independent batallions, which will attempt to buy a day or two in poor terrain. The first of several merchant convoys follows - HMS Mauritius inhales a torpedo from I-15something. Damage is not critical but will need a holiday in Suf Ifrika.
Hong Kong MTB squadron lunges towards the Pescadores and runs into a destroyer flotilla, returning at half strength. I literally flipped a coin on Pescadores vs Samah - didn't quite work out. Hong Kong is not expected to last long; evacuation of critical supplies direction Manila is probably expected, so the merchants are instead loading for Kwangchouwan except the largest, which will test the China Sea just in case. Poor buggers. HK destroyer squadron is departing fast to the south; Manila, North Borneo and Singapore being the objectives.
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Dec. 9
Japanese carrier aircraft raid Pearl Harbour again; apparently they got into whatever the Taiwanese groups were drinking yesterday...yesterday. The fleet's average speed is down to about 15kts versus 18, mostly due to system damage accumulating, but there still haven't been any sinkings and Japanese air losses were heavy - somewhere around 50 aircraft, mostly Kates and Vals. Still, everyone should back in working order by around the end of April.
Japanese forces have a foothold in northern Luzon. They brought some fighters with them - 50 or so Nates rise to meet USAAF fighter sweeps, losing around 20 aircraft and shooting down 5. Irritatingly the one pilot killed was the only guy with exp over 80 on the entire map. Japanese sweeps over Clark go home empty-handed, all the residents being away.
USS Boise meets a fraction of the departing Kuching invasion force, sinking two freighters and "cruiser" Kashii for no damage in return, then encounters a heavy cruiser squadron and scuttles away towards Batavia after dodging a dozen torpedoes at 2000yds. Kuching falls. One of the CAs is heading home minus a turret courtesy of the MLD.
Kota Bharu falls; dithering continues in Johor.
Dec. 10
Japanese carriers head west; none of the night strikes over the past few days flew, which is a shame. A fast reinforcement convoy leaves San Francisco with two infantry regiments; air search suggests Japanese submarines are swarming along the direct approaches to Pearl Harbour but avoiding the 'side' entrance past Oahu and into the shallows, so shipping will head in that way along with high-frequency PT patrols to keep any subs underwater.
Hong Kong falls. About 8000 tons of supplies make it through to Kwangchowan; every little helps here, I suppose.
Japanese beachhead on Luzon grows to include Aparri and Laoag. A second day of sweeps trades 18! Nates for one P-40, with Japanese return punches again hitting air. There's no way Clark won't be bombed tomorrow, so CAP will go up instead. Expected lifespan is short, but they've had their fun. An SNLF lands at Atimonan, capturing it.
Japanese carrier aircraft raid Pearl Harbour again; apparently they got into whatever the Taiwanese groups were drinking yesterday...yesterday. The fleet's average speed is down to about 15kts versus 18, mostly due to system damage accumulating, but there still haven't been any sinkings and Japanese air losses were heavy - somewhere around 50 aircraft, mostly Kates and Vals. Still, everyone should back in working order by around the end of April.
Japanese forces have a foothold in northern Luzon. They brought some fighters with them - 50 or so Nates rise to meet USAAF fighter sweeps, losing around 20 aircraft and shooting down 5. Irritatingly the one pilot killed was the only guy with exp over 80 on the entire map. Japanese sweeps over Clark go home empty-handed, all the residents being away.
USS Boise meets a fraction of the departing Kuching invasion force, sinking two freighters and "cruiser" Kashii for no damage in return, then encounters a heavy cruiser squadron and scuttles away towards Batavia after dodging a dozen torpedoes at 2000yds. Kuching falls. One of the CAs is heading home minus a turret courtesy of the MLD.
Kota Bharu falls; dithering continues in Johor.
Dec. 10
Japanese carriers head west; none of the night strikes over the past few days flew, which is a shame. A fast reinforcement convoy leaves San Francisco with two infantry regiments; air search suggests Japanese submarines are swarming along the direct approaches to Pearl Harbour but avoiding the 'side' entrance past Oahu and into the shallows, so shipping will head in that way along with high-frequency PT patrols to keep any subs underwater.
Hong Kong falls. About 8000 tons of supplies make it through to Kwangchowan; every little helps here, I suppose.
Japanese beachhead on Luzon grows to include Aparri and Laoag. A second day of sweeps trades 18! Nates for one P-40, with Japanese return punches again hitting air. There's no way Clark won't be bombed tomorrow, so CAP will go up instead. Expected lifespan is short, but they've had their fun. An SNLF lands at Atimonan, capturing it.
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Welcome to AE PBEMing. It's a nerve-wracking good time. Best of luck and well done with that damn Boise, the terror of the IJN!
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Dec. 11
Clark Field is bombed. Japanese fighters are tied to the bombers, so the CAP does ok, but there are far too many of them to be able to prevent damage.
Japanese forces land at and capture Brunei. The HK destroyer squadron is refueling and attempts to intervene but runs into another Japanese cruiser squadron; lots of shells and torpedoes fly, but there's not too much damage to anyone involved, so they're now racing towards Singapore.
USS Langley is sunk by surface forces 90 miles north of Manado. The only escapee from Luzon is the small liner Rochambeau, which manages to duck out of this convoy after being lightly ventilated. Every other ship sent out has been sunk by aircraft or gunfire. A small Japanese carrier looks like it might try and push down the Makassar strait; Dutch bombers will take a crack at it tomorrow if it does.
Dec. 12
HK destroyers reach Singapore. They're engaged in the Singapore hex itself by a second Japanese squadron headed by CL Sendai, but it's another inconclusive mess. Suits me. Also at Singapore is the other old British destroyer; I wll probably keep the four of them here for a little while and use them up the west coast of Malaya; they can always shoot off direct to Colombo as long as Singapore stands.
B-17s from Cagayan bomb Palau, with a destroyer tender and a fleet oiler both reportedly hit twice. Dutch aircraft flying from Balikpapan try for a pair of heavy cruisers pussyfooting around south of Tarakan but don't manage to hit anything.
Wake Island falls to a large Japanese force; a submarine bounces a torpedo off CL Yubari in the process. Dutch submarines have bagged a couple of large transports, but US submarines haven't acheived anything so far, assuming nothing's hit any of the mines they've laid.
Clark Field is bombed. Japanese fighters are tied to the bombers, so the CAP does ok, but there are far too many of them to be able to prevent damage.
Japanese forces land at and capture Brunei. The HK destroyer squadron is refueling and attempts to intervene but runs into another Japanese cruiser squadron; lots of shells and torpedoes fly, but there's not too much damage to anyone involved, so they're now racing towards Singapore.
