Howlin' At The Moon - DBB Vettim(A) vs Greasylake (J)

[vettim89]

Between running so many turns and RL, I have not posted much (Oh, and reading Greyjoy's AAR, too)

22 February - 1 March 1942

*Larry has been consolidating Borneo over this time. Only one base remains Allied along the north coast.
* Larry has down two attacks at Bataan: one deliberate and one Shock. The Shock attack was this last turn reducing forts to one
* Larry has been landing at Ambon these last two turns. I am sending in the RNN this turn
* The Air Battle at Rangoon was grinding along until this turn when Larry swept with almost 150 fighters. I lost 15 P-40E and 17 Hurricanes offset by 17 A6M2 and 3 Ki-43. Not good odds
* A large fleet is just NE of Milne Bay. I suspect this is heading to PM. My CVTF are too far east to intervene now between Fiji and Tahiti. Don't think I want to face the IJN just yet any way

[vettim89]

2 March 1942

The RNN gives battle. I lost a DD and DeRuyter was finished off by GM3 out of Menado during the day phase. Still nice to see the Dutch go after the xAP and nice to see the IJN short a good quality ASW vessel now too. To my surpise the assault only achieves 1 to 1 odds and the base holds. KB is in the Coral Sea about 300 nm SSE of Milne Bay. No sign of other TFs in trail. Is this a raid? US CVTF will refuel next turn at Raratongo. The 4oth ID is approaching and I think my carriers will continue to guard them

[vettim89]

3-6 March 1942

Not much to report. The IJAAF is going after Rangoon with bombers now. I had stood down my CAP as I saw no point in letting it burn itself up against the sweeps. Nanyang fell on the 6th and Bataan is hangin by a thread. The KB hung out in the Croal Sea for two days and left. Had a BB based bombardment of PM which did only moderate damage. No moves in the DEI and I don't expect any soon with KB so far east. The unit cout at Oosthaven has grown to two. I was waiting to see and decided that with KB out of the area, I would move down the two Aust BGD from Palembang to evict the IJA from Oosthaven. Hopefully they can do this in quick order so as to hurry back to Palembang before an invasion comes. Oosthaven is now being LRCAPed from Batavia and all teh Dutch bombers are set to Naval/Airfield attack with the target of Oosthaven.

[vettim89]

7 March 1942

Suddenly there is a lot of action.

* KB West is raiding Ceylon. Fortuantely I had very little there. I may lose two AS and that hurts, but all other valuable shipping is North and/or west of that locale. The attack replay suggested at least Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu are present. Corsor intel says 5 CV
* KB East is escorting what is likely a PM invasion. I cannot oppose this at present. Cursor intel say 3 CV, 3 CVL
* The IJA appears to be leaving Nanyang and moving on Loyang/Chegchow. I am abandoning these bases except for a token rear gurad. My units trying to hold Nanchang were trashed in the retreat. I cannot afford to lose that much again. I will instead defend the Sian road in the woods to the WNW
" My carriers are now 700 nm ese of Suva escorting 40th ID and lots of support troops to that base.
* Really bad news: Larry has discovered I am using Hiva Oa as a refueling point. A sub sunk an xAK and a TK there this turn. I am sending some OSU trained for ASW and some four-piper DD's to protect the base.

[vettim89]

Addendum: SigInt reports 4th BGD is planning for Suva. That is now two units that are planning (8th ENG being the other)

[vettim89]

Addendum to the Addendum: a/c losses today including 4 Kates and 4 Vals.

[vettim89]

8 March 1942

KB West remains off Ceylon and continues hitting Colombo's port. RAF fighters rise to meet the Japanese and lose on Hurricane offset by 11 A6M2 and 8 Val - Huzzah to the Brits!

Bad news is Bataan finally falls this turn. Held longer than I initially thought I would. Larry Shocked three times and lost a lot of troops especially tanks in the process

KB East is one hex off PM. Invasion tomorrow.

[vettim89]

9-11 March 1942

KB West has withdrawn but I suspect they are covering the Port Blair invasion which happened today. The first deliberate attack at PM came off at 1 to 1, didn't touch the forst, and saw the IJA take 600 casualities to 400 for the Allies. Lots of shipping around PM. My S-boats which I had been repositioning over the last few weeks are rushing in to hopefully wreak some havoc. The 4-E sit at Townsville warming up waiting for KB East to depart. The 40th ID is about 2/3 unloaded at Suva.

Paratroops landed and took Praboemoelih. I have a unit inbound to hopefully rout that unit. The Aussies are almost to Oosthaven. Playing a bit of whack-a-mole here.

