Summary January 1942
We have two war months behind us, so let's take a look.
Burma / India
During January, Japanese troops advanced on Burma and my defensive line in Pegu immediately collapsed. We decided with the main forces to retreat to Rangoon. I gained about a week here. Most importantly, the retreat has damaged most of the industry and the Japanese will have to repair it. Some troops try to move to Akyab, while the remaining troops defend Swebo. I'm moving reinforcements from India, but it will be more of a delaying fight. The Japanese 14th Tank Regiment conquered Mandalay and is now attacking Lashio. The enemy air force operates only from remote bases and destroys mainly units retreating to Akyab.
Malaya
In Malaysia, hostilities were limited to defending Singapore. So far, I've been defending myself for a month, but I know the end is near. Assault value dropped below 400. On the other hand, I did not expect such a long defense, because the Japanese used Mersing gambit and this significantly reduces the chances of defenders. The air force does not operate here at all, so whenever the fortress is lowered, I can quickly raise it again to 3.
DEI
Virtually nothing happened here until the middle of the month. The Japanese tried to attack my PT boats at Balikpapan, but several ships ended up in a minefield. In the second half of the month came the landings at Manado and Kendari. Despite the failure at the Battle of Kendari, I finally managed to save almost the entire Force Z.
Palembang is bombed regularly. British and Dutch fighters once tried to intervene. About 50 planes were shot down, but after a few days the raids continued. At the end of the month, the invasion fleet approached Merak and we will see how it develops. I tried to surprise her with aircraft carriers, but the weather did not allow air operations and the surprise is lost. Interestingly, apart from Singkawang and Davao, there is no enemy air unit anywhere, and the Base Force was not present during the landings. Interestingly.
Philippines
The only change from December is that the Japanese landed the 9th Division in Aparri, which is approaching Manila. Manila has been declared an open city and I defend only at Clark Field and Bataan. My power on CF is about 1800 AV.
Australia/SWPac
Probably January's greatest achievement was averting the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, which hit both ships and ground forces hard.No other Japanese plans are known. The enemy shortens his time by occupying empty points in the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz and New Hebrides.
Pacific
The situation has not changed much here either. The enemy occupied the entire Hawaiian Islands except Pearl Harbor. Then Johston Island and Palmyra Island. Attacks are limited to shelling PH from the sea and airstrikes from the air.
China
These are not big maneuvers in China either. After initial moves and knocks near Changsha, the Japanese withdrew completely and apparently moving troops elsewhere. The main direction of the attack is at Sian, where troops from two directions are heading. I don't know the exact strength of the units yet, as some are still moving. I hope my defense lasts, I will not voluntarily withdraw from Sian. Overall, the queue is rather static. Air strikes are very sporadic and I try to be annoying with AVG as long as I have it.The main defensive lines are indicated.
Overall, I am satisfied, as there has been no dramatic turnaround. I was expecting a much more aggressive month, and apart from Burma, the enemy made virtually no progress unless I counted the occupation of insignificant bases. A total of 50 ships were sunk, which is not much, considering that I lost 221 ships. As for the planes, the enemy has already suffered more losses than I have. Most of all, I hope his pilots are dying.
VP - 9678 : 10878
Allied ship sunk - 8 BB, 5 CA, 10 CL, 16 DD, 11 AP, 19 AK, 54 AKL
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill
Just FYI, this does not make much sense to a native English speaker...
