Jan (J) vs Mark VII (A) - Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27

[RangerJoe]

January 13, 1942
A resupply convoy to Palembang run into a freshly laid minefield, xAK Kokai Maru not looking so well afterwards. In the Yellow Sea SS Sargo surfaced and blasted an Aden class to bits, the only consolation that she probably expended most, if not all of her torpedo reloads to get a couple of exploding hits. The patrols outside Shanghai could not hear the explosions, but they reported hearing what they swear was some choice English cursing.

The Mk 14 torpedoes had a lucky streak today, with SS Trout sinking PB Kaki just off Milne Bay too. Hopefully the transport ships she was escorting will get away!

There was some action up North as well. Yesterday a CV TF (First sighting of an Allied CV!) showed up outside Adak island, then Dauntless DB's put a thousand pound bomb into TB Hato and six of them into CL Tama. Today a follow up surface raiding TF showed up. The anchorage was empty and DD Patterson will not be going home, courtesy of a Type 93 naval mine.

The Dutch night (oil) raiders avoided the CAP today due to heavy rains and 10% moonlight, yet still managed to hit the oilfields... The Dutch were being their usual efficient selves, SS O20 after laying some mines in the Strait of Malacca then proceeded to sunk the xAMc that was sent to clean them up.

Several bases were taken today, or will be tomorrow after unopposed landings - Watampone on Celebes, Dili on Timor, Salamaua on PNG. Lunga was taken yesterday by paratroops from Rabaul.

On Luzon an Infantry division & a third of another one marched back into Clark Field so they were kicked back to Bataan. Not sure what that was about but I will take wrecking a hundred+ AV for no loss of our own, except a few days delay.

The Allied pocket at Kuantan also surrendered today, including the 9th Indian Division, one of the Malay brigades (FMSV?) and a couple of independent battalions.

The Thai forces' orders to seize a bridgehead across from Moulmein still stand, today the 3rd RTA division did much better than the scattered regiments of 2nd RTA a couple of days ago. The Brits (well, the Indian & Burmese) manning the line must be very tired, they were only able to inflict a couple of platoons worth of casualties while suffering almost the same themselves. More forces will be needed to actually take the base, but at least we are across!

In China the enemy were pushed out of Biyang on the main road between Tongbai forest and Nanyang proper, 3 Corps' worth of troops retreated into Nanyang in a not very healthy state. Out in the deserts of Northern China our mobile units supported by a couple of Mixed Brigades keep smashing through the three Chinese Cavalry Corps screening that flank. The enemy is now reduced enough so they are nothing more than roadblocks. I don't know that we have enough strength to take Lanchow, but I imagine our opponent will have to at least honor the threat.

One time against the AI, I got kicked to Bataan. On the off chance to slow the computer down, I moved one small unit to Clark Field. My unit arrived at Clark Field at the same time that his entire force arrived at Bataan. I captured Clark Field while the AI did not capture Bataan. I then moved back to Bataan, trapping the AI units!

[JanSako]

That does make sense; if I had them start marching right after capturing Clark, they would have just reached it today. I would have never left it undefended but it only requires a 20 garrison so could be he tried a trick like this. And he used 2 units, a stronger and a really weak one, which he would have presumably marched back to Bataan.
Good play but ultimately futile, there are plenty of reinforcements getting shipped by Luzon that could have been diverted.

[RangerJoe]

That does make sense; if I had them start marching right after capturing Clark, they would have just reached it today. I would have never left it undefended but it only requires a 20 garrison so could be he tried a trick like this. And he used 2 units, a stronger and a really weak one, which he would have presumably marched back to Bataan.
Good play but ultimately futile, there are plenty of reinforcements getting shipped by Luzon that could have been diverted.

Yes, but even if you would have diverted troops that would have just slowed you down somewhere else. It is a good thing to try. Kudos to your opponent. The thing is, for this to really work, one of the units which would return to Bataan would have to move faster than any of the Japanese units that moved to Bataan. If it does work and there are no nearby troops to help out, it could be just a little difficult for the Japanese. I should open my game later and show you screen shots of what the IJA situation is at Clark and Manila . . .

Then I should show you the mess in Southern China where the Allies have a big problem . . .

