Bo...oops in the South Pacific - LST (A) vs SierraJuliet (J) Bottlenecks Mod

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 17, 1942

Bases lost
55ID I./143rd Inf Battalion CAPTURE Tambaya".
55ID II./143rd Inf Battalion CAPTURE Lamaing".
1st Sasebo Coy SNLF CAPTURE Calapan.
Jaquinot Bay is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
No contacts!

CentPac
CL Helena, freshly repaired after suffering a torpedo hit in the Dec 7 attack, has been ordered out to conduct trials and training.
Her captain, Gilbert Hoover* decided that the best training would be a bombardment of the nearest territory under Japanese occupation – Wake Island.

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 14
Port hits 11
Port supply hits 5

*I only realize it now as I write – this is an OOB error, Hoover took command of Helena in September 1942, at the time of PH until Hoover took over, Helena was skippered by Captain Robert Henry English, who starts the game as RAdm.

PI
One Sally was damaged by Peashooters over Clark Field, which suffers 15 runway hits.
A small sailing schooner named Lanikai has left Bataan with a few enterprising officers and men aboard to attempt to escape to the DEI.
The ship will try to island-hop through the PI and across the Celebes Sea to Balikpapan and on to Java.

Malaya / Burma / India
Mutual night-bombing – Allies hit Johore / Tebrau causing light damage, the Japanese hit nothing at Singers.

Johore / Tebrau is also bombarded again by the gunboats fleet:
Allied Ships
PG Grasshopper
PG Cicala
PG Kedah
PG Soerabaja
PG Herald
PG Lawrence
PG Mindanao (PR-8)
PG Luzon (PR-7)
PG Oahu (PR-6)

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

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 6
Port hits 3

During daylight, enemy fighter sweeps tangle with CAP again:

A6M2 Reisen: 7 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Hayabusa: 3 destroyed

Buffalo I: 6 destroyed
B-339D: 5 destroyed
75A-7 Hawk: 1 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed

10:18 - okayish bit not sustainable for long.

China
Chinese ground forces bombed at Xinfeng, Pucheng, Xianning – about 290 casualties total.

Intel
33rd Field Const Co is located at Paracel Islands. I am wondering why you want to waste precious engineering assets for this location?
It has a standard airbase and port size of 1. Stick a base force coy and a detachment of float planes on it for ASW and good.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 18, 1942

Bases lost
2nd Indpt Coy CAPTURE Sarmi / Wakde.
Dinagat is occupied by the Japanese.
Port Dickson is occupied by the Allies.

Sub War
SS I-158 sinks xAP Van Riebeek near Oosthaven.
SS I-154 sinks xAKL Rasa near Muntok.
SS S-37~ torpedoed xAK Seisyo Maru near Soebi-besar.
SS Argonaut lays minefield at Izu Oshima.

CONUS
More gas-guzzlers available now:
BB Idaho arrives at CARIBSEAFRON
BB New Mexico arrives at CARIBSEAFRON
BB Mississippi arrives at CARIBSEAFRON

NoPac
Two Canadian AMCs have made a short patrol off Southern Sakhalin without encountering enemy ships or aircraft.

CentPac
BB Maryland available for service in damaged state at Pearl Harbor.
BB Pennsylvania available for service in damaged state at Pearl Harbor.
Both will go to Bremerton under heavy escort for modernization.

SoPac
The secret refueing stop in the deep South is a hub of activity as convoys with reinforcements for Samoa and the Fijis pass through.

SWPac
KB raids PM airbase. 17 runway hits, one Kate destroyed by AA.

PI
Clark Field bombed, light damage, one Sally damaged by Peashooters.

Malaya / Burma / India
Gunboats cause 75 casualties at Johore / Tebrau.
Ineffective night-bombing from both sides.
With the help of PC Kedah used as a fast transport, the Chinese Dalforce is taking stabs at the Japanese rear bases and LOC along the Malayan West Coast. Port Dickson recaptured.

China
Chinese ground units at Xinfeng and Pucheng bombed, 350 casualties.

