The valor of ignorance: CharlieVane (A) vs. Bristolduke (J). RHS scen 123

[FlyByKnight]

Singapore:
There were bombing attacks on my unoccupied. The industry would be a better target, we haven't outlawed strategic bombing.
I heard another 2 sinking sounds, but no new ships on the sunk list.
China:
Today was a great aerial victory. I saw that a lot of bombers were being sent to Fochan at 5000 feet on the 16th, so I set the AVG to sweep at 5000 feet, and they caught not just an attack on Fochan, but a high-level attack on Wuchow. This, combined with an attack on Heng Chow (Where the ROC fighters are grouped) led to 22 Idas and 10 Sonias perishing.
Silent service:
Spearfish fired 4 torpedoes at Nagato near Sasebo, but missed. She was in a convoy with a whole lot of Marus.
At Saipan, Cachalot fired at a Medium rare-cooked Shiratsuyu.
Wake:
Another attack on thr 16th:


Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3240 troops, 134 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 71

Defending force 1666 troops, 81 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 17

Japanese adjusted assault: 20

Allied adjusted defense: 21

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
112 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
175 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
84th/I Naval Guard Unit
84th/II Naval Guard Unit
84th/III Naval Guard Unit
JNAF 33rd AF Unit

Defending units:
USN Wake CPNAB (+)
USMC 1st Defense Battalion
78th Coast AA Regiment

New toys:
CV Indomitable, a Greek Destroyer minelayer, and some American planes in Australia arrived on the 16th. Unit withdrawals have been turned off, so while I can get more use out of the British carrier, I'm not sure what that would be in the first place. 37 planes out of 48 slots on a carrier with the main naval fighter being a 2-seater? Yech. Maybe when more of the ladies arrive.
On the 17th, 4 boring xAKs and a YP arrived on the west coast and off-map bases around that area.
The No.488 NZRAF squad converted to Hurricane TropII under my nose alongside a 3-plane Dutch unit that converted to a USA B-25d squad and not the MLD. It's also showing the rest of the USA B-25 tree. There's another MLD Buffalo unit that has the RAF Buffalo as its default upgrade too. Interesting. Also, there's a half dozen French P47s and P-51s in their pool.

BY THE WAY:
We had a brief exchange of PMs and I learned this:

I have made no moves in Manchuria or plans to attack Russia.

Then curiosity led me to check the Japanese settings in Scenario 123. Those units are planning to attack the USSR by default.

[FlyByKnight]

Singapore:
There's a new pattern for Singapore: 1 sweep by 44 Nates, 1 sweep by 4 Nates, and then a raid of Nells from Borneo that doesn't do much. Nothing else.
Burma: Tavoy was captured on the 18th, and a base hex near Ye was occupied on the 19th. Three Japanese battalions tried to attack the province of Prachuap, where the Free Thai units were reinforced by a Burmese battalion, but they've not succeeded. Another Japanese army is in Surat, where 2 different Thai remnant stacks mustered behind newly-built level one forts.
NEI:
There are some sporadic convoys to Australia and NZ. The Japanese have 2 battalions in Pontianak, but their fatigue is bad enough that the Dutch and Indian units there are still fighting.
Luzon:
Forts in Clark went to 4 on the 19th. Quezon was snagged on the 18th.
China:
The Japanese are fighting hard for Chu Hsien. 2 attacks where they had the AV advantage but lost more men.
I'm getting my big army out of Nanchang. We have 100000 men next to 30000 Japanese, but not enough supplies for a prolonged attack with hostiles on the way. I will try to hold Kyuko and its Swamps.
For some reason Bristolduke is sending B5m Mabels on strafing attacks in Chu hsien. 2 have been shot down by Flak so far.
Intel:
We got a whole mess of intel reports about which units are where. Not that it helps much. IJN Maloelap Base force is at Maloelap, etc.
New toys and preparations:
4th MDF battalion is unloading at Luganville alongside the Tulagi base force. A Kiwi engineer unit will join them. When the big Destroyer TF from the East coast arrives I will see about organizing more convoys of Base forces to Australia.
The last component of the 6th Aussie division arrived in Aden. Soon they'll head to Burma.
3 Beautiful sisters arrived in Panama on the 19th:
BB Idaho arrives at Balboa/Panama City

BB New Mexico arrives at Balboa/Panama City

BB Mississippi arrives at Balboa/Panama City
Not sure what to do with them. Meanwhile, Warspite left the docks on the 18th.

[FlyByKnight]

Singapore:
2 Annes came in on the 20th, one was shot down. The usual pattern resumed on the 21st. An RAF HQ arrived in Singapore on the 20h. Not much help since it has no AV. Then on the 21st came the 243 RAF squadron with 24 Hurricane II's and 14 in squad reserves. Since I don't care to see them get nibbled away by 48 Nates, I sent the extra planes to the general reserve and withdrew the squad.

NEI/ Sir Robin:
Washboard (Ryuujo) TF caught up with the tail end of my 3 or 4 AKL task forces fleeing from Manila at the entrance of the Makassar strait. Armed with bombs came 18 Kates that sank 2 AKLs on the 20th and 2 clipper APcs on the 21st. Meanwhile, 2 other ships collided, one has around 28 float damage, but the TF made good time to Sorebaja.
Pontaniak was captured with 10 Japanese losses on the 20th

China:
On the 21st, this happened:

Afternoon Air attack on 12th Army Force, at 76,57 (Wuchow [P River])

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-36 Ida COOP x 10
Ki-51b Sonia GPDB x 5

Allied aircraft
CAF H81-A3 Tomahawk x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-36 Ida COOP: 4 destroyed
Ki-51b Sonia GPDB: 3 destroyed

No Allied losses

CAP engaged:
AVG 1 Adam & Eves with CAF H81-A3 Tomahawk (9 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 7 minutes

9 Idas and 6 Sonias were lost or vice versa.

I tried to attack Hsin Yang and Paotow, the latter might fall within the week.

Siam:
There has been a lot of fighting for Prachuap:


Ground combat at Prachuap Khiri Khan (54,64)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3517 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 136

Defending force 1562 troops, 8 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 33

Japanese adjusted assault: 75

Allied adjusted defense: 63

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
182 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
125 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
II./124th Infantry Battalion
III./124th Infantry Battalion
I./143rd Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
RTAF 5th EAB
2nd Burma Rifles Battalion
Yuwachon Admy 56 TU
Prachup Prov Police


Ground combat at Prachuap Khiri Khan (54,64)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3446 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 123

Defending force 1448 troops, 6 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 22

Japanese adjusted assault: 60

Allied adjusted defense: 35

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
146 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
II./124th Infantry Battalion
III./124th Infantry Battalion
I./143rd Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
2nd Burma Rifles Battalion
RTAF 5th EAB
Yuwachon Admy 56 TU
Prachup Prov Police

Subs:
S-18 fired a dud at Nagato, who was still part of that big AK TF near Takao. They were heading southwest, so I re-routed a half dozen submarines milling around out there
The next day, Salmon attacked one of the transports, but missed.
Near newly-captured Gorontalo, KXVI found this task force:

Sub attack near Gorontalo [Corn] at 72,96

Japanese Ships
DD Kuroshio
CA Suzuya
CS Chitose
CS Mizuho
DD Amatsukaze
DD Hagikaze
DD Arashi

New units:
DD Morris arrived in Panama on the 21st and a lot of support units arrived in the East coast.

Misc:
AK City of Exter arrived in Pearl Harbor with 10 SYS damage from a 30KG bomb. Probably an aggressively scouting Glen.

[FlyByKnight]

Here's the big events for the past few days:
JAN 22:

Ground combat at Surat Thani Prov (51,68)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8358 troops, 171 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 276

Defending force 2938 troops, 28 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 81

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 220

Allied adjusted defense: 81

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

Japanese forces CAPTURE Surat Thani Prov !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
146 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2770 casualties reported
Squads: 49 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 290 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 41 (41 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 22 (22 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 7

Assaulting units:
II./143rd Infantry Battalion
15th Assault Engineer Regiment
55th Pack A Inf Regiment
RTMC 3rd "Malayu" Regiment
3rd "Mixed Gun" Field Artillery Regiment
18th Mobile "10cm" Field Artillery Regiment
32nd Draft Field AA Battalion

Defending units:
RTA 6th DHQ+39th Battalion
RTA 6th Div/38th Battalion
RTA 6th Div/40th Battalion
RAF 108th Base Force
Sisophon Admy 52 TU
RTA 6th Div/15th Field Artillery Battalion
Surat Prov Police


Ground combat at Prachuap Khiri Khan (54,64)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3367 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 113

Defending force 1341 troops, 6 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 17

Japanese adjusted assault: 49

Allied adjusted defense: 15

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Prachuap Khiri Khan !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
72 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
856 casualties reported
Squads: 55 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 76 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2
Units destroyed 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
III./124th Infantry Battalion
II./124th Infantry Battalion
I./143rd Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
2nd Burma Rifles Battalion
RTAF 5th EAB
Yuwachon Admy 56 TU
Prachup Prov Police


Ground combat at Chu Hsien [E China] (88,56)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37533 troops, 429 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 1032

Defending force 16717 troops, 81 guns, 59 vehicles, Assault Value = 353

Japanese adjusted assault: 519

Allied adjusted defense: 862

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
600 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 47 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
497 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Assaulting units:
RGC 25th Temp Division
RGC 4th Route "Rgt" Battalion
22nd Pack B Plains Division
RGC 24th Temp Division
21st Draft B Division

Defending units:
Warlord 28th "Cps" Division
NRA 48 Grilla Rgt Battalion
NRA 3rd War Area
10th Army Group

Submarine attack near Mersing [Malaya] at 51,81

Japanese Ships
xAK Kusuyama Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS RNN KXII

xAK Kusuyama Maru is sighted by SS RNN KXII
SS RNN KXII launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Kusuyama Maru

JAN 23:

ASW attack near Rabaul [Nw Brit] at 106,125

Japanese Ships
AO Toho Maru
AO Kokuyo Maru
DD Ushio
DD Sazanami

Allied Ships
SS S-35, hits 2

Ground combat at Fo Kang [S China] (78,58)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25875 troops, 138 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 806

Defending force 3754 troops, 34 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 145

Allied adjusted assault: 546

Japanese adjusted defense: 26

Allied assault odds: 21 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1570 casualties reported
Squads: 26 destroyed, 39 disabled
Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
431 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
NRA Pol Sect
NRA 63rd Corps
ROC 35th Heavy Corps
NRA 49th New Lt Division

Defending units:
1st Ind Pk B InfGrp

JAN 24:

Sub attack near San Francisco [CA] at 215,69

Japanese Ships
SS I-3

Allied Ships
YP-283, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
YP-279

SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes at YP-283
I-3 diving deep ....
Escort abandons search for sub

YP-283 sank.

