Logistics in the Pacific - USSAmerica (A), Mike (J)

[Mike Solli]

11 Jan 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nadzab (dot hex NW of Lae) was liberated and the Aussie company was trashed.

Terapo (the base 2 hexes NW of Pt. Moresby) was liberated. I now control every coastal base between there and Finschafen. The only base in the area is Wau, the inland base west of Lae.

SRA

Philippines: The attack was a disaster at 1:3 odds. I know the 65 Brigade is not that great, but that really sucked. Fortunately, only 3 Infantry and 1 HMG squads were lost to 4 enemy infantry squads destroyed. The level 1 forts are still intact. This crappy infantry probably isn’t going to be able to do it on their own, but they will try again tomorrow. Fortunately, I’ve just loaded the 4 and 7 Tank Regiments, the victors of Mindanao. They’re headed to Luzon to do the job. It’ll take 3 days for them to get there by ship, and another couple to get to Clark Field. The attack did reduce the Allied raw AV from 74 yesterday to 65 after the attack. I suspect it did burn up some of their supply too.

Mindanao: Nothing to report.

Borneo: The Balikpapan invasion force completed landing and attacked today. Some of the TF escorts swept some mines, one To’su PB with her hull.

The attack wasn’t quite enough, because of the forts. The 3:1 attack was against level 2 forts. They killed 14 enemy infantry squads and disabled another dozen and reduced the forts to level 1, all at a cost of only 1 infantry squad. They’ll try again tomorrow. Later in the day, the Balikpapan garrison bombarded me (unsuccessfully). I see their raw AV is only 17 to my 156. I anticipate taking the base tomorrow.

Java: Today’s sweeps over Batavia and Soerabaja found no enemy fighters. Are they finally all gone?

The ground bombardment of Soerabaja told me what’s there:

Artilleriecommando Coastal Gun Battalion
Marinier Battalion
SE Borneo KNIL Battalion
Makassar Garrison Battalion
MLD
Commandement Marine
Soerabaja Base Force

Their raw AV is 180. I still have 432 there with more troops enroute.

Pamakasan (2 hexes SE of Soerabaja) was liberated.

Sumatra: Still flowing north.

Malaya: Bombers are starting to kill off squads in Georgetown. Today, 16 squads/guns were destroyed. The Imperial Guards Division is loading on trains (in Singapore) to move there to deal with them.

Other Places: The 15 Naval Guard landed at Kolaka (2 hexes NW of Kendari, the real target). They’ll take Kolaka tomorrow then march overland to Kendari.

Burma

I had noticed that the AVG withdrew from Rangoon, so I sent some Oscar Ics to sweep. Twenty of them met 8 Buffalos and shot down 4 for no loss. Nice! Later in the day, 6 more Oscars arrived. They met no opposition, so that tells me the remaining Buffalos are all damaged.

China

Wuchow was finally liberated by 23 Army. The infrastructure is in good shape:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 57(3)
LI: 57(3)

Nothing will be repaired. This is nice because it reduces supply by 60 per day for the Chinese Army. Gaining 57 supply per day is nice too! To put it into perspective, that base will produce 20,805 supply per year.

The 36 Division, 1 hex west of Loyang, finally prevailed and trashed the 9 Chinese Corps, pushing it out to the west. The 50k man Loyang garrison is now surrounded. The 35 Division is in Loyang and will bombard to get some intel on the garrison.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

12 Jan 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Those damn US carriers appeared in the Aleutians again today. I think it is 3 again. They managed to sink 2 Tohos and an Aden. Another Toho will go down tomorrow. I’m sending Akagi, Shokaku and Zuikaku up there from Truk. They’re about a week out though. I don’t expect them to make it. Last time, Mike stayed there quite a while. If I do surprise them, I hope to at least cause some damage to deter Mike from making this a common occurrence. I’m also sending some subs to the east of the Aleutians to try and find the route they’re taking. Then I’ll flood it with subs for the next time.

I’m trying to get some flying boats up there so I don’t get surprised any more.

Adak’s airfield finally reached level 1. Some good fighters there would be a nice surprise to Mike. I’ll send some there after his carriers go away.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Shortlands Island’s airfield finally reached level 1. They’ll continue building to level 2, then build some forts. Eventually, I’d like to get the airfield and forts to level 4.

SRA

Philippines: Today’s attack fared worse than yesterday’s attack. Fortunately, no squads were lost, but a bunch were disabled. I’ll continue with the air and ground bombardment until the two tank regiments arrive. They will begin landing at Iba the day after tomorrow. The one nice result was that the Allied raw AV was reduced from 65 to 48. I don’t anticipate an issue with taking the base once the armor arrives.

Mindanao: Nothing to report.

Borneo: Balikpapan was liberated today! The 5:1 attack took the base and destroyed the Samarinda KNIL Battalion, driving the remaining 3 units to Samarinda. The infrastructure was captured intact!

Oil: 300(0)
Refinery: 300(0)

I also captured 30k fuel and 119k oil. Nice! The liberators are moving to Samarinda and the garrison should arrive shortly. Some Nates are providing CAP in the unlikely event of an enemy air attack. Finally, a minesweeper will arrive in 2 days to sweep the remaining mines.

Java: The Dutch bombers are still trying, and occasionally succeeding. Today I saw 20 sorties. One bomber hit the CL Kashii, part of the escort for 4 Division, which is headed to southern Java (still 2 days out). She took some damage but is able to remain with the TF. Flak got two bombers today. Zeros got 4 over Oosthaven today, but one got through and planted a bomb on an Aden, which is offloading some AS. She’s got 29 fires. Keeping fingers crossed that they will go out.

I still see 14 bombers at Batavia.

I now have 4 infantry regiments, 2 artillery regiments and 2 engineer regiments at Soerabaja. I’m going to try a deliberate assault tomorrow.

Sumatra: I goofed here. The 3 Independent engineer regiment was supposed to move to the hex north of Palembang from the hex to the west of Palembang. They decided to do it by moving through Palembang. Oops. Shock attack in move mode. Fortunately, the Palembang garrison is really crappy. The engineers lost an engineer squad but are pretty heavily disrupted. I do know that there is a level 2 fort there and 100 AV. The rest of the assault force is still moving toward Palembang.

Malaya: Nothing to report.

Other Places: Kolaka was liberated and now they are moving overland to the real target: Kendari.

Burma

Today’s sweep of Rangoon found no enemy fighters in the air. I still see 5 enemy fighters there, so the sweep will continue.

A nice surprise happened today. Prome flipped to Japanese control! I guess the Rowboat Corps dragged their boats there.

Pt. Blair’s airfield reached level 2. I have an AS battalion and a construction company there with the 21 IMB still loading at Haiphong to be their main garrison. I’ve switched to building forts there for a bit.

China

The surrounded Loyang garrison is composed of the following:

80th Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps
14th Group Army
36th Group Army
15th Group Army
4th Chinese Base Force

They are trying to break out to the west.

I liberated Ningsia today. The road to Lanchow is open. The “army” headed there is composed of 2 tank regiments and a cavalry brigade, along with Mongol Garrison Army HQ. I see 5 units at Lanchow, about 13k troops. I doubt I can take it, but he’ll either reinforce it (probable) or abandon it (doubtful).

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: 3 JNAF AF Unit – the original unit went down on a ship and was just rebuilt today. Surprisingly, it came back at 91% strength. I figured it would have had to have been rebuilt before heading out. It is heading to Milne Bay.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s ground reinforcements. They’re mainly smaller ground units for SE Fleet AO.

