Meanwhile, in another corner of the multiverse (No Dmitry Z zone)

[John B.]

Suva continues to play the role of Guadalcanal. This is mainly because I have managed to shut down the Nadi airfield with shore bombardments by committing CAs to the defense of the island. I have the port up to level 4 and that coupled with Naval squads and an AKE mean that my CAs can rearm each day and bombard again. Dmitry will need to commit significant naval assets down here or take bases behind Suva to cut it off in order to turn the situation around. Otherwise, it's a turn after turn of steady bleeding. He can do it, the real question is does he want to.

[John B.]

And the real question is what is Dmitry up to. Even in a short time I see that he's the master of the overwhelming focused attack (witness the loss of Ceylon in a week). He's been quiet, almost too quiet. No IJN carriers have been seen for two weeks. So, everyone in India and Australia is digging away! The signs point to India (columns are advancing on Chittagong and Ledo, but not huge columns) and it's the next logical step after Ceylon, but who knows. More reinforcements have made it to the subcontinent including a few small US units and squadrons, but I don't know where the main blow will fall.

[Bif1961]

My Japanese opponent landed at Cailcut and pushed up and down the coast of SW India. We are now in Sep 42 and he is stalemated after using 80,000 to 100,000 troops after pushing in and taking a few cities. I will have 9 Indian Division, 3 US, 1 Brit, Aus and a few armored formations to retake the area by the end of 42. What you have to guard against is him taking Diego Garcia, and the Island that is near the enterance of Aden. If he takes those areas it will help him cut off your reinforcements before he invades India.

[John B.]

That is a very good point. The only downside is that I don't have anything to put in Diego Garcia right now. I've got three US divisions on the way to Capetown with some sundry units but it may be awhile before I can get anyone on there. Scotra (?) is a long way for him to maintain a garrison but you might be right, he may be heading that way. I have another Aussie division to send from Oz but they're holding off until I see where he hits me.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

And the real question is what is Dmitry up to. Even in a short time I see that he's the master of the overwhelming focused attack (witness the loss of Ceylon in a week). He's been quiet, almost too quiet. No IJN carriers have been seen for two weeks. So, everyone in India and Australia is digging away! The signs point to India (columns are advancing on Chittagong and Ledo, but not huge columns) and it's the next logical step after Ceylon, but who knows. More reinforcements have made it to the subcontinent including a few small US units and squadrons, but I don't know where the main blow will fall.

Periods of quiet are when he has taken his transports back to load up for another landing. I expect near Calcutta to cut off your Burma defences and get a major port on the mainland, plus some supply generating in the city.

[Bif1961]

Look at your reinforcement arriving at Aden and maybe assign them, at least a BDE and AV support to Diego Garcia and Scotra.

[John B.]

Well, there was another shock attack at Clark Field and another strong rebuff for the IJA! It's always good to see these troops take some VP with them. And, the end can't be too far in the future for the brave defenders of Clark. We're now down to the brown zone in supply so they won't be able to hold out too much longer. But, they've already made it into April 1942 and thus are costing Japan lots of supply and lots of lost opportunities.

Elsewhere the silence continues. No real move on Oz, India, or China. My troops are digging in across the Pacific theater (including Pearl Harbor just to be safe). More reinforcements are getting into India including a new Indian division this turn and two British Infantry brigades. I'm just sitting and waiting and shelling the troops at Suva.

[John B.]

Well, it looks like he's all in for the deep South Pacific. I think that every carrier he has is down there and he's been seizing a bunch of the tiny islands. Oddly, no sign of any resupply for Fiji. I really could care less about the little dot islands since they're worth so few VP. And, Suva has 80,000 supply and level 5 fort so I think it's safe for now. Pago Pago is also in pretty good shape. Frankly, I'd rather he be wasting time and fuel here and not pushing into India or Australia. It's got to be a long long logistical tail to keep these islands in any sort of fighting shape.

[John B.]