Ground combat at Huo Hsiang [NEChna] (88,41)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 32210 troops, 411 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 1079

Defending force 41366 troops, 266 guns, 173 vehicles, Assault Value = 1227

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 385

Allied adjusted defense: 1333

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 0)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1433 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 151 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled

Allied ground losses:
768 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 60 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
41st Pack B Division
37th Draft B Division
4th China Pack C Brigade
6th Draft "15cm" Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
ROC 33rd Corps
ROC 34th Corps
NRA 3rd Corps
NRA 68th Corps
4th Army Group
NRA 1st Artillery Brigade
NRA 20th Artillery Brigade

Ground combat at Yala Prov [S Thai] (51,74)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4894 troops, 62 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 192

Defending force 443 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 16

Japanese adjusted assault: 176

Allied adjusted defense: 5

Japanese assault odds: 35 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
655 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Assaulting units:
113th Draft B Inf Regiment
JAAF 5th Field AF Construction Battalion
JAAF 21st AF Bn

Defending units:
RTA 6th Div/42nd Battalion
Pattani Prov Police

Ground combat at Paotow [Inner Mon] (92,34)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34617 troops, 207 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 963

Defending force 9044 troops, 130 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 231

Allied adjusted assault: 547

Japanese adjusted defense: 625

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

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

Japanese ground losses:
959 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 48 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
417 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
NRA 11th Corps
NRA 34th Separate Brigade
NRA 81st Corps
Warlord 2nd Cav Cps Division
Muslim 5th Cav Cps Division
17th Army Group

Defending units:
4th Cavalry Brigade
1st Cavalry Brigade
NCPC 3rd Cadet Battalion

JAN 25:

Ground combat at Hohhot [Yellow R] (92,35)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2396 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 68

Defending force 4298 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 117

Japanese adjusted assault: 21

Allied adjusted defense: 55

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
NCPC 1st Cadet Battalion
NCPC 2nd Cadet Battalion

Defending units:
NRA 5th New Lt Cps Division

Ground combat at 83,60 (near Amoy [Formosa Strt])

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26366 troops, 91 guns, 70 vehicles, Assault Value = 895

Defending force 3822 troops, 82 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 139

Allied adjusted assault: 567

Japanese adjusted defense: 151

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1047 casualties reported
Squads: 37 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 38 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 20 (8 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
394 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
NRA 60th Corps
NRA 207th Division
NRA 51st Grlla Rgt Battalion
NRA 4th Grilla"Rgt" Battalion
NRA 208th Division
NRA 7th War Area

Defending units:
102nd Draft B Inf Regimental Combat Team

JAN 26:

Submarine attack near Monterey [CA] at 219,74

Japanese Ships
SS I-3

Allied Ships
xAK Sage Brush, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

xAK Sage Brush is sighted by SS I-3
SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Monterey [CA] at 218,72

Japanese Ships
SS I-3

Allied Ships
xAK Sage Brush, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

xAK Sage Brush is sighted by SS I-3
SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes

Ground combat at Sinn Sien [NEChina] (92,38)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1021 troops, 6 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 307

Defending force 34224 troops, 158 guns, 41 vehicles, Assault Value = 1055

Japanese adjusted assault: 0

Allied adjusted defense: 2086

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
358 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (2 destroyed, 27 disabled)

Assaulting units:
9th Mtn IndMxd Pk B Brigade
5th Armored Car Co
26th Division Recon Regiment

Defending units:
NRA 69th Lt "Corps" Division
PLA 4th New Fld Amy Corps
NRA 77th Corps
13th Army Group (-)
NRA Hopei War Area

MISC:
The San Diego and destroyer TF arrived at San Francisco on the 25th.
The first Oil convoy for New Zealand arrived in Auckland on the 26th.
2 Chinese divs and an Artillery unit are heading for Nanping (Newly added base 2 hexes from Chu Hsien), because it is an Urban-light hex with Level 2 forts.
A PBY spotted Flat flattop (Ryuujo) TF between Manado and Ternate.

[FlyByKnight]

Combat reporter isn't working right for turns after mid January, so bear with me.
Singapore:
The big convoy that was rerouted to Singapore is reported as unloading at Mersing. At Singapore itself, the Japanese renewed attacks on the 28th:

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33574 troops, 481 guns, 480 vehicles, Assault Value = 1160

Defending force 48161 troops, 574 guns, 774 vehicles, Assault Value = 1083

Japanese adjusted assault: 1016

Allied adjusted defense: 3453

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
3091 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 280 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Guns lost 41 (3 destroyed, 38 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
279 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 49 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
Sasebo 8th SNLF
148th Draft B Inf Regiment
56th Pack A Inf Regimental Combat Team
56th Division Recon Regiment
41st Draft B Inf Regiment
1st Tank "Rgt" Battalion
11th Infantry Regimental Combat Team
12th (18 Div) Engineer Regiment
Yokosuka 4th SNLF
25th Army
18th Division (-) Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
IA 11th Division
NZ 24th Pioneer Coy
IA 3rd Cavalry Regiment
CW Malay 1st Battalion
IA 2/17 Dogra Battalion
BA 2nd Gordons Battalion
RAF 113th Light Base Force
BA 2nd Loyal Battalion
CW Singapore Fortress
CW SSVF Brigade
CW Malayan Air Wing
BA 1st Manchester Battalion
CW Singapore Base Force
CW Malay 2nd Battalion
AIF 22nd Brigade
AIF 27th Brigade
IA 12th Brigade
RAF Far East Cmd
BA 3rd Heavy AA Regiment
CW 2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
IA III Corps
RAF 224 Group
IA 22nd Mountain Gun Regiment
BA 80th (-) AT Gun Regiment
IA 1st Heavy AA Regiment
RN Eastern Fleet
RAF 226 Group
BA Malaya Army
ABDA
BA 5th Field Regiment

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 220 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 886

Defending force 47769 troops, 574 guns, 775 vehicles, Assault Value = 1026

Assaulting units:
148th Draft B Inf Regiment
41st Draft B Inf Regiment
56th Division Recon Regiment
12th (18 Div) Engineer Regiment
11th Infantry Regimental Combat Team
Imperial Guards Division
1st Tank "Rgt" Battalion
Sasebo 8th SNLF
56th Pack A Inf Regimental Combat Team
Yokosuka 4th SNLF
25th Army
18th Division (-) Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
AIF 27th Brigade
CW Singapore Base Force
IA 2/17 Dogra Battalion
BA 1st Manchester Battalion
IA 11th Division
NZ 24th Pioneer Coy
AIF 22nd Brigade
CW SSVF Brigade
CW Singapore Fortress
CW Malay 2nd Battalion
CW Malayan Air Wing
CW Malay 1st Battalion
BA 2nd Loyal Battalion
IA 3rd Cavalry Regiment
RAF 113th Light Base Force
BA 2nd Gordons Battalion
IA 12th Brigade
CW 2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
IA 1st Heavy AA Regiment
RAF 224 Group
RN Eastern Fleet
IA III Corps
BA 3rd Heavy AA Regiment
ABDA
RAF 226 Group
BA 80th (-) AT Gun Regiment
RAF Far East Cmd
BA Malaya Army
IA 22nd Mountain Gun Regiment
BA 5th Field Regiment

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31593 troops, 478 guns, 478 vehicles, Assault Value = 918

Defending force 47889 troops, 574 guns, 776 vehicles, Assault Value = 1039

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 747

Allied adjusted defense: 7285

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 9 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1814 casualties reported
Squads: 41 destroyed, 198 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Guns lost 44 (17 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Vehicles lost 72 (9 destroyed, 63 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
311 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled

Assaulting units:
56th Division Recon Regiment
11th Infantry Regimental Combat Team
41st Draft B Inf Regiment
148th Draft B Inf Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
56th Pack A Inf Regimental Combat Team
12th (18 Div) Engineer Regiment
1st Tank "Rgt" Battalion
Sasebo 8th SNLF
Yokosuka 4th SNLF
25th Army
18th Division (-) Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
CW Singapore Base Force
NZ 24th Pioneer Coy
IA 2/17 Dogra Battalion
BA 2nd Loyal Battalion
IA 3rd Cavalry Regiment
CW Malay 2nd Battalion
IA 11th Division
AIF 27th Brigade
RAF 113th Light Base Force
BA 1st Manchester Battalion
CW Singapore Fortress
BA 2nd Gordons Battalion
AIF 22nd Brigade
CW Malayan Air Wing
CW Malay 1st Battalion
CW SSVF Brigade
IA 12th Brigade
RAF 224 Group
IA III Corps
ABDA
CW 2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
BA Malaya Army
RAF 226 Group
BA 3rd Heavy AA Regiment
IA 1st Heavy AA Regiment
RN Eastern Fleet
BA 80th (-) AT Gun Regiment
RAF Far East Cmd
IA 22nd Mountain Gun Regiment
BA 5th Field Regiment

Burma:
The Japanese entered Moulmein on the 30th and captured Ye on the 28th.