[JanSako]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

[RangerJoe]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

I sent you two pictures, if you want a picture of a bloody naval turn with a surprise as to what sank most of the ships and where they sank, let me know. I could also send you a combat report so you can see just what the total strengths are of his units where the battles have occurred.

[JanSako]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

I sent you two pictures, if you want a picture of a bloody naval turn with a surprise as to what sank most of the ships and where they sank, let me know. I could also send you a combat report so you can see just what the total strengths are of his units where the battles have occurred.

Saw them, thank you!
These are from an AI game though, right? If it's is against a human, they are so out of their depth...

[JanSako]

January 14, 1942
One of the troop transports that lost their escort off Milne Bay yesterday was sighted by SS Pollack before she made it into Port Moresby. The USN captain got a bit overconfident from the lack of escorts and approached his target on the surface. The sub expended a number of torps until one of them worked, also scoring some 3' hits in the meantime. The Japanese sailors did not give up though, and the Horai Maru class xAP's carry at least some armament. They blasted away with everything they got until finally they landed a hit from the 12cm short gun. A secondary explosion was seen on the sub so they must have hit something important, then the enemy vessel slunk away. This is a big enough ship to survive a single Torpedo hit & the crew got a nice experience bump (+30 points!).

At Tarakan a reinforcement and resupply run needed to be done to help the two SNLF units overcome the defenders, and CA Myoko & Haguro + escorts were tasked with suppressing the costal batteries. All elements of the operation performed well and the subsequent land attack was able to get 2:1 odds and drop a level of forts. There is still one more defensive line, we shall see if the naval infantry can overcome it or more 8" persuaders will be needed.
The air is now in a small raids vs small CAP phase, except when our sweepers or escorts fail to fly, then the bombers will run into a stronger CAP for sure... Today it was over Wuchow and the victims were a flight of Sonias, fallen afoul of Flying Tigers & some ex-Luzon USAAF Warhawks.
The largest ground engagement today was the final round of the battel for Shangrao where three Chinese Corps were routed into Pucheng. The Shanghai to Nanchang route is now fully open.
We have a few new points of contact against small scale local raids, usually coming out of the swampy or mountainous terrain where IJA does not have enough forces to follow:

2023-10-28_7-17-38.png (706.47 KiB) Viewed 1631 times

I usually wait until they come out into more favorable terrain so they can get bombed for a bit and then chased away with regiment-sized detachments. They are either Partisan formation, basically poorly armed militia without any heavy weapons or occasionally the 2-division Corp- type units. The latter can be dangerous, especially to RGC puppet forces which are far from elite themselves and constitute most of the garrison forces.

Note about the screenshot - every Chinese base in this mod has an 'Admin' unit, basically a static platoon-sized local detachment that prevents the base from flipping. Each base also produces between 2-5 supply/day (for the Chinese) so these units can subside indefinitely. The Japanese player can easily take them, but they require a garrison of usually 10 AV . If they are left to the Chinese, then they provide a small but steady trickle of supplies for several larger partisan bases and mobile units active in the Chinese controlled areas. As a result, the Japanese mostly control the main roads and larger cities, while the Chinese stay active in the countryside & keep bothering them.

[RangerJoe]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

I sent you two pictures, if you want a picture of a bloody naval turn with a surprise as to what sank most of the ships and where they sank, let me know. I could also send you a combat report so you can see just what the total strengths are of his units where the battles have occurred.

Saw them, thank you!
These are from an AI game though, right? If it's is against a human, they are so out of their depth...

Yes, it is against the AI. I set up no traps against the AI, these are just what I have taken advantage of against the AI making stupid moves.

I have yet to play more than a few turns of any computer game against a human in a long time.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

Good, more Allied supplies for me to capture when this Sumatra business is finished.

[JanSako]

Oh, I know a bit about how difficult life can be for the Japanese if Luzon is not fully secured. I am still holding Manila & whole South Luzon in end of July against LST. But TBH he kind of hasn't bothered to pull back the 2-3 divisions he would need to clean it out. In the meantime I keep sneaking supplies in from Hawaii... Matagalpa class 18 knots xAKL's & such.

Good, more Allied supplies for me to capture when this Sumatra business is finished.

Well I did say 'sneaking in' so don't hold your breath... I think you catch a bit more of my blockade runners than I catch of yours.
BTW, thought you said all of your cruisers were at Hankow...

[JanSako]

January 14, 1942
Several subs were spotted in the last couple of days on the main convoy route between Shanghai & Kyushu, scouting the exact routes. All available ASW assets were dispatched and one of the Sub Chaser groups found the pirate. SS Stingray will be heading for the nearest dry dock!

Allied fighters are trying to contest the air above Wuchow, IJA bombers stayed home today so the fighters are free to maneuver. Both sides only have small or depleted air units, numbering probably less than 10 on Allied side. Still there is no give in them and every aerial victory must be paid for. I imagine by now the Flying Tigers are probably just as experienced as the IJA pilots but if an objective must be taken, then that is how it is!
The first attack at Wuchow went OK, or perhaps even better, considering the level 4 forts waiting for us there. Now there are only level 3, held by two Chinese corps units + an HQ and a base force. Intel indicates that a large partisan formation is also moving to reinforce the city, hopefully they will take a few more days to get there.

In the NW of China a full Corps shock attacked today against the lone RGC 'Route Brigade' holding the Kaoping base, unfortunately (our) Chinese did not even try to hold very hard, just run off & left the valuable resource producing area to be plundered by the enemy.

Sweeps over Singapore, Batavia and Changsha went unchallenged today, the last now showing to be empty of planes, perhaps the airfield is too damaged from constant aerial and river boat bombardment attacks.

The 25th Army crossed the causeway to Singapore! The engineer regiment of 55th Division lead the way and was completely destroyed, but their sacrifice allowed the rest of the rest of our forces to expand the bridgehead. At the end of the day the first two defensive lines were breached (forts 3>1) for the cost of 3700 Japanese vs some 3200 Allied troops. There are some 500 enemy AV remaining at Singapore, against ~1500 ours.

In Tarakan our two SNLF units keep poking at the Dutch and looks like we are gaining the upper hand. There are no more forts left and the enemy casualties are now higher than our own. Let's hope they don't trash the oilfields too much when we finally push them out into the jungle!

[JanSako]

January 15, 1942

A 4 DD TF was dispatched to clean up a minefield in the Malacca Strait, between Singapore and Batu Pahat. There were rather more mines than I thought; looks like he is emptying the storage in Singapore & dumping the mines with subs all over the place. The port is empty now as well, fleeing ships were spotted around Singkep island, heading South. A Betty unit from Palembang tried to catch some & wasted a lot of torpedoes for nothing, even the single hit they managed turned out to be a dud.

Martaban is airspace is still quite hot. No Allied CAP today, but a small Blenheim strike escorted by some Buffalos came over & tangled with Oscar Ic's on station. Free to dogfight, the Oscars did well & shot down one of each. The air force is giving the Thai troops all the support available, but bombing is not too accurate in the dense jungle. Wildly inaccurate, would be a more accurate statement.

Shooting up the jungle with light MG's is also not very effective, as Nates found out today on Borneo. AA guns shooting from said jungle at low flying planes, now that is another matter! The Tarakan defenders are way too tenacious for my liking and there wasn't much else available so I ordered strafing attacks from the fighter groups normally tasked with defending the Borneo oilfields. Seven Nates were lost for a sprained middle finger of a Dutch AA gunner... Hopefully our ground troops got him afterwards, even though the base still held.

A good amount of ground combat in China today. A partisan unit was sent back to the swamp from the Suchow-Pengpu railroad after the Sallies gave them a good pasting. Another one entered Kweisui from the SW & it has about double AV of the garrison. An army Corps on the Tsingtao-Tsinan railroad attacked a regiment of the 32nd division in the process of detraining but weren't strong enough to win anyway.
Japanese offensive actions included the first attack on Wenchow - 1700 vs 500 raw AV gave us 1:2 odds because of terrain & level 4 forts, but now there are only lvl 3 and IJA inflicted twice the casualties suffered. Unfortunately 8th AC Co must have run into some sort of an ambush during the attack, as pretty much all of its assets apart of a couple of trucks were wiped out.
The second larger event was the capture of Wuchow. Surprisingly the city only took two assaults, we must have gotten a good roll on the second as we took the city through 2 levels of forts. (675/321 raw to 10008/203 meant 4:1 odds, just enough!)
Few smaller skirmishes saw Bengkalis, Kudat, Langsa & Samal (Mindanao) taken. A SNLF unit is also ashore at Lautem on Timor, marching at Dili which appears to be abandoned.

