Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

The second day saw more allied ship losses. The Mogami went down from damage from an earlier surface action, it was blazing after the fight. I'm pretty sure the Idaho did not go down and I'd be surprised if that was a proxy for the Warspite. The San Juan was heavily damaged in air raids the day before and died when the KB hit Merauke. More allied DD losses.

[John B.]

Ooops wrong picture.

[John B.]

The first of March saw the KB try a cross island attack on an Allied TF spotted at Hollandia. The fact that Vals had 60 kg bombs and my Kates did very poorly.

[John B.]

But, I felt a bit better when I was able to ambush dive bombers over Burma where Scott got lazy and was not flying sweeps to clear the air for them. Sadly, 12 KB planes were lost to flak from the American ships (and it just gets worse as the war goes on ay yi yi yi yi!).

[John B.]

Argh, I need to clean out my picture file. Ok, trying again.

[John B.]

Life keeps getting in the way of regular reporting. But, not much has gone on over the past few days. Scott has shown that he really (really) hates the oil wells in Burma as he's reduced them down to 8 or so. My troops set for the invasion of Taberfane (SNLF unit and most of a tank regiment) are taking their time loading while a 4 CV carrier unit heads over to supply ground support. my plan is to land, kill, and run away. Otherwise, all is pretty quiet.

[John B.]

Well, the Japanese have retaken Taberfane in an anti-climax to the whole Taberfane campaign. 5 allied units were destroyed. Two base forces and three construction battalions. It won't shift the balance but it does help push the VP total up a bit and it slows down any direct push into the DEI. Right now the two main allied threats would be a hop from New Guinea to Mindanao and coming into Northern Japan since Scott has built up bases in the Aleutians.

The KB is heading back to port to get the April 43 radar upgrades so I'll be without them for awhile.

[John B.]

Here is the current VP situation. My air losses are climbing so I'm not looking to challenge Scott in the air unless I have to. I'm a couple of days away from the next assault on Chungking. So far, I'm killing him faster than he's rebuilding but it's getting the fort level down that is proving to be the most frustrating. That and the two week delay between each assault.

But, there are no real Japanese offensives planned. If Chungking falls quickly it might make sense to go after Russia in hopes of an auto victory, but, otherwise, we're just building.

[John B.]

It continues to be relatively quiet. The Kaga took a torpedo (the second one was a dud) that did minor damage but it was heading into the yards for the April 43 radar upgrade anyway. I've sent the historical KB to Hong Kong for refit and the Zuikaku and Shokaku are refitting in Singapore. I've also shut off production of the model A Tojos since model Bs will start producing momentarily. The Taiho showed up and it's a nice CV!

There was another assault on Chungking. The Chinese lost about 2,000 more squads/devices and I lowered the fort level to 3. I even managed a 1-1 which means that the end is getting much closer for china.

I've just about finished the evacuation from Taberfane on the theory that keeping units on exposed islands does not really slow Scott down but it does hand him VP. He has also started bombing Truk with his B-24s and since p-38s can sweep and I don't shoot down his bombers anyway I'll just let him bomb away to his heart's content.

[John B.]

We're at March 25, 1943 and there continues to be not too much exciting to report. Scott firebombed Rangoon as part of his campaign to flatten burma. I can understand since he has a large air fleet that is stymied by the fact that they can't get in range of anything interesting. I did smack around a British armored brigade near Ramree Island to pick up a few VP. I also just shot down a bunch of P-38-Fs which made me happy because I hate the american fighters!

The air bombardment of Chungking continues as we prepare for the next assault that will likely happen in three days time. I've reduced the fort level to 3 but supply into Chungking for me remains tight. I've got three convoys shipping it in from the HI as fast as they can.

Speaking of convoys, my tanker lift capacity now basically exceeds the pumping capacity of the oilfields. In other words, I ship it home faster than I can produce it. So, I'm bringing in every drop I possible can for the time when Scott cuts the convoy routes.

Fortifying the Marianas and waiting.

[John B.]

