Sqz stands down. The AAR is now concluded. Sqz (A) vs. obvert (J)

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 13/43:

Air attacks against Tsuyung go well and catch the Japanese unprepared. The initial sweeps encounter a CAP of only four Tojo's over the base and shoot down three. Strangely, the P-47 sweep didn't engage the CAP at all, the Corsair's set to LRCAP did. AAR follows:

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Morning Air attack on Tsuyung , at 68,46

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 36,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 4

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 19
F4U-1 Corsair x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 31000 feet

CAP engaged:
54th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 7000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes

The first bomber raid was the largest and clear skies provided great results. AAR follows:

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Morning Air attack on Tsuyung , at 68,46

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 15
B-17F Fortress x 11
B-24D Liberator x 18
P-40N5 Warhawk x 20
F4U-1 Corsair x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 40
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 97

All told, 81 heavy bombers hit the airbase at Tsuyung. Mouse over after the turn shows 98% damage. The intelligence report indicates seven Tojo fighters destroyed on the ground. Two Corsairs are lost on the day, because the LRCAP bled to heavy Japanese air raids over Paoshan. I must remember to set the range to 0 when assigning LRCAP to stop the bleed. If not for the bleeding LRCAP it's possible I wouldn't have lost any Corsairs at all. A trashed Japanese airbase and ten destroyed fighters is a good day in my books. No air attacks are scheduled for tomorrow.

More of the same elsewhere, as I continue to move stuff around. Pearl Harbor and San Francisco are jammed full. Dock space is at a premium and slowing down the redeployment efforts. Once this initial rush sorts itself out there will be a chance to stagger the taskforces. So much is moving all at once to address the fuel and supply shortfalls. The priority will soon shift to redeployment of LCU's. I must get the engineer and construction units moving to facilitate the expansion of forward bases. There is a massive amount of aircraft and combat LCU's to get into the war.

[SqzMyLemon]

I spent most of my time issuing orders in Burma yesterday. There's been a large amount of Japanese rail movement out of Taung Gyi. There are now 31 Japanese LCU's at Toungoo and I suspect a large number have also been redeployed to Rangoon. It makes sense to use Rangoon as a reserve and rail reinforcements to block whatever route I choose to take. Cutting the rail line will be key to dividing up the Japanese into more manageable bites.

I'm trying to be patient in this theatre. I'd like a few more bases to expand and draw more supply before I move. Having the AA units on hand is critical in my opinion. I have to remain patient and not move before I'm ready. The ground forces have to be self-sustainable as they advance, because the air force will be busy targeting Japanese airbases. Erik loves to sweep before any bombing raids and I hope to use that against him. I should be facing reduced CAP over his airbases. I plan on reducing the Japanese bomber threat by suppressing their airbases, not by direct confrontation. I'll see how things go and how Erik reacts, but I'm counting on him aggressively bombing my ground forces.

Another four CVE's have left Pearl Harbor for redeployment to Suva. That will give me three CVL's and eight CVE's to support operations in the Solomons. The lack of forward engineer and aviation support base forces is the limiting factor right now. I will be conducting amphibious operations that include every unit I need for a base to be self-sustaining. I will resist the urge to rush things in this theatre too. I've begun withdrawing elements of U.S. 2nd Marine and 2nd Aus. Division from Rossel Island and Milne Bay respectively. They will be replaced with NZ Infantry Bde.'s. I've decided on a major amphibious operation to blow this theatre wide open.

[SqzMyLemon]

I've adopted SS Flounder, which just arrived, as my personal submarine this game. With SS Grenadier already sunk, I had to adopt another one, and flounder seems appropriate at this stage of things. [:D]

Her Skipper:

[HansBolter]

Another interesting point about the replenishment air groups is that CVs will preferentially pull replacements from them instead of the pool.

What I mean by this is if both the combat carrier and the replenishment carrier are at the same port, the CV air groups will pull necessary replacements from the replenishment squadron, even if the pool is full, and then the replenishment squadron will pull replacements from the pool.

As long as there is a replenishment air group in range a carrier air group will always pull from it, not the pool.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Another interesting point about the replenishment air groups is that CVs will preferentially pull replacements from them instead of the pool.

