Herb VS Tabpub

[1275psi]

6/4/42
Cleared mines at batavia, lost a MSW to the coastal guns
Akyab is still being hit, i send 90 zeros, trying to set a trap, so he hits pagan instead[8|]
I sink a sub of batavia
KB dodges a sub

balikapapn falls, and has full oil!!!![:)][:)][:)]
so far oil is about half what I would like.

Its a admin turn , trying to organise where engineers will go.

[1275psi]

7/4/42
A quiet day, just bombardments as usual at clarke and manilla
ASW action tobilia

ouch a sub hits a oil tanker on my convoy route

the air trap at akyab is a fizzer, does the AI sense the potential opposition!!![:'(][:(]

KB dodges yet another sub.[8D][:)]

[1275psi]

A good day at last
troops begin entering the tip of sumutra, attack shortly
A sub is hit off rangoon by a lilly, I suspect this is a signit sub, as a troop convoy arrives at moulimien today, and it was headed there.

he recons hanoi - again, and rangoon
All the zeros go back to rangoon

All the bombers in the phillipines fly today, and hit clarke well.
I deliberate attack at clarke, time to finish this, must finish this
I suffer1600 casos, him, 1400, and the forts come down 2 to 7[:'(]

rest tomorrow as I deliberate at manilla, then try again the next day

I order the paras to take bali, could be messy[:@]

[1275psi]

This AAR should be how to lose the war by co-king up land combat[8|]

9/4/42
My sallies pound Tijilitap
OK, his p40s, and sb2s and p35s are really becoming a hassle at wuchow
The whole theatre here is a quagmire

Lillies attack manilla.
Trng flights in sumutra
I land a snlf at cape york - purely for miscieve purposes
I invade woodlark
Para's hit bali

A deliberate attack at Manilla, 0 to 1

I bombard clarke
AND THEN DISASTER, a unit i thought trapped to the east of manilla springs into the hex south of manilla, and now 2 divisions are cut off from supply.
And at the moment I have nothing to push him out with, the single snlf is not enough
I mis read zones of control somewhere.
And now the troops wont retreat out of manilla.


poo. poo. poo.
shock at bali, 1 to 1, crud[:@]
tarwana size 4

[1275psi]

10/4/42
KB finally shakes the subs, and is enroute for the gilberts
Hiyo, junyo, ryhiuo (whatever) zuiho and shoho will gather at truk
4 bbs are in the gilberts, as is tanaka and his cruisers

ASW action batavia- miss
A cl and dds naval bombard bali
ASW action batavia - miss
trng flights
77 sallies hit clarke
bb Ise is attacked at batavia by 3 wirraways, miss, but beauforts sink a msw
KB vals kill a sub[:'(]
28 lysanders hit akyab - see what I mean, the AI knows!!![8|][8|]
In desperation I shock attack at manilla. 0 to1, 2125 casos to 500
crumbs[:@][:@][:@]
deliberate attack at clarke
Forts stay at 7, 813 casos to his 307

The final city in sumutra falls, we begin loading for medan
bali, forts to 1 as I keep flying in the troops
Gilli, gilli to size 4

Every transport I have will go to the phillipines, this is a crises.

[1275psi]

11/4/42
And Im in the poo for sure[:'(]

I order a bb from japan to the phillipines
I order all the troops at balikapapan to the phillipines
I have 3 fast transport task forces available there fortunately.
They load and hussle north

Every unit available in japan is ordered on to whatever floats - for the phillipines[8|][8|][8|][:(]

An AP is torpedoed of batavia
180 bombers, yep, I can muster 180 pound tjilitjap, 141 hits[:'(]
sallies are trying to hit clarke, manilla
another AP goes under to a sub off batavia

The allies try again at wuchow, but I hold - just
bali falls, and the sonias move in

[1275psi]

12/4/42
4th brigade cleans up some units in sumutra
We sink a sub at batavia, it , or another one, finishes of an AP from earlier on

Sallies hit clarke again.
Helens - moved from darwin to cagayan, miss
Akyab hit again, tabpub finally has twigged that Im not really there.[:'(]
Yet another AP lost to a sub near batavia.
Grrr

I naval bombard tijilitjap again - 884 casos
Todays deliberate attack at clarke convinces me that i suck at this game.
0 to 1, 1266 casos to 313, forts the same[:@][:@][:@][:@][:(]

[1275psi]

13/4/42
hes moved troops into batavia, as I unload at medan
I capture rennel island, Im slowly creeping south

38 tankers left, as one crippled ages ago goes from 45 systen, 20 flood, 15 fires , to a sunk state in , what 5 days, and 2 of them in a size 4 port at davao.

Damage contrl guys!!!!
Wuchow is stalemate
spring rain is finished - Im saving PP for mu next big effort
Lots of air action in china - on his behalf - i wont be drawn into it yet
The invasion of java continues
troops enroute to legaspi, and the fast transports have made the first deliveries, Im detirmined to re open the route to manilla.

