Greyjoy(J) vs. Obvert(A) - The air war in China- DBB, SLs, PDU OFF

[GreyJoy]

Feb 04, 42

Quite a turn.

CALCUTTA FALLS and the Whole British army surrenders!!!

Unfortunately, every single HI, LI, Res or whatever present there is destroyed [:@] Not lucky here...

The allies sent the B17s against Palembang...and they hit, despite the huge defence put there...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Calcutta at 52,37

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko
CA Chokai
CL Kiso
CL Kinu
CL Naka
CL Sendai
DD Harukaze
DD Hatsuharu
DD Suzukaze
DD Samidare
DD Murasame
DD Hatsukaze
DD Oyashio
DD Kuroshio

Allied Ships
xAK Testbank, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
426 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 21 (5 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 17 (4 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Manpower hits 5
Light Industry hits 1
Resources hits 1
Fires 694
Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 17
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 52
Ki-27b Nate x 44

Allied aircraft
B-339D x 2
B-17E Fortress x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27b Nate: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-339D: 1 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged

Manpower hits 1
Fires 369

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
Yamada Det S-1 with A6M2 Zero (3 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes
3 planes vectored on to bombers
Ryujo-1 with A6M2 Zero (7 airborne, 15 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 10 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (8 airborne, 18 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes
14 planes vectored on to bombers
77th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (6 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 6 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
Taiyo-1 with A6M2 Zero (6 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Calcutta (52,37)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 83776 troops, 930 guns, 479 vehicles, Assault Value = 2377

Defending force 34102 troops, 269 guns, 436 vehicles, Assault Value = 696

Japanese adjusted assault: 1452

Allied adjusted defense: 697

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Calcutta !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
2306 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 117 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 37 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
42053 casualties reported
Squads: 1070 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1277 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 225 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 336 (336 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 649 (649 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 15

Assaulting units:
55th Engineer Regiment
23rd Ind Engineer Regiment
9th Ind Engineer Regiment
21st Division
22nd Ind Engineer Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
2nd Division
24th Ind Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
38th Division
7th Ind Engineer Regiment
5th Division
18th Division
27th Ind Engineer Regiment
4th Ind Engineer Regiment
14th Guards Regiment
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
20th AA Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Southern Army
30th Fld AA Gun Co
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Mortar Battalion
25th Army
36th Field AA Battalion
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
31st Fld AA Gun Co
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
26th Fld AA Gun Co
55th Mountain Gun Regiment
16th AA Regiment

Defending units:
255th Armoured Brigade
44th Indian Brigade
Fort William
254th Armoured Brigade
18th British Division
45th Indian Brigade
50th Tank Brigade
1st Patiala Lancers Regiment
43rd Cavalry Regiment
36th Indian Brigade
Eastern Command
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
India Command
6th Heavy AA Regiment
35th Light AA Regiment



Now need to decide what to do...i'll sleep over tonight and will decide Tomorrow...

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Feb 04, 42

Quite a turn.

CALCUTTA FALLS and the Whole British army surrenders!!!

Unfortunately, every single HI, LI, Res or whatever present there is destroyed [:@] Not lucky here...

The allies sent the B17s against Palembang...and they hit, despite the huge defence put there...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Calcutta at 52,37

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko
CA Chokai
CL Kiso
CL Kinu
CL Naka
CL Sendai
DD Harukaze
DD Hatsuharu
DD Suzukaze
DD Samidare
DD Murasame
DD Hatsukaze
DD Oyashio
DD Kuroshio

Allied Ships
xAK Testbank, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
426 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 21 (5 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 17 (4 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Manpower hits 5
Light Industry hits 1
Resources hits 1
Fires 694
Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 17
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 52
Ki-27b Nate x 44

Allied aircraft
B-339D x 2
B-17E Fortress x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27b Nate: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-339D: 1 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged

Manpower hits 1
Fires 369

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
Yamada Det S-1 with A6M2 Zero (3 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes
3 planes vectored on to bombers
Ryujo-1 with A6M2 Zero (7 airborne, 15 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 10 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
50th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (8 airborne, 18 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes
14 planes vectored on to bombers
77th Sentai with Ki-27b Nate (6 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 6 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
Taiyo-1 with A6M2 Zero (6 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Calcutta (52,37)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 83776 troops, 930 guns, 479 vehicles, Assault Value = 2377

Defending force 34102 troops, 269 guns, 436 vehicles, Assault Value = 696

Japanese adjusted assault: 1452

Allied adjusted defense: 697

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Calcutta !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
2306 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 117 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 37 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
42053 casualties reported
Squads: 1070 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1277 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 225 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 336 (336 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 649 (649 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 15

Assaulting units:
55th Engineer Regiment
23rd Ind Engineer Regiment
9th Ind Engineer Regiment
21st Division
22nd Ind Engineer Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
2nd Division
24th Ind Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
38th Division
7th Ind Engineer Regiment
5th Division
18th Division
27th Ind Engineer Regiment
4th Ind Engineer Regiment
14th Guards Regiment
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
20th AA Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Southern Army
30th Fld AA Gun Co
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Mortar Battalion
25th Army
36th Field AA Battalion
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
31st Fld AA Gun Co
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
26th Fld AA Gun Co
55th Mountain Gun Regiment
16th AA Regiment

Defending units:
255th Armoured Brigade
44th Indian Brigade
Fort William
254th Armoured Brigade
18th British Division
45th Indian Brigade
50th Tank Brigade
1st Patiala Lancers Regiment
43rd Cavalry Regiment
36th Indian Brigade
Eastern Command
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
India Command
6th Heavy AA Regiment
35th Light AA Regiment



Now need to decide what to do...i'll sleep over tonight and will decide Tomorrow...

Tough luck on the industry, but did you get a stockpile of booty from the capture at least?

[GreyJoy]

1750 fuel, 69 oil and not a single supply point.... can't say i'm happy

[GreyJoy]

Now i have 7 divisions at Calcutta... free to go...where???

The idea is to split this huge army: send immediately 2 IDs to Colombo, 2 to Madras, 2 North towards central India and 1 with 2 regiments to conquer Assam and close on Burma...

What do you think?

[JohnDillworth]

Now i have 7 divisions at Calcutta... free to go...where???

The idea is to split this huge army: send immediately 2 IDs to Colombo, 2 to Madras, 2 North towards central India and 1 with 2 regiments to conquer Assam and close on Burma...

What do you think?

Colombo and the rest of Sri Lanka will give you the best return on investment. This will be the outer crust of the empire that will delay supply to China. Build and hold. good bases here

[Encircled]

Chase him back to Karachi or Bombay, bottle him in and harvest the rich bounty of the sub-continent for the glory of Nippon.

He made a mistake trying to hold there, make him pay for it.

[GreyJoy]

Ok guys, the strategy is decided:

- the 25th Army, composed around the 18th and the 5th IDs (the ones that suffered the less during the siege of Calcutta) will load on transports and will immediately head to Ceylon. 4 Artillery units and 2 Eng Regiments will be in support. Will follow an Air HQ and 3 base forces.

- The 15th Army, composed of the 2nd and the 55th IDs will advance north, towards Patna.

- Part of the 25th Army (33rd and 38th IDs, along with tanks and artillery) will move down the coast towards Madras

- The 21st ID, 2 tank Rgts and some engineers will close on the Assam towards Ledo, thus eliminating every resistance in Burma.

- the 5th Guards ID (well, 2 regiments of it for the moment) and a mixed Bde, will remain at Calcutta, providing garrison duties.


The idea is to conquer Ceylon, Madras and the whole Assam by the end of Feb 1942


The 26th ID, just bought from China, will be moving towards Singapore, waiting for its new assignement



In the while, the 16th Army (4th and the Imperial IDs) is closing on Sosarbaja. The 56th ID will move towards Batavia in the next week.
The idea is to have all of them free to move out of Java by the end of Feb 1942.

Hopefully, by 1st March 1942, I may have at least 5 divisions able to move for one last big push.



