August 4th - A Day That Will Live In Infamy (No Khyberbill Please)

[Icedawg]

Dec 29th 1941

Pretty uneventful day.

Palembang

The three battalions of the 143rd Rgt arrived by rail at Oosthaven. I have a SCTF composed of 3 CAs and 5 DDs and an empty amphibious TF with 6 xAKs, 2 Es and 2 DMSs a couple hexes NE of Merak. They are waiting for a minesweeping TF to sweep Merak. Once Merak is cleared of mines, they will sail to Oosthaven to pick up the 143rd Rgt and take it to Port Blair.

Fuel is building up near the wastage level at Palembang, so I shut off the refinery. Oil doesn’t suffer spoilage, so I will just let it pile up and move it to the HI when I feel comfortable enough moving TKs through the area.

KB

Still repairing at Truk. In six days’ time, most of the incidental damage the carriers sustained on their way back from Pearl should be repaired. Once this damage is taken care of, they will provide cover for an amphibious TF carrying the 144th Rgt, the 1st Maizuru SNLF, the 2nd Independent SNLF Coy and the II/66 NG detachment. This TF will unload at Rabaul. I hope it will be enough to take the place.

Burma

Bill continues to train up his Blenheims as they perform ground support missions. I have a Sentai of Oscars at Moulmein that has not been opposing them for some reason. They are set to 50% CAP at 20k feet. Maybe they are too high to intercept as Bill has been sending his raids in at about 5k feet. If there is no intercept again tomorrow, I will lower them down to 10k.

Malaya

A group of 40 Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore for 22 hits. Eleven were damaged, so I think I’m going to up the altitude a bit again.

Another group of 38 Sallys from Kota Bharu performed a ground attack at Malacca. They targeted the 137/155th Field Artillery and messed it up pretty badly, destroying 7 guns and damaging another 11.

Singkawang

Zeros from Palembang swept Batavia again and again encountered no CAP. Next turn, I think I will set them back to CAP. Bill isn’t sending any fighters up to play over Batavia, so all they’re doing is accumulating fatigue and burning supply.

The Netties from Singkawang hit Batavia’s airfield again, destroying 2 Catalinas on the ground and damaging another 19. Four Do-24Ks were damaged. One Vildebeest was destroyed and 2 others were damaged. They also got in three supply dump hits and 14 airfield hits. Recon shows the airfield at 17% damage. I’ll hit it again tomorrow.

Philippines

Bettys and Sallys from Takao performed another ground attack on the units at Clark. The Anns and Sonias from San Fernando hit Bataan’s airfield again. Recon shows Clark is at 62% damage while Bataan is at 21%.

The Nells at Cagayan were set to hit the airfield at Cebu, but they didn’t fly due to weather.

San Fernando's airfield was expanded to level 4. I will move two squadrons of Sallys from Takao to San Fernando and when I can get some aviation support to Manila, I will move the Anns and Sonias from San Fernando to Manila.

Six Jakes from Taytay flew a naval attack mission against a PT TF off Bataan and sank one. Actually, they OBLITERATED one. Those 60 kg bombs are beasts! [:)]

Ambon/Celebes/Timor

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts arrived at Makassar which is empty. Bill is seriously airlifting units out. He must have every single PBY in the Pacific at Batavia. That means he is pretty much blind everywhere else. This means I might be able to pull off a surprise or two. Maybe another attack on Pearl? A strike along the east coast of Oz? In addition, with all of those Cats at Batavia, maybe I should step up my attacks on the airfield there. Taking out a bunch of PBYs would be really sweet.

Allied B-17s

No flights today.

Central Pacific

The 24th Air Flotilla is almost to Truk. Can you say “Claudes converting to Zeros”?

Other Stuff

A Betty from Ambon spotted 4 Allied ships a few hexes south of Taberfane. Could this be Bill’s carriers?

[Icedawg]

Dec 30th 1941

Pretty uneventful again today.

Sumatra

Nothing to report.

KB

Still repairing at Truk.

Burma

The Oscars at Moulmein intercepted a raid of Blenheims and shot down one bomber for no loss.

Malaya

The Sallys from Kuantan and Kota Bharu were at it again today. Singapore’s airfield took 18 more hits and the Hyderabad Battalion at Malacca got mauled pretty badly.

The 114th Rgt took Kuala Lumpur unopposed. There’s an allied unit one hex south, so I’ll send the 114th there to investigate.

Singkawang

The Netties from Singkawang hit Batavia’s airfield again, but it looks like Bill pulled just about all of his aircraft out. The only loss on the ground was a single Catalina. The airfield and supply dump got hit pretty badly, taking 76 and 11 hits respectively. Recon shows 43% damage to the airfield.