[JanSako]

January 16, 1942

DMS Meklong cleaned up all mines between Singapore and Batu Pahat, then being a DMS (I think the Thai captain misunderstood what the word 'Destroyer' means in this context) proceeded to do the same under the noses of the 15" CD gunners of Singapore Fort. Five out of first 9 shots fired were hits... no more was needed.

Various convoys reported sub-scares throughout the night, fortunately the subs either missed or were spotted & driven off by escorts. There are very few, if any, unescorted cargo ships anywhere these days, the risk is just too great. Enough Mk 14's are working that I rather pay the fuel cost for the escort ships, and even a couple of Ansyu class PB's are better than nothing!

A Zero sweep of Batavia found some Hurricane IIb's on station. They got the initial dive on us, as usual, but the experience & maneuverability of the Zero won out and 6 enemies were claimed shot down for 3 losses.

Two main targets for airstrikes today - Singapore and Martaban - both had thunderstorms (what a surprise!), not that the weather bothers the flak crews in the slightest!

On the ground, we kicked out the blocking force from Tongbai forest on the Nanyang-Siniyang road, the advance elements of this grouping having arrived to Nanyang yesterday and started the siege. Nanyang is Light Urban and starts with forts 4 in this scenario so it is not only a speedbump it is in stock. It won't be easy to cut off either, it looks like there is already 12 units holding the next WR hex on the road to Sian.
In Northern China, on the Paotow-Lanchow road, we crossed another meander, the 16th IMB and 23rd Tank regiment hard on the heels of the retreating Chinese cavalry corps (remnants). The two thirds of 2nd Chinese Cavalry surrendered, being already worn down so they only had about a thousand men left amongst them. The next hex is of course another river crossing, with sand desert (x3 terrain). And what looks like a fresh unit of some kind waiting for us. It's almost like the Chinese have unlimited manpower or something!

In other news, we finally got Tarakan! It took repeated shock attacks but the KNIL battalion got beaten down enough that our troops got lose amongst the gunners and support units and that was that. Sasebo 3rd SNLF is down to a third of its normal effective infantry complement, but that should still be enough to hop into Tawau ahead of the retreating Dutch.

[JanSako]

January 17, 1942
Good news/bad news of the sub warfare:
Bad news - all of IJN sub attacks missed today.
Good news - all of the Allied ones missed to.
Bad news, but still OK - I-10 got beat up a bit by its intended target, a Canadian PF (Patrol Frigate) off Fiji - she should make it, barring further holes in the hull.
Very good news - a couple of Allied subs got beat up too, a Dutch one at Medan and an USN fleet sub in the shallow waters off Wenchow. They both have a long way to go to friendly ports and the Dutch one disappeared from search so she may have gone down.

Two SNLF regiments landed at Koepang today, we shall see if they are enough to take it. Intel 9/10 shows less than 2k enemy troops in two units so it looks like the base was not reinforced. A third SNLF units marched into abandoned Dili today, so we should have Timor secured very soon.

A USN CV TF is still hanging out by Adak; today she launched a couple of DB strikes that found an ACM in port. That was the only significant Allied air strike today, apart of a few small raids in China. Of the enemy fighters there was no sign, we only found a couple H81-A3's over Kweilin. Everything else pulled back beyond reach, I imagine they will be back in force once they replenish the wings.
Our air and surface units caught & sunk a few small ships here and there, other than that the seas (where we can see them) are mostly empty.
A good amount of ground combat happened today. Our attack against Wenchow had good results, getting 2:1 odds, causing more casualties that our own and the fort is now down to two. Fatigue & disruption is high enough that we will pause & also let some more supplies flow in.
The 1st Army, now commanding the 3rd and 35th division + a couple of Tank regiments performed a probing attack at Nanyang to gauge the opposition. There are lvl 3 forts and 900+ av so they will not be able to take it as they are now. The neighboring base of Dengzhou, however only has 2/3rd of a Corps so 39th Division should take it in the next few days. Then we can either flank the blocking force at Gucheng (across the rive on the Ankang road) or start working around Nanyang up towards Sian.

On Luzon, the allied command sacrificed the remnants of the 11th and 51st PA divisions by pushing them back to Clark field from Bataan. This time we ordered a pursuit after the attack. Some units already made it to Bataan, others will be there tomorrow. We shall see, the last attempt at pursuit ended up not so great for our advance troops.

[JanSako]

January 18, 1942
A number of sub attacks all missed again - IJN vs USN DD's off Hawaii, Sculpin missed a large CM off Truk (phew...)

Sallies got some hits against Singers airbase today, the place even showed a few points of damage at the end of the day! Of course the flak made us pay... hopefully not for long!
The Malaya army launched an attack, all the forts are gone now, the Allies have some 400 AV or so. The casualties were 1100 ours to 1900 theirs with 1:1 odds. All the assorted small Allied battalions should be mission killed at this point, unfortunately they are still absorbing a lot of our firepower which gives extra staying power to the garrison.

Lots of aerial bombardments happened today, not just in China. Mini KB has launched a port strike at Denpassar; I suspected he is using it as a staging post because NAV search keeps reporting small TF's at the base. Too small to be attacked by Betties for some reason, I was hoping the carrier aviation would take them out. No such luck, but we did sunk a few support ships in port. Mini KB is now 6 hexes S of Soerabaja in the IO.
Both Dili & Koepang were captured today. The Allies can still ferry fighters between Java & Australia, but if I recall correctly Denpasar is now a 'must' and only stop on the route. We also grabbed Umboi island in the strait between New Britain & PNG, and a couple of other empty dot bases.

In China a mixed bag of results - Dengzhou (just E of Nanyang) was captured and a Chinese raiding Corps was pushed back to the mountains on the Tsingtao-Tsinan railroad; but there is now another one at the neighboring hex. This one should be depleted from their previous attempt and did not even try to attack the Chinese collaborationist brigade holding it, supported by some trainee flyers in KI-48's. A number of other raiding units are reported to be on their way, keeping out fire regiments & brigades busy.
The less than ideal development today was a counterattack into Sinyang from across the river. A fresh Chinese corps crossed the railway bridge from NE and surprised an understrength IJA mixed brigade in rest mode. The losses were light on both sides but the enemy was able to overrun all of the defense lines (LVL 4>0). Not sure if they stopped because they were so surprised that the lines were all empty or what, but at least we still do hold the town!

[JanSako]

January 19, 1942.

The Japanese high command ordered the invasion of Java to start from the Southern end of the island. The invasion TF's passed through the Malay Barrier and then were spotted yesterday SE of Denpassar. Unfortunate but not unexpected. Dutch MTB's managed an open sea intercept despite less than 10% moonlight and barged into one of the Amphibious TF's. Fortunately there were plenty of escorts and these were not only able to screen the transports, but also sunk two of the four attackers.
APD Nadakaze, it its rush to screen xAK Myoko Maru managed to almost get herself smashed to bits by her. The collision itself was just a gentle bump but for some reason it caused the engine on the smaller ship to fail catastrophically...

2023-11-11_12-14-59.png (294.79 KiB) Viewed 1413 times

The initial landing happens in Loemadjang in order to secure total control over Java's airspace ASAP. The 31st ID's Kawaguchi Detachment landed in good order; looks like there is one or perhaps two base detachments and a Dutch battalion opposing them.
The Invasion fleet was targeted by many air attacks during the day but Mini Kido airwings were on the ball. Over 50 enemy planes were shot down or damaged enough to crash on landing, including five B-17D's and perhaps seven Swordfish.
Small craft attacks are again expected tonight and there are a lot of enemy subs in the area!

Notable ground operations were only happening in China today, we had two rear bases overrun today when Corps sized 'raiding' units burst out of the swamps and routed the company-sized Chinese Collaborationist garrisons. The first one - Huoqiu, just NE of Hwainan is not of any major consequence, not doubt intended only to pull my troops from other objectives. The second one, Zhuji, however sits on the railroad, just SE of Hangchow and would have cut off my only supply had the enemy managed to also overrun Kiukiang. They did not because the Kyuko Naval Guard unit gave the Chinese a lesson in swamp combat, inflicting over 10:1 casualties on yet another shock attacking Chinese corps. I am wondering if my opponent is trying to siphon off the supply from Wenchow into the surrounded area around Jigdezhen too.