[vettim89]

12 March 1942

Well the Japanese TFs have withdrawn from PM depositing only the 21st ID. As soon as the carriers are clear, I will start bombing with B-17 from Townsville

Port Blair fell - no surprise there

Battle rages in the air over China and Rangoon. The bulk of the air losses for both sides were over Rangoon

[vettim89]

13 March 1942

The IJAAF does not return to Rangoon today. I am guessing they are licking their wounds as bad as the RAF/USAAF is at Rangoon. Invasion of Medan this turn. KB East remains off PM guarding another AMPH TF landing another Inf RGT. The 40th ID is about 3/4 unloaded. More ENG, AAA, CD, and AV support load at San Diego

[vettim89]

14 March 1942

The Defenders at Chengchow are surrounded but refuse to yield. The big stack at Loyang is slow breaking for the relative safety of the wooded hex 92 miles away. Larry finally dislodge my Chinese troops in the mountains four hexes north of Loyang. He took the 41st ID assault strength all the way down to 114 in the process. That will take a while to repair

I discovered that my AMPH TF deposited small fragments of five or six units at Hiva Oa on their way to Suva. The TF had been set at "Do Not Unload" but they did any way. Having that problem a lot of late

KB East is still off PM. The defenders held again this turn. If the stupid carriers would get out fo the way, I could use my B-17 to keep it that way

[vettim89]

15 March 1942

The defenders at Chengchow finally surrender to the overwhelming IJA attack. Loyang will fall soon. Good news is most of the huge stack at Loyang is in the 40s as far as progress. The will all be out of the hex within two turns. Then just one more hext to the relative safety of the woods.

I-10 arrives at Hiva Oa and sinks two xAK and a TK. See missed on a third xAK. Three four piper DD will arrive in tow turns. A sq of Kinfishers will arive in eight or nine days. They all have ASW skills in the 60s so hopefully they will deter any further activity.

The last troops will unload at Suva next turn. Still about 6k of supply to unload. Suddenly a game where I felt like I had plent of time to accomplish what I needed has an urgency. My PP will accumulate enough to free the 27TH ID in two turns. That unit will then needed to be transported south. I am think about putting the 27th and Americal at Noumea. I think two full ID should be enough to deter an invasion

The IJN CVs have departed PM. The B-17 start pounding the ground troops next turn.

[vettim89]

16 March 1942

The troops are done unloading at Suva. Just 3k of supply left. B-17's from Townsville hit PM but do little damage only disabling one non-combat squad. The remnants of the RNN bombard Oosthaven for good measure. Recon indicates the base is 100% damaged. My fighter strength is nearly rebuilt at Rangoon. Larry made a mistake here as I was on the roops. There is a considerable amount of IJAAF activity in CHina. Odd that they would be here vs hitting my airbases on Java.

[vettim89]

17 March 1942

PM fell under the weight of a shock attack. The AB is now targeted. The US CVTF are dividing. Enterprise and Lexington will refuel and then return to WCUSA for April Upgrades. Yorktown and Saratoga will remain to provide security. With PM now Japanese, I suspect the KB will move to the DEI to cover the invasion of Java and Sumatra.

The retreat from Loyang is going well with most of the units out of the city now. Still no action in Burma

[vettim89]

18-20 March 1941

Odd as it may seem this is the best turn for the Allies yet.

First, the IJN is invading Palembang. The reason I am happy is they brought two full ID plus a TNK RGT. In other words my heayy garrison brought a max effort. These are divisions that could have been delegated to deep thrusts but now will be tied up for at lesat a few weeks

Then the IJA sent a ARM Car unit after the retreating stack from Loyang. This stack was not a weak one with over 900 base AS. The "assault breaks down because attacking unit was eliminated " message came up. Larry has now trashed two ARM RGT and now an AC RGT fighting in north central CHina. Better there than elsewhere

Lastly was the air loss screen. The raid on Rangoon got through initially but the USAAF/RAF chewed it up on the return trip. Wow,48 Sallys in one day. That will leave a mark

[vettim89]

21 March 1941

Palembang falls under the weight of nearly 1000 AS. Good. better to have this here than Burma of invading vital Pacific Islands.

I loaded a TF with the three Marine Raider BTN plus an AAA and CD unit. They are heading to Pago Pago

Another B-17 unit has arrived at Oz. Av support is an issue here. May need to free up some of the WC BF's to send down that way.

[vettim89]

22 March 1942

A slow turn. Not much to reportexcept that I now have multiple patrol units who have finished their ASW training. The IJN subs will not find Allied ports so hospitible any more

[vettim89]

23 March 1942

KB West returns to the Java Sea and hits Batavia. Almost all the remaining shipping is either sunk of crippled (which wasn't much). On the day, Japan lost 3 Vals and 2 A6M2 offset by 17 Dutch fighters. Japan lands and takes Nauru Island. Very little activity for now elsewhere on the map. Is Larry not going to get ashore on Java before March 31st? That seems like a mistake

[vettim89]

24 March 1942

The japanese have seemed to slip into clean up mode. Ocean Island is invaded and falls. Makin is invaded and falls. Tandjoengbalai falls on Sumatra's east coast.

No sign of any IJN carrier activity especially KB East. Still wondering about when the Java invasion will start

[vettim89]

25 March 1942

A very quiet turn. The IJAAF continues to bomb troop concentrations in north central China. An I-boat is spotted near Hiva Oa again but now there is an OSU sq on ASW patrol there plus two ASW TF. Even moderate damage to a sub this far from a home port would likely mean its doom.

CV Hornet arrives at San Diego next turn. Lexington has refueld and is heading to SF. Enterprise will refuel and also head to the Bay area. I am inclined to just upgrade Hornet at San Diego before sending her south. Really feeling a DD shortage right now