USS Langley is sunk by surface forces 90 miles north of Manado. The only escapee from Luzon is the small liner Rochambeau, which manages to duck out of this convoy after being lightly ventilated. Every other ship sent out has been sunk by aircraft or gunfire. A small Japanese carrier looks like it might try and push down the Makassar strait; Dutch bombers will take a crack at it tomorrow if it does.
Dec. 12
HK destroyers reach Singapore. They're engaged in the Singapore hex itself by a second Japanese squadron headed by CL Sendai, but it's another inconclusive mess. Suits me. Also at Singapore is the other old British destroyer; I wll probably keep the four of them here for a little while and use them up the west coast of Malaya; they can always shoot off direct to Colombo as long as Singapore stands.
B-17s from Cagayan bomb Palau, with a destroyer tender and a fleet oiler both reportedly hit twice. Dutch aircraft flying from Balikpapan try for a pair of heavy cruisers pussyfooting around south of Tarakan but don't manage to hit anything.
Wake Island falls to a large Japanese force; a submarine bounces a torpedo off CL Yubari in the process. Dutch submarines have bagged a couple of large transports, but US submarines haven't acheived anything so far, assuming nothing's hit any of the mines they've laid.
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Dec. 13
Japanese 11th and 12th IMBs are surrounded in heavy terrain east of Changsha. A third Japanese unit is moving offroad to break them out, but it'll take a while. Works for me. Up on the plains, a full Japanese division is haring off eastwards in pursuit of 45av worth of Chinese making a dash for the coast.
Raids on Clark continue, as do Japanese landings. Not much exciting happening, however. Down at Cagayan BBs Nagato and Mutsu bombard the airfield with the B-17 groups on the ground. My understanding is that the 'airfield' here was actually a pineapple plantation - fruit salad, anyone? Most of the B-17s are damaged but all but a couple are repairable. Chances are the battleships will stick around for another go, however, so they're withdrawing. I actually meant to buy them out and move them to Rabaul for a quick stab at Truk but couldn't quite justify the PP cost yesterday - too much to do! In any case, they'll be back in a few weeks.
Guam falls to a large Japanese force. Signals suggest IJA 2nd Div forming at Truk.
44th, 45th, 46th Indian bdes are settling in at and fortifying Colombo. I'd quite like to keep it, but I'm keeping enough transport local to get the bulk of them over to the mainland if necessary.
Large landing at Manado. The Eastern Fleet is forming up, such as it is. Four squadrons - PoW and Repulse plus the D-class cruisers, Houston and de Ruyter, Java, Tromp, each with a destroyer squadron attached, attended to by the Dutch oilers. The whole lot's hanging out one hex behind the Lombok Strait waiting for...something. I'm not even sure what - if they'd gotten together a day earlier I'd have sent them up to interfere with the Manado landings, but I think it'll have fallen by the time they get there. The bulk of the Japanese surface forces are in the area and I'd rather avoid getting swarmed so far from home. Boise is waiting a few days while the 8" holes in the bridge are patched up.
A large convoy leaves San Francisco for Tahiti escorted by Saratoga, carrying a lot of engineering assets, several tankers' worth of fuel for fleet operations and enough supplies for a whole constellation of cargo cults.
Dec. 14
Miri and Manado fall; otherwise not a very action-packed day in the DEI.
8th Marine Rgt and a defense batallion depart San Francisco for Christmas Island along with an old cruiser. CA Louisville is also headed up to Christmas; there's a Japanese something hanging around to the south (AMC?) which I'm hoping to collide with; failing that it'll take the Marines in. I'm very protective of my convoys and the old battleships will probably see as much use as heavy escorts as anything else.
Japanese 11th and 12th IMBs are surrounded in heavy terrain east of Changsha. A third Japanese unit is moving offroad to break them out, but it'll take a while. Works for me. Up on the plains, a full Japanese division is haring off eastwards in pursuit of 45av worth of Chinese making a dash for the coast.
Raids on Clark continue, as do Japanese landings. Not much exciting happening, however. Down at Cagayan BBs Nagato and Mutsu bombard the airfield with the B-17 groups on the ground. My understanding is that the 'airfield' here was actually a pineapple plantation - fruit salad, anyone? Most of the B-17s are damaged but all but a couple are repairable. Chances are the battleships will stick around for another go, however, so they're withdrawing. I actually meant to buy them out and move them to Rabaul for a quick stab at Truk but couldn't quite justify the PP cost yesterday - too much to do! In any case, they'll be back in a few weeks.
Guam falls to a large Japanese force. Signals suggest IJA 2nd Div forming at Truk.
44th, 45th, 46th Indian bdes are settling in at and fortifying Colombo. I'd quite like to keep it, but I'm keeping enough transport local to get the bulk of them over to the mainland if necessary.
Large landing at Manado. The Eastern Fleet is forming up, such as it is. Four squadrons - PoW and Repulse plus the D-class cruisers, Houston and de Ruyter, Java, Tromp, each with a destroyer squadron attached, attended to by the Dutch oilers. The whole lot's hanging out one hex behind the Lombok Strait waiting for...something. I'm not even sure what - if they'd gotten together a day earlier I'd have sent them up to interfere with the Manado landings, but I think it'll have fallen by the time they get there. The bulk of the Japanese surface forces are in the area and I'd rather avoid getting swarmed so far from home. Boise is waiting a few days while the 8" holes in the bridge are patched up.
A large convoy leaves San Francisco for Tahiti escorted by Saratoga, carrying a lot of engineering assets, several tankers' worth of fuel for fleet operations and enough supplies for a whole constellation of cargo cults.
Dec. 14
Miri and Manado fall; otherwise not a very action-packed day in the DEI.
8th Marine Rgt and a defense batallion depart San Francisco for Christmas Island along with an old cruiser. CA Louisville is also headed up to Christmas; there's a Japanese something hanging around to the south (AMC?) which I'm hoping to collide with; failing that it'll take the Marines in. I'm very protective of my convoys and the old battleships will probably see as much use as heavy escorts as anything else.
RE: Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]
Dec. 15-19
Condensed, because nothing particularly interesting has happened on any particular day - lots of convoys motoring along, fighter sweeps over Singapore, Eastern Fleet still dawdling. Signals are full of a whole lot of nothing interesting. US submarines are yet to sink anything at all, and not for want of trying. Rabaul fell yesterday (18th), too - the defenders conducted a very orderly retreat into the jungle and are basically intact - never seen that before. I'm flying them out to Moresby where they'll be very welcome.
That's as far as the game's progressed up to this point, so I thought I'd write some short and long-term principles down so I don't forget about them a month from now.