China:
After 2 days of sustained Deliberate attacks on the 27th-28th, Chinese units captured Paotow!.

Ground combat at Paotow [Inner Mon] (92,34)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34335 troops, 207 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 941

Defending force 8774 troops, 130 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 208

Allied adjusted assault: 800

Japanese adjusted defense: 427

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
513 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
231 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
NRA 34th Separate Brigade
Warlord 2nd Cav Cps Division
NRA 81st Corps
NRA 11th Corps
Muslim 5th Cav Cps Division
17th Army Group

Defending units:
1st Cavalry Brigade
4th Cavalry Brigade
NCPC 3rd Cadet Battalion

Ground combat at Paotow [Inner Mon] (92,34)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34112 troops, 207 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 920

Defending force 8319 troops, 129 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 172

Allied adjusted assault: 596

Japanese adjusted defense: 225

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Paotow [Inner Mon] !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2527 casualties reported
Squads: 69 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 184 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 17 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 57 (51 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 92 (91 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
283 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Warlord 2nd Cav Cps Division
NRA 34th Separate Brigade
NRA 81st Corps
NRA 11th Corps
Muslim 5th Cav Cps Division
17th Army Group

Defending units:
4th Cavalry Brigade
1st Cavalry Brigade
NCPC 3rd Cadet Battalion

While the usual bombings continued, fighting sparked up at Hsin yang on the 27th:

Ground combat at Hsin Yang [MothrRd] (86,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 116029 troops, 599 guns, 31 vehicles, Assault Value = 3340

Defending force 35400 troops, 396 guns, 216 vehicles, Assault Value = 1081

Allied adjusted assault: 1664

Japanese adjusted defense: 1471

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1004 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 133 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 42 (3 destroyed, 39 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (2 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4373 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 365 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 97 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 37 disabled

Assaulting units:
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 12th Corps
NRA 84th Corps
Hopei 59th Heavy Corps
NRA 29th Corps
Manchu 51st Lt Cps Division
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
Szechn 89th Lt Cps Division
NRA 30th Corps
Muslem 82nd Fld Amy Corps
NRA 92nd Corps
22nd Army Group
NRA 12th Ind Field Artillery Regiment
11th Army Group
NRA 3rd Heavy Mtr Regiment

Defending units:
1st Ind Mixed Dr B Brigade
52nd Road Const Co
13th Draft B Mirror Division
58th Pack B Inf Regiment
RGC 12th Temp Division
RGC 18th Temp Division
JAAF 67th AF Co

As well as at Sinn sien through the 28th:

Ground combat at Sinn Sien [NEChina] (92,38)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6725 troops, 135 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 507

Defending force 34189 troops, 158 guns, 41 vehicles, Assault Value = 1055

Japanese adjusted assault: 6

Allied adjusted defense: 1315

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 219 (fort level 0)

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

Japanese ground losses:
3424 casualties reported
Squads: 208 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 90 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 79 (35 destroyed, 44 disabled)

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

Assaulting units:
13th Draft B Inf Regiment
11th Draft B Inf Regiment
9th Mtn IndMxd Pk B Brigade
5th Armored Car Co
26th Division Recon Regiment
11th (26 Div) Mobil Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
NRA 69th Lt "Corps" Division
PLA 4th New Fld Amy Corps
NRA 77th Corps
13th Army Group (-)
NRA Hopei War Area

Ground combat at Sinn Sien [NEChina] (92,38)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 835 troops, 40 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 315

Defending force 34157 troops, 158 guns, 41 vehicles, Assault Value = 1051

Assaulting units:
13th Draft B Inf Regiment
11th Draft B Inf Regiment
9th Mtn IndMxd Pk B Brigade
5th Armored Car Co
26th Division Recon Regiment
11th (26 Div) Mobil Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
NRA 69th Lt "Corps" Division
PLA 4th New Fld Amy Corps
NRA 77th Corps
13th Army Group (-)
NRA Hopei War Area

Ground combat at Sinn Sien [NEChina] (92,38)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 840 troops, 40 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 321

Defending force 34157 troops, 158 guns, 41 vehicles, Assault Value = 1051

Assaulting units:
11th Draft B Inf Regiment
13th Draft B Inf Regiment
5th Armored Car Co
9th Mtn IndMxd Pk B Brigade
26th Division Recon Regiment
11th (26 Div) Mobil Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
PLA 4th New Fld Amy Corps
NRA 69th Lt "Corps" Division
NRA 77th Corps
13th Army Group (-)
NRA Hopei War Area

NEI:
The Defenders of Pontianak were continuously harassed in a rout towards Ketapang.

Ground combat at 55,91 (near Pontianak [Bor])

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 2538 troops, 44 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 93

Defending force 483 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 9

Japanese adjusted assault: 44

Allied adjusted defense: 4

Japanese assault odds: 11 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(+), morale(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Allied ground losses:
180 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
I./4th Infantry Battalion
II./4th Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
MLD Sambas Base Force
LVA Pontianak Base Force
RN 106th Base Force

Ground combat at 55,91 (near Pontianak [Bor])

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2538 troops, 44 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 93

Defending force 35 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 33

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 33 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), morale(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
I./4th Infantry Battalion
II./4th Infantry Battalion

Defending units:
LVA Pontianak Base Force

New Britain:
The Rabaul base force is also getting pursued.
29-30:

Ground combat at Gasmata [Nw Brit] (103,127)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4648 troops, 48 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 169

Defending force 535 troops, 10 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 6

Japanese adjusted assault: 17

Allied adjusted defense: 13

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
Maizuru 1&3 Cmb SNLF

Defending units:
AUS Rabaul HQ & Det Base Force

Ground combat at Gasmata [Nw Brit] (103,127)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4641 troops, 48 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 168

Defending force 527 troops, 10 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 4

Japanese adjusted assault: 129

Allied adjusted defense: 4

Japanese assault odds: 32 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Gasmata [Nw Brit] !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-), morale(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
44 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
123 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (3 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (10 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Maizuru 1&3 Cmb SNLF

Defending units:
AUS Rabaul HQ & Det Base Force

Philippines:
Reinforcements are moving into Clark field from Lingayen. Butuan (east of Cagayan) fell on the 27th.

Misc:
I figured out how to use the "request veteran" button to pull pilots of any XP level to a group.
Oil/fuel convoys are heading from Java and Abadan to supply Australasia and India respectively. I'm going to lose Java anyway, might as well put those resources to use.

[FlyByKnight]

Pre-dawn hours of February 3rd, 1942:
"Sir, you need to take a look at this."
Lieutenant commander Coe sighed. In the cramped conditions of the S-39, the last thing he wanted was vagueness.
"Spit it out, man." He groaned to the petty officer peering through the periscope. They'd spent the past few days patrolling off Mersing in the vain attempt to catch the phantom second wave of Japanese transports that were heading there. It had all started in Mid-January when the Submarine Spearfish sighted a Japanese battleship near Sasebo that was part of a large transport convoy. The confused USFFE command had attempted to string together an net of subs to intercept the tantalizing fleet. Battleships were big enough targets when not slowing down to keep pace with transports. As mid-January stretched into the final 3rd of the month, the end result of the allied sub net was a Dud hit on the battleship from the oldest Submarine in the Asiatic fleet.
For their part, the men of S-39 had made a satisfactory impact on the war. The day after the dastardly Japanese bombing of Manila, S-39, which had already been out on patrol, headed off to Legaspi and hit a Japanese transport with two torpedoes. The following day their commander (A man named Easton, serving as CO of the one-ship "task force") had ordered the Sub to surface and shell a light cargo ship. The crew was not especially well trained in deck gun usage, and despite setting the ship on fire the commander ordered the attack to be broken off while they still had some ammo.
Not content with merely damaging a small transport, he managed to find a larger vessel and score 3 torpedo hits on it, giving the crew the kill they had wanted.
From there S-39 had retired to Manila and Coe was placed in full command of the sub.
Their 2nd war patrol took S-39 to the coast of Indochina. There the old sub scored another notch, destroying a converted patrol boat with one torpedo hit, but also exhausting most of its torpedoes along the way. Now they were patrolling a small box near Mersing, and it seemed something had wandered into their path.
Coe stepped up to the periscope to find out just what he had to see for himself. The moonlight this night was perfect, the way every Sub skipper dreams of (especially those without radar). The moment he spotted the target, he licked his lips.
Prancing along in front of him among a horde of transports was a Jap battleship. Not just one of their Battlecruisers. In the moonlight, he could clearly make out the silhouette of the unfortunate sea maiden. He'd done his reading, and even with frazzled nerves from lack of sleep and sub life in general, he could tell from the turret layout that it was a battleship. Not one of those six-turret monsters, but still a juicy prize.
Here, at night, moon or not, you might as well stick an apple in her mouth, because dinner's about to get served.
The metaphor was probably far more foolish than it sounded in his mind, but who would question him when he scored a hit?
"Load all tubes...10 degree spacing...fire One! Two! Three! Four!"
He didn't much care if a stray torpedo hit one of the transports. Bagging the Battleship was the foremost concern. Rumors were spreading about the Japanese attack on an equally brazenly unescorted American carrier. The score needed to be evened.
Coe watched with pleasure as a torpedo impacted the Starboard side of the Battleship, just under the bridge. The explosion lit up the night and the ship began to list noticeably.
"Take us down and head along our assigned course north."
For all he knew many of those harmless-looking transport ships were actually converted patrol boats, and there was no need to get greedy. The American subs found themselves in a sort of friendly competition with their Dutch allies, who were not plagued by shoddy torpedoes. Coe doubted they'd come near to topping this achievement anytime soon.