Surely he is out of supplies by now[:@]

[1275psi]

As available oil to the empire slips below 1 million the goverment takes a punt and orders a modest increase in naval shipbuilding, believing the Army "that java will be ours by May"

It better be[:@]
13/4/42
troops unload at rennel island, to deny an easy fwd allied base.
The campaign to keep his heavy bombers at arms length continues
the tanker torpedoed last week sinks, 38 left
Tabpub recons Gilli, gilli, it reamains empty off planes, only a few float planes.
aircraft are enroute though.
Wuchow in China remains stalemated.Im fully committed, but Tabpub strength grows slowly in the area. I feel a defeat is coming here, but can do little about it

In the phillipines I continue the daily bombings, and the fast transports and a convoy are enroute with the emergency reinforcements.
Its so painful!!!!

In Burma his lysanders continue to hit Akyab

The java invasion begins, as troops unload into Medan, no opposition
A big naval bombardment hits Tijilitajap

I begin to move some air units about

[1275psi]

14/4/42
The medan invasion continues smoothly, support troops to occupy the air base at batavia are loading, it will fall easily I feel.
Emirau island is occupied, rennel turns red

80 sallies, lillies, betties with 60 zeros hit Mandalaby in a nice co ordinated attack
surprise is nice
My combat report shows only moderate damage, tabpub e mail tells me the lysanders were badly hurt.
Akyab is hit by 25 B17s - the numbers decrease each time, is he having trouble supporting them?
Subs attack near rennell island but miss

The troops continue to throw rocks at each other in the phillipines
3 sally squadrons are added to the phillipine air force , to increase the wieght of iron delivered each day

2 sqs of zeros arrive, both are slated for the south pacific, one is am3[:'(]

[1275psi]

15/4/42
Kiriwana in the solomons is occupied today

way down between Sydney and brisbane SS I-6 has a shot at an AS but misses. Buggar
I lose an AP of batavia to a sub.
He is having a ball here, but they are at least empty.

All my sub commanders are now drunk at kwalejean while we think about what to do next.
23 Sally, 48 betty, 50 Lilly, 98 zero hit mandalaby at 7000 feet this time, and really cream the place.
Prescence established, half the zeros now will go back to java for the climax of this battle.

23 Sonias attack soerabaya port, bali is functional!
The CAP is murder, all but 1 plane damaged , 1 AK hit, 1 AS hit
I expect the great dash for safety to begin soon

96 sally hit manilla port

I continue to recon Midway, just to get him worried - after all KB was last seen headed toward the gilberts, north east wards[:D]

He attacks at wuchow, 1 to 1 , no dice tabpub!!!
his turn to pay the price, 3385 casos to my 390

Are we both in a tar pit in China?[X(][X(][8|]

[1275psi]

16/4/42
A AK is hit by a sub north of the phillipines, another convoy route move[8|]
only 23 B17 hit akyab today[;)]

I have about 4 little groups of zeros training at the moment, singkawang is a wonderful target.
the bombing continues at manilla
The 1st troops arrive at the manilla blockade, 2 days time all the tanks and major units will attack, tonight a BB will bombard, the road will be claer weeks end
I intend to attack at Clarke again immediately after that

In the gilberts, Vals from KB hit a sub, announcing her prescence
At truk a new mini KB forms tomorrow, Hiyo, Junyo, shoho, zuiho, ryujo and taiho. I intend to take most of the bombers off this group, replace them with fighters from the java battles, and form a CAP trap task force, ready for what I feel will be the showdown in June.

In our mail we both feel that we are building towards this[:'(][:'(][8D][8D]

I order a zero sweep over cooktown, intend to start bombing it every day I can from tomorrow on, and I order a port ayyack against Dacca - just to remind tabpub that he must keep his fleet at arms length in the bay of bengal - Im only keeping Akyab from being invaded by the betty threat I feel, so time to reinforce the feeling of the threat.[:D]

Im starting to put serious thoughts to what next, when the phillipines fall [:@][:@] I will have 2 divs in burma, 3 divs in java, 2 divs in darwin, and 6 in the phillipines.
Those 6 are 3 hurt real bad 3 pretty good.
So what to do, where to go next.
Im at the river in Burma, the top end and DEI are(will be ) mine, the solomons and Port moresby are mine, baker island is the limit in the gilberts, and wake is also mine
the date will be june 42
The fleet, and the fleet air arm are intact
the army air is about 75% of what it was.

What would you do next
Anybody?

[1275psi]

17/4/42
As troops enter a empty batavia, mine sweepers are busy in its port.
A very busy shuttle service is bringing 3 divisions from sumutra over to java
5th, 18th and the imperial, plus lots of artillery and engineers

Sitting here at work Im trying to remember seeing the 5th div at all.
Hope it has not gone missing during loading ect[:(]

With the capture of batavia , the supporting troops that are already enroute, will allow the airforce to finally rid myself of the annoying remnants of the dutch airforce.
With north australia in my grip, these units have no chance of reforming elsewhere again[8D]
I land at sag sag
Akyab is reconned again and again
54 zeros sweep cooktown, no opposition.
But the AI must have detected that Port Moresby had no CAP, so the 1st B17 raid from cairns arrives, 12 B17s. No hits

In the phillipines i now have 3 snlf units in the hex where a single phillipine infantry division has blocked the road to manilla.
One of the old BBs pound it today, and will pound again tomorrow
Every bomber in range will attack tomorrow
Still not confident of success though.
The attack at clarke will go in tomorrow as well.
Regardless of the result, the attacks must continue, I have 110000 men to his 52000.