What I mean by this is if both the combat carrier and the replenishment carrier are at the same port, the CV air groups will pull necessary replacements from the replenishment squadron, even if the pool is full, and then the replenishment squadron will pull replacements from the pool.

As long as there is a replenishment air group in range a carrier air group will always pull from it, not the pool.

Thanks Hans,

Considering I'll be using a large number of CVE's in upcoming operations, all the information you, and others, have provided on how to use them is invaluable.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 14/43:

A quiet turn with nothing to report.

I did some house cleaning while completing the turn last night.

I'm redeploying all shipping currently in Australia to Sydney. I need to see what I have available for amphibious operations and having so many ships spread out over 6-8 bases was too confusing to organize.

I also need to reorganize the air defence. All my best fighters are currently at Port Moresby and I'm thinking of pulling a lot of them back to Australia for a number of reasons. I've mentioned numerous times now, I don't like my position and feel vulnerable to aggressive counters by Japan in New Guinea and the Solomons. A quick reorganization is in order.

Pearl Harbor ended the day with over 100k of fuel. I've turned the corner here and with the amount of fuel still en route I decided to start sending fuel to Fiji immediately. I'm going to need a lot stockpiled at Suva to sustain upcoming operations. More aviation and construction support units have been dispatched to Fiji. The APA and AKA ships will follow, but they will first be used for the Tabiteuea amphibious operation.

In Burma, all Allied air units remain defensive while the ground forces continue the slow march to reach their new positions. Still weeks away, but the pieces are slowing coming together. Despite the progress, the delay is killing me. At least when I move, it will be difficult for Erik to use the same small delaying tactics, because he won't be facing a weak Allied position anymore.

On a reinforcement note...Holy Crap! I just received 18 LST's, a CVL and a ton of DD's, DE's and around 8 submarines last turn. Wow!

[SqzMyLemon]

Roughly 90% of Chinese forces have reached Karachi, and supply required at the base is now over 100k! I've already assigned more transport capacity for supply runs to India, but I may have to increase the number even further. I believe adding another 200k of regular shipments of supply from Aden to Karachi will be enough. No wonder Burma was in dire straits with lack of supply. I'm offsetting the migration of supply to Karachi, by moving the restricted Army HQ's to Calcutta and bases along the Burma/India border.

In CentPac, Midway's AS has arrived to support submarine operations. Thirsty submarines, originally set to patrolling the Marcus Island area, are arriving to replenish. I'll set up a regular fuel and supply run to keep the base operating efficiently. Allied submarines are being assigned new patrol zones, so the Japanese should start seeing previously quiet areas now patrolled regularly.

Bases across the Pacific are being assigned new roles and a plan on how to utilize currently held enemy bases is being prepared.

[SqzMyLemon]

March 15/43:

The Japanese are busy these days!

After my bombing of Tsuyung's airbase the Japanese fighter strength was deployed in strength over Paoshan and Wazarup. Japanese bombers hit the Chinese at Paoshan prior to a deliberate assault which captured the base. IJA 3rd Tank Division support by two more IJA divisions were involved in the attack. Allied air continues to avoid combat against superior Japanese fighter forces. I won't throw away aircraft and pilots on a ground battle that was already lost, especially one consisting of just base force and construction units.

The loss of Paoshan is worrisome as my flank is exposed. Not leaving a stronger force of Chinese units to garrison Paoshan, or at least along the border blocking the path to Lashio was a mistake. It wasn't on my watch...again.

So the location of two of three Japanese tank divisions are known, Paoshan and east of Ramree Island. I'm guessing the third is either at Taung Gyi or Toungoo.

In light of this recent development, I came up with a plan of attack for Burma. It's going to require Erik to counter aggressively to be most effective, but even if the Japanese don't do what I hope they will I'll be prepared to move forward regardless. The plan remains to march down the Irrawaddy Valley to Prome and Toungoo, but a couple of the finer points of the plan became clear to me last night. Losing Paoshan may complicate matters somewhat, but then again, maybe not. More detail provided soon.

