Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[Cribtop]

Pax is correct, I list total casualties with destroyed squads in parens; listing enemy casualties first and then my own.

He is also correct that the paradrop thing is an ouchie in the making. I got lucky that the first time I experienced the shock attack was against the Chinese. Could've been a disaster otherwise.

[Cribtop]

September 15, 1942

A quiet day.

Subs

Lily ASW again attacks the sub lurking outside Bihoro.

A third day of recon at Karachi has Cribtop Intel convinced that there's nothing in port there. That or we have incompetent pilots. It's about 50/50 really. Hence, the I-34. She departed Truk a few days ago with Sub Transport orders to avoid contact and 2 trained Nav Search and 2 trained Recon pilots. We'll create a similar "recon sub" for the western half of the map as well. I-34 will map out Luganville, Noumea, Suva, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne on the current tour.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Luganville and Suva make port 5; Cooktown airfield 4.

Southern Army

Miri airfield goes to 4.

15th Army

All troops of a regiment and an AA unit finish unloading at Port Blair. The ships will report to Victoria Point to pick up two IJAAF air battalions bound for Burma.

The 45th Recce Regt continues to march into the jungle toward our positions. We are keeping a watchful eye.

China

We are awaiting a bit of recovery before another attack at Changsha. Today the stack recovered 105 AS. We doubt CF can say the same. Unfortunately, weather scrubs our airfield/supply bombers.

Combined Fleet

The carriers are a day out of Truk. Operation Trident is so far still a go.

Other

We have now built out all the engines used for B5N1s. Production will switch to Sally IC for ASW and training purposes, again to burn through obsolete engines in the pool. Tojo IIa production is up to 1 per day now and continues to increase rapidly as multiple factories are repairing.

[Grfin Zeppelin]

How many Tojos do you plan to manufacture per month ?

[Cribtop]

I've currently got 100 slated. I might do even more than that, we'll see what the "burn rate" is. I plan to get very attritional with the enemy air force in Burma as soon as I have a plane worth flying.

[Cribtop]

September 16, 1942

Today marked my last day at my current job. I've received a fantastic offer I couldn't refuse. Better yet, today begins a smidgen more than a full month off! Banzai! [&o]

Subs

One of our many ASW TFs near Palembang DCs the Seawolf without much result. Sculpin duds on the damaged xAK she recently torpedoed as the merchie tries to limp back to Kendari. Pike then misses the same ship 1 hex to the West. Looks like a picket line of Allied subs between Darwin and Ambon. Interesting. We have routed a good ASW air group into the area to counter.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Buna forts go to 4.

Southern Army

Today marks an interesting milestone as a Jake group begins Nav Search out of Java and completes a continuous chain of air search arcs stretching from the Kuriles to the Andaman Islands. There are a few places where we need long range search, but for the most part it will be tough for CF to sneak up on us now.

15th Army

CF finally recons Magwe and finds our night bomber Sallys. The shell game in Burma will begin.

Recon of NE India shows a horde of Allied fighters present at Calcutta, Chittagong and Dacca. More evidence of an enemy offensive being planned here.

China

We are waiting on our troops at Changsha to recover a bit before the next attack. If we can keep dropping forts victory will come.

5th Fleet

Paramushiro Jima makes level 4 forts.

Combined Fleet

MKB arrives at Truk and will gas up and clear some SYS damage. 3 AMCs arrive on station as pickets for Operation Trident. They will precede MKB to the target by 2 days' sail for force protection and recon purposes. In addition, numerous submarines are routed to take up a huge picket line near Sydney.

[Cribtop]

September 17, 1942

Subs

IJN ASW hammers at K XVI near Djailolo. With all the subs in this area recently, Cribtop Intel wonders whether CF is using Normanton as a secret sub base. A few Dinahs based in NW Oz will check it out.

I-34 arrives on station and begins recon of Luganville, showing 3 LCUs present without an anchor or airfield symbol. This seems to confirm not a lot is going on at this base, but we will try again tomorrow to confirm.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

A big milestone as Tulagi gets to fort level 6. The engineers' work is thus done here and they will be pulled back to finish up fort building at Munda Point. PM is also drawing nigh to level 6 forts.

Cooktown's port hits level 2. As we have stated previously, if we judge based on base construction reports, CF appears most interested in Burma and SWPAC.

Southern Army

Billiton is invaded. This base and adjacent Toboali represent the last two Dutch flag symbols on the map.

15th Army

The enemy recon regiment continues to move into Burma despite recon flights making it clear Cribtop HQ is keeping tabs on it.

China

BA Changsha shows raw AS of 4919 vs 3093. We will attack as soon as Japanese AS exceeds 5,000 again.

Combined Fleet

No change. We estimate launching Operation Trident in about 96 hours.

Other

Huge stacks of material suddenly appear at Hong Kong. 1 million plus resource points and several hundred thousand tons of fuel. Cribtop HQ theorizes that the land route is now open to this point. Presumably it will open all the way to Fusan if/when Changsha falls.

[Cribtop]

September 18, 1942

Subs

IJN ASW is busy near Palembang, DCing both Seawolf and O-20. It's disappointing how poor our ASW TFs are doing in finishing subs in these shallow waters where even our Type 95 DCs work.

Glens near India reported yesterday that the same enemy "CVE/TK" convoy passed by. We vector our subs to this route as it appears this is a fuel convoy from the Mideast.

4th Fleet

A bit of excitement today as our search planes report a convoy at Baker. We attack with 20 Zeros and 12 Bettys, only to find 18 P-40Es on CAP! Our brave escorts more than hold their own despite giving up the bounce, however; splashing 5 P-40s for the loss of 4 Zeros and preventing any attacks on the bombers. The Bettys then drop on two APs and 3 DMS, putting two TTs into AP McCawley and scoring troop losses. Banzai! Unfortunately, 4 Bettys miss AP Henderson, no doubt loaded with troops herself. Total pilot losses come to 1 Zero MIA and 1 Betty KIA as an Ops loss.

We will move in a second Zero group and sweep tomorrow, putting the Bettys on Nav Attack/Port Attack in case CF disbands the damaged AP.

SE Fleet

Lunga and Vaitupu are both reconned today. CF is certainly making a show of snooping Solomons and Ellice Island bases.

Noumea port goes to 6.

Southern Army

Our armor marches into Daly after its long raid on Tennant Creek. They will refit and protect the flanks of our position. We are pleased to learn from CF that he had to waste PPs putting recaptured Tennant under an Aussie HQ. When taken, it flipped to a UK base and he couldn't move restricted air groups there anymore. Hehe. [:D]

Billiton occupied.

15th Army

We are counting the days until we equip the first Tojo IIa Sentai here. Other than that, quiet.

China

No change.

Combined Fleet

Glen recon of Sydney shows 75 ships still present. Operation Trident is still on.

[Cribtop]

September 19, 1942

Subs

No contacts. I-34 moves to Noumea to snoop there.

4th Fleet

A good day in the air as 32 Zeros with crack pilots sweep Baker and trash the enemy squadron. Tracker puts losses at 9:1 in our favor. Unfortunately weather scrubs the planned port attack. No sign of the convoy there yesterday, either.

SE Fleet

Milne Bay improves to port level 1. We don't plan to build this base up, but want the level 1 port to see if it allows the LCUs there to take replacements.

Southern Fleet

No change.

15th Army

Two base forces load at Victoria Point for Rangoon. They will open the airfields at Prome and Toungoo.

China

Mass air raids hit both the aerodrome and LCUs of the enemy at Changsha. Despite many hits on the airbase we get no supply. Cribtop HQ hopes this means the enemy is low indeed.

DA Changsha is both good and bad, obtaining a 1:1 and dropping forts to 3. Casualties remain just as rough as the previous shock attack, however. 1 Chinese LCU is destroyed, losses are 2210(139) vs 19,215(35). Our units are suffering lots of disablements, forcing long rests between assaults. Painful, I guess it's the sheer size of the battle and the light urban terrain. Hopefully losses drop off as the forts fail. We will rest about a week if needed. Two fresh divisions will soon enter the fray as well. The enemy does not show a "supply(-)" this attack. He will next time, we suspect.

Combined Fleet

MKB is about to launch for Sydney. We want to recon Noumea as the last piece of the pre-battle puzzle.

[Cribtop]

Well, readers, what do you think? It seems to me that Cuttlefish has gone with a bit of a Sir Robin. I don't blame him for this at all given his unfamiliarity with the Allied side of things. When and where will he strike? Thoughts welcome.

PS - Note that the Milne Bay port worked. The troops there are now accepting replacements. Learn something new every day.

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

September 16, 1942

Today marked my last day at my current job. I've received a fantastic offer I couldn't refuse. Better yet, today begins a smidgen more than a full month off! Banzai! [&o]

Congratulations on both counts [:)]

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Well, readers, what do you think? It seems to me that Cuttlefish has gone with a bit of a Sir Robin. I don't blame him for this at all given his unfamiliarity with the Allied side of things. When and where will he strike? Thoughts welcome.

PS - Note that the Milne Bay port worked. The troops there are now accepting replacements. Learn something new every day.

Hard to say at this point. An approach through the southern DEI is certainly in his mind tho [:D]

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Well, readers, what do you think? It seems to me that Cuttlefish has gone with a bit of a Sir Robin. I don't blame him for this at all given his unfamiliarity with the Allied side of things. When and where will he strike? Thoughts welcome.

PS - Note that the Milne Bay port worked. The troops there are now accepting replacements. Learn something new every day.

Hard to say at this point. An approach through the southern DEI is certainly in his mind tho [:D]

Indeed. Given his experiences in the game with Q-Ball we are keeping a wary eye out. Strong defenses are building in the chain of islands east of Java, including deployment of 11th Air HQ at Lomblen, which "torp enables" a huge number of key bases. Kendari at the back is home to both SW Fleet and 16th Army HQs and is built up as a major hub base.

That said, his fort building is not all over the map, but rather is area specific to the SWPAC and Indian bases. Hints of a two prong offensive? Who knows?

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

September 16, 1942

Today marked my last day at my current job. I've received a fantastic offer I couldn't refuse. Better yet, today begins a smidgen more than a full month off! Banzai! [&o]

Congratulations on both counts [:)]

Thanks! It's a wildly liberating feeling to have a full month off at my age. Sort of a return to college days. I do have to move, but only down the road to my hometown of San Antonio, so a lot of that month will truly be downtime. [&o]

[Cribtop]

PS - With tomorrow the first Monday without job responsibilities in 20+ years, tonight I found myself obsessively re-checking my alarm clock to make sure it was off. Not sure there's a better feeling in the world than that! [:D]

[Mike Solli]

That's outstanding, Cuttlefish. Enjoy your month. I also expect many entries here. [;)]

[ny59giants]

That's outstanding, Cuttlefish. Enjoy your month. I also expect many entries here. [;)]

Did you get your players mixed up?? You stated "Cuttlefish" not Cribtop.

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

PS - With tomorrow the first Monday without job responsibilities in 20+ years, tonight I found myself obsessively re-checking my alarm clock to make sure it was off. Not sure there's a better feeling in the world than that! [:D]

Aaah so true [:)] Have a nice month [8D]

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

That's outstanding, Cuttlefish. Enjoy your month. I also expect many entries here. [;)]

Did you get your players mixed up?? You stated "Cuttlefish" not Cribtop.

I am Cuttlefish! No, I am Cuttlefish! [Whole hillside stands up to say same thing] Fade to black. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

That's outstanding, Cuttlefish. Enjoy your month. I also expect many entries here. [;)]

Did you get your players mixed up?? You stated "Cuttlefish" not Cribtop.

What do you expect. It was 5:44 am. [:'(] [:D]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

That's outstanding, Cuttlefish. Enjoy your month. I also expect many entries here. [;)]

Did you get your players mixed up?? You stated "Cuttlefish" not Cribtop.

What do you expect. It was 5:44 am. [:'(] [:D]

Just back from morning PT? [:D]