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May. 10

The remnants of the Japanese forces at Addu were shot overnight. How long until the next attempt?

The Norfolk Island raid went off alright; one medium-sized freighter and one armed fishing boat were hosed down without firing a shot back. The real significance is that it gives the destroyers involved some risk-free night combat practice - all three of them are new to theatre, and all three now have night experience in the high 50s.

May. 11

Odd day. Usual several hundred aircraft hit China, Burma, Java; meanwhile, 10 B-17s from Cochin - I'd moved them there in case they were needed at Addu and forgot to send'em back to Calcutta - took it upon themselves to raid Colombo. One was shot down and three crashed on landing - the odd thing is that they were all set to target Addu yesterday, but two of the three groups erased that target and went back to independent choice, while one didn't and so didn't fly anywhere. At least they wrecked half a dozen Jap fighters in the process...

One interesting if not too important development in the last few weeks is that Japanese recon losses have skyrocketed; we're averaging three Dinahs shot down by flak every day; I assume mostly over Calcutta and southern India, where the number of AA guns has really exploded recently.

May. 12



One unescorted freighter off Japan. One attack. At least one torpedo out of every salvo hit - so, 15 impacts and no detonations. At least the deck gun got a couple of hits in - but apparently that used up all the ammunition. As if to restore karmic balance, Japanese submarines bounced torpedoes off a destroyer and missed a motor launch off Bombay.

May. 13

Mostly another dull day; destroyers whacked a submarine off Bombay, while a fragment of a Japanese parachute unit attacked two trucks from 44th Indian Bde in upper Burma. We did get one interesting bit of information, though - well, actually two, but they sort of fit together:



So far there've been no hints of Japanese carrier forces haring off and doing their own thing independently; Unyo is a new ship, though, probably just out of a construction yard, so this may just be a trip down to work up close - but not too close - to the 'front'. I'd rather like a look at Singapore...I think I'm going to risk sending an F-4 over to Batavia for a day on the off chance that it doesn't fall tomorrow; if it turns out the carrier force is there that opens some doors elsewhere.

5 P-38s have now arrived at Auckland; the remainder should arrive the day after tomorrow, so flattening Norfolk Island should be 'go' for the 16th or 17th. I can put up about 55 bombers including B-17Ds borrowed from naval search activities; at the moment the island is being bombed nightly by Catalinas from Auckland, more to try and get some fighters switched onto night CAP than to do any damage - just as well, since with no moonlight none has been done.

In light comic relief news, an Australian Hudson managed to misidentify USS Gar as a task force of 5 Japanese ships 45 miles off Brisbane. I think someone needs a bit of remedial training...

May. 14

Nothing from Singapore; not sure whether the aircraft failed to fly or whether it just failed to spot anything. Batavia holds, though, so maybe tomorrow will be more fruitful...something big enough to show up on RDF is 45 miles off Malacca; this may be the bombardment force that hit Chittagong, I suppose, but there again it may not. Another bombardment force hit Madras again; no real damage this time. I guess these will continue until such point as one of the battleships trips over a submarine.

The bait seems to have been taken at Norfolk Island; 5 Zeros are on night patrol tonight, though they don't manage an intercept. No rush...

The Chinese Air Force redeems itself after making a hash of an intercept the other day; a second Japanese sweep over Chungking is met in a coordinated fashion, with the loss of seven Oscars and one I-153. No complaints...

May. 15-17

Got an aircraft over Singapore in the end - nothing there but hundreds of merchants, it seems.

Batavia holds against another attack; the same lull in bombing that let me get a recon aircraft in and out allowed forts to be built back up again. Surely no more?

A shot of the interesting part of China:



The hex northwest of Guilin contains about 2.75 Japanese infantry divisions. Two hexes northwest are 14 tank regiments, which managed to pursue a small force into rough woods overnight - they just arrived in the first hex the day before yesterday. Total losses at Guilin are about 1200 Chinese AV destroyed to about 30 Japanese disabled; the tanks did the heavy lifting throughout the process, the "agreement" on their use without any infantry support being scrupulously followed by the addition of a small engineer regiment. Given that they can apparently pursue at a rate of 1 hex/day, 12 regiments could in theory be behind the Chinese lines by the 19th; I'm unsure whether it'll "click" that that's possible on the other end, however.

May. 18

Ok, so it's the 18th rather than the 19th, and 9 regiments rather than 12, but there they are:



A counterpart to yesterday's map. The main line force Tuyun is one hex to the southwest; that's about 1050av at the moment, having been put there on the assumption that several hundred tanks completely devoid of infantry support wouldn't be driven across 90 miles of trackless mountain range in two days. Bad assumption, it seems...today's attack didn't even have the fig leaf of the engineer regiment - just tanks and armoured cars. Tuyun proper is very lightly held - just a base force and enough infantry to deter parachute troops - any troops there don't seem to get supplied, so it's not practical to hold it directly.

Quiet elsewhere. Norfolk Island shutdown force is ready...just needs the appropriate time.

May. 19

Batavia falls at last. 24,000 Dutch troops are captured; I assume they're mostly dead, if not necessarily aware of it yet. What would become of the Dutch civilian population after prolonged resistance can only be guessed at. In reality they mostly seem to have been interned locally and kept alive, at least technically. Now? Well...maybe it's better not to think about it. A fairly large force has accumulated on the Cocos Islands; about 150av at present, which should rise to about 175 once the equipment I've been keeping in storage - including 18 tanks - has filtered down to them. Cocos is an atoll; absent heavy naval guns and AA - and those are at least several weeks and months away respectively - I don't think it's really hold-able, but it ought to be a bit of a bear to take, which is something. Figure it's safe for a month, anyway, while the Japanese get their plans in order, and it'll keep any forces involved busy, which is the point. Some non-critical units will evacuate, however; shipping in and out has been unmolested apart from submarines so far, and there are three freighters there right now.

A battleship force is lining up for another run at...Chittagong, I think, but possibly Cox's Bazaar; I'm not sure exactly how I know this, as it's outside of naval search range from India, but it's definitely visible. Not much to be done about it; the submarines meant to try and intercept any more of these runs are still off Ceylon. I don't know why these bombardments are continuing; there's nothing important on the coast to be damaged and I'm much happier knowing where the ships are than not. Another case of needing to Do Something, I guess?

What else...



Japanese warships continue to meander backwards and forwards off New Caledonia; estimated strength is two battleships, 3-6 cruisers, 4-10 destroyers and apparently at least one seaplane carrier, which is new for today. Actually it's probably an AV; coastwatchers have reported a few floating around SoPac. The ships have been static or nearly static for about a six weeks; they seem to spend most of their time at that hex, Ouv'ea, though the battleship force seems to be at Noumea today, perhaps to take on fuel. I've mostly avoided doing much to interfere with them so far beyond chucking the occasional submarine at them; a recent arrival may offer the opportunity to get at them from the north if they stick around, in consequence of which I don't want to spook them at all, so have called the Norfolk Island op off for a little while. Not like it's going anywhere, after all...

It's very evident that Saros wants to make a big fight out of New Caledonia and Fiji; there's been no development at all - seriously, nothing - between Rabaul and Noumea since the Japanese landed, which was...early January? I can't even remember. Suva and Rabaul are L7 airfields, Noumea and Kavieng L5s, La Foa and Port Moresby L3s, Nadi an L2, Gasmata an L1...and that's it; there's nothing more. Is this normal? Are dozens of them going to start popping up in the next few months? At the moment it seems like it'd be far simpler to just go around; the Cape Town-Perth route is working out well, and shipping up the coast of Australia is only really at risk from carrier aviation - and that'd be true anyway. So, I'm not sure what the point of it all is, or was. Maybe one day, eh?

China; 1101 AFVs are reported at Tuyun, but don't attack; the Chinese do, for some reason, so I have three corps that are just support devices now. One consequence of being in heavy terrain is that there's no real good way of getting rid of them once that happens; the last few devices are almost impossible to destroy, so the 'rebuild' thing doesn't tend to actually happen very much. I suggested to Saros that he activate the USSR and let the Chinese borrow some IL-2s since all the Kwantung Army's heavy weapons are in China; I'm sure he'll be happy to do that.

May. 20

Japanese battleships bombard Cox's Bazaar; an Indian infantry squad out on patrol in the jungle is briefly stunned to be on the receiving end of about a quarter of the Japanese battlefleet's heavy guns (3BB, 3CA), but they got over it quick - the force there (23rd Div, 1st Burma Div, BFF Bde) is dug in enough to ignore the bombardment - no damage to any facilities or aircraft, since there's nothing around TO damage.

Most of a UK AT Rgt has flown in to Kunming overnight; the remainder will follow today, and a US Rgt will join in about a week. I've refrained from using any non-Chinese units in China so far, but if I'm going to have to deal with every tank the Japanese own driving on Chungking I don't see the point of holding one hand and most of the fingers on the other behind my back any longer. Besides, we have plenty of AT guns...in fact, they're about the only thing we do have plenty of.

Off Bombay, a Japanese submarine seems to be having navigational difficulties:



Ok...operating on the assumption Saros isn't reading this AAR, a look at the fleet:



Maryland (out of repair yard in 5 days) and West Virginia (115) are at Pearl Harbour; California (14) is at San Francisco. Royal Sovereign is taking a troop convoy into Karachi. TF228 is at Cape Town, with most ships still training, really - the US battleships have been in the repair yards for so long the crews aren't up to scratch, especially for night-fighting. Prince of Wales and Repulse (TF59) are with the carrier forces.