In the Solomons, the weakness of Historiker's forward positions is now being exploited by Erik. Rekata Bay was captured by Japanese paratroops, defeating the Raratonga Det. and elements of an American construction unit. Again, why these small units were sent as the tip of the spear makes no sense as they are easily defeated by just the type of small operations Erik likes to conduct. It's starting to rile me up just having to sit back and take it at the moment. I'm having to pay the piper for a poorly planned advance that had no chance of being sustained. I now have to worry about losing Lunga because it's too far from support, especially with Ndeni hardly built up and Luganville too far away. The construction units can't reach SoPac fast enough.

Right now, I'm in damage control mode. I fear I'll lose more ground before I can shore up my position. It will get better, but again, more time lost doing what should have been done already over the last year. I know I said I wouldn't point fingers anymore, but right now I just have to vent as I watch units that never should have been deployed forward get wiped out.

[SqzMyLemon]

I've been busy the last couple of evenings and have had no time to play, but plenty of time to dwell on things. I'm finding this pick up game to be more of a time vampire than I'd first anticipated. The need to devote so much effort to behind the scenes activities has drained my enthusiasm somewhat. Add to that the recent setbacks and losses and it's hard not to be frustrated right now. That being said, tonight I'll have a chance to sit down and continue to reorganize my forces. A few ideas are beginning to crystalize on how to move forward.

Burma is the one theatre I'm going to be able to move in sooner than later. At first I thought New Guinea and the Solomons were better off, but as I dug more into the details and after recent developments I'm finding the situation more unstable than before. I think I've come up with a sound plan for Burma. I'm going to try a different approach that will allow me to advance, or at least continue to draw large numbers of Japanese forces in response, while I quietly redeploy a number of American divisions for operations in other theatres. There are currently six American divisions committed to Burma which I think are too many.

I find myself just rehashing the same old crap though [:D]. It's going to takes weeks before anything really interesting materializes worth posting.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 17/43:

I sweep Madang in New Guinea and it doesn't go well. One sweep of P-38's at 28k and one of Kittyhawk's at 10k. Four squadrons of P-38's were set to LRCAP at 31k.

The first sweep looks impressive, but appearances are deceiving. Looking at the squadron screens at the end of the day it was clear that almost 75% of the aircraft assigned to LRCAP never engaged. The first sweep lingered so long it took the brunt of the losses.

The second sweep of Kittyhawk's faired just as badly. The plan here was to have a low sweep to keep the CAP down so the P-38's could bounce. It didn't happen as intended. The action started with four lingering P-38's on LRCAP and no Kittyhawk's. When the P-38's were gone, the Kittyhawk's arrived with no LRCAP coverage The combat report indicates 36 Lightning's present, but 32 of those never engaged. On the day I lose 20 P-38's and 6 Kittyhawk's which is a 1:1 trade with the Japanese, which is unacceptable. AAR's follow:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Madang , at 97,123

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 53
J2M2 Jack x 27

Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 66

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 7 destroyed
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 6 destroyed

CAP engaged:
263 Ku S-1 with A6M5b Zero (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 11 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 33000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
381 Ku S-1 with J2M2 Jack (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 11 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
Hiryu-1 with A6M5b Zero (0 airborne, 11 on standby, 10 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Madang , at 97,123

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 13 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 34
J2M2 Jack x 18

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 12
P-38H Lightning x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed
J2M2 Jack: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 2 destroyed

CAP engaged:
263 Ku S-1 with A6M5b Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 14 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 17000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
381 Ku S-1 with J2M2 Jack (0 airborne, 1 on standby, 9 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 14000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
Hiryu-1 with A6M5b Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 12 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes

I will reassess assigning LRCAP to sweeps. I'll try different settings and tactics, but I may be better off going with straight sweeps, no LRCAP and follow up heavy bomber raids on the airbases. I know that I can't trade 1:1 at this stage of the war and expect to go far.

