Looking at some of the propaganda posters, some are a bit shocking. REALLY shocking for that era. I hesitate to post them here, let alone hang them on a building in 1941 for the world to see,
Crikey you turn your back for 5 minutes and look what happens.
Rightio- no screenshots yet as I haven't figured out the best way to do those (hints welcome) but here's the state of play from the Commonwealth end.
It appears the WJD (wee jap dobbers) are going after New Zealand and/or Australia- or it's a clever ploy to draw our forces down there before they shift towards India, or knowing our opponents- Alaska! Regardless if it is a ploy it's working.
Nadi has fallen and I don't expect Suva to last long- especially with the KB parked to the south of the island. There are 4 USA arty batallion's there with the 45th USA base group and the 8th NZ brigade. The initial attack was repulsed and forts are at level 3 with reasonable supply levels (10K).
Fragments of the unrestricted units are being flown out to Vava'u and will be moved further back for rebuilding if required,
The initial assault on Noumea failed but a follow up force has landed at Koumac and is 2 hexes NW of the lonely garrison. There are no reinforcements in sight and I expect it to fall shortly. USA forces are largely being deployed in the Pacific so the Aussies and Kiwis are on their own.
Our opponents have pushed south very aggressively and the obvious location of the KB offers some potential to ambush the follow transport and invasion forces. At this stage that won't include the US carriers which retired back to the West Coast after getting stuck near Christmas island waving an empty gas can and with their thumbs out (the team that started this PBEM which we took over did not have tanker/AO support with the carriers).
However the Aussies have done reasonably well- ambushing one TF at Koumac, unfortunately after it had already unloaded. A as yet undetected AVD/AVP group at Luganville is providing good intelligence on Jap shipping movement in the area but the surface forces available are limited with some requiring urgent repairs in Oz.
Given the moves south in the Pacific I'm running supplies in from Cape Town to Australia but the first convoys are only just now rolling in. Port Moresby has fallen and forces are concentrated south of Rockhampton to avoid having significant forces cut off in Queensland or the Northern Territory should the WJD land further south. Aussie infantry divisions are rebuilding well and I've already started upgrading the militia to CMF squads.
The DEI is a bit of a mess with Singapore having just fallen (my fault for having forces in rest mode and not noticing the movement pipe- so the impact of the shock attack river crossing was not terribly debilitating on the Japanese. One of the reasons Singers fell was that significant forces were cut off further up the Malay peninsula. On the bright side the WJD have been very lax at preventing the evacuation of these troops and the 11th Indian div has escaped largely unscathed (AV 334) and approximately half the 9th Division has been evacuated.
Supplies are being shovelled into China through Rangoon as fast as we can get them in there and there's a nasty (as yet undetected) speed bump being constructed at Port Blair. Malay is defended by the starting units, the reformed 1st Burma Div and the 16th Indian Brigade.
With more Indian units recovered than expected the 18th Indian Division is on the way to Australia and will be followed by the 6th Australian Division. Most troops will be concentrated on the east coast of Oz as it's relatively easy to cut off troops in Perth. This could be a problem if the WJD take NZ and the west coast of Oz.
Ok- Naval losses we're in reasonable shape, 1CA, 2CL's and 10 DD's lost. POW is pretty banged up with system damage (it was like that when we got it- honest) and will after repair at Capetown/East coast be released for CV escort duties. The Japanese have lost (apparently) BB Kongo, CL Tatsuta and one DD. I can't vouch for Kongo as it was lost prior to our start date (11th Dec)- I doubt it's gone down as we're only showing 86pts for Jap ship losses.
Well that's enough for now. The game will be on hold for a bit with Fabertong not available. Feel free to ask any questions or alternatively let the AAR live up to it's title [:D]
Repairing ships in Oz with KB sitting off Suva seems pretty risky. It seems customary nowadays for KB to make a tour of the Australian coast on its way back to base.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth