Dark Days - the allied perspective

[IS2m]

Hello all.

I started a Dec 8 campaign against Yamato Hugger this weekend. He has set up an AAR, so I feel it is in my best interests to follow suit. I am not planning on posting endless streams of combat reports here, simply a discussion of strategy. Feedback is, of course, very welcome. I will not post every turn, as this can be a little tedious.

Where to begin.....

Ah yes!

Concerning Hobbits...

Ooops, wrong book. Excuse me.

Anyhow, two turns have now been run, and I have just sent my third turn.
The December 8 campaign begins with the Enterprise sitting at PH. A nice, fat, juicy target. I immediately filled up the big E's TF with 25 ships, and headed for SF. I also put together a DD TF and sent it along for the ride. I also created 12 other TF's (6 PT groups, 6 AK's) and scattered them about. Good thing,too, because KB was waiting in ambush. Most of KB's airstrikes went after the wrong targets, costing me several ships. KB did locate the DD screen, and proceeded to attack. Several DD's are at the bottom of the Pacific, but Enterprise and Co got away scott free. There was a large air battle over the DD group. Needless to say, I lost, but I did shoot down a few of his a/c. My other CV group is heading towards Pago Pago as fast as the squirrels in the boiler room can run.

KB stuck around to do some more damage the next turn. They sunk a few more ships, but lost several Zero's, Vals, and Kates. I do enjoy killing Japanese pilots. KB appears to have split into two groups: One is heading towards Midway (and presumably home) The other is heading southwest.

I do not plan on turtling my carriers on the west coast, rather I plan on stationing 2 or 3 of them at Pago Pago to react to any thrust towards Canton Island et al. Yes General Hoepner, I have read your AAR....

On that note, my plan for the South Pacific is to establish bases in strength. I will form up a group for Canton Island consisting of 2 or 3 Divs, an Av Rgt, 2 Fighter units and two Nav groups. Supplemented by engineers, of course. Likewise for Noumea, but Canton gets it first.

PI:

Operation 'Sir Robin' is proceeding according to plan. I will make a stand in Manila, and attempt to evacuate as much air to Australia as possible. I am also planning on salvaging a few PI units. As I see it, I will be recieving PA, PS and PS Cav squads all game, why not use them to good effect? To that end I plan to pull out a few fragments via submarine. 1 PA div and two RCT's will have a fragment evacuated so as to fight another day. All units in PI have had their replacements turned off.
My opponent has conducted a series of parachute drops around the region, and grabbed several bases. No doubt he is planning on stocking the place with a/c, and sinking as many ships as he can. To counter this, I am only using single-ship TF's in the area. I am hoping that this will allow me to get a large percentage of my ships out of PI. I am also sending the P-40B squadron from Clark field to Chunking (see below)He hasn't landed on the main island yet, so I have had a couple of days to get isolated units moving to Manila. I am also loading up supplies from other areas to be dropped off in Manila before the ships head for Darwin.

Malaya:

I have decided not to evacuate the Australian Bdes. Again, I will evacuate fragments of units from Singapore via Kuala, Andaman Island, and Akyab to Calcutta. I plan to rebuild the Malayan army in India. My opponent's knack for paradrops may make this impossible, but I have to try. My strategy for the peninsula is to retreat to the base NE of Singapore (the name temporarily eludes me), and make a stand before being pushed back to Singapore. The idea is to stall for time.

I ahve also sent the AVG to Singapore, with very good results. In two days of fighting, I have shot down several Zero's, Nates, and Nells. AVG has racked up 30 kills, and the Buffalo groups have a few kills each. I have even shot down 1 Tojo! Needless to say, I am very happy about this. I will soon have to evacuate my Malayan air army, but at least I have made Yamatohugger pay.