TF59 is the UK carrier force; I wasn't being completely honest when I said only Hermes was off to Australia - a couple of things said in e-mails had me a little on edge, though it turned out they were nothing. This force - the heavy ships, CAs Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Exeter and 10 destroyers are 2 days out from Hobart, where I've been stockpiling fuel for a little while.

TF63 is the US carrier force; they've been having some very weird fuel issues on the way in, despite departing CT with a full load - Enterprise ran out again today despite having taken on fuel twice between the map edge and their present position west of Adelaide - but they'll meet up with fuel again tomorrow. This force - carriers, CAs Northampton, Houston, Louisville, Chester and Chicago, CLAA Atlanta and 14 destroyers - should make Hobart in about 5 days.

TF322, already at Hobart is a SC force - CAs Pensacola, Salt Lake City and Astoria, CLs Newcastle, Mauritius and Glasgow and 7 destroyers.

TF150, CA Cornwall, has detached from an inbound troop convoy and will be at Hobart in about 4 days.

TF61, CA Canberra, CL Hobart and 4 destroyers had to touch in at Albany on the way in and so should make Hobart in about 6 days.

TF58 - CAs Vincennes, San Francisco, New Orleans and Minneapolis, CLs St. Louis, Helena, Phoenix and Honolulu, CLAA San Diego and 7 destroyers - is south of Tonga, covering movements to and from New Zealand.

TF105 - CL Adelaide and 3 destroyers - is at Auckland.

Various cruisers, AMCs, destroyers etc are scattered around shepharding convoys or on independent patrols.

So: at the moment some New Zealand minesweepers are loitering around Norfolk Island trying to get a sense of the naval search net operating from there. That none of them have been spotted yet seems to suggest it isn't a very good one.

What I know about the Japanese fleet: ~6 battleships in the Indian Ocean; 2+? off New Caledonia. ~6 CAs in the Indian Ocean; 2+? off New Caledonia. CVE Unyo headed Singapore, but no other information on carriers.

What I know about the Japanese air forces locally: 12 Zeros and some floatplanes at Norfolk Island, ~25 Zeros and ~25 Betties on New Caledonia, same on Fiji - figure they'll transfer within a day of anything heating up.

If nothing changes in the next ten days I may just drive straight up to New Caledonia, park offshore and let rip - I'm confident I can shut down Norfolk Island in a day, if necessary, at which point I can get from outside Noumea's naval search range to the launch point in one night - which I anticipate should bag a couple of cruisers sunk and a couple of battleships heavily damaged. If Japanese carriers show up off Australia I will try and bring them into LBA range and fight them; if they show up off Christmas Island or India, well, bully for them. Nothing's written in stone...yet.

May. 21

CVE Long Island arrives at Panama, immediately departing at full speed (no giggling at the back!) for Cape Town, where it'll meet a Marine air wing. In theory the Diego Garcia operation can 'go' as soon as it arrives, though in practice there's no rush.

Japanese surface forces have departed New Caledonia for the first time in six weeks; or, at least, we've been unable to spot them there for the first time in six weeks. Odd...anyway, TF59 has made Hobart and TF63 should hit Adelaide to refuel tonight. There's a chance they swapped over and are now at Fiji; coastwatchers there seem a lot noisier than they were, though there are no solid contacts. In theory that could be a leadup to attacking Pago Pago, Savaii, Rarotonga, Penrhyn etc; more likely it's just supplies and reinforcements. I live in hope. I need to do some airgroup juggling before I let anyone loose around here, so it'll be at least 7-8 days before things start to Happen.

CAs Portland and Indianapolis make Bombay; I'm going to try and dangle them in front of a submarine around India and try to get some conclusions drawn from that.

A brace of Japanese CAs are reported at Broome; I expect they're preparing to land troops at Port Hedland. There are several Dutch submarines between where they are and where they need to go to do that, so maybe we'll get lucky. Our local naval forces are a small light cruiser and four ancient destroyers at Carnarvon; they're really only there to pick off anything unescorted, so not a good matchup.

1st Manchurian Infantry Div is apparently planning to attack Pearl Harbour. I don't know about you, but I'm convinced!

Haven't had a turn back this weekend; must be a holiday in New Zealand. Or, not a holiday, I suppose. So, I've been doing some thinking about what Grorious Nippon might do next, counterclockwise from Karachi:

- Probably nothing big in the Indian area. Addu may see another landing attempt; Malé I'm surprised hasn't had a parachute fragment dumped on it already (it's not garrisoned or developed). Socotra has an East African Bde and plenty of supply, along with half a dozen cruisers local. Slight concern, but any landing force would need to be Div-sized and prepared, and I can't see it happening, not least because Saros is afraid to use Port Colombo as it is. If sub recon starts up out of the blue I'll look a little closer. Landing on the Indian coast would be a short trip into a shallow grave at this point; there's at least a Bde at every base between Bombay and Calcutta, with reserves available. Handy, in a way - keeps them out of malaria zones while they're training.

