Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

China is continuing to collapse in on itself. Kunmig is now cut off from the main Chinese armies and Paoshan has fallen. Allied airpower is restraining my advance from Paoshan but with the main Japanese force heading towards Kunming the three cities there should fall sooner rather than later. that will free up forces and open a land route (albeit tenuous) to Burma. In the central high plane, it appears that Scott is falling back into the Chunking hideyhole. I was surprised that he abandoned Kienko. I was actually going to pull back not wanting to force the batter across the river but since he gave it to me, I'll take it. It also appears that I'll be able to take Chengtu without much of a fight. That's a nice prize of industry and VP. The main plan now is to box him into Chungking and then leave him there. I'm not sure I could pry him out wihtout terrible losses. But, if I leave 10 divisions to hold him there that will free up more than ten divisions for deployment elsewhere.

[John B.]

I was about to pull back from Darwin and my recon picked up that he moved several units from Darwin to Katherine. That means that the defenses of Darwin are much weaker. The 5th division is on the transports and ready for invasion so I may roll the dice to see what happens. I'll send in several waves of shore bombardment and then the transports (I have both LSDs there for speedy unloading). I won't like the hits to my ships from his shore batteries but hopefully the BBs will use up his ops points and disrupt him before the transports start to unload.

And, the invasion force for Attu has sailed. This is even more of a shot in the dark. I see a couple of Scott's CVs down near Tulagi where he just retook the island so I"m hoping for a surprise invasion up north to at least slow down his base building up there.

[John B.]

So, my 5th division landed at Darwin yesterday. The entire division got off the boats in one go and with only 18% disruption. I think Scott sent his main defensive force down to Katherine to counter the attack coming from Wyndam and so I have an actual shot to take Darwin because I think he has his two shore batteries and maybe a base force located there. So, I'm not taking a turn to bombard and see, I'm launching a shock attack. I did three TFs of shore bombarding last turn in an attempt to keep fire from my landing craft and I only lost (thus far) one AK. They are staying another turn to land supplies and then they're leaving.

[John B.]

Also bad news for the allies in China. He is split and I"m pressing on Kunming with a very large army and lots and lots of tanks. Scott has not been able to concentrate that part of the army and its corps have been defeated in detail. They also can't be doing too well supply wise with Kunming the only source and I'd be surprised if there was any fuel for the heaving industry. Near Paoshan I'll cross the river this turn with three divisions against his two corps that were beaten at the battle for the town. I also have two divisions sent to Chengtu in an attempt to capture that major city with its VP and nice dollop of industry. Scott should be reduced to Chungking and I don't know if I can take that monster that will have almost the entire Chinese army in it. I have been able to send two divisions back to Burma so I'll have three there for now with more able to head in from China if things work out there.

[John B.]

And, finally, the invasion of Attu should take place in two days. I have no idea what he has there and I'm hoping he has not moved carriers up into the area. We all know that hope is a good basis for a strategy. There would be no reason for carriers to be there but, as my carrier TF was moving out he took a shot at it with a sub. According to my intel he only saw a BB but, he may be asking why Japan had a BB in a TF up in northern Japan. His carriers were last seen more than a week ago in the Solomans. Or, at least a few of them were.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
Scott should be reduced to Chungking and I don't know if I can take that monster that will have almost the entire Chinese army in it.

Very tough nut to crack without stacking limits. In this case Japan can seriously consider keeping whatever Chinese surrounded elsewhere on the map alive just for the sake of them not reviving in CK. Look how LargeSlowTarget was suffering in his assaults. Lay siege and concentrate your heaviest artillery to bombard, you would not need it elsewhere anyway except some for main Burma routes.
And bomb the airfield with occasional sweeps and constant recon, dont allow any further fortbuilding

[John B.]

Get Assista,

I don't think I'm even going to try to crack the Chungking nut but just bottle up the Chinese army there. My guess is to leave most the heavy artillery and 10 divisions. That should be enough to prevent a counter attack especially as he'll be mainly oos. The only real cost will be 2 regiments who will have to sacrifice themselves in river crossings to take control of the two southern hexsides so he can't move out. Even leaving 10 divisions in Chungking frees up 15 or so for deployment elsewhere. A nice force pool to use to stop advances in Burma and to garrison key VP hexes such as the Marianas and Manila.

[John B.]

I think that we all agree that hope is not a strategy. But, apparently dithering is. [:D] I was one turn away from calling off the entire Darwin attack since my southern prong strategy did not work when my recon picked up Scott moving troops out of Darwin to Katherine. The 5th division loaded up on transports and managed to land last turn and this turn take Darwin. I wiped out the two CD units and put the hurt on some minor support units. That's just a bonus, I think that the real advantage to having Darwin is that it makes it much tougher for Scott to come into the DEI. And, given how far Darwin is from any rail head it's very hard for him to supply an overland attack force to get up there. I'll pull the two regiments out of Wyndham for deployment elsewhere and the KB is moving to rest in port for awhile.

[John B.]

And this may well be the Japanese high water mark. It looks like there is only a construction unit on Attu. So, I'll be killing a fly with a sledge hammer. But, I'm up there to slow down any northern approach by the US. Killing anything is just bonus VP. The more interesting question is whether or not I should leave a unit to die on Attu so he has to put effort into taking it back or just kill the construction unit and leave. That's probably the better course.

A more interesting question is what next. There are no other invasion targets and I don't want to be overextended. Scott is coming up the Solomans and that's fine with me. But, he's a very aggressive player so I'm sure he has something up his sleve. No sigh of movement in Burma and China is being ground down. Things that make you go hmmmm.

[John B.]

Attu fell and I took a construction regiment prisoner (um, yeah, they'll be treated just like the Geneva convention requires) so it was nice haul of 140 squads/devices. I just wish I could use those bulldozers and earth movers for my own army. But as nice as that VP haul is the more concerning fact is that I just discovered at next door Shermya island there is a level 7 airbase![X(] There are also three units there. I'm doing a bombardment next turn and if it's just support units the unloaded portion of my brigade will land there to try and take them out as well. IF it's combat units I can't take them on and I'll have to run away. At least I'll have slowed down this prong for awhile.

One other disconcerting note is I got a radio report of carriers but I can't see any allied TF on the map with CVs in it.

[John B.]

In China is basically all over but mopping up. I took Chengtu and pushed him out of the way outside of Kunming. Here is a nice Betty squadron pilot list. They've been bombing in China since day one and they are the Olympic champions of ground attacks. I'm going to move these fellows into my TRACON pool. That may help train others (I'm never quite clear on that) and it saves them from dying in attrition. If I ever need a really good bomber squadron there they will be!

[John B.]

It's now the start of December 1942 and the war is just about one year old. I'm pretty comfortable with the VP total at this point. I've sunk 3 Brit CVs and one US CV. And, from HUMINT, I've learned that another CV is laid up in some tiny Australian port and can never move again because it is on the cusp of going under. So, no VP for me but at least that's one less flattop that I have to face.

[John B.]

Here is the December 1942 production report. Now that I figured out that Japan does not have enough refineries I've been able to keep the HI building up and fuel/oil flowing into Japan. Most of my aircraft production lines are shut down right now because there is no real air combat going on and I don't need replacements so I might as well save the HI.

[John B.]

And, as you can see, China is basically over with. I've met my objectives and should garner a very nice haul of VP. For example, once I build up the airfield at Chengtu it's worth more than 1200 VP. In other words, that city alone is worth about 4 CVs or an entire Midway loss. I don't think I'll ever take Chungking or even try to do so. 800,000 troops is too many. But, I'll stack 10 or so divisions on top of it, sacrifice a few regiments to keep it locked into its hex and see if I can bombard it to keep it down.

Lots of allied bombing in Burma but I won't make a stand there when and if Scott comes. I'll hold the line starting at Moulmein down to Palembang. Guam, Saipan, and Tinian are getting fortified and hopefully they can tie Scott up for a long time or he bypasses them and loses about 1,000 VP or so.

Or, maybe the allies will see reason and simply negotiate a peace treaty.

[John B.]

Hello all, I guess it has been quite awhile since I last posted. We're still plugging away, but life gets in the way of reporting. So, here is the current VP screen. I'm still pretty satisfied with how things stand for early 1943. I have a lead in all categories and have managed to continue to keep my plane losses down. But, Scott's air superiority is growing rapidly. I also delayed changing out the Oscars for Tojos for too long. And, his heavy bomber fleets are pretty good at brushing me off even without escorts. The Tojos have more firepower and should be better at holding him back.

[John B.]

Here are the current production pools. It's my first time as Japan, but I think these look pretty good for early 43. He has better torpedoes so I'm cutting way down on my convoys and putting everything into a few big convoys with lots of escorts. I've also moved several hundred AKs and AKLs to an out of the way port in China. Don't want to hand Scott VP for ships that I'll never use once he starts bombing the HI.

[John B.]

The entire chinese army is holed up in Chungking. My initial thought was to not risk the VP by attacking but as I've been closing off hexsides with regiments I notice that I"m not taking any losses. This is the result of a single regiment coming across the river and shock attacking on its own the entire Chinese army in a light city with level 6 forts. Things that make you go hmmmm. Once I close of the final hexside I think I will try an assault just to see what happens.

[John B.]

There was a great deal of excitement in Burma with the two Australian divisions (inside the circle) pushing all the way to Magwe. In the air it was probably a minor allied victory. Scott killed more planes than he lost but not at a 2-1 margin. It was a definite allied defeat on land. I lost a Thai division that disintegrated and he lost an Indian Brigade that surrendered. But, his two Aussie divisions were forced to retreat across the river and suffered heavy casualties when they did so. His bomber force is so heavy that I really try to stay out of clear terrain but I now have 5 IJN divisions in theater with another one on the way. So, it will be awhile before he can push me all the way out and the Monsoon is coming. I also have a LOT of fighters near by and can pull of surprises now and again.

[John B.]

I still hold Darwin but I"m pulling the 5th division out and putting it on Java to at least have some combat formation there. And, Rabaul is still mine but Scott is working his way up the New Guinea coast and is about to take Hollandia. I'm in wait and see mode there for now. The KB is holed up at Mersing (not keeping it in Singapore to avoid some surprise naval air raid) and a bunch of destroyers and E boats are in the January 43 upgrade cycle. The BBs and CVs do the same thing and get radar in 4/43 so I'm trying to keep them out of the fight until then.

[John B.]

Well it looks like Scott is making his move towards Rabaul. That's a very large TF with CVs in it that I've highlighted and he's been stepping up the bombing. I have a regiment there and a few battalions with level 4 forts but not much else. If he comes ashore with a division then the game will be up pretty quickly. Scott also took Hollandia last turn so he owns the north side of New Guinea. He does not appear to be developing the bases there.

I've got 5 more divisions moving into Chungking and I'll likely launch an assault there in a few turns. If all goes well and I destroy China then I'm thinking that I'll move against Russia since I should be able to cut off Vladivostok and capture it. If the assault against Chungking does not go well then I'll just leave a garrison there since he's hemmed in and distribute the divisions around the Pacific and hunker down.