Intel
29/21st Division is loaded on xAK Momoyama Maru #1 moving to Canton.
28/21st Division is loaded on xAK Rasin Maru moving to Canton.
Interesting – reinforcements for the push in direction of Kukong?
DD Isonami is reported to have been sunk near Subic Bay on Dec 31, 1941.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 19, 1942

Bases lost
Japanese forces CAPTURE Xianning.
5th Indpt Coy CAPTURE Madang-Alexishafen.
Masbate is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS I-7^ has sunk the reefer xAK Arctic+ (the + behind the name indicates a refrigerator ship, not to be used for troop carrying) near Lahaina – morale in the fleet hits rock bottom with this loss of the monthly ice cream ration.
In an ASW attack near Menado, SS S-39~ has collected five hits and must RTB.
In an ASW attack near Kuching, SS KXIII has been hit four times and must RTB. She caught a glimpse of BB Haruna, missed DD Maikaze with two torps and then had go deep.
I-6 has been hit three times by DMS Long in an ASW attack near Johnston Island.

CONUS
BB Tennessee beginning refit in shipyard at Bremerton.

SWPac
KB has hit PM again, over 170 bombers managed but 16 runway hits and AAAA (“Four A” - Australian anti-aircraft artillery) powered by promises of "Four X" for each kill claimed 7 Vals destroyed and 28 damaged.

PI
DD Oshio has sunk xAKL Boyd near Balabac.
Cagayan bombed by three Betties which killed a squad of the 3rd PA Constabulary Regiment.

Malaya / Burma / India
Ineffective Japanese night attacks against Singers by small numbers of Sallies.
The gunboats, CL Dauntless~ and CL Enterprise~ bombarded Johore / Tebrau, 20 casualties inflicted.

Enemy fighter sweeps over Singers hit empty air as our fighters are busy elsewhere. My opponent is using strato sweeps at 29k and 30k feet altitude.
What is the best counter to this? Going up as well despite mnvr disadvantage, or staying low in best mnvr band but getting bounced?

My fighters have swept Johore / Tebrau in order to clear the way for a daylight bombing raid. They have found some leaking CAP, but the Zeros were not that great in a defensive role.

A6M2 Reisen: 8 destroyed
H81-A3: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Then 50+5 Allied bombers – Blenheims and Hudsons – attacked the Japanese ground forces at Johore / Tebrau. One Hudson damaged - the enemy suffered not even a scratch.

China
Chinese ground forces at Xinfeng caught it again repeatedly, 190 casualties reported.
Fed-up, the Chinese left the hex – and the Japanese 11th Army (3rd Div, 39th Div, 40th Div, 58ID 18th Ind.Mix.' Brigade + tanks and arty) captured the base.

[zebrazwo]

Oh no! Not the ice cream! Cruel and unusual punishment!

[BBfanboy]

CAP that is flying too high often fails to intercept low-flying bombers which are in and out of the hex. But Sweeps against CAP has two lingering sets of aircraft. Still, I bet it is hard for aircraft at 30K to spot low flying fighters over normal terrain (as opposed to water). And if the defending fighters are low enough for their on AAA to hit at the enemy fighters they might interfere with their dive or even shoot down a few. I'll have to watch if sweep missions lose fighters to AAA.

[JanSako]

Sweeps to not lose fighters to AAA.

Two approaches to strato-sweeps:

- get above them if you have radar and you can (your planes have the ceiling). Unlikely to work well without radar because you won't have enough time between the raid being detected & the engagement.

- put a bait squadron, ideally high MVR planes on low level, then layer the rest of your CAP above them. It is important that the low squadron is the first one on your list in the base (lowest DB number).

The enemy will dive on the bait squadron, then the rest of your guys will dive on them.

There is of course a ton of variables here, weather, radar, skills, leaders, XP, morale & faigue both yours & theirs.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Thx Jansako, I will try the "bait" approach because none of my current fighter planes has a 30k ceiling.


