Ocean of Blood. FatR (J) vs. Bigred (A).

[FatR]

Heroes of the Empire

On the ground most of this month wasn't very good for Japanese, and on the sea action was minimal, so all the praise goes towards the airmen.

Ominato Kokutai T-1 (now on Paramushiro) will be remembered for fatally wounding CL Phoenix with just 10 sorties (and no losses on their own). They are used as an example for KB torpedo bomber pilots, who, despite flying more modern Kates, instead of Mabels, failed to sink a single warship in the open sea so far.

On the Army side, pilots from Detachment A of 54th Sentai (now based in Nanchang) distinguished themselves in battles against ambushing air pirates of AVG, and proved that the latter are good only for hunting unescorted bombers. They scored 14 air kills, while losing only 8 planes (4 of them operationally or as writeoffs) and three pilots.

[FatR]

Japanese Industry

The vehicle production finally rose to the levels where the pool grows steadily. Hopefully, no further expansion will be needed. Armament pools continue to grow steadily, so I might be able to shut off even more armament factories. With Junyo off the slip, now I have enough Naval build points to accelerate Unryu and Amagi, while building practically everyhing there is to build. Well, except Type KS subs. These suck and the Empire doesn't need them. Seriously, almost anything is a better investment than a sub with only 3500 endurance. A bunch of Type-1 TL fast tankers also was accelerated. Better to haul every drop of oil I can to Home Islands early in the game.

Japan still struggles with resource deficit. As ongoing military operations eat supply like there is no tomorrow, so I cannot alleviate it by shutting off light industry. The fuel situation is also deteriorating, thanks to massive fleet operations.

[FatR]

Aircraft Production

Not much change since the last month. We're making enough Mitsubishi Ha-32 to cover the demand now. Ha-33 is in deficit, though, because I've restarted the Nell factory to better prepare for Operation HI.

[FatR]

Naval Bombardments Still Are Nuclear

This is the report on Japanese night naval bombardment of Midway before the invasion:

Night Naval bombardment of Midway Island at 158,91 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso

Allied ground losses:
596 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 88 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 37 (2 destroyed, 35 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (6 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 51
Port hits 14
Port supply hits 2

F1M2 Pete acting as spotter for BB Hyuga
BB Hyuga firing at Midway Island
E13A1 Jake acting as spotter for BB Ise
6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Ise
BB Ise firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion
BB Yamashiro firing at Midway Island
BB Fuso firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion
6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Fuso

Needless to say, the defenders were very much screwed by this, so while the landing force still took some damage from coastal guns (training CL Katori and AK Sasako Maru were moderately damaged and will require a trip to Home Islands shipyards before returning to active strength), few troops were lost during the landing, the initial shock attack dropped the forts from 3 to 0 and the second attack seized the island.

Only US subs contested the landing. SS Cachalot should be mentioned for launching 3 attacks in 2 days and putting a torpedo into BB Ise (the damage caused Ise's speed to drop, so she's another mission-killed ship).

We took a measure of revenge one day later, when KB moved southeast and found AV Wright and PC Taney between Johnston and French Frigate Shoal. 13 Kates sortied from Akagi and easily sank both.



Stupid Mistake

Yeah, failing to remember that Zero does not have enough ferry range to reach Hawaii from Marshalls was one on my part. We'll need to take Johnston before our main landing force proceeds to Hilo (chosen because it is barely in range of American fighters from Oahu). Unfortunately, taking Johnston with a poorly-prepped regiment will require an ultra-massive bombardment, leaving Combined Fleet with relatively little surface strength to cover the Hilo landing...

However, as Glen recon shows very few ships in or around of Pearl, this might be much less of a problem that luring Allies to fight in the first place. Did Yubari decide to pull a complete Sir Robin? This might be conceivable if he perceives Hawaii as weakly defended and recent "sinking" reports regarding nearly all of remaining Pearl Harbor battleships (including Nevada, which apparently survived the attack) confirm, that he moved Pacific Fleet away, with his battlewagons taking flotation damage in the process. I hope some of them flounder. USN not showing up to play will be supremely annoying. Although Hawaii, if they are indeed not fortified, are a prize in itself.