The two arrows indicate today's shock attacks and the direction where the attackers came from, the greenish squareis shape is the previously surrounded area that can (for)now get supply through Wenchow.

2023-11-11_13-35-56.png (235.28 KiB) Viewed 1413 times

At Sinyang the 13th IMB redeemed their honor when the 92nd Chinese Corps got overconfident after their yesterday's success and shock attacked again. The timely arrival of an armored car company helped as well, resulting in a very lopsided casualty ration of 760:6.
The good news in China is that in some of the combat results recently it was reported that the Chinese units are low on supply. It is really not easy to supply Chinese troops at any distance away from the major hubs unless a lot of supply is being shipped in through Rangoon and I do not believe any has been, until now. It may be possible that the British are dropping off small amounts of supply at the various dot bases on the Burmese coast S of Akyab, but the amounts would be miniscule compared to what the Chinese troops are able to use up.

[RangerJoe]

That is unlucky for that APD, it probably represents burst steam and water pipes for the boilers and engines.

[JanSako]

That is unlucky for that APD, it probably represents burst steam and water pipes for the boilers and engines.

You are most likely correct. Just one more Kudos to the coders that such a thing was even included! I will have to stash her someplace after she unloads tonight until Soerabaja can be captured.

[JanSako]

January 20, 1942.
Java invasion unloading continues at Loemadjang. All troops of the first wave are ashore, as are most of the supplies. Kawaguchi Detachment takes the base intact in the first attack. About a thousand Dutchmen present offers only token resistance & promptly surrender.
There is only a single air skirmish over the landings when a trio of B-17D's escorted by some B-339D's gets roughly handled by the CAP. Eight enemy fighters and two of the B-17's are shot down. Kates from Mini Kido tried to disrupt a potential enemy staging airbase at Madioen, but only found a single Blenheim I that got blasted to bits.

The Japanese high command expected the Dutch to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the invasion just like they did yesterday, but looks like they are waiting for a better opportunity.
A Dutch sub, tentatively ID's as O23 tried several times to get into attack position to hit the invasion ships but our escorts were able to scare it off. At the last attempt the captain must have been getting frustrated & launched a spread of 4 torpedoes against DD Oshio which all missed.

A squadron of Hurricane IIb's swept Palembang, but there was no CAP because the Zeros were sweeping Soerabaja or escorting Betties. Lucky for us the one follow-up bombing raid missed the oilfields!

A trio of IJN DD's was dispatched to clear the Denpasar harbor after several small TF's were seen there yesterday. A couple of small patrol boats were quickly sunk, but nothing else was found. Looks like the PT boats tried to reach our invasion fleet & ended up on the open sea just 40 miles off Loemadjang; not sure if on purpose or out of fuel. I would guess on purpose & we will see them tonight.

At Martaban a CA bombardment TF delivers a pretty good pasting in preparation for an attack in the morning. The 1st & 3rd RTA divisions then try to break the Brits again but are not able to. The original two brigades of the 1st Burma Division have been stiffened by a British battalion (1. Gloucestershire) & that was enough. Between the attack and the earlier naval bombardment the Allies did lose ~400 men to our 200 though, and the 2nd Burma brigade looks to be in pretty rough shape. The Brits & the Indians are much better off for now, I imagine those are more experienced troops as well.

There was also an attack planned on Wenchow today so the elderly IJN cruisers around CA Yakumo delivered another naval bombardment to the city. The assault went well and Chinese garrison was forced out of the city with heavy losses. They have retreated East, to another coastal hex so they will be receiving more 8" HE deliveries soonish. This was an important target reached, all but one the divisions can now proceed to the next objective (as of yet secret).

At Gushi, 2 hexes SW of Sinyang another Chinese raiding Corps crossed the river, looking for easy pickings. This time they found an IJA Regiment prepared for them, as we were tracking their progress for a while now. They were stopped cold and IJA Air will proceed to dismantle them enough so the regiment can then push what is left back across.

One of the constant small raids in China got caught by our LR CAP today and three B-26 Marauders were shot down over Dengzhou (just W of Nanyang), the first recorded losses of this type. Hopefully not the last!