Burma:

The entire Burmese garrison is runnung northeast towards Mitkyumia? I can't pronounce it either... If I can get there first, I should be able to eventually get most of the troops to Ledo without having to risk a costly naval evacuation from Rangoon.
All bases in North Burma/Pakistan will be garrisoned by division breakdowns in order to stop parachute assaults.

India:

As I stated above, all bases in range of his airfields will be garrisoned to prevent airborne drops. I am forming up a strategic reserve at Hydrabad. This force will consist of my three best divisions (All of my Indian divisions suck right now, but that will change), my armour, and most of my artillery. If he attempts an amphibious landing, I should be able to counterattack or contain any beachheads that he establishes. I am not too worried about a cross-country assault from Burma, because of his supply lines and Malaria. I am applying the same defensive posture in Australia, forming up three divisions plus armour at Canberra.

NEI:

I have decided on a bunker strategy for the NEI. My troops will be massed at Sorebaija (spelling?) along with the entire Dutch AF. I predict a large-scale assault after the fall of Singapore, and do not intend to waste US or Aus divisions in the area. Again, the idea is to inflict casualties and buy time. A few Dutch fragments will also be evacuated to Australia, to absorb replacements and provide extra garrisons. I will evacuate all scouts and patrol a/c, as well as a couple of fighter and nav units. Everything else stands and dies!

China:

Yamatohugger is already on the move in China. He is advancing on Yenen, Ichang, and Chansha. If Yenen falls, I will abandon Homan and fall back to Sian. If Ichang falls, I will reinforce the capital (I already am reinforcing the capital, but you know what I mean) Each rear-area city will be garrisoned with a division to prevent air drops. Again I must thank GH for warning me about the dangers of parachutists in China. Each frontline city will be garrisoned by 8 corps and four HQ's Mobile forces will be held in reserve to counterattack where the opportunity arises.

Japanese players often use China as a training ground for their airforce. I plan on denying my opponent the ability to do this. To that end I will send every P-40B group and squadron to China. It will take several months to assemble the required force, but I hope that it will pay huge dividends. I am not planning on sending my heavy bombers to China, because of the supply requirements. I am not sure what to do with my heavies for the time being. By the time Yamatohugger finishes his offensive, all of his major oil and resource centers will be out of range. I think he will grab all 4 size airfields within 10 hexes of an oil/resource center before he takes the place, anyway.

Anyhow, thats about it for now. As I said before, feedback is always welcome.

Bye!

[IS2m]

Hello again.

December 11, and the Japanese offensive keeps rolling. Air drops at San Marcellino(?), Jambi, Sabang, and most annoyingly... Andaman Island. All are now safely in Japanese hands. The Phillipine Sea has been turned into a shooting gallery, with several small air groups wreaking havoc on my attempt to get my merchant fleet out. I am countering this by using single-ship TF's in an attempt to get some ships through his net. Do you think it will work? The next few turns should see several well-fed sharks in the area. I can only long for the day of reckoning...

Good news, however: Japanese CL Natori swallowed a torpedo from a PT boat near PI. She is reported heavily damaged, and nowhere near repair facilities. I hope she sinks...

More good news: The air war over Singapore continues to go in my favor. To date, AVG and friends have shot down some 60+ enemy aircraft. Approximately 41 G3M Nells and 20 other assorted riff-raff (Zeros, Tojo's, etc.). Loosing Andaman Island was a blow, however. I shall now attempt to bring fragments of the Malayan Army out through Java.

Japanes airdrops at Sabanh and Andaman have me wondering if my opponent is considering going for India. I suspect an attack on Ceylon may be in the works. I will send a brigade to each of Colombo and Trincomalee ASAP, but that will be a few weeks at best. Until then I have emptied both ports, and am redeploying two fighter squadrons to Ceylon from Singapore via Kuala. Does anyone know if CAP will stop air drops? IRL it should....

Anyhow, thats all for tonite.

[rogueusmc]

Lost Adaman Island that fast?...get Malacca strait plugged up...