The bad? Well, someone on my side (the jury is still out) managed to get still more of the British navy attached from the air. This time a number of torpedoes from nells and bettys based in Ceylon damaged 5 R class BBs and really damaged the Hemers. The sort of less bad news is that the Indominatable escaped unharmed and several Japanese planes were lost. I think everyone will get away except for the Hermes. Heads will roll when I figure out who did this!!

THe good news is that Demitry did land at Pago Pago and the shore batteries (including the extra one from Australia) have taken a toll of his landing shipping. So far Pago Pago has held out through three shock attacks but there is no fort level left so I don't know how much longer it can last. And, in a burst of glory, PT boats put three torpedoes into a CS and sent it down and took out two AKs as well. [&o]

[BBfanboy]

Taking out a CS is a big win! If it was Chitose or Chiyoda, there goes a potential CVL from his fleet! Even if it wasn't one of those two CS's, he needs them early on for naval search and ASW work so he may have a weakness in his coverage in that area now.[:)]

[Bif1961]

Concur, losing a CS is harmful to the Japanese cause, but it also shows that he can take anything he wants at this point of the conflict. Yes heads will roll if the commanding Admiral for your Birtish TF didn't have the good sense to go down with the ship.

[John B.]

More bad news but then it's April 1942. Pago Pago did fall after three successive shock attacks and Demitry continues to take every speck of land in the So. Pac and, for all I know, he'll head on down to Tahiti and over to Canton Island. But, at some level I'm not sure what this really gets him after awhile. The Aussies are digging in and I've pulled 5 brigades out of New Zealand for the Aussie defense so it will be a tough fight for him there and fuel, at least is coming in through Perth. And, I hope he fortifies everything he takes since I'm not fighting my way back up the chain. I'd cut it in the middle or just go around it. But, that's for the future to decide.

I did get one spot of luck when a CA TF I lost track of ran into an invasion TF of his with the KB just out of range. I sank the three ships and so far the KB has only been able to get a DD from that TF. The bad luck part of this is that in chasing me he did run into an empty TK TF and those lads may be going down. Suva continues to hold with the supply level at 62,000 and the daily bombardment killing 5-7 IJA squads. That is the one fly in his ointment and he's been devoting a lot of resources to trying to take it.

In India the only loss to the torpedo ambush may be the Hermes which is very lucky! Given that he has small forces at Akyab I've launched the 7th armor brigade on a small counter attack that is pushing him around since he has no AT guns. He is bombing them quite a bit but the tanks get a bit disrupted and basically shrug it off since they're in jungle anyway. Good way to keep his bombers from places like Ledo where the hump airlift is getting into higher gear. Stalemate in China. I don't see any weak spots so my troops sit and rest. No sense in wasting supply but I do try to set up aerial ambushes now and again. I also think India is getting safer. They are digging everywhere and I now have a US Division and the British brigades on land.

[John B.]

We are nearing the end of April 1942 and mighty doings continue to be afoot. In the Fiji arena, I hold Suva and it's really a Malta situation. I have 57,000 supply but Dmitry has committed large chunks of the KB to be sailing around down there for about 2 weeks now. I can't get in and he has taken every island and dot from Fiji to Pago Pago. I did send my tank batallion around the island to Nadi and I was not able to push him out, but he can't really hurt it. The entire KB did a ground strike the last turn and killed two tanks. Then, he shock attacked me and lost several squads to no losses of my own. I'm not sure that I'll push him out of Nadi, but he sure is devoting a lot of resources to it. My main worry is getting more supplies to Suva. I continue to bombard since I'm killing 5-10 squads per turn but it does eat up about 500 supply per day.

And, this just in, a large convoy has been sighted heading towards southern India. More as this develops.

[John B.]

Europe may have it's Malta and Tobruk, but we have the epic siege of Suva underway. Dmitry has had it under attack for more than two months and we're just as dig in as ever. The bad news is that my latest attempt to run in supplies cost me 2 CAs, a CL four AKs and two DDs. For this I extracted naval losses of an 3 AKs, a DD, and a TB. That's too expensive and there are unlikely to be any attempts to do so in the near future. And, my attempted end run where I sent a tank battalion and the 7th marine regiment around the island to Nadi did not work. He got too much there and was able to fortify.