[btd64]

Mike, did you have a great vacation ?....GP

[Mike Solli]

Yes, it was wonderful! We did a 3000 mile loop. We worked our way through Memphis to Austin and spent a few days with friends. The next stop was the San Antonio River Walk for a few days (crawling all over the Alamo too) and then on to Johnson Space Center in Houston. I grew up during the Apollo missions. It actually choked me up. Amazing stuff there. Then on to Slidell, LA where we got on a swamp boat tour. Much more fun than I anticipated. After that, just working our way home through Nashville. We're owners in a resort and tried this partly to see the cost of staying in hotels vs. the resort. We only used the resort at San Antonio. It turned out that housing was 50% (5 nights) of the cost and fuel was another 25% (90 gallons). I'm glad we bought into the resort all those years ago. From now on, the hotel night will be the exception.

[btd64]

Sounds like a fun time....GP

[Mike Solli]

13 Jan 42

Sub War

A small TF returning from a supply run to Pt. Moresby encountered a sub near Milne Bay. An Akasi class took a torpedo. Her damage isn’t that bad but she has 31 fires. I don’t expect her to make it.

5 Fleet

The US carriers decided to bomb Adak’s port, sinking an ACM in port and doing some damage to Adak. The port damage is up to 38. KB1 (Akagi, Shokaku and Zuikaku) is still 6 days south and unspotted. If they don’t make it before the carriers leave, they’ll go to Etorofu to wait for the next time the US carriers appear. I’m confident they will return.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

SRA

Philippines: The daily bombardment at Clark Field basically damaged what was repaired from the previous day. The two tank regiments will begin to land at Iba tomorrow (they’re one hex out) and then will move to Clark Field to supplement the infantry there. Then I will end this fiasco and move on to Manila.

Mindanao: Nothing to report.

Borneo: Nothing to report.

Java: Soerabaja was liberated! The 4:1 attack against level 2 forts was enough to do the job. All of the remaining Dutch units there surrendered. The infrastructure is in pretty good shape:

Manpower: 2(0)
Resources: 75(5)
Oil: 176(14)
HI: 10(0)
Refinery: 158(12)
LI: 38(2)
Shipyard: 8(0)

I will rebuild the oil and refineries. Java is a unique animal. That island has the following (including Batavia which is next on the liberation list):

Oil: 225
Refineries: 220
HI: 48
LI: 189
Resources: 265

I’m going to increase the total refineries (the only time I’ll increase refineries) and repair the damaged refineries so they match the oil there (225 total). (In addition, I’m going to ship resources there from Oosthaven (originating from Palembang), Tobali, Billiton, Bandjermasin, Makassar, Kolaka and Christmas Island.) Finally, I’m going to increase the HI by 257 to 305. The total cost of this will be about 300k supply. I’m doing this with only supply produced on Java. When everything is repaired/built, Java will produce 30k supply, 18.3k HI and 42k fuel a month. I anticipate this expansion to be complete by late summer 1942. After that, the fuel and supply will be used where needed and, because the oil fields are equal to the refineries, no oil will need to be exported from Java. It’s a nice little self-contained economy. I really like it. I can increase the economy and provide a source of supply to the SRA and Burma, and fuel to the SRA late war and be shipped to Japan through Singapore earlier in the war before the Allied subs get their teeth.

The 2 and 56 Divisions (the victors of Soerabaja) will now rail to Batavia and join the 21 and 38 divisions already there to liberate that base. That will end the Java campaign.

I currently see 15 bombers and 1 auxiliary at Batavia and 4 auxiliary at Palembang. I'm worried about his patrol aircraft dropping some 300 kg bombs on my oilfields. I have Zeros stationed as CAP over the two oil fields in Java, as well as Miri and Balikpapan. Just in case...

Sumatra: Eleven Dutch bombers went after a small TF dropping off some AS destined for Palembang. Zeros shot down 3 of the bombers and the rest fled without bombing.

Malaya: Still herding cats. Five left along with a sixth on the rail line north of Malaya. It's slow crawling through the jungle. Only the one on the rail line is a pain, but I'll get an infantry regiment there in a day or two to wipe him out.

Other Places: Cleared out the remaining mines at Ambon. I’m stationing a single AMc at all the important ports to take care of any mines that Mike decides to leave. (Right now I only see mines at Soerabaja, and some minesweepers are headed there.)

Kendari will be my main base in the area, but Ambon will be a major base too.

I have an invasion of Saumlaki that is 2 days out. It is composed of a little infantry, some AS and a lot of engineers. I want to build up the airfield as quickly as possible to start the reduction of Darwin. Mike has already increased the airfield at Darwin to level 5. Darwin is difficult to keep supplied. He’ll need to get the occasional convoy in to beef up supply. That’s why I want Horn Island. That will cut off that route. The only other route will be from western Australia. I’m contemplating an invasion of Broome. That base already has a 1(2) port and 3(6) airfield. I can easily build up each by 1 level and have a nice base to interdict shipping from that direction. If Mike decides to send troops to Broome, then I can invade Darwin, just for awhile. I would have liked to have invaded Port Hedland because of its isolation. The port is ready at 2(3), but the airfield would take a lot of work. It’s 0(6). An additional bonus would have been all the resources I could pull out from the empty supply convoys sent there.

This whole future operation in Australia is to delay the build up of Darwin, where bombers could begin to range in on my oil. Bombers from there can really only hit Boela and Babo, but that is still 450 oil a day, or 13,500 a month. That’s significant over a couple of years.

Burma

There still are 5 fighters (Buffalos) stationed at Rangoon, but none rose to meet my sweep.

China

Bombers flying out of Manchuoko destroyed The Lusu War Area, stationed far in the rear at Hwaiyin. There are no enemy forces remaining there now. I’ll wait for the base to flip on its own.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements: 2 Raiding Regiment, Southern Army, SRA
38, 39 Field AA Battalions, 17 Army, Rabaul
41 Field AA Battalion, 17 Army, Gasmata
82 Naval Guard, SE Fleet, Pt. Moresby
83 Naval Guard, SE Fleet, Horn Island (to be taken soon)
4 Independent SNLF Company, SE Fleet, to Truk, then will determine destination
5 Independent SNLF Company, SE Fleet, to Truk, then will determine destination
7 Independent SNLF Company, SE Fleet, take Madang, then dot bases to the SE
8 Independent SNLF Company, SE Fleet, take dot bases on north end of PNG
10 Special Base Force, Southern Fleet, to Kendari

I’ve been working out how to most efficiently move my oil and fuel back to the Home Islands. I desperately need more tankers. I was accelerating a CVE, but dropped it back to normal in order to accelerate two 8150 TKs that are scheduled to come in early June 42. With the acceleration, they’ll come in mid-March 42. I have a third one accelerating that is due in 36 days. I estimate I’ll need at least a dozen of them (in addition to what I currently have) to be able to move oil and fuel (without having to use xAKs). And that’s without any losses.

The Std-C xAKs can begin conversion to 2850 TKs starting in June 42. I have 17 and will get an additional 6 by June. Those 23 will be converted my mid to late June.

I’ll post my current allocation of TKs to bases. It keeps evolving, but it’ll be the current allocation.

One other minor thing. Every base I take in the SRA that has a repair shipyard <15 will have it increased to 15. That will allow it to repair pretty much any merchant ship or any warship up to CA. There aren’t a lot, but it may be enough to save a ship. Actually, other that in the Home Islands, I’ve increased every repair shipyard to 15. The only exception is increasing the repair yard in Tokyo to 50, for obvious reasons.

[madflava13]

Neat little tidbit about the economy in Java there - thanks for sharing.