Jan 20, 1942

Bases lost
7th Indpt Coy CAPTURED Lae.
8th Indpt Coy CAPTURED Buna.
15th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURED Sidate.
91st Naval Guard Unit CAPTURED Port Swettenham.
Xiantao is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS O21 missed DMS W-4 near Menado and collected two depth charge hits in return.
Later, O21 missed TB Otori escorting a convoy in the same area.
SS Barracuda lays minefield at Matsuma.
SS I-2 missed DMS Perry near San Francisco.
SS RO-34 missed CL Java near Donggala.
SS I-156 has sunk xAKL Raub and xAKL Circe near Muntok.

CentPac
Repairs completed on ARD YFD-2 at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service.
That frees up some shipyard points for repairing DDs and DMS.

PI
xAPc Don Isidro has been sunk near Pandan by CA Maya and consorts.
9 Sallies damaged by CAP over Clark Field, light damage on the airbase.
7 casualties at Cagayan caused by three Betties.

Malaya / Burma / India
Gunboats caused 5 casualties bombarding Johore / Tebrau.

PG Kedah has lifted elements of the Dalforce to Utan M. / Stiawan up on the West Coast of Central Malaya, deep behind enemy lines.

Air battles over Singers:
Ki-44 Shoki: 3 destroyed
A6M2 Reisen: 4 destroyed

P-40E Warhawk: 7 destroyed
H81-A3: 1 destroyed
Buffalo I: 3 destroyed


China
Repeated bombing attacks against Chinese ground forces at Xinfeng, Yueyang and Yingde.

Intel
Spies report that Japanese minesweepers have cleared 41 mines at Izu Oshima (113,62). There goes Argonaut’s minefield…

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 21, 1942

Bases lost
Elements of the 124th Inf Rgt CAPTURED Sambas.
Tandag is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS I-175 wasted 4 fish on DMS Long near Johnston Island.
SS I-158 missed xAK Forafric near Batavia.
SS I-24_ missed AM Rockhampton near Brisbane".
SS I-8^ was located by AM Rockhampton near Brisbane"
Nevertheless, later that day, SS I-8^ sunk AM Geelong and YO OFL-3 off Brisbane.
Mmh, a midget sub carrier and a float plane-carrying sub off Brisbane – smells like a port attack with mini-subs.
SS Grenadier lays minefield at Kavieng.

CentPac
Loss of BB Oklahoma on Dec 07, 1941 is admitted.

PI
Sallies caused negligible damage at Clark Field.
Clark Field expands fortifications to size 4.

DEI
Betty bombers have attacked the Allied Eastern Naval Force build around CLs Boise and Java near Balikpapan. Looks like Menando airbase is now operational. Bad news.
Batavia expands airfield to size 5 and now can house B-17s without penalties (or so I think).
Float planes and transport planes start to shift “Landstorm” infantry units from Java to Sumatra.

Malaya / Burma / India
Allied gunboats caused 65 casualties and some base damage at Johore / Tebrau.
Due to the presence of enemy units at Utan M. / Stiawan, the lightly armed guerillas of the Dalforce will evacuated again by PG Kedah this coming night.

China
Yingde, Yueyang, Longnan bombed, about 60 casualties suffered.
A bombardment attack by two-thirds of the 104th IJA Div against the 83rd Chinese Army* Corps at Yingde has cost the Chinese 11 casualties and the Japanese 37.

Intel
Spies report that the minefield laid the other day at Matsuma has promptly been swept. Apparently, the enemy has the “choke points” well covered with countermeasures.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 22, 1942

Bases lost
Japanese forces CAPTURED Cagayan.
Caraga is occupied by the Japanese

Sub War
SS I-158 missed xAK Marpess near Batavia.
SS I-2 sank TK Gulfpride near Channel Islands.
SS I-156 sank xAKL Bingin near Muntok.
SS Sargo~ torpedoed xAK Keihuku Maru #2 near Poulo Condore Is.

PI
14 out 27 Sallies damaged by just 3 Peashooters on CAP. Light airbase damage.