Other than that a quiet turn. I still have weeks of monotonous logistics and troop movements ahead me.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 19/43:

Sneaky Erik pulls a Commander Stormwolf move out of his hat today. Funny, only days ago I sent all the transports from ports in Australia to Sydney, but in this case the submarines were in pier side mode repairing damage sustained after upgrading game versions, so they couldn't be moved. Lucky timing. I have bigger fish to fry right now than worry about protecting every base, so I'm sure Erik will attempt more such missions in the foreseeable future. My fault for not having a CAP, but I can't worry about these kinds of raids right now. Lesson learned though to look out for this in the future, and I recall from Erik's previous games he likes the long range Nell's to hit rear areas as well. I'd rather have two damaged submarines than two damaged carriers though, so I'll shrug this one off. AAR follows:

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Morning Air attack on Perth , at 49,147

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 92 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
H8K2 Emily x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K2 Emily: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
SS Salmon, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Triton, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AMc Djombang, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x H8K2 Emily bombing from 10000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x H8K2 Emily bombing from 10000 feet *
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
8 x H8K2 Emily bombing from 10000 feet *
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Here's the strategic map trying to show just how much I have moving right now in an effort to be able to create some offence soon. Bear in mind most of this shipping was sitting idle in Pearl Harbor, Cape Town, Sydney and the East/West coasts of the United States when I took over. The screenshot is only showing Allied TF's.

[Macclan5]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Here's the strategic map trying to show just how much I have moving right now in an effort to be able to create some offence soon. Bear in mind most of this shipping was sitting idle in Pearl Harbor, Cape Town, Sydney and the East/West coasts of the United States when I took over. The screenshot is only showing Allied TF's.

It looks like a veritable highway of supply.

I do wonder if FDR and the joint chiefs could not simply "walk from ship to ship" to get to Pearl and get a briefing with Nimitz [8D]

No CAP up in Perth - but no PBYs or Wirraways on Naval Search ? i.e. this raid does not seem to precede a bunch of Aks and Aps behind it ?

[Lowpe]

A great picture.[&o]

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Macclan5

No CAP up in Perth - but no PBYs or Wirraways on Naval Search ? i.e. this raid does not seem to precede a bunch of Aks and Aps behind it ?

There's no naval search at Perth, because I'm desperately short of PBY's where they are needed most, and that's the Central, South and Southwest Pacific fronts. When I said I was short of everything at the front, I meant everything [8D]. I've just gotten a number of PBY squadrons reconstituted at Pearl, and they are making their way forward.

I'd actually welcome any Japanese offensive moves against the west coast of Australia, anything to spread out Japan. The Cape Town to Australia LOC has all but been abandoned by me. There's a few stragglers here and there, but nothing important is moving along this route. All logistic efforts for Australia are based out of the west coast of the U.S.

Cape Town is becoming a backwater with Aden doing the heavy lifting to supply India now.

Allied efforts are focused purely on Burma and the impending full scale amphibious operations against the Gilbert Islands and New Guinea/Solomons.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 20/43:

Strategic bombing in Australia was the order of the day. I'm not commenting on it other than to say it just pisses me off, because I couldn't even get moderate success in my other PBEM.

A strange auto-switch occurred in New Guinea. I now have an Australian Bde. and Division isolated. Great. I'm once again going to have to deal with a crappy deployment of troops forward with no support or base structure to support them.

I'm now at a point where I'm going to have to commit the whole navy to sort out the mess that is the Allied forward lodgment in New Guinea. It's that, or deal with months of further delay. I am not a happy camper these days.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 21/43:

A quiet turn, but an interesting development in Australia.

Heavy air attacks against a lone Australian base force at Port Hedland, followed by a paratroop assault that easily captures the base. The number of bombers committed to this attack against Port Hedland, the paratroop assault and the recent strategic bombing indicates Erik has a growing interest in Australia. Whether these are meant simply as harassment or a precursor to bigger things, I don't know. I'm aware I'm passing a lot off on my predecessor for the poor Allied position, but here is another perfect example. Other than base forces and the Australian 1st Division, there are no other combat LCU's at any of the major ports along the coast. Even Perth has a token garrison. All the other Australian combat LCU's are either stuck in New Guinea, or were about to march from Tennant Creek north towards Darwin. These troop dispositions mean there are no reserves handy for any Japanese move directed at Australia. I mentioned a week ago about how I was worried about paratroop drops against airbases crammed full of aircraft in the northeast, and how easy it would be to wipe out whole squadrons with paratroop assaults, due to lack of defensive forces. I am re-evaluating the potential risk of Japanese operations against Australia with all the recent activity, as much as I also welcome it. I wasn't prepared for the strategic raids against Kalgoorlie and Cloncurry, but I'm not keen on just giving further points away for free either, if Erik increases the pressure. Right now he's able to take advantage of the poor Allied dispositions, but this situation won't last for much longer. If he's going to be aggressive, he'd better make hay while he can. I'm fed up with the crappy Allied position and looking to beat up on the Japanese as soon as I can.