Philippines

Bad weather grounded all strikes on Clark and Batan.

San Fernando’s airfield increased to size four so I transferred the Sallys from Takao there.

Recon shows Clark is at 74% damage while Bataan is at 19%.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Cebu for 55 airfield and 17 supply dump hits.

The row boat corps was active today and occupied Masbate.

Celebes

The 146th Rgt and 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts took Makassar unopposed. Now I want to get engineers and aviation support here. I’d like to build the airfield to level four and use it to control the eastern end of the Java Sea and hit the airfields near Soerabaja.

A small detachment of the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF took Gorontalo.

Recon is showing Manado is unoccupied. If recon still shows that to be the case at the end of the next turn, part of the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF will be airdropped there from Jolo.

Allied B-17s

Another harmless attack on the 13th Division one hex west of Sinyang.

Central Pacific

The 24th Air Flotilla arrived at Truk and I converted a bunch of Claudes to Zeros. Now, the only units equipped with Claudes are trainers back in Japan.

Other Stuff

A Mavis from Dili spotted 7 Allied ships a few hexes south of Timoeka. Either this is the same TF spotted yesterday south of Taberfane or it’s completely bogus. I’m guessing the latter, but I’m putting some Nells at Ambon on naval attack just in case.

[Icedawg]

Here are a few screenshots to show the situation.

I'll start with Malaya.

[Icedawg]

Here's the situation in the Philippines.

[Icedawg]

Here's the Ambon/Timor/Celebes theater.

[Icedawg]

And here's the status in the Sumatra/Borneo/Java area.

[Icedawg]

Dec 31st 1941

Pretty uneventful again today.

Sumatra

An amphibious TF unloaded the 21st, 22nd and 36th JAAF Bns at Palembang. This brings my total aviation support there to 120+. I’m hoping this will cut down on the fatigue of the Oscars I have flying CAP there.

KB

Still repairing at Truk. In a couple of days, they’ll head south to provide air cover for the Rabaul invasion TF.

Burma

The 55th Cav Rgt performed a deliberate attack on the Tenasserim BAF Battalion 2 hexes SW of Moulmein. Assault odds of 2:1 sent the allied unit packing.

Malaya

The Sallys from Kuantan and Kota Bharu went to work again today. Singapore’s airfield took 24 more hits while the supply dump took 6. At Malacca, the 28th Gurkha Bde took a beating.

The allied unit south of Kuala Lumpur moved into Malacca.

Bill sent some Blenhiems after the 112th Rgt at Moulmein. Oscars intercepted them and shot one down.

Singkawang

The Netties from Singkawang hit Batavia’s airfield yet again. Another Catalina was destroyed on the ground and the airfield and supply dump took 48 and 4 hits respectively. Recon shows 40% damage to the airfield.

Philippines

Sallys from San Fernando hit the airfield at Bataan causing 55 hits on the airfield and 10 on the supply dump.

Recon shows Clark is at 49% damage while Bataan is at 43%.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Cebu again for 49 airfield and 1 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is at 45% damage.

The row boat corps occupied Tagbilaran.

Celebes

Recon is still showing Manado is unoccupied. I think I will paradrop the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF there tomorrow.

The 1st Independent Engineer Rgt and the 42nd and 44th Field Construction Companies unloaded at Makassar. They will start expansion of the airfield immediately.

Allied B-17s

No flights today.

Central Pacific

The 1st Maizuru SNLF, 2nd Ind SNLF Coy and the II/66th NG are loading at Truk. They will join the 144th Rgt bound for Rabaul.

Other Stuff

Some of Kaga’s Vals and Kates found an xAK and 6 HDMLs off of Tjilatjap. Five of the six HDMLs were sunk and the xAK took a beating.

Dutch bombers tried to hit Kaga and Ryujo off of Cheribon. The Zeros on CAP had a field day, shooting down one B-339D, 2 139WH-3s and 4 L-212s. No hits on Kaga or Ryujo were scored.

[Icedawg]

Jan 1st 1942

Active start to the New Year – and not all of it was good! [:(]

Sumatra

The amphibious TF that will carry the 143rd Rgt to Port Blair arrived at Oosthaven. A minesweeping TF led the way through Merak, but no mines were found. All that worrying was for nothing!

KB

The Rabaul invasion TF has formed up at Truk. KB will provide air cover and a SCTF built around Mutsu and Nagato will provide surface cover.