Now I really hope to gather some decent resources in india... having found Calcutta completely destroyed and without a single sip of fuel was just disappointing

[veji1]

You might want to use some of your good ground forces in China as well later in 42, to ensure that you bottle it up properly after your earlier setback... Well done on Calcutta. And tough luck on Palembang, you are discovering the hardship of PDU off : with PDU you can often defend well enough your keybases with you CAP, but with PDU off the only solution is to deny him all the bases in range of your vital points !

[GreyJoy]

Feb 5-6, 1942

INDIA: After the fall of Calcutta, my armies are spreading around, while the allies are running back everywhere. Paras took the bases with rail road junction in them, so cutting any further retreat from Assam. 2 Rgts of the 5th Guards ID are already moving down towards Ledo and Dacca.
The 18th and 5th IDs are loading on transports, while the 55th ID is already moving to Ansalon.
Car Div 1 is finding only empty oceans near Scoodra... that is normal cause he saw me coming, but I hope I am delaying the arrival of reinforcements from CT and Aden. Every day gained here is gold for my advances.

JAVA: Recon bombardment at Sosabaja shows only pitfull garrison there. We'll attack tomorrow with the 16th Army and 2 Divisions. The base should fall at the first attempt I guess, depending on forts (but clear terrain should help!)

PI: here we just had an interesting situation. 3 PI Divisions came out of Manila, trying to flank my 14th Army sieging Clark. The 65th Bde and 2 tank rgts were waiting for them. Just in case I called back one of my 2 divisions from Clark... Ordered my air army to bomb the hell out of them but they didn't fly for two days in a row...
They didn't attack on the 5th and on the 6th the Japanese delivered their hammer, squandering completely the poor filippinos in clear terrain...
Then the allies launched a counterattack at Clark, held just by one division...but got repulsed and hopefully expended some precious supply!

Ground combat at Cabanatuan (80,76)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26908 troops, 247 guns, 218 vehicles, Assault Value = 867

Defending force 11718 troops, 148 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 417

Japanese adjusted assault: 706

Allied adjusted defense: 87

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
207 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3810 casualties reported
Squads: 114 destroyed, 99 disabled
Non Combat: 67 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 32 (15 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
4th Tank Regiment
Kure 1st SNLF
48th Division
7th Tank Regiment
65th Brigade
Sasebo 1st SNLF
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
41st PA Infantry Division
51st PA Infantry Division
71st PA Infantry Division






round combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21523 troops, 237 guns, 249 vehicles, Assault Value = 675

Defending force 18966 troops, 173 guns, 184 vehicles, Assault Value = 336

Allied adjusted assault: 454

Japanese adjusted defense: 1228

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
352 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
641 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 55 (1 destroyed, 54 disabled)

Assaulting units:
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
192nd Tank Battalion
45th PS Infantry Regimental Combat Team
14th PS Engineer Regiment
194th Tank Battalion
4th Marine Regiment
31st PA Infantry Division
2nd PA Constabulary Division
21st PA Infantry Division
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
Clark Field AAF Base Force
202nd PA Construction Battalion
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
301st Construction Battalion
201st PA Construction Battalion
I Philippine Corps
803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion
Far East USAAF
1st PI Base Force
301st PA Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
16th Division
3rd Ind Engineer Regiment
21st Ind Engineer Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
14th Army
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion




SOPAC: we're massing a big number of SNLF units at Rabaul. The idea is to be ready to land at Suva by the end of the amphib bonus... i will need the KB there, so it all depends on how proceed the operations against India.

CHINA: nothing new, except for the fact the my BBs are approaching HK and the 26th ID is ready to be loaded at Shangaii.

[GreyJoy]

I now badly need to finish with Mindanao. I brought with me too little forces and now am paying the price of my stupidity with a huge delay... I need those units to be sent to India for garrison purposes and I need them asap!

Tomorrow will be 2 months since the war started... we've done pretty well I'd say. Java is about to fall. Assam too. Timor already fallen. NG completely in my hands along with Horn Island. Balikapan is still missing, along with Luzon...but things look better than what I had hoped. China is a mess, but isn't that strategical as long as I hold Assam and Burma strongly.