In chine its stalemate.
Looking very carefully at the Prep points, a very large chunnk of the army in northern china begins to move south on the railway - a calculated risk.
target changsa, and a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure on wuchow front.

Elsewhere KB and mini KB fuel at truk and Kwalejien
2 extra zero sqs move to Siapan, next stop truk.

1 sq of oscars and 1 of nates in bali are ordered to sweep soerabaya airfield at 100 feet, could be tragic[8|]
The pounding of mandalaby is ordered to resume tomorrow .

I need a victory[;)]

[1275psi]

18/4/42
now the sneak is laying mines at bali[:'(]
2 Bbs bomb tijilitjap
sub attack on a tanker near the phillipines - miss
p 39s hit akyab
My oscars and sonias attack the field at soerabaya, and get a few kills on the ground
Wuchow the chinese airforce turns up again

The phillipines - 109 sallies hit the division blocking the road to manilla
47 B17s hit akyab - so much for that theory
an ap is hit by air from soerabaya - the place still has teeth
9 b17 attack an AP in Port Moresby harbour, losing 1 to my 1 zero
So with small beginings the enemy begins the grinding down of my air.

I deliberate attack at clarke, 0 to 1
[:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:(] OH CRUD[:@][:@][:@][:@]
3500 casos to his 380
2 divisions ruined totally
the deliberate attack south of manilla clears the road
sag sag falls

I am in despair over the situation in the phillipnes, I invested so heavily after a quick victory, and now it has all gone to pot.
A new tactic is called for

[1275psi]

19/4/42
mines in batavia - his subs are very busy today laying nasty eggs every where.
a base in new britain falls, one left.
a nuisance raid mandalaby by lillies

sallies hit clarke today, as i assess the damage.

the enemy pours more troops into wuchow

[1275psi]

severe depression in the phillipines.
I cannot take clarke this way, nor manilla

The convoy from japan with the extra 20000 men I have crawls across the ocean
20/4/42
batavia mines hit a dd
A msw sinks at bali
An AP sinks at batavia- mine gets her.
ugly man is tabpub, ugly

123 sallies hit bataan port.
2 asw actions in the phillipines, miss, miss

alright, here is the new plan c
i will pull out 2 divisions from clarke, plus all the extras, and leave 2 divisions, 1 eng, 2 tank regiments

maybe he will be encouraged, and attack me, wonder if he loses his forts then ?
lets call it the - bare rabbit tactic
spent most of the turn organising the tankers, and resources, and convoys.

[1275psi]

24/4/42
i swing 67 sallies to china today - just to get him thinking

At bali, 20 buffalo, 16 hawk, 16 demon, 3 martin 2 wirriway, 12 vildebeest, 6 beufort vs 9 oscars, 8 nates

I do OK, not brilliant, nor does he[:'(]
another ap sunk by a sub at batavia.

its quiet elsewhere

the big pull out at clarke begins[8|]

[1275psi]

got the date wrong, its the 22/4/42
those cursed mines at batavia damage yet another ship, I need the port, am unloading the troops, and am marching south down java
clearing mines at batavia - and a sub gets one MSW, glub

akyab is being turned into a crater, let him, its better than rangoon being hit, especially with most of the air in java at the moment
70 zeros, 70 nells hit soerabaya, batavia airbase is up and working[:)]
his e mail screams damage galore
(thats my interpretation )[8|]
he recons wake ????

1 ap sunk to sub attack near raba
A bb bombards lamon bay, as the troops enter here, 3 snlf, and one naval guard unit
only 6 units to be spotted in clarke field[8D]

[1275psi]

23/4/42
the troops begin unloading at naga
asw action maccassar straight- miss
sub attack near siapan - buggar, down goes an AP

Look everyone - where is the killer ASW -note all the ASW actions - and the misses.note the drip, drip, drip of an AP here, another there.
matrix, I think you got the subs spot on - if a person uses them correctly, which tabpub is.

Akyab is now a crater
100 zero, 50 nells hit soerabaya
92 sallyhit lamon bay, then another 60

asw action macassar straight -3pg, 3pc vs 1 sub - miss
51st div at lamon bay is destroyed

In China, the Prep points are nearly there -we will attack the next china objective.

[1275psi]

24/4/42

Im advancing in java , tilijiljap is next - and soon, as bandoeng falls

And tabpub falls for the temptation and shock attacks at clarke - 1 to 1
he has 2500 casos to my 300 odd.
my turn to smile here at last.
20000 fresh troops unload at naga, and the 1 st division from the phillipines is pulled out - it goes to Truk, into reserve

another admin turn, getting transport webs organised, next one it will be KB into 3 TFs, and look at HQs

KB rests at Kwalejien

Im absolutely stymied to what to do next.[&:]