I get the brit subs (and the Dutch subs once DEI gets tore up) running mines from Diamond Harbour and Ceylon into the strait.

[DFalcon]

CAP will intercept Transports dropping Paras. It may not stop em cold but it will do a lot of damage.

[Tom Hunter]

Try routing your ships in the Phillipines in several different directions. I find very few players cover every escape route. For example Mogami massacred the ships I sent South, but the ones I sent East all made it home.

[IS2m]

Good advice, thanx. I think I will plug the straits with mines.

[IS2m]

Hello again.

Dec 14, 1941. Only a few developments to report.

Several paradrops in the Celebes. I suspect Yamato Hugger plans on attacking my shipping all the way back to Darwin. He has CVL TF's south and east of the PI. I sent the AVG to Borneo two turns ago, when one of his CVL's got within striking distance, but the strike group was unable to locate the target. [:@] This turn he is cruising north of Ambonia, so I will try again. I have about 18 P-40's there, and two groups of Martins. With any luck, I can teach my opponent a lesson.

NE India is garrisoned with Div/Bde breakdowns to prevent a paradrop. Units from the strategic reserve will be sent to Columbo and Trincomalee. I have also unloaded a div breakdown at Akyab, so I can get my a/c out of Singapore.

I have already begun moving a/c out Singapore. There is no sense fighting in a burning building. My air groups shot down over 70 Japanese a/c during the fighting, and I am quite pleased with the results. One of my Dutch Brewsters shot down a Zero today, I think that I will decorate the pilot...

Several thousand japs have landed at Cagayan, so the siege of Manila will begin soon. I hope that I can get a few more a/c out of Clark field before it is overrun. I am abandoning Bataan, and will abandon Clark soon. The shooting gallery continues in the PI sea. All I can do is remember this when it's my turn to blast his merchant fleet....

A Jap BB group has begun bombarding Kuching. I have some PT's and a small TF (CL, 4 x DD) en route. Maybe I can sink or damage a few more of his surface ships. PW and Repulse are sitting at Soerebaja with several other ships. I will not sortie them until he comes into the area. The bulk of the Dutch a/c are providing air cover, and I do not want to fight a capital ship action outside of my air umbrella, such as it is. I may send some P-40's to Java, but I have not decided yet.

The bases in north Australia are being garrisoned against an air drop. If he makes a major landing at Darwin, I cannot stop him anyway. I could send my strategic reserve north, but then what happens if he goes for Brisbane? I still suspect that he is thinking about India, though.

In China, he has sent troops to several of my forward bases. Changsha, Yenen, Homan and Ichang are all being tied down, but he has not attacked yet. I have taken Nanning, and am about to attack the town just south of it. I think he has a division there, as I have reports of 11,000 men in one unit. I have three corps attacking it, with more troops on the way. I plan to garrison my front-line cities with 8 corps each, then form a mobile reserve to lift sieges. All ar-transport capable units in the area are going to Ledo, and airlifting supplies the Chunking.

My first convoy will sail for Canton Island in about two weeks. It will have a minimum of two divisions, and two HQ's (1 corp HQ and one air HQ). I will also send an aviation rgt if one is available, plus CD, AA, Pt boats and mine layers. I am not concerned about Noumea yet.

I will begin evacuating Rabaul in a couple of days. These troops, plus the two Bn's from Darwin are going to PM. No other reinforcements will go to PM for now. I know that the Japanes can take the place at their leisure, and I want to keep a large force available to defend Australia if it comes to that.

Anyhow, that's all for now.

[IS2m]

December 17/1941
A few developments to report:

I sent a surface TF and a dutch PT TF (4 x PT) to Kuching to mess with his landings. My surface TF has CL and 4 x DD. Large Japanese group consisting of 3 x BB, 5 x CA and 2 x CL shows up to shell the place. Needless to say I was wiped out, but not before putting a torpedo into the side of BB Fuso. I don't think she will sink any time soon, as she is probably in the 10 to 20 Sys damage range, but she will be laid up for months.