[Yaab]

Can you give us a rundown of your economy situation?

[FlyByKnight]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Can you give us a rundown of your economy situation?

I'll try to break it down:
The West coast is flooded with materials, but LA has some damaged industry and resources that will be left unrepaired because the total cost would be something like 300000 supplies.
Canada is well stocked (hundreds of thousands) in Vancouver. Not so much everywhere else.
Alaskan bases of Kodiak and Dutch harbor have only 3000 supplies. but I can't resupply them until spring. Seward and Anchorage have plenty of supplies and resources but only 6000 fuel combined.
Pearl harbor is well stocked with everything, minus no oil and just 8000 resources.
Australia is a mess. Darwin is currently the only base with more than 1000 fuel and oil. The other major bases have at The major bases have over 10000 resources, though.
Java is well stocked, so much so that I'm making small-scale efforts to move valuable materials to Australasia and India.
Sumatra is abandoned.
There's some smaller bases in Ambon and Borneo with enough supplies to withstand a siege.
In Luzon there are 14000 supplies in Manila, 35000 in Clark, and 4500 in Bataan.
India is short on oil in the major coastal bases but there's plenty of supplies and resources. I'm moving TK convoys of fuel and oil to the main ports on both coasts from Abadan.
Cape Town needs Fuel and oil.
The "Western Europe" (UK) base needs Resources and oil, just 10000 of each there now.
China has plenty of supply in major bases but only around 5000 others, but they aren't at risk of a siege.

Singapore is down to 50000 supplies.

[FlyByKnight]

Today, I started experimenting with Wikipedia's infobox feature (Something people often use on Alternatehistory.com). Having figured it out easily, I would like to present to you all with an "article" about the most notable event to occur in the past few days. I will continue these if you like. Please note that certain details may be missing, but you can just write that off as a deliberate attempt to simulate typical Wikipedia laziness in this alternate timeline:
Battle of Dipilog- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

[FlyByKnight]

...Is doing the same thing over and over again with the hopes of attaining a different result. But what if one tries to do the same thing but in greater quantity? and what if the result is mildly different? Still not the ideal result, but certainly different.
As I chronicled in a fake Wikipedia entry in my last post, on February 6th P40's at Cagayan de Oro attempted to interdict Japanese landings at Dipilog. Unfortunately I was unaware that the Escort carrier Taiyou was attached to the task force. The end result was 19 Warhawks getting ambushed by 11 Zeroes, resulting in 4 getting shot down for 2 Zeroes (Though if it is any consolation, another 2 were lost to ops and I received more reports of Zeroes lost to ops for a few days after the battle) and only 5 making it through to attack. Of those five only one dropped its bomb and hit a target. Over the course of the next few days I sent another P40 group through Cagayan to Tarakan and then Koepang. Then on the 13th I saw in the replay that a Japanese invasion fleet was landing two more units at Cotabato. Hoping that this new task force might have a different composition than the last, and believing in the logic of "Just add more", I set the two resting P40E Warhawk groups to Naval attack at 100 feet and set a Catalina to Naval search with an arc centered on the landing site.
Like I said, the end result wasn't the same as the last attack. A strike of 23 Warhwaks flew in at an estimated altitude of 9000 feet through an overcast...and ran into 12 zeroes. Annoyingly, despite the weather and altitude, one of them was destroyed by flak and another damaged, but a replacement flew in. Combat with the zeroes left 3 Warhawks to slip through. They all missed, and combat report showed one of them shot down by flak. The battle summary reported 5 Warhawks destroyed and 1 damaged, another destroyed by flak for two zeroes.
Aircraft lost tells a very different story. There I saw that 7 Warhawks were shot down in combat, 2 from flak and 4 to ops. 4 zeroes were lost in exchange, all from Air combat.
While the first attack was a miracle, with one man wounded, this attack cost 5 Pilots KIA (EDIT: Apparently one of the 6 dead pilots was an OS2U pilot who died in a crash landing!), one wounded, and one missing. The problem is that though I set two groups to attack, only one seemingly sent the majority of planes involved.

The 3rd squadron of the 24th PG did not take part in the raid on Dipilog, but they are quite experienced from past battles. Though many of them are on the top pilots list, only 2 of them are dead and one MIA, and they all had EXP in the high 50's and 60's. One man even became an Ace during the fight.
Intel says the TF has a DD, CA, and a BB, which explains the effectiveness of the flak. I believe El Cid has buffed Japanese AA quite a lot. Anyone have proof/rationality behind this? I'm sure it wasn't as bad as most sources say.
What I don't get is why the planes attacked transports and not these high VP units in the TF. That is normal naval attack procedure, yes?
Another minor success on the 13th: the successful withdrawal of the RAF base force. Those guys have been fighting since the Japanese invaded their base of Miri,then they fell back to Brunei, then Beaufort, then the inland province of Tenom. After getting pushed into a no-name hex south of Tenom, they were 2 hexes movement from Tarakan. Pursued by a Japanese unit, they made the long trek into Tarakan safely. Morale is 15 and EXP 50, but they're quite intact despite all the fighting. Meanwhile, the Japanese pursuers are stuck in a jungle hex with nothing to show for it.

[paradigmblue]

If you're going after the shipping, send those warhawks in at wavetop level. They'll sometimes manage to sneak under high CAP, and they'll also strafe, inflicting damage on lightly armored ships, like transports. Their bombs will also be much more accurate.

[FlyByKnight]

ORIGINAL: paradigmblue

If you're going after the shipping, send those warhawks in at wavetop level. They'll sometimes manage to sneak under high CAP, and they'll also strafe, inflicting damage on lightly armored ships, like transports. Their bombs will also be much more accurate.

That's what I'm doing-Naval attack at 100 feet. The trouble seems to be that they fly towards the target at higher levels (The Estimated Altitude value in the combat reports), and thus the Fighters can get at them. I could be wrong though. Also, what does the "Raid spotted at -- NM" message refer to?

[FlyByKnight]

Yet another ATT.net glitch made us go 3 days without exchanging a turn until I asked on Saturday about the inaction. The pace has started to pick up these past two turns.
At Singapore, the Japanese Deliberately and then Shock attacked. Total Japanese casualties have to be 10000, while Britain is down 600 men.
In Hsin Yang, I sent in some reinforcements and launched two deliberately attacks in a row.

Ground combat at Hsin Yang [MothrRd] (86,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 157379 troops, 778 guns, 39 vehicles, Assault Value = 4731

Defending force 35850 troops, 396 guns, 216 vehicles, Assault Value = 1131

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 2599

Japanese adjusted defense: 1475

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1536 casualties reported
Squads: 30 destroyed, 117 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4135 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 383 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 66 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 27 (2 destroyed, 25 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Manchu 51st Lt Cps Division
NRA 12th Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 30th Corps
Hopei 59th Heavy Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
ROC 47th Corps
NRA 2nd Corps
Muslem 82nd Fld Amy Corps
NRA 29th Corps
Kwangtung 66th Hvy Corps
NRA 84th Corps
Szechn 89th Lt Cps Division
NRA 92nd Corps
NRA 12th Ind Field Artillery Regiment
22nd Army Group
11th Army Group
NRA 3rd Heavy Mtr Regiment

Defending units:
RGC 12th Temp Division
13th Draft B Mirror Division
RGC 18th Temp Division
1st Ind Mixed Dr B Brigade
52nd Road Const Co
58th Pack B Inf Regiment
JAAF 67th AF Co
Ground combat at Hsin Yang [MothrRd] (86,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 154815 troops, 777 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 4449

Defending force 34562 troops, 396 guns, 216 vehicles, Assault Value = 1006

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 2045

Japanese adjusted defense: 1827

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2333 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 221 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 54 (1 destroyed, 53 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2417 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 172 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 65 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled

Assaulting units:
Muslem 82nd Fld Amy Corps
Hopei 59th Heavy Corps
NRA 12th Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 2nd Corps
Kwangtung 66th Hvy Corps
ROC 47th Corps
NRA 84th Corps
Manchu 51st Lt Cps Division
NRA 30th Corps
Szechn 89th Lt Cps Division
NRA 29th Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 92nd Corps
22nd Army Group
NRA 12th Ind Field Artillery Regiment
11th Army Group
NRA 3rd Heavy Mtr Regiment

Defending units:
58th Pack B Inf Regiment
13th Draft B Mirror Division
1st Ind Mixed Dr B Brigade
RGC 12th Temp Division
RGC 18th Temp Division
52nd Road Const Co
JAAF 67th AF Co

Up in Burma I have a squad of Blenheims bombing the Japanese tank unit in Pegu on the 14th, then waited and swept with fighters just in case, then resumed on the 16th. Total vehicle losses were 3 destroyed, 6 disabled from attacks at 11000 feet by bombers trained to 60 GRB.
Between Sydney and Melbourne came an odd stroke of luck. Submarine I-24 sank Tanker NEI Augustina with 2 successive torpedo attacks. Then I-18 fired a dud torpedo at the Tanker Athelmere. Augustina was an emptry tanker heading back to Soerbaja, and Athelmere is currently unloading Oil at Melbourne.
On the 16th, the weather cleared up enough at Mindanao to permit sorties. By then, however, the fleet at Cotabato had already finished unloading and was a few hexes away. The sight of 4 P40E's taking off was made quite sordid by the sight of "X8 Zeroes" in the preview image. Fearing the worse I skipped the replay. Thus the sight of "2 Zeroes destroyed" and "no allied losses" was rather perturbing. The next sortie was another 4 Warhawks against two zeroes. Filled with dread at the sight of 20 aircraft losses for the day, I was relieved to see that no Warhawks were among the losses, while 7 Zeroes were on the Anti-air tab. 2 pilots were also reported KIA, but the Operations report showed that crash landings of other plains were the culprit.
On the 14th, I-4 tried to attack Battleship Idaho and missed. Idaho was in a convoy with her sisters, 2 MG-armed APDs, and DD Morris.

