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that is nerve wracking - what speed setting are you using for the raiders? Not that those CVEs are capable of "high" speeds. Fingers crossed for the little guys tomorrow. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for little Hosho.

How did you set the Raider planes, not that any will make it through, but if it's Kates at 9 hex search, and there is no LBA search hitting you, you could get first shot.

July 18, 1942

Approximately six hundred nautical miles SSE of Adak Island.

Warrant Officer Chishu Fumio of Carrier Hosho was irritated. For once, it was not the northern Pacific weather, which was behaving surprisingly well today. Nor was it the fact that standing lookout was beneath him, although it was unusual for a relatively senior man to draw such an assignment. No, the annoyance, or more accurately, annoyances, stemmed from the seemingly constant stream of officers that had "just stopped by" while morning wore into afternoon. As if a man of Fumio's experience couldn't use a pair of binoculars. The task force was on high alert for air attack today, but given the game of cat and mouse with the American carriers of late that was no different than any day of the past week.

"All clear, Chishu?" intoned a familiar voice. Fumio almost bit his tongue to forestall an exasperated curse. Captain Umetani Karou himself had joined the unofficial meeting of the Hosho officer's club. Fumio's station was getting quite crowded.

"No contacts, sir. Quiet since first light."

"Carry on, then" said Umetani.

The Captain turned to go, but in his haste was already barking orders to the loitering brass. "Gentlemen, it appears that the Admiral was correct. Make ready for the next phase of the operation."

Fumio's deep bass carried over the rush of excited voices. "Captain, signal from the Flag!"

Horrified faces turned toward him as the veteran Warrant Officer waited a moment. Total silence fell.

"Sir, Flag to all ships. Make course 270, cruising speed."

The group of the Emperor's finest below erupted into cheers like schoolboys watching a baseball game.

Finally, Captain Umetani bellowed over the din. "Gentlemen. We have our orders." The crowd dispersed.

As the ship's engines revved and his view swung toward the setting sun, Fumio reflected that going home was a wonderful cure for all sorts of irritations.

With 17th Army, outskirts of Kweilin, China

Colonel Ozawa Eiji watched from his command post as the 230th regiment of the 38th Division prepared for its second attack on KMT positions protecting the strategically important city of Kweilin. He often complained of a lack of artillery support, but had to confess that today he was impressed. The enemy controlled ridge line to the north was hard to see given the constant shelling, which had begun in the pre-dawn hours. Slowly the gunfire tapered off, and as the smoke cleared the Colonel waited for the next hammer to fall.

Twenty minutes later he was still waiting. "Any word, Major?" he uttered in clipped tones.

"No, sir." Major Horri Kansuke quickly replied.

Ozawa tried to keep his temper out of his voice with limited success. It wasn't his staff's fault that the air force was late. "Damnit, Horri, I'd commence the attack if I wasn't worried the bombers would show up late and hit our own men."

The Major offered no reply other than a guttural cough that Ozawa correctly interpreted as "Sir, I am not a member of the Imperial Army Air Force, and you are the one to decide whether to risk our troops in this difficult situation."

To the relief of the entire CP, the next words were carried away by the loud drone of aircraft engines. Wave after wave of Japanese bombers swept overhead, dropping high explosives on the Chinese positions.

"Signal the attack, Major," said Ozawa.

As the airplanes departed, a line of men rose up from their positions and surged forward. Even high on a hilltop, the Colonel could clearly make out the repeated cheer: "BANZAI!"

Horri spoke with concern and surprise in equal measure. "Sir, the enemy is moving on the ridge!"

Ozawa swung his glass toward the north, but was greeted with a very welcome sight - the backs of KMT soldiers fleeing, weapons dropping by the wayside. A smile crept over his face.

"Inform 17th Army HQ that Kweilin has fallen, Major."

July 18, 1942

Approximately six hundred and two nautical miles SSE of Adak Island.

Warrant Officer Chishu Fumio of Carrier Hosho was even more irritated. "What the *(&#$#!," he exlaimed.  "Our captain is up on the bridge muttering about 'black holes' and 'Brave Sir Robin.'  He's lost his mind.  When I asked him how his tea was this morning, he repied, 'My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die!"
 
Fumio swung his glass toward the north, where he was greeted by a very disappointing sight.  The signal flags hoisted on the flaship conveyed a deeply ddistrubing message. 

"Inform the ship that a crazy Italian in command of an force of Americans, British, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, Africans, and probably some Burmese, Eskimos, and Tahitians has invaded Hachinoe on our northeast coast.  The war is over.  We need to go home." 

Someone's been spending too much time at Cribtop HQ Fringe Division, Dan. That can make you crazy. [:D]

It's hard to compete with the wild drama going on in that wacky alternate universe where there is a whole lot of GreyJoy but not a razor to be found. [&o]

July 18, 1942

A more traditional report of a day that is eventful where we want and uneventful where we need...

