It's true... the RN subs are a nasty weapon and they'll probably have a few more in the next version. Most of my convoys have a fair escort but they always seem to get through..
As for the American subs, it's true.. :/ On the other hand, I've always found them useful as scouts. I like to place them along likely points of fleet movement (between Truk and Kwajalein, or between Palau and Mindanao, for example) and watch for intel. We may not sink anything but I've gotten valuable intel ..
Anyways - this is late, I know - but here is your update. A two day one, no less. [:)]
1/6/42
The sixth was a fairly quiet day.
Nearly 120,000 troops of all kinds have come ashore at Kota Bharu and more are unloading every hour. The primary ground troops (minus 6th Division, which may be diverted to another theatre) are all fully functional and service troops, artillery and engineers are now pouring onto the beachhead. We are opposed by 11,000 Commonwealth troops.
The RAF and FAA appear to have been quelled for the moment - since the commencement of
Hirogetai they have lost an estimated ~150 aircraft of all types. Today's attack on Kuala Lumpur netted us 4 Buffalos and damaged the airfield. The Royal Navy is nowhere to be seen and when Kota Bharu airbase falls into our hands I[GHQ] will be MUCH less worried about this whole enterprise. Subs are still a problem but their numbers are decreasing every day - the Kido Butai's modern destroyers sent HMS
Tuna crashing to the bottom of the South China Sea today ..
[center]
RN subs die hard. Tuna took 8 DCs...[/center]
Elsewhere things continue to go well. The issue in the Philippines is not in doubt. My airfields are building well and should hit level 4 soon. Enemy air attacks from Manila are accomplishing little, and our troops are in position for the attack on Clark. Manila will follow soon after. We've landed another SNLF unit at Iloilo and the recalcitrant Filipino div there should capitulate soon. Miri, in northern Borneo, also fell today. Kuching is getting less and less attention, and all the aircraft have been flown out (the ones that weren't destroyed, anyways).
1/7/42
Today started with
seven task forces unloading over the beach at Kota Bharu. Made for a long night phase. [:'(]
But it was certainly worth it. After being kept up all night by
Nagato and
Mutsu's 16" guns, the British, New Zealander and Indian troops were greeted by 120,000 angry screaming Banzai-charging Japanese shock troops. They didn't stay for too long, and our shock attack captured the base!
[center]
Poor bastards.[/center]
Kota Bharu is in pretty bad shape. Weeks of sustained fighting and bombardment by the largest guns in the Imperial Japanese Navy will do that. Luckily, we have enough engineers there to fix up Dresden in about 20 minutes. Shouldn't be a problem!
Interestingly the Brits tried a raid on Kompong Som - Blenheims, unescorted. I think he was trying to catch shipping in the harbor, but I couldn't tell, since none of his Blenheims hit anything in particular! 5 Zeroes, 12 Nates and 19 Oscars were available to defend the base, so the attack was pretty badly broken up. Brave Britishers!
Iloilo, in the Philippines, fell as predicted. 1st and 4th Yokosuka SNLFs cleared the base, which should be a nice place to park an AV or something. The defenders retreated north - should I sit and let them stew, or go ahead and finish them off? By the time they reach a base for me to attack they'll be out of supplies and exhausted anyways. Hmm.. sounds good.
Only bad news in this threatre was an accurate B-17 attack on transports (escorted by
Jintsu and a few destroyers) unloading artillery at Naga. Transport
Satsuma Maru took a bomb, but seemed to shrug it off well.
Jintsu was hit by a 500lb bomb near the forward superstructure which crashed through several decks and inflicted severe damage upon her machinery. Both ships should make it back to Formosa but whenever the B-17s actually manage to hit something I worry!
[center]
Jintsu should have zagged.[/center]
One last thing. CarDiv 5 (
Soryu, Donryu) showed its cards today by popping up 500 miles southeast of Hawaii and slaughtering an empty convoy.
[center]
Code: Select all
Day Air attack on TF at 123,85
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
D3A2 Val x 20
B5N2 Kate x 18
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP Chateau Thierry, Bomb hits 3, on fire
PC Tiger, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Seagull, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Vireo, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Bobolink, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Aroostook, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
[/center]
All ships in this TF will sink if they haven't sunk already - there were additional attacks. We're pleased, but the enemy must have spotted us - this convoy was traveling east at high speed. Perhaps they spotted one of our recon planes.. in any case, it's a nice start! CarDiv 5 isn't going to let up. The tankers are following to keep us in action and hopefully disrupt some shipping plans.
And that is all for tonight. More carnage on the morrow, probably.
Kakurenbo wa tsuzuku no!
