Atlantic 10 championship: UR (cap_and_gown) vs GWU (grotius)

[CapAndGown]

In tomorrows action we will be invading Davao. A 6 BB TF is heading into the harbor to bombard, hopefully ahead of the landings. Not sure about the timing on that. [8|] Directly off shore sits the baby KB. I am going to see if this new mechanism of CAP being able to cover adjacent hexes will work for invasions. I mean, its not like TF 38 sat 30 miles off of Saipan during the invasion, right? The transports are carrying the 56th Brigade and a base force. I think they might also be carrying a construction unit too to repair the runway quicker, though I can't remember for sure.

Down at Manado, I have two TFs going in tonight (and staying, I hope, since I put them on Patrol/Do not retire). One TF, made up of 2 Kongo class BBs and 2 CLs will bombard (this is whence a strike by Hudsons flew against the baby KB today). The other TF, made up of CAs will be the covering force. Just behind are coming the transports with a naval guard unit and a base force. No air support, but I doubt I will need it.

The Macassar strait, BTW, was where Grotius's AS's bought the farm.

[CapAndGown]

Also tomorrow will come a prep bombardment for the invasion of North Borneo, followed the day after by landings at Miri and Brunei. 2 Kongo class BBs and 2 CLs with DD escorts will bombard Brunei. Again, they are set to Patrol, do not retire, so hopefully they will stick around. A strike of Martins flew out of there yesterday and I want them surpressed.

I am also worried about torpedo bombers. You'll notice in the picture below that I set my rally point for my transport TF 5 hexes from Brunei. This was to stay out of torpedo bomber range. I also used the rally point to shuffle around some ships so that AKs loaded with just supply are included in each TF.

You can also see my TF just about to arrive at Kota Bharu with aviation and other support. This was the TF that ate a torp from a Dutch sub.

Edit: I should add that rather than place my covering TF directly in the Kota Bharu hex, I have stationed it a few hexes away. Now that Kota Bharu is mine, the TF should react into Kota Bharu if an enemy TF tries to interfere with the landing. Not guaranteed, of course, but I would rather keep it out of torpedo bomber range.

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/12/41

I am getting set up for invasions at Brunei, Miri, Menado and Davao. The Davao invasion took place today. In preparation I bombarded all these bases except Miri which will be an unopposed landing.

Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 33,56

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 19
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 2

Naval bombardment of Manado, at 39,67

Japanese Ships
CL Yura
CL Abukuma
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei

Allied ground losses:
122 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 16
Port fuel hits 1

Naval bombardment of Davao, at 43,61 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu
BB Mutsu
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 3 no noticeable damage
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Nagato

Allied ground losses:
391 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
Vehicles lost 4

Runway hits 4
Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

And in the afternoon:

Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 33,56

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 18

Naval bombardment of Manado, at 39,67

Japanese Ships
CL Yura
CL Abukuma
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei


Allied ground losses:
40 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 11

Not sure why I didn't get a bombardment of Davao in the afternoon. Short on Ammo? Because I already had troops ashore?

The evening bombardment did seem to surpress his CD guns

Coastal Guns at Davao, 43,61, firing at TF 86
TF 86 troops unloading over beach at Davao, 43,61

93 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
PC Takunan Maru #2, Shell hits 3 liar. I didn't see any damage

Japanese ground losses:
579 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Coastal Guns at Davao, 43,61, firing at TF 86
TF 86 troops unloading over beach at Davao, 43,61

35 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AP Hiyoshi Maru, Shell hits 1 again, no damage

Japanese ground losses:
222 casualties reported

The 56th Brigade is now safely ashore. A base force is still unloading. I don't have any supply there, but I am going to shock attack anyway to see if I can capture the base en passant. I also will have a supply TF arriving in the morning so there will at least be some supply available, I hope. [;)]

The Baby KB flew a supression struke against Cagayan. Grotius, however, had moved out his planes during his turn, so they didn't hit much. Hopefully, they did add to the supression of the base force there. In 2 days I will have a naval guard unit landing there to capture the airfield; not for my own use, but to deny it to Grotius. I also have a bombardment TF sailing into Cagayan next turn to further supress the CD guns before the invasion on the day after.

Day Air attack on Cagayan , at 43,59

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
B5N Kate x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

My strike against Manila didn't go so well. My Zeros did fine, but they were outnumbered by the CAP 2-1 and the Sallys paid the price. Next turn I am not going to bomb Manila. Instead, I am sending in Zero Sweeps from Appari and Legaspi. I am going to cull the CAP before sending the Sallys back.

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
Ki-21 Sally x 32
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 30

All AC losses on both sides (and these numbers are accurate) were A2A
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 9 destroyed, 4 damaged
Ki-15 Babs: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2 You really can't expect much from 15,000 feet, small numbers, and a determined opposition

Meanwhile, in Borneo, the dreaded torpedo bombers showed up. They weren't based at Brunei, however, but at Tarakan.

The following two attacks were against my transports, still 2 hexes out from Brunei and Miri
Day Air attack on TF at 33,54

Allied aircraft
T.IVa x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PC Ch 3

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x T.IVa bombing at 6000 feet Grotius need to adjust the range on his torpedo bombers

Day Air attack on TF at 33,54

Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
MSW W.18

Of course, the BBs also attracted their share of attention

Day Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 33,56

Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 6

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu
BB Kongo

Day Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 33,56

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 5
T.IVa x 5

Allied aircraft losses
T.IVa: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x T.IVa launching torpedoes at 200 feet This is what had me concerned
3 x T.IVa launching torpedoes at 200 feet


Not much opposition yet to my invasions of Menado and Davao

Day Air attack on TF, near Manado at 39,67

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 3 Flying out of Kendari

Allied aircraft losses
B-17C Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima

In Malaya we had the usual assortment of anti-shipping strikes

Day Air attack on TF at 28,46

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 4

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Mikuma

Day Air attack on TF at 29,44

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Konzan Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Blenheim IV bombing at 6000 feet

Day Air attack on TF, near Singora at 24,43

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Heiyo Maru

In this case, however, I had up a Zero CAP

Day Air attack on TF, near Kota Bharu at 24,45

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 13
Martin 139 x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 5 destroyed
Martin 139: 3 damaged
This airstrike flew out of Singapore. So, why did Grotius have Martins in Singapore? Seems like an odd way to spend PPs at this stage. After all, the DEI needs air support too.

Japanese Ships
AP Sanura Maru

At Ichang I was horrified to see that the following troops had not arrived yet. I was afraid the Grotius might have set up a shock attack and kicked out my lone division. Fortunately, he seems to have overlooked Ichang.

Ground combat at Ichang

Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 18086 troops, 222 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 39787 troops, 266 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Honk Kong falls
Ground combat at Hong Kong

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 23370 troops, 275 guns, 16 vehicles
Defending force 12469 troops, 77 guns, 4 vehicles
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3
Japanese assault odds: 9 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Hong Kong base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
190 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
15745 casualties reported
Guns lost 55
Vehicles lost 1


Tomorrow sees invasions of Miri, Brunei, and Menado and fighter sweeps over Manila. The day after, we invade Cagayan. A TF has also set sail for Jolo. The KB is escorting the replenishment TF back to Kwajalein. It will then be used to support operations against Baker, Canton and Apemama. I am probably also going to split of 1 carrier, have it join up with the baby KB, and support an invasion of Rabaul. I decided to land the South Seas detatchment on Truk this turn rather than heading straight to Rabaul without air support. He may have his Carriers laying in ambush there.