- ABDA area will not be reinforced. I'm not lifting out units - what's here will hold out as long as is possible - but no troops, no ships, no aircraft are headed anywhere between Ramree Island and Darwin. We're using the latest beta patch, so destroyed units can be rebuilt; I anticipate being able to reform two or at most three Dutch batallions, which seems reasonable enough. III IndCorps is all support, so will be handy; 9th and 11th IndDivs by contrast probably won't amount to much for a long time.
- 1942 will mostly be conducted on an ad-hoc basis; I don't know exactly how conservative or otherwise the Japanese are going to be, so the details will have to wait a little longer. The exception to that is that I would like to have the Burma Road back open in 1942, which of course means holding or retaking Rangoon; as I'm not reinforcing the place now bar the Chinese 11th Army holding it is unlikely, so we'll have to see what the garrison ends up looking like. I am 'ok' with US troop commitments to the area up to and including a division or three, and a bunch of AA and artillery units are already heading to Cape Town; given enough stiffening the Chinese might even be able to acheive something useful in Burma. I don't like the Pacific in principle - all those wide open spaces give me the heebie-geebies - so absent some truly special prompting I don't expect to see huge movements beyond Line Is - Tahiti - Pago - Fiji - Auckland, at least on my part.
- 1943's plan will depend on how Burma goes. If well, I think it'd be interesting to shoot for Singapore by the end of the year, by land or possibly by sea; if it seems doable then I'll make it the main effort (I appreciate it's not the most sensible plan, but it should be interesting either way); if not, SWPA will take the wheel.
Condensed, because nothing particularly interesting has happened on any particular day - lots of convoys motoring along, fighter sweeps over Singapore, Eastern Fleet still dawdling. Signals are full of a whole lot of nothing interesting. US submarines are yet to sink anything at all, and not for want of trying. Rabaul fell yesterday (18th), too - the defenders conducted a very orderly retreat into the jungle and are basically intact - never seen that before. I'm flying them out to Moresby where they'll be very welcome.
That's as far as the game's progressed up to this point, so I thought I'd write some short and long-term principles down so I don't forget about them a month from now.
- ABDA area will not be reinforced. I'm not lifting out units - what's here will hold out as long as is possible - but no troops, no ships, no aircraft are headed anywhere between Ramree Island and Darwin. We're using the latest beta patch, so destroyed units can be rebuilt; I anticipate being able to reform two or at most three Dutch batallions, which seems reasonable enough. III IndCorps is all support, so will be handy; 9th and 11th IndDivs by contrast probably won't amount to much for a long time.
- 1942 will mostly be conducted on an ad-hoc basis; I don't know exactly how conservative or otherwise the Japanese are going to be, so the details will have to wait a little longer. The exception to that is that I would like to have the Burma Road back open in 1942, which of course means holding or retaking Rangoon; as I'm not reinforcing the place now bar the Chinese 11th Army holding it is unlikely, so we'll have to see what the garrison ends up looking like. I am 'ok' with US troop commitments to the area up to and including a division or three, and a bunch of AA and artillery units are already heading to Cape Town; given enough stiffening the Chinese might even be able to acheive something useful in Burma. I don't like the Pacific in principle - all those wide open spaces give me the heebie-geebies - so absent some truly special prompting I don't expect to see huge movements beyond Line Is - Tahiti - Pago - Fiji - Auckland, at least on my part.
- 1943's plan will depend on how Burma goes. If well, I think it'd be interesting to shoot for Singapore by the end of the year, by land or possibly by sea; if it seems doable then I'll make it the main effort (I appreciate it's not the most sensible plan, but it should be interesting either way); if not, SWPA will take the wheel.
Dec. 20
Dec. 20
The two Hawaiian regiments sail up the inside passage undetected and unmolested, ending the day one hex SE of Pearl Harbour. A small victory, but I'm not complaining.
An unpleasant day for the IJAAF; sweeps (mostly Nates) lose eight aircraft over Clark for nothing in return, along with two Sallies lost to causes unknown and one Zero destroyed on the ground at Kota Bharu. Allied losses for the day total one O-47 recon aircraft that crashed on landing. A few more days like this would do just fine. Japanese forward elements are 45 miles south of Manila.
A batallion-strength Japanese landing at Iloilo is theoretically attacked by a full PA division. Nothing happens - maybe they didn't feel like pressing the point? Will try again tomorrow.
All quiet in the air over Malaya; destroyers bombard armoured units moving south from Taiping. A half-strength Indian batallion will meet them in the mountains tomorrow or the day after; won't stop them, but will buy a day or two. A Thai infantry division captures Victoria Point. If the Japanese armour gets too far ahead of its friends I may try to give it a bloody nose at Malacca. We'll see - would have to be very quick in and out.
1st Burma div is digging in behind the Salween. The Indian Army is concentrating at Calcutta; India Command HQ is here, so I'll keep everyone concentrated for as long as Singapore stands; hopefully they'll fix disablements quicker this way.
The two Hawaiian regiments sail up the inside passage undetected and unmolested, ending the day one hex SE of Pearl Harbour. A small victory, but I'm not complaining.
An unpleasant day for the IJAAF; sweeps (mostly Nates) lose eight aircraft over Clark for nothing in return, along with two Sallies lost to causes unknown and one Zero destroyed on the ground at Kota Bharu. Allied losses for the day total one O-47 recon aircraft that crashed on landing. A few more days like this would do just fine. Japanese forward elements are 45 miles south of Manila.
A batallion-strength Japanese landing at Iloilo is theoretically attacked by a full PA division. Nothing happens - maybe they didn't feel like pressing the point? Will try again tomorrow.
All quiet in the air over Malaya; destroyers bombard armoured units moving south from Taiping. A half-strength Indian batallion will meet them in the mountains tomorrow or the day after; won't stop them, but will buy a day or two. A Thai infantry division captures Victoria Point. If the Japanese armour gets too far ahead of its friends I may try to give it a bloody nose at Malacca. We'll see - would have to be very quick in and out.
1st Burma div is digging in behind the Salween. The Indian Army is concentrating at Calcutta; India Command HQ is here, so I'll keep everyone concentrated for as long as Singapore stands; hopefully they'll fix disablements quicker this way.
RE: Dec. 21
Dec. 21
The first Japanese bombing raid over Singapore went...badly. A dozen Ki-48s flew, preceded by sweeping Zeros and Oscars, and ran into a buzzsaw - Buffalos zapped all of them except one, which ate a flak shell before it could bomb anything. The next one will go better - the RAF is down to a couple of dozen aircraft in Malaya and no doubt they'll get swept up with a vengeance after today's mess. I forget what total air losses look like offhand, but it's something like 220A versus 300J. Good or bad I have no idea, but it feels 'ok'.