Cagayan finally fell :

Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 4589 troops, 47 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 220
Defending force 1545 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 71
Japanese adjusted assault: 195
Allied adjusted defense: 33
Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Cagayan !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), leaders(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1714 casualties reported
Squads: 115 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 64 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
8th Tank Regiment
16ID 33rd Infantry Regiment
32SBF Sasebo 2nd' Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
3rd PA Constabulary Regiment

Malaya / Burma / India
Ineffective Japanese night bombing and Allied naval bombardments.

China
Xinfeng, Yueyang and Yingde bombed, 240 casualties among the Chinese.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 23, 1942

Bases lost
I/66th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURED Finschhafen.
Samal is occupied by the Japanese.
Taiping is occupied by the Allies.

Sub War
SS I-162 sank xAP Kepong near Muntok. Another ship lost on the Palembang/Batavia to Singers track. Many small ships take this route to keep adding to Singer’s supply stocks.

SWPac
Japanese forces edging ever closer to PM. KB has left, but is probably just replenishing at Rabaul or Truk.

PI
A trio of Betties bombed Malaybalay, the mountain redoubt of the PI III Corps on Mindanao. The base is low on supplies, submarines can only provide a trickle of supplies from Cebu via the adjacent coastal hex.

Malaya / Burma / India
The usual gunboat bombardment of Johore / Tebrau netted a supply hit and 16 enemhy casualties.
The 14th Tank Regiment has launched a counterattack at Port Dickson and annihilated the remaining elements of the Dalforce detachment. 142 casualties reported. The larger part of the units has been able to evacuate aboard the PG Kedah and shifted to Taiping further up on the coast.

China
Xinfeng, Yueyang, Yingde remain unhealthy places without aircover. However, ground fire managed to down a Sonia bomber.
At Yingde, the entire 104th is now assembled, together with three arty units. Things start to look serious here.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 24, 1942

Bases lost and won
Siargao is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS I-121* has sunk xAK Nisqually near Pamekasan.

DEI
The Japanese 1st Indpt Coy is pursuing the Dutch ex-garrison of Hollandia in the direction of Aitape.

Malaya / Burma / India
B-17Ds have night-bombed Kuching and have hit xAK Johore Maru, setting her afire.
Allied gunboats caused 62 casualties and some base damage at Johore / Tebrau, the presence of the IJA 2nd Div has been confirmed.

China
Enemy bombing raids have targeted Chinese troops at Yueyang and Xinfeng, 62 casualties suffered. Kukong got bombed as well, the airbase suffered medium damage.
A Japanese DA at Yueyang has pitted three reinforced IJA divisions against three Chinese Corps – 525 vs. 1519 casualties and forts reduced to level 1. Not good.
The 20th RGC/A Division of the Chinese Puppet Regime is trying to wrest control of Qingyuan, but the “defending” KMT administration has caused 8 casualties by the skilful use of some tax forms.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 25, 1942

Bases lost and won
Japanese forces CAPTURE Qingyuan.
III/66th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURE Lolobato.
2nd Indpt Coy CAPTURE Milne Bay.
Tablas is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS S-39~ has torpedoed xAKL Ujigawa Maru near Menado, ship reported sunk.
SS I-162 has sunk xAKL Aida near Muntok.

PI
SS Cachalot lays minefield at Cagayan.

DEI
DD Alden~ has hit a mine at Pamekasan and retired to Soerabaja for repairs.
The nightly B-17D raids on Kuching have been opposed by Nate fighters on night CAP – no losses on either side.

Malaya / Burma / India
Singers night-bombed by some Sally bombers without effect. Blenheim IF night-fighters damaged one Sally.
Blenheims night-bombed Kluang / Kahang, losing one to Oscars on night CAP.
Allied gunboats caused 25 casualties and slight base damage at Johore / Tebrau.

China
Enemy bombers caused 220 casualties at Xinfeng, 34 at Yueyang, 6 at Qingyuan.
Another Japanese DA at Yueyang has reduced forts to level 0, 600 Japanese casualties traded for 1947 Chinese casualties, but the battered defenders have held for another day.
A Japanese bombardment attack at Yingde shows that the 104th Division reinforced by three arty units is trying to oust the local warlord troops which are labelled the 83rd Chinese Army* Corps.
The Admin group at Qingyuan quickly folded when the IJA 21st Division took over affairs from the ineffective puppet unit.

Intel
DD Suzukaze is reported to have been sunk near Basilan on Dec 19, 1941.
xAKL Ujigawa Maru is reported to have been sunk near Menado on Jan 25, 1942.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 26, 1942

Bases lost and won
Japanese forces CAPTURE Yueyang.
Japanese forces CAPTURE Singkawang.
5th Indpt Coy CAPTURE Hansa Bay.
2nd Sasebo Coy SNLF CAPTURE Puerto Princesa.
Tagum is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS I-166 has torpedoed PG Georgios Averoff~ near Muntok. The old Greek cruiser was destined to become the flagship of the Allied gunboat fleet harassing the Japanese at Johore/Tebrau. Now she will enter the drydock at Singers instead.
SS I-162 has sunk xAKL Nias near Muntok.
SS I-169 has sunk xAKL Malahuka near Port Moresby.
The Thai Navy SS RTN Sinsamudar has sunk xAKL Rokan near Billiton.

CONUS/NoPac/CentPac/SoPac
Escorted troop convoys are plying Pacific waters bound for the bases destined to become the “stepping stones” for ferrying aircraft from PH to Australia – no secrets here, Christmas Island, Samoa and the Fijis are being reinforced. Noumea is next. US carriers are watching from a distance, still waiting for airframes to fill-out their fighter and torpedo bomber squadrons and hoping that KB stays away. Its location is unknown.

SWPac
Enemy forces continue to take empty bases in the area while the diggers at Port Moresby are - well, digging in.

PI
Clark Field got bombed by Sally bombers, defending Peashooters managed to damage five bombers, the airbase suffered 17 runway hits and 9 airbase hits.
Malaybalay bombed by four Betty bombers, no damage. The ground stalemate at this base continues, with ineffective Japanese bombardment attacks by two IJA infantry regiments, a tank regiment and a Naval Guard unit making no headway against two incomplete PI Army divisions low on supplies. US submarines manage to keep a trickle of supplies coming from Cebu via the neighbouring coastal hex.

DEI
Elements of the 124th Infantry Rgt have marched overland from Kuching via Sambas and captured Singkawang.
Near Aitape, the 1st Indpt Coy is still hunting the remnants of the Hollandia Cdo.
The evacuation of resources, fuel and oil is shifting from being Australia-bound to India-bound which is considered to be a somewhat safer routing.
Some of the bigger, more valuable ships - esp. tankers - are now ordered to move to rear areas to be safer from unannounced visits by a raiding KB.

Malaya / Burma / India
Ineffective Japanese night raids on Singers.
The Allied gunboats have caused 63 casualties and damaged 5 planes on the ground at Johore / Tebrau.

China
Yueyang bombed, 81 casualties. Kukong bombed, 31 casualties.
Another Japanese DA at Yueyang has finally routed the defenders, 4449 casualties suffered. The remnants retreated to Changsha.
The three Chinese Corps guarding the “western approaches” at Chongyang have been ordered to retire to Changsha as well.
The town will be defended by four fresh and three battered Corps.
Reinforcements from the Army groups guarding the “southern approaches” from Nanchang have been dispatched as well.
The 5th War Area has been ordered to threaten Sinyang again in the hope of weakening the Japanese drive towards Changsha.
Another shituation is developing in the south around Kukong and Kanshien, with Japanese units making offensive moves.

Intel
BB Mutsu is moving to Eniwetok.
5th Division is planning for an attack on Singapore.
Heavy Volume of Radio transmissions detected at Koror / Babeldaob.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 27, 1942

Bases lost ad won
III/84th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURE Badian.
Bulalacao is occupied by the Japanese.


Sub War
SS I-155 sank xAP Rooseboom near Oosthaven.
SS I-153 sank xAKL Tohiti near Oosthaven and xAKL Mapia near Toboali.