We are just about at the end of March and the defenses of Chungking are creaking. My 1-1 this time was more solid and the kill ratio is at about 26-1 (which means the VP ratio is a solid 13-1). He's down to level 2 forts and my troops are marginally better off after this attack with fatigue and disruption in the low 80s as opposed to the high 80s. That may shave a day off before the next attack. I'm also moving up three tank regiments from Manchuria to be able to launch a tank attack after the next regular attack without too many losses to keep the pressure on.

Scott has bombed the Burma oil fields flat at last. I"m not sure how the Burmese are going to take to this.

[Andronicus]

This has been an exciting AAR! Especially reading the results of that battle against the Allied carrier fleet- that must have been nerve wrecking to watch!

[John B.]

Andronicus, sorry, I just saw your note! It was exciting, especially when my planes did not fly the first day. In retrospect it turned to my advantage because (a) Scott lost a lot of dive bombers when the flew unescorted against a surface TF and (b) I had a night and day turn to pound him with my surface TFs and sink most of his carriers.

[John B.]

Nothing too exciting to report this time. As you can see, we're now in April and the VP needle has not moved too much. My air to air losses have been creeping up and, since scott is not flying supplies over the hump his transport losses are way down but otherwise, the trend continues to be positive in my direction pending the fall of Chungking and any counter offensive Scott may launch.

[John B.]

Here are the latest ship losses. The FOW can't figure out whether or not the Yorktown went down a while ago so I'm not paying any attention to that. But, Scott has been sending raiding TFs into my waters for awhile and this time he got close to Guam where I have Betties, and long runways, and torpedoes. I'm pretty sure the bigger CL went down since it took for torpedo hits. As for the smaller one, I think it may have only taken one hit. Still, Scott keeps hunting. And, part of this is my own fault since my air search net is not all that it could be.

[John B.]

Japanese industry is still in pretty good shape. I've just started production of the new dive bomber (Judy) and torpedo bomber (can't remember the name) the A6M5 zero and the Tojo IIb. Scott has stopped bombing Burma and has been launching heavy raids against Truk. I'm not opposing those raids. I have 5 level forts and 50K supplies so if he wants to invade he's welcome to do so. The oil stockpile is falling a bit as I ship in more fuel and I've discontinued using the very large AKs to ship fuel and oil since my shipping capacity on the tankers still outstrips the pumping at Palembang, Medan, Balipappan and the others.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Scott will head into the northern route (especially as I've hinted that I may go after Russia) so I hope Chungking finishes up sooner rather than later so I can reinforce there. I've taken the precaution of fortifying Japanese cities to at least a level three.

[Andronicus]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Andronicus, sorry, I just saw your note! It was exciting, especially when my planes did not fly the first day. In retrospect it turned to my advantage because (a) Scott lost a lot of dive bombers when the flew unescorted against a surface TF and (b) I had a night and day turn to pound him with my surface TFs and sink most of his carriers.

No worries. It's amazing how little things can turn the tide in these engagements. Excellent modeling of real life.

[John B.]

Back in town for a couple of days!

Nothing major to report. Scott landed a marine raider battalion on one of the unoccupied atolls near Truk. They paid the price this turn because they don't have CAP or AA and the Betties came in low at about 2,000 feet and killed 21 squads.

A major assault is set this turn for Chungking and it looks like Scott is trying to put pressure on Darwin.

[John B.]

The assault has gone in at Chungking and another bloodbath of Chinese troops. This netted me about 200 VP (or a BB's worth) and reduced the fort level down to 1. I'm also almost at 2-1 in odds. But, my troops are once again 85+ disorganized and 85+ fatigued so it looks like another long wait to get everyone ready for the next assault.

However, I do have two armor regiments that did not attack and I'm moving in two more. My plan is to do an assault with just the four armor regiments in a few days. That will keep the pressure on his troops while my infantry can continue to recover.

[John B.]

Meanwhile, Scott continues to make noise down near Darwin. You can see two of his TFs and he has been running these surface forces around for awhile. I'm not sure what he's up to or if he's just trying to distract me. He has PBYs flying over the Kuriles and Burma is dead quiet.

On the production front the Tojo IIb has started to make it to front line units but there are delays in getting the new naval aircraft up and running. My CVs are all refitting so that's not too much of an issue yet.