Land losses, on the other hand, are through the roof - 780something versus 16 right now. The 'problem' is China - in drawing off Japanese forces so the main elements can concentrate, the bait usually gets eaten, with the Japanese tending to take no losses at all in return. In game terms it's not really a problem on my end - I can't feed them all anyway, so I might as well trade them for time - but as spectator sport it's silly. Happily one of the minimal-strength corps surrendered today - a few weeks and it'll be back stronger than it started out. The Japanese are moving on Xi'an in reasonable force along the track from the east - I don't think I can stop them before they get there, but there again I'm not sure I want to - they can't get into the basin any other way at the moment, which will leave any force strong enough to take the place very precariously buried in very hostile territory; if he throws the whole force at me I'll surround it, and if he leaves anyone behind to guard a line of retreat I should be able to defeat the individual elements given the couple thousand lightly-employed AV within a couple of weeks' march away.
The Japanese Bn at Iloilo scuttled back onto its freighter. No doubt the next attempt will be more serious, but it's another day lost. Lt. Sigint claims elements of two Japanese divs will be landing at San Fernando shortly, so the Philippines will probably be 'quick'. Everyone on Luzon bar one rearguard bn has reached Clark intact, so that's 1650av to chew through. 45 days?
I've had a lot of army intelligence so far, actually - elements of 2nd Div are again reported sailing for Truk - but nothing naval. Lexington and Enterprise are a few days out of San Francisco, where they'll take on aircraft to toss at Hawaii.
Lysanders picked up 1st RTA Div moving through the jungle towards Moulmein. ETA...two weeks? 3rd RTA was just at Victoria Point, and 2nd is sigged at Pitsanuloke, which I guess is the Thais accounted for. Brit 18th Div entered the map; they're headed for Colombo for the time being.
The first Japanese bombing raid over Singapore went...badly. A dozen Ki-48s flew, preceded by sweeping Zeros and Oscars, and ran into a buzzsaw - Buffalos zapped all of them except one, which ate a flak shell before it could bomb anything. The next one will go better - the RAF is down to a couple of dozen aircraft in Malaya and no doubt they'll get swept up with a vengeance after today's mess. I forget what total air losses look like offhand, but it's something like 220A versus 300J. Good or bad I have no idea, but it feels 'ok'.
Land losses, on the other hand, are through the roof - 780something versus 16 right now. The 'problem' is China - in drawing off Japanese forces so the main elements can concentrate, the bait usually gets eaten, with the Japanese tending to take no losses at all in return. In game terms it's not really a problem on my end - I can't feed them all anyway, so I might as well trade them for time - but as spectator sport it's silly. Happily one of the minimal-strength corps surrendered today - a few weeks and it'll be back stronger than it started out. The Japanese are moving on Xi'an in reasonable force along the track from the east - I don't think I can stop them before they get there, but there again I'm not sure I want to - they can't get into the basin any other way at the moment, which will leave any force strong enough to take the place very precariously buried in very hostile territory; if he throws the whole force at me I'll surround it, and if he leaves anyone behind to guard a line of retreat I should be able to defeat the individual elements given the couple thousand lightly-employed AV within a couple of weeks' march away.
The Japanese Bn at Iloilo scuttled back onto its freighter. No doubt the next attempt will be more serious, but it's another day lost. Lt. Sigint claims elements of two Japanese divs will be landing at San Fernando shortly, so the Philippines will probably be 'quick'. Everyone on Luzon bar one rearguard bn has reached Clark intact, so that's 1650av to chew through. 45 days?
I've had a lot of army intelligence so far, actually - elements of 2nd Div are again reported sailing for Truk - but nothing naval. Lexington and Enterprise are a few days out of San Francisco, where they'll take on aircraft to toss at Hawaii.
Lysanders picked up 1st RTA Div moving through the jungle towards Moulmein. ETA...two weeks? 3rd RTA was just at Victoria Point, and 2nd is sigged at Pitsanuloke, which I guess is the Thais accounted for. Brit 18th Div entered the map; they're headed for Colombo for the time being.
RE: Dec. 22
Dec. 22
Not much today. Some fighter sweeps over Singapore mean the RAF is down another eight or so Buffalos, and 1st RTA is confirmed as coming up the track. Otherwise, the silence is deafening. 1st Burma Div should be able to hold one Thai division, although it doesn't exactly have an experience or firepower edge just at the moment. I really need to make a list of what I can theoretically get into Burma in the next (1, 3, 6) months - B Sqn 3Huss are leaving Karachi today and will head for Burma, either by land or sea depending on how frisky I feel.
Also, enlargement of bases along the railway line to Imphal is ongoing - do you need to build up the whole chain for supplies to draw along it properly, or just the base that's going to be drawing supplies? I'm doing the former, on the assumption that it won't hurt.
Signals not too helpful - more on the 38th Div headed for San Fernando, 7216 men at Pitsanuloke (sure fits a Thai div), aaaaaaand, 16000 men at Hailar. War-winning information there, folks.
Not much today. Some fighter sweeps over Singapore mean the RAF is down another eight or so Buffalos, and 1st RTA is confirmed as coming up the track. Otherwise, the silence is deafening. 1st Burma Div should be able to hold one Thai division, although it doesn't exactly have an experience or firepower edge just at the moment. I really need to make a list of what I can theoretically get into Burma in the next (1, 3, 6) months - B Sqn 3Huss are leaving Karachi today and will head for Burma, either by land or sea depending on how frisky I feel.
Also, enlargement of bases along the railway line to Imphal is ongoing - do you need to build up the whole chain for supplies to draw along it properly, or just the base that's going to be drawing supplies? I'm doing the former, on the assumption that it won't hurt.
Signals not too helpful - more on the 38th Div headed for San Fernando, 7216 men at Pitsanuloke (sure fits a Thai div), aaaaaaand, 16000 men at Hailar. War-winning information there, folks.
RE: Dec. 23
Apparently it's been hot enough in kiwiland that Saros's computer has been feeling poorly. The game goes on, however...
Dec. 23
Another bad day to be a Japanese aviator; we've managed 33-36 kills to 6 losses today - 12 Betties, 5 Nates and 2 Sallies over Clark, plus 10 Lillies and 4 Zeros over Singapore, the balance being made up by ops losses of a few types here and there. Friendly losses were two Buffalos and one P-40B, plus a couple naval search never-returned. His Imperial Majesty is reportedly not at all pleased, which seems sensible as all that effort managed to do is knock a gun off an otherwise seaworthy destroyer at Singapore and annoy some Filipinos.
China is moving a little; a remnant corps (2av) managed to get an IMB (170av) into a swamp; they retreated after combat, meaning they're on good roads and the Japanese aren't. The balance of the southeastern forces (~1300av) are moving towards Changsha; the only thing worth holding down there is Wenzhou, and it's far enough away from any help that tying up this force trying to hold it doesn't seem sensible. A Japanese army looks likely to cross the river and attack Ichang tomorrow; I have ~1700av here and the Japanese are probably bringing along about the same. I'd scuttle away, given that it's in clear terrain, but as the Japanese abandoned it without a fight in the first place I took all their fortifications, and it seems a shame not to use them. There's also a non-zero chance I may be able to surround them for a while if they do make the leap.
In Malaya, the one ISF Bn was pushed out of the mountains by a Japanese infantry regiment and armour; they retreated in some sort of order, however, which buys at least another day. Best guess is Kuala Lumpur will fall on the 27th and Malacca - if I'm not able to give them a quick kick there - on the 30th. The only significant combat formation between Johore and Rangoon is the 8th Indian Bde, formerly of Kota Bharu and currently not at all well - 50/50 on them making it out before the Japanese get behind them. Singapore has L3 forts and a minimal garrison; JB is about halfway to L3, and most of the combat formations are here bar the one Aus Bde at Mersing. Johore is a holdup, really - I've had lots of 'X planning for Singapore' signals so I'm at least going to deny them that advantage for a few days. Also, according to the RAF there are six battleships and nine cruisers at or near Kota Bharu - I guess everything's getting escorts since Force Z (currently loitering off Koepang) vanished. All the Japanese units have been signalled for Kota Bharu, although I'm keeping the one Bde at Mersing just in case.
I have not seen a Japanese carrier for several days, and I'd really like to. From a distance, anyway.
Dec. 23
Another bad day to be a Japanese aviator; we've managed 33-36 kills to 6 losses today - 12 Betties, 5 Nates and 2 Sallies over Clark, plus 10 Lillies and 4 Zeros over Singapore, the balance being made up by ops losses of a few types here and there. Friendly losses were two Buffalos and one P-40B, plus a couple naval search never-returned. His Imperial Majesty is reportedly not at all pleased, which seems sensible as all that effort managed to do is knock a gun off an otherwise seaworthy destroyer at Singapore and annoy some Filipinos.
China is moving a little; a remnant corps (2av) managed to get an IMB (170av) into a swamp; they retreated after combat, meaning they're on good roads and the Japanese aren't. The balance of the southeastern forces (~1300av) are moving towards Changsha; the only thing worth holding down there is Wenzhou, and it's far enough away from any help that tying up this force trying to hold it doesn't seem sensible. A Japanese army looks likely to cross the river and attack Ichang tomorrow; I have ~1700av here and the Japanese are probably bringing along about the same. I'd scuttle away, given that it's in clear terrain, but as the Japanese abandoned it without a fight in the first place I took all their fortifications, and it seems a shame not to use them. There's also a non-zero chance I may be able to surround them for a while if they do make the leap.
In Malaya, the one ISF Bn was pushed out of the mountains by a Japanese infantry regiment and armour; they retreated in some sort of order, however, which buys at least another day. Best guess is Kuala Lumpur will fall on the 27th and Malacca - if I'm not able to give them a quick kick there - on the 30th. The only significant combat formation between Johore and Rangoon is the 8th Indian Bde, formerly of Kota Bharu and currently not at all well - 50/50 on them making it out before the Japanese get behind them. Singapore has L3 forts and a minimal garrison; JB is about halfway to L3, and most of the combat formations are here bar the one Aus Bde at Mersing. Johore is a holdup, really - I've had lots of 'X planning for Singapore' signals so I'm at least going to deny them that advantage for a few days. Also, according to the RAF there are six battleships and nine cruisers at or near Kota Bharu - I guess everything's getting escorts since Force Z (currently loitering off Koepang) vanished. All the Japanese units have been signalled for Kota Bharu, although I'm keeping the one Bde at Mersing just in case.
I have not seen a Japanese carrier for several days, and I'd really like to. From a distance, anyway.
RE: Dec. 23
Man, after six days off I can barely remember what I was planning to do over the next week or so. Guess we'll see how that works out.
Dec. 24
Total air trade for the day is 8A for 11J. Tomorrow will probably be unpleasant, however, becauuuuse:
Face, meet egg - minesweeping at Mersing, sigint puts a CL (amphibious force flagship?) headed there and if sighting reports and radio transmissions are to believed there are thirteen Japanese battleships plus a bunch of indeterminate forces between a point 350mi NE of Mersing and Kota Bharu. This in addition to three more BBs at Manado. I quite intentionally haven't dug too deep into what the Japanese get, but I'm preeeetty sure they don't get that much heavy metal - wonder which end will be wrong. Anyway, I guess it's on after all - first landings will probably take place tomorrow. Japanese forces also entered Kuantan today; presumably they'll attack tomorrow, too. Given that, I have a one-day window where air attacks on the landing force will be opposed relatively less heavily; Torpforce (as-yet uncommitted, so a full 32 biplanes) is currently at Batavia, so they'll shift up overnight and say hello in the morning. Also joining the party are the serviceable parts of VP-101 and VP-102, 1 and 8 Sqns RAAF and some MLD Dorniers for force stiffening; if everyone flies and survives there should be about 50-60 torpedoes floating around tomorrow, of which at least a few should connect. It's a trap, but it's also an opportunity, so to speak - fundamentally with the force movements I've put in place the ABDA area will collapse sooner rather than later, so it matters little whether I burn stuff up over Malaya or Java.
To be brutally honest, I don't see the point of landing at Mersing now - it won't buy more than a couple of days, and while it's not too likely there's always the outside possibility that a Vildebeest might bag a battleship. There again, I'm the cautious one, so I could be underthinking it.
Everywhere else but China is quiet; here the Japanese should enter Ichang tomorrow, though to what effect remains to be seen.
Dec. 24
Total air trade for the day is 8A for 11J. Tomorrow will probably be unpleasant, however, becauuuuse:
Face, meet egg - minesweeping at Mersing, sigint puts a CL (amphibious force flagship?) headed there and if sighting reports and radio transmissions are to believed there are thirteen Japanese battleships plus a bunch of indeterminate forces between a point 350mi NE of Mersing and Kota Bharu. This in addition to three more BBs at Manado. I quite intentionally haven't dug too deep into what the Japanese get, but I'm preeeetty sure they don't get that much heavy metal - wonder which end will be wrong. Anyway, I guess it's on after all - first landings will probably take place tomorrow. Japanese forces also entered Kuantan today; presumably they'll attack tomorrow, too. Given that, I have a one-day window where air attacks on the landing force will be opposed relatively less heavily; Torpforce (as-yet uncommitted, so a full 32 biplanes) is currently at Batavia, so they'll shift up overnight and say hello in the morning. Also joining the party are the serviceable parts of VP-101 and VP-102, 1 and 8 Sqns RAAF and some MLD Dorniers for force stiffening; if everyone flies and survives there should be about 50-60 torpedoes floating around tomorrow, of which at least a few should connect. It's a trap, but it's also an opportunity, so to speak - fundamentally with the force movements I've put in place the ABDA area will collapse sooner rather than later, so it matters little whether I burn stuff up over Malaya or Java.
