Tristanjohn vs ChezDaJez: Lemur's Scen 15

[Tristanjohn]

The American Fifth Army Air Force command kept up its pressure on the Rabaul airfields as B-17s again swept over the old Australian port and dumped tons of high explosives on its facilities.

[Tristanjohn]

"It was another good strike as far as we can tell," said the liaison officer. "There weren't as many aircraft parked there as the day before, probably just derelicts they couldn't fly out. But the airstrip itself was hit hard, and we did some damage to the supply depots there as well. In all we're pleased with the result."

[Tristanjohn]

Central Pacific headquarters at Pearl Harbor has put its entire command on alert and has issued an invasion warning to Baker Island based on intelligence gathered over the past few days from PBY reconnaissance flights and reports radioed in from submarine pickets in that area.

"We're not completely sure what the Japanese are up to out there," said an admiural's aide, "but you can be sure it's no good." Asked for specifics of the intelligence his headquarters was working on, the aide said, "I'm sorry, but that's classified."

News has been leaked that several days ago a couple of different transport convoys were detected by the Navy around Makin Atoll. Since then rumor has it that these ships have sailed away on a southeasterly course, with one of these convoys sited approximately 300 miles due west of Baker Island as of yesterday afternoon.

There was also a report of Japanese warships sited around Abemama Atoll, which sits roughly 500 miles due west of the American base. No confirmation of this was available from official sources.

"It looks like the Japanese are going in," said an anonymous source close to the headquarters of Central Pacific command. "There's no other earthly reason to explain such activity." Asked if Baker Island had the resources to withstand a determined invasion, the source replied, "That's difficult to say. It has a very strong garrison which has been reinforced several times over the past six months, but on the other hand it's isolated, and we don't know how much the Japanese intend to throw at it."

There was no word whether an immediate reinforcement of Baker Island was planned or even possible. "That's information I don't happen to have access to," said the source, "and even if I did I couldn't say."

[Tristanjohn]

23 June 1942

All right, this has gotten to the point where I either need to make it easier or only Bob will be able to play. [8D]

Pop Quiz!

1) From what comedic film does the line "Sound the general alarm! Sound the general alarm!" come from?

2) In what movie did the actor who read the above line star in as an executive for Coca-Cola?

3) Name the actor in the second movie who drove the first actor into early retirement because he was so difficult to get along with.

Bonus Question: 10 points

In what film did the "difficult" actor get his big Hollywood break?

[Drex]

The name of the actor in #2 is James Cagney but I can't guess the movie in #2. #1 is probably Mr. Roberts. I think the seconde actor is Horst Bucholtz.

[ChezDaJez]

I did have one sunk by 500lb GP bomb, the rest by DC.

Chez

[Lord_Calidor]

"Night air attack here...", "Night air attack there...", ...

*yawn* [>:]

[Tristanjohn]

24-25 June 1942

Allied air attacks launched by the 5th Air Force out of Port Moresby continued to wreck Japanese airfields and planes on bases at Lae, Kavieng and Rabaul the past two days. According to a headquaters source, "The battle over the skies here is all but over from what we can see. The enemy has been forced to all but completely evacuate his airfields of fighters, and the ones he does dare to bring in are immediately attacked by our bomber groups, and to good effect. He did bring in a few Kates a couple days ago at Rabaul, but our recon flights saw those right away, and the next night we clobbered them."

Asked if the daylight raid by B-17s yesterday was a sign of shifting tactics in the air campaign, the officer said, "Not really. We'd prefer to go in during the day, as you might well imagine by the results we achieved in our last attack, but that's really dependent on the strength of the Japanese figher defense over the base. Sometimes it's necessary for us to attack at night, and when it is we do. Either way, our mission is the same. To close all enemy air bases in the area."

[Tristanjohn]

"In general, if we could continue daylight attacks on Rabaul and have the same success we did this last time, then the place would be a shambles inside a week. But remember, even without technically shutting that base down from sheer destruction it's still closed by any yardstick, as the enemy is afraid to base his aircraft there. And for good reason."

Asked what altitude the B-17s flew at, the officer responded, "Well, that's a bit of a secret, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to say they were up there around four miles. We're evaluating that aspect of the problem. We might fly higher next time or leave it as it is. It just depends on casualties taken from anti-aircraft fire. But we're pleased with yesterday's results!"

[Tristanjohn]

In other news, both Baker Island in the central Pacific, and the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, suffered bombardment attacks yesterday from Japanese warships.

Reports indicate that the attack on the American installation at Baker Island resulted in little real damage. In the Andamans, however, the British base there did suffer unspecified aircraft casualties, and the airfield and facilities were said to have been knocked around some. Sources indicated that this base should be up and running in a couple of days nevertheless.

[Tristanjohn]

26 June 1942

Military authorities said today that Shinko Maru, an enemy patrol craft, was reported sunk in the Solomon Islands.

[Tristanjohn]

British bombers based on Chandpur hit the industrial city and ancient Burmese royal seat of Mandalay last night.

[Tristanjohn]

Authorities of the British military mission said they were pleased with this first attack on the city's infrastructure. "It will take awhile to reduce Mandalay's economic value to the enemy," a spokesman said. "But we feel a good start has been made."

[mogami]

Hi, You may or may not find this amusing. As Japan I don't want anything further then Rangoon. However to protect myself from Allied offensive action later I move to occupy all the little bases north of Rangoon so that the Allied player will then bomb the resource.
(I usally have no LCU present when these strike begin and I don't interfer with them with my fighters). I can't destroy the resource without costing supply/bombers/fighters/time but if I put my flag there the enemy will then proceed to bomb the airfields and resource.
Now when he finally decides he is ready to advance all the airfields and local supply sources are damaged and require supply to repair. The supply is not enough to maintain Japanese combat units but since I am not garrisoning them the supply would acumulate over time and be a factor when enemy arrived. If they destroy the resource and airfields their own advance will have to pause for supply to move forward and then for the fields to repair.
I quess I should worry about training enemy bombers.....(but I don't)

[Tristanjohn]

That's a game consideration and a good point to keep in mind. As it happens Chez does occupy Mandalay so in go my bombers. If the Japanese were not occupying that place I'd simply occupy it myself. Eventually, at least. For the moment the Allies must be content with this and that.

[Tristanjohn]

Japanese bombers from Tarawa Atoll hit Baker Island again yesterday. Reports said there were no American casualties, and a number of enemy planes were shot down in the raid.

[Tristanjohn]

The airbase at Kavieng was hit twice yesterday by B-17s out of Port Moresby. One attack went in at night, the other during the day. "The night attack seems to have gone off as planned," said a 5th Air Force official. "We caught some of their fighers on the ground from what I hear."

[Tristanjohn]

"The day attack was an effort to achieve a higher hit percentage on the airfields and their facilities."

[Tristanjohn]

"And we believe we accomplished that part of the mission. Casualties on our side were not light, though."

[Tristanjohn]

The Andaman Islands were assaulted from the air yesterday by enemy bombers flying out of Rangoon.