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16/12/41

PH is now 7/44/0 and Johnston is 0/31/28. The repairs at Johnston will be expensive (thanks Mike, I'll return the favour in the DEI...) so I have sent a few small AKs out from SF to various destinations to start building up supply. 1st Marine Def Bn is now complete at Johnston. I have started to move the 3rd to Lahaina by air and sea. I want to make as many bases as possible para proof.

The leading elements of 201st RCT are unloading at Dutch Harbor and more supplies are on the way to enable a build up.

I had SigInt of radio traffic at 143,56. I have Canadian ships in that hex, which may explain it. I'll swing an ASW tf through the hex on their way back to SF just in case.

My CVs are now together and heading NE for home. My worries are subs and the potential surveillance gap between Palmyra and Hawaii that could allow the KB to sneak up on me. I must remember to move some PBYs to Hilo next turn...

I am running alot of AKs to Capetown and the South Atlantic entry hex to pick up much needed supplies. There is a lot of oil too, so I am diverting a few TKs.

KM Mataran Coastal Gun Bn from Lombok is unloading at Exmouth. I need to get a base established to allow me to spot anything heading for Perth.

The ANZAC force heading for Rabaul is nearly there. There are no aircraft present which makes me worry that it's a trap and the KB has rushed over to lay an ambush. Oh well, Who Dares Wins (or as the SAS say, Who Cares Who Wins).

I have SigInt that Kure 2nd SNLF is planning for Cagayan. I am moving a Constabulary Bn there, but it is moving very slowly. 2 RN PTs have been sent. 5th USAAF Base Force has been evacuated and is on it's way to Darwin.

A patrolling Do-24K hit Tatsuho Maru at Brunei. Blenheim IFs were back over Kota Bharu, but all they did was keep the crews of a sub, an AMC and an AP awake. S-39 was back at Legaspi causing trouble. She torpedoed CL Awata Maru twice, but took three near misses and has sys damage of 8.

Later over Kota Bharu a series of raids resulted in 3 torpedoes into CL Ayatosan Maru from Beauforts, followed by 4 bombs from B-17s. She sank. AK Sasako Maru also took 2 torpedoes. DD Maikaze also took a 500 pounder from a B-17. My bombers are obviously getting experienced. AV Kamikawa Maru was hit by a torpedo from Beauforts at Singora and also sank.

On the debit side, AK Meroendoeng hit a newly laid Jap mine at Singapore. Minesweepers have been deployed.

Manila took two raids. The port took a beating and the remaining AK sank after being hit by 5 bombs. Clark also took two. One Betty was lost in the first Manila raid. 3 Nells were lost in the only attack on Bataan, but DD Pope took a final bomb hit and sank. Damage at Manila is 29/0/0 and Clark is 0/55/65. I think Mike is just running down my supplies. He is doing the same at an air base in China and has just stepped up the effort in the turn that is waiting in my inbox.

The screenie is the Dutch PG Soemba. She is off to Brisbane for escort duties. Her ASW/AAA is poor, but she has the guns of a Light Cruiser and would be a handful for an AMC.

There were 4 Nates on CAP over Ichang. 2 P-35s were downed in the first raid, but when the SB-2 raid came along the Lancer escort shot down a Nate. I am attempting a deliberate attack at Nanchang. I am suffereing from a lack of engineers and do not have an HQ in place yet, but am attacking to see what I am up against.

Here is a map of China, showing where I have pushed/am pushing. Mike's offensive action on land so far is limited to clearing my Guerrillas out from his territory.

17/12/41

Rather than try to describe the 1st battle of Rabaul, I thought I'd just post the relevant sections on the combat report. It looks like the Jap covering force was forced away to allow what was left of my force to find his transport convoy. It was a shame about poor HMNZS Achilles. I am kicking myself for not making the decision not to send Boise back to CONUS earlier. She was in a position to join this force and would have made a big difference with her robustness and massive firepower...