To be brutally honest, I don't see the point of landing at Mersing now - it won't buy more than a couple of days, and while it's not too likely there's always the outside possibility that a Vildebeest might bag a battleship. There again, I'm the cautious one, so I could be underthinking it.
Everywhere else but China is quiet; here the Japanese should enter Ichang tomorrow, though to what effect remains to be seen.
RE: Dec. 25
Dec. 25
Japanese troops enter Manila. And Clark, but there's a few soldiers there. Maybe another month?
No go on the torpedoes, naturally. The only ones to fly were the Dorniers and Catalinas, plus a couple of Hudsons - no hits, but losses weren't too heavy. There are at least four battleships loitering off Mersing, along with two light carriers at Kuantan, which has fallen. I'm going to shoot for some night attacks - with Kuantan in Japanese hands I don't expect fighter cover to be penetrable for the biplanes, and they have some value as a deterrent - the scale of today's operation shows that, I think. Signals have Imperial Guards Div and a base force sailing direction Mersing; I thought landings would be today, but the forces were all there for a fight.
One small victory - CM Kung Wo was ordered one hex NE of Mersing to lay a minefield a couple of days ago; it's now a reef, but the minefield got laid, and in theory should be lying undetected right in the path of the Japanese landing force. Kongo is reported to have hit a mine at Mersing, too.
With Imperial Gds messing about in boats I'm again dithering over whether to go all-out in Burma. I don't suppose there's really any way it can end well this early, but it's certainly tempting. Not changing course today, anyway.
Again quiet everywhere but China; the (~950av, it turns out) Japanese force crossed the river into Ichang and ran into a (1800av) Chinese buzzsaw - sure it's clear terrain, but the forces there are prepped for the place and they're sitting in the ex-Japanese forts, so the assault fizzled out, took 300 combat squad disablements and didn't even touch the fortifications. They're now attempting to escape, so we'll take a pop at them tomorrow...which should go well, since it's clear terrain. Funny how that works. Likewise for one solo Japanese Div facing another 1800av NE of Changsha - terrain there is wooded, though, so the odds might not be so great.
Japanese troops enter Manila. And Clark, but there's a few soldiers there. Maybe another month?
No go on the torpedoes, naturally. The only ones to fly were the Dorniers and Catalinas, plus a couple of Hudsons - no hits, but losses weren't too heavy. There are at least four battleships loitering off Mersing, along with two light carriers at Kuantan, which has fallen. I'm going to shoot for some night attacks - with Kuantan in Japanese hands I don't expect fighter cover to be penetrable for the biplanes, and they have some value as a deterrent - the scale of today's operation shows that, I think. Signals have Imperial Guards Div and a base force sailing direction Mersing; I thought landings would be today, but the forces were all there for a fight.
One small victory - CM Kung Wo was ordered one hex NE of Mersing to lay a minefield a couple of days ago; it's now a reef, but the minefield got laid, and in theory should be lying undetected right in the path of the Japanese landing force. Kongo is reported to have hit a mine at Mersing, too.
With Imperial Gds messing about in boats I'm again dithering over whether to go all-out in Burma. I don't suppose there's really any way it can end well this early, but it's certainly tempting. Not changing course today, anyway.
Again quiet everywhere but China; the (~950av, it turns out) Japanese force crossed the river into Ichang and ran into a (1800av) Chinese buzzsaw - sure it's clear terrain, but the forces there are prepped for the place and they're sitting in the ex-Japanese forts, so the assault fizzled out, took 300 combat squad disablements and didn't even touch the fortifications. They're now attempting to escape, so we'll take a pop at them tomorrow...which should go well, since it's clear terrain. Funny how that works. Likewise for one solo Japanese Div facing another 1800av NE of Changsha - terrain there is wooded, though, so the odds might not be so great.
RE: Dec. 25
Sink the Boise [:D][:'(]
Lucky for you, tonight it's just me
Any ship can be a minesweeper..once !!
http://suspenseandmystery.blogspot.com/
Any ship can be a minesweeper..once !!
http://suspenseandmystery.blogspot.com/
RE: Dec. 26
Dec. 26
Boise will have to wait a little - it's tooting around with Repulse, not particularly badly off after its shoving match with four Japanese cruisers at night. Night air torpedo strikes didn't hit anything, but Ryujo had a close encounter (well, three, actaully) of the long, silvery kind with SS K-13 last night and is now resting serenely on the seabed between Kuantan and Mersing, along with all 48 of its aircraft. Much like the landing itself I don't see what it was supposed to achieve - the landings could have been covered just fine from Kuantan, which is about where the light carriers were anyway. Oh well - one down, several to go.
22,000 Japanese make it ashore at Mersing in one day - all very well planned, executed etc but a little let down by the fact that they'd have been here just as quick if they'd taken the train.
Japanese cruisers are displaying around Celebes - as far as I'm aware there are no fighters at Manado, so the Dutch will take a stab at them if they overstretch.
A nice day in China - forces at Ichang push their "attackers" back with about 2/3 of a division's worth of troops destroyed outright; Japanese 39th Div also gets retreated NE of Changsha, though casualties here are less heavy. Things are moving rather quickly around Xi'an and it doesn't look like I am going to be able to prevent the entry of the eastern force into the basin; as long as the other entrances hold - and they should, in theory, their troop complements having run off in good order - I'm optimistic about being able to give them a bloody nose as per Ichang. Gonna be more tense than I'd hoped, however, and if anything goes horribly wrong I am going to have Problems.
Mr. Signals says the Japanese 29th/B Div is planning for Auckland. I do know that's one of the Kwantung Army units, so I doubt there's actually anything to it. £5 says each of the fragments is preparing for a different location! More troop movements to Truk - today it's the 81st Naval Gd - are probably more of an immediate threat. There is a gap of about 60 days where I can't really do much in the South Pacific - most of the 5th AF squadrons are moving to Australia via Cape Town to lighten the shipping load and it'll take them about that long to get anywhere useful.
Boise will have to wait a little - it's tooting around with Repulse, not particularly badly off after its shoving match with four Japanese cruisers at night. Night air torpedo strikes didn't hit anything, but Ryujo had a close encounter (well, three, actaully) of the long, silvery kind with SS K-13 last night and is now resting serenely on the seabed between Kuantan and Mersing, along with all 48 of its aircraft. Much like the landing itself I don't see what it was supposed to achieve - the landings could have been covered just fine from Kuantan, which is about where the light carriers were anyway. Oh well - one down, several to go.
