PAW with Sarsfield as Allies, Larry as Japs

[larryfulkerson]

Karl moved his carrier TF to near Brisbane closer to his LBA to increase his chances to save his CV from damage or worse. I was moving my mini-KB from the Singapore area toward Ellis Island and it made it to the Guadalcanal area before running out of MP's. So my carrier strike on Karl's CV will have to be postponed until next turn at the earliest. I have some long-range patrol aircraft units within range of his CV but I'm not sure they would do anything productive if I tried to bomb his CV with them.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm almost finished clearing out Mindano of partisans. I've cornered them and soon I will have destroyed them and the troops can be used somewhere else.

[larryfulkerson]

It's the 5th of April 1942 and I'm still chasing partisans near Hanoi and on the island of Mindano and I'm clearing Java of the Allied units there; Sumatra is about 80% clear and I've got two separate hot spots on Borneo where I need to clear out some Dutch troops. The rail from Bangkok to Singapore is about 90% done. I've got four carriers in the shipyards and the other three are operating in the South Pacific. Karl is mostly just staying out of my way. He's waiting for more boats before he tries something I guess. He's still shipping troops to Australia. I see them moving on the south edge of the map where I can't quite reach with my patrol aircraft. I see the Allied ships have disappeared from the Pearl area. Either they are there but invisible or they aren't there now. I sank the BB New Mexico with Bettys and Nells from Wake and so he probably felt he had to move them. I have no idea where most of his ships are. There's one Allied CV near Brisbane that I'm thinking about attacking just to see if I can damage it and make him move it south.

[larryfulkerson]

There's that Allied TF near Brisbane that has a carrier in it. And what looks like 1 carrier borne fighter unit. I'm resting my planes prior to attacking that carrier. I'm going to fly some more fighters into the area for whatever good they may do. I've got some Bettys and Nells that are within range of that TF so I'll use them too.

[larryfulkerson]

I just discovered quite by accident that I'm not making any Marys, Claudes, or Nates. And I'm almost out of them in the on-hand column. I'm not going to miss the Nates or Claudes so much but I've been getting some utility out of the Marys. This changes things. I've got some aircraft units that have only Nates in them. I'll have to park those units in the home islands to make them last longer. And I'm not making nearly enough Kates. And I've lost a lot of Kates. The squadrons that fly those planes are losing strength slowly.

[larryfulkerson]

I decided to use the Bettys and Nells at New Caledonia and was fortunate to sink one of Karl's carriers. Then I drove my carriers closer to bring them into range and did another strike and sank another different carrier. And some CA's and at least one DD.

[DownNOut]

Good job on being bold with your carriers and getting two of his. How many carriers do you figure he has left afloat?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation with the Allied carriers. I've sunk Yorktown, Enterprise, and Lexington, and I believe I may have damaged the Hermes but he's got two more carriers: CV Formidible and CV Illustrious which I believe are parked somewhere west of India, probably the westmost port available. The Japs have just three operational carriers left so you can see that around T37 or so the tide may turn. I've just listed the carriers and the list doesn't include all the BB's, CA's, CL's, CLAA's, DD's and DE's that he's going to receive. I just now went through the Allied expected reinforcements list and I estimate that he receives close to 100 ships of various types. I will soon be outgunned and will have to go to a defensive stance. I'll have to trust my LBA to hold the Allied ships back. I need to look up the turn when I start to get Kamikazies.

[larryfulkerson]

I was moving units in the OOB order and came to some paratroops. According to the expected reinforcements dialog I'm due to get a lot of troops at Imphal so I flew the paratroops there and if I can hold onto the hex during the Allied turn I'll get a lot of troops behind enemy lines. I might be able to do some damage with a division or two behind enemy lines. This might make the game a lot more interesting. I'd like to take those troops and cut the supply to China from India by taking over the Burma road and the Ledo road. Also, I'm going to have to find a way to supply them somehow. That might not be possible which will make for a shorter rampage.

[larryfulkerson]

During his turn Karl made his move on Johnson Island and he brought everything including the kitchen sink. Lots of BB's and DD's and everything inbetween and at least 9 LCU's to do the assault. Johnson Island is at the far east end of my perimeter and if I set sail immediately I would probably get about 2/3 the way there with my carrier group which is based at Guadalcanal if I remember correctly. So there's no way I can influence the battle until next turn. MY heavy guns are busy at Singapore with the exception of 2 that are at Saigon getting fixed and one at Cam Rahn Bay which also needs a tune-up and a new coat of paint. So I wouldn't have any heavy guns on station at Johnson Island for at least three turns and the island may have already fallen by then. Plus, Johnson Island is way out there without any LBA to cover it except for whatever is still based there and survived the bombardment. It's probably in reorg and can't fly to safety....I'll have to take a look when the turn starts. Actually, I'm not surprised that he's doing this while most of my fleet is out of position to respond. It's a good move.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my major losses so far. Rather light considering what's happened in the past.

[larryfulkerson]

I have only a single carrier within range of Johnson Island but it's planes aren't ready for combat so I'll have to swap them for some that are. But even then it's only a single carrier and probably won't have enough organic fighters to shield the TF from Allied strikes. I've decided to let him capture the island. He's probably going to own it before I could get some naval forces there.

[larryfulkerson]

I received the Indian National Army made up of 4 Divisions and 1 HQ unit at Imphal and I've deployed three of them to delay the Allied Indians long enough for a fourth Division to try to make it to Maiyania so that the paratrooper unit can use the airfield to escape to friendly lines. The Allies will probably have a unit stationed there already. But I have to try. My Indians aren't getting any supply at all. That's unfortunate. I'm going to try to battle my way to the coast to try to capture a port for the supply it might produce.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally shipped enough troops to Mindanao to get a handle on the partisans. I've rounded them up in the SW of the island in the mountains. There's also an invisible one near Trun on the SW corner. As you can see the supply levels aren't the best I've ever seen but there is adequate supply at the main ports and airfields. I may need this island to fall back from Java in a year or two.

[larryfulkerson]

The Chinese and I are still fighting over the railroads. Some progress has been made but the going is slow because of the lack of adequate supply. The rail is repaired from just north of Singapore through Haiphong all the way to Lingling. The Chinese have blown a bridge there at Lingling and I need to capture it so I can repair it. I'm beginning to wonder just how important this railroad is to the war effort really. How much effort should I expend to capture the entire railroad? The losses are starting to mount up. At the beginning of this war I considered it important enough to start an operation to capture and repair the whole thing but now I'm wondering if I can't just ship the troops via ship instead of railing them back and forth. My ship cap was reduced to 25K a couple of turns ago and I started the game with about 35K so I'm going to have to prioritize my shipments via water. The war has matured enough now that I don't have a lot of movement of troops hither and thither. I'm on the verge of going to the defensive mode.

[larryfulkerson]

I have cleared out Java except for a small patch toward the center of the island. I doubt if I'm going to find any more Dutch troops so I'm declaring the island cleared. Now I need to garrison the ports with something so the Allies can't just walk ashore. I'm not at all sure where the troops are going to come from yet.

[larryfulkerson]

Tarawa is due to get some CD guns soon and not too long from now I'm going to get another CV and a terrific BB. Plus some assorted aircraft and troops. But no longer full divisions. Most of my troops are fully employed and spares are hard to come by. I tried some airfield attacks but soon discovered that I tend to lose as many as he does and that's not good enough to have made the effort. Unless I see a bomber parked on an airfield by itself, no fighters for a CAP, THEN it might be worth the effort.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation at Johnson Island and I have the arty there scheduled to bombard the Allied stack of LCU's for all the good it might do. My defenders are in relatively good shape in spite of the bombardments they got during Karl's turn. I gauge that he's brought enough to the party to push my defenders over before too long.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm still pounding away at Singapore. Karl blew the bridges over the river on the north edge of Singapore so I'm railing in some engineers to repair the bridge or ferry some troops across the river so they can continue the assault. I think the ships are helping out a lot.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on in the DEI where I have cleared several islands and am still fighting in Borneo and Mindano and of course the battle for Singapore is still going on but I've gained a hex on the west side of Singapore and have two more to capture so I'm thinking that I might be able to wrap up the operation in a turn or two. Karl has flown some fighters to the west coast of Australia but no bombers yet. I'm going to have to give some thought to whether or not to try to take Rangoon. I'm pretty sure the expansion further south from Rabaul is probably not possible now that Karl has more operational carriers than I do. I'm spreading out my aircraft along the perimeter to prevent excursions or at least provide early warning.

My defenders at Johnson Island are still in good shape despite the bombardments that have been ongoing. Karl reports that it's a "hard nut to crack". I have two regiments there and he's going to assault with 9 LCU's all Marine units and those are some of the strongest units he has. I can't tell from the playback whether or not his troops have done an amphibious assault or not yet. I do know that the ships are bombarding. He may even be applying some air power as well. I wish there were a way I could see the results of Karl's attacks. When I take a look at the resolved combats it's already been cleared to be ready for *this* turn's attacks.

I'm giving some thought to maybe taking Ceylon away from Karl. Maybe after the Singapore operation is concluded.