- Christmas Island I expect to be taken shortly; as with Malé, it ain't garrisoned or developed. Cocos Islands I expect will get some attention; the Dutch forces there completely overstack the airfield, so although it's out of fighter range from Java one good bombardment will make bomber raids doable; after that, it's just a case of borrowing local shipping for a week. Still - probably not for a month or two, since it's an atoll with a large garrison.

- Australia is tricky. Port Hedland I expect will go soon as forces trickle in from Java; no great loss, ultimately, as it can just about be retaken overland if absolutely necessary, as can anything west. Perth, Albany etc are at risk, in theory...all (well, 95%) the supply and fuel coming in to Australia (and there's a lot of it) is using the Cape route at the moment, variously to Perth, Albany, Esperance, Adelaide, Melbourne, so Japanese control of W.A would actually be extremely damaging. Forces local are substantial, though (US Div, most of Aus Div, most Armd forces in Australia, more on the way) so could fight it out if necessary. Q is - is Japan aware of importance of route? My sense is no, given shipping has continued to use SoPac routings (just terminating in NZ) and submarine ops off W.A have been very half-hearted.

Meanwhile, NE Australia has basically been ignored; Portland Roads and Coen (is it Coen? I forget - the real wildernessy northeasternmost bases) were seized by paras as a very unconvincing deception just before Ceylon - the deception ops are fairly easy to spot with Saros, as he makes an enormous amount of noise about the tiniest things!) but haven't been developed, or seen any aircraft or shipping etc; forces to take them back have been in position for a while but my engineers are otherwise engaged, and before they're available there's not much point. Don't expect anything major here, although a one-day landing at by Japan at Cooktown or Cairns would in theory give good returns on investment.

- New Zealand is...well, let me put it this way: there are more tanks in New Zealand than there are in India.

- South Pacific Islands are secure, but vulnerable on supplies. Tahiti, Rarotonga are the large bases; they're both garrisoned heavily, the former as a fuel hub (most of 2nd Marine Div, base forces, L5 forts, tons'o'guns) and the latter as jumping-off point for ops around Samoa. Tahiti probably can't be starved out at this point, but anywhere else can; Pago Pago is heavily garrisoned but short on engineers, so infrastructure is poor. Supply situation is about 15kt at the moment; I am sending single ships independently direct from Panama and it takes a while for them to circulate. PP is the place to go if a stand-up ground fight is what Japan wants - and given Saros so far, it probably is - so if anything local is going to hit I expect it to be top of the list. Still - there's nothing actually in it for Japan beyond troop losses, and it's an awful long way from anywhere, so still not likely.

- Mid Pacific Islands are 'ok'; Canton has been left completely undisturbed so far and has a dug-in Marine Def Bn with good supplies. Christmas is held strongly and has supplies and fuel coming out of its ears. Minimal chance of anything going on here, I think, except maybe Canton - and if Canton, so what?

- Hawaii and Midway...well, Hawaii of course is the 'bullshit' planning target - not a single LCU planning for the place has been anything but Kwantung Army. So, no risk. Midway might be a target, but everything said about Canton applies here, except the garrison's bigger.

- Aleutians and Alaska: the clock is ticking for Japan up here - Dutch Harbor is secure, and I may occupy Adak within a month. Supplies good, fuel not so much...but then Dutch Harbor to Prince Rupert (which is handling everything up here - I had engineers on it from day 1) isn't a long haul. Gotta look up when the cold weather starts to bite; if anything Japanese may try to sneak in to some islands just before that date.

- Russia; Kwantung Army has been stripped of everything not an undereducated conscript. If Russia activates the war'll be over in the time it takes to march to Port Arthur.

e: I say that and of course five minutes after I'm done writing I get a turn. Nothing much happened, though.

May. 22

Nothing much happened.

May. 23

I'd been awake for about a day and a half when I wrote yesterday's entry, so, uh...not very coherent, I fear. Anyway, today:

146 Sqn RAF meets a Japanese fighter sweep over Kalemyo. I moved them up there a few days ago to cover the flying out of some equipment from Kalemyo to Kunming and forgot to remove them. Not too bad a "decision" in the end - they bagged 5 Oscars for one Mohawk! Back to Calcutta for tea and medals now...

Japanese 15th Army is moving on Lashio again, after pulling back a few weeks ago. Since the base has been bombed by about 150 aircraft daily since they left, supplies are non-existent.

"Assault" shipping conversions are starting in the Indian Ocean. 20 merchants have been taken in to fit troop accomodation at Cape Town, along with 8 at Aden; more will follow as they arrive off convoys.