22,000 Japanese make it ashore at Mersing in one day - all very well planned, executed etc but a little let down by the fact that they'd have been here just as quick if they'd taken the train.
Japanese cruisers are displaying around Celebes - as far as I'm aware there are no fighters at Manado, so the Dutch will take a stab at them if they overstretch.
A nice day in China - forces at Ichang push their "attackers" back with about 2/3 of a division's worth of troops destroyed outright; Japanese 39th Div also gets retreated NE of Changsha, though casualties here are less heavy. Things are moving rather quickly around Xi'an and it doesn't look like I am going to be able to prevent the entry of the eastern force into the basin; as long as the other entrances hold - and they should, in theory, their troop complements having run off in good order - I'm optimistic about being able to give them a bloody nose as per Ichang. Gonna be more tense than I'd hoped, however, and if anything goes horribly wrong I am going to have Problems.
Mr. Signals says the Japanese 29th/B Div is planning for Auckland. I do know that's one of the Kwantung Army units, so I doubt there's actually anything to it. £5 says each of the fragments is preparing for a different location! More troop movements to Truk - today it's the 81st Naval Gd - are probably more of an immediate threat. There is a gap of about 60 days where I can't really do much in the South Pacific - most of the 5th AF squadrons are moving to Australia via Cape Town to lighten the shipping load and it'll take them about that long to get anywhere useful.
RE: Dec. 27
Dec. 27
Mersing falls; the Aus Bde retreated into Johore Bahru, which is fine - lots of disablements but relatively few permanent losses. I will probably fly them out of Malaya as they won't likely recover them in time to be of much use locally. A Recon Rgt scuttled along in hot pursuit...and is now all alone in JB facing III Corps. Oops. The rail line west of Mersing will be cut tomorrow or the day after, but there's nothing to cut off except what's left of 8th Indian Bde, and that doesn't amount to much.
18th Div unloads at Colombo, where they're going to be staying for a while.
China is having a 'movement' day - not much combat. AV total for Xi'an itself on D-day should be about 2500; as long as I can fight each of the Japanese forces separately I should be fine. Some units from Ichang will move out to reinforce once they're out of Japanese vis contact, but it'll take a while for them to get anywhere.
Three SNLF units make landfall at Kendari, which will fall tomorrow; the sum total of 50 bombers' worth of attacks is one bomb on CA Aoba - negligible - and one bomb into CA Myoko - maybe meaningful, maybe not.
Mersing falls; the Aus Bde retreated into Johore Bahru, which is fine - lots of disablements but relatively few permanent losses. I will probably fly them out of Malaya as they won't likely recover them in time to be of much use locally. A Recon Rgt scuttled along in hot pursuit...and is now all alone in JB facing III Corps. Oops. The rail line west of Mersing will be cut tomorrow or the day after, but there's nothing to cut off except what's left of 8th Indian Bde, and that doesn't amount to much.
18th Div unloads at Colombo, where they're going to be staying for a while.
China is having a 'movement' day - not much combat. AV total for Xi'an itself on D-day should be about 2500; as long as I can fight each of the Japanese forces separately I should be fine. Some units from Ichang will move out to reinforce once they're out of Japanese vis contact, but it'll take a while for them to get anywhere.
Three SNLF units make landfall at Kendari, which will fall tomorrow; the sum total of 50 bombers' worth of attacks is one bomb on CA Aoba - negligible - and one bomb into CA Myoko - maybe meaningful, maybe not.
RE: Dec. 29
Dec. 29
I can't keep my days straight. Nothing much happened yesterday, anyway. Unless yesterday was the 27th.
The full Japanese Luzon force (or what I assume is the full Japanese force) is now concentrated at Clark; a hair under 3000av face 1600 or so on the defense. IJA 4th, 33rd, 53rd, 38th Divs, about the equivalent of another two in smaller units and about half an armoured division's worth of tanks +- a bit. Unlikely this'll take too long - of course the real question is what they do after they're finished here.
Malacca falls to a Japanese parachute landing - two days ahead of 'schedule', but Kuala Lumpur still hasn't fallen, so the railway should be open about when expected. At least the paras aren't doing anything useful. I'd give Singapore until about the 15th of January; not great, but everything including the kitchen sink is on the offensive.
Japanese land at Ternate; there's no garrison to speak of so any sort of landing is a foregone conclusion, but the MLD did manage to turn three loaded troopships into mush over the last couple of days, so things could be worse here.
Landings at Port Moresby look likely for tomorrow; the advantage of knowing what the garrisons everywhere are, I guess. Coastwatchers picked up the ships near Rabaul a couple of days ago and I thought this might be where they were headed, but the most I could have thrown at them in time to do anything about it is CL Adelaide and some minesweepers. Presumably this is the 2nd Div; two weeks from detection of movement to landing ain't a bad turnaround if so.
I can't keep my days straight. Nothing much happened yesterday, anyway. Unless yesterday was the 27th.
The full Japanese Luzon force (or what I assume is the full Japanese force) is now concentrated at Clark; a hair under 3000av face 1600 or so on the defense. IJA 4th, 33rd, 53rd, 38th Divs, about the equivalent of another two in smaller units and about half an armoured division's worth of tanks +- a bit. Unlikely this'll take too long - of course the real question is what they do after they're finished here.
Malacca falls to a Japanese parachute landing - two days ahead of 'schedule', but Kuala Lumpur still hasn't fallen, so the railway should be open about when expected. At least the paras aren't doing anything useful. I'd give Singapore until about the 15th of January; not great, but everything including the kitchen sink is on the offensive.
Japanese land at Ternate; there's no garrison to speak of so any sort of landing is a foregone conclusion, but the MLD did manage to turn three loaded troopships into mush over the last couple of days, so things could be worse here.
Landings at Port Moresby look likely for tomorrow; the advantage of knowing what the garrisons everywhere are, I guess. Coastwatchers picked up the ships near Rabaul a couple of days ago and I thought this might be where they were headed, but the most I could have thrown at them in time to do anything about it is CL Adelaide and some minesweepers. Presumably this is the 2nd Div; two weeks from detection of movement to landing ain't a bad turnaround if so.
RE: Dec. 30
Dec. 30
PM wasn't invaded - I guess the landing force ended up a hex short so they're just sitting offshore. Tomorrow, presumably.
I-22 attempted to punt a midget submarine into Sydney; it jammed in the antisub net and the mothership got chased off by a pair of minesweepers.