[FatR]

Japanese Strategic Conundrum

At this point, I must admit to myself, that, due to my grave mismanagement of Singapore siege, there is no way in hell I can land the bulk of Southern Army on Oahu before the Japanese amphibious bonus expires (IIRC, in the end of March). Even if theoretically 25th Army and 16th Divsion can get there on time, practically they will need some major R&R (16th is still recovering disablement at Cagayan). Combined with the uber coastal defenses (on Oahu in general and under the current patch), this has a potential to result in a horrible slaughter. Unfortunately, the forces already committed towards Hawaii (over 3 Divisions) may be extreme overkill for outlying islands unless these were considerably reinforced.

At this point, I'm facing three possible operational decisions, two of which will prompt another decision about the choice of strategic directions:

1)True Operation HI. Soldier forward towards Hawaii with all my strength no matter what. Throw the bulk of my bomber force into suppressing Oahu and hope that the combined IJN battleline will be able to pound Oahu forts into submissiong before the decisive landing around May.
On the positive side, this course of action is more likely to elicit serious USN response than any other.
On the negative, it is a risky play with extremely high stakes. Also, extremely fuel-expensive.

2)Limited Operation HI. Just take outlying islands and disengage most of the infantry soon thereafter, or even don't send all of it in the first place. Keep a limited part of Japanese airforce engaged in the attritional battle with Americans.
Positives: Less risk - can be done super cheaply (save fuel) if Allies keep playing Sir Robin - and the Empire can launch another strategic offensive during the spring.
Negatives: Forces left on Hawaii will be really doomed in the autumn. Acceptance of large pointless movements of troops back and forth.

3)Abort Operation HI. Take just Johnston, and turn the rest of the ships back. Or use them to descend on Suva.
Positives: Avoiding the negatives of ## 1-2.
Negatives: Acceptance of little gain for enormous burn of fuel. Acceptance of considerable loss of operational tempo/channeling of forces into an undesirable strategic direction.


In case of choices #2 and #3, another choice must be made - between India-Ceilon and Southern Pacific as the next direction of efforts. To be fair, I really prefere the former, because there's just isn't much useful stuff to plunder in the latter, if nothing else.

[FatR]

Well, after some deliberation, I decided to proceed at least with the part of Operation HI that is already in the process, namely taking outlying islands. Johnston is on the verge of falling at the moment (naval bombardments cracked the resistance there as well after the repeated efforts - cruiser bombardments were ineffective, and Nagatos were forces to unload much of their ammunition on the island, but their effort paid off) and the main invasion fleet + both KBs are moving towards Hilo. Still no sign of Allied surface forces anywhere, but I believe Yubari won't be able to resist the temptation infinitely. Hilo and Lahaina appear to have significant garrizons, so at least bringing whole divisions to them is going to pay off.


The Last Shots of the Dutch

Dutch subs and flying boats scored unexpectedly and heavily against my transports that participated in the invasion of Samarinda, sinking one xAK and damaging another. Yet another xAK was sunk by Do-24s near Tarakan. As AK Sasako Maru unexpectedly sank on the way from Midway, this was a bad week for Japanese transport fleets.

[FatR]

Hunting Sir Robin

The first wave of Hawaii invasion landed at Hilo on March 14. I picked Hilo because it was the most distant airbase hex from Oahu, allowing to minimize the risk to KB (at the moment both KB-1 and KB-2, now reduced to Mini-KB, hang around). Not only USN did not show up to oppose the invasion fleets, but American planes did not fly as well. Lots of subs appeared but all were foiled by the escorts.

On the same day, I-2 torpedoed CA Pensacola right next to San Francisco, and detected two CLs right next to it. Does Yubari indeed decide not to fight at sea?