[GreyJoy]

CVL Soho arrived today. Will now wait a week in order to fill her with zeros and to gather enough escort to move her out. Her first trip will probably be escorting invasion of Cebu and later on Balikapan-Samarinda (once Java is finished)

[GreyJoy]

Feb 7, 1942

Sosarbaja fell easily. Now we'll clear Southern Java while the 56th ID will close on Batavia.

Ground combat at Soerabaja (56,104)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26546 troops, 245 guns, 68 vehicles, Assault Value = 831

Defending force 9163 troops, 74 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 116

Japanese adjusted assault: 494

Allied adjusted defense: 45

Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Soerabaja !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
304 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3647 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 119 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 68 (60 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 14
Units destroyed 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
4th Division
Imperial Guards Division
16th Army
5th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
Marinier Battalion
2nd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
3rd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Prajoda Garrison Bn /1
2/12th Avn Sup Afd
NI-MLD
224 Group RAF
Soerabaja Defenses
112th RAF Adv Base Force
2/2nd Avn Sup Afd
Madoeng Defenses
Soerabaja KM Base Force
1/12th Avn Sup Afd
2/9th Avn Sup Afd
106th RN Base Force

The base is lightly damaged with only 3 oil and 10 ref damaged.


speaking of industrial damages.... the single 500lb bomb hit from the B17s of the last week... you know what happened at Palembang??
17 Fires started to burn... 17. Seventeen.
After two days, they were still burning.
Then i got this message in the op report: fire causes damages to Palembang!
Result? 45 oil gone. Com'on!!!!![:@][:@][:@][:@]


In India we're advancing fast with tanks and paras.
Cuttack, Viza, Ranchi, Jamesedpur... all fallen empty. Some intact industry finally gets into my hands... but very few oil or fuel[:o]

The 18th ID starts loading. The 5th will begin Tomorrow.
The 15th Army is on the move towards Madras.
Not a sign of opposition in the air.
CarDiv 1 keeps on finding empty seas east of Scoodra.

[GreyJoy]

in India Obvert seems to be moving everything back, not contesting anything. This suits me well. I can advance faster. The only problem will be garrisoning...gotta think where to draw a line and stop

[GreyJoy]

Forces present in India:

25th Army:
18th Division
5th Division
21st Division
33rd Division

15th Army:
38th Division
55th Division
2nd Division
5th Guards Division


Forces arriving in theatre in the next month:
26th Division


Forces freeing up in the next 30 days or so:
16th Army:
Imperial Guards Division
4th Division
56th Division


The question is simple: what to do with these forces before the amphib bonus expires?

[GreyJoy]

The minimum goals for the end of Feb 42 are the following:

Assam: complete the conquest of Assam (Dacca, Comilla, Chittagong, Imphal etc...)
Ceylon: complete the conquest of Ceylon (Colombo and Tricomalae at least)
Madras: siege and conquer Madras
Java: end the resistance at Java, with the conquest of Batavia
PI: clear Mindanao once for good and possibly conquer Cebu
Borneo: by march 42 I need to have finished the conquest of Balikapan and Samarinda

Then, what's next?
For sure I wanna get Diego Garcia, Addu and Male. Mavis placed there would be very handy.
Northern Oz is more than an option. Already have Horn Island, I wanna get on Darwin. I should have plenty of forces to get there and to estabilish a decent defence for the upcoming counteroffensive

What else should I do?

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

The minimum goals for the end of Feb 42 are the following:

Assam: complete the conquest of Assam (Dacca, Comilla, Chittagong, Imphal etc...)
Ceylon: complete the conquest of Ceylon (Colombo and Tricomalae at least)
Madras: siege and conquer Madras
Java: end the resistance at Java, with the conquest of Batavia
PI: clear Mindanao once for good and possibly conquer Cebu
Borneo: by march 42 I need to have finished the conquest of Balikapan and Samarinda

Then, what's next?
For sure I wanna get Diego Garcia, Addu and Male. Mavis placed there would be very handy.
Northern Oz is more than an option. Already have Horn Island, I wanna get on Darwin. I should have plenty of forces to get there and to estabilish a decent defence for the upcoming counteroffensive

What else should I do?