Burma

The “A” Rgt of the 1st Royal Thai Division arrived in the hex NE of Victoria Point. The allied garrison displaced from Victoria Point is here. I will do a deliberate attack to get it to retreat toward Mergui.

The 55th Cav and 55th Eng Rgts are pursing the Tenasserim Battalion. They are currently two hexes SW of Moulmein

The 112th Rgt crossed the river to the NE of Moulmein. Recon shows that Bill is trying to defend at Pegu. He has 9 units and 24k troops there. I like the sound of that. Once I can get some IJA bombers freed up from work elsewhere, I will start bombing the base to prevent the buildup of forts and then I will target the ground troops. Since they are out in the open, they should make nice targets! [:D]

Lilys from Victoria Point performed a ground attack at Port Blair. I have the 1st Raiding Rgt and the 1st Yokosuka at Victoria Point, Bangkok and Prachuap Khiri Khan with enough transports to drop most of both units. Since recon is showing just a single LCU and only 760 troops there, I am thinking of doing a paradrop. Should I wait for the 143rd Rgt to get there by sea, or send in the paras? [&:]

Malaya

The 11th Rgt performed a deliberate attack against the FMSV and 8th Indian brigades one hex NE of Temuloh. The 3:1 odds caused one of the units to retreat toward Utan Melintang, but the other remained in the hex. What’s up with that? [&:]

The Sallys from Kuantan did not fly due to bad weather over Singapore. Those from Kota Bharu hit the 28th Gurkha Bde at Malacca again.

The Imperial Guards Division, 55th Rgt, 56th Rgt and 14th Tank Rgt arrived at Alor Star. They will be put in strat mode to move as far south down the peninsula as possible.

Java

The Netties from Singkawang performed a ground attack at Cheribon.

The Fuso, Yamashiro and Yura bombarded Cheribon in preparation for tomorrow’s landing of the 38th Division and the 21st Mixed Bde. The invasion TF is at Cheribon, but has not yet started to unload.

Kaga’s Vals took a beating. The remaining eight of them attacked a TF off Tjilatjap and ran into the AVG. All eight and one escorting Zero were shot down as were 2 H81-A3s.

Dutch bombers again tried to hit Kaga and Ryujo off of Cheribon. The Zeros on CAP racked up lots more kills, shooting down one Blenheim I, 2 Blenheim IVs, 2 CW-22 Falcons, 1 Hudson I and 8 139WH-3s. Again, no hits were scored.


Philippines

Sallys, Anns and Sonias from San Fernando and Bettys from Takao performed a ground attack at Clark.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Cebu again for 39 airfield and 8 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is at 32% damage.

The bulk of the 14th Army plus the 4th, 21st and 33rd Divisions performed a deliberate attack at Clark. Despite 1:1 odds and the reduction of the fort level to one, they took a beating as seen below. Ouch! [X(]

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 61211 troops, 569 guns, 256 vehicles, Assault Value = 1941

Defending force 34269 troops, 435 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 948

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1098

Allied adjusted defense: 1054

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7654 casualties reported
Squads: 163 destroyed, 592 disabled
Non Combat: 16 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 82 disabled
Guns lost 71 (24 destroyed, 47 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (4 destroyed, 19 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
1135 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 112 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 41 (3 destroyed, 38 disabled)


Assaulting units:
4th Division
65th Brigade
47th Infantry Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
21st Division
33rd Division
7th Tank Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
14th Army
48th Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
51st PA Infantry Division
91st PA Infantry Division
11th PA Infantry Division
41st PA Infantry Division
4th Marine Regiment
21st PA Infantry Division
31st PA Infantry Division
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
71st PA Infantry Division
3rd/12th PA Inf Battalion
14th PS Engineer Regiment
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
I Philippine Corps
Asiatic Fleet
Clark Field AAF Base Force
PAF Aviation
Nichols Field AAF Base Force
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
1st PI Base Force 14th PS Engineer Regiment
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
I Philippine Corps
Asiatic Fleet
Clark Field AAF Base Force
PAF Aviation
Nichols Field AAF Base Force
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
1st PI Base Force

Celebes

Manado is still unoccupied, but my Mavis transports at Jolo are in rough shape. Only one of the five is flight worthy, so I will wait a bit to paradrop the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF.

Allied B-17s

The day has finally arrived. Bill hit Palembang with a total of 33 B-17s. Based on the incoming direction, I am guessing they are based at either Soerabaja or Madioen. I had about 30 Oscars on CAP and over 200 AA guns waiting. The Oscars did surprisingly well and the flak was quite potent. Overall, two bombers were destroyed by flak and one showed up as an ops loss. Also, every single one was damaged. The only damage to the infrastructure was a single hit to the oil field. Needless to say, I don’t think Bill will try this again.