SS Mahimahi departs Pago Pago; it's unloaded 5000t of supplies completely undetected, despite search aircraft and submarines passing through daily.

Japanese troops land on Christmas Island. Called that, at least...it'll take a little time for an airfield to go up, so we're ok for the moment.

May. 24

Apparently a "giant metal castle with silly big guns" has arrived; the Yamato, presumably.

Coastwatchers at Suva pick up something big; ten ships at 15kts, which is rather quick for a supply convoy but would seem to fit with the battleships previously at Nouméa, which I still can't find. A deterrent to something, or a preliminary to something? Some aircraft will jump over and take pictures tomorrow; I'm bringing in the Bn from 138th Rgt on Savaii as a precaution.

With them there, there seems little reason not to whap Norfolk Island, so that'll go off tomorrow.

US carriers have finally all fuelled; they're now off to Melbourne, where they'll take on aircraft and top up on fuel. Three fast AOs are about a week out from Hobart - I tied them to a corvette by mistake on the way in from Cape Town, meaning they got delayed - so I should be able to keep them at sea after this. Another is off Tahiti, so things are covered that side of NZ.

A Japanese force lands at Port Hedland; 220 troops are reported ashore today, which is probably not enough to push the base force over. There are the two cruisers about, so I'm not thrilled about nipping at the landing, but a couple of destroyers may sneak past whatever's there so that's what's going. Meanwhile, Dutch B-25s will attempt to attack the landed force; there is the question of what fighters if any the Japanese have at Broome, but an Australian armoured car unit is four days out from PH so I'd like to buy a little time - the place can't be held, but I should be able to make it a bit of a nuiscance.

US 23rd FG and several RAF squadrons make Karachi from Aden; the fighters will move down to the southern area and relieve the AVG, which is withdrawing in a month and has a social call to make in China in the meantime. Not a real strength gain, of course, since a bunch of squadrons are withdrawing in a week or so...

May. 25

The destroyer force made Port Hedland intact, but decided to stay there after arrival and failed to make contact with any Japanese forces, despite the landings. The mind boggles...

We hit Norfolk Island; well, three of the eight bomber squadrons hit Norfolk Island, anyway - I guess the other five had better things to do with their time. End results are therefore nothing spectacular - a P-38 and pilot missing in exchange for about two dozen runway hits, which is not really significant - but we do confirm a Mavis destroyed, which is what I wanted to know more than anything else. Norfolk is really fairly pointless as an offensive airfield unless I can keep it supplied, which I currently can't without involving carriers - and they frankly have better things to do than be tied to one island - so the priority for the next few weeks is to keep the search aircraft trimmed. Saying that - they still haven't picked up the minesweeper I parked off the coast, so who knows what direction they're looking in.

Japanese battleships still appear to be at Suva. Could hit them there, of course - the carrier forces are headed towards New Zealand at the moment and we'll see what we can see in a few days. Pago Pago's garrison grew by 40av overnight - wonderful what a few dozen Catalinas can do, ain't it? The real shortage here is engineers - a USN CB is en-route on the William Ward Burrows, the amusingly tiny USN AP, hopefully arriving on the 30th.

Cocos Island seems about to receive a visit from another battleship force; there's very little I can do about it, beyond getting the merchant shipping out of the way.

Burma is developing, again; six Japanese divisions are now parked at Lashio, with what looks like about 250 tanks and 250 guns - 12 units, at any rate - one hex west. Frankly, they can attack tomorrow and take the base; I have 850av that refuse to draw any supply in from Paoshan against 2800 (this just today) that are no doubt fine, regardless of the monsoon. The logistical effort involved in getting that sort of force to do 90 miles in two days in the middle of the Burmese monsoon is best left unapproached, I suspect...do make sure you're on the same level as your potential PBEM partners as regards these things. The rest of Burma is pretty much stripped bare; I could probably get to Shwebo before the Japanese can get back, but there's no way doing that'd actually be possible with the monsoon on.

Japanese tanks continue to sit at Tuyun. Saros claims they're moving out - I hope that's true, but they've been giving me no movement indicators for the past couple of days. While they're there it's impossible to get any reinforcements past Tuyun; this is fairly critical, as there's a fair few of them and the delay means that they won't be properly dug in when the time comes to actually put up to an attack - this if they even arrive in time.

may 25th happened twice, apparently

May. 26

It's interesting - yesterday Saros was wittering on about how silly it is to fight over his bases (meaning Norfolk Island) since his pilots tend to survive it; today he decided to put a wave of fighters up over Madurai, which provides rather the reverse in terms of results but at about 20 times the scale. The IJ Army and Navy don't seem to get on; 23 Zeros showed up first and got completely demolished, while about 50 Oscars appeared later and must have caught a lot of aircraft coming up on their second mission, as they got a lot of diving in, though they seemed to shoot down about the same number of aircraft each. We managed about 1.25:1 in the air, which is ok - the AVG and a couple of Brit Sqns left just a couple of days ago to spend some time around the China-Burma area, so the squadrons involved today were not exactly the cream of the USAAF or RAF.