I've already addressed the issue of northeast Australia. I can't recombine Australian 1st Division because Histroker had them all set to upgrade, and now one lacks the devices to allow combining. So I sent one component to Charters Tower, Townsville and Cairns. I had already stopped the move against Darwin and redirected a number of unrestricted armour and infantry units to Cloncurry. The armour has already arrived and been redeployed by rail to Brisbane, the infantry is still slogging along the secondary road halfway to Cloncurry. So Australia has reserves, but they are completely out of position to prevent an immediate move against coastal bases. I really don't understand Historiker's playing with such a lack of depth. Everything is committed forward or so poorly as to be practically useless in providing any kind of support or flexibility.

Luckily, I'm moving substantial reinforcements into the Pacific theatre and the first groups are arriving in Fiji. I've also got 8 CVE', 3 CVL's and 3 CV's en route to Fiji. The first group will arrive in two days. Six CVE's and 5 CV's will follow in a week once upgrades are complete. Fuel will be the limiting factor, but I will have the troops and supply available for big moves against New Guinea and the Solomons. I will keep a reserve in Sydney or Suva in case there are any further moves against Western Australia. I have all the divisions Historiker earmarked for his longshot invasion of the Marianas prepping for more realistic targets and most are already en route to Fiji. If Erik does try anything against Australia, New Guinea or the Solomons, I'll have practically the entire navy and a substantial number of air units and roughly 10 divisions to respond with. The Allied position would be so much stronger had everything not been focused on a single objective. Considering the advantage in air and naval assets there was no reason to put all the effort into a Hail Mary.

In Burma, I'm hopefully two weeks away from launching my new ground offensive in the theatre. It's not going to be easy and lack of supply forward is going to be a huge issue, but I've got to start chipping away here. I'm slowly moving the heavy bombers to new airbases behind the lines, but within range to hit as far as Rangoon and Chiang Mai. It's too bad no effort was made to build up more bases around Calcutta. I definitely don't like combining fighters and bombers at forward bases within range of Japanese air attacks. The need to provide CAP to protect the forward bomber bases is a misuse of fighter assets in my opinion.

These latest moves by Erik are just making me a little angrier everyday. Don't get me wrong, it's Erik's way of playing and he looks for every opportunity to apply more pressure. Sound tactics. In this case, I'm getting fed up being on the receiving end of it through no fault of my own. I've reached my saturation point for dealing with crap that I shouldn't be right now. I plan on unleashing a world of hurt soon and it's going to be sweet to get in Erik's kitchen for a change. [:D]

[tiemanjw]

Just caught up on this AAR. Interesting game you have going... I'm actually a little jealous.

A few points from what I can observe on your situation.

First and foremost, I think you correctly identified getting your logistics straight as your number 1 priority. I imagine it is frustrating in that you want to attack, but you need to spend the time to get your support structure in place first. If you do this right (and achieve naval domination) you can leap frog from Hawaii / Fiji / Oz to just about anywhere in the pacific at a rapid pace.
Get your bases built to max, bring in supply (literally over a million supply and fuel points at your key nodes / starting points will be needed for a good naval blitzkrieg - as an AFB now you can do this!)
Get your tenders in place. AKEs and ADs especially... you can't have too many of them. ARs / ARDs are next. Use TKs (and AOs) to refuel other ships (TKs can refuel other ships when disbanded in port).
Assemble the death star.
There are several routes you can take in and around the Pacific.