Subs

Escorts chase off Snapper near Taberfane. Stingray duds on a DD near Jolo. These were both small troop convoys, one empty, one full.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Buna makes level 2 airfield. Engineers are hard at work on our second and third lines of defense now.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

Our bombers, upgraded to Helens, attack the enemy armor stack south of Daly for 124(3) casualties. We also discover that they are on the move north again. We will counter with bombers and flanking armor again. The enemy will find a much tougher nut to crack at Daly than his first probe a few months back. We now have three armored units, two ATG units, a brigade of 21st Division, base forces, engineers and level 3 forts.

25th Army

No change.

15th Army

A big supply convoy is about to put in at Rangoon to try to push supply into the interior. Difficult work, we know.

Port Blair makes level 3 forts, Colombo a level 7 airfield.

China

After mass air attacks, a DA at Kweilin drops forts to 0 and takes the base with 3:1 odds. Six LCUs retreat with casualties a whopping 10596(722) vs 984(6). Industry is 99% destroyed, but that's ok as now even if the Chinese re-take the base we deny them the industry. We are surprised to capture almost 20K supplies with the base. CF must've been drawing here as most other KMT bases taken have been empty. Losing that much supply has to hurt.

We will pursue down the good road toward Changsha. CF really has nothing to stop this move other than committing his strategic reserve at Chungking, and even that will take a while to get into position. This is a big day for Red Dragon. The enemy forces at Kukong and trying to cut the base of our salient near Wuchow are in danger of isolation. In the center, a large army marches on the Changsha hex to pin the KMT stack there.

Changsha makes level 4 airfield today. We suspect CF has left all bases expanding, which could have dire implications for Chinese supply.

5th Fleet

The Raiders move SW and are completely unspotted. No sign of the enemy CVs either. Given the relative positions of our carriers, subs and search planes, it is almost certain that CF continued on a course due East. We are not completely out of the woods, but this marks the first day we are well West of the USN. CF would have to guess right and move flank to catch us now. The last danger will be the day we pause to re-fuel from our Oilers. Hopefully, the enemy returns to either Pearl or CONUS. BANZAI.

FYI, we did keep the planes on Nav Attack at full range so as to go down swinging if the enemy found us. Fortunately, he hasn't yet.

PPS to Insano. Fuel is tight enough that full speed is not an option until we meet up with the slow Oilers a day or two West. A shame because even as slow as the CVEs are a little flank speed tomorrow would surely see us in the clear. Still, the danger tomorrow, and each day thereafter, is less than the danger was today.

Congrats on your operation in China, a key base taken!

Cheers

Rob

Thanks, Rob. If I do half as well as you did in China, I'll dance a jig. Errr, I guess a Cotton Eye Joe.

GIANTS DEFEAT PACKERS

and refs. [;)]

Time and time again, we find that entering the playoffs hot is as important as overall record. Sometimes moreso.

PS - A bit busy with RL right now, but will post several updates soon.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

GIANTS DEFEAT PACKERS

and refs. [;)]

Ok, now I'm getting worried. There is a real chance for a Patriots/Giants Superbowl again and that brings up bad memories.

Oh the horror...the horror.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

GIANTS DEFEAT PACKERS

and refs. [;)]

Discount Double Choke
[:@]

Yeah, Sqz, I think the most likely result now is Pats-Giants II.

July 19, 1942

Beginning about Thursday of last week, Real Life mounted an unexpected and intense offensive against me. It has finally been beaten back and thus we resume the AAR with a series of posts to catch up to the game.

Today, unfortunately, Operation Kraken ends in disaster after all. Full analysis in a separate post to come.

Subs

UK ASW ships DC I-16 near Karachi without effect. Question - Can you intercept enemy TFs in a wormhole hex or is it considered "off the map?" I had a TK convoy lined up but it just disappeared.

IJA ASW aircraft attack a sub near Formosa.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Kavieng makes level 1 airfield.

14th Army

No change.

16th Army

B-17s visit a tank regiment we have protecting the minor road that branches off south of Daly Waters toward the Broome area. More evidence that CF is going this way, perhaps.

25th Army

No change.

15th Army

Meiktila hits level 2 airfield. Atrocious weather stops even recon flights.

China

We hit the Changsha airfield hard as we spotted enemy aircraft based there. Numerous useless Chinese crates are rendered inoperable.

The former Kweilin garrison is trying to retreat overland to the NW instead of down the road to Changsha. We are pursuing and intend to drive him all the way to Hengyang.

DA at 85, 33 (near Ningsia) trashes an already defeated enemy corps with 19:1 odds, casualties 181(20) vs 12(0). Intention here is to drive them into the bush and further reduce their combat power. This allows a Mongol Cav unit to hold Ningsia, freeing up a brigade. The brigade will free up a division currently babysitting isolated Sining.

5th Fleet

And now the very bad news. To our surprise, CF is much further west than we thought and he finds the CVE Raiders trying to slip back to Japan. Storms prevent any AM strikes and give us some hope. However, the PM phase is all he needs.