I hear San Diego is nice this time of year :p

[castor troy]

if your opponent abandons Ledo then don't shock attack across the river but just keep a unit within 2 hexes and the base will auto switch without taking damage. Even an empty base takes damage if you shock attack into it and the 70 oil/ref there is a nice catch for the Empire. If he leaves it lightly garissoned, just bomb them to death, it's a clear hex.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

if your opponent abandons Ledo then don't shock attack across the river but just keep a unit within 2 hexes and the base will auto switch without taking damage. Even an empty base takes damage if you shock attack into it and the 70 oil/ref there is a nice catch for the Empire. If he leaves it lightly garissoned, just bomb them to death, it's a clear hex.

Ledo is jungle terrain, and he's already massing there at least 8 units. Possibly some Chinese too. Won't be that easy to conquer... I will need to shock attack there I'm afraid...

[princep01]

What to do now, indeed??? A very rapid and largely successful blitz thru the DEI/Indian Ocean.

However, it seems you have stopped attending your Chinese language lessons. Will you just try and contain the Chinese while you digest the DEI/Malay/Burmese and Indians? One suspects they can do little offensively for some time to come. Eventually, they will have to be dealt with.

And those pest, the Americans? The paper Tiger will sprout real teeth by late 1942. Whatever will you do to hamper their offensives beginning in the latter half of the year?

decisions, decisions....so many decisions.

[GreyJoy]

Feb 9, 10

India:

The KB on the 9th moves towards Karachi. We haven't found anything so far. Nothing at Ceylon. Nothing at Scoodra, not in the middle of IO. We've looked near the usual approaches from CT and Aden...nothing.
On the 9th we finally spot the first ships at Karachi. a 7-ships-TF. An AMC and a AM are spotted. We ordered Tanaka to engagé with 4 CAs and DDs.
On the night of the 10 we engaged at karachi.


Task Force 6 encounters enemy Task Force at 40 , 8
Japanese Ships Reported to be Approaching!
Allied TF begins to get underway
CA Kako hits Mk XVII Mine at Karachi

F***... the allied TFs slips away and we hit a damned mine[:@]

Luckly we had also sent a small DD TF towards the northern approaches...

While Tanaka engages some stupid PCs...

When the day comes my small DDs suprise the enemy and sink 2 big liners...full of troops!!

Day Time Surface Combat, near Karachi at 38,4, Range 6,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Hasu
DD Tsuga
DD Susuki, Shell hits 1
DD Tsuta

Allied Ships
xAP Devonshire, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Lancashire, Shell hits 28, and is sunk

Allied ground losses:
3441 casualties reported
Squads: 112 destroyed, 104 disabled
Non Combat: 136 destroyed, 142 disabled
Engineers: 20 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 75 (65 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (8 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Poor visibility due to Thunderstorms
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms: 6,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
Range closes to 12,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
Range closes to 7,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 6,000 yards
Japanese open fire on surprised Allied ships at 6,000 yards
DD Tsuta launches Torpedoes at xAP Devonshire at 6,000 yards
DD Tsuga launches Torpedoes at xAP Lancashire at 6,000 yards
Range closes to 3,000 yards



Don't know what these troops where doing on ships. They didn't come from Aden, nor from CT (i have placed 2 CL+3DDs TFs next to the approaches, with subs all around them and the KB right in the middle... those troops must have been loaded at Karachi...but in front of the KB?!?!?! pretty strange!


Anyway, a good day finally... except for the mine hit...

In Southern India we keep on expanding our perimeter. Reconned Madras...only 3 units? [X(] He must have abbandoned everything! GOOD!!!!

In China we finally bombed seriously Wenchow

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Wenchow at 89,58

Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato
CL Tama
CL Isuzu
DD Kuri
DD Fuyo
DD Asagao
DD Sanae
DD Kuretake
DD Wakatake
DD Shigure

Allied ground losses:
245 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

Manpower hits 3
Fires 2053
Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 13
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Won't let this base operative.

At Luzon the usual bombings. Nothing new.

26th ID is at sea...moving South.


A CV is spotted near Christmas Is. probably the CV (reported moving 3 knots!) moving to PH... 8 subs are dispatched to hunt her down