Central Pacific

KB and a SCTF are escorting the invasion force bound for Rabaul.

Input Desired

Now that the first month has gone by, how am I doing for time? Besides Palembang, I haven't taken any of the big early bases - Singapore, Clark, Batavia, Soerabaja - so I'm starting to feel a bit nervous. On the other hand, I haven't taken any serious losses, but nor have I inflicted much damage either. Any comments regarding progress - or lack thereof?

[Andav]

The attack at Clark was not horrible at all. If you can shuffle units which suffered the most out and add fresh units and keep bombing you will be just fine. It is just part of the process. reducing forts to 1 is very nice and will help with future attacks.

I am not sure the paras can take Point Blair. Is there an airstrip there to being with? Getting the paras out after the attack might take a while. Pretty much any defended base is tough for paras.

Wa

[Andav]

Regarding your time table, it is really too early to judge. That being said, I think you are doing fine all things considered. It is only January 1st. Just keep grinding forward. While it would have been nice to sink all his navy by now, most Allied players will be pretty careful with their fleet. You should see more opportunities to hurt him as you press out and he decides to fight.

Wa

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: Andav


The attack at Clark was not horrible at all. If you can shuffle units which suffered the most out and add fresh units and keep bombing you will be just fine. It is just part of the process. reducing forts to 1 is very nice and will help with future attacks.

I am not sure the paras can take Point Blair. Is there an airstrip there to being with? Getting the paras out after the attack might take a while. Pretty much any defended base is tough for paras.

Wa

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm rotating the units that got clobbered out of there. I'll let them recoup, then try again.

[Icedawg]

Jan 2nd 1942

Sumatra

Two of the 143rd Rgt’s battalions have loaded onto ships at Oosthaven. The third will load this turn. Then, they are off to Port Blair.

KB

On the way to Rabaul, escorting the Rabaul invasion TF.

Burma

The “A” Rgt of the 1st Royal Thai Division was going to do a deliberate attack against the former garrison of Victoria Point, but the allied unit marched out of the hex before the attack took place. That’s okay, because all I was hoping for was a retreat toward Mergui. The “B” Rgt is almost to the hex that the allied unit marched into, so they will have the honor of performing the attack.

The 55th Cav Rgt caught up with the Tenasserim Battalion. It is currently one hex SW of Moulmein.

A night attack by 6 Blenheim Is scored 7 hits on the airfield at Moulmein.

Lilys from Victoria Point performed another ground attack at Port Blair. I think I’m going to perform a paradrop here the turn before the 143rd Rgt arrives. If the paratroopers can’t take the base, they’ll have some immediate backup.

Malaya

The 11th Rgt performed a deliberate attack against the 8th Indian Brigade (the allied unit that did not retreat with the FMSV Brigade the last turn). The 10:1 odds sent the Indians packing toward Utan Melintang.

The 41st Rgt, 5th Eng Rgt, 5th Recon Rgt and 5th FA are marching to the hex the 8th Indian Brigade retreated to. They’ll hit them again and really put a hurting on them.

The Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore but only scored 7 hits to the airfield. Those from Kota Bharu hit the 22nd Indian Brigade at Malacca.

Java

The Netties from Singkawang performed another ground attack at Cheribon.

The 38th Division and 21st Mixed Bde landed without incident at Cheribon. According to the combat summary displayed for the allied bombardment attack, they’ve got their work cut out for them. Bill has the 45th and 46th Indian Brigades there along with the Makassar garrison, the 251st Rece battalion, the 2/15th Punjab battalion and elements of the 28th Gurkha brigade and the 27th Aussie brigade plus a few support units. I figure he has around 250-350 AV on hand. I’m going to do a deliberate attack anyway and see what happens. I have the 146th Rgt, 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts and the 1st-3rd Sasebo SNLFs on the way from Makassar and Koepang in case things prove tough.


Philippines

Sallys, Anns and Sonias from San Fernando and Bettys from Takao performed another ground attack at Clark.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Iloilo for 102 airfield and 15 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is only at 20% damage.

The most-battered units from the failed attack at Clark are limping their way out of the hex to alleviate the overstacking situation. Worst off is the 4th Division. Going into the attack, its AV was in the ballpark of 400. Post attack, it is down to 80!