The next most important thing (which you didn't mention much of) is intel. I see you asked for a few weeks of combat reports. Is there any way you can get sigint reports from Historker (sp)? Identifying his OOB is important if you want to attack. Otherwise, you will need to wait a few months to allow your new sigint to catch up.


As for Burma, I think the key is Prome. It is not subject to Monsoon, and has no supply draw limits. It can pull supply from Akyab, Cox's and Chittagong it good amounts - especially if you can dump a lot into Akyab by sea. Build the base / forts up big in all the other bases to maximize the amount of supply they can draw as well.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: tiemanj

The next most important thing (which you didn't mention much of) is intel. I see you asked for a few weeks of combat reports. Is there any way you can get sigint reports from Historker (sp)? Identifying his OOB is important if you want to attack. Otherwise, you will need to wait a few months to allow your new sigint to catch up.

As for Burma, I think the key is Prome. It is not subject to Monsoon, and has no supply draw limits. It can pull supply from Akyab, Cox's and Chittagong it good amounts - especially if you can dump a lot into Akyab by sea. Build the base / forts up big in all the other bases to maximize the amount of supply they can draw as well.

I'm not too worried about the overall intelligence picture. I've been tracking my SigInt since I took over and Erik has provided me a good part of his OOB in Burma by way of bombardment attacks. I'm unsure of what exactly is at Rabaul, but I plan on landing with enough strength to deal with whatever I find.

I agree about Prome in Burma, and that base is my primary objective. If I can open up the Akyab, Ramree Island and Prome LOC then supply problems should diminish. I'm in the process of trying to draw Japanese units back to the Taung Gyi area. If successful, I plan on blocking the rail line to force any reinforcement of the south to a long march. I still hope to coordinate a large naval amphibious operation to reinforce Ramree Island and drop off a large amount of supplies. I may not be able to get enough shipping in place soon enough though. Still, even 25k-50k would help immensely if I can get it safely unloaded at Ramree Island.

Time wise, I think Monsoon season is over, or close enough to not be an issue until May.

[SqzMyLemon]

Nov. 22/43:

Another quiet turn. No new developments against Australia. Just the usual Japanese bombing of Sining in China.

The first batch of CVE's will arrive in Suva tomorrow, followed a day later by the CVL's. I sent the first BB taskforce out from Pearl Harbor. They are old ones due a 10/43 upgrade that takes 45 days. I want to invade within that period so they'll upgrade when operations are over, providing they don't get sunk of course. I want to get the other five carriers moving, but still have to wait a week for three of them to finish. Two are ready though, so I may decide to send them tomorrow. I have a large fuel TF of 200k originally bound for Pearl Harbor, but I'm going to divert it to Fiji instead. The next round of tankers are loading up at San Francisco now, so fuel constraints will be easing somewhat in the short term. Pearl Harbor ended the day with 210k of fuel.

I've started my diversionary movement back towards Taung Gyi in the hopes of drawing Japanese troops up from the south. I'm just awaiting the first batch of AA units to arrive at Katha then I start the movements against Shwebo and Mandalay which are undefended.

[SqzMyLemon]

The first operation I have planned in the Solomons is to secure Kirakira. It's a small operation meant to deploy an American base force and construction regiment to build an airbase. A New Zealand infantry brigade will provide defensive support.

As more support units arrive at Luganville they will be assigned objectives in the Solomons and deployed via small manageable amphibious TF's. All objectives will be assigned an infantry brigade to provide combat support for the aviation and construction troops.

I hope to lull Erik into thinking I'm going to take my time with these small amphibious operations to build up a supporting network of bases before any major move against Rabaul. That isn't going to be the case though. Regardless of the state of airbase expansion around Lunga and Tulagi, once the Rabaul invasion shipping and troops are assembled at Suva and Luganville, the fleet sets sail. There will be near simultaneous landings at Munda, Shortlands, Rabaul, Feni and Kavieng. A reinforcement package with supply is assigned for Lae.

Preliminary recon of Tabiteuea has been ordered based out of Luganville. I have no idea of the defences, but if they appear weak the amphibious forces will set sail as soon as they can be assembled. A massive effort is being made to get the troops and supply in place before the end of the year.