My attempts to hunt down the CVL Ryujo have not been as unsuccessful as I had originaly feared. I got a small strike group through today, but no hits. Martin's at 3,000 feet. I am sending torpedo planes to Ambonia. PW and Repulse are also hunting in the vicinity (Java sea, between Darwin and Soriebaja: I should post maps, but I have no idea how.), as the jap's may have surface raiders this far south. After the success my opponent had in killing virtualy every ship attempting to escape from PI, I expect him to attempt a similar operation around Java.

And now to report a small victory: My TF's attempting to evacuate Rabaul arrived at the same time as his invasion fleet.

12/15/41: Allied AP arrives Rabaul, one day ahead of Japanese landing force. Several small TF's begin landings in western New Britain. Another small group heading for Gasmata. 3 allied surface groups are racing to the area.

12/16/41: Small jap surface TF (CL, 4 x PC) catches and sinks AP at Rabaul, damages a second AP before being sent packing by Australian CL Adelade (at least I think it was the Adelade, I can never remember ship names). Two PC's reassigned to Davey Jones Locker. 35th Bde begins unloading at Rabaul. Main allied TF (CA Canberra, CL, 2 x DD) diverted to Gasmata, where another Japanese group is unloading...

12/17/41: Evacuation of Rabaul continuing, the first transports are away (cheering in the hanger bay...).
Allied CA group catches and sinks two AK's at Gasmata.

I am sending the CA group to Rabaul to cover the evacuation, I want one more day to load troops. My opponent has no air cover, probably having sent his Betty's to have some 'fun in the Phillipines'. I hope to get in, shoot up some transports, and get out before the bettys arrive. To this end my CA group has orders to retire/do not patrol. In addition, I have ordered all off-duty crew to catch as many small fish as they can: these fish will be used as chum.....

On that note, the OSS wants me to approve a plan to infiltrate Tokyo harbour with trained packs of piranahs.

And now on to bigger issues:
I only know the whereabouts of 2 Japanese divisions outside of China. I count 36 individual units in Malaya, and about 14 in PI. No attempt has been made to air drop into bases in Burma (all of which are wide open, except Mitkuya- whatever-its-name-is). To top it off, KB has split in 2. One TF last seen heading southwest, another due west of PH. If he is not going back to Japan, he probably has another big op planned. No help figuring things out on the SigInt front, either. I would give my left arm to know what my opponent is up to. On the bright side, his attack on New Britain is quickly turning into 'Operation Clusterf*ck': now if only the betties will give me one more day.

Anyhow, that's all for now.

[IS2m]

Dec 18, 1941

As I was saying about 'Operation Clusterf*ck".....

A second Japanese surface group showed up at Rabaul. 2 x CL and 4 x DD engaged Leander and Achilles at 4000 yards at night. After having 127 shells pumped into her by the DD's, Leander sank. Achilles did not get in the way: I suppose that the crew was too busy watching the fireworks to bother with their guns, or anything distracting like that....

My CA group arrives on the scene: takes one look around, decides that there is no one home, and leaves. Apparently the flashes of gunfire on the horizon weren't important enough to warrant investigation.

I got the better part of the Rabaul garrison off the island, though, so I can't really complain. I have also learned a few valuable lessons:

1) 'Barnacle Pete the Sailor' is not the best choice for a fleet commander.

2) The entire officer corp will have to be purged of anyone with an eyepatch, a Peg leg, and a parrot.

I don't mind the fact that the IJN is better at night fighting, but how do they do it without waking up the nieghbors?

Ahhhr!

That's all for now.

PS: 38 LCU's in Malaya

[IS2m]

Dec 20, 1941

The Japanese have secured the area around New Britain (Buna, Lae, etc). A Bde has landed at Ambonia, but they failed to take the place on their first attack, so I was able to get all a/c out. His paras have grabbed the other base on that island, so there will be no training opportunities for his air force here.

On the Western Sea Board, CV Enterprise is leaving for Pago Pago today, I will begin loading forces for Canton Is tomorrow.

Back in Asia, I landed about 500 Australian troops at Andaman Is. (They were in the area anyway) I have failed to retake the place, so I'm getting out of Dodge. Fragments of most units in the Malaya Army are now in Java, and en route to India. Most of my Burma army is in the North East (I still can't spell the name of that base, let alone pronounce it)
They will hold out there as long as possible. Two of the BF's are slowly marching to China, and 3 Chinese divisions are heading to Burma.

BC Repulse is steaming to intercept a landing group in the Celebes: I hope that I catch him, and I hope he bring a few cruisers to snack on....

POW is on the way to India. I never noticed her AA until I read a thread on the subject. Putting POW with the British CV's sounds like an excellent idea. Actually, anything that kills Japanese pilots sounds like an excellent idea.

China: Four Japanese formations have moved on Chansha, Ichang, Homan, and Yenen. The Changsha force was unceremoniously sent packing, and the Homan force is too small to be a threat. He has a lot of units moving on Yenen. All of his tanks and engineers are at Iching. I think he is attempting a strategic encirclement of the noth. To that end I am reinforcing Ichang. and pullinf 8 corps from the South back towards Chunking. If I can not hold Ichang, I should be able to meet him with a larger force (including my tanks) somewhere on the road to Chunking. I will continue to hold Changsha, as this is the anchor for my line. I am also pulling troops from Homan back towards Sian.

To date I have only identified three divisions from South Army. Two in Malaya, and one heading for PI. Where are the other 9? This is driving me nuts.

Oh, The Japanese have landed at Wake. Two BB's and a CA were hit during the bombardment, several transports shot up during the landing. I had not bothered reinforcing Wake, but I am sending a RCT to Midway. The line Midway, Palmyra, Johnson, Canton is being mined. I Also have PT's at each base. The minor bases will all be reinforced with RCT's when I can spare the shipping. I am planning on eventualy deploying 2+ divisions etc to each of Canton Is, Noumea, and Suva.

Saratoga is sitting at Pago Pago, she will return stateside to trade in her Buffalos for F4F-3's when Enterprise and Lexington arrive. Lexington should arrive within the week. Eventually I want to have 3 CV's in the South Pacific, and 2 or 3 at PH. For the time being, PH will have to rely on her air cover.

In the PI, my opponent has not yet moved into Clark Field. This leads me to believe that he doesn't have many large units in PI yet. 10 more days and I get another division at Bataan, which will head for Manila ASAP if it is not cut off. Two more PA divisions will attempt to fight there way into Clark in a couple of days. I will probably not succeed, but I will have a better idea of the troops he has in the area.

6 tank Rgts have landed at Kuching. All of his Bdes are heading south, and I cannot account for 9 divisions. I now count 39 LCU's in Malaya. I don't think that he would go for India without securing the SRA. Also he probably would not go without the bulk of KB. If India is his objective, I will counterattack at Kwajalien. His betties can not deal with three or four CV's. I will just have to wait and see what he is up to.

Thats all for now.

As an aside; how do you obtain game map images, how do you draw on them, and how do you attach them to these posts? What type of software do I need? It must be pretty boring reading this AAR without a few maps thrown in, and I would like to change that.

Later...

[Roger Neilson]

Re what software to use for maps, that can be as simple or complex as you wish. For my AAR (Sun Never Sets) I use Photoshop but you can do it with any software, and even with none. For the cheapest way - in other words free - just hit print screen when you want the map... that captures the whole of the screen you see and puts it into windows clipboard. Then use either Paint (free with windows) or Irfanview (free download) http://www.irfanview.com/.

Create a new image, paste in from clipboard then cut away the bits you don't want... write/ draw on things you do and you have your map. Remember to save as a gif to keep it within upload size limits.

Roger

[IS2m]

Dec 22/1941

A very bad day at sea.
I had been 'fishing' south of Kendari for a couple of days. Repulse and POW having been dispatched to the area to eliminate what appeared to be 2 unescorted invasion TF's heading for either Kendari or Dili. For some reason I couldn't catch the little buggers, even after I split into two smaller TF's. two turns ago, I send POW on her merry way up to India, but I figured that I would let Repulse stick around. Maybe I will get lucky, he has no airbases in range, and KB cannot possibly have travelled this far west in 13 days.

One more turn, then I bug out.

Dawn on Dec 22,1941 finds a CV group one hex away from Repulse and co. A large strike is launched, Repulse swallows 8 torpedos, rolls over and sinks.

It's my own damned fault. I should have been smart enough to realise that Yamato Hugger was not going to repeat his mistake of leaving his air umbrella. I should have realised that he was toying with me, and bugged out. After all, POW bugged out: but I didn't, and I got clobbered. I guess that that torpedo I put in Fuso isn't looking so impressive any more, maybe it got him angry....

Oh well, I will get lots more surface ships.....

And in other news:

56th Division turned up in Ambonia. I wonder if my opponent is thinking about Australia, ah la Gen Hoepner. If he is, I will simply bypass his army during my (eventual) counter offensive.

Japanese troops grab Guadalcanal. All I can say is 'Build me an airfield worthy of Mordor!' If he keeps going south, I won't be able to stop him (much less fight him) until he hits New Zealand anyway, so why worry about it?

Sigint tells me that the South Seas Detachment is on the way to Wake Is. He took wake two days ago, so why are troops still in transit? Either he is using SSD as a garrison, or he is preparing to grab Midway. The Island is being mined, a small group of PT boats is stationed there, an AVD is on the way to support the Coronados I have stationed there, Marine F4F-4's and SBD's are on the way (one Sqdrn each), and I have dispatched a RCT. Until I have 5 or 6 carriers, I plan on keeping my important bases in the S Pac open, and so will not risk an early CV battle at Midway anyway. If Midway is grabbed soon, it will also be bypassed.

I am also setting up a line of sub pickets to (hopefully) warn me of approaching KB's (Thanks for the idea, Duncan)

Anyhow, I am off to download Irfanview. Thank you Roger Neilson.

Later.

[IS2m]

Dec 27, 1941.

Well, the Japanese steamroller continues....

Japanese troops have landed on Timor Is. A CV strike has cost me 3 CL in the Coral Sea, New Guinea is isolated.

West Coast: 2 Divs, along with AA and CD units are embarking in SF for Canton Is. 27th Div is in SF, and the Americal Div arrives in 40 days. The next base to secure will be Noumea, followed by Suva and Luganville. I will use the same pattern of sending 2 divs to each place, but will not be ready for a serious offensive until late '42. I am patient.

South Pac: Saratoga has relieved Lexington at Pago Pago. Lex is now returning to PH via Chrismas Is to trade in her F2's for F4F-3's. Enterprise should be at Pago Pago within 2 weeks. I am setting up an air field between Noumea and Brisbane (Don't remember the name of the island off hand), This will enable me to move 18 range a/c from PH to Oz without need for transports.

Australia: A Jap CV group raided the Coral Sea a couple of days ago, and shot up one of my TF's. He is presently steaming around the area looking for targets. All my ships in the area are heading for Sydney, just to be on the safe side. All ships arriving from NEI are being re-routed via Perth and Brisbane. PM is being defended by 4 BN's and 1 BDE. I will not attempt to reinforce for several months. When I have enough C-47 groups, I will fly some AV support into Thursday Island, and set up a supply chain to PM.

NEI: A CV group is sailing around southeast of Sorebaija. All allied shipping in the area is west of Java, and heading into the Indian Ocean. A CV strike in the IO could cause lots of damage (see Malaya). Good news is that I have blasted several transports in the Makassar straits. NIE Gov't believes that well-fed sharks are happy sharks. [;)]

Japs have landed in force next to Balikpapan, so my days of hitting his transports are numbered.

Timor will be in Japanese hands soon. All short-range NEI air groups that I was planning on saving are already in Oz, so it looks like I got out in the nick of time....

Malaya: Large Japanes assault repulsed at Johore Bahru (sp?) 2 Divs backed up by scads on engineeres, artillery and construction BN's. I will fight here as long as feasable, before withdrawing to Singapore. 1500 Jap casualties vs 500 allied.

My evacuation plan is proceeding smmothly. Fragments of every unit in Malaya have been sent to Java. From Java, they march to Medan, are loaded on AK's, and sent to India. One or two well placed air drops could have borked that whole plan, but my opponent seems concerned about his precious oil refineries not being bombed. The Dutch Brotherhood of Petrolium Workers, Engineers and Soldiers has refused my 'suggestion' that all oil refineries be blown up BEFORE the Japanese land.... bloody commies!

PI: Fighting began in Manila with an unsuccesful allied counterattack (1500 allied casualties vs 500 Japanese). Bataan is about to be over-run. A japanese tank RGT was kicked out of norther Luzon. Stay tuned....

India: Japanese subs mining route from Ceylon to mainland. Minesweepers have gone to work. I am considering retaliating, by mining every Japese port (Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, etc) at the same time. Besides, it's not like my submarines are good for much else until 1943 anyway.

China: No changes. He has begun bombing Yenan without escorts. In a few turns, AVG will begin redeploying to Sian: I hope to catch a large group of lily's without escort, and tear them apart. To cover the arrival of AVG in Sian, I will send a chinese fighter group to the area. The idea is to let Yamato Hugger get used to the idea of a/c at Sian, until I am ready to strike.

Anyhow, gotta go. I downloaded that freeware, but have not been able to figure out how to draw on the images yet. My system does not appear to have MS Paint on it, probably a goof on my part when I reinstalled. Will talk to a friend about this.

Maps are coming, so don't give up yet...

Later

[IS2m]

Dec 28, 1941

Two Japanese divisions have just landed in Timor. I now know where 10 of his divisions are

Malaya:
IG Div
5 Div
55 Div

Borneo:
38 Div

Ambonia:
56 Div

Siam:
33 Div

PI
48 Div
18 Div

Timor Is.
4 Div
16 Div

Now I am thinking that he is going for Australia. Fine, that makes it easier for the Oz army to get into the war....
Where are the last two?

Later.

[IS2m]

Dec 29, 1941

I knew that I said I was not planning on posting every turn, and I do not plan on making a regular habit of it.

I believe that I have located the missing divisions: a large AP group is coming around Gili Gili, probably heading for Port Moresby. ETA 3 days. He is using his carriers as a covering force. I have the equivalent of 2 BDE's defending the place, so I don't expect to hold out long. I will not, however, go down without a fight. Every Hudson and Beaufort I have in Oz will harrass his landing force every chance they get.

It now looks like an invasion of Oz is in the works. 2 Divs are heading for PM, 2 Divs are in Timor, and 2 more are in Borneo/Ambonia. 4 Divs are in Malaya/Burma, and therefore only 2 in PI. Perhaps I can hold Manila for longer than I hoped.

If Australia is the target, then I have an idea for a strategic counteroffensive. It will take a long time to develop, and will probably not be in motion until 1943.

The first prerequisite is to achieve carrier parity. To this end I will seek to engage in one or two CV battles on my terms. My opponent has split KB into nice, digestable chunks. By June '42 I should have 3 good US CV groups. By Aug/Sept I should have lots of Seafires available for the RN (If I can stay alive that long). Until then, I will protect my lines of communication with Oz.