I think Bill is trying to sneak some single-ship cargo TFs to Bataan. There are three such TFs in the area of Bataan and the last turn, a lone allied xAK tried unloading at Manila. (I’m guessing it was in an amphibious TF and he set the wrong destination.) I have a Jake unit at Taytay set to Naval Attack, but it is not launching – probably due to the single-ship = no attack shortcoming of the game engine. I guess I will have to get some subs and small SCTFs just off Bataan to intercept these guys. We have a rule against single-ship TFs with the only exception being cases of dispersal while fleeing from an enemy threat. I’m not sure I should call him on this as sending single freighters to the besieged garrison may have been a possibility. Any ideas?

Celebes

Manado is still unoccupied. Three of the five Mavis transports at Jolo are flight worthy. I think I’ll wait a bit more before doing the drop.

Allied B-17s

I think Bill is going to be bit gun shy with Palembang. This turn, he sent 9 B-17s to Oosthaven where they were intercepted by 9 Zeros. Since the Oscars, with their peashooter armament fared reasonably well against the bombers the day before, I thought the Zeros would do a better job. That was not the case. Only four B-17s were damaged and the airfield took 11 hits.

Central Pacific

The Rabaul invasion TF is 8 hexes NE of the Feni Islands.

[TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum]

I'm going to echo what others have said. You don't need to capture Luzon by New Year's. So I think your time-table is fine. In fact, any time-table that is proceeding faster than the historical Japanese one is a good one IMHO.

That being said, unless you had specific plans to cause Singapore or Bataan-Clark-Manila to fall by the end of December, don't fret. To accomplish either of those tasks requires some very risky opening moves and the concentration of much of your initially available forces.

[Andav]

We have a rule against single-ship TFs with the only exception being cases of dispersal while fleeing from an enemy threat. I’m not sure I should call him on this as sending single freighters to the besieged garrison may have been a possibility. Any ideas?

Personally, I would not have a problem with blockade runners as single ship TFs. I would not consider this against the spirit of the rule. I would clarify the rule if you think there might be any dispute to allow blockade runners. They are easy enough to intercept with a couple of CL/DD TFs patrolling the approaches. I would split one of the big Nell squadrons and put it on naval attack with the Jakes on search to spot things. If you have an AV with Petes, park it near Bataan and us it to find stuff.

Wa

[Icedawg]

ORIGINAL: Andav

We have a rule against single-ship TFs with the only exception being cases of dispersal while fleeing from an enemy threat. I’m not sure I should call him on this as sending single freighters to the besieged garrison may have been a possibility. Any ideas?

Personally, I would not have a problem with blockade runners as single ship TFs. I would not consider this against the spirit of the rule. I would clarify the rule if you think there might be any dispute to allow blockade runners. They are easy enough to intercept with a couple of CL/DD TFs patrolling the approaches. I would split one of the big Nell squadrons and put it on naval attack with the Jakes on search to spot things. If you have an AV with Petes, park it near Bataan and us it to find stuff.

Wa

I agree. "Blockade runners" as you call them seem plausible. Since the main concern was single-ship "pickets" and "magnets" (for air attacks and SCTF ammo), I don't have a problem.

[Icedawg]

Jan 3rd 1942

Sumatra

The third of the 143rd Rgt’s battalions has now loaded onto ships at Oosthaven. A SCTF composed of 3 CAs and 5 DDs is leading the way to Port Blair along the S/W coast of Sumatra.

KB

Moving to one hex NW of Rabaul to provide air cover for the invasion TF.

Burma

The 55th Cav Rgt hit the Tenasserim Battalion again. The 3:1 odds caused the unit to continue retreating. It has a long way to go until it gets to its destination of Pegu.

Lilys from Victoria Point performed another ground attack at Port Blair. I’m really itching to do a paradrop, but I will wait until the 143rd Rgt is less than one day’s sail away so it can serve as an emergency back up.

Malaya

The 41st Rgt, 5th Eng Rgt, 5th Recon Rgt and 5th FA arrived at the hex E of Utan Melintang. The battered 8th Indian and FMSV brigades are located here. I will do a deliberate attack and hopefully get them to retreat to Utan Melintang where I can finish them off.

The Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore and fared a bit better than yesterday. They scored 18 hits on the airfield and a single supply dump hit. Those from Kota Bharu hit the Hyderabad Battalion at Malacca.

Java

I have a toehold on Java!

The 38th Division and 21st Mixed Bde took Cheribon, and rather easily at that. I was worried that this attack might result in less than 1:1 odds and leave my troops on the beachhead roughed up, but the 9:1 odds sent a hodge podge force of 13 allied units retreating to Kalidjati. The retreated units included the 45th and 46th Indian Brigades, the 251st Recce Battalion, the Makassar Garrison Battalion, the 2/15 Punjab Battalion, the 150th RAC Rgt, the 85th British AT Rgt, the 112th RAF Adv Base Force and fragments of the 22nd and 27th Australian Brigades, the 28th Gurkha Brigade and 3rd Cav Rgt. I found it hard to believe that just over a division of IJA troops could so easily displace about a division and a half of non-Chinese allied troops.