However, the ground force found at Hilo was fairly strong, if consisting of a gaggle of small units:

Ground combat at Hilo (183,111)
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 5240 troops, 184 guns, 65 vehicles, Assault Value = 312
Defending force 15315 troops, 132 guns, 125 vehicles, Assault Value = 434

Allied ground losses:
3 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
754th Tank Battalion
2nd USMC Engineer Regiment
2nd Marine Regiment
1st/298th Infantry Battalion
1st/102nd Infantry Battalion
1st Marine Defense Battalion
808th Engineer Aviation Battalion
109th USN Base Force
70th Coast AA Regiment
810th Engineer Aviation Battalion
205th Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
38th Div /2
9th Field AF Const Bn /1
11th Air Fleet /1
36th Const Co /1
3rd Engineer Const Bn /1
30th Fld AA Gun Co /1

Despite what the report says, almost all troops, save for a 38th Division fragment, managed to unload during 14th and got on the shore in order and with litte disruption, even though CD fire was intense (I had no bombardment group to spare at the moment), but xAP Suva Maru was sunk by coastal guns and several more ships took significant damage.

While I intended to send 48th Division for Lahaina, after taking Hilo airfield looks like the Hilo landing must be reinforced to succeed, so the second wave will land there on the next day. With over 900 AV, we'll surely smash the defenders.


Endgame in Burma

In a bit of good news to offset the difficulties in the Pacific and at Singapore (which still holds, although now, after half a month of incessant bombardment by nearly the entire Southern Army artillery part, Allied AV has failed to recover at remains at less than 600, compared to almost 2000 of Japanese AV, so I believe it'll finally fall very soon), we caught the rearguard of the Burma Corps in Warazup, eliminating a whole host of valuable construction troops and devices:

Ground combat at Warazup (63,41)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 14434 troops, 156 guns, 235 vehicles, Assault Value = 822
Defending force 5076 troops, 96 guns, 34 vehicles, Assault Value = 57
Japanese adjusted assault: 406
Allied adjusted defense: 39
Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Warazup !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), preparation(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2965 casualties reported
Squads: 56 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 240 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 123 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 81 (81 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 37 (37 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 6
Units destroyed 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
1st Tank Regiment
112th Infantry Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
143rd Infantry Regiment
55th Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Army
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
Upper Burma BAF Battalion
Tenasserim BAF Battalion
103rd RN Base Force
108th RAF Base Force
104th RAF Base Force
1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment
102nd RAF Base Force
100th RAF Base Force

Better yet, as you can see on the map below the beaten Allied force was cut off from the safety of the jungle and had retreated to southwest, right into the middle of Japanese territory. It is doomed now. While Yubari was able to save a large part of his AV, eliminating British support troops in Burma is possibly even more important that killing off low-quality infantry.

[FatR]

Operation HI Continues

USN still didn't show up on March 15, although air search detected BBs now at Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, my bombardment TF failed to move to Hilo on time and several more ships were roughed by coastal guns. Considering poor Japanese damage control, I might pay with up to 5 fast transports for the invasion of Hilo. The second wave of troops got ashore mostly in order, though. I'll be able to haul them to other Hawaian islands by xAKLs in the future.

American aviation sorties in very limited numbers, trying to sweep Hilo and attack unloading ships. Overbleeding Zero CAP from KB and Mini-KB ate American fighters for lunch, taking down around 20 Wildcats and Warhawks in exchange for around 2-3 planes of their own (Zero also fought Hurricanes over Calcutta this day, with success but not without losses, so the exact distribution of lost Zeros is unclear). They also shot down between 1 and 3 B-17s. 6 Dauntlesses however, broke through and hit another transport (contributing to the overall losses prospect).

Also, two of my minesweepers, detached into a separate TF, sank and three more took major sys damage for no clear reason at all. This is disturbig.

[FatR]

Well, the minelayer riddle is solved, looks like they got shot up by coastal guns while trying to take the hex, but this wasn't in the replay, only in the report.

Meanwhile...

Victory in Central China

The Japanese main force just broke the last siege in the Central China, shock attacking across the river and routing a four-corps Chinese army at Wuchang. I've marked recent major Japanese marches by arrows on the map below and areas of battles in March by ellipses. While the pursuit of the Chinese army retreating from Sinyang was relatively unsuccesful, with only one corps caught and smashed on the road to Ichang (although aviation also took significant toll on Chinese troops as they marched to safety), Wuchang compensated this. Overall Chinese losses in March already exceed 1050 infantry squads.

In my opinion, retreating withot a fight was a mistake on Yubari's part. I expected to lose months of time and hundreds of squads evicting Chinese from the defensible terrain, but instead Japanese managed to score two relatively cheap victories. Now I can move the bulk of my forces out of the central region without much worries.

It's about time to do so, as well. Yubari launched some advances, marked on the map below by yellow squares. One in the south seems to be closed already, but in the north a massive force descends on Nanyang. Japanese aviation just got ambushed by AVG again, while trying to slow down this move (I don't know how Yubari managed this, Sian seemed to still have only size 1 airfield when I looked the last time, and you cannot fly LRCAP from size 1 airfields). The main force might need to return there once again, but it stands no chance of getting to Nanyang in time, so I'm moving other forces, including two brigades now freed from the rear by increase of garrizon units' AV from rest and reinforcements, to try and hold until the help arrives. This is a significant crisis, but this also might be a golden opportunity to demolish the Sian Army in the open terrain, if Yubari decided to press the attack.

[bklooste]

ORIGINAL: FatR

2)I'll NOT upgrade the main Zero plant to A6M8 and I'll NOT switch Nakajima Ha-35 production to Mitshubishi Ha-33. I'll keep A6M5b and redirect my research effort towards bringing A7M2 into production even earlier

Tough call , i would definetly build some A6M8 you get it early and the A6M5b really suffers from the extra weight ( poor top speed and maneuver) , I sometimes wonder of the A6M2 is better since the armour dont do much vs late was allied cannons ( It does help vs bombers but thats not really a zero roll) . A7 you wont get ( in quantity ) till very late

[FatR]

You're confusing A6M5b with A6M5c. And as I mentioned, I do intend to add a smaller A6M8 factory after they are available and see how it performs.

[topeverest]

I anxiously await your moves in Hawaii. Not many Empire players attempt.

[FatR]

Currently I'm seeing with my eyes why this is so.

We played two more turns and in one of them I did a ton of screwups, failing to properly calculate the range between KB and Oahu, so that my planes sortied against CL Trenton and only damaged it (1 torp), while exchanging fighters 1:1 with Americans. Also a whole ton of scout planes went down. Also me failing to call off the unloading of supplies at Hilo, despite intending to do so, resluted in losing even more ships as a result. Now I believe I should have sent the Lahaina force to Kona, which is empty. Hilo was chosen purely to keep at least some CAP from KB over the landings while keeping KB out of Warhawk range from Oahu. But as it seems, Yubari is not too keen about the perspective of a carrier battle, so my fears of being caught between a rock and a hard place might have been unfounded. Now I'm directing 17th Regiment (from Midway, now already in position for the new landing) and 24th Regiment from Johnston to Kona, because to top it all my troops failed to take Hilo, suffering 10:1 (!) casualties despite engineers dropping the forts to 2 and having more than tree times their enemy's AV. They are short on supply now as well. The trouble is, I have no free air support in the immediate vicinity to establish an airfield right away. I was not dilligent enough with extending the logistical pipeline (including hauling fuel and supplies to Johnston).

Still, in this situation I have no choice but to press forward. In good news, Ise was patched enough to Kwajalein to restore her full cruise and nearly restore the full combat speed. When more battleships arrive after reloading ammo and small repairs, I'll be able to crack Hilo (tried to bombard it with cruisers, but it seems that anything short of battleship is practically useless bombardments, and Nagatos need to keep their remaining ammo in case if Yubari decides to give a surface battle after all - it is clear, that some surface units do hang at Oahu).

[topeverest]

Tough nut no doubt, and the situation is so fluid that what was deemed as prudent one turn looks like folly the next.

IMHO Your CV Zeroes are your life. Deplete them before establishing a strong land based cap, and there are many more bad outcomes than good. Logistics will be very important after the base is established. You will have a very long, exposed supply line subject to interruption as long as any US navy or air force is in the Hawain islands. I hope you overloaded engineers to build up some bases suitable to tango with the two majors the allies still hold.

Banzai.

[FatR]

In a bit good news, Junyo and repaired Chiyoda just joined the main fleet, bringing 21 more Zeros to play, more than covering losses for the entire operation, including routine ops losses.

But another logistical problem that I've failed to mention lies in the fact, that even with about 380 naval support and AKEs, Kwajalein seems to have big trouble replenishing BB magaizines. Ise, and IIRC, Fuso, have loaded ammo for the main guns successfuly, while other two old BBs seem to be unable to do so no matter what.

[topeverest]

If u've built Kwaj port to level 5, you need 840 naval support to replenish the 40CM guns on Mutsu. 878 NS with level 4 port. Or you need an AE / AKE disbanded in port with supply with 4500 cargo capacity.

Anyone, please correct me if I got the math wrong.

[FatR]

I meant Yamashiro and Hyuga, topeverest. Don't know what's so different with them.

Anyway, we've played two more turns (even though heat, and, now, smoke haze, presumably from forest fires, are turning my brains to mush). Once again my ships did not retreat in time and I lost an AV to torpedo boats. Those American PTs are surprisingly effective. Their colleagues at Philippines didn't hit anything, and now I'm losing a second ship to them. Mines at Kona also damaged a whole bunch of ships. One DD is practically doomed (95 flotation damage!) and one CA is out of battle. But 17th Regiment took the base and by the next turn I'll fly in some air support by flying boats. Much more is on the way at sea.

Seeing that American aviation is very passive and that Oahu CAP was fairly weak, I decided to sweep PH the last turn. Zeros from four carriers, despite going in 4 separate sweeps, achieved about 4:1 kill ratio (approximately 40 Allied planes shot down for 9 lost Zeros) against the assortment of Allied fighters that included even P-26s and Texans. Either Yubari is extremely sneaky, or Allied plane pools are totally dry. With overall Allied fighter losses at Hawaii being around 70 now, the latter doesn't seem impossible. I'm willing to bet on the last assumption. KB will move closer to Oahu the next turn and will try to kill off or chase away any surface combatants that lurk there. Seeing as how it seems possible to initiate surface combat in enemy hexes without provoking coastal guns, I might follow with a surface attack by Nagatos, depending on what will be found there. But as battleships are my best tools for troop support, and such a move is quite risky (mines, and whatnot) I'd prefer to keep them for breaking the Allied defence at Hilo, unless the prey is extremely juicy.

[FatR]

Air Struggle

Huge air battles took place on March 20 over Hawaii and Calcutta, as Japanese struggled to establish air superiority. Allied losses for the day are reported as 79 planes, almost all of them fighters, while Japanese lost 47 (and 27 pilots), including a significant number of naval search Jakes. (I don't know how to preserve my poor Jakes. They die in droves every time their search radius includes Oahu). Over Hawaii, Japanese pilot superiority carried the day, but only a couple of destroyers was found at Oahu. Several Kates sortied and accomplished nothing except losing some of their own. Over Calcutta, Hurricanes gained the upper hand over 1st Sentai and Yamada Ku. Army pilots will return after resting and recovering their losses, Navy fighters will hold back from now on. Their pilots are more valuable, because IJN has less traning units. And their pilots seem to grow in skill slower. For Army, I already have a solid reserve of Air skill 70 fighter pilots, for Navy... I don't. A lot of pilots in 60-65 Air skill range across the training units based in Home Islands, but they don't seem to be improving much lately.

Overall, about 15-20 KB Zeros were shot down. This is pretty bad, but not crippling. With all carriers concentrated, this is still far too much for USN to challenge directly. Particularly now, when the land-based air force at Hawaii is heavily depleted and probably suffers from low morale and the first bunch Zeros will arrive at Kona airfield on this turn.

I've lost my first major naval combatant in this operation, with old DD Sawakaze being finished by a sub, after being crippled by a mine at Hilo, as I mentioned above. In revenge, I-10 sank the four-stacker Chew next to San Francisco.


Meanwhile, Dutch are retreating from Batavia to the mountain stronghold of Malang (of this I approve - more chances for me to take the industry intact), and in China an interesting situations develops which I'll report when I have the time.

[FatR]

The Critical Stage at Hawaii Passed?

Well, I thought so, as I managed to haul enough air support, engineers and two Daitai of Zeros to Kona, but on March 23 Allies staged a massive air raid, that ended up causing higher plane casualtiers to Japanese, considering those destroyed on the ground. Everything and kitchen sink from Pearl Harbor seemed sweeping with very good coordination and at altitude higher than most of my CAP. Yubari says, that his planes were on escort, actually, and that's why they flew higher than allowed by our HRs. Considering his gentelmanry conduct of operations to this moment, I'm inclined to believe him.

But this makes withdrawing KB still unsafe. Mini-KB moved west, to cover my shipping, reload planes at Kwajalein and simply remove part of my carrier strength from where Yubari can see it. It should be noted, that Yubari could have absolutely crippled my operation at no cost before, by slipping his carriers somewhere between Johnston and Kwajalein, while all the Japanese ones were busy at Hawaii.

In good news, my ground force in Kona just got reinforced by 17th Regiment and is about to launch another attack. Also, there is a massive airfield buildup at Lahaina. If Yubari indeed detached a large force to there, that's a big mistake that will cost him! But judging by his commitment at Hilo, that might indeed be the case. And while said defense of Hilo cost me dearly in ships, it will cost Allies 300+ AV that might have contributed to making Oahu impregnable.

At sea, not much happens still. Modern DD Tanikaze, assigned to covering minesweepers at Kona, rammed the last mine in the harbor and was finished by a sub attack, the second Japanese warship to siffer such fate. It seems, that non-minesweepers attached to minesweeper taskforces are at increased risk. In return, patrolling destroyers managed to finally sink a pair of pesky PT boats, and DDs Asanagi and Kamikaze deptcharged and forced to surface SS Gudgeon at Kona. The unfortunate sub was immediately sent back under the waves by BB Ise, avenging the damage Ise took from a sub attack at Midway. Inspired by this success, Kamikaze attacked and damaged S-47 on the same night, probably non-fatally. So far, besides Gudgeon Americans likely lost only one S-sub at Hilo.

[FatR]

Meanwhile in China...

Yubari launched a powerful offensive in the North, after all, with his main northern army suddenly (without dipsplaying a corresponding movement arrow) moving to Nanyang (1) and also a movement towards Tsiaotso (2). Tsiaotso is fairly safe, with over 750 quality AV, level 3 forts and rough terrain, but Nanyang had only 1364 AV, including weak-ass Ankey SNLF and a brigade prepared for Loyang against 6472 Chinese AV. Aviation also did not fly in support on the defenders on the fist day, due to weather. On March 23 losses were about 2.8k Japanese vs. 7.5k Chinese (169 combat squads vs 651) and the attack dropped the forts from 4 to 3. On March 24 the second deliberate attack failed to drop the forts, likely due to massive negative AV adjustments from lack of supply, but caused 3.6k of Japanese casualties vs only 1.6k Chinese (233 combat squads vs 345). Air raids mostly hit support parts of the enemy force and added only 38 more combat squads to the tally. I hope that Chinese supply stores are completely dry by now, otherwise my main force, that was sitting in Sinyang, might not be in time.

I should say, that the Chinese move on Tsiaotso inadverently messed up the likely plan of Yubari. The only reason my main force was still sitting is Sinyang was waiting until the Chinese crosses into Tsiaotso, leaving which without roads is not easy, thus opening the way for a drive from Chengting direction.

In the south (3), meanwhile, the big Chinese surrendered Pucheng army and is trying to break to the mainland, presumably due to supply situation. I smashed its rearguard twice, routing 3 once-whole corps, and aviation scourged Chinese columns all the way relentlessly. At the moment, most of Nanchang garrizon attempts to interdict the Chinese main body on the open plain. They have less than 700 AV against up to 3000, but the Chinese force should have no supply whatsoever at this point (all roads were cut for several turns). I ordered a deliberate attack for March 25.