Elsewhere, nothing. The Thai division hasn't even crossed the border into Burma yet - tempted again to send the Colombo garrison into Burma given the total lack of any Japanese aircraft in the area over the past three weeks. A steady stream of freighters have been running supply into Rangoon; none of them have even reported Japanese aircraft overhead. I suppose on reflection that I should have done it in the first place; Colombo is only life-and-death critical insofar as I hold Rangoon, and if I don't I'm not likely to have the ability or (more critically) motivation to run any ops in the Indian Ocean anyway. I do have the shipping to get everyone in fairly quick, and I have enough fighters to cover the movement, so the option remains open...guess I'll think about it a little more when I get the next turn.
PM wasn't invaded - I guess the landing force ended up a hex short so they're just sitting offshore. Tomorrow, presumably.
I-22 attempted to punt a midget submarine into Sydney; it jammed in the antisub net and the mothership got chased off by a pair of minesweepers.
Elsewhere, nothing. The Thai division hasn't even crossed the border into Burma yet - tempted again to send the Colombo garrison into Burma given the total lack of any Japanese aircraft in the area over the past three weeks. A steady stream of freighters have been running supply into Rangoon; none of them have even reported Japanese aircraft overhead. I suppose on reflection that I should have done it in the first place; Colombo is only life-and-death critical insofar as I hold Rangoon, and if I don't I'm not likely to have the ability or (more critically) motivation to run any ops in the Indian Ocean anyway. I do have the shipping to get everyone in fairly quick, and I have enough fighters to cover the movement, so the option remains open...guess I'll think about it a little more when I get the next turn.
RE: Dec. 31
Dec. 31
Three turns in a day definitely makes up for for holiday time, eh?
Flak over Johore - not even Singapore proper - claims a dozen Japanese bombers today. Over a hundred of them flew, and as far as I can tell hit not a thing.
Landings at Port Moresby take place as expected. Instead of the expected IJA 2nd Div, however, the landing force is a bizzarre mix of small SNLF, Naval Gd etc units - I say small units but put together there's about 450av's worth of them - how many of the bloody things are there?
Anyway, once PM falls - and it won't take too long - they'll presumably fan out, using the loading bonus to jump from island to island every couple of days; at least, that's what I'd be doing. Between this and Clarkforce there can't be much of any significance left behind the lines.
I'm rather conscious of the possibility of NE Australia being invaded; I'd like to avoid it for no other reason than that I couldn't justify retaining 7th-9th Divs in Burma if it were to happen, and I'd really rather like to. I'm working on the (baseless) assumption that Townsville would be the first target for any landing, so the place will be sporting a nice 16-gun coast artillery battery and what passes for an army corps in a few days. More than that I can't really do until all the shipping winds its way across the Pacific. I'm working on the assumption that Darwin is an inherently lost cause, so ABDA reinforcement policy applies unless I can get the ground supply line reasonable before any Japanese arrive.
I've decided to go ahead and introduce the Ceylon troops to Burma, given the continued absence of any Japanese anything from the approaches to Rangoon; they're loading up for shipping, and I think I can get everyone in within about 10 days, from where they'll proceed northwards to start getting the infrastructure into shape. To balance things out at least a little the Dutch NS Rgt and Marine Bn are shifting to Ceylon and two Canadian brigades will be arriving at some point in the next couple of months.
China...oh boy. The force moving on Xi'an from the east totals 1100av; the couple of hundred facing them in the mountains are feigning distress and withdrawing westwards in an attempt to get them down onto the plains. I currently have 1850 at Xi'an, with more on the way. If they take the bait, I can cut them off from supply - there are a bunch of 'guerillas' hopefully unnoticed about 90 miles behind them - and trickle enough small units into neighbouring hexes over the course of a couple of weeks to prevent them reopening it. If I can pull this off...yipe. If I can't...well, yipe too, just the other way.
Three turns in a day definitely makes up for for holiday time, eh?
Flak over Johore - not even Singapore proper - claims a dozen Japanese bombers today. Over a hundred of them flew, and as far as I can tell hit not a thing.
Landings at Port Moresby take place as expected. Instead of the expected IJA 2nd Div, however, the landing force is a bizzarre mix of small SNLF, Naval Gd etc units - I say small units but put together there's about 450av's worth of them - how many of the bloody things are there?
Anyway, once PM falls - and it won't take too long - they'll presumably fan out, using the loading bonus to jump from island to island every couple of days; at least, that's what I'd be doing. Between this and Clarkforce there can't be much of any significance left behind the lines.
I'm rather conscious of the possibility of NE Australia being invaded; I'd like to avoid it for no other reason than that I couldn't justify retaining 7th-9th Divs in Burma if it were to happen, and I'd really rather like to. I'm working on the (baseless) assumption that Townsville would be the first target for any landing, so the place will be sporting a nice 16-gun coast artillery battery and what passes for an army corps in a few days. More than that I can't really do until all the shipping winds its way across the Pacific. I'm working on the assumption that Darwin is an inherently lost cause, so ABDA reinforcement policy applies unless I can get the ground supply line reasonable before any Japanese arrive.
I've decided to go ahead and introduce the Ceylon troops to Burma, given the continued absence of any Japanese anything from the approaches to Rangoon; they're loading up for shipping, and I think I can get everyone in within about 10 days, from where they'll proceed northwards to start getting the infrastructure into shape. To balance things out at least a little the Dutch NS Rgt and Marine Bn are shifting to Ceylon and two Canadian brigades will be arriving at some point in the next couple of months.
China...oh boy. The force moving on Xi'an from the east totals 1100av; the couple of hundred facing them in the mountains are feigning distress and withdrawing westwards in an attempt to get them down onto the plains. I currently have 1850 at Xi'an, with more on the way. If they take the bait, I can cut them off from supply - there are a bunch of 'guerillas' hopefully unnoticed about 90 miles behind them - and trickle enough small units into neighbouring hexes over the course of a couple of weeks to prevent them reopening it. If I can pull this off...yipe. If I can't...well, yipe too, just the other way.
January Looms
Jan. 1
Japan sends a nice new year's gift - unescorted Nells from Manado run into a Dutch fighter squadron at Makassar, losing a dozen aircraft.
No attacks at Port Moresby. Tomorrow?
The Japanese don't take the bait at Xi'an, instead heading southeast into roadless mountains. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world - if nothing else it delivers time, which is valuable right now.
Japan sends a nice new year's gift - unescorted Nells from Manado run into a Dutch fighter squadron at Makassar, losing a dozen aircraft.
No attacks at Port Moresby. Tomorrow?
The Japanese don't take the bait at Xi'an, instead heading southeast into roadless mountains. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world - if nothing else it delivers time, which is valuable right now.