The Netties from Singkawang hit the airfield at Tjilatjap. I chose this target because of the recent slaughter of Kaga’s last Vals when they attacked a TF off of Tjilatjap. Heavy CAP in the form of the AVG can really ruin your day, so I decided I had to try to take them out. I used the Zeros from Kaga, Ryujo, Zuiho and Hosho to sweep and about 40 Zeros from Singkawang for escort. Unfortunately, the raid arrived before the sweep, but the escorts did rather well, shooting down 2 H81-A3s and one Buffalo for the loss of a Betty and 2 Zeros. The raid scored 61 airfield hits and 5 supply dump hits and destroyed 3 more H81-A3s, 4 Catalinas and a Do-24K-1 on the ground. The subsequent sweep shot down 3 more H81-A3s for no loss. All in all, I thought it was a rather successful raid.

Philippines

Sallys from San Fernando hit the airfield at Bataan for 50 airfield and 7 supply dump hits. The Anns and Sonias failed to launch due to weather as did the Bettys at Takao, which were set to naval attack with a secondary mission to ground attack at Clark.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Malaybalay for 56 airfield and 13 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is only at 31% damage.

The battered units withdrawing from Clark are recovering quite nicely, especially the 4th Division. Its AV had dropped from 400+ to 80. It is now back up to 183 – over 100 points in a single turn!

Bill’s resupply effort at Bataan ran into a mess of trouble in the form of Vals and Jakes. I had moved a small unit of 12 Vals to Manila. Along with a 6-plane Jake unit at Taytay, they put a serious hurting on xAKs Charles H Cramp, Liberty and Arkansan.

The Kure 2nd SNLF and the 1st Sasebo SNLF Coy landed unopposed at Zamboanga. There is an allied unit in the jungle hex to the NE. I am assuming it is the garrison. Bill has been using this trick to slow my progress – he’ll retreat from an isolated base so that when I attack, the forces won’t surrender right away. He did it back near Alor Star and he appears to be doing it here as well. I think I will send the 1st Sasebo SNLF after the garrison and use the Kure 2nd SNLF elsewhere.

Celebes/Timor

I still only have three of the five Mavis transports at Jolo available, so the Manado paradrop will wait a bit more.

I am loading the 146th Rgt and the 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts at Makassar and the the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sasebo SNLFs at Koepang onto ships to be taken to Java.

Allied B-17s

Bill sent 11 B-17s to Oosthaven again. I had transferred the Zeros that had been stationed there to Palembang, so there was no CAP. The damage was minimal though – four airfield hits and one on the supply dump.

Central Pacific

The Rabaul invasion TF is 1 hex NE of the Feni Islands. The SCTF and the transports will go directly to Rabaul. KB is going to take up a position one hex NW of Rabaul to avoid the coastal CAP penalty.

[Icedawg]

Jan 4th 1942

Sumatra

I forgot to stop the TF with the 143rd Rgt loaded from loading supplies. This may prove to be a fortunate thing though as Bill’s carriers showed up off the S coast of Java today. It would have ended up in no-man’s land part way up the S coast of Sumatra with allied CVs in the vicinity. By having it load supplies for an extra day, I now have the option of retreating, and that is what I am going to do. I’m going to move it back toward Singkawang then through the Straits of Malacca. We don’t have a HR against the Japanese having to wait until Singapore falls to sail through the straits, but I still feel a bit odd doing this.

KB

Stationed one hex NW of Rabaul providing air cover for the invasion TF.

Burma

The 55th Cav Rgt and the 55th Eng Rgt are pursuing the Tenasserim Battalion one hex SE of Moulmein.

Lilys from Victoria Point performed another ground attack at Port Blair. Now that the 143rd Rgt is going to be delayed a bit, I might do that paradrop a bit sooner than I’d like to, but there’s a small allied TF about 8 hexes N of Port Blair. I don’t want to drop the paratroopers and find out this is a reinforcement TF. I’d hate to drop the paratroopers and find them facing a rather large force. I’ll wait until I see where this TF is heading. In the meantime, I’ll move the two subs I have patrolling the waters off of Port Blair to a more suitable interception position should this TF try to reinforce the Port Blair garrison.