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul [New Br] at 62,90

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba, Shell hits 3, on fire
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 1
CA Furutaka
CA Kako, Shell hits 1
CL Kitakami
DD Kikuzuki, Shell hits 1
DD Yuzuki, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Shell hits 2
CL Leander
CL Achilles, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Perth
DD FF Le Triomphant, Shell hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul [New Br] at 62,90

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Walrus: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AV Kiyokawa Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Kashima, Shell hits 74, and is sunk
DD Mikazuki, Shell hits 1
DD Kamikaze, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
APD Minekaze, Shell hits 1
APD Sawakaze
APD Okikaze
APD Yukaze
APD Nokaze
APD Namikaze
APD Numakaze
DE Sanae
DE Asagao
APD Patrol Boat No. 31
APD Patrol Boat No. 32, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
APD Patrol Boat No. 33
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
DD Ootori, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hayabusa, Shell hits 1
DD Hato
DD Sagi
PC Ch 21
PC Ch 22
AO Sata
CL Asaka Maru
AP Teikyo Maru

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Shell hits 1
CL Leander, Shell hits 1
CL Achilles, Shell hits 57, and is sunk
CL Perth
DD FF Le Triomphant

PH damage stands at 7/24/0, with Johnston at 0/31/22. The B-24s from PH will fly recon missions to Wake to build up experience. I will not commit them to action unless I absolutely have to due to the lack of reinforcements before 08/42. 392nd BS has flown their B-19s to PH. The unit at PH has had replacements flown in. I am still deciding where to commit them. PH does not appear to be directly threatened at this stage. Mike seems to be gearing up for a maximium effort to take the DEI quickly. Basing them there is an option, as is Soerabaya (but this lacks supply), or transferring them to SEAC and basing them in Calcutta or Dacca (if they are size 6 airfields - I can't remember). CVL Kittyhawk is nearly at PH with her load of P-40Bs, P-36As, P-43As and P-39Ds to rebuild the fighter defences.

40th FA Rgt is loading at SF for Noumea. The damaged Cruisers San Francisco and Honolulu, with escorting damaged DDs, have arrived at Vancouver and disbanded for repair.

CA Canberra (25/0/1) is lagging behing the rest of the ANZAC force, which has sys damage between 2 and 5. Elements of 12th Pp Base Force, evacuated from Cebu, are unloading at Thursday Island so that ASW cover can be provided over the Torres Strait.

DM Stronghold ran across an RO-boat on her way to mine Sinkep. She dropped charges but did no damage. I had planned to send my MSWs out after the sub, but they are busy with the mines Mike laid in Singapore harbour. 3 Sally's were destroyed by flak over Kota Bharu. Then Beauforts and level bombers caught AP Higashiyama Maru (1 bomb, 3 torpedoes sunk) and AP Enju Maru (1 torpedo) East of Kota Bharu. Vildebeest from Kuala Lumpur then struck off Singora, hitting AP Kashiwara Maru with a bomb. There were other unsuccessful attacks.

The Mini KB is pulling away from Northern Borneo...

I expect the KB to turn up off the DEI shortly. The screenie below shows what I think is Mike's newly arrived CVA moving over to support his main assault. I hope it hits 10 mines and sinks...

I am pulling all my Dutch subs off patrol missions and sending them to Singapore to pick up mines. SE Borneo Garrison Bn is starting to be moved from Bandjermasin to Java to make sure every base has enough assault point to prevent an easy vertical envelopment. While I have Java and it's air bases Mike must keep his CVs and a lot of air strength in the area and I am buying time to fortify Australia. My MLE from Colombo has docked at Batavia and mining operations have recommenced. 27th Australian Brigade has loaded onto transports at Singapore and will head off to beef up the defences at Colombo. I realised I have left Mersing open, which unhinges my plan for a collapsing defence, and will try to get a Brigade back there ASAP.

Manila 25/0/0, Clark 0/55/58 - where did his aircraft go?

My P-43 sweep over Ichang achieved nothing and they have gone back to escort duties. Nates damaged a V-92C and shot down a P-35. P-35s really suck! Mike attacked a couple of Chinese air bases again. I can do nothing to contest these training raids as they are too far from my supported airbases. My attack at Nanchang failed. 2124 (329) vs 640 (375) and level 3 forts equalled 1144/29 Chinese casualties against 209/8 Japanese.

Here is a screenie of my Soviet submarines aggressively patrolling Soviet waters in the hope of stirring up an excuse to up the tension in Mike's backyard...