PI
Enemy bombers start to cause some damage at Clark Field:
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Jubaku x 29
Allied aircraft
P-26A x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Jubaku: 3 damaged
Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Airbase hits 7
Runway hits 28

A DA at Malaybalay resukted in 428 Japanese and 289 Philippine casualties.


DEI
The Hollandia Cdo has been destroyed in the jungles between Hollandia and Aitape.


Malaya / Burma / India
The usual night bombings at Kuching, Singers, Johore/Tebrau, without much effect. A B-17D managed to shoot-down a Nate on night CAZP at Kuching though.
The gunboat bombardment at Johore/Tebrau was also ineffective this turn, only 5 casualties inflcted.
Daylight saw enemy fighter sweeps over Singers:
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44 Shoki x 12
Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 16
Hurricane IIb Trop x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 48
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44 Shoki: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

China
Scattered enemy bombings at Yingde, Fuzhou, Xinfeng, Xiajiang, Xunyang, Changsha, Chaohu, Zhenghe – about 150 casualties total.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 28, 1942

Bases lost and won
7th Indpt Coy CAPTURED Nadzab.
Yokosuka 1st SNLF CAPTURED Ternate.
15th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURED Gorontalo.
Tagbilaran is occupied by the Japanese.
Xiantao is occupied by the Allies.

Sub War
SS I-157 sank xAKL Makian and xAKL Toba near Toboali.
SS I-155 sank xAKL Banjoewangi and xAKL Generaal Verspyck near Oosthaven.
SS I-153 accounted for xAKL Gen van der Heyen.

The area from Sunda Strait to Singers is a real graveyard for ships – but it is the only way to shuttle supplies from Java and Sumatra to the fortress.
It is nearing 200k of supplies stockpiled. I only hope that the three divisions of the Singers garrison will make good use of the material and that it will not end-up captured and in the hands of the enemy.

Australia
Repairs completed on CA Louisville at Sydney, ship returned to service. The damage caused by an aerial torpedo hit she has collected in the opening days of the war in the Marshall Islands has been fixed.
29th Australian Brigade arrives at Bundaberg. It is one of the rare unrestricted Australian ground units and it is earmarked to bring the garrison of PM to division strength - if I can get the unit to PM without losses.

PI
Agents report that xAKL Fuyukawa Maru has hit a mine at Cagayan.
The PI Peashooters on LRCAP persistently damage numerous Sally bombers over Clark, but so far have not been able to bring a single one down. The Allied engineers can still cope with the damage and fort construction is progressing slowly.
A handful of Betties bombed Malaybalay and another Japanese DA changed nothing in the stalemate 298 vs 270 casualties.

Malaya / Burma / India
The usual night bombings have been varied a bit, the Japanese hit Medan and the Brits Kuala Lumpur. Neither attack had much success.
In a rare anti-shipping strike, Sonia dive-bombers sank TK Milo near Bengkalis – the small tanker was shuttling oil to Singers to keep the refineries working, because most of the fuel stocks have been evacuated or consumed. I need a minimum of fuel for the gunboats – which this turn only caused 5 casualties over at Johore.
I am puzzled by the small numbers of enemy planes in action. Bombing raids rarely exceed 30 planes, and today’s sweeps over Singers consisted of only seven Zeros. Two were downed by CAP, but two Warhawks and a Buffalo failed to return.

China
Today, the Japanese bombed Yichun, Yingde, Xiajiang, Xinfeng, Changsha and Zhenghe. About 140 casualties in total.

Intel
DD Akatsuki is reported to have been sunk near Subic Bay on Dec 31, 1941.
DD Sawakaze is reported to have been sunk near Kuantan on Dec 29, 1941.
xAK Lyons Maru is reported to have been sunk near Vigan on Dec 10, 1941.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Jan 29, 1942

Bases lost and won
I/66th Naval Guard Unit CAPTURED Cape Gloucester.
Taiping is occupied by the Japanese.

Sub War
SS O16 has torpedoed CM Tsubame# near Kuching, the ship is reported sunk.
SS RO-66 has torpedoed CL Helena near Wake Is.
Thai sub SS RTN Machanu has sunk xAKL Fook On near Singkep.
Thai sub SS RTN Sinsamudar has sunk xAKL Pasir near Billiton.