Malaya

The 41st Rgt, 5th Eng Rgt, 5th Recon Rgt and 5th FA put a hurting on the 8th Indian and FMSV brigades one hex W of Utan Melintang. The 43:1 odds sent them retreating to Utan Melintang.

The Sallys from Kuantan hit the airfield at Singapore and scored 15 hits on the airfield and a single supply dump hit. Those from Kota Bharu didn’t fly due to weather.

Java

Two amphibious TFs off of Cheribon felt the wrath of Bill’s carriers. He moved his CVs off of Tjilatjap and his carrier air groups really smacked my transports as they tried to unload. One TF carried four JNAF Units while the other just carried supply. All in all, I lost 4 DMS, 4 xAP, 2 xAK and 2 AK. Plus, there are four more xAKs and another AK that might not make it. In addition, a couple of the JNAF units lost several aviation squads as they went into the drink. This really hurt. I have five subs near Oosthaven. I’m going to send them east to see if they can intercept a TF with a CV or two in it. Even a single torpedo hit will even things out. Two or three hits would be really sweet.

The Netties from Singkawang rested. This was probably a very lucky decision on my part to rest these guys. Had they attacked Tjilatjap again, they very well might have flown into Wildcats on CAP over Bill’s carrier TF.

The 38th Division and 121st Bde are building forts at Cheribon. I’m a bit worried about a counterattack here. It is open terrain and it looks like Bill is definitely going for a Fortress Java defense. He is bringing everything he’s got in the area to the island. Recon shows several stacks with 15+ units at places like Kalidjati, Tjilatjap and Bandoeng – pretty scary stuff!

Philippines

Sallys from San Fernando hit the airfield at Bataan for a paltry 8 hits on the airfield. The Anns and Sonias at San Fernando and the Bettys at Takao performed a ground attack at Clark.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Malaybalay for 36 airfield and 5 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is at 43% damage.

The units withdrawing from Clark are recovering but not as quickly as they did last turn. For example, the 4th Division’s AV went from 80 to 183 last turn. This turn it only went up to 190. One hundred three points in one turn, but only 7 the next! What’s up with that?

The Kure 2nd SNLF and the 1st Sasebo SNLF Coy took Zamboanga without opposition. The 1st Sasebo SNLF will head east to engage the garrison that was apparently moved into the jungle before my landing. The Kure 2nd SNLF will head for Java.

Celebes/Timor

Four of the five Mavis transports at Jolo are operational. The 3rd Yokosuka SNLF will paradrop onto Manado (which is still unoccupied) next turn.

The 146th Rgt and the 2nd and 8th Tank Rgts at Makassar and the the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sasebo SNLFs at Koepang are loaded onto ships and will head to Makassar Strait. Here they will be out of range of Bill’s carriers, but won’t be too far away from Java. KB is going to be moved here from Rabauol ASAP to provide air cover.

A detachment from the 8th JNAF Coy took Palopo unopposed.

Allied B-17s

Bill sent 16 B-17s to Oosthaven again. Damage was moderately heavy – 24 hits to the airfield and 2 to the supply dump.

Central Pacific

The Rabaul invasion TF unloaded without incident at Rabaul. The place looks unoccupied, so rather than perform a deliberate attack and give away the identity of my troops, I will let them sit there and see if the base passively falls.

[Icedawg]

Jan 5th 1942

Sumatra

The TF carrying the 143rd Rgt moved to one hex E of Banka Island. It will proceed through the Straits of Malacca and on to Port Blair.

KB

I’m moving KB to Makassar. I have lots of troops loaded up on transports in the area and I’m afraid Bill might return with his carriers. If he does, maybe I can engage them with some extra CAP available.

Burma

The 55th Cav Rgt and the 55th Eng Rgt are 24 and 22 miles from the Tenasserim Battalion one hex SE of Moulmein.

Lilys from Victoria Point were set to Naval Attack just in case that TF I spotted two days ago moved toward Port Blair. It looks like it found its way to Rangoon instead.

I set the transports I have at Bangkok, Victoria Point and Prachuap Khiri Khan to airdrop the 1st Raiding Rgt and the 1st Yokosuka SNLF onto Port Blair. I’m thinking maybe I should wait until the 143rd Rgt is a bit closer to provide quick reinforcement in case things don’t go well, but I’m getting a bit concerned that he may reinforce the garrison there.

Malaya

The 41st Rgt, 5th Eng Rgt, 5th Recon Rgt and 5th FA are moving toward Utan Melintang to finish off the 8th Indian and FMSV brigades.

The Sallys from Kuantan didn’t fly today due to weather. Those from Kota Bharu hit the 28th Gurkha Brigade at Malacca.

