Puzzlement in the Pacific - Mogami vs Cruft

[Captain Cruft]

20th Dec 1941

Tarakan falls. I'm betting there'll be Zeroes and Betties there tomorrow. The Zuiho and Ryujo have now advanced to just east of Balikpapan, cleverly positioned in an "oa" shallow water hex to deter me from putting my Dutch subs in there.

KB plus what looks like a vast invasion force are still hanging around to the NW of Wake Island. No air attacks today, I can only guess that some TF re-arranging is going on. I have a couple of subs in the area, today they scored hits on a full AP (43 troops lost) and a PG. This won't stop the invasion but it's the best I can do ...

The rest of the world is pretty quiet. My "small victory" which I mentioned has successfully completed Phase 1. God Save the King! (hint).

[mogami]

Hi, Bad weather hampers the Wake Operation. If Wake is clear then the CV are cloudy if the CV are clear then Wake is cloudy.

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, Bad weather hampers the Wake Operation. If Wake is clear then the CV are cloudy if the CV are clear then Wake is cloudy.

Ah, I hadn't noticed that. To be honest if it was me I'd just go in and the coastal guns be damned ...

[Captain Cruft]

21st Dec 1941

Wake - the Japs are still hanging around. In fact there appear to be additional TFs on the way to join them. Is he landing a whole division or what? A failed sub attack by SS Pompano results in it receiving a single depth charge.

DEI - no planes at Tarakan yet. Night bombardment of Balikpapan destroys 4 Buffaloes and wrecks the base. All planes that can still fly have now been evacuated.

The Ryujo and Zuiho have moved. They are now just to the west of Macassar from where they successfully clobbered a supply convoy on its way east. I was surprised at this and have instructed the Dutch airforce and navy to do their utmost to get the blighters.

Malaya - Blenheims continue to enjoy moderate success with night attacks on Kuantan airfield. Jap planes destroyed on the ground every day ...

PI - 24th FG at Manila gets 8 kills in a day! Sweep over Legaspi nets 5 Nates, auto-CAP over Naga bags an Ann and two unknown recon/search planes also shot down.

---

I won't be doing any offensives for a long time. However the first two such operation have now been conceived:

Operation Als te Blieft - cunning linguists may be able to work out the general area of this one.
Operation Tally Ho! - a long-term op involving the Brits.

Neither will be mentioned again for some time.

[Smiffus64]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft



Operation Als te Blieft - cunning linguists may be able to work out the general area of this one.

*jumps up and down holding up his hand* ooh, ooh, I know, I know.... pick me! pick me!

[Captain Cruft]

"Excuse me" but did I spell it right?

[ElvisDaKing]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

"Excuse me" but did I spell it right?

Actually....not
Alst U Blieft, but these lazy guys spell it now Alsublieft, and more often just AUB...

[Captain Cruft]

Ah thank you Monsieur Elvis le Roi!

The British education system can't be that bad, I know six foreign words!

[Captain Cruft]

DELETED: Mis-post

[ElvisDaKing]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

The British education system can't be that bad, I know six foreign words!

Just a (bad) french joke :
How do you call a man (or woman) who can speak 5 different languages : A polyglot
How do you call a man who can speak 3 different languages : A trilingual
How do you call a man who can speak 2 different language : A bilingual
How do you call a man who can speak only one language : An English [:D]

Be sure, you can subsitute English by French without being wrong....[8|]

[dr. smith]

cunning linguists

freudian slip ?!

[Captain Cruft]

24th Dec 1941

Alrighty, we're now up to Christmas Eve.

PI:-

Mindanao is now totally Japanese.
Luzon is the same except for Bataan, Manila, Clark Field and (isolated) Tuguegarao.
Other islands remain in US hands.

DEI:-

Tarakan is Japanese.
Balikpapan has just suffered a landing and will probably be conquered very soon. CL Nagara and an AP managed to hit mines in the process
Other than that no conquests.

The light carrier force (Ryujo & Zuiho) has been prowling around to the west of Macassar and indeed sunk a few AKs earlier. It seems to be withdrawing now though. Anyway, I finally managed to get off a strike at them this last turn, having moved the 24th FG down from Manila to provide enough escorts. The TJV-IVs got no hits but I did manage to erase 3 Claudes and 1 Zero of the fighter groups, which is nearly as good IMHO ...

Malaya:-

The 5th Div has made its way to Malacca, I doubt the Indian brigade there will prevent its capture.
Blenheims continue to have good success with night attacks on Kuantan airfield.
Otherwise nothing.

Wake Island:-

The vast invasion fleet is still hanging around. KB managed to get off a ground attack this turn against the USMC Defence Bn. It seems like Mogami will not go for the landings until the coastal guns have been completely eradicated ...
My subs continue to harass the fleets where they can. Sadly one was lost a couple of days ago, I can't remember which one though lol.

Rest of World:-

Very little happening. Jap planes continue to train/ground attack in various places. Occasional bombardment attack in Yenen.

---

The interesting bit ...