My biggest hinderance right now is a lack of Zero Datais. I used my initial allotment of Zeros to upgrade the datais for the Baby KB. I only have 26 in the pool as of this turn. Production continues to climb, now up to 119 a month. But I still have just the 5 land based Zero Datais that I started with. One datai is at Legaspi, one at Appari, 2 at Kota Bharu, and one at Bangkok. I have been very reluctant to use anything but Zeros at front line bases (except in China) in order to keep the losses down. So next turn I am handing over CAP duty at Bangkok to Oscars while the Zeros there head over to the PI and the Celebes. This is the area where I am most in need of Zero support. Also, after the P-40s at Clark have been culled some, I will hand over that area to the Oscars. Basically, the Zeros are going to handle invasion support as the front moves forward, while Oscars will be used for the clean up operations such as in Luzon and Northern Sumatra once Singapore falls.

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/13/41

I had just laid a mine field at Kendari when another one of Grotius's AS's stumbles upon it. Grotius has lost 2 AS's in the Macassar strait and now has had one damaged at Kendari. Maybe, just maybe, this might slow his subs down just a tad for a while.

TF 1130 encounters mine field at Kendari (33,71)

Allied Ships
AS Holland, Mine hits 1, on fire

I decided to hit Manado with another bombardment before landing.

Naval bombardment of Manado, at 39,67
Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko

Allied ground losses:
51 casualties reported

Naval bombardment of Manado, at 39,67
Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko

Allied ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

I also hit Cagayan with a bombardment prior to invading. The invasion will happen next turn.

Naval bombardment of Cagayan, at 43,59
Japanese Ships
CL Kuma
CL Natori
CA Ashigara
CA Maya

Allied ground losses:
156 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

And we invaded Miri. For some reason the invasions at Manado and Brunei didn't happened. The TFs didn't seem to move. I think this may have been because they were spooked by air attacks? Anyway, I set them the to "Patrol/Do not retire". They better d@mn well invade this turn. [:@]

My airstrike against Georgetown went off this turn. Must have been the addition of air support. [;)] Got something like 6 of his Buffalos on the ground. And pummelled him in the air. Too bad there were no torpedo bombers there. I am going to hit Taiping tomorrow, weather permitting.

Day Air attack on Georgetown , at 23,44
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28
Ki-21 Sally x 87

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 3
Blenheim IF x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 6 destroyed
Blenheim IF: 7 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
31 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 54 nicely cratered

My sweeps against Manila went very well. I shot down 19 P-40s. I lost one Zero, however. In fact 2 Zeros were shot down today. The first 2 Zeros lost A2A since the war began. I'll bet Grotius puts that in his AAR. [:D] Now that we have spanked the P-40s but good, the Sallys will try bombing Manila again next turn. I don't want him building forts!

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
Ki-15 Babs x 1

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-15 Babs: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 11 destroyed

Also gave my Jakes some training and supressed the defenders at Manado some more

Day Air attack on Manado , at 39,67
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
E13A1 Jake x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 3 damaged

Runway hits 1

There were the usual assortment of counterstrikes against my shipping. No hits. No torpedo bombers either.

Day Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 33,56
Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 3

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu

Day Air attack on TF, near Miri at 32,56
Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Ryujo Maru

Day Air attack on TF, near Kota Bharu at 24,45
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20 I wish I had CAP up over my Borneo invasions, it does wonders. I will when I invade to Kuching.

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 13
Martin 139 x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 3 destroyed
Martin 139: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AP Neikai Maru

Day Air attack on TF, near Kota Bharu at 24,45
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 3
Martin 139 x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 1 destroyed
Martin 139: 1 destroyed

Grotius decided to bug out of Ichang. So we will take it tomorrow unopposed.
No so at Linfen, however.
Ground combat at Linfen
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 35138 troops, 423 guns, 14 vehicles
Defending force 8945 troops, 65 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Linfen base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
674 casualties reported
Guns lost 25
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
225 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

I also captured Davao. AC have already landed there. 9 Nells in particular will start naval searches right away.

Ground combat at Davao

Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 9470 troops, 83 guns, 19 vehicles
Defending force 3720 troops, 33 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Davao base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
535 casualties reported
Guns lost 13
Vehicles lost 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

The KB is passing by Johnston Is at the moment, so as a parting shot I am going to attack the airfield and port. It would be nice if I could crater the airfield enough to put it out of action. I would like to blind his snoopers. Its about time the KB disappeared from view.

[CapAndGown]

One of the quandries I am facing is a lack of "medium sized" combat units to deal with mop up operations. Because of the divide/recombine bug, I don't want to divide any of my heavy hitters. So in places like Loag (sp?) and on Mindanao (after having taken Cagayan and Davao) I would like to go in and clean up his remnants in order to secure my rear. I don't want to use my primary attack units for this kind of clean up operation since I would like to just pick them up and move them on to the next base. For instance, I would like to reload the 56th Brigade and set sail for Kendari. But Grotius still has the remnants of the division that was defending Davao there, so I can't leave Davao with just a base force as a garrison. So I been searching around for "medium sized" units to use for clean up operatios. What I have found are that most of these units are in Indochina. So they will have to cross the South China Sea before I can really start to accelerate my drive down to Timor.

On another note, the RNG was good to me this turn, gave me 4 Zeros more. So I upgraded a datai of Claudes in Japan. After they are repaired, I will pay some PPs and fly them out to join the action.

[CapAndGown]

Comments on production changes.

Well, I have made a few more changes to my production. I have been trying to be conservative so as to not burn up my supply. So, for instance, I have not built any factories for R&D planes. I may do that after the changes I have currently in the pipeline have pretty much been finished and I can then see how my supply situation looks. I have, however, made some more changes besides my flurry of aircraft changes when I found out I could turn Sonias into Sallys.

I decided to go ahead and expand my armaments production a little more. I was worried that I seemed to be drawing down my armaments points rather rapidly. So:
Maizuru 8 -> 16
Osaka 8 -> 16
Ise 10 -> 20

I also expanded my HI some more
Ashigawa 10 -> 20
Toyohara 10 -> 20

I picked these two factories because a) they are small, and b) Hokaido and Sakhalin (after an initial delivery of oil and some resources) are basically self sufficient in supply, resources, and oil. I certainly wasn't planning on using these places as supply sources for my operations; that will come from Honshu and Kyushu.

I decide to expand my naval shipyards some more as well. When repaired I will be producing 1516 naval ship points per turn.
Takamatsu 8/8 -> 16/16 (two, because I converted a merchant shipyard to naval)
Sendai 8/8 -> 16/16 (ditto)
Sapporo 12/12 -> 24/24 (I was willing to expand Sapporo more because, again, Hokaido is basically self sufficient in supply, but not a supply depot)

I also converted some more Merchant shipyards to Naval. In this case I converted Osaka's 60 merchant shipyards to naval. I am now down to 835 merchant ship points per turn.

As for ship construction:
Merchant:
I have halted the production of all AKs.
I have also halted the production of an AV.
I also halted production of two APs--those that were closest to arrival--because I was starting to fall behind in merchant shipping points.
I have accelerated the Nisshin
I also converted 4 AKs to ARs and 4 AKs to MLEs. I have accelerated these. I will make more as time goes by, especially ARs, but this will do for a start.

Naval:
This turn saw a dramatic decision on my part. First a little background.

I very much want to get the Unryu class carriers as soon as possible. But to get them would require the expenditure of 1224 naval ship points per turn--more than Japan even starts with: 1174. Of course, I would also like a bunch of the other ships as well. [;)] So my plan was to clear the ways of those ships that were already being built as quick as possible to make room for the Unryu's. So besides stopping the Shinano and the one KD-7 that are being built at the start, I first accelerated the Shoho. That will now come off the ways on Jan. 1 freeing up 45 points. I also wanted the Glen carrying subs. Those would be accelerated next since they can be finished in January. I was going to continue accelerating ships based on how quickly they could arrive, the sooner the better, in order to free up the ways for the Unryus.

This turn, however, I reached a decision. As much as I like the Glen carrying subs, they eat up too many points and will take longer to arrive, even after acceleration, than I want. So I stopped production of the following A1/B1 class subs:
I-11
I-32
I-31
I-33
I-34
I-35
I-36

I have, however, accelerated the following B1 class subs since they will all be finished in January and adding four boats to my scouting force will be nice:
I-28
I-27
I-29
I-30

Needless (or perhaps not) to say, I will also be stopping production of other classes of subs when they start using naval points.

I also accelerated the 2 Yagumo class DDs currently on the ways:
Makigumo
Kazegumo
And next turn I will accelerate the Junyo

I want to get to the point where I can devote 1224 points to the Unryu's. With my projected 1516 naval points per turn, this will give me 292 points for "everything else." From what I can see, that "everything else" is mainly going to consist of DDs and CLs once the 1942 CVs and CVLs and the Yamato and Musashi are built. (PCs don't start arriving until quite late.)

If, *if*, I can have 14 CVs and 4 CVLs by Oct. 1, 1943 (earliest projected arrival date as of right now with acceleration of the last arriving Unryu), then maybe, *maybe*, I can engage Grotius in a decisive battle just as he launches his first serious offensive. He will probably not expose his CVs until 43 when his Essex carriers start to arrive. At that point he will probably be feeling pretty good about himself. If I can keep the existence of the Unryus secret until he launches his first major thrust, I might be able to deal him a major blow even with obsolete aircraft. That, anyway is the plan. It will take 20 months to ripen. And obviously many unforseen events lie ahead. But hey, its fun to dream, right? [:D]

PS: I wonder if Mogami is going to come in here and say this is a butt weasel kind of plan. [:D]

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/14/41

This turn saw a series of invasions:
Cagayan
Manado
Brunei

At Brunei I decided to bombard the place one more time prior to the landing. His coastal guns only hit one ship, the CL Sendai, but that one hit caused a bunch of damage: 28 sys/9 float/2 fires. So my first combat ship has now been damaged. Not bad I guess after one week of war.
Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 33,56 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Yakaze I forgot to turn the escorts off. Could have been a serious embarassment. [:o]
DD Akikaze
DD Hakaze
DD Okikaze
DD Minekaze
CL Kinu
DD Yudachi
DD Ayanami
DD Uranami
CL Sendai, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano
CA Chokai

Allied ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

and in the afternoon:
Naval bombardment of Brunei, at 33,56 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Japanese Ships
DD Yakaze no hits this time [&o]
DD Akikaze
DD Hakaze
DD Okikaze
DD Minekaze
CL Kinu
DD Yudachi
DD Ayanami
DD Uranami
CL Sendai
CA Kumano
CA Chokai

Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported

I am also resuming my strategic bombing campaign in China after getting the Sallys I just converted repaired.
Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-21 Sally x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed

Resources hits 1 not much, but we will keep it up

Over in Burma I lost another Zero. This time to a Belenheim night fighter. Are these things better than I thought? Or just an unlucky roll?
Day Air attack on Taiping , at 22,45
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 23
Ki-21 Sally x 81

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IF: 1 destroyed
Catalina I: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 22

I am going back to Taiping tomorrow. I think Grotius is moving his airforce around to avoid getting hit on the field. So maybe he will move back into Taiping this turn thinking that I will move on. At any rate, I plan to keep on hitting the airfields closest to Kota Bharu where he may base torpedo bombers in order to protect the shipping unloading troops there.

At Manila, yesterday's spanking caused Grotius to run away. No CAP over Manila today. He now has a sub in the port there. I hit that sub with an air attack on the second day of the war and it must have some float damage. Tomorrow I am going to port attack Manila to see if I can't hit it. But my guess is, is that he will simply un-anchor it so the port will be empty.
Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 53
Ki-15 Babs x 3

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 2 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
250 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 16

His torpedo bombers continue to give me ulcers, but still no hits
Day Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 33,56
Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 6
T.IVa x 3

Allied aircraft losses
T.IVa: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano

The Martin's are still not hitting either
Day Air attack on TF, near Miri at 32,56
Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Tatibana Maru

This is the parting shot from the KB as it heads back to Kwajalein. He had a ship in port there yesterday (obviously the MSW that starts the game there) but it was gone by the time my strike arrived.
Day Air attack on Johnston Island , at 104,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
D3A Val x 46
B5N Kate x 72

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
107 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 16
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 6

As for conquests today:
Ichang
Miri
Lingayen

Tomorrow will see shock attacks at:
Cagayan
Brunei
Manado

I will also be beating up on the Chinese Corps that I kicked out of Linfen yesterday.

Once Brunei is taken I will move in a Datai of Zeros, a Datai of Sallys, a Datai of Nells, and a Chutai of Dinahs. The Sallys will hit Kuching and the Nells are going after Singkwang. Then will come the invasion of Kuching.

I am becoming somewhat concerned about my southern thrust towards Timor. My next target is Ambiona. Ambiona is a level 4 airfield that can be used to control the LOC between northern OZ and the Maylay barrier and as a base to bomb Malacca, Koepang and Kendari in preparation for invasions.

What concerns me is that he may be moving his carriers into this region. My own baby KB is now retiring to Truk. There it will join up with the Akagi and Kaga which will be split off from the Nagumo force and be used to support the capture of Rabaul. As for the Nagumo force, it will be used to support the capture of Canton Is. (BTW, I have a cordon sanitaire of subs around Canton right now to spot any attempts at reenforcement.) This will leave me reliant on LBA (which is possible in this region, else I would not be moving out my carriers.) But I forgot to bring enough aviation support and engineers to Manado to stage a large group there and expand the airfield to a size 4 rapidly. Well, I have transports heading back to Palau to pick up another base force and some engineers to try to remedy that situation. The continuation of this thrust will also need to wait on the arrival of more supplies (on their way) and troops (ditto) to take over garrison duty on Mindanao. Hopefully, this delay will only last a week. As soon as Manado falls, however, I will be moving in search planes to keep and eye on things. I will also need to keep a surface action group handy to ward off any bombardments.

On the production front, I found I had made a stupid mistake. In my production log (see above) right at the top its says to convert Hitachi engines to Nakajima. But in the actual changes listed, it turns out that I kept on making Hitachis and even converted a few factories to Hitachis. I am not sure what I was thinking. So I wasted several thousand points in supply uselessly. Anyway, this turn I converted all of them except a size 8 factory over to Nakajima. The size 8 factory was converted to Kawasaki.

[Captain Cruft]

I find your production stuff interesting. If I may be so bold I would suggest, based on my own experience, that you will begin to have supply deficiencies in the Home Islands about February time.

Of course I could be wrong, but you are trying to do "rapid optimisation" similar to that which I tried in my two previous games. Basically, it all just uses up too many supplies, most of which happens after the event i.e. 1,000 per day per factory point to be repaired. Even the "big producers" like Tokyo only produce about 1,500 supplies per day so if you are repairing more than one point there per turn you are losing. That's without shipping any out to support invasion ops.

Even spookier, I tried to do the same thing with the Unryus. I had expanded Naval Shipyards to something like 1,600 but even then I could not put more than one or two on Accelerated at a time. Mind you I did not stop any other warships from building (except Shinano).

--
Now, if supplies should fall short in the Home Islands you are not completely stuffed. You have a couple of secret weapons:

First is the Kwantung area. Supplies will build up in, for some reason, the size 1 ports on the Korean and Manchurian coast. Send a bunch of AKs with a couple of MSWs for escort and go hoover it all up

Second, the Resource "factories" at Kendari and Tobaoli (and DEI in general) produce buttloads of Supply. Once you have taken some of these bases the ops in this area become self-sustaining. This is extremely unrealistic and (to me) annoying but you'd be a fool not to use it

[CapAndGown]

Thanks for your comments.

I have been worried about running out of supply. I think, though, that I may be OK, but I will have to check around Jan 1 when I do a comprehensive survey of the supply situation. By that time most of the factories will be repaired with only a few remaining. The repair of HI at Matsue and and Matsuyama has already been finished, for instance. And in a few days several of my naval shipyards should be finished repairing as well.

I have done some things to save on supply. For instance, no fort building. No airfield building. The only port expansion going on is in those ports with repair ship yards. I haven't expanded repair shipyards yet, I will save that for later. I am also not flying CAP (I really am not worried about a Dolittle raid at this point.). My only air missions are Naval search and ASW. And I haven't repaired any factories for R&D planes.

[Captain Cruft]

Keep us posted Tokyo has always been the bugbear for me due to the 120 x Hitachi engines and the 29 x Idas which both have to be converted at some point.

BTW what I consider a supply problem is when any of the major bases go under 20,000 supplies.

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/15/41

This was both a frustrating turn, but also a hopeful turn.

It began with a night action at Jolo which I lost badly. Grotius had some PTs there that I wanted to clear out in preparation for an invasion. I split off some DDs from my BB TF at Davao and sent them in for a night action. I wanted to avoid daylight air attacks. Big mistake.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Jolo at 39,59
Japanese Ships
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Fubuki, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Isonami, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
PT PT-31
PT PT-32
PT PT-33
PT PT-34
PT PT-35, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PT PT-41

Not a good way to start a turn! I am sending another DD TF there this turn, only they will be arriving during the daylight. Tough nuggies on the threat of air attacks, these PTs have got to go!

Also during the night my Jolo invasion force was attacked by one of his subs.
Sub attack at 46,64
Japanese Ships
AP Horai Maru, Torpedo hits 1
PG Heijo Maru
PG Choko Maru #2
PG Choan Maru #2
PG Takunan Maru #10
MSW Wa 19
MSW Tomozono Maru #3

Allied Ships
SS Sturgeon

Japanese ground losses:
30 casualties reported

I am pretty sure the Horai will be able to offload the base force in question at Davao since it is not too far away.

Grotius has subs all around the northern portion of Luzon. Unfortunately, my ASW forces have not been able to get a lock on them. On the question of ASW, I do not really have dedicated ASW forces right now. The escorts are needed for trasporting troops and supplies. But as different TFs arrive at a particular destination I combine them together which frees up some of the escorts to head back to home port in order to escort a fresh convoy. On their way I form them into an ASW force with the hope of hitting something in transit.

Well, once day broke things turned more positive. My air attacks in Malaya and the PI went off, though I did not hit the sub that is sitting in Manila harbor. [:(]
Day Air attack on Taiping , at 22,45
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
Ki-21 Sally x 80

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 21
Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 50
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 5 damaged

Allied ground losses:
158 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Port hits 6
Port supply hits 6

For his part, Grotius launched the usual assortment of anti-shipping strikes against my TFs on the coast of Borneo. Lots of Martins, no TIVa's [&o], and not hits.

Then in the afternoon, I got a nice present
Day Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 22,51
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
G3M Nell x 5 flying out of Kota Bharu

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 2
Buffalo I x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Van Ghent
TK Manvantara, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage sunk

Do you suppose Grotius was trying to smuggle out some fuel?

As far as conquests this turn, we took
Manado
Brunei
Cagayan

Unfortunately, the oilfields at Brunei were very badly damage. Only 53 remain operational out of 300. [:(] Actually, Miri is in better shape with 93 operational out of 100.

Now for the hopeful part: We are on the move!

At Kota Bharu I have finished unloading 2 brigades. Combat engineers and tanks will soon be finished unloading as well. But already one brigade is headed for Singora where it will join with the 5th division and march on Alor Star. The other brigade with join the 18th division and start marching down the rail line towards Singapore.

On Luzon, I captured Lingayen last turn and the 65th brigade is now marching on San Marcelino to be joined shortly by an HQ, artillery, combat engineers, and tanks that are almost done unloading at Vigan. And another division (21st) will be unloading at Lingayen tomorrow. On the east side of the island the 48th division has marched into Tugarego and will deliberate attack this turn. Last turn it bombarded. I was going to wait for the 4th division (which is now completely unloaded at Appari) to catch up before attacking, but since Grotius did not bombard me in return, I have a feeling he is bugging out. So I will deliberate attack. If he has bugged out, I will capture the base 1 turn quicker. If not, I shouldn't be hurt too bad. And in Legaspi, the 16th division has almost completed unloading while the 2nd divsion and support troops will begin unloading tomorrow. With 5 divisions, 1 Brigade, and various artillery, tank, and combat engineering units I should be able to clean up Luzon fairly quickly.

As per my modus operandi, I flew in Zeros to my new conquests, Brunei and Mandado, along with Recon and Naval Search units. I am progressively extending my search network. Grotius's surface combat forces have been conspicuous by their absence. Now maybe we can find out where they are lurking. Meanwhile the Zeros provide CAP for my bases and my surface units. This is particularly important at Manado. I left my two surface action groups there to guard against a naval bombardment that Grotius might send in from Kendari or Ambiona. Meanwhile, the SNLF unit that was used to conquer Manado has been loaded back on the transports and is going to Davao where it will help mop up the Grotius's remnants. This will leave Manado temporarily ungarrisoned except for a base force, but I don't expect him to counter invade [;)] and a fast transport would have to go through my two surface groups anyway. And the units that retreated will take a while to march back and I should have a garrison in place by that time.

Also, the 1st Parachute Army arrived in Bangkok and unloaded today. So we will be jumping on Victoria Point and Tavoy tomorrow.

We are on the move!

On a final note, I tallied up A2A losses for engagements between Zeros and allied fighters. The results were quite spectacular: 82 allied fighters shot down in exchange for 3 Zeros. I have also lost 7 Zeros operationally, mainly from transfers. I really should check the weather before transfering squadrons. [8|]

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/16/41

This turn saw the long anticipated paradrops on Tavoy and Victoria Point. In preparation for the drops I first went in with airfield attacks to try to disrupt the defenders:

Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 3 damaged

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet this is lower than I usually fly, but I wanted to inflict maximal disruption
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
Day Air attack on Tavoy , at 28,37
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 10 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 24

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 1000 feet in this case I flew even lower because there were fewer planes. Lost a Sally because of it, but it was worth it
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 1000 feet

Then the paratroopers arrived

Ground combat at Victoria Point
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 670 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 848 troops, 8 guns, 2 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 9 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Victoria Point base !!!

Allied ground losses:
594 casualties reported surrendered. where did all the other troops listed as being there go?
Guns lost 5

Ground combat at Tavoy
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 851 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 935 troops, 7 guns, 2 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2) that was a close run combat!

Japanese forces CAPTURE Tavoy base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

China strategic bombing campaign

Day Air attack on Changsha , at 45,37
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 18
Ki-21 Sally x 23
Ki-15 Babs x 3

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 2 destroyed

Resources hits 2

Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 5
Ki-21 Sally x 22

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Nothing, Nada, Zip [:(]

I am concerned that at some point Grotius may move the AVG into China and spoil my little party. I have not seen hide nor hair of the AVG yet. I am thinking they have moved into the DEI. I am also concerned that Grotius may move some B-17s into China and commence his own strategic bombing campaign. I have nothing to stop him if he does. I have Nates flying CAP over my major production centers, but they are not going to do much against B-17s, especially if they are escorted by the AVG.

Instead of launching a strategic bombing campaign in China, Grotius went after my recently aquired oil properties this turn. He was very successful:

Day Air attack on Miri , at 32,56
Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 6
B-17C Fortress x 12

No Allied losses

Oil hits 3

Apparently, oil and resources hits are a percentage since my Oil at Miri went from 93 to 73. Crap! [:@]

Also of note is the lack of CAP. I guess the airfield at Brunei was still too damaged to allow my Zeroes there to fly. Well at least they are rested now. [8|] And fortunately his Martins still couldn't hit the back side of a bull with a bass violin. His numerous anti-shipping strikes came up empty again. Next turn I hope to have some CAP up and shoot down some of these nuisances.

In Malaya, Grotius seems to have become so frustrated with anti-shipping strikes, and my uber-Zeroes, that he has reverted to attacks on my installations instead. That didn't work out so well either, though.

Day Air attack on Singora , at 24,43
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
Blenheim I x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim I: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Blenheim I bombing at 6000 feet 3 destroyed, 4 turned back. Guess their morale is kinda low at this point. [:D]

My air attack was somewhat more successful. Unfortunately, his bombers were not at home. Instead they were dying at Singora. [:D]

Day Air attack on Alor Star , at 24,44
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 25
Ki-21 Sally x 87
Ki-15 Babs x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 49

Aircraft Attacking:
All Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet this is my prefered altitude

In the PI, my attack at Tuguerarao didn't go so well. Apparently, Grotius was not bugging out. Or if he was, (he still did not bombard this turn!), they hadn't gotten far enough to leave the hex yet. At any rate, disruption on the 48th division went all the way up to 76! I am going back to bombardments until the 4th division arrives. It has only traveled 15 miles so far. I guess it will need another 2 days.

Ground combat at Tuguegarao
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 21509 troops, 269 guns, 15 vehicles
Defending force 8816 troops, 88 guns, 1 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese ground losses:
388 casualties reported Geez Louise
Guns lost 38
Vehicles lost 4

Allied ground losses:
51 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Meanwhile, the 65th brigade has arrived in San Marcelino and will start bombarding. I will wait for the arrival of a reenforcing division before attacking in earnest.

Notes on China strategy:
China is something of a mystery to me. Right now my limited ideas are to capture his supply generating bases: Sian, Yenan, Changsa, and Wuchow; secure the north/south rail line from Peking to Canton; and push him back to make it harder for him to hit my industries and resources and my major ports: Shanghai and Hong Kong. Once that is done, assuming it is, I will think about about Chungking and the southwest coast, i.e. Pakhoi. I am currently ammassing a huge force for a march on Changsa. Grotius has chosen to mass his troops on the road between Ichang and Chungking. He obviously believes that I may try to march directly on Chungking. Well, I would rather have secure flanks before moving that far into the interior. Don't want my spearhead to be chopped off ala Stalingrad. His concentration on the threat to Chungking also weakens his defense of Changsa. Good. [8D]

[Captain Cruft]

Changsha is a good target. It is the second biggest supply producer in China after Chungking.

I wouldn't worry too much about B-17s in China at this stage. It is a struggle to keep any of the airbases out of the "pink".

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/17/41

On the whole, this was a rather uneventful turn. Still more preparation than actual execution.

The Philippines
For instance, it turned out that Grotius was bugging out of Tugaregao. My deliberate attack came one turn too soon. So my bombardment attack hit air. Next turn we capture this base and the 4th division will arrive. So both the 48th and 4th will set off for Clark field together.

At San Marcelino, OTOH, Grotius decided to make a stand.

Ground combat at San Marcelino
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 16717 troops, 265 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 4847 troops, 52 guns, 2 vehicles

Allied ground losses:
95 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Ground combat at San Marcelino
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 4040 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 20097 troops, 265 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
9 casualties reported

I was very tempted to shock attack this turn with pursuit set to on. Hopefully, then, I could cut of the retreat path for his units retreating from Tugagarao. But if it had not worked out, and I felt there was a good chance of that, than I would have suffered large casualties and disruption. This would have just slowed down my assault against Clark Field when I eventually get there. BTW, the disruption of the 48th division dropped from 76 to 55 this turn. Hopefully, it will drop some more this turn. I certainly didn't want the same thing happening to the 65th Brigade.

At Legaspi I got one division fully unloaded so I sent it to Naga. I will wait for the other division to catch up before attacking, but I want to deny Grotius the supplies generated at Naga: resource centers do not generate supply (IIRC) in contested hexes.

For some reason, Grotius has not been evacuating his base forces from places like Tugagarao, San Marcelino, and, I believe, Naga to Manila and Clark. I don't understand this. They could be helping build forts. Perhaps he is using them for the extra support they provide for his combat units? If that is what he is doing, I suppose it is the smart choice since I am not about to let him build up his forts. This turn I gave Bataan a dose just in case he was building forts there. Next turn I am shifting back to Manila. Maybe I can even catch some PBYs on the ground.

Day Air attack on Bataan , at 42,51
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 12
Ki-21 Sally x 57
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 3 damaged

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 10

On Mindanao, I am currently offloading the SNLF unit that captured Manado at Davao. Next turn, assuming it is fully unloaded, it will march to Cotabato while the 56th Brigade marches on Dadjangas. In three days, except for Buantan, the clean up of Mindanao will be completed and these two units can then reboard their transports and set sail for Ambiona.

I am also sending 3 DDs back to Jolo next turn for a daylight attack on the PTs there. I am also bringing down 4 of my own PTs. They will refuel at Cagayan and if the DDs have not fully cleared out the menace at Jolo, then the PTs will follow up. The Jolo invasion force just slipped its moorings at Davao and should be at Jolo in two days.

Davao is turning into a major staging point for my thrust towards Timor.

Borneo
I am now getting set up for the invasion of Kuching. The 35th Brigade is heading there at full speed and will arrive the day after tomorrow. Tonight a CA TF will speed into Kuching harbor to bombard the place. Meanwhile, another CA TF and a BB TF made up of Kongo and Haruna are getting set up to bombard Singkawang the following night, i.e. just before my transports come into torpedo bomber range of that base. The airfield at Brunei has been repaired enough to allow my fighters and naval searchers to fly. So the Zeros are standing down this turn to rest up before being put on LRCAP over Kuching tomorrow, i.e. when my transports arrive. CAP is now being provided by an Oscar Sentai. Hopefully they can deal with his B-17s (not kill them, but at least mess up their aim) should they target my oil again. And at Saigon I just loaded the 4th mixed regiment onto transports. They will sail tomorrow for and invasion of Singkawang.

Malaya
One division and one brigade have now reached the hex southwest of Kota Bharu and will shock attack the two brigade there. I expect this to be a cake walk. Don't understand why Grotius didn't bring more troops here if he wants to defend the rail line. Perhaps he is afraid of airdrops behind his lines and so is leaving garrisons in all his bases. He is no doubt trying to march his troops at Kuantan out and so is hoping to delay me before they make it to the rail line. I doubt he will make it. I am going to shock attack with persue on to close off this escape route quickly.

Tomorrow will see a division, a brigade and a tank regiment arrive in Alor Star. Curiously, two of the units at Singora are listed as having traveled 60 miles towards Alor Star. So why aren't they their? [&:][8|] Are the hexes really 61 miles across? [;)][:'(]

Meanwhile, I continued to target his airfields hoping to hit his bombers. Next turn, however, I will ground attack in support of my shock attack

Day Air attack on Kuala Lumpur , at 22,47
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
Ki-21 Sally x 90
Ki-15 Babs x 5

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IF: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 4

China
I found part of the AVG, at least one squadron. I flew a recon flight over Chungking and they ran into a CAP of 12 P-40s plus some Chinese stuff. Perhaps they are guarding the resources and industry there? I wonder when Grotius will get the idea to stage a sweep and massacre my Nates. Not sure what to do about that. Just stand them down? Use them only for escort? But of course, he can move around his planes during his turn before I have a chance to react. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see.

He might want to consider moving them down to Changsa. I making a royal mess of the place. [:D]

Day Air attack on Changsha , at 45,37
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 26
Ki-21 Sally x 21
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-15 Babs: 1 destroyed

Resources hits 8

The undersea war
Hit another one of his subs this turn. Didn't sink it, but at least made it go home for a while. So far I have sunk three of his subs and damaged 3.

ASW attack at 45,45
Japanese Ships
APD APD-37
APD APD-36

Allied Ships
SS S-39, hits 2, on fire

The Pacific
The KB is almost back to Kwajalein, while the baby KB is a few days away from Truk. After rearanging things a bit they will support invasions of Canton Island and Rabaul. In the meantime, base forces and some engineering units are loading up in the home islands to garrison my Pacific island bases and to support and expanded search network.

The production front
I am afraid I am giving the shipyard workers fits. I changed my mind on ship production again. I decided that as nice as the float plane subs might be, I want other stuff more. So I halted all sub production and accelerated the Yamato. I have a hard deadline of Oct. 1, 1943 for the arrival of the Unryus. That will mean that I will need to start accelerating the last 2 arrivals in 30 days. Until that time, I will spend my naval points on accelerating the soonest arriving ships that I absolutely want. Yamato may need to be put back on normal build speed in 30 days, but at least it will be 60 days closer to completion and off the ways than otherwise.

Cruft: Thanks for the tips. Keep em coming. Need all the help I can get. [&o]

[Captain Cruft]

Fancy showing us a production screen?

Also, what are you planning on doing with your AVs?

[CapAndGown]

My AVs and one slow CS (Mizhio I think) are being used for ASW work. Currently, I have
One at Takao
One at Cam Rahn bay
One at Saigon
One at Saigon heading for Brunei
One at Amoy heading for Davao along with two ADs

The CS is part of a very large (48 ship) transport convoy leaving Tainan for Davao. It is providing ASW patrols for the convoy. This convoy contains all kinds of support units designated for the Kendari/Ambiona/Timor area; such things as AAA guns, base forces, Air HQs, and engineering units.

Maybe I should ask the same question of you in your thread.

As for production, right now it is still in flux as factories finish repairing. So it would not be useful at this point to post a screen shot. In about 5 days a number of factories/shipyards/etc. will be finished repairing and at that point I can take stock of the situation.

[Captain Cruft]

I'm not being critical, just interested in how others play Japan. Your detail is much appreciated

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/18/41

Another turn of movement, consolidation and preparation.

The Phillipines
Tugaragao was captured today and both the 4th and 48th (disruption down to 33) divisions began their march on Clark Field.

Grotius also bugged out of San Marcelino. So I will attack tomorrow to capture it. The 21st division is still unloading at Lingayen, so I will need to wait for it to catch up before marching on Clark from that direction.

At Legaspi, the 16th division only traveled 22 miles towards Naga. At the same time the 2nd division finished offloading, along with tanks and artillery, so they will be hot on the heels of the 16th. This time I am going to shock attack regardless of the situation for I am certain that Grotius will just bug out again. I will have to ground attack those units with my Sallys based at Appari in order to disrupt them to slow them down. I really would like to force a retreat on him.

My air attack on Manila didn't do much. Did get a PBY. But the runway is apparently fine. Hopefully, though, it is still slowing down his fortification effort.

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 12
Ki-15 Babs x 2

Allied aircraft
P-26A x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-15 Babs: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
104 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

At Davao, the 65th Brigade was ordered to march on Dadjangas while and SNLF unit is starting off for Cotabato.

My DD sortie against Jolo didn't come off as planned. Apparently, I had them on "retirement allowed". So they set up for a run in at night, even though I had set them to cruising speed precisely to time my arrival during the day. So here I am waiting for this surface action during the entire combat replay and nothing happens. Puzzled, I finally get the chance to check out what happened. And there they are, 2 hexes away from Jolo ready to pounce during the next night. Duh. Well, anyway, the PTs are now on the way, while the DDs will stand off for a turn, change their setting to "Patrol/do not retire" and then give it another shot. [8|] I need to get cracking since the invasion force is almost there.

A huge supply delivery should make it to Davao next turn. Lord knows I need it. I am afraid the pointy end of my spear is extremely low on supplies. It is amazing just how much supply gets sucked up by these units.

On that subject, I wonder if there is an oddity going on here. Each unit draws supply from the base reserve when it needs to tank up. When you "load troops only," however, it seems that the unit does not take any of its intrinsic supply with it. So where does it go? I don't think it is returned to the base. I think it just vanishes. For a full division, this can amount to 1400 supply points! Anybody know if this is the case? At any rate, they arrive at their destination with no supply so suck up any around instantly sending your base into the pink or red. That, at any rate, is what has been happening to me.

Also, I am finding that my AKs are poorly positioned. They are mostly at Osaka and Tokyo. I was thinking that I would need to draw supply from the Home Islands for fighting at the front. Instead, what I am finding is that China is just overflowing with supply. So now I need to get some of those AKs over to China to pick the stuff up and deliver it. But for that I need escorts.

Malaya
Grotius was bugging out here as well. Alor Star was empty when I arrived. He was also trying to bug out of the hex southwest of Kota Bharu. One of his brigades didn't make it in time, however. My ground attack apparently slowed him down enough to allow me to force a retreat on him.

Day Air attack on 8th Indian Brigade, at 24,46
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
Ki-21 Sally x 80

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
152 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Ground combat at 24,46
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 36505 troops, 437 guns, 15 vehicles
Defending force 2525 troops, 27 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 86 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
237 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
226 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

The next hex down the rail line, next to Kuantan, shows three enemy units now, one of them obviously the 8th Indian brigade. To the southwest of that (just southeast of Kuala Lumpur) are thre more units obviously trying to hold open his escape route for his units on the west coast. Looks like he may have a decent road block set up. I may need to await the arrival of two more divisions before I can march all the way to Singapore. One is currently south of Indochina heading for Kota Bharu. The other, the 38th, is waiting for transports to arrive in Hong Kong to pick it up.

Borneo
Well, I had to change my plans somewhat. My bombardment of Kuching went off, but not quite as planned

Naval bombardment of Kuching, at 27,56 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
4 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Kinu
CA Kumano
CA Chokai

Allied ground losses:
62 casualties reported

Runway hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Nothing wrong there, but then I checked the TF afterwards and saw that one DD only had 900 fuel remaining. So I had to refuel mid-ocean, which, of course, cost 300 op-points, which in turn meant that this TF would not be able return to Kuching again tonight to cover the transport TF and give another bombardment before the invasion. I don't really understand this. I had gassed everyone up at Brunei. Or at least thought I did. Stupid 3000 endurance DDs. I noticed that the Brit, Ducth and Aussie DDs are also very short winded. I guess the only decent DDs belong to the USN.

Also, I decided that there is the possibility that the POW and Repulse are hiding in the Karimata strait and my search planes have somehow missed them. If this were so, then Grotius might sail into Kuching during the night and meet a CA TF and crunch them good. So now both the BB TF and CA TF are going to race into Kuching for a evening bombardment with "Patrol/do not retire set" in order to cover the invasion. I will have to rely on my LRCAP from Brunei to keep away the bad guys from Singkawang. (I am also going to fly an airfield attack against Kuching from Kota Bharu and Saigon using Nells stationed there.)

The undersea war
Lots of contacts this turn, but no hits except one. In one case Grotius's torps failed to detonate.

Sub attack at 41,57
Japanese Ships
AK Bujun Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Toshi Maru #2
MSW Musashi Maru

Allied Ships
SS KXIV

This group is bringing supply to Davao.

As a general note: I am continually getting new reenforcements in Tokyo. Frankly, I have no idea what to do with the stuff. It is just piling up. In UV the japs were lucky to get a few base forces here and there. Now I have the stuff coming out of my ears. It is especially hard to keep things organized because of the clunky user interface. GG must have been a database programmer at one time. Too many lists, not enough graphical aids. My turns are taking several hours to complete. I have no idea how Mogami plays so many PBEMs at one time, almost all as Japan.

Also, I am going to start spending PPs to move float plane chutais out of Japan and start establishing and ASW net work. My initial network is moving forward with the front so I need the HDF's to fill in. I want the South China and Celebes Seas covered by an interlocking ASW network.

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/19/41

This turn when much better than I had any right to expect. My invasion of Kuching is working out well.

Borneo
Kuching got a serious dose of TNT before my invasion force showed up. As a result, my casualties in the invasion force were kept low. What was most surprising, and heartening was that nobody from Singkawang flew, no Martins, to torp bombers, nothing. I am wondering if Grotius is trying to keep his number of planes at his bases in the DEI below or equal to the aviation support available? This is simply not possible for the Allied player at this stage else they are are not going to be able to put up any kind of credible defense. Overstacking beyond available aviation support is the only option.

First the night time bombardments
Naval bombardment of Kuching, at 27,56 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed

6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma
DD Ikazuchi
DD Hibiki
DD Akatsuki
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
163 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 15
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
Naval bombardment of Kuching, at 27,56
Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Hayabusa
DD Otori
DD Amagiri
DD Yugiri
DD Sagiri
DD Shirakumo
DD Usugumo
DD Shinonome
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami

Allied ground losses:
110 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 49
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 2

These obviously kept his Martins at Kuching from flying during the day.
This was followed up by an airfield attack launched from Saigon and Kota Bharu
Day Air attack on Kuching , at 27,56
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 49

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Finally, the afternoon bombardments just before the landing forces arrive.
Naval bombardment of Kuching, at 27,56
Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma
DD Ikazuchi
DD Hibiki
DD Akatsuki
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
84 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 12
Port hits 4
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 4

Naval bombardment of Kuching, at 27,56
Japanese Ships
DD Hayabusa
DD Otori
DD Amagiri
DD Yugiri
DD Sagiri
DD Shirakumo
DD Usugumo
DD Shinonome
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami

Allied ground losses:
102 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 7
Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 4
Port supply hits 2

Now the landing forces arrive, encountering a minefield, but no mine hits
TF 114 encounters mine field at Kuching (27,56)
TF 114 troops unloading over beach at Kuching, 27,56
Coastal Guns at Kuching, 27,56, firing at TF 114
19 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AP Mexico Maru, Shell hits 1 this is the only ship that seemed to be actually hit, 5 sys, 2 fire
PG Sozan Maru, Shell hits 1
APD APD-38, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
483 casualties reported

Since the 35th Brigade was loaded in a "shallow" manner, a good deal of it is already offloaded. By tomorrow afternoon's ground attack phase it should be completely unloaded, so I ordered a shock attack.

Another thing to note about this invasion besides the lack of air interference was the lack of surface intereference as well. I am hoping the presence of two surface combat TFs as screens will discourage Grotius from trying to interfere. In fact I am counting on it, since I am sending the Kongo/Haruna TF to Singkawang tonight to bombard that place. What I can't count on is nothing flying out of Singkawang tomorrow without some intervertion on my part. (even then, the bombardment may not accomplish much. Certainly, I haven't seen any "uber-bombardments" yet in this game.) Hopefully, the pointed presence of Nells in the vicinity will also help keep him from trying to interfere either at Kuching or Singkawang tonight, though as to the later, I wouldn't bet on it.

Also in Borneo, Grotius tried to go after my oil at Miri again. Fortunately, the Oscars at Brunei interecepted. They didn't kill anything (that would have been a long shot) but they did damage his bombers enough to throw off their aim. No oil hits this time!

Day Air attack on Miri , at 32,56
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 13

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17C Fortress: 8 damaged

China
The strategic bombing campaign continues apace. The AVG sqdrn is still sitting at Chungking. I keep reconing the place to keep tabs on it. But if he moves it into Changsa or Wuchow during his turn, I am going to get slapped.

Day Air attack on Changsha , at 45,37
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 23
Ki-21 Sally x 50

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27 Nate: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 1 damaged

Resources hits 6

Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 6
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 5
Ki-21 Sally x 18

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 2 destroyed

Resources hits 4

Also in China I took Honan today. Grotius abandoned this base in order to retreat to Sian. I am going to keep him guessing as to whether I am going for Sian or Yenan first in order to keep his forces divided.

Malaya
An empty Alor Star was captured. Indeed, Grotius has everyone on the west side of the Maylay peninsula retreating. He is obviously afraid of having his retreat route cut off by my forces marching down the rail line from Kota Bharu. Those forces, btw, arrived at the hex adjacent to Kuantan today, so those units are now cut off. I am facing just one brigade at this hex which I will deliberate attack this turn, if it is still there. I was thinking about shock attacking with persue on, but then thought better of it, since there are 5 units at the rail junction to the southwest. Those might be enough to win an attack against a lone division (I am going to leave the brigade that is accompanying the division in place to keep the Kuatan troops bottled up.) At any rate, my Sally's will ground attack the lone brigade (probably the beat up 8th Indian) to try to slow it down so that my ground troops can have another whack at it.

This turn the Sally's went after Taiping. Unecessarily, as it turns out, since Grotius has now evaced his entire airfoce from Northern Malaya

Day Air attack on Taiping , at 22,45
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
Ki-21 Sally x 92
Ki-15 Babs x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 21

Besides ground attacking the 8th (?) Indian brigade, I have also set up a Sweep over Singapore. Grotius has a rather large CAP of Buffalos over the place (about 30 respond to my recon flights each turn). I would like to cull them out and eat into his replacement stream. Is it still not the case that Commonwealth units have to wait until March before being able to upgrade? Anyway, my Zeros should eat them for lunch (and breakfast, and dinner). [8D]

The Philippines
An empty San Marcelino was captured. The 21st division has offloaded at Lingayen and was set to march to Clark field. The 4th and 48th divisions are making slow progress from Tugaregao to Clark as well. Manila was port attacked again to keep the fortifications from building and with the hope of hitting the sub there. This time I had some success! Spotting reports also indicate two other subs at Manila as well. Are they refueling? Damaged? I should say that Manila is not the place where you would want to repair. [:'(] And he can't reload torps there since 2 of his AS's are sunk while another is reparing from a mine hit at Kendari. I am guessing he's going evac some cadres. Probably Mac and the Naval HQ.

Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 10
Ki-21 Sally x 56
Ki-15 Babs x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied Ships
SS S-37, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage [8D]

Allied ground losses:
270 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 5

Tomorrow, the Sally's are going back to Bataan for an airfield attack to keep him from building forts there.

The 16th division arrived in Naga. I am not going to shock attack as I had previously thought. The supporting units, including the 2nd division, are just 15 miles behind. I will shock attack next turn. I will probably hit air as he no doubt will bug out, by why disrupt my units before I get to the main show at Manila?

At Jolo, my PTs are going in tonight to attack his PTs. They will be followed up by 3 DDs during the daylight phase. The invasion, then, should take place the day after tomorrow. The invasion will be preceded by a bombardment by a CA TF which will then provide a surface screen for the transports. Betty's from Davao will also, no doubt, airfield attack the place, assuming sufficient supplies have been unloaded at Davao by then.

The 56th Brigade only marched 15 miles towards Dadjangas. Ditto with the 2nd SNLF heading for Cotabato. Fortunately, another large SNLF unit, th 91st Naval Guard, accompanied by various supporting units, will arrive in Davao harbor next turn. They will stay aboard ship and head out for Ambiona starting tomorrow. That way I won't have to wait for the 56th brigade and 2nd SNLF to finish their mop up operations. At least, I hope they are strong enough to take it on their own.

I should say that I am becoming increasingly concerned about further progress towards Timor without carrier support. I keep fretting that his carriers might show up in the Banda or Timor Seas to spoil my little party. Thus, a demonstration by my Betty's over Jolo the day after tomorrow may spook him into keeping his carriers away if they are in the vicinity.

The Pacific
The KB arrived at Kwajalein where it will take on replacements for its losses. I am trying to rearrange the planes on the ships by trying to merge the spare aircraft from those CVs that still have spares into datais that are short a few planes. I offloaded the overfull datais onto Kwajalein where, hopefully, the excess planes will go into reserve next turn. Then next turn I can put those datais back on their motherships while the spares remain behind as fragments which can then be disbanded into datais that need to be filled out. I also disbanded a chutai of Vals that had flown down from Japan into one of the groups that had suffered large casualties. I am trying to save on the need to draw pilots for the Val and Kate Datais (there are now 34 pilots in the pool). I will need these pilots for the Zero datais which have all been set to accept replacements.

Anyway, the KB is getting set up to support an invasion of Canton Island. The Baby KB will arrive at Truk next turn. It will detach a CS to join up with the Nagumo force, while the Nagumo force with detach Kaga and Akagi to join up with the Baby KB. The Baby KB will then be used to support the invasion of Rabaul.

In the meantime, two SNLF units at Kwajalein are loading up for the invasion of Cantion.

As a final note, Japanese intel actually found something of interest this turn! [X(] I got a radio contact on something in between PH and SF. I have had my subs heading for this area to try to intercept any BBs damaged at PH that Grotius would wish to bring to the west coast. So now the subs are going for an intercept! Boy, it would be nice to have actually sunk at least one of those ships that start out at PH.

[CapAndGown]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/20/41

Borneo
Well, Kuching fell to the forces of the empire today. Still no torpedo bombers out of Singkawang. Perhaps my bombardment had something to do with that, though Grotius tells me that he has been having problems getting them to fly. Whether the bombardment was a success or not, I still managed to have one of my BBs torpedoed during the extraction phase! [:@] One of my PGs hit a mine at Kuching as well. Why is that the last mine to be cleared is always the one that scores? [8|]

Naval bombardment of Singkawang, at 25,56
Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma
DD Ikazuchi
DD Hibiki
DD Akatsuki
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu
CL Naka
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied ground losses:
55 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 15
Port hits 4
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 5
Sub attack at 27,55
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna, Torpedo hits 1, on fire 33/23/13 (lots of 3s?) [:(]
DD Inazuma
DD Ikazuchi
DD Hibiki
DD Akatsuki
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Asashio

Allied Ships
SS Pike, hits 2, on fire shouldn't ought to have done that! [:-]


TF 114 encounters mine field at Kuching (27,56)
TF 114 troops unloading over beach at Kuching, 27,56
Japanese Ships
MSW Ranzan Maru
MSW Hinode Maru #20
MSW Choun Maru #21
PG Sozan Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire 42/29/26

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Ground combat at Kuching
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 13652 troops, 169 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 1373 troops, 6 guns, 3 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 30 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kuching base !!!

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
112 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
751 casualties reported

Well, a huge airgroup has now moved into Kuching. 2 Sally Datais, 2 Nell Datais, 1 Nell Chutai (for naval search), 1 Babs Chutai, 1 Oscar Sentai and 1 Zero Datai. The Sallys will bomb the airfield at Singkawang tomorrow. The 35th Brigade, meanwhile was loaded back onto the transports and is now heading for Tarakan around the north end of Borneo.

PT madness at Jolo
I finally got rid of the last remaining PT at Jolo, but it cost me. [:@] Apparently this lone PT was already leaving for Tarakan, but reacted back to Jolo when my own forces showed up. Anyway, the invasion force is now headed in to be preceded by a bombardment and and airfield attack.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Jolo at 39,59
Japanese Ships
PT Gyoraitei #3
PT Gyoraitei #4, Shell hits 24, and is sunk
PT Gyoraitei #5
PT Gyoraitei #6, Shell hits 1, on fire 34/20/10! [X(]

Allied Ships
PT PT-32, Shell hits 2
Night Time Surface Combat, near Jolo at 39,59
Japanese Ships
DD Hatsuharu
DD Wakaba
DD Shirayuki

Allied Ships
PT PT-32, Shell hits 21, and is sunk

China
Grotius may be moving back to Ichang. His troops recrossed the river between Ichang and Chunking. Overall, he has 10 units in the area. I have left 2 divisions there to defend the place. Don't know if it will be enough, but I don't really care. It is diverting his forces away from Changsa. My units are slowly gathering for the eventual attack on that city.

Meanwhile, the strategic bombing campaign procedes apace.

Day Air attack on Changsha , at 45,37
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 29
Ki-21 Sally x 47

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Resources hits 8

Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 6
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-21 Sally x 20
Ki-15 Babs x 3

Allied aircraft
I-153c x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 1 damaged

Resources hits 2

Malaya
As I suspected, it was the 8th Indian brigade which was the straggler. I hit it with another air attack to slow it down, but it got away this time before I could attack. OTOH, my sweep against Singapore went very nicely 15 to 1. I was very sorry about the 1. [:D]

Day Air attack on 8th Indian Brigade, at 23,47
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 69

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
103 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Day Air attack on Singapore , at 22,51
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 15 destroyed

The Philippines
The 4th and 48th are making very slow progress towards Clark. In the south I my forces all arrived in Naga and I bombarded, though Grotius did not, a sure sign he is bugging out. I will try hitting him with the Sallys tomorrow to see if I can slow him down so I can hit him with a shock attack.

For some reason I can't seem to damage the airfield at Bataan. I am going to have to strike that thing a bunch more. Don't need those forts being built!

Day Air attack on Bataan , at 42,51
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 13
Ki-21 Sally x 51
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Runway hits 5

Ground combat at Naga
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 23991 troops, 329 guns, 5 vehicles
Defending force 11259 troops, 129 guns, 2 vehicles

Allied ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Guns lost 5