18/12/41

PH is now at 7/3/0, Johnston is 0/31/16. The 4 DMs are heading out to mine Johnston while Oglala keeps working at PH. Kittyhawk has still not arrived (I forgot how slow she is compared to a real CVL) and I had changed some planes in anticipation of an arrival today. It will not be an issue unless Mike returns before she gets there to deliver the planes now flying CAP.

72nd BS at PH has switched from the B-18A to the A-20B temporarily. They'll move to the B-17 as soon as possible (probably late '42!). 392nd BS flew their B-19s to Brisbane, unfortunately losing a precious plane (and crew) on the way.

161st RCT is loading at SF for Canton Island.

BTW, the starting Allied shipborne AAA really sucks in this mod. I am sure it will become intensely annoying when the (improbably top-heavy) Designer Class Cruisers start chewing all my bombers up while my ships just roll over and die after throwing a few tennis balls at passing planes. I am hoping that 4/42 upgrades bring bigger numbers...

Here is the garrison at Pago Pago. I'll be posting these as fill-in screenies to build a fuller picture when I have nothing more interesting to show.

Mike's planes that disappeared from the PI have shown up at Kota Bharu. Mike is obviously annoyed at how well the defenders are doing because 50 Nells, 20 Bettys and 102 Sallys turned up. A Betty and a Sally were shot down. In many attacks at Singora DD Hibiki was missed, but AP Fusemi Maru (1 bomb), DMS Shumushi (1 bomb) and AK Atago Maru (3 bombs) were hit. RO-64 hit AK Soochow with two shells South of Singapore but only did sys damage of 3.

28th BS has moved to Singapore to be ready to trade their B-17Ds for B-25Ds in a few days. AVG 3rd Sqn re-equipped with P-40Es to fly top cover for the rest of the defences at 30,000ft. No2 Sqn RAAF flew to Manado to be ready to resist attacks on Davao and form a reserve for the defence of Malaya and Port Moresby.

18th Inf Div arrived in Karachi and is heading to Calcutta as a reserve. 4 US DDs disbanded in Colombo to prepare for their 1/42 upgrade.

A sub has been sighted in the Bass Strait. Hopefully the ASW tfs I send after it will not stall this time...

In China a V-92C (see below) was destroyed by Nates over Ichang. A US Army P-43A got some revenge by shooting down a Nate when the SB-2 raid out of Chungking arrived later. I will probably change the 6th Pp Sqn over to P-43s next turn as the P-35s are really only good for rear areas where no fighting occurs.

Mike carried out another training attack on Pucheng AF this time. If this becomes regular I may be able to reach...

Chinese forces will attempt an attack at Sinyang.

Soviet 1st Rifle Brigade is unloading at Ohka.

19/12/41

This was a bit alarming. Apparently my mechanics were able to reassemble a Jap plane in mid air and hand it back...

PH is now damage free. Johnston is coming along nicely - 0/31/10. S-boats arrived at PH an immediately loaded mines for various Central Pacific destinations. AV Curtiss (the only one left that can carry and operate aircraft since the loss of USS Langley) and 4 DMs disbanded at Portland. I will be pulling my OS2Us out of PH at some point to be taken to board USS Curtiss.

I noticed someting when I was doing housework and checking that units are preparing for the correct destination. 1st USMC Def Bn is not a completely equipped unit. Could somebody refresh my memory - was the rest lost at Wake? In the upper right corner of the screenie you will see Kittyhawk. She should arrive next turn.

AR Platypus arrived at Sydney to assist with all the damaged ships that are headed there. The screenie at the bottom shows Mike's losses at Rabaul. It is looking to just about be a reasonable exchange for one of my Kiwi Cruisers.

I-155 hit the small TK J.D. Schreijers while I-121 hit AO Pleiodon. The former was empty returning from Singapore, while the latter was half full from Palembang and was on her way to top off at Balikpapan. The former is 52/57/18 and heading for Pontianak, while the latter is 99/70/49 and will struggle to make Sampit.

On the credit side DD Shikinami (1 torpedo from a Beaufort), MSW W.1 (1 bomb from a Vildebeest), DMS Shumushi (1 bomb), AK Sasako Maru (3 bombs), AP Miike Maru (1 bomb from an Aussie Hudson) and AK Akasan Maru (another Beaufort torpedo) were hit during many raids on shipping off Singora. A B-17 was lost to Zekes over Legaspi. It flew an attack from Batavia (I think)!!