After softening up his CV's, I will attack the Solomons, with the goal of taking Rabaul (say mid to late '43) The overall objective will be to bypass New Guinea, and threaten the Marianas. A diversionary attack in the Marshalls, or Wake will probably preceed a landing at Guadalcanal.

At the same time, I will land in Burma and try to re-take Rangoon.

I realise that 1943 is a long way away, and that many things can (and will) change. At least now I am starting to form a clearer picture beyond the 'Sir Robin' phase of the game.

Oh, by the way, an interesting thing happened this turn: The 2nd PI division arrived at San Francisco. It was supposed to show up at Bataan, but Bataan is currently under new management. I have to pay the PP's to get it out of SF, but I now have more troops available. I was planning on evacuating a PI fragment from Manila, perhaps I still should. This is obviously a bug, and I have previously stated that Matrix Games should deal with known bugs before going on to new game features. What do you think?

Gotta go now.

[IS2m]

Dec 31, 1941.

Well, I finally got Paint reinstalled. On to the pictures... (assuming that I did this right)

[IS2m]

12/31/41 continued:

South China:




It looks like a strategic encirclement of Sian is being attempted. The Japanese troops at Homan are a fient (only 4 LCU's). Ichang fell this turn, and I am expecting a large assault on Yenan soon. My northern army has a total of 24 corps, 4 division, and my tank Rgt. 8 Corps are moving up to, stationed at, or planning on counterattacking each of Ichang and Yenan. 4 Corps each are assigned to Homan and Sian. Each rear area base will be protected by a division. I expect to complete my northern redeployment within the month, provided that the north still stands.

[IS2m]

The invasion of New Guinea:





If I am right, Australia is next.

[IS2m]

And finally, the score at the end of 1941.




I lost a mess of a/c when the Dutch air force was pounded into the dirt
at Sorebaija. His CV planes shot down about 40 of mine. The large (16 a/c) Dutch fighter
units, several Martin, and all PT groups are being saved. Am also rescuing all recon and
transport units. Everything else stands and fights in Java.

I am glad that 1941 is over.....

Last question: How do I re-size JPEG images so that you don't have to scroll sideways to read the post.
That really annoys me, and I want to learn how to avoid it.

[IS2m]

January 4, 1941.

A few interesting developments....

SouthPac: Enterprise arrives at Pago-Pago tomorrow. Lexinton will return to PH to replenish airgroups.
RCT arrives at Midway tomorrow, with lots of supply. Large minefields being deployed at Johnson and Palmyra. Canton, Suva, and Noumea next to get mine fields.

NG: Port Moresby will fall any day now.

NEI: Divs from Timor are on their way to Java. Will be unloaded at Medan and then assault Sorebaija. Every Dutch unit I have on Java is here, so I hope I can hold him off for a few days. Several Jap transports struck mines at Batavia (or am I thinking of Palembang?, it is the place in North Java). I have sent two B-17 sqdrns to Sorebaija to hit the oil refineries.

PI: An allied assault threw his forces out of Manila, another assault threw his troops out of Vigan. The Vigan pocket is hopelessly trapped: he just keeps sending one tank regiment to stop me from moving, and I send it back to Legaspi...

Malaya: Johore Bahru fell after a week long battle. The fall of Singapore is imminent. Fragments of every allied LCU in the peninsula are on the way to India, though, so maybe I will be able to rebuild this army.

China: I kicked his troops out of Chansha again, and out of Homan. He is advancing up from Ichang, however, so I will fall back to the mountain terrain near Chunking. I am going to attempt to chase him away from Changsha, and threaten his flank along the Ichang axis of advance. Some of my troops are gaininf experience (56, etc), but they are badly beaten up. I will begin rotating the beat-up units back to Chunking, time permitting. I should have 10 corps assembled near Canto soon, so perhaps I will launch a diversionary offensive in the south.

Here is the situation in central China: