IronMan Nasty!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Clearly I need to go back to the drawing board not nasty enough !!!

Hmmmm

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop somewhere....

[Lowpe]

Jan 30, 1942

Wavell stared at all the maps across the room -- detailed maps of Singapore's defenses. Almost all of his attention was focused there, and for the last several days the Japanese had been content to lick their wounds letting the garrison improve the defenses even more. Good. Now to get more supply there somewhow.

Even though he was focused on Singapore, the Japanese continued to move just yesterday they invaded Balikpapen and Intelligence warned that troops were enroute to Timor too.

Wavell had precious little to stop them as local politics dictated troop dispersal.

[Lowpe]

Feb 1, 1942

South of Milne Bay

Halsey had his strike planes chase the Japanese ships back to Lae. The first wave left burning ships however, the second wave had a rude surprise waiting for them the closer to Lae they got as Zeroes dived down out of cloud cover.

This, the first dogfights between Wildcats and Zeroes was clearly won by the Japanese.

Not willing to further risk his aviators, Halsey pulled the Saratoga further south and west to cover the troop transports of the 5th Australian Division - much needed reinforcements for Moresby.

[Lowpe]

An unescorted flight of SBDs' run into Zeroes.

[Lowpe]

Jan 30, 1942

Pearl Harbor


With the appearance of enemy carriers near Midway Nimitz pulled his covering ships back to Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese took advantage of this and landed more troops on Midway where the Marine gunners were getting quite proficient at hitting their ships. The attack was easily beaten off.

Sub reports later confirmed two light carriers operating in the Midway sector. Unfortunately, if any of the torpedoes hit, as their commanders swear they did, the torpedoes didn't explode. This had been a worrying trend of the war so far.

[Lowpe]

Where were the big fleet carriers? Only light carriers had been spotted since the first week of the war.

[Lowpe]

Feb 1, 1942

Palembang

Yesterday the Japanese launched their fiercest attack yet upon Singapore, but the heavy defenses held. Wavell felt vindicated by moving his command to Palembang, since the proximity gave his staff a little more influence over the battle.

Wavell had liked very much the move to Palembang. Here was a defenders dream. Swampy terrain full of bogs to deny the attackers mobility, plentiful supply, an anchor base to aid Singapore all made Palembang a good area to strengthen. Its main drawback, like Singapore and Ambon, were the lack of fallback positions.

Although while he focused on Singapore, ABDA rushed reinforcements into the theater. The aircraft carriers Hermes and Indomitable were shepherding the Yanks of the Americal division across the Indian Ocean and Wavell decided to base them at Madras for now or at least until their heavy equipment caught up.

Wavell couldn't complain about the Yanks yet, since they seemed eager to uphold their ABDA charter. He would like to see some of their large carriers, but Nimitz had deferred for now. Perhaps if Port Moresby held then the carriers would come.

Supplies, one of Wavell's greatest problems, were flowing in large quantities into India through Karachi. Large convoys made the run further south into Perth. Several ships had made it into Rangoon, which helped the Burma Army immensely. And now, a few large Yank submarines completed runs into Singapore yet their capacity was quite small and not nearly sufficient to satisfy the garrison.

If the Japanese light carriers would be kind enough to stop circling around Batavia Wavell felt he could dash a few small freighters into Singapore. He really needed Hurricanes and Spitfires and there was good news there as several squadrons would be arriving in Karachi soon. Alas, only of Hurricanes but it was a start at regaining air superiority.

[Lowpe]

Feb 3, 1942

Near Milne Bay, at sea

Halsey stood on the flight deck looking at the stricken Wildcat. The tail and right wing looked like swiss cheese she was so holed by enemy fire it was a wonder she flew. A stark testimony to the durability of the plane, however, she would now be written off and used for parts. At least the pilot had survived, and after having tangled with Zeroes several times now the Wildcats on Saratoga had won their pilots' affections for getting them home alive. Always a good thing for morale.

Two strong air raids today with several Japanese ships left on fire gave Halsey with the distinct impression that they had decided to cancel the invasion of Port Moresby. Certainly, between his planes, the Canberra and Warspite groups they had devastated the enemy's ships.

The overall success of the Saratoga had shown the superiority of carrier operations over those Mahan zealots. Think of what he could have accomplished if all four carriers were here, rather than scattered over the Pacific. A proper carrier strike force!

The Saratoga could afford to stay for another day or two, to insure that the Aussie 5th Division safely unloaded at Moresby, then he would need to resupply at Brisbane or Sydney. A shame really, because Halsey would have preferred to keep fighting.

[Lowpe]

One of the Saratoga's Wildcats:

[Lowpe]

Feb 7, 1942

Palembang

The large counter attack at Singapore failed. The Japanese had been launching attacks almost daily for the first week of February and Wavell felt a sharp counter attack would relieve the siege. Unfortunately, the Japanese soldier proved resilient and fought off two determined attacks.

In Borneo, Balikpapen fell. The garrison fought off several attacks until a combined assault from land and sea turned their flank forcing the defenders to retreat. With no significant forces left in Borneo, Wavell could only assume that the Japanese would target Java next.

Despite Wavell's desire to strengthen Palembang, the politicians had forced his hand and demanded that Java be heavily defended. An island to the west would become a staging area for ABDA troops. The Royal Sovereign surface group was in the area and would help insure the safety of convoys.

[Lowpe]

Feb 9, 1942

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese seemed to be regrouping after their recent setbacks. Port Moresby, thanks to the 5th Australian Division, seemed safe for now while Midway and Canton Islands had been quiet allowing resupply.

Warspite and Yorktown were safe in drydock undergoing repairs and convoys escorted troops and planes across the pacific securing a patrolled route across the southern Pacific. American fighters and bombers could be seen over Noumea, Pago Pago, Suva, Tahiti, and Sydney while construction engineers worked at improving those bases.

To Nimitz, it seemed that the operational tempo of the war had changed and he needed to think of enlarging bases for upcoming allied offensives or raids.

[Lowpe]

Feb 17, 1942

Palembang

The Japanese landed on Java's southern tip, albeit with only a small force so far. Wavell, using the excellent railroads of Java, sent reinforcements to repulse the landings.

Further north, The Royal Sovereign group caught some enemy ships west of Sumatra and destroyed them. Perhaps this was the beginning of a new push towards Sumatra and Java now that Borneo and the Celbes were conquered.

[Lowpe]

Feb 19th, 1942

West of Java

They struck from out of the clouds, although radar had given the sailors ample time to prepare a welcome. The Royal Sovereign proved too slow to avoid the torpedoes and now she was limping at 6 knots to Cocos Island and sanctuary beneath a squadron of Hurricanes there.

The British carriers Indomitable and Hermes steamed east from Cocos in an attempt to hit the Japanese carriers, in the area west of Batavia, with torpedo planes of their own.

On Java the appearance of the enemy carriers could not save the last of the Japanese invasion force down south as they were destroyed by fierce Dutch counter attacks.

[Lowpe]

Feb 19th, 1942

East of Singapore

A second Japanese light carrier confirmed sunk.

[Lowpe]

Feb 20th, 1942
Palembang

Wavell looked at the list again. Intelligence had identified at least six full divisions and 15 regiments plus assorted specialty units attacking Singapore. In addition, it seemed weekly that more troops joined the fight. This meant fewer troops in Burma or China most likely.

Against this, Wavell had been unable to help the garrison except for running supplies in by plane and submarine. Now, he would try to run a freighter in at full speed. The crew, volunteers all, would race in and hopefully unload before they were sunk.

Captain Swales, master of the Filleigh, wasn’t much of a sailor according to the Admiralty but he was willing. The Filleigh was damaged by bombs in the air raid yesterday, but Swales was still game to go on tonight. If Wavell could get this ship in the supplies she carried would see to the garrisons’ needs for almost a week.

If Wavell couldn’t get more supplies into Singapore then the garrison would fall within two to three months. The longer they fought here, at Singapore, the more time Wavell had to reinforce Burma and Java -- perhaps launch some type of counter attack.

His position was directly the consequence of Brooke-Popham getting the British 18th Division into Singapore early in the war.

[Lowpe]

Feb 22, 1942

Palembang

With reckless abandon the Japanese continued to hurl wave after wave against the defenders of Singapore.

The Filleigh was able to maker her high speed run into Singapore bringing much needed supplies of ammunition, food, and medical supplies.

However, the fortifications were being destroyed as rapidly as the garrison erected them.

[Lowpe]

Feb 23, 1942

Pearl Harbor

Since the Saratoga had taken up position protecting Port Moresby the Japanese slowed their advances and seemed to be more cautious.

Under fighter protection the Japanese landed troops at Milne Bay which routed a small base force there. In addition, they also took Woodlark Island continuing their isolation of Moresby. The Saratoga's planes hit some transports but now the Japanese have Zeroes to protect their ships.

Japanese raiding ships continue to pester convoys across the Pacific but no losses have been suffered so far this month. Their submarines have been more effective sinking several freighters and also the light cruiser Adelaide.

Signal intelligence still predicted attacks on Midway and Canton Island, but Nimitz had heavily reinforced these and at least for now supplies were flowing in with only minor opposition from the Japanese.

[Lowpe]

March 1, 1942

General games notes. Ironman nasty, hard, two day turns.

The Japanese should take Clark AF base soon. They have continually attacked it and left Manila alone. Supplies are getting scarce, and what is worse is that supplies no longer flow from Manila thru Clark to Bataan. Overall, I think the Japanese have done a good attack in PI. I don’t think Manila can hold out until April if the Japanese attack as furiously there as they did at Clark. The PT boats stung the Japanese early twice before I stopped using them as it seemed gamey to me…

In China the 104th Division, 19th Indep Mxd Brgde, and 23rd Army were surrounded and destroyed at Kukong. Two other LCU groups could be surrounded and destroyed west of Kukong but I have elected to fight defensively there for now. Wenchow fell to a combined land and sea assault. Very large enemy air force units roam most of China while the Flying Tigers are based at Kunming and have only been in one or two small fights. In the north, there is a stalemate in the mountains.

The north Pacific is quiet, and Allied base building is slowly working its way west to Attu.

No sight of the main KB has been seen since Dec. The Japanese have been using CVL task forces to raid around Java, Midway and once Palmyra. The Yamoto has not been seen since the first week of the war, although there is a BB fleet now cruising around north of Java.

In Burma, the Japanese have built up 8 units at Moulmein.

Once Singapore and PI fall, the Japanese will be left with lots of troops. It will be interesting to see where they go.

The victory point ratio is 1.4 down from a high of 1.7. I am expecting a lot of bad events in March: the fall of PI, Singapore, Java, Sumatra and perhaps Port Moresby. Port Moresby is being heavily reinforced, but I suspect once Japanese bombers show up it will become untenable.

This game is great fun...many thanks to AndyMac for making it.

[Lowpe]

March 1, 1942

Across the World

From convoys that ply the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Japanese surface raiders threaten sudden swift attacks.

West of Perth the raider Orion became the prey instead of the hunter and was caught before she could disrupt the heavy Cape Town to Perth shipping lines. Convoys on this run have been reporting enemy planes scouting them far from Perth and the Admiralty is quite concerned that the Australian lifeline could be cut in the future.

The Shichiroji Maru struck three times at a troop transport on the West Coast to Pearl Harbor run but was eventually driven off her ammunition spent.

Additional raiders have been spotted in Tahiti and Noumea threatening the troop buildup in the Pacific.

[Lowpe]

The Pearl Harbor run: