Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

Back over near Singapore, my guess is that all three of the CVs I hit in the sea baattle the day before are still afloat. Here is a report of two of them in the south. And, I suspect that there is a CV in the northern group. Nothing in the search report.

[John B.]

But, the CV did appear in the written report along with a report that it was hit by another bomb. If it's on fire that bomb won't help matters. I have a BB TF set to bombard that hex tonight and two more that will go for it the next turn.

My main concern right now is that I have nothing in Singapore. It has 1,600 fuel and 15K supplies. I have a resupply convoy heading in with 29K supply that is about two days out. I'm keeping the navy here because it is, at least, close to the still functioning oil fields of Medan and it is slowing Scott down. After Singapore, the navy may withdraw to the HI and sit there for lack of fuel.

[John B.]

Slow turn. Did not get the CV. But, air search shows a slow moving allied TF on the coast of Borneo. My ships won't be useful for too much longer anyway so a two DD TF is heading out at high speed to see if they can intercept what I hope is a crippled CV.

Scott has moved a division into Palembang so I'm sure he's getting ready to assault there and I'll likely last just a couple of turns.

Moving some fuel out of Medan but things are getting tight.

[John B.]

My DD TF caught up with Scott's CV escort TF at the very end of their range.

[John B.]

And, the end result is . . . Scratch one Flattop. Some B-24's tried to bomb the DD so it looks like they'll make it home. But, it's nice to put a CV under. Not much in the grand scheme of things but more VP I can add.

Scott bombed Chungking airfield and almost put it out of action. He lost 10 heavies doing so but if he wants to bomb the HI there he's welcome do so. The mainland is running out of fuel so the HI is getting turned off sooner or later anyway.

Singapore has 0 fuel but 13K on the way from Medan. Let's hope it gets there. I did get a resupply convoy into Singapore putting it back above 30K but things are tight there.

[John B.]

Palembang is creaking and likely to go under with the next assault. I'm going to try to get some of that sweet 150K fuel that is still there out but I'm likely to lose my AOs in the process. They'll just get hunted down anyway. Scott will have to mount a significant operation to take Singapore, I just need to get some additional supply in there. I have the rail line garrisoned up the peninsula with an Inf. XX in start mode for a quick response force.

In other news, another large air raid over Chungking cost the Brits 3 heavies but basically put the airfield there out of service. I decided to stop stockpiling supplies on the HI and started large deliveries to the mainland.

[John B.]

Well, Palembang did fall and we've put a few turns under our belt where basically nothing happened. It's now early May 1944 and not too much has happened in the intervening turns. As you can see, Scott has been strat bombing China. I keep telling him that if he's fire bombing Chungking he's just helping the Pixel commies when the civil war. He is unmoved by my arguments.

[John B.]

Not much going on in Burma. He's advancing from Mitykanya (sp?) but with not much more than a division. I have a division in the jungle rough on the Burma Road that should be hard for him to dislodge. The RTA, which is helping to hold the line, is only around for another three months or so.

[John B.]

In the Singapore theater as you can see Palembang is Scott's. I'm still drawing fuel out of Medan because it remains unbombed. And a little bit of oil. The fuel is letting me keep the Japanese navy supplied for now.

[John B.]

Here is the current VP total. I'm still clinging just barely to 2-1. But, there are only 16 months to go for Scott to flip this to 2-1 in his favor. He's done a couple of p-47 sweeps over Singapore with even losses (which are a Japanese victory).

[John B.]

And, here are the production totals to start off the new month. My HI total keeps climbing which is a good thing. At current consumption levels I think I have enough stockpiled to last through August 45 but, of course, I'm ramping up aircraft production so that will change.

Supply is more of a concern for me right now than HI. I'd turn off the HI to conserve fuel but I do need that extra supply.

[John B.]

Just did May 5th. Heavy air battles rage over Singapore. My losses were a little less than 2-1 on Scott but it was a bad day to be in a Corsair. And, I figure that's a number of American pilots who did not come home.

Still, you can feel Scott gaining the edge over Singapore. He was able to give his P-47 squadrons a rest today, for example. I've got another fuel convoy from Medan heading in with 18K fuel (and 1.5k oil) but at some point he'll send in his waves of bombers. I also have a resupply convoy that is about a week out with 60K supply as one of my weaknesses is that my supply level is low enough that I can't replace my losses very often.

All is quiet on the other fronts.

[John B.]

The action again was near Singapore (I'm surprised Scott is not pressing me on more fronts so I've been able to concentrate here near my only source of fuel and far from the HI). There was a naval battle near Pontiak. Minor damage to the IJN and Scott lost 2-3 APD and a DD.

I moved the KB down next to my remnants from Palembang and threw up a massive CAP barrier. As you will see, this was not a good day for B-25s.

In the meantime, Scott sent in a 3rd wave of sweeps over Singapore. I rested my planes this time so he swung and missed in thin air while my boys were able to repair a couple of planes and recover fatigue and morale. Still very short of supplies down here. Can't rest all the time because one of these days the bombers will come over.

Scott bombed the airfield at Chungking and only lost 1 B-17.

[John B.]

But, as you can see, the US tactical bombers got a hammer blow from the KB. Always sweep for bomber attacks!![:-]

I was surprised at the large number of carrier aircraft that were put down as Ops losses. I guess they got shot up by the .50 cals on the B-25s.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
I was surprised at the large number of carrier aircraft that were put down as Ops losses. I guess they got shot up by the .50 cals on the B-25s.

A6M5b is the last in the Zero line w/o armor, while B-25s are bristling with .50 cals. I see it as your Zeros that were hit were practically crashlanding on the decks Luckily for them the decks were right below

[John B.]

GetAssista, that's probably true. Saved a lot of pilots that way.

[John B.]

So your a kind of mediocre captain assigned to RO-48 with a mediocre crew and they give you the crap assingment of a sub patrol south of Rabaul. You're there day after stinking day with hot humid weather, a toilet that does not work very well, and not much to show for month after month of tedious patrols.

[John B.]

And one night when you're fast asleep and dreaming of fresh milk your ensign wakes you up and, after you clout him on the head, swears that one of the crew members hears engine noises. Grumpy, you raise the periscope and it's filled with the sight of the PoW. You fire everything and see two beautiful geysers of water. You dive and take three hits. Honest to God you never want to get depth charged again!

[John B.]

A couple of hours later you poke your periscope back up and what do you see? Can it be? The PoW limping along. You blow the stern tubes and see two more geysers of water. You survive the next depth charge attack and, between explosions, you hear the sounds of a very large ship break up as it sinks!


I don't know what rolls this sub got to get a total of four torpedo hits in two separate attacks in one night phase, but it just goes to show that even the losers get lucky sometimes. (With a tip of the cap to the late great Tom Petty).

[John B.]

Well, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug. It was a bug turn for me.

Scott, finally threw everything he had at Singapore, and, because of the huge number of fighters he could put up his bombers largely got through. He did lose 15 B-24's (so the point total difference is not a catastrophe) but he (a) basically put the airfield out of commission and (b) he sank the Kaga and the Ryujo (sp?) both of which were in dry dock. They were both too damaged to move so their loss was pretty much foreordained.

As a consequence, all ships are leaving this turn and all squadrons have left for Bangkok along with most of the air support units. No more fuel for the empire of Japan!