[Mike Solli]

14 Jan 42

Sub War

Currently, I see 5 enemy subs along the hexrow leading SW from Truk. I’m not using that route at all and have a 4 DD ASW TF patrolling it. Unfortunately, they have Type 95 depth charges and the US subs can dive below their maximum depth. (I can’t wait for that to end.) I finally got 4 DDs with Type 95 Mod-2 DCs that will begin their ASW patrol along that route tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start to hit something. The subs are expending ~4-6 torpedoes a day though. Gotta look on the bright side.

5 Fleet

The US carriers attacked Adak’s port today, doing minor additional damage. I have some MTBs up there and they ran into the TF, giving me some intel:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Adak Island at 162,51, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-7
MTB G-3
MTB G-4
MTB G-5

Allied Ships
CV Lexington
CV Saratoga
CV Enterprise
CA Chicago
CA Astoria
CA San Francisco
DD Dunlap
DD Fanning
DD Mahan
DD Drayton
DD Lamson
DD Flusser
DD Porter
DD Balch

They evaded combat, but I got the intel I needed. I lost track of them this turn, but I did relocate a dozen Mavis FPs to Attu to keep an eye on things. I feel a little better now. I can see to about 5 hexes east of Dutch Harbor. I’ll station some Glen subs beyond that. KB1 (3 CVs) is still 5 days SW of the Aleutians. Mike really is a pain in the ass.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report. Just working on forts and airfields in important locations.

SE Fleet

Hollandia was liberated today by a small, company-sized unit. It’ll load and move to the next base down the line to eventually take the entire northern coast of PNG.

SRA

Philippines: About a third each of the 4 & 7 Tank Regiments have landed at Iba and are headed to Clark Field to lead the next (and hopefully final) assault there. I was able to dock 3 of the 4 cargo ships. Hopefully, most of the regiments are unloaded tomorrow.

Mindanao: Only one, starving, unit remains on the island. This one is done. Davao will be my back-up hub if subs make Babeldaob too dangerous to use.

Borneo: Clearing out the mines at Balikpapan. There still are some there, so I won’t bring in any tankers yet. There is 35.6k fuel and 119k oil there. I have 8x 7950 TKs to haul fuel to Truk. That worked well last game. I never really ran low of fuel in the 4/SE Fleet AOs doing that. Those TKs are in 2 TFs, each with 4x Ansyu PBs to escort them. I’ll get one of them loaded with fuel and off to Truk as soon as the mines are cleared and the other one will haul some oil to Babeldaob (the main hub for the oil fields in this part of the SRA.

I have one 7950 TK at Tarakan half full of fuel. It’ll be used to haul fuel to Babeldaob, mainly to fuel that base. It’s still the main hub for the invasions for the southern half of the SRA as well as the main hub for fuel/oil/some resources from the southern SRA to the Home Islands. There’s only 15k fuel there right now. I like to keep ~50k fuel there. That TK will continue to drain the fuel from Tarakan and take 1 load of oil from there as well. There’s enough excess oil to be able to do that.

Just a little side note for those who aren’t aware: You can load oil and fuel into the same TK (resources and supply for the same cargo ship too). Just set it for one type and the next day switch it to the other. You’ll see only one of the two as loaded, but they’re both there. Convenient if you have a shortage of hulls and/or you don’t want to pull a full load out of a base.

Java: There were 11 enemy bombing sorties against shipping, without success or losses. I see 6 bombers and 7 auxiliary aircraft at Batavia. The victors of Soerabaja are loading on trains to head to Batavia. Half will move out tomorrow and the remainder, the day after. 4 Division has landed at Banjoewangi (the southern most base on Java) and will liberate it tomorrow, leaving only Batavia remaining in enemy hands on the island of Java. Then it will split into 3 and become the garrison for Soerabaja, Bandoeng and Batavia (after it’s liberated). The four divisions assaulting Batavia (2, 21, 38 & 56 Divisions) will plan for an invasion of Northern Australia. I’m not sure how many of them will actually be used, but they are all available. The issue here will be shipping. I’m sucking up every xAP and AMC I can get my hands on for the Ceylon invasion (see below).

Sumatra: Padang will fall tomorrow. The 48 Division (still broken down in its original components) and the two independent engineer regiments are still moving toward/into Palembang. I won’t take Palembang until Batavia falls. The two tank regiments are heading north.

Malaya: A Buffalo materialized at Georgetown, evaded my fighter sweep, and attacked a 41 Sally bombing mission. It damaged a bomber or two and was driven off. The Imperial Guards Division is unloading for the next 2 turns at Taiping and will move into Georgetown, where it will destroy the defenders with the assistance of 6 RTA Division, which is currently in Georgetown.

Other Places: Still cleaning up the dot hexes.

Burma

I now see 6 enemy fighters (probably Buffalos) at Rangoon, but they refuse to fight me.

The 15 Army is getting some reinforcements. The 5 and 10 Tank Regiments, along with 5 Independent Engineer Regiment, are crawling along the track to Moulmein. They are future elements of the 1 and 2 Tank Divisions, which will get their remaining elements on map in 160 days. The 14 Shipping Engineer Regiment is on its way too, destined for Rangoon. I desperately need more AS, but it’s still in Malaya, where it’s supporting bombers attacking the Georgetown garrison and the cats I’m still herding there. They'll start moving north after Georgetown is liberated. Georgetown will become a sub base for the handful of subs that will harass the Brits in the Indian Ocean AO.

China

I now see <49k Chinese troops in Loyang, still crawling to the west to try and break out of the pocket. I have a division in the hex bombarding and ~110 Sallies bombing them daily.

I’m anxiously waiting for 6 reinforcement brigades to appear in China in 17 days. They can all combine with brigades on map to form divisions (58-60, 68-70). They’re smaller divisions, but divisions nevertheless. I’ve freed up all of the on-map brigades from garrison duties so they can merge with the reinforcement brigades, allowing the new divisions to be thrown into the fray (or replace better divisions currently on garrison duty). I desperately need more forces to strengthen my assault on the Chinese forces.

Other Stuff

The Ceylon invasion is congregating at Singapore. The warships assigned to support the invasion are there and repairing the remaining minor damage. I have enough (I think) xAPs and AMCs to carry everything (4 divisions, 3 independent engineer regiments, 2 tank regiments, 6 artillery units). It’ll be close. I have 27 xAPs, 1 AMC and 1 AK. There’s nothing else in the vicinity that’s not in use or is too damaged to use.

I just bought out the 4 Garrison Unit from Kwantung Army. It’ll get to Ceylon in a couple weeks or so. Also, in 41 days, the 10 and 11 Garrison Units will arrive as reinforcements (and are withdrawn in November 1943). These three units will be the majority of the final garrison of Ceylon. Everything else will be pulled out. Hopefully, Mike doesn’t realize that I pull out the main army and feels he can’t muster up the strength to take on 4 divisions.

I’ve changed my plans somewhat. I was going to invade Koggala, Jaffna and Trincomalee. I’m now only invading the first 2. Trincomalee has CD guns. There’s no reason to subject my ships to them, even though there are only 6. I’m going to land 3 divisions, both tank regiments, 2 engineers and 4 arty at Koggala and head to Colombo. The rest will land at Jaffna and head to Dambulla, then Trincomalee. Hopefully, there’s a lot of fuel and supply left that I can grab. I’m hoping the repair shipyard gets trashed in the attack too. I won’t really use it and when Mike finally takes the island back, I hope it’s a mess.

Invading Ceylon is new for me. Should be interesting…

[Mike Solli]

15 Jan 42

Sub War

The Sculpin surfaced off Iba, where a couple of tank regiments were offloading and pumped a couple shells into one of the transports. Only minor damage was done to the ship and none of the tank regiment was lost fortunately. Oh yeah, the sub launched about a thousand torpedoes. Most missed and a couple were duds.

I finally found a base Mike intended to use in the South Pacific as a weigh station. The I-21 found 2 ships at Pago-Pago yesterday and investigated today. She put a torpedo into a big tanker, the Alfred Clegg, a Federal Type-E Class. I didn’t see her go down but I did hear sinking sounds immediately after and the sinking was confirmed in the intel screen. She was empty, unfortunately. There is another ship there. I hope to take her out tomorrow.

Finally, the DD Asagiri was on its way to Truk and ran into the S-38 just south of Davao. The sub was hit by a depth charge! A rare occurrence. Hopefully, it’s enough damage to send her home.

5 Fleet

The US carriers have vanished. My Mavis at Attu see nothing.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Reinforcements continue to pour into the AO. 80 Regiment (of 20 Division) will arrive at Rabaul the day after tomorrow. The entire 20 Division will eventually be allocated to SE Fleet. After 80 Regiment offloads, that TF will load the 144 Regiment and head to Burma, where it will reunite with the remainder of 55 Division.

SRA

Philippines: Interesting proceeding are happening here. The Clark Field garrison is slowly being whittled away. I lack the infantry to take them out (an SNLF battalion and the crappy 65 Brigade). The Allies have the following:

26th PS Cavalry Regiment – 0 AV
192nd Tank Battalion – 15 AV
21st PA Infantry Division – 6 AV
194th Tank Battalion – 34 AV
Cavite USN Base Force – 0 AV
86th PS Coastal Artillery Battalion – 0 AV
Subic Bay Defenses – 0 AV

I see reinforcements coming from Bataan! It looks like they started moving yesterday and I didn’t notice them. Fortunately, I have 2 tank regiments with 101 tanks that are 18 miles from Clark Field. I hope them make it tomorrow so I can attack the day after. That should be enough to support the 65 Brigade (170 AV) to take the base. Keeping fingers crossed that the Allied reinforcements don’t make it in time.

Mindanao: Still one Allied remnant starving in the jungle.

Borneo: Nothing to report.

Java: Banjoewangi (southern most base) was liberated by 4 Division. The only remaining base in enemy hands on Java is Batavia. 4 Division split into 3 regiments and will garrison Soerabaja, Bandoeng and Batavia. Other forces will reinforce Java later. I anticipate attacking Batavia in 5-6 days, when all of the remaining assault forces arrive there.

Sumatra: Padang was liberated by the 8 Tank Regiment. It was undefended. Surprisingly, there was 4100 oil and 1600 resources there.

Malaya: Some sweeping Oscars shot down a lone Buffalo over Georgetown. The IG Division is still offloading at Taiping for movement into Georgetown. I have the 6 RTA Division at Georgetown (eventual garrison). It’s a crappy division, but I’m going to try a deliberate attack tomorrow. If they get lucky, they’ll take the base and destroy a couple of Buffalos on the ground, which is always a good thing. If not, it doesn’t matter. The IG Division will be there in a few days and take the place.

Other Places: One of my dot clean-up TFs, 5 hexes west of Manado was attacked by some Dutch bombers out of Kendari. They got lucky and hit a Husimi xAK. There wasn’t much damage, but there are 11 fires, which is always a concern for Japanese ships. The troops had already offloaded. Hopefully, the crew will be up to the task of putting the fire out.

The remnants of the 8 Indian Brigade was finally destroyed at Kuantan. Only 4 cats left to herd in Malaya and one on the rail line just north of Chumphon, which will be attacked tomorrow.

Burma

A second sentai converted to the Oscar Ic and appeared by rail at Chiang Mai. I now have 84 Oscars there led by some of the very best pilots the IJAAF has to offer.

I don’t think Mike likes the fact that I own Toungoo. I have the 1 Raiding Regiment and a construction company there. Forts just hit level 2. Two enemy units entered the hex with another moving into the hex. I’ll wait behind my forts. I’m trying to get forces to Chiang Mai where I can fly them in to reinforce the paratroopers. I tried to fly in part of an RTA division, but can’t do it because it belongs to a restricted HQ. A house rule allows them to move 4 hexes beyond Thailand. They can only do it by marching however.

China

The Loyang garrison is still attempting to break out to the west. Bombers and artillery are slowing them down to a crawl. I’m trying to gather enough force to attack them, but there isn’t much there, unfortunately. I currently have 1 division and 1 brigade in Loyang.

Other Stuff

Ceylon invasion update: I’ll have the following warships available for use:

3 CV (Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, 54 Zero, 63 Val, 63 Kate)
2 CVL (Ryujo, Zuiho, 57 Zero, 21 Kate)
2 CVS
2 BB (Kongo, Haruna)
5 CA
6 CL
28 DD
6 SS

I don’t have enough transports (xAP, AMC, AK) to haul the entire invasion fleet, but more are coming from the area to Saigon. I may have to trim down the invasion force a bit. We’ll see. I don’t want to use xAKs, but I may have to if I want to send everyone in.

I intend to use the CVLs to escort the invasion forces and have KB2 post itself to the west of Ceylon to guard that flank. The subs will be a tripwire to the north along the coast of India and to the west spot an incursion from Cape Town.

4 Garrison is on its way from Keijo, about 2 weeks from reaching Colombo. The 10 and 11 Garrison Units are still 40 days from arriving.

The big question I have is, where is the British 18 Division? Is that what’s coming to the 1 Raiding Regiment? Maybe in northern Sumatra? What about on Ceylon?

[btd64]

Always love your commentary....GP

[Mike Solli]

16 Jan 42

Sub War

The Sailfish surfaced and put 3 shells into an xAKL at Iba, which managed to put 2 shells in the Sailfish. That was enough to send her off. The xAKL took a little damage, but will remain with the TF and head back to Takao.

5 Fleet

All quiet again here. The build-up continues. KB1 is still sailing north and is 4 days out, just in case.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

No sign of enemy activity. Not even any subs were spotted. Bases continue to be slowly developed. A landing occurred at Madang today, which will be taken tomorrow.

The surviving ship at Pago Pago fled today. I-21 is going to patrol around here for a while.

SRA

Philippines: The 2 tank regiments arrived at Clark Field. The attack goes in tomorrow with 306 AV against about 59 Allied AV. I’m confident it will succeed. I still see some Allied units marching toward Clark Field from Bataan.

Mindanao: Just waiting for the last Allied unit to die off. Building up Davao’s port to level 4 (at 3.77 right now) then a few forts. It’s the back up hub (behind Babeldaob).

Borneo: The last of the mines were cleared at Balikpapan. It’s now open for business! I’m working on level 5 airfields so the fuel and supply limit is eliminated.

Samarinda was liberated today, destroying the infantry battalion there and driving the two base force remnants into the jungle. The oil was captured intact at 100(0)! Yay!

Java: Working on Soerabaja’s mines. The 2 and 56 Divisions are at Buitenzorg in the process of detraining and marching to Batavia. I estimate the big attack at Batavia to happen in about 5 days. In the mean time, air bombardment will continue. Artillery bombardment will begin tomorrow.

The remnants of the Dutch Air Force got lucky, putting 2x 300 kg bombs into an Aden class cargo ship docked at Merak. She went down later in the day.

Sumatra: Almost all of the 48 Division is in Palembang. I won’t attack until Batavia is liberated. I want no chance of enemy bombing of those essential oil fields.

Malaya: The 4 remaining cats have been herded into 2 groups (1 and 3 units) in Malaya are all being attacked tomorrow. Hopefully, they’ll be gone and out of my hair.

The cat sitting along the rail line from Bangkok to Malaya (just north of Chumphon) was finally destroyed.

While the IG Division marches to Georgetown, I decided to test the waters by attacking the garrison with 6 RTA Division. The attack was unsuccessful, but I did find that enemy adjusted AV is only 54. I know they’re not out of supply (still AAA against my bombers), but they are hurting:

Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-), morale(-), experience(-)

The IG Division is at full strength with 451 AV. They had better not fail or heads will roll. They just finished detraining and have begun marching in from Taiping. Here is what is defending Georgetown:

1st Mysore Battalion
5/14th Punjab Battalion
3rd SSVF Battalion
11th Indian Division
110th RAF Base Force
Penang Fortress
109th RAF Base Force

Intel from the attack told me everything is combat ineffective except the 11 Indian Division with 221 raw AV.

Other Places: Saumlaki was liberated today. The invasion force is composed of 14 JAAF AF Battalion, 3 Naval Construction Battalion and 4 Field AF Construction Battalion. More forces are enroute. The engineers have begun construction of the airfield there to contest any air power at Darwin.

Burma

Things are beginning to get interesting here. Rangoon has a DL of 9/10. I see 16k troops there and some are moving east to Pegu. In total, I see 13 enemy units between Toungoo and Rangoon:

Rangoon: 2 units (16,360 troops, 56 guns, 4 AFV)
Pegu: 2 units (1,520 troops, 1 gun)
1 hex NE of Pegu: 5 units (3,360 troops, 4 guns) – This is where 15 Army will attack.
2 hexes NE of Pegu: 1 unit
Toungoo (Japanese controlled): 3 units

I have the 1 Raiding Regiment and a construction company in Toungoo with 2 forts. The total AV is 39.

Mike pulled the Buffalos out of Rangoon. Interesting. I control Prome but have no troops there. (The Rowboat Corps dragged their boats there and planted their flag.) The 15 Army is crawling to the hex just NE of Pegu, a clear hex but across a river. The 15 Army has 6100 infantry and 98 artillery pieces. It is only 5 miles from the shock attack, so it’ll happen either tomorrow or the day after. I’m confident the attack will be successful.

There are reinforcements arriving. The closest is the 5 Tank Regiment, which is 20 miles SE of Moulmein. They’ll head to the hex just SE of Pegu, where 2400 crappy RTA infantry with 42 guns is located. They’ll cross the river at Pegu when the tanks arrive. There aren’t many enemy troops there, but the RTA forces are really awful.

China

The Japanese 39 Division assisted by an RGC Temp. Division attacked a Chinese Corps on the road to the east of Ichang to try and clear it. The attack was inconclusive and will continue tomorrow.

The 23 Army beat up a Chinese Corps and Base Force just north of Wuchow. They won’t pursue. They’re heading south back to Wuchow for a new mission.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

17 Jan 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

No sign of the enemy carriers. KB1 is a few days south of the Aleutians and unspotted.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Talasea and Madang were liberated.

SRA

Philippines: The long awaited attack on Clark Field with 65 Brigade, Sasebo 1 SNLF and 4 & 7 Tank Regiments……failed. A 1:1 attack reduced the forts from 1 to 0. Somehow, the Allied defenders with 97 raw AV ended up with 322 Adjusted AV! I don’t know how that happened! We’re trying a shock attack tomorrow.

Mindanao: Still waiting for that last US unit to die.

Borneo: Nothing to report.

Java: Still several days from attacking Batavia

A couple of DMS began clearing the mines out of Soerabaja port. They’ll continue tomorrow.

There were a couple of Dutch bomber attacks on ships. Each attack lost one bomber to Zeros and the remaining Dutch fled. Those pilots morale is definitely in the cellar.

Sumatra: Prepared to attack Palembang with 48 Division + some independent engineer regiments. Waiting for Batavia to fall first.

Malaya: II/43 Infantry Regiment attacked 3 of the 4 remaining cats, destroying them in the process. Finally!

The last Cat, the 1 Hyberdad Battalion, was attacked just SW of Kuantan. They still didn’t die, but they should die in the attack tomorrow.

Finally, 6 RTA Division was attacked by the Georgetown garrison. Why? Not really sure. Basically, the 6 RTA got a bunch of disablements. I’m sure the Commowwealth used up a lot of supply. The AVs were pretty funny:

6 RTA Division: 85 Raw, 8 adjusted on defense
CW: 331 Raw, 4 adjusted on offense

That was the Battle of the Giants. The IG Division is still 24 miles out from Georgetown. They shouldn’t have any issues taking the base once they get there.

Other Places: Two separate squadrons of B-17Ds hit Saumlaki causing minor port damage that was easily repaired. The engineers began working on the airfield.

Singkep was liberated destroying the garrison. There are 14k resources sitting there and the resources are 16(4). I will not repair it. These resources will be shipped to Singapore.

Tandjoengpinang (the island just SE of Singapore) was liberated destroying the garrison. The Resources are undamaged at 80(0) and there are 11.6k resources sitting there. These resources will be shipped to Singapore.

Burma

Well, I found out who those 3 units were that marched into Toungoo from the north:

Ground combat at Toungoo (57,50)
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 3001 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 115
Defending force 1163 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 41

Assaulting units:
96th Chinese Division
200th Chinese Division
88th Chinese Division

Defending units:
1st Raiding Regiment
43rd Const Co

Chinese in Burma!.jpg (181.53 KiB) Viewed 1420 times

China

Up near Kweisui in the mountains, the recently consolidated 26 Division drove out a Chinese Corps, mauling it in the process. The 26 Division will now head north to assist in the capture of Lanchow.

The 39 Division and 11 RGC Division attacked and drove out a Chinese Corps that was sitting on the road to the east of Ichang. That supply line is open once again.

The Chinese Army attacked Ichang! Here’s the low down:

Ground combat at Ichang (83,48)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 56836 troops, 351 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1989
Defending force 19336 troops, 142 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 722
Allied adjusted assault: 1546
Japanese adjusted defense: 522
Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1553 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 88 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3717 casualties reported
Squads: 37 destroyed, 399 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 41 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Chinese Corps
39th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
77th Chinese Corps
26th Group Army
33rd Group Army

Defending units:
58th Infantry Regiment
34th Division
13th RGC Temp. Division
51st Road Const Co

I’ll bet that used a LOT of supply.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

18 Jan 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing new. Just working on airfields.

4 Fleet

Wake Island’s fort is up to 3.18. I’ll build it to level 6. Right now I have an SNLF battalion, an AS company and a naval construction battalion. Once the forts are done, I’ll pull the engineers out and fill it up with some additional troops, along with the CD unit that arrives in 72 days. I also like to put the 1 Independent Tank Company there that arrives in Truk in July 42. It has a dozen tanks and only 306 troops, a bargain considering the max is 6,000 troops. I suspect there will be room for a Naval Guard battalion to round out the defenses. Oh yeah, there are also 140 mines and two midget subs. I have a small Betty det of 2 aircraft that I will upgrade to the G3M3 Nell when they arrive in August 42. They have enough range that I can recon Midway from Wake and do Naval Search with the other plane.

I am being much more critical of building forts in this game vs. the game with Ted. I am going to try and build up the forts in the four Marianas islands to level 9 though. Roi will probably end at 7 though.

SE Fleet

The 80 Regiment (20 Division) has arrived at Rabaul to become that base’s garrison. 144 Regiment (55 Division) is loading on those transports to move to Burma to allow the 55 Division elements to combine. The 144 regiment is next on the list to change from 4 Fleet to 15 Army once I get enough PPs (in 6 days). Next on the list is 79 Regiment, then 20 Engineer Regiment (both 20 Division).

Things are progressing nicely here. There are no threats at all (that I can see). I’m building up airfields as quickly as I can (which isn’t quick at all). Here is the list of bases where airfields are currently being built:

Tulagi – 0.55 (goal 2)
Shortlands Island – 1.31 (goal 2, maybe 4. Haven’t decided yet.)
Kiriwina Island – 0.19 (goal 4, had to build the port to 1 first)
Gasmata – 2.32 (goal 4)
Rabaul – 4 (goal 7, working on the port right now, currently at 3.76)
Kavieng – 1.21 (goal 2, maybe 4)
Manus – 0.62 (goal 4)
Pt. Moresby – 3.82 (goal 4)

Other airbases I want to build:

Milne Bay – 0 (goal 2)
Talasea – 0 (goal 2)
Buna – 0 (goal 2)
Lae – 1 (goal 2)

The I-21 has spotted a 2 ship TF at Pago Pago and thinks one of the ships is an AS. They haven’t taken a shot yet but I hope that happens tomorrow.

I decided to get some of the resources at Ocean and Nauru Islands. In Ted’s game, I set up convoys to get those resources and haul them to Truk. I realize it’s a waste of fuel. This game, I send empty ships returning to Truk from the eastern SE Fleet AO to Ocean or Nauru to fill up on resources and then head to Truk. So far, I’ve gotten 24k resources at or almost at Truk and have another 25k loading to head to Truk. Supply convoys to Truk will haul these resources to either the Home Islands or to Babeldaob (and then to the Home Islands). It does cost a little fuel, but not nearly as much as dedicated resource convoys to Truk.

SRA

Philippines: I was pretty disappointed with the Clark Field shock attack today. They were only able to muster 1:1 odds. They did maul the Allies (28 infantry and 4 tanks destroyed and another 10 tanks disabled), but the SNLF took 9 losses as well and will not take part in tomorrow’s attack. The armor took a beating too, with 12 tank losses and a number of disablements. The 65 Brigade (not a great unit to begin with) hasn’t lost anything destroyed, but is down over half of its infantry disabled. They’re trying again tomorrow. The only Allied unit that is still combat effective is the 194 Tank Battalion with 22 AV. The Japanese units have one more attempt to redeem themselves. The 146 Regiment (56 Division) is currently loading at Samarinda. If the attack doesn't work, they're headed to Luzon too.

Mindanao: Still that one remnant (4/101 PA Regiment) that’s sitting in the jungle just NE of Zamboanga.

Borneo: I’m being more efficient at Miri too. I have 3x ~10k convoys that haul supply as needed from Saigon or CRB to Miri for repairs to the oil fields there. (They’re currently at 170(130).) There is 59k supply there, so I’ll eventually need to send more in, but not for a while. Anyway, the supply convoys are able to ship out ~5k fuel, which is cost free in fuel since they are heading back anyway. The handful of 1250 capacity tankers are hauling oil for the time being. Once there is enough supply to take care of the oil field repairs, then the tankers will manage hauling oil and fuel out.

There are currently 5 bases still held by the Allies:

Kuching – 6 enemy units are here. I have a battalion there and a NG is 11 miles out.
Sintang – dot base in the middle of the island.
Sampit – SW corner of the island.
Bandjermasin – SW corner of the island.
Tandjoengselor – bas just SE of Tarakan. Two SNLFs are almost there from Tarakan.

Java: The mines were finally cleared from the harbor. Soerabaja is open for business! The forts will be built up to level 4, but that’s about it for expansion of the port/airfield. Once the excess supply shifts here, the 14 oilfields and 32 refineries will be repaired along with HI (along with Batavia’s HI) to match the incoming resources. Then my little economy here will begin pumping out supply and fuel (and HI) for the good of the Japanese economy.

Oh yeah, the repair yard at Soerabaja will increase to size 15, so it can repair everything from CA on down and most all merchant ships that will be in this part of the empire.

The Batavia assault force (2, 21, 38 & 56(-) Divisions) will be assembled and will attack in 3 days. Then this operation will be over and those 4 divisions will be available for other missions.

Sumatra: The Palembang Assault force is ready to go (48 Division (-) and 2x independent engineer regiments) in the hex, but is waiting for Batavia to fall before taking Palembang.

The 2 tank regiments are about halfway up the island.

Tomorrow, I will invade Bengkalis.

Malaya: The remnants of a crappy British infantry battalion will be obliterated just SW of Kuantan tomorrow. This is the last cat I have to herd.

Tomorrow, the IG Division will reach Georgetown and will attack the day after. This will mark the end of the Malaya campaign.

Other Places: Saumlaki was visited by 10 B-17Ds again today. There’s no way I can stop them. Port damage is currently at 25%. I have 97 engineer equivalents, but they’re having a hard time keeping up with the damage the Flying Forts are causing. I have invasion forces landing at Koepang and Lautern in 2 days. Hopefully, this will cause the B-17s to dilute their effort. If not, I can always send some Zeros to Koepang and they may be able to get a few planes over Saumlaki (just in normal range with drop tanks) to mess with the bombers.

Burma

Lots happening here today. The 15 Army shock attacked over the river into the cultivated hex just NE of Pegu. There were 5 small infantry units defending:

Tenasserim BAF Battalion
1st Gloucestershire Battalion
BFF Brigade
3rd Burma Rifles Battalion
4th Burma Rifles Battalion

They didn’t stand a chance. The BAF Battalion was destroyed and the rest were demolished and pushed back into Pegu. That was where I had hoped they would retreat. Now they’ll never get out. The main body of 15 Army is pursuing them into Pegu and a single RTA regiment is heading up the road toward Toungoo, where the 1 Raiding Regiment is residing with the remnants of a Burma Rifles Battalion in between them.

Another portion of 15 Army (5 Tank Regiment and 3x RTA regiments) are crossing the river to Pegu from the SE of Pegu. I expect the main body to reach Pegu first.

Speaking of Toungoo, the 3 Chinese units that moved into Toungoo from the NE attacked!

Ground combat at Toungoo (57,50)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3012 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 115
Defending force 1167 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 41

Allied adjusted assault: 43
Japanese adjusted defense: 51

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
329 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
96th Chinese Division
200th Chinese Division
88th Chinese Division

Defending units:
1st Raiding Regiment
43rd Const Co

They didn’t lose much, but they certainly aren’t in a position to attack again. And with 15 Army guarding Toungoo’s southern flank, the paratroopers are in pretty good shape.

The Yokosuka 3 SNLF (para) was finally pulled out of Malaya and has boarded trains in Phnom Pehn where they will rail to Chiang Mai, the main Japanese air base in the Burma theater. They will be available to make a para drop where needed. There are enough transports there to drop the entire unit & supply where needed. Lashio is a possibility. That would cut the Chinese pipeline into Burma. I still have a few days before I have to make a decision. The issue here is that the Oscar can’t fly that far without drop tanks, and no drop tanks are available. I would have to fly some Zeros up there to support the operation.

Finally, the 21 IMB is 3 days from reaching Pt. Blair. This unit will be that base’s primary garrison. The port and airfield are at level 2. The forts are 1.40. The airfield will be increases to level 4. A major portion of 21 Air Flotilla (including the HQ) will be stationed here, to include Zeros, Betties and Mavis flying boats.

China

Well, another mistake made by me. I had an IMB cross a river into Loyang. I thought if there was enough AV already in the hex, there wouldn’t be any shock attack. That apparently isn’t the case. The IMB shock attacked (by itself) a Chinese Cavalry Corps, BF and 3 group armies in level 3 forts. It ended up losing 2 squads destroyed and a number of disablements, and it’s disruption spiked to 53, but it reduced the forts from 3 to 0! There were 2 units that escaped the pocket to the west. I have a fresh division and IMB that will attack Loyang tomorrow, and hopefully catch the Chinese and maul them. That should eliminate an additional 40 resources and 20 LI from the Chinese inventory.

To the west, where the 2 units escaped, there are now 3 units and the Japanese 36 Division. I expect the Chinese to attack. I welcome Chinese attacks. That increases the Chinese losses and supply usage. Their losses are typically much greater than mine.

Other Stuff

The Ceylon invasion fleet is gathering at Singapore. In 2 days, I’ll have just about all the shipping I can gather and will decide what I can take. Then, they’ll be off.

[btd64]

Exciting....GP

[Mike Solli]

Hi guys. Been playing both games but too busy to post. Here's one:

19 Jan 42

Sub War

The I-156 was headed back to Singapore after a patrol in the IO and ran into an xAK just off Colombo, putting a torpedo into her and heavily damaging her. If she made port, she’ll probably survive. She had some troops aboard. Later in the day I heard sinking, and it wasn’t anything of mine. This ship? Maybe.

5 Fleet

It’s quiet here now. KB 1 (Akagi, Shokaku, Zuikaku) is 14 hexes SW of Adak and unspotted. They’re going to refuel and hang out for a bit hoping to catch some US carriers should they return.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Still spreading out and building airfields and forts. I see the occasional sub, but I’m easily able to avoid them. They refuse to move into shallow hexes.

SRA

Philippines: The Japanese shock attack failed to take Clark Field. The troops are just too tired and worn out. They did destroy the 86 PS Coastal Artillery Battalion though and killed off 30 infantry squads. The garrison did get a
reinforcement from Bataan, the 301 Construction Battalion. Interesting choice. It appears Mike is hoping to clear out the wreckage and work on forts maybe? I still see the airfield damage at 42%. The Japanese troops are too tuckered to attack again, so it’s back to bombardment.

The 146 Regiment is loading at Samarinda and will head here to give the troops the force needed to take Clark and isolate Bataan and Manila.

Mindanao: Just waiting for that last US remnant to die.

Borneo: A few isolated garrisons to kill off and this island will be secure.

Java: Trying a deliberate assault tomorrow at Batavia (the only remaining Dutch controlled base in Java). There is a big Dutch garrison here so I expect a few attacks to reduce it.

Sumatra: Still spreading north. I won’t take Palembang until Batavia is liberated.

Malaya: The last cat, 1 Hyberdad Battalion, was destroyed just SW of Kuantan.

Georgetown is now the only remaining British bastion in Malaya. Everything else is finally under Japanese control. The IG Division has finally reached Georgetown and will attack tomorrow in conjunction with 6 RTA Division to liberate that town once and for all.

Other Places: Ten B-17Ds and 6 Hudsons bombed the port of Saumlaki, losing a Hudson to flak. The damage is at 30% preventing me from working on the airfield, which I desperately want. I have SNLFs landing at Lautern and Koepang tomorrow. I hope they attract the attention of the Allied bombers so Saumlaki can work on the airfield.

Burma

Mike has all but abandoned the troops in and around Rangoon. I have it effectively cut off since I control Toungoo and Prome. I see 1 unit in Rangoon (15.6k troops) and 7 in Pegu (4600 troops – mainly beat up units). The 15 Army is moving in on Pegu from the NE and SE.

China

Loyang was liberated today destroying the 2 Chinese Cavalry Corps and three group armies. The infrastructure was intact:

Manpower: 1(1)
LI: 20(0)
Resources: 40(0)

Another 20 supply per day the Chinese won’t get anymore.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

Finally caught up with Ted's AAR and working on this one. Two more turns after this one.

20 Jan 42

Sub War

Nothing exciting to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

SE Fleet

Garrison forces and engineers continue to flow into the AO.

SRA

Philippines: The artillery bombardments are starting to kill off squads, guns and vehicles. I’m waiting for a reinforcing regiment to arrive, in about a week. In the mean time, the assault formations will rest.

Mindanao: Still waiting for that last US remnant to die off.

Borneo: Kuching, Sampit, Bandjermasin, Sintang and Tandjoengsilor are still enemy held. The last will be attacked by 2 SNLFs tomorrow.

Java: A deliberate attack on Batavia wasn’t successful, but I really didn’t expect it to be. The 1:1 odds attack against level 3 forts reduced the forts by one. Each side lost a handful of squads and over 200 disabled squads. My formations are still in good shape and will do another deliberate assault tomorrow.

Sumatra: Bengkalis was liberated along with it’s oil fields intact at 40(0). Tankers are on the way to begin hauling oil to Singapore.

Tandjoengbalai, the base south of Medan, was liberated. The troops are heading north toward Medan.

Malaya: A sweep over Georgetown found a Buffalo, which was promptly shot down.

The IG Division led an RTA Division in the successful assault to liberate Georgetown. All 7 Allied formations were destroyed and a couple of obsolete fighters were captured. The infrastructure was trashed:

Manpower: 1(1)
HI: 0(5), I’m not sure if I’ll rebuild it or not.

The Malayan Campaign is officially over.

Other Places: Dropped off an SNLF at Koepang and Lautem for two reasons. I want to take them (of course) and I’m hoping Mike diverts his attention (and B-17s) to one (or better both) of them so Saumlaki is ignored and I can build the airfield up there to level 2. Then I can station fighters there to take the fight to Darwin.

Interestingly, Koepang had a Dutch PT boat there, which fled when it saw the massive invasion force (2 TBs and an AK).

Saumlaki has 72 engineers and 4 engineer vehicles, which is quite a large amount of engineers for the Japanese at this point in the war. I really want to build up the airfield quickly. There currently is 25 port damage, so no airfield building right now.

Today, 10 B-17Ds and 6 Hudsons hit Saumlaki’s port.

Burma

Half of 15 Army shock attacked Pegu from across the river to the SE, trashing the 7 defenders (and killing two of them). The remnants retreated into Rangoon to join the only defender there, the 1 Burma Division. The remainder of 15 Army will join them tomorrow. They’re still on the road to the NE of Pegu and almost there. The combined force will march into Burma.

The 1 Raiding Regiment, garrisoning Toungoo, attacked the 3 Chinese units still in the hex. They disabled a bunch of squads but didn’t manage to kill anything. In return, they took a few disablements, which is inconsequential. The Chinese are moving north to get away.

China

The 1 Army, with 2 division and an artillery regiment, shock attacked into the hex just SE of Sian against 2 defending Chinese Corps. Both sides lost just a handful of squads, but one of the Japanese divisions took a lot of disablements. Still, I have a serious force on the rail line between Sian and Loyang. I can’t attack for a while, but I can do some bombardment to soften them up and keep them occupied.

My force that took Loyang is moving west to engage the four Chinese units that were able to break out of the Loyang pocket. That terrain is clear. I hope to maul them in a few days when the Japanese arrive.

Other Stuff

I still don’t have quite enough xAPs, AMCs and AKs to load the Ceylon invasion force. Couple days till enough arrive.

[Mike Solli]

21 Jan 42

Sub War

The O20 (guess she wasn’t damaged badly a couple days ago) put a torpedo into a Miyati class xAKL sinking her. She was carrying part of the 6 Shipping Engineer Regiment, bound for Soerabaja. Some of the troops were pulled from the water and are still headed toward their destination. It looks like only a couple of squads were lost.

5 Fleet

KB 1 has refueled and will hide in the Pacific about a dozen hexes SW of Adak for awhile.

4 Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing exciting to report.

SRA

Philippines: About 15 enemy squads were destroyed today from the air and ground bombardment. More of the same tomorrow. The combat troops are resting, but I am still down about 20 tin foil tanks and 14 infantry squads. I’ll wait until the infantry regiment arrives to bolster the attack. It will begin landing in about six days.

Mindanao: Still waiting for 4/101 PA Regiment remnants to die off outside Zamboanga.

Borneo: Nothing exciting to report.

Java: Today’s deliberate assault on Batavia wasn’t successful, but we are wearing down the defenders. The 1:1 attack (1.78:1) dropped the forts to level 1. We lost about a dozen squads, but one of the infantry regiments was badly disabled and everyone is pretty badly disrupted. The Dutch lost the Lijfwacht Cav Sqn and a total of 56 squads destroyed and quite a few disablements. Unfortunately, I can’t attack tomorrow due to the disruption. I’ll try again in a few days. A Betty and Nell daitai will each hit the airfield tomorrow to prevent forts from being built back up.

Sumatra: Spreading north.

Malaya: Campaign successfully concluded!

Other Places: Some PBY Catalinas attacked the Koepang invasion fleet (after it disgorged its troops, fortunately) and put 2 torpedoes into the AK (a Kyushu class, unfortunately). She went down like a rock.

Thirteen Dutch bombers (and 2 Aussie Hudsons) attacked the Lautem invasion fleet, missing by a mile.

Then, 10 B-17Ds and 19(!) B-17Es (wonder where they came from?!) hit the SNLF on Koepang. They disabled about a quarter of the infantry in that unit. Mission accomplished! The Flying Forts went after one of the decoys! Yesterday, Saumlaki’s airfield was at 0.08 with 25% port damage. Today, there’s no damage and the airfield is at 0.16! Outstanding!

The Kure 2 SNLF attacked the enemy garrison at Lautem missing its needed 3:1 odds by only a couple of points. The forts were reduced from 1 to 0. They’ll attack again tomorrow.

The Sasebo 2 SNLF attempted a deliberate assault against the reinforced garrison at Koepang. The attack was only 1:2 with level 2 forts. They will need more troops to take the place. That’s ok. Mike will probably think he can kill that unit, but it’s still very strong. It hasn’t lost any troops killed, only
~25% disabled and 59 disruption. They’ll rest while I scrounge some reinforcements.

Burma

Some or all of the Rangoon garrison (1 Burma Division + from Pegu) are fleeing NE up the road to try and get away. The 15 Army (6100 infantry, 435 AV) are moving from Pegu to Rangoon. Other units from Malaya are railing north to Chiang Mai to join in the fun. These include an SNLF para unit, infantry regiment and infantry battalion. There are about 63 transports available in Chiang Mai to move these guys around as needed.

China

Nothing exciting to report.

Other Stuff

I forgot to talk about Georgetown yesterday. It’s badly damaged at 100-59-78. ID Division is there temporarily and some DMS will arrive tomorrow to clear the mines out of the port. Some engineers are enroute to repair the base. IG Division will be picked up by xAPs as soon as the mines are cleared for the Ceylon Operation. Georgetown will become a sub base for the small number of subs allocated to the IO theater.

[Mike Solli]

22 Jan 42

Sub War

The Tambor caught an empty Yusen N near Yap putting one good torpedo into her. Fortunately, she was able to stay with the convoy and will reach Babeldaob in a couple of days. Her damage is 1-41(33)-0-0.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report.

SRA

Philippines: Six more squads killed off forever.

Mindanao: A Nell chutai practicing its bombing skills killed off a couple of squads of 4/101 PA Regiment. It’s still hanging on though…

Borneo: A Naval Guard arrived at Kuching to reinforce an infantry battalion and they attacked the garrison today. The 2:1 attack reduced the forts to 0. I lost just a few disabled squads and the Allied lost half a dozen killed and 3 dozen disabled. They’re attacking again tomorrow. I expect them to succeed.

Java: I guess I forgot to stop the deliberate assault on Batavia for today. Oops. The beat up regiment from yesterday lost about 70 infantry squads. Dumb mistake. The only up side is that 27 Dutch squads were killed. My squads will be replaced. His won’t. I’ll just attack with divisions from now on. They’ll get a few days rest first.

Sumatra: Flowing north.

Malaya: Campaign successfully concluded! Six DMS were able to clear the minefield at Georgetown. Tomorrow, the amphibious TF will enter port and begin to load IG Division for the Ceylon operation. More on that below.

Other Places: The 29 B-17s went after the SNLF on Koepang again (Yay!!!). Saumlaki’s airfield is now at 0.34.

The SNLF at Lautem successfully took that base today destroying the base force. The remnants of the AA battalion ran to the next base over. They’ll chase them down.

Burma

A brigade of the 2 RTA Division attacked and destroyed the 10 Burma Rifles Battalion, a hex SW of Toungoo. They’re marching to become the new Toungoo garrison. The 1 Raiding Regiment, the current Toungoo garrison, is marching to Prome, to become its garrison.

China

Nothing exciting to report.

Other Stuff

Ceylon: It’s loading:

Koggala Invasion Force:
25 Army HQ
5 Division
18 Division
3 Medium FA Regiment
18 Medium FA Regiment
14 Independent Artillery Mortar Regiment

Jaffna Invasion Force:
Imperial Guards Division
33 Division
1 Tank Regiment
6 Tank Regiment
3 Independent Mountain Gun Regiment
3 Mortar Battalion
5 Mortar Battalion

Here is what is transporting all that:
35 xAP
1 AMC
4 AK

In addition, KB 2 will guard the left flank of the invasion and MKB will provide close support to the invasion force. Other than the carriers, I haven’t broken down how the escorts will be allocated. Here’s the fleet:

Kaga: 18 Zeros, 27 Vals, 27 Kates
Soryu: 18 Zeros, 18 Vals, 18 Kates
Hiryu: 18 Zeros, 18 Vals, 18 Kates
Ryujo: 36 Zeros, 12 Kates
Zuiho: 21 Zeros, 9 Kates
Hosho: 15 Zeros, 6 Kates (Taiyo is available, but has no aircraft aboard right now. I probably won't use her. She's pretty slow.)
BB: 2
CS: 2 (1 more available)
CA: 7 (4 more available)
CL: 6
DD: 28 (2 more available)

I have the slow AO fleet (80k fuel) to support them if needed.

The troops began loading at Singapore today. IG Division will begin loading at Georgetown tomorrow. I anticipate 2-3 days to complete loading. It’ll take about a week to steam there. I anticipate invading on 1 Feb. Should be interesting. I just set the ground units objectives today hoping to minimize Mike getting a sniff of what is going to happen.

The garrison is composed of the following:

4 Garrison Unit – 4 days from Singapore. It should arrive at Ceylon about the time the invasion bases are ours and we are spreading out on the island.
10 & 11 Garrison Units – Reinforcements scheduled to arrive in Japan in 33 days. It’ll be awhile before they get there. I’ll make sure there are fast transports available when they arrive to get them in position as quickly as possible.

This is my first time invading Ceylon in all these years of playing this game. It should be interesting.

[saj42]

A great read so far - thanks for updating.

Re the Taiyo - you could add her to the slow AO TF. Use either as an ASW platform, or empty (heaven forbid any CV should be damaged the aircraft can divert to her!)

[Mike Solli]

Sorry for the delay. Was out of town on vacation with the family. Three turns to post.

Saj42, I usually have a small carrier or two close behind a carrier action, just in case what you say happens. I'm very cautious with my plane building program, so I don't have hundreds of planes of a single type in the pool early in the war. Losing pilots always hurts, but losing planes also hurts.