We also had a night raid over Chungking by about 60 Japanese aircraft, which got a couple of Chinese fighters on the ground; continuing our 'tit for tat' policy on that sort of thing, the B-17 force in India will visit Colombo tonight. I have mostly been avoiding flying the heavies at night - seems a bit silly, really - but I'm sure they can manage doing it occasionally.

Fundamentally what I need here is mass - at the moment fighters are split about 50-50 between Madurai and Trichinopoly and by necessity don't have too much to do with each others' fights; Madurai should reach AF9 in about a week, however, at which point we can concentrate there.

The other interesting entry on that list are the Tinas; the number of troops on Norfolk Island - we hit the airfield hard today, all the groups condescending to fly - has dropped sharply and the airgroups also appear to have left, so I presume they're being flown out. Unfortunately it's just one hex too far for P-38 LRcap, so I can't interfere. I have to say I didn't think it'd get abandoned that readily - still, saves me the effort of bombing it, I suppose. If it seems to be totally empty I'll pop a squad on a submarine and go raise someone's flag...not much value in building the place up at the moment, but it'd be nice to know Japanese aircraft won't be staging out of it.

A battleship force is approaching the Cocos; bombardment, presumably. A large radio contact is following behind it; I expect this is the Unyo and escorts. A bit unnecessary - Cocos is only an AF1, so it's not like I can do anything other than sit and take whatever comes.

May. 27

Ok, so - two lessons from today. The first is that the Japanese have obviously been thinking about the Cocos as much as I have; the bombardment force was more of a naval sweep, with BBs Kongo and Haruna clearing the seas of the five torpedo-less PT boats that have spent the last week rowing from Batavia. The second is that, although they have been thinking about them, they didn't quite think hard enough:

(or, an alternative title - "How not to do atoll invasions")

Amphibious Assault at Cocos Islands (33,101)

TF 128 troops unloading over beach at Cocos Islands, 33,101

Japanese ground losses:
357 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)



10 Support troops lost overboard during unload of Yokosuka 4th SNLF /5
17 troops of a IJA Infantry Squad accidentally lost during unload of 4th Ind.Mixed Rgt
10 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 65th Bde /6

#

Ground combat at Cocos Islands (33,101)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2327 troops, 24 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 174

Defending force 4435 troops, 44 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 182

Japanese ground losses:
1573 casualties reported
Squads: 74 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 19 (14 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

#

Ground combat at Cocos Islands (33,101)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3225 troops, 31 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Defending force 5626 troops, 36 guns, 21 vehicles, Assault Value = 174

Japanese adjusted assault: 0

Allied adjusted defense: 78

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2421 casualties reported
Squads: 99 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 29 (24 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

No recon, no bombardment, no bombing, nothing; just park freighters offshore in the evening and dive straight into an assault. I suppose this must be what the Midway invasion would've looked like?

I'm not sure what happens next; presumably the battleships bombard while the merchants scuttle back to Java. I suppose they could try the assault all over again in the morning, but I wonder at the sense of it...guess we'll find out soon enough.

Elsewhere: CL Nashville departs Pearl Harbor for Midway; it'll refuel there, then go do some snooping around the mid-Pacific.

The USN carriers have picked up their full load of new aircraft; Enterprise and Hornet still have TBDs, but otherwise everyone's on F4F/SBD-3/TBF now. I even have some left over! Destination is Wellington, where they'll meet the rest of the Pacific Fleet and 40,000t of fuel. From there, we can go to Nouméa, or Fiji, or nowhere.

The first engineer group has reached Pago Pago; about half a dozen ships will bring in their heavy equipment and some extra supplies over the next few days. The Japanese battleships are still sitting at Fiji; I guess New Caledonia must just have gotten a bit samey.

No raid on Colombo - I think the catch must be that bombers on night missions can't fly them the day they fly into a new airfield, because that never seems to work. No bombers reported on Ceylon, though, so we'll try for tonight.

May. 27

Dawn broke, the sun rose; hundreds died, and yet I felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders:



I don't think IJHQ was very happy with yesterday

This answers another question:



Got lucky there - I thought they were where KB is; HMS Ceres and four destroyers off Exmouth escaped detection by some miracle. That sub TF to their west is actually a group of seven, also undetected and originally in transit for the DEI - my kingdom for a working torpedo tonight...

Bombardment of Cocos by the fast battleships got some damage done, and then the carrier aircraft bombed troops. Supplies are good for about 10 days of this sort of treatment. So - what happens next? Buggered if I know - probably a raid on shipping between Perth and CT, now they've gone and exposed themselves - but if I can find those battleships in the South Pacific they're getting nailed to a tree. Unfortunately they now seem to have left Suva; a destroyer is reported in harbour at Nadi, so we'll check up on that tomorrow.

UK carriers will enter Wellington tomorrow; US carriers are about five days out. Since the Japanese are farting about in the Indian Ocean, I think we're good to get the South Pacific airbridge up and running; Marine Raider detachments are waiting off the Tongas on subs and APDs at the moment, while a Marine Para Bn is at Auckland ready to jump on Raoul Island; garrisons and engineers for Niue and Raoul are loading up at Tahiti and Wellington respectively. A basic plan seems to be - whack battleships if they can be found, then retire towards appropriate island depending on where they are, cover landings there, remove for resupply. By that point the Japanese carriers can probably make it down to the South Pacific if they really sprint, but then that'll never not be true, and the point is that they're thousands of miles away now. Can't dither forever...

Raid on Colombo went off tonight; about 45 aircraft hit airfields. Results are pretty good:



Japanese also attacked Lashio; losses at 2700av:850av are about 10:1 in our favour, but the supply situation precludes doing that again, so we'll have to attempt to withdraw to China. Scads of artillery but no tanks, at least - must have been reporting trucks as AFVs.

May. 28

I check sigint every day, but at the moment it feels so unnecessary - it's nice knowing where everything is! Well, some things, anyway - Japanese carrier aircraft hit Cocos again, making a big fuss and keeping everyone's heads down but not more than that. They've flipped over to the other side of the island now, presumably to depart the quicker. The CVEs off Exmouth have vanished again - fortunate, since I forgot to move Ceres & escorts away.

As an aside, my carriers really are like locusts - they've now stripped New Zealand of fuel completely. The 40kt on AOs should keep them going for a bit, but after they do whatever they end up doing down here I think they will have to go to Tahiti or back to Australia. That's without even trying to push the battleships about...

Transports Republic and William Ward Burrows reach Pago Pago, delivering a USN Const Bn and 12 105mm guns for the garrison there. Australian freighters Age and Barwon will arrive tomorrow, with 8000t of [s]nanite slurry[/s] supplies; the airfield should be able to conduct offensive operations by June 1st. Not really critical - it's a bit far from anywhere the Japanese actually hold, and with the carriers away (I was originally thinking they were somewhere on a line Truk-Nouméa, hence worrying) I can't see the battleship force doing anything rash - but nice to have.

There are only 240 troops left on Norfolk Island; hardly justifies the effort put into getting it, but I suppose there are no good answers for Japan in that sort of situation. Seems to suggest getting into the situation in the first place was silly, of course...

RAF bombers hit Trincomalee; I sent the USAAF home - it feels a bit strange having them doing lots of night attacks - but the RAF are a night force, so what the hell. Results are nothing special - apparently 2 Zeros, 3 Oscars, 3 Jakes and a Sally, in exchange for one Wellington and one Blenheim crashed on landing. There are apparently about 65 fighters at Trinco now, so I guess it's one Zero and one Oscar unit? We'll have a shot at Colombo port tonight, anyway - have never seen any ships in there, but I want to know whether straight port attacks hit repair shipyards - I think they do, but I'm still not sure.

May. 29-30

I was overloaded with work for a couple of weeks and got rid of it just as Saros bunked off on holiday, hence the long break.

Can't remember what happened on the 29th - can't have been much. Not all that much happened yesterday, either; Japanese aircraft sank two freighters off Pago Pago - a loss keenly felt, being the first in several weeks - and a Dutch submarine returned the favour off Broome. Another convoy into Port Hedland is bearing down from the northwest; about a dozen submarines will attempt to get in the way. I still hold PH, with the Japanese so far unable to shift an armoured car unit off the base; no resupply effort is on the cards as I have nothing much to reinforce with, but the unit withdraws in a couple of months anyway, so it's no loss. I'm still getting my bearings after being away from the game for the better part of six weeks, so something unexpected and tragic will undoubtedly happen tomorrow.

June. 1

Well, that answers that question:



Yamashiro, Mutsu, Kako, Furutaka and six destroyers. They destroyed two Buffalo on the ground...and hung around at Pago Pago afterwards. Not very bright. I've been trying to get some solid confirmation that they're in theatre for ages; I guess this means the attempt to sink them is on once everyone makes Wellington. USN CVs should put into port tomorrow, with their tankers following in two or three days; the Brits are already there and have taken on a full complement of aircraft. There is a tanker with 6000t of fuel off Rarotonga and a second just leaving Tahiti now with 15000t, so I think I can keep everyone moving from here on out. Just gotta keep tabs on the battleships...