[FlyByKnight]

Hsin Yang:
The first major Chinese offensive following the December 7th attacks has ended with a routing of the Japanese!

Here's the story: At the start of the game I wanted to go on a limited counterattack against the Japanese in China, not unlike what the allied AI does in default scenarios, but a little more refined. My goals were around Amoy and Foochow, Hsin Yang, Ichang, Nanchang, and North Indochina. The first steps for the battle of Hsin Yang were in place on the 19th of December, when 7 of my units shock attacked against a mix of Chinese collaborator divisions, 2 support units, and a Mixed brigade. Despite an adjusted advantage of 2-1 and the complete destruction of level 2 foritifcations, Chinese losses were 3000 to 1000 Japanese.
With the army disrupted, I held off the second attack until Christmas day 1941, but by then another two Japanese divisions had moved in. They were half the size of the Chinese, but had more guns, terrain, and rebuilt forts. Now casualties were just 2-1 in their favor.
However, I did not despair. Over the past few turns I was spreading the copious amounts of units making up the NRA central reserve throughout the front. Among them were multiple artillery units. While battles on the South Chinese coast and Nanchang were similarly bogged down I was able to move 4 artillery units and several more infantry units in preparation for the next phase. Starting on January 9th the Chinese launched bombardment attacks continuously for 3 days. This bombardment revealed an important flaw in the enemy plans: the two IJA divisions were now longer in the hex. Alas, the big day of the attack resulted in two things:
1. The Japanese suffered 2-1 losses again but I chose not to press the attack for some reason.
2. The Combat report file listed that all 4 Japanese units retreated, which makes no sense because I should've just captured the base and now my narrative cohesion is wrecked because I'm not sure what the heck happened.
Either way, somehow Hsin Yang remained in Japanese hands and I didn't attack again until the 20th of January, at which point the 2 IJA divisions returned, the forts went to level 3, and I lost 2-1 again.
At this point, my other attacks had melted away, leaving gains only in the bases of Foochow and a pending attack on Hanoi that was delayed thanks to the Tonkin hex flipping back to Japanese control for some reason. I can't say this game conjures up the rage of many FPS or RTS games, so I wasn't burning as much as mildly singing for a victory following past disengagements due to cold feet over losses. Of note is that Bristolduke seemingly didn't attach much importance to stifling me, electing not to send in any reinforcments. I saw this as a sign of weakness. I knew that if I could scrape together a few more units, victory would be possible.
And so, with a now 5-1 advantage in soldiers and 4700 AV, the last week of the battle began on February 15th. The opening attack dropped Japanese fortifications from 3 to 2...twice! Engineers and the assault itself were both taken into account. Though losses were almost 4-1, there were only 3 destroyed combat squads next to 30 Japanese ones.
The next attack lowered forts to 1 and inflicted slightly less Japanese losses.
The 17th was when the forts dropped to zero and Japanese losses started to exceed the allies by a few dozen men.
On the 18th the attack dropped the forts to Zero(again, in what a cycle that would be a hallmark of the last few days), outright destroyed a road construction unit, and caused 3000 Japanese casualties next to 1400 Chinese.
By now my blood was up, so I ordered a shock attack on the 19th. The end result was a 2-1 attack that dropped the forts back to zero (again), and drive my losses back up. But I did not despair! The enemy stack was dissolving faster than mine, and it had less mass to lose.
The next attack on the 20th was a deliberate one, dropping the forts to zero again. Losses were 1700 Japanese and 1300 NRA.
The final attack was on the 21st. For the last time, the forts were destroyed completely, but they would not rise again.



Ground combat at Hsin Yang [MothrRd] (86,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 142872 troops, 770 guns, 43 vehicles, Assault Value = 3601

Defending force 26082 troops, 357 guns, 210 vehicles, Assault Value = 367

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Allied adjusted assault: 1061

Japanese adjusted defense: 393

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Hsin Yang [MothrRd] !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
9771 casualties reported
Squads: 170 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 616 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 72 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 155 (141 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 125 (125 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 6

Allied ground losses:
1231 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 103 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Units pursuing 1

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
NRA 29th Corps
ROC 47th Corps
Muslem 82nd Fld Amy Corps
NRA 2nd Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 12th Corps
Hopei 59th Heavy Corps
Manchu 51st Lt Cps Division
Kwangtung 66th Hvy Corps
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
Szechn 89th Lt Cps Division
NRA 84th Corps
NRA 30th Corps
NRA 92nd Corps
11th Army Group
NRA 12th Ind Field Artillery Regiment
22nd Army Group
NRA 3rd Heavy Mtr Regiment

Defending units:
RGC 18th Temp Division
RGC 12th Temp Division
1st Ind Mixed Dr B Brigade
58th Pack B Inf Regiment
13th Draft B Mirror Division
JAAF 67th AF Co



Adding up the losses from the ground battles shows that the Chinese lost 25567 men (not counting the losses from harassment air attacks) next to 30634 (And some of those were RGC squads).
The most disabled units that are down to below 100 AV will rail over to the Loyang area to rebuild. Most units will rest at Hsin Yang.

[FlyByKnight]

Indochina:
I had a dastardly plan to attack Hanoi early on. I guessed that around 2000 AV could take Hanoi and sweep aside whatever bonus reinforcements the Japanese receive. The plan would make use of both NRA units and a French RGT based in a new hex north of Hanoi with 70 EXP and a leader with 70's in most skills. The plan went well when I crossed into Lang son and kicked out a mixed BRG, but then sometime in January, while my army was in the empty hex east of Hanoi, Lang son flipped and I needed to divert another unit it capture it while diverting another Corp to Haiphong so that my army was not flanked. The attack was launched on the 19th:
Ground combat at Hanoi [Tonkin] (68,56)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 46435 troops, 181 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 1642

Defending force 22707 troops, 352 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 875

Allied adjusted assault: 1245

Japanese adjusted defense: 2257

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
646 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3026 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 296 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 26 (1 destroyed, 25 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Manchu 52nd Fld Amy Corps
ROC 54th Corps
NRA 71st Division
NRA 202nd Division
Kwangtung 65th Corps
NRA 49th Division

Defending units:
21st FG InMxd Dr B Brigade
4th VM Division
VF Div du Tonkin 3 Brigade
2nd VM Division
1st VM Division
4th Ind Mixed Dr B Regimental Combat Team
3rd VM Division
JAAF 31st AF Bn

Burma:
There is a new pattern for Burma, starting on the 18th.
1. 6 AVG P40E's sweep Pegu, encounter 6 Ki-43 1c Oscars, shoot one down, cause the whole flight to flee, then get engaged by a smaller group and repeat the process another 2 times.
2. 15 Blenheim IV bombers attack the 140th tank "rgt" battalion at Pegu.
3. 4 RAF Buffaloes make a boring sweep of Pegu.

Borneo:
Not only are those 3 Japanese units that tried to attack the 100 RN base force before it fled into Tarakan via the Jungle still in pursuit, another amphibious attack was undertaken 1 hex below:

Ground combat at Tandjoeng Selor BNB (68,92)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1261 troops, 68 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 57

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 54

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 54 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Tandjoeng Selor BNB !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Assaulting units:
15th Nav Gd /3
Note that the RAF base force was able to recover some of its disabled strength and bring Tarakan to 73 AV.

Mindanao:The last remaining P40 group at Cagayan (24th PS/21PS) made some sweeps in the Southern bases that drew in a few more Zeroes from Taiyou's maligned CAP and shot down another 4 over the course of 3 days until they were sent to Tarakan on the 21st as part of the "Leap frog" over to bigger bases.
A comically undersized Japanese "army" attacked Cagayan on the 19th:

Ground combat at Cagayan de Oro (79,89)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 5182 troops, 66 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 189

Defending force 24162 troops, 172 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 758

Japanese adjusted assault: 28

Allied adjusted defense: 1414

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 50 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2260 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 150 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 30 (12 destroyed, 18 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
21 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
Kimura Det Battalion
8th Indpt SNLF Co
Kure 2nd SNLF

Defending units:
PA 7th Constabulary Regiment
PA 101st Infantry Division
PA 10 Constabulary Regiment
USAAF Cagayan Base Force
PA 81st Infantry Division
PA 4th Base Force
PA 61st Infantry Division
PA 6th Constabulary Regiment
PA 12th Base Force
PA 3rd Constabulary Regiment
PA 102nd Infantry Division
PA III Corps

Finally, USS Gudgeon found itself in the same hex as what I believe to be the Taiyo task force. The kicker? It's moving west.
Silly escort carrier. You still have not learned the ways of war, young lady!