On Luzon, we captured Subic Bay after Fort Wint surrendered to a landward side assault. Now the Bataan Peninsula & the Corregidor fort are the last vestiges of the Allied infestation. The Allies still did not counterattack against our advanced units; a few people at the 14th army HQ were apparently concerned that an all out shock attack against our armored spearheads posed any danger... such thinking of course being unworthy of the Empire's best! Surely the American & Philippine 'soldiers' are simply too scared to come out of their hidey holes & face the mighty Japanese war machines, also known as Type 97!

[JanSako]

January 21, 1942

I-162 gets mobbed by ASW off Perth & is going to have to sail all the way to a proper drydock. Then Dutch Martin 139's visit our oilfields again, losing one to flak but still getting a couple of hits despite low moon. It is high time we push them out of Java, since our planes pointed at Batavia either refuse to fly or get into thunderstorms & don't hit squat.

At least the navy is is doing something! The RTN 'heavy' TF bombarded Kuching today, only hitting non-combat squads but still a good amount. We only have a SNLF company there, against 6 units, basically the Kuching garrison & the Dutch units from NW of Borneo. They have not attacked yet so I am content just bombarding them since the frontlines have moved on a bit.
Two Dutch PT boat squadrons out of Denpasar cause havoc with our Java invasion TF's - 6 encounters - but not because they hit anything. Just by them showing up a total panic ensued and most of our TF's just headed for home. Our escorts did their job, sinking one of the TB's and damaging another one so there was no actual damage done, but at least one of the TF headed back still loaded with supply that would be much better off unloaded at Loemadjang.

The squadron of Hurricanes operating on Java had high CAP duty over Soarabaja today. The first unescorted flight of Nells trying to attack some HDML flew too low & the fighters did not see them (phew), but that height advantage proved real valuable when a Mini KB strike arrived. Despite escorts outnumbering the CAP, we lost a total of 12 planes, while only one Hurricane (maybe) crashed on landing. These must be handpicked British survivors of the Malaya battles because they should be the only Allied pilots experienced enough to reach such a result.

The most significant ground combat event was another attack at Singapore. We got pretty good results, even with 1:1 odds we inflicted 2x our own casualties, with 200+ devices of all kinds destroyed and many more non-combat squads disabled, compared to combat squads. Combat report shows they had 400 raw AV before the attack, but the massive amounts of support squads present go give them a bit more resiliency. Should not be much longer though.

We also grabbed Macassar & started moving Inland from Loemadjang on Java.

In China, the Artillery units arrived at Nanyang and started the siege. We are not currently strong enough to take the city so we will go on banging away for a bit & having them eat up their supply.

A number of raiding Corps are still sitting across our supply lines or just being an eyesore on the map:
- We kicked out one just NE of Tsingtao on the railroad, it is estimated it does not have any combat value left.
- There are now two corps in Sinyang so we need to wait for reinforcements there.
- A single Corps at Kaoping is being worked on by an IMB supported by sizeable amount of IJA Air Sallies - the going is slow due to terrain but they are even less experienced than we are so not inflicting a lot of losses on our guys.
- Just East of Kaoping there is another Corps, for now being held in place by a regiment from the 32nd Division, need more forces to push them out. They are also being visited by our bombers.
- Gushi, on the Sinyang -Hwainan road has another Corps vs a regiment of IJ Army. Asked for air support from some Sonia units but it did not happen today. We might be able to attack them if we can get a couple of good bombardment days.
- Huoqui, the base next doo has been temporarily overrun, but it is not really significant so we will get to it when we do.
- Kweisui in the North has been visited by a Partisan corps, but after they never launched an attack. We bombed them a few times, the enemy appeared to withdraw but then stopped again.
- Today another unit showed up at Dongxiang, just SE of Nanchang, no doubt trying to cut the railroad The base was only lightly held by an RGC brigade. Until yesterday, that is. Hopefully what we brought will be enough.
- Last but not least Zhuji, also on the railroad, just SW of Hangchow was also temporarily overrun a few days ago.

Adding up the above and plus Nanyang and another hex far North where an armored unit has been slowly grinding up the enemy 5th Cavalry corps, we have a total of 10 active contact points between our & Chinese forces!
I do think the Allied player has plenty of opportunities to keep himself busy & come up with all sorts of mischief.