SOPAC/SWPAC build-up is proceeding as fast as I can. I still don't have 20k supplies in either Sydney or Brisbane. This is partly due to plonking 35+ B-17s in Rockhampton for an overnight stop (they are on their way elsewhere). Next turn the supplies at RH had gone from about 5k to 20+k, it seems that the overland supply movement code will move stuff according to "supplies needed". Brisbane was consequently sucked dry, d'oh.

I am assuming that I will lose Noumea but I intend to hold Port Moresby. If PM falls I have contigency plans for that too. My theory is that any Japanese position in NG is basically untenable and I intend to use this to my advantage as soon as is practicable.

[Captain Cruft]

26th Dec 1941

Wake Island falls!

Finally ... I now see what "don't like surprises" means, it's the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force. The landing (by the 23rd Mixed Brigade) was preceded by a totally vicious bombardment which virtually wiped out the garrison on its own. This was followed by one last air attack from the KB - the subsequent assault odds were something ridiculous.

I nearly had a consolation prize though - SS Plunger put a torp or torps into the Akagi but they failed to detonate. Bah!

Elsewhere virtually nothing happened.

---

I still don't have 20k supplies in either Oz HQ base - grr. Things are moving forward elsewhere though, a large convoy from the West Coast has just arrived in PH. VMF-221 and its Buffalos are here, the Japs better look out ...

[mogami]

Hi, Wake is a good place to practice opposed landings on atolls.

[Captain Cruft]

29th Dec 1941

Or is it the 30th? I'm not sure ...

Lack of updates due to not much happening.

Kendari has been bombarded a couple of times, Dutch PT boats intervening to no effect.
Imperial Guards and 33rd Div have started attacking Alor Star with massive air support from Sallies at Kompong Trach. We hold for now.

---

Replacements are starting to filter through in Oz even though there are not 20k supplies anywhere. Strange.
Even more strange - I tried to upgrade an airgroup at another base with 20k+ supplies and got the message "not enough supplies at base or HQ". The base was easily within two transfer hops of its HQ.

I don't think this works exactly as advertised ... Still, as long as the planes turn up somehow I don't mind

[Captain Cruft]

1st Jan 1942

Happy New Year!

Brief sitrep as still not much going on.

PI: Tidying up ops going on here with smaller and empty bases being methodically taken. On Luzon we still hold the main bases i.e. Manila, Bataan, Clark Field, Naga & Tuguegarao.

Malaya: Peninsula has been split in two. Georgetown is our one remaining holding in the north. Johore Baru, Mersing and Singapore in the south.

DEI: Still only Tarakan and Balikpapan have been taken. No planes at either. I have been bombing Balikpapan port with Martins out of Soerabaya with moderate success. The lumbering TJ-IVs also scored their first hit a couple of days ago on no less a target than the Haruna

It all feels like the lull before the storm ...

---

Only another 240 odd turns to go before we can go on the offensive, lol.

[Captain Cruft]

4th Jan 1942

Still not much happening ...

DEI:

Menado has fallen.
Martins from Soerabaja have continued to attack the port at Balikpapan. CL Nagara will not sink but on the other hand it does not have much armament left
Also at Balikpapan, this last turn a weakly escorted convoy arrived containing at least the 2nd Base Force. TJ-IVs from Banjarmassin scored hits on a couple of APs, one of which sunk (hence my knowledge of the cargo). Once the base force has landed I fully expect planes to arrive, which will stop my fun.

PI:

Tidying up of empty bases continues.

Malaya:

Georgetown is besieged. Attacks soon no doubt.
Malacca fell a couple of days ago.
Kuala Lumpur has been re-taken. This was by the troops (Indian brigades) from Khota Baru who have spent nearly a month slogging their way over the mountains in retreat. Why the base was left empty by the Jap I don't know. No doubt he will re-take it quite soon, but we will feast on the 12k+ supplies there until then ...
Johore Baru, Mersing and Singapore remain untouched in the south.
I am puzzled as to why Singapore airfield has not been suppressed apart from the Dec 7th attack.

Burma:

Moulmein has fallen (I evacuated it). There are no Japanese aircraft north of Bangkok though. Perhaps he is scared of the AVG? I have also received the first of many Hurricane units who would really like some ground units to attack ...

---

The small victory I mentioned some time ago has been achieved. The Prince of Wales, badly damaged at Kuantan right at the start, has finally made it to India! A few months of yard time and it will be ready to re-emerge as flagship of my Eastern Fleet "fast carrier task force" (fear my Fulmars, lol) which will be used in operation Tally Ho.

What puzzled me was why the PoW was not attacked whilst in Singapore recovering float damage. It was there for at least 4 days (before proceeding to Batavia and then on to Ceylon skirting the west of Sumatra). It can't have been the Buffalos on CAP - those 800kg bombs that the Nells drop would have made a mess.

Operations

After much thought and pondering over the map supreme Allied HQ has come up with a four-pronged offensive plan.

Operation Tally Ho! - British with American help. Preparatory moves underway.
Operation Als te Blieft - Dutch with Australian help. Preparatory moves underway.
Operation Bradman - Australian with American help.
Operation Eat my Shorts! - American. Preparatory moves underway.

No details obviously. The basic idea is that Japan cannot cover all bases at once, either literally or metaphorically