1 Sally was lost in two raids on ground troops at Kota Bharu. There were about 200 bombers involved in these raids. S-36 was hit by ASW forces at San Fernando and has damage of 14/8/0. She will head for Soerabaya. I must remember to get better skippers on my S-boats...

Clark is 0/55/37, while Manila is 15/0/0. 28th BS moved to the B-25D at Singapore, but I found 2 more of their B-17Ds at Clark, which I had forgotten about. I will have to disband them into another B-17D unit next turn. 20th PS traded in their P-40Bs for P-43As at Singapore. 21st PS will head to Singapore to downgrade temporarily to the P-40B.

Over Ichang Nates got in amongst my first raid again. I lost a P-35 with 2 more damaged as well as a V-92C shot up too. The SB-2 raid out of Chungking then came in with no escort for some reason. Only one plane was damaged luckily. I cannot upgrade the 6th Pp PS as planned as their options are limited to the P-66 and P-51 XP, neither of which are available yet. Edit I might change their HQ next turn to see if their upgrade options change. It might be nice to get some P-39s in the mix...

My IL-4cs are making their presence felt, but are still not hitting anything. I am attempting to use my Lancers to ambush some of Mike's training raids.

At Sinyang I lost. 1161 (560) faced 504 (1024) behind level 3 forts. Losses were 987/37 to 217/6.

Mike has twigged that I have deployed my Soviet subs in the hope of creating an incident. I shall have to try something else...

CVs spotted at Kong Kong!

20/12/41

Johnston update: 0/31/3. A minelaying sub reported Jap ships off Wake (see screenie). VMF-221 started to move from PH to Lahaina and I have sent Oglala to mine Molokai. For some reason, if I giver her orders for Hilo sge stalls and stays in port. VP-12 has transferred to Pago Pago, so my Hudsons have returned to Naval Attack duties at Suva.

BB West Virginia (65 sys) and 2 DDs are on their way back to SF. CVL Kittyhawk has made her drop off (I'll post a mouseover that will tell the story of the changes at some point) and is heading to Lahaina to ship the 12 Kingfishers of VS-1/D14 to Portland, where they will form part of the air group for AV Curtiss. USN 4/VCS-14, with 4 Seagulls, has moved from SF to Portland for the same purpose.

CA New Orleans and CL St. Louis and escorting DDs disbanded at Victoria for repairs. Most of the semi-fit DDs sailed again for PH.

The small TK A.A. Penning, which had been leading a charmed life running oil from Medan to Singapore, was sunk by RO-63 North of Singapore. The previously damaged AP Takatiho Maru also sank today. My bombers have not flown after ships at Singora or Brunei, indicating the presence of large CAP.

Georgetown fell. Last night, after a cider or two, I thought that this meant that I have to start the evacuation of Kota Bharu and Kuantan. I did not really have to worry about that until he closed up to Kuala Lumpur, so my early decision will really help Mike out. Bugger!

21st PS arrived at Singapore and re-equipped with P-40Bs made surplus by their sister squadron and 3rd AVG. I'll get them back in P-40Es as soon as I can.

Manila is 9/0/0 and Clark is 0/55/26. S-36 with damage now 16/0/0, is heading for Manila to do a bit of minelaying now that Mike's air forces seem to be busy with Malaya. As soon as I get a B-25 squadron up and running I might fly them into Manila to cause a few problems...

The heavy metal at Hong Kong seems to be multiplying!

Mike found my Il-4c lair when he bombed Kweilin today. He hit the base quite hard and I lost one plane on the ground and many are disabled. I'd just moved Lancers in to provide CAP, but most were still repairing. I will provide LRCAP from Hengchow, while I try to get the rest out of trouble. Damage is 0/10/19. The Il-4cs had their first success today, putting a bomb into CL Nagara at Takao.

There was no CAP over Ichang. It could be weather related or it could mean that Mike is upgrading the Nate unit.

Wuchow AF was hit by one of Mike's PITA training raids too.

At 52,33, my guerilla units were defeated again. I am leaving replacements off so they do not get static again, but they take a nasty morale hit with each defeat. It does not really matter as their value is in sitting across supply lines, not fighting.

Last turn my mechanics fixed up TWO Jap planes in the air. What the hell is going on?