Misc:
After a garish period of inaction, one of the Guerilla units on Hainan was finally attacked.

Ground combat at Danchou [Hainan] (70,61)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 2649 troops, 49 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 105

Defending force 946 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 31

Japanese adjusted assault: 90

Allied adjusted defense: 12

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Danchou [Hainan] !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), leaders(-), preparation(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
425 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 10 (8 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
1st Formosa Inf Rgt /1
JAAF 12th AF Co
22nd (18 Div) Recon Regiment
4th VM Div /1

Defending units:
Hainan Ind Column Battalion

There are at least two Japanese subs operating in the Bass strait between Tasmania and Melbourne. So far all the tankers they've sunk had unloaded their precious cargo. Previously those subs had been patrolling the Torres strait, likely until it was realized that I was choosing the scenic route.

[FlyByKnight]

Nothing big happened on the frontlines for the past Six days. Allied forces captured Tianmen (Rough terrain dot hex northwest of Hankow) on the 22nd and HohHot on the 24th. Mutsu is listed as sunk and Destroyer Harusame was reported sunk near Kuching on the 24th. The big update I wanted to mention today was the first big haul of Allied land units that graced me on the 27th and will continue of the 28th with Ships and Planes.

There's going to be another big clump in 32 days.

[FlyByKnight]

Japanese progress in Luzon and Singapore had been stalled to the point that the second wave of invasions seemed a distant possibility. Nevertheless, it did resume by March.
On the night of March 2nd, a large invasion task force made its way to Balikpapan. Before they even reached their destination, the Heavy Cruiser Takao ran into a mine, but the damage was not disruptive. The island was garrisoned by a KNIL battalion and a Base force with 16 coastal defense guns. They would fight with ferocity that day. The ships were bombarded before they could unload. By night, the guns landed 18 hits on a Japanese transport and one hit on the Destroyer Arashio. But the escorting ships Takao, Michisio, and Arashio returned fire and took a heavy toll on the small garrison. 83 casualties were suffered from the counter battery fire. When the sun rose, the gunner resumed fire, scoring another 2 hits on Arashio. The day wore on, and in another round of shooting the gunners hit 2 more transports. One was set afire from 8 hits, another was hit twice. Next they bombarded the enemy troops on the beaches. Around 12 Japanese soldiers were hit in the frantic firing. But by then, the outlook was clear. The defenders were outnumbered almost 3 to 1- 1700 Dutch against 4680 Japanese from the Imperial Guards and other battalions, alongside an Air arm support unit.
Off in Java, ABDA command vacillated. Some saw the loss of the base as an inevitability. Others believed a chance to hit the enemy was worth the risk. The resulting course of action is still debated.
A mixed fleet consisting of the Heavy Cruiser Houston, the Light Cruiser De Ruyter, 2 old American destroyers, and a British E, S, and T class destroyer were assembled to attack. A larger fleet was not gathered both due to the nature of the mission and the lack of Warships with sufficient fuel reserves. Some say it was also to avoid drawing the attention of Officers who opposed the mission. Captain Riker, CO of the Houston, served as task force leader.
The fleet set out in the waning daylight of March 2nd.
That night, the invasion continued. The Dutch gunners set another transport on fire and hit a previous victim.
During the night, disaster almost struck the invasion fleet. Japanese Submarines I-121 and I-122 both tried to attack the fleet, and both were driven off.
By day, the Dutch guns had set two more transports on fire.
Then, the Allies arrived. The Japanese fleet had received reports of approaching allied ships. They attempted to abort their mission. Unbeknownst to the Allies, the entirety of the Invasion force had already been unloaded. But they saw the fleet still outside Balikpapan and moved in. Even better, the escorts had not split off and were still among the transports. With the aid of Radar, USS Houston opened fire at 27,000 yards. Houston hit several transports before the rest of the fleet had started firing. At 19,000 yards, De Ruyter joined in. By 17,000 yards all the destroyers were opening fire. Faced with an enemy over twice their size, the Japanese warships could do little but try and distract the invaders. Japanese gunnery was exceptionally poor. Even when the two fleets were in at the grips 4000 yards away, they scored no hits. Meanwhile, the ABDA fleet was able to hit every ship in the task force. They only scored 1 torpedo hit-courtesy of USS Whipple, which landed the final blow on Ryoyo maru-But "one is better than none", so claimed a sailor on the Destroyer.
The shooting gallery could not last forever. When the ABDA fleet had moved from 4 to 5000 yards away, Captain Riker ordered a cessation of the engagement. He had good reason for this: Houston was almost out of ammo for her main guns! By the time the forces disengaged only De Ruyter was still firing.
The end results spoke for themselves. 9 out of 11 transports were reported sunk. The only damaged incurred by the Allies came from rough seas. There was some degree of confusion back at ABDA command. Not only had many people been unaware of the battle, those who had been able to assemble the fleet in the first place claimed they'd thought the operation had been cancelled-by them. In the end, no-one could deny the stunning nature of the victory. The Japanese could take some consolation in other events, though.
The invasion force at Balikpapan was galvanized by the loss if their transports. Several thousands angry Army soldiers made a mass charge at the Dutch defenders. Before the fighting ended the Dutch suffered 2200 casualties next to 215 Japanese.
On the other side of the Pacific, the Allies suffered a more small scale tactical defeat. An Australian convoy consisting of the Light cruiser Adelaide and Destroyer Voyager attempted to escort the transport Rangitata to Luganville. The transport was loaded with an Australian Engineer unit. It was in the late morning of March 2nd, off Coff's harbor, that the Submarine I-18 sighted and torpedoed Adelaide. A single hit was more than enough to leave the ship in disarray. The task force bugged out, with Voyager and the transport heading back to Sydney while Adelaide tried to make her way alone to the nearer port of Newcastle, which had a small repair yard.
But on March 3rd, disaster struck. Captain Otani of the I-18 had received reports of a Japanese defeat at Balikpapan. He decided to strike his own avenging blow against the Allies. He had the perefect chance. Near 150 miles off Newcastle, the damaged Adelaide was an easy target. 3 torpedoes out of 4 hit. Amazingly, Adelaide did not sink right then. Unsurprisingly, she sank shortly after. Only a few survivors were found.

[FlyByKnight]

What's been happening the past few days? Lots of small things. The slow nature of business as usual at Singapore and Luzon is really weighing Japan down.
Firstly, that smashing success at Balikpapan was kind of an accident. I swore I disbanded that task force for fear of a Carrier ambush, but off they went. The fleet was made of Houston, De Ruyter, Barker, Parrott, Whipple, Stronghold, Thanet, and Encounter. The best part was when the withdrawing fleet ran into Michishio, presumably the lone survivor. She got away. As we said in the emails:

Me: Michishio must be a "lucky" ship.

Response:Probably couldn't be seen for all the smoke of the other burning hulks.
Couldn't believe my CA/DD registered no hits. Not to mention the Air cover didn't trigger a launch of an attack.

Again, if those ships were detached they could've done a better job. And I was quite lucky to not have been attacked from the air.
While this was happening, I hatched a daring plan. Destroyers Paul Jones, Stewart, Edsall, and John Edwards were sent to Manokwari. There was a small Dutch unit I wanted to evacuate. They were sent to reinforce Kendari.
Off in the Philippines, an epic struggled ensued between a Japanese Air force construction battalion and the Subic bay coastal gun unit at Olongapo.
From March 4th to 5th they attacked. The second attack succeeded in taking the base. On the same day the 3 components of the 81st Naval guard unit tried to attack Tarakan. Casualties were equal. A fourth Japanese unit is trekking through the jungle to tip the scales. The Tandjoeng invaders have remained were they are.
The next day a mix of Thai and VF units crossed a river hex on the Thai border to capture one of those French holdout hexes occupied by a French unit and two Thai units. They would've caused more than token losses if I'd remembered to set the Thais in combat mode.
Off in Singapore came a rare burst of 2 attacks in two days as new hostile units arrived. The normal AV is around 1200 Japanese, 1070 British.
On the 8th, the grandiose struggle for Hainan ended when the two Chinese guerilla battalions were kicked out of Kiungshan and over the water into Hsu wen, a hex South of kwangchowan. On that day, one of the Battalions that invaded Balikpapan crossed the river to Samarinda and eliminated the static Dutch window dressing force.
Then on March 9th, Chu Hsien fell after renewed fighting. The Japanese resumed deliberate attacks on the 28th of February. They attacked again on the 2nd of March. Forts and leaders were enough to keep their losses slightly above ours despite their 4-1 AV advantage. Another attack followed on the 3rd. The attacks halted until the 8th, but the minor air attacks did not. Flak shot down a Ki-51 or two ever once in a while. The battle of the 8th was when the forts were reduced to zero, and Chinese losses tilted away from our favor. The attack on the 9th caused 9665 allied losses, pushed the Chinese out, and destroyed the warlord unit at Chu Hsien. Much like Hsin Yang, it was a hard fought battle. The next target will either be Nanping or Wenchow. Also on that day, Chinese units in the dot hex north of Ho Fei pushed out an RGC force. A few days later I belatedly ordered two weakened Chinese units at less than 100 AV out of Ho Fei. The Japanese force there has yet to attack.
Down in Cagayan, the 7th division arrived to help the outnumbered invasion. They are still short on AV. Up in Luzon came the resumption of attacks on Manila and Clark on the 11th:
Ground combat at Manila [Luzon] (79,77)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 17699 troops, 288 guns, 309 vehicles, Assault Value = 727

Defending force 35632 troops, 374 guns, 397 vehicles, Assault Value = 1221

Japanese adjusted assault: 756

Allied adjusted defense: 1627

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
1607 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 48 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 68 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 32 (9 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 32 (15 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
707 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 67 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Assaulting units:
3rd Assault Engineer Regiment
16th Pack Engineer Regiment
8th Tank "Rgt" Battalion
146th+Tkt Co Draft Regimental Combat Team
16th Recon Regiment
9th Pack B Inf Regimental Combat Team
21st Assault Engineer Regiment
20th Pack B Inf Regimental Combat Team
24th Nav Gsn Unit
8th Mobile "10cm" Field Artillery Regiment
15th "32cm" ArtyMtr Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
PA 11th Infantry Division
PA 41st Infantry Division
PA 91st Infantry Division
PA 51st Infantry Division
PS 26th Cavalry Regiment
USN Cavite Base Force
PAF Aviation
USAAF Manila Base Force
PA 1st Infantry Division
PA Provisional Grp Regiment
PA 2nd Constabulary Division
USMC 1st AA Battalion
II Philippine Corps Corps
PA 301st Field Artillery Regiment


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

Ground combat at Angelus [Clark AAF] (79,76)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26684 troops, 369 guns, 641 vehicles, Assault Value = 1004

Defending force 44105 troops, 528 guns, 1119 vehicles, Assault Value = 1182

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese adjusted assault: 579

Allied adjusted defense: 3955

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
758 casualties reported
Squads: 26 destroyed, 67 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 17 disabled
Guns lost 25 (2 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 34 (4 destroyed, 30 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
145 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 17 (3 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Assaulting units:
48th Div Recon Regiment
1st Sasebo SNLF Co
4th Tank "Rgt" (-) Battalion
JAAF 8th AF Bn
7th Tank "Rgt" (-) Battalion
14 Draft A Shining Division
48th Div Mobile Engineer Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
JAAF 14th AF Bn
JAAF 48th AF Bn
1st Mobile "15cm" Field Artillery Regiment
31st Mobile AA Co
9th "15cm Gun" Field Artillery Battalion
48th Div Mixed Field Artillery Regiment
15th "32cm" ArtyMtr FA Bn /4

Defending units:
PA 2nd RR CD Regiment
USAAF Clark Field Base Force
Camp John Hay Colmn
192nd Tank Battalion
PA 71st Infantry Division
USAAF Iba Base Force
USN Subic Base Force
PA 21st Infantry Division
PA 8th Base Force
Philippine Division
PA 31st Infantry Division
PA 201st Construction Battalion
PA 301st Construction Battalion
USAAFE 803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion
PA 11th Base Force
USMC 4th Regimental Combat Team
194th Tank Battalion
PA 202nd Construction Battalion
USAFFE
USAAF Far East AF
PA I Corps
PS 88th Light Field Artillery Regiment
PS 86th Coastal Artillery Battalion
USN Asiatic Fleet
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment

Ichang: On February 28th, the Japanese defenders at Ichang found the weak point in my defensive circle, wrecked a Chinese light unit with 74 AV in the hex North East of Ichang mapwise, and trudged through the forests on a course east. Faced with such a disaster, I unleashed the full might of the Nationalist Chinese air force from out of Nanyang. 3 mighty TB-3s from Changsha were also involved.
Every day from March second, the skies over that forest hex were darkened by around 12 DB-3, IL-4's and A-19's. A dozen or so Japanese troops found themselves separated from the main column as they got distracted watching the dismal sight. Meanwhile, a not excessive NRA force totaling 2400 AV has been assembled at the Dot hex the Japanese are slowly heading towards.
In a more mundane note, the Japanese attack force at a dot hex north of Tsiaotao withdrew on the 12th.
The strangest event was in Java. A Japanese SNLF gang captured Oosthaven and then swam over into Merak. Now it wouldn't be sportsmanlike to push them back just yet. Instead, the mighty offensive power of the Lysander and CW-22 were sent in. They attacked at 17000 feet-the highest altitude for the Lysander. Weirdly, one of the CW-22 still got damaged by the flak of the SNLF unit.
Meanwhile, the Japanese captured Makin on the 7th and Tarawa on the 12th.
Back at the west coast, I reached a breakthrough in getting spare units. I found all the HQ-locked B-17 units on the west coast and downgraded them to A-20C havocs; there were 88 of them in the pools. I also found one or two squadrons that could be withdrawn, downgraded them, took away the pilots, and withdrew them. (Withdraws have been disabled, but if a unit is past its withdraw date you can get the option to withdraw it for Political points). Now there are around 36 B-17E's in the pool.
Finally, the empty Tanker British Motorist was attacked on the surface by RO-33 near Sydney on the 12th. Better to lose empty tankers than full ones.

[FlyByKnight]

Alas! Today two great tragedies befell the Allies. The war effort has been notably delayed by these foolish gaffes.
First, ABDA command attempted to keep the Naval guard units at Merak on their toes by sending in two gunboats from Batavia to bombard them. Alas, no one remembered that a Naval guard unit might be able to shoot back:

Night Naval bombardment of Merak/Serang [Java] at 48,97 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
PG RN Scorpion RGB
PG RN Dragonfly RGB, Shell hits 12, heavy fires

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Resource Mine/Stn hits 1
Manpower Center hits 1
Fires 8
Port hits 1

PG RN Scorpion RGB firing at Merak/Serang [Java]
PG RN Dragonfly RGB firing at 91st Naval Guard Unit
91st Naval Guard Unit firing at PG RN Dragonfly RGB

Why, not only does PG Dragonfly have 38 SYS, 21 FLT, 2 ENG, and 1 fire, but that single fire is causing enough of an uproar among the vexed British crew that the ship won't even enter repair yards while they men fight the blaze as enthusiastically as they fought the foe.

Then late the next morning came the allied air attacks on Merak. 11 mighty Westland Lysanders dropped their impressive payloads with seeming impunity from 17000 feet. ABDA had likely grown complacent after only a single CW-22 was damaged, but today they realized just how many guns the 91st Naval guard could turn upwards. 4 Lysanders of the 1st MVAF wing perished to flak today, and so did their pilots!
Such tragedies almost make one forget that HMS Formidable arrived in Cape Town along with a Dutch destroyer. Why, those 18 Albacores and 16 American-made Martlets will make it the envy of those Flat flattops the Japanese use as light carriers. And that Dutch destroyer is no slouch either. One twin turret in the front and two in the rear? Watch out Captain Harmsen, your ship might get mistaken for the enemy at night!
Today also marks the end of one chapter in an extended struggle in the South China south. Near Cam Ranh bay patrolled the fearless Submarine S-23 (by fearless, I mean her commander has all the important skills in the 60's except inspiration). This is also the story of a Japanese ship: The Otori-class Torpedo boat Kasasagi. This ship provided fire support for the invasions of Miri and Brunei. However, the main aspect of the Kasasgi's story will be in fighting Submarines. It was on the second day of the war that the first fateful encounter took place. After the invasion force passed perilously close to the hapless Dutch minelayer William V, the Kasasagi was attacked by RNN O-20. The skipper of the O-20 is not the wisest commander in the admittedly depleted Dutch navy, but he managed to get away without be detected. 5 days later, USS Spearfish tried to attack the same convoy while it was retiring. Spearfish was spotted by Kasasagi and subjected to another fruitless search. For another few months, all was quiet. Then on 14th February, S-18 attacked a convoy near Cape St Jacques (Outside of Saigon). The target was PB Fuji Maru, but Kasasgi was part of the force. This time, not only was the attacker located, Kasasgi managed to damage it with one proper hit. S-18 suffered very minor damage, but also lacked torpedoes and was forced to retire to Java. Coincidentally, this was also the day when I-4 tried to attack USS Idaho.
Late the next day, Kasasagi's convoy was nearing Cam Ranh bay when it crossed paths with S-23 for the first time. Commander Cross attempted to hit her with four torpedoes. He missed and was forced to submerge. For the first few minutes it seemed that they would get away. Then Kasasagi managed to get a bearing on the hapless sub and attacked with all of her depth charges. S-23 slipped off with no harm done. Undaunted, Cross tried to maneuver for another attack. He was spotted by Kasasagi and forced to bottom out while Fuji maru mounted a listless search.
10 days later, S-23 encountered Kasasagi on her patrol route near Cam Ranh bay yet again. Commander Cross recognized the ship and tried to sink her, but missed with another 4 torpedoes. He quickly dove for the bottom while the Kasasagi searched for her assailant.
On March 8th, the two ran into each other again, with the same results.
On March 14th, S-23 was spotted by Kasasagi, which was no escorting a convoy of reinforcements. After being driven off, Commander Cross spotted the rest of the convoy. Instead of attack on of the many transports, he fired at the Torpedo Boat Kari, assuming it was the one which was causing so much trouble. Yet again both sides missed each other. This time the S-23 had finally exhausted its torpedoes. The Sub had also suffered engine trouble that would require time in a proper repair yard. Commander Cross headed home to Batavia.

[FlyByKnight]

Not much happened on the 15th and the 16th. One odd event was that Oosthaven flipped to UK Southeast Asia after the 91st NG crossed into Merak. This mod adds many dot hexes, and the ones near South Sumatra were not yet captured. The hex of Martaban in Burma did the same thing. Perhaps some script should be added so the ownership of an unoccupied full base hex causes dot hex owned by the other side to flip with it? It is also odd because a Japanese unit landed on Panay a few days back and now Allied bases on Los Negros islands have been flipping to hostile control.
On the 17th, the Ichang breakout units reached Deng Hsien.


Meanwhile, a Japanese NG fragment from Tandjoeng crossed into Tarakan and took minor disablements.
Then came the big attack in Chu Hsien the next day.
Ground combat at Deng Hsien [CChina] (84,46)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 84658 troops, 361 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 2683

Defending force 18520 troops, 218 guns, 91 vehicles, Assault Value = 647

Allied adjusted assault: 1556

Japanese adjusted defense: 85

Allied assault odds: 18 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), morale(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
6649 casualties reported
Squads: 183 destroyed, 307 disabled
Non Combat: 229 destroyed, 103 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 93 (26 destroyed, 67 disabled)
Vehicles lost 28 (10 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
540 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 97 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Manchu 53rd Fld Amy Corps
NRA 55th Corps
Hopei 1st Cav Cps Division
Hunan 41st Fld Amy Corps
NRA 93rd Corps
Kwangtung 66th Hvy Corps
Hopei 3rd Cav Cps Division
NRA 32nd New Division
NRA 5th War Area

Defending units:
34th SMotB Comellia Division
RGC 13th Temp Division

The accompanying Email had this to say:

I continue to be amazed as a "historically accurate mod" how flawed and allied biased it is. It is absolutely laughable.

I'll get back to this.
After they were kicked out, the units moved in the direction of a road leading to Shinpang.
While this was going on, I had been getting scattered intelligence messages talking about Japanese units loaded to attack at Muntok on Bangka island. Thus, I sent the many idle Submarines at Batavia up the intercept. I also had four Motor launches that arrived in Singapore and were languishing in Pinkal to the immediate south. Luck was not with us, as the Japanese invasion group had been unloaded by the 18th. On the next day they attacked:

Ground combat at Muntok [Smelter] (50,90)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2378 troops, 80 guns, 83 vehicles, Assault Value = 273

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 52

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 52 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Muntok [Smelter] !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker:

Assaulting units:
15th Assault Engineer Regiment
II./143rd Infantry Battalion
55th Pack A Inf Regiment
RTMC 3rd "Malayu" Regiment
18th Mobile "10cm" Field Artillery Regiment
3rd "Mixed Gun" Field Artillery Regiment
32nd Draft Field AA Battalion

Also on the 19th, Bristolduke started doing something about the bombers attacking the stack north of Ichang:

Morning Air attack on 34th SMotB Comellia Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27a/b Nate x 14

Allied aircraft
CAF SB-2 (Early) x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
CAF SB-2 (Early): 2 destroyed, 5 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
7 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg

CAP engaged:
66th Ind Bmr Chutai with Ki-27a/b Nate (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 15000.
Raid is overhead
54th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (9 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 16000.
Raid is overhead



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Morning Air attack on 34th SMotB Comellia Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27a/b Nate x 2

Allied aircraft
CAF DB-3B [IL-4] x 9
CAF SB-2 (Early) x 10

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
5 x CAF DB-3B [IL-4] bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
4 x CAF DB-3B [IL-4] bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg

CAP engaged:
54th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 105 minutes

Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...
Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...
Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...
Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...


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Morning Air attack on RGC 13th Temp Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 46 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Allied aircraft
CAF DB-3B [IL-4] x 8
CAF A-19 x 10

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x CAF DB-3B [IL-4] bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
10 x CAF A-19 bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 1 x 4x250 lb GP GSptPkg



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 34th SMotB Comellia Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
CAF SB-2 (Early) x 7

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on RGC 13th Temp Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Allied aircraft
SOV TB-3 x 3

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x SOV TB-3 bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 12 x 242 kg GP Bomb

2 Nates were lost to ops. China lost 4 SB2s.

They also attack Manila:

Ground combat at Manila [Luzon] (79,77)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37199 troops, 560 guns, 908 vehicles, Assault Value = 1448

Defending force 35531 troops, 374 guns, 396 vehicles, Assault Value = 1214

Japanese adjusted assault: 1050

Allied adjusted defense: 1633

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
4636 casualties reported
Squads: 155 destroyed, 171 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 33 disabled
Guns lost 108 (17 destroyed, 91 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (3 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
668 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 51 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Assaulting units:
20th Pack B Inf Regimental Combat Team
14 Draft A Shining Division
16th Pack Engineer Regiment
7th Tank "Rgt" (-) Battalion
16th Recon Regiment
3rd Assault Engineer Regiment
48th Div Mobile Engineer Regiment
4th Tank "Rgt" (-) Battalion
48th Div Recon Regiment
9th Pack B Inf Regimental Combat Team
8th Tank "Rgt" Battalion
146th+Tkt Co Draft Regimental Combat Team
21st Assault Engineer Regiment
24th Nav Gsn Unit
48th Div Mixed Field Artillery Regiment
8th Mobile "10cm" Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mobile "15cm" Field Artillery Regiment
15th "32cm" ArtyMtr Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
USAAF Manila Base Force
PA 51st Infantry Division
USN Cavite Base Force
PAF Aviation
PA 11th Infantry Division
PA 41st Infantry Division
PA 1st Infantry Division
PA Provisional Grp Regiment
PA 91st Infantry Division
PS 26th Cavalry Regiment
PA 2nd Constabulary Division
II Philippine Corps Corps
USMC 1st AA Battalion
PA 301st Field Artillery Regiment

We had another email conversation:

Another 230k fuel points vanish. This mod sucks

I should have been more thorough in checking for bugs.

Not your fault. I agreed to it. I probably should have read the 600 pages of posts.

If you don't mind I would like to take a day or two and redefine my strategy and approach. The operation I was about to launch won't work now.

He mentioned the fuel disappearance problems in a prior Email. It is unfortunate that these glitches are in the mod. I have been following Larryfulkersons RHS 129 AAR as Japan to increase my understanding of the Japanese situation in this mod. That thread also mentioned resources being swallowed up at random. He also said something about Japan's economy potentially crashing by late 1942. This does not bode well. I really think part of the reason Bristolduke is getting bogged down is also due to a lack of AV advantage. On the latest turn I went through there was this:

Ground combat at Kuala Lumpur [MLYA] (49,79)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12459 troops, 260 guns, 104 vehicles, Assault Value = 505

Defending force 17454 troops, 161 guns, 177 vehicles, Assault Value = 602

Japanese adjusted assault: 197

Allied adjusted defense: 787

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
939 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 145 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 62 (2 destroyed, 60 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
388 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Assaulting units:
21st Infantry Regimental Combat Team
114th Pack A Inf Regiment
113th Draft B Inf Regiment

Defending units:
IA 8th Brigade
RTA 6th Div/5th Battalion
IA 1st Mysore Battalion
RN 109th Base Force
IA 5/14th Punjab Battalion
RAF 110th Light Base Force
RN 111th Base Force
CW 3rd SSVF Battalion
RTA 6th Div/41st Battalion
RN 112th Base Force
IA 1st Hyderabad Battalion
CW 2nd ISF Base Force
CW FMSV Brigade
CW 1st ISF Base Force
IA 22nd Brigade
RAF 109th Light Base Force
Singora ProvPolice
CW 1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
CW 3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
RAF 223 Group
RTA 6th Div/13th Field Artillery Battalion

Also on the 20th came more air interceptions:

Morning Air attack on RGC 13th Temp Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27a/b Nate x 26

Allied aircraft
CAF DB-3B [IL-4] x 5
CAF SB-2 (Early) x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
CAF SB-2 (Early): 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
5 x CAF DB-3B [IL-4] bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
8 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg

CAP engaged:
13th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 13 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes
66th Ind Bmr Chutai with Ki-27a/b Nate (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 15000.
Raid is overhead
54th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 16000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes

Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...
Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...
Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...
Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...


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Morning Air attack on RGC 13th Temp Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27a/b Nate x 18

Allied aircraft
CAF DB-3B [IL-4] x 8
CAF SB-2 (Early) x 17
CAF A-19 x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27a/b Nate: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
CAF SB-2 (Early): 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
CAF A-19: 2 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
8 x CAF DB-3B [IL-4] bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg
3 x CAF SB-2 (Early) bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 4x100 kg GP GSptPkg

CAP engaged:
13th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (9 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
9 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Raid is overhead
66th Ind Bmr Chutai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 65 minutes
54th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 16000.
Raid is overhead

Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...
Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...
Also attacking 34th SMotB Comellia Division ...
Also attacking RGC 13th Temp Division ...


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Morning Air attack on 34th SMotB Comellia Division, at 83,46 , near Ichang [Yangtze]

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27a/b Nate x 3

Allied aircraft
SOV TB-3 x 3

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x SOV TB-3 bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 12 x 242 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
13th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
54th Ftr Sentai with Ki-27a/b Nate (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters to 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes

Here are the losses, and the rarest of rare events-A Chinese bomber pilot with a kill.





The 20th was also the day I sent some Dutch destroyers on a probing bombardment mission at Merak to get some XP.
Night Naval bombardment of Merak/Serang [Java] at 48,97 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

81 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DM RNN Piet Hein
DM RNN Evertsen
DMS RNN Witte de With
DMS RNN Van Nes, Shell hits 5, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Port fuel hits 1

DM RNN Piet Hein firing at 91st Naval Guard Unit
91st Naval Guard Unit firing at DM RNN Piet Hein
DM RNN Evertsen firing at Merak/Serang [Java]
DMS RNN Witte de With firing at Merak/Serang [Java]
DMS RNN Van Nes firing at 91st Naval Guard Unit
91st Naval Guard Unit firing at DMS RNN Van Nes

Next turn will be finished soon.