Lashio fell; a single effective Chinese corps (c. 12000 men) can't really stand up against 80,000 Japs. Still, the retreat was orderly and the Chinese have further forces in Yunnan across the border, so we "should" be ok.

Madurai reaches AF Lv. 9; aircraft in southern India will concentrate here in a couple of days. Building effort will switch to Trivandrum, which I need to put Colombo in practical range of US fighters, after which the engineers can probably go back to Assam. At the moment I could put about one Corps ashore on military transports and probably another two on merchants, though it'd obviously be easier to get Japan to just decide Ceylon is more trouble than it's worth. No rush, though, at least for the moment.

What else...Jap 38th Div is reported on ships for Noumea, which on past performance probably means they'll arrive tomorrow. Interesting - Japanese garrisons have been keeping a low profile down here so far, with probably 1 Div each on New Cal/Fiji. 38th of course was at Batavia a couple of weeks ago; probably safe to say Java's not going to be very strongly held for a while.

June. 2

Quiet day. Submarine I-2 is reported sunk off Cochin; heaven knows what by, the nearest warship being off Bombay, but we have a Glen destroyed on the ground so I guess it's genuine.

Elsewhere, not much happens; we pick up a Japanese escort carrier division off Bali headed towards Darwin; presumably Cocos Island isn't considered a threat any more (took him long enough to figure that out...) so they're off to support whatever idiotic plan comes next. SS Admiral Wood makes Pago Pago safely with 5000t of general cargo; not a bad performance for being spotted 45mi away from a Japanese battleship force yesterday.

We're also going to try a little poke in Burma as I have aircraft coming out of my ears; there's a Japanese...Rgt? crossing plains on the way to Akyab, one hex west of Magwe, so the RAF will give it a buzz and the USAAF will give it a bomb. Could go badly!



Our chosen battlefield for the next two weeks or so.

- US carriers have made Wellington; will take on fuel and depart accompanied by tankers tomorrow.
- UK carriers and surface combatants depart Wellington today and will take on fuel off Rarotonga in 4-5 days.
- 47th Const Rgt, 2nd Marine Engr Rgt, 14th Engr Rgt, 111th USN BF and remainder of Marine Raider Bns at Rarotonga (14hex SE of Niue) with 5 freighters, 10 APDs and 60 transport aircraft for rapid occupation of Niue.
- 2nd Marine Para Bn to take Raoul Island as required to ensure fleet passage.
- Small force from 8th NZ Bde to occupy Norfolk Island as required to keep air forces on New Caledonia distracted there.

Niue is the big prize geographically; given possession of it and Raoul Island I can fly most things between Hawaii and Australia. Obviously the ships are the main target militarily, though I don't really hold out too much hope of getting them. Still, it's worth a shot.

June. 3

Busy day over Burma. Units moving to Akyab are 41st and 124th Inf Regiments; we trade two Hurricanes for six Oscars, seven Zeros and two Tojos clearing the way for the bombers - there were about 110 fighters involved on our end and maybe 30 or so on the Japanese end - after which 63 USAAF bombers hit the units; I expect we will take some losses on the ground particularly as the infrastructural situation doesn't really permit offensive and defensive activty at the same time. Disablements are about 5% - 15 squads and 22 support - of the Japanese land force, and I figure we have about a week before they leave clear ground and make jungle, so we'll repeat the experiment tomorrow; I expect Japanese fighter opposition will be much heavier, so we'll increase our force appropriately. I am ok with moderate losses to get in the way of the movement of these units. Akyab is a bit of a no-man's land at the moment - I have a Recon Rgt on the other side of the Kaladan but no forces in the base itself, which has been unoccupied since the removal of the Japanese from the base and is still heavily damaged. Ideally I would have liked to have kept it that way, but here we are; IV Corps will move to occupy, which they've been preparing to do for a few weeks now. Looks like we've got our Arakan fight after all...just have to avoid ballsing it up.

While this is going on, RAF aircraft hit fuel storage tanks at Jaffna and miss refineries at Magwe. The latter has most of the Japanese AA effort concentrated in one base; we're consequently forced to fly as high as the bombers can go. Makes bombing "pointless", but we're tying down hundreds of guns and 30 fighters every night with 10 Wellingtons, so who am I to complain?

USN carriers at Wellington proper refuel and will depart for Rarotonga today. We have heavy radio transmissions on Fiji, which I presume to be the battleships; I've decided to keep Raoul Island unoccupied as there's still no sign of any search aircraft based there (I have a bunch of NZ trawlers scootering around the vicinity) and I don't want to spook the Fijians.

USS Nashville and oiler Ramapo depart Midway northwestwards; they will do a little bit of looking around the mid-Pacific, along the approaches to Marcus, Wake etc and, if those are clear, see how far they can get until they aren't.