But, in the better news category, you can see what his sinking of my ships cost him. I got through to his carrier aircraft and really managed to wipe out the val contingents from at least two CVs and a Kate wing as well (not including the zeros who went down). Since these were all shot down over the ocean, I can only hope that lots of pilots were lost as well. I also think I'm holding him up and preventing his further expansion as he concentrates on taking Suva from me. I do have 57K supply and subs and PBYs are bringing in small drabs so Suva should be able to hold out for a long time or he's going to have to bring in 2-3 more divisions.

China is almost compltely quiet and I have a little offensive going on at Akyab premised on the fact that he has nothing there that can harm my tanks and every now and again I do a LCAP trap on him. [:D]

[panzer cat]

That's a lot of good pilots

[John B.]

The funny thing is that Suva happened by accident. I started sending troops there because the KB stood between the US and Oz and Dmitry told me he had to delay because the Hiryu was damaged in a collision and taken out of service for awhile so he could not press as fast as he would like.

Now, alas, Suva has to hunker down and ride out the storm until help can arrive!

[Bif1961]

With losing 130 KB A/C and probably pilots as well and if the Hiryu is also out of commission he is down to about 3/5th of his AC and they have to be fatigues from constant operations. I hope you have concentrated you subs in an effort to get a lucky shot and even luckier explosive torpedo in one of his remaining Carriers. If he lingers much longer he may be ripe for a well coordinated American carrier strike if u can put 3-4 of them together well rested and supplied. he might be out of torpedoes as well.

[John B.]

It's been a few days and quite a lot of developments. My carrier force did managed a surprise of a IJN fleet attacking the island north of Diego Garcia. Unfortunatly, it was a bit of a damp squib. The IJN was covered by clouds in the morning and there were 10 bomb hits on a BB but no torpedo hits so I think it got away. I do have an operation planned at getting a port strike in that involves lots of planes on both sides. The Carriers should go down to hexes away tonight and hopefully the CAs can get in shore bombardment the day after. Then, assuming this does not all go to hell, the carriers will head to the So. Pac. It's June 1st and I"m pretty sure he's not going to land in India by now. I have the Brits and an American divison and everyone has been digging in.

Alas, Clark field fell two days ago. This is by far the longest that I've ever seen it hold out. Dmitry is convinced that I was flying in supplies but I did nothing special (when you read this Demitry, sorry ). Just stockpiled in december 1942 and sat there and took it for six months.

Suva is still holding out. It's down to 37K supply and I have a sub supply chain bringing in the fresh stuff which may prolong things long enough. We'll have to see.

[John B.]

Well, the first day of port strikes seems to have gone well against Colombo. I did hear sinking sounds after the air raid and the combat reports puts IJN losses at 1 CA, 1 CL, and 1 DD. Plus the dockyard is reduced by 1/2. The down side is that one of his subs put two torpedoes into the Hornet. It is at 51 or so flotation and 44 systems. And, it's on fire at a 16 level. In every game I've played I always lose a carrier to fire even when it gets to port. But, it has to run the gauntlet back to port before I can worry about that.

But, the American carrier group is heading south for one more strike at Colombo to see if I can finish off the ships there. the Hornet is headed to Calicut where hopefully the fires can get put out and (at the very least) the air wings can offload. I did put four hits on the sub but I'm sure that there are plenty more around. On a longer term issue if the Hornet survives it will need to get out of Jap air range pronto or Dmitry will batter it to death but, of course, it has to survive first.

I'm a bit nervous as I don't know where the KB is and I have not seen it for a long time. If he sent it dashing west it could show up and really ruin my day. But, see the IJN TF southeast of Trincomelee. Search says it's PBs and SCs and they seem to have moved full speed out of Trincomelee last turn. If the KB was about to show up, I don't think Dmitry would be trying to save ships in port by moving them away. OTOH, perhaps it's the KB and I'm really screwed.

[GetAssista]

Ouch, keeping good CAs and a BB in forward port w/o good fighter cover is asking for a disaster. Which was promptly properly handed, congratulations.