The Imperial Guards Division, 55th and 56th Rgts, 14th Tank Rgt and 18th Mtn Gun Rgt are on the rail line heading to Port Dickson. They should get there tomorrow. They will unpack and head toward the allied holdouts at Malacca.

The 114th Rgt is also on its way to Malacca from one hex to the NE. The 21st and 124th Rgts are also bound for Malacca from Kluong and Batu Pahat respectively. I really want to get troops to Malacca to finish this pocket of resistance off once and for all.

Java

I transferred a couple of squadrons of Zeros to Cheribon to provide air cover for the battered transports still unloading. I was expecting Bill’s CVs to hit them again, but he instead sent 17 B-17s to target the airfield. According to the combat report, one B-17 was shot down and 11 were damaged for no losses to the Zeros. The aircraft loss screen shows a total of 5 lost between A2A, Flak and Ops.

The Netties from Singkawang rested again. I didn’t want them going after Bill’s carriers. They don’t have much for available escort, so I’m a bit leery about sending them out and about with lots of potential Wildcat interceptors around.

The 38th Division and 121st Bde constructed forts already at Cheribon. That sure was fast! One turn and voila, they’re built.

Philippines

Manila’s airfield was expanded to level 4. Once I get some aviation support there, I’ll move the Sallys, Anns and Sonias there from San Fernando to shorten the distance they have to fly to Clark and Bataan.

Sallys from San Fernando hit the airfield at Bataan for 34 hits on the airfield and 2 supply dump hits. The Anns and Sonias at San Fernando performed another ground attack at Clark. The Bettys at Takao didn’t fly due to weather.

The Nells at Cagayan hit the airfield at Malaybalay again for 13 airfield and 5 supply dump hits. Recon shows the airfield is at 50% damage.

The battered units withdrawing from Clark are slowly recovering. At the rate they’re going, I’m worried that the allied troops at Clark may actually be in better shape than they were for the first attack. I changed the leader of the 65th Bde. The original leader only had an inspiration value in the low 40s. I replaced him with a LGEN with an inspiration rating of 72. Hopefully that will help.

The row boat corps occupied Burias.

Celebes/Timor

A detachment from the 3rd Yokosuka SNLF took Manado with a paradrop unopposed.

The troops I had slated to move to Java are forming up in amphibious TFs in the Makassar Strait. KB is on the way to provide air cover. Currently, KB is a couple hexes E of Wewak.

Allied B-17s

As I mentioned above, Bill sent 17 of them to hit the airfield at Cheribon. They scored no hits and lost 5 of their number to A2A, flak and Ops.

Central Pacific

I was hoping I could passively take Rabaul and thereby not give away the identities of my LCUs there, but I had no such luck. This turn, I will do a deliberate attack and just take the place.

Subs

RO-33 put a couple of torpedoes into xAKL Minnipa off Bathurst Island. She showed up in the sunk ships list, so I assume she’s a goner. A couple turns earlier, the RO-33 unloaded all the ammo from her deck gun into another xAKL and it didn’t even show up as heavily damaged in the combat report. I guess that 8cm/40 T88 deck gun is a piece of %&#*@.

The only other sub that has really done anything is SS I-26. She is the only sub I left near Hawaii and she has seriously scored. Her torpedoes are almost completely expended, but in three different attacks, she hit and likely sank 4 different xAKs.

Currently, most of my subs have formed solid picket lines near Rabaul and Port Moresby. So far, they’ve not found any shipping, so I’m starting to think that the only supplement to the PM garrison is the troops Bill vacated from Rabaul.

[Icedawg]

I'm not getting much response over on the main forum, so I'll ask you guys who are following along here.

A large number of my from line squadrons have aircraft fatigue values that are getting out of hand. In most cases, I have adequate supply and aviation support and the units are not flying everyday. In desperation, I am thinking of a creative way to get around the issue.

Here's my plan. I'll "upgrade" the units to an inferior plane, then upgrade back to the original. For example, let's say I've got a Zero squadron. I'll "upgrade" to Claudes, then upgrade back to Zeros.

My question is this. Is this gamey? On one hand, it seems like I am trying to get around the game system. On the other hand, you could just view this as bringing in fresh planes to replace the old. If you can replace old-model planes with new ones, why can't you replace current-model planes with new copies of the same type?

So, is this gamey, or not?

[TheLoneGunman_MatrixForum]

I say no, because you're taking the planes out of action for a minimum of at least one whole turn and you're paying supply for the effort on top of that, and you can only do such an action at a large airfield anyway.

That being said, have you tried resting the squadron for a turn to see if the fatigue goes down?