May 13th to May 16th, 1942
North Pacific
We get a single torpedo hit on the
Honolulu on the 14th as she with the
New Mexico and the
Idaho along the Aleutians chain.
Attu is now a shell, with everything bar a few support troops and some sound detector sets left sitting on the island.
Forts are building nicely in the Kuriles, with Etorofu and Paramushiro-juma at level 3 and Kunashiri and Onnekotan-jima at level 2 but well on their way to level 3. Shimishuri-jima is nearly at a level 4 airbase, at which point the 150 odd engineers will build forts before being withdrawn to build Hokkaido and Honshu.
Central Pacific
Token garrisons to outlying islands of limited value are being dispatched. I doubt SNLF companies will hold back an full-out American sub invasion, but it will at least force him to do things properly.
We get some JAAF bombers in to Roi-Namur to run ASW patrols. This isn't permanant, as I want IJN floatplanes to do the bulk of work in this theater, but we're hampered by being stuck with Pete's and Alf's.
Troops are en-route to Alinglaplap, and once they arrive, every base in the Marshalls that has a potential airbase size of 5 will be garrisoned.
South-West Pacific
Nothing new here.
I'm still unsure over the value of building up an airbase at Tassarafonga and at the Russell Islands. While this would leave us with a fantastic airbase complex for torpedo strikes, it is a big investment, and one that will be wasted if the Allies take a different axis of advance.
We'll wait and see.
Austrailia
The plan to take Darwin works perfectly. The 1st Tank Regiment takes the city with the help of IJN paratroopers, while paratroopers seize Fenton, which has been abandoned. IJA troopers are unloading in the harbour, and a host of troop transports are en-route to move the bulk of air support to the size 7 airbase - courtesy of ABDA!
With this, we'll be in a position to destroy the Allied forces in Katherine within a week or two. The two trailing IJA divisions are one hex out from the battle, and their arrival will give the IJA the advantage.
Four slow IJN battleships depart this theater for Singapore and the Akyab bombardment run while
Fuso is being sent for repairs in Singapore.
Burma
In an effort to force the Allies to play the air war game here, I've contrived a series of deep raids behind the lines. There are several bomber bases undefended by fighters that I plan to hit, as well as Diamond Harbour and Calcutta, both of which have ships in port. I'm waiting for more bombers and some Zero's to arrive in-theater before conducting the really deep raids: we'll only have one turn to inflict maximum damage before everything is moved out of range.
Ledo airbase is bombed with the loss of a couple of Allied aircraft. The Allies react by moving in fighters. We'll sweep those fighters in a few days, while our numerous recon planes keep finding us fresh targets.
China
Quiet. We're building up to another attack at Chungking while hunting down the Chinese stragglers outside it.
Some KMT corps make an appearence in north-east China and kick around a garrison. We'll move some local forces to deal with them.
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Guess what arrives in a few days...[/center]