CentPac
CL Helena and DD Fanning have been ordered to bombard Wake Island again just in order to “do something”. It was a bad idea to repeat the exact same mission, because an enemy sub was waiting. Luckily, only one out of six torps hit and explodes, causing only 16 points of float damage. Undaunted, Helena bombarded Wake as ordered, causing light damage.

SoPac
Bora Bora expands airfield to size 1.

PI
Near Bogo (northern tip of Cebu Island), the schooner xAPc Lanikai has run into two Japanese DMS and has been sunk. I have completely omitted her saga so far. She had successfully escaped Corregidor in December, carrying a small number of US Army officers as passengers. She successfully evaded hostile forces and managed to reach Java, disembarking her passengers. As a lucky ship, she was then used as a blockade runner to ship supplies to the PI, where her luck finally ran out. Her passengers have left Java on a bigger transport for the USA via South Africa, where they will report on the situation in the PI and then reassignment.
The same two DMS also caught and sank xAPc Makassar and xAPc Maros near Cebu. The number of surface ships in blockade running duty is down to one single small inter-island ferry.

DEI
Australian Hudson bombers operating from Ambon have bombed xAK Shinko Maru near Ternate, leaving her on fire.

Malaya / Burma / India
The usual night bombing attacks. B-17Ds managed to kill another Nate in the air over Kuching.
The third iteration of Force Z (2 RN CAs, 2 USN CLs, 3 RN CLs, 3 RNN CLs plus assorted DDs, mostly four-stackers) is back in action in Singers waters, significantly augmenting the firepower thrown at the Japanese at Johore/Tebrau compared to the gunboats. 51 casualties caused and a total of 16 infrastructure hits, plus one plane destroyed on the ground. The gunboats added 8 more casualties.

China
The usual scattered air attacks.
Bombardment attack at Yingde shows Japan's determination to pursue the campaign in southern China.
At Sinyang, the “distraction attack” by units from the NW and NE has begun. The stack from the NE had to perform a cross-river shock attack which was not without costs:

Code: Select all

Ground combat at Sinyang (86,48)
 
Allied Shock attack
 
Attacking force 6524 troops, 272 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2496
 
Defending force 28327 troops, 298 guns, 112 vehicles, Assault Value = 1167
 
Allied adjusted assault: 0 
 
Japanese adjusted defense: 2687 
 
Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 4) 
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
 experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)
 
Japanese ground losses:
      56 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
 
Allied ground losses:
      2503 casualties reported
         Squads: 95 destroyed, 74 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 31 disabled
         Engineers: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
      Guns lost 29 (7 destroyed, 22 disabled)
 
Assaulting units:
    75th Chinese Army Corps
    77th Chinese Army Corps
    29th Chinese Army- Corps
    94th Chinese Army- Corps
    67th Chinese Army-~ Corps
    39th Chinese Army-~ Corps
    41st Chinese Army- Corps
    45th Chinese Army- Corps
    55th Chinese Army- Corps
    73rd Chinese- Army Corps
    23rd Chinese Army Corps
    30th Chinese Army Corps
    42nd Chinese Army- Corps
    New 12th Chin. Army 
    3rd Heavy Mortar Regiment
    22nd Army Group 
    7th Artillery Regiment
    57th AT Gun Regiment
    22nd Artillery Regiment
    1st Artillery Regiment
    33rd Army Group 
    24th Army Group 
    29th Army Group 
    18th Artillery Regiment
    Artillery Group (H) Regiment
    20th Artillery Regiment
    2nd Army Group 
    39th Army Group 
    4th Heavy Mortar Regiment
 
Defending units:
    12th Tank Regiment
    13th Division
    8th Ind Engineer Regiment
    1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
    15th Division
    12th RGC Temp./A Division
    51st Field Const Co 
    19th JNAF AF Unit 
    67th JAAF AF Coy 
    52nd Field Const Co 
    69th JAAF AF Coy