We launch first in good numbers but the wall of CAP is far more than our puny strike can handle. All aircraft are shot down without even reaching the target.

Then the USN launches a very co-ordinated strike and just trashes us (to be expected given the relative strength of the TFs in play). He reacted into range where even the Devastators get in on the fun. Hosho, Taiyo and Unyo, along with 2 DDs, are sunk under a hail of bombs and torpedoes. Another DD is doomed. CL Yura and a fourth DD escape to run home to mama.

Obviously very disappointing, especially as these are the first carriers of any kind I've lost in 3 PBEMs. Nonetheless, we exposed these ships to risk because they were of limited value, we guessed wrong on where CF was parking his CVs, and thus we paid the price.

Bad news. I would buy the squadrons back tho. They are carrier trained and will be handy.

Analysis of the defeat

After the destruction of the CVE Raiders, CF and I had a very candid series of e-mails detailing why the CVEs lived so long after CF sprung his initial trap and why they finally died when both players thought they were home free.

As you recall, we fled NE after first contact, reasoning that with the USN CVs posted between our CVEs and Japan we couldn't slip by directly. This was the correct decision as CF thought we somehow got past (recall that he found and sunk a picket AMC we sent west in hopes of creating this impression). He then moved north until bumping up against the Aleutians, surprised we escaped.

Unbeknownst to me, CF brought fleet Oilers with him and was thus able to stay at sea longer than expected despite the speed run to get into position. I kept assuming he'd have to retire "any day now." Meanwhile, fuel was becoming an issue for the CVEs even though they were on idle in the same hex where they started.

I then spotted the USN sweeping East, and that led me to believe CF had guessed my location, both forcing me to move and leading me to believe he would continue East.

However, in CF's mind the move East was a defensive move, not offensive. He planned to retire to Pearl but got nervous the whole thing was a trap, with KB lurking near the Aleutians waiting to pounce (I considered such a move when I first mounted the Op, but scrapped it for lack of good LBA bases). Thus, he moved East for one day to throw me off the scent, then headed south for Pearl, spooking me into moving on an intercept course. Had I waited one more day... Sigh.

Tactical Intel

We learned a few things about CF. First, he is willing to fight when he likes his odds. Second, he kept Devastators on his CVs, which could come in handy in the coming months. Third, he appears to be keeping every flight deck in the USN together. Fourth, basing his carriers at Pearl, while no doubt a nod to the more historical tack of this game, is also indicative that his plans for a counter-offensive may be more remote than I've been assuming. Much to ponder.

July 20, 1942

GZ, we'll definitely buy back the air groups soon. We want to buy another division out of Manchuria first, but then will attend to a few other tasks such as the air groups.

Subs

I-20 misses an ASW KV near Karachi. We are re-positioning away from Karachi as CF is well and truly on to us here.

An ASW DMS TF and Porpoise trade duds and DCs near Singers.

4th Fleet, SE Fleet, 14th Army

No change.

16th Army

Madjene invaded as we continue to clean up the DEI.

25th Army

No change.

15th Army

Akyab makes level 4 airfield for the enemy.

This is a good time to mention that have called off the 3 division attack on Akyab. Why? It appears the enemy is building bases in Ceylon, NE India, SOPAC (Luganville and Noumea) and, oddly, China. This hints at his emphasis for offensive action and is consistent with his recently discovered CV placement. Thus, Cribtop Intel assigns a high likelihood to some sort of move on Burma. Our generals don't want to be caught out of position trying to march through the jungle.

Further, when you analyze the map, we don't want to shock attack over the river, but rather wish to move overland into the hex NE (map) of Akyab. However, in order to approach unseen, we'd need to cross two overland hexes plus a third to enter the actual target hex. At four miles per day, we aren't attacking until October, which is just too late.

In the end Cribtop HQ concludes that we are heavily committed in China and need to forestall major ground offensives elsewhere until that adventure is completed.

China

Marching on the enemy.

5th Fleet

The enemy chooses to retire, sparing our surviving escort ships. We move WNW toward the RV with our slow Oilers, a much-reduced and dispirited force.

Edit because we posted the same day twice.

An Allied player in mid-'42 will have all his CVs (Lex, Sara, Enterprise, Yorktown, Hornet) and maybe a Brit CV if they haven't all met their withdrawl dates. You just passed July 1st when both sides can re-size some of your carrier airgroups. CF has played Japan to know this. Your CVEs are valuable for future operations and if I knew they were out there, I would have aggressive gone after them. They are too slow to run away and you almost got away with it. Cf is now applying his knowledge of Japan's strength and weaknesses to his advantage.

Look for him to use his ground forces to attack you in Burma to force you to commit more and more troops there. I'm learning in early April '43 that they can be a force by themselves with the number of AA units he has to make use of LBs very expensive. My poor Helens cannot get low enough to cause worth while casualties due to the shear number of AA guns. Losing 10 to 15 per day is not going to work. [:(]