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*****
12/25/1944

The Empire continues to shrink - Milne Bay was finally captured by the enemy this week, although remnants of our forces continue to harass his troops.
Everywhere else the familiar picture - merciless bombing and bombardments by the enemy, futile and ineffective counterstrikes by our diminishing forces. Osaka and Nagasaki have been heavily hit by several waves of B-29s and planes from two carrier task forces steaming almost within visual distance of the Home Islands. 25.000 civilians were killed, the few remaining factories, shipyards and supply depots damaged and about 40 freighters sunk in port. Counterattacks with hundreds of sorties of both conventional and special attack missions managed to obtain one single Kamikaze hit on a CV, but little damage was done.
Enemy aircraft operating from China, Takao and Okinawa attacked our resupply convoys and sank 3 DDs, 1 AV, 1 AO, 2 MCS, 2 TK, and 1 patrol craft.
Enemy subs sank another AV and heavily damaged a third. One of our subs prowling the convoy lanes of the enemy managed to sink a freighter near Minami Tori Shima.
Finally, our much-diminished surface striking force covering convoys to Keelung was surprised by superior enemy forces and almost wiped out. The enemy force consisted of 3 BBs (North Carolina, New Mexico, Ramillies types), 1 BC (Alaska class), 2 CA (New Orleans, Dorsetshire types), 6 CL (Cleveland, 3 Fiji, Omaha, Oakland types) and 11 Fletcher class DDs. On our side, 3 Myoko class CAs, an Agano class CL and five DDs were sunk, the enemy lost only a Fiji class CL to a well-placed torpedo. As a sequel, a lone Fubuki class DD who had been guarding a mortaly wounded CA engaged the entire enemy force and managed to obtain six shell hits on North Carolina before sinking under a deluge of incoming rounds. To add insult to injure, the enemy force then proceeded to bombard our ground forces at Keelung.

Air score 1022:448. Enemy subs infest the waters south of the Home Islands and the South China Sea, but sank only 2 MCS this week.

Emperor LST is exasperated that most of the fighters units set to special attack refuse to follow orders. Apparently only bombers and fighters equipped with obsolete Hayabusa planes descend on the enemy like the heavenly wind. Pilots flying Setsu or Reisen fighters always abort their missions when opposed by CAP. The Emperor has ordered a higher beer ration for those units, hoping to convince them to do their duty.

*****
01/01/1945

New year, but no new hope. Port Moresby, the last outpost in the South, fell this week, as did Ambon Is. to several brigades of Aussies. Only at Hengyang the enemy ground attack failed again.
Nagoya and Tokyo suffered bombing attacks with up to 150 B-29s per wave, at least 35.000 civilans died and many factories suffered damage or have been wiped out.
Enemy fighter-bombers and bombers in the Formosa-Ryukyus area sank an AO and 2 AV. Enemy f/bs on the Bonin Is. and Iwo Jima even dared to attack the new carrier Shinano and its screen forming up in Tokyo Bay, but CAP prevented any damage and Shinano got away to a safer destination.
Two enemy carrier TFs raided the Philippines, destroying many planes in the air and on the ground. Although the air bases in the Philippines had been fully developped by our SBF and Engineers and were packed with Army and Navy fighters and bombers (most on special attack), not one of our numerous counteratttacks penetrated enemy CAP and as before, most fighter pilots aborted their missions. Only two brave Judy pilots managed to crash their planes on an enemy carrier, causing moderate damage.
Our submarines heavily damaged a CVE, but missed another CVE and a BB, and all three subs were sunk in counterattacks. Enemy subs in the Keelung area sank four of our AVs trying to run the blockade.
Enemy capital ships bombarded Keelung unmolested.

Air score 1183:458. Enemy subs sank 4 MCS in routine convoys.


Emperor LST called a war council in order to survey the options remaining for the year 1945.

(This may give some useful info to my opponent, but how can the situation get any worse...)

The strategic situation is bleak. We have lost the entire Central Pacific area. The enemy holds positions right at the doorstep of the Home Islands. Most of Japan is within fighter range, all of it within range of heavy bombers. In the North, enemy activities in the Aleutians indicate additional trouble from another corner. In the West, the Commonwealth forces slowly push their way in to the SRA. In the South, the enemy has advanced up the Northern Coast of New Guinea and now strikes the SRA from the East and probably will return to the Philippines soon. The defenses in this area are weak, since the balance of our remaining ground forces are holding the key city of Bangkok (8 divisions) respectively clinging on to Keelung on Formosa (11 divisions, 7 brigades plus various detachments). Prospects of pushing the enemy back are nil. Keelung can't be resupplied any more and will fall soon. Most likely, the enemy will seize more bases for suporting an eventual invasion of the Home Islands (if he doesn't force auto-victory before).

Soon the convoy routes to the SRA will be cut, ending the flow of resources and oil for the war economy. Resource stockpiles are around 300.000, but oil stockpiles are kept barely above 5000. It is only a question of time until our oil sources in the SRA are cut off and/or our few remaining tankers are sunk.
His air attacks have destroyed large parts of the biggest cities, and many factories are heavily damaged or have ceased production entirely. We have 11 HI points (3 operational), 5 Arty points (non operational), 2 Armor (none operational) and 23 shipyard pints (14 operational) left. Replacements for the Infantry have long gone, there are only 9 tanks in the pool. Only the artillery has more than needed (8600 guns in pool). Most of our combat units are seriously understrength.

Our air forces are incapable of stopping enemy attacks and even less capable to strike back - the most experienced fighter unit is barely above 60 points, the balance is in the 20s-50s. Stocks of bombers are still large, but we are running out of modern fighters. We still have about 400 Shinden fighters in reserve, but the pool of Hayate fighters for the Army Air Force is almost empty. We already have converted all actual or future Kamikaze units to older, obsolete types of planes. The Kamikaze Corps is effective only when attacking soft targets - as soon as decent AAA or even only moderate CAP is encountered, our pilots die bravely but in vain.

Our Navy has two undamaged capital ships left - CV Shinano and CVL Chiyoda. The damaged remnants of Combined Fleet include:
CV Kaga (68)
CVE Unyu (87)
BB Haruna (68)
BB Ise (26)
BB Hyuga (13)
CA Myoko (86)
CA Tone (57)
CA Atago (42)
CA Mikuma (33)
CL Yahagi (82)
CL Oyodo (28)
CLAA Isuzu (43)
39 DDs of various types, capabilities and operational status.

Any sortie of those ships will result in destruction for no gain. Our submarine forces are difficult to count since the boats on deployment keep radio silence, but in the vast Pacific Ocean no more than 40 submarines are still stalking enemy ships. From time to time they get a lucky hit, but more often than not they are spotted and sunk.

The only bright spot in the entire situation is that beer supplies are still ample.

In conclusion, Emperor LST decides that the only option left is to drink as much beer as possible in order to leave nothing to the Allied soldiers soon marching up the steps of the Imperial Palace.

Situation in the North

Situation in the South

Ships sunk

Losses

Score

*****
01/08/1945

A reltively quiet week - Buna was captured unopposed, ground attacks at Port Moresby and Ambon continued.
Tokyo and Hiroshima were bombed at night, 6000 civilians died and supply depots were heavily damaged. Our night bombers hit back at Okinawa and Takao. The usual bombing attacks against Ambon, Timor, Port Moresby, Milne Bay, Palau, Medan and Hengyang continued. Enemy fighter-bombers from Takao sank an AO off Lingayen.
An air strike from Nagoya against CVs lurking off the Home Islands brought nothing but heavy losses. Off Leyte, a similar operation scored hits on two different carriers, one damaged superficially, the other quite heavily, but at a heavy cost for our air forces.
Enemy surface TFs bombarded Medan and Keelung, and a few DDs even bombarded Uruppu far in the North.
Enemy submarines sank one DD of the Kamikaze class off Nagasaki. Our subs attacked and missed a CV north of Pearl Harbour, two more sub attacks against APs in the Ryukyus resulted only in those two subs lost.

Air losses this week a moderate 348:161. Enemy subs sank 3 DEs, 1 CD, 5 MCS and 1 TK.

Emperor LST has invited the members of the war council to help with the vital beer drinking task.


*****
01/15/1945

Another quiet turn - ground attacks at Port Moresby, Milne Bay and Ambon, the ususal bombing attacks and reprisals, Tokyo and Hiroshima again heavily hit (at least 16.000 civilians killed, depots and a Hayate factory damaged), bombardment of Keelung and Medan. Unusual the bombardment of Karafuto by a bunch of DDs - something is up in the North. At Manokwari, the 1/1st Cav Bde landed unopposed. One of our subs missed a damaged CL and lived to tell the tale. Finally, aircraft from Nagasaki and Amami Oshima attacked a convoy off Amami and sank 3 DDs and 1 MCS as well as damaging a CL . One of our returning escort pilots reported that he could clearly see the enemy Admiral being hit by debris from a Kamikaze hit - later the day 'Saipan Sakura' (the popular nickname for the American Propaganda Radio Station located at Saipan) reported that Admiral Thomas Kinkaid has received the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in action.

Air score only 121:56. Enemy subs sank 8 MCS and 1 TK.

Emperor LST wonders why his honorable opponent has put a good man like Kinkaid in command of a lowly transport convoy. Could it be that he was charged with invading Amami Oshima?

huh ...

Emperor deVada is joining Emperor LST in pain.
Empire is vanishing, beer supplies ruined ... ehhh ... time to go to bed ...

Shouldn't You be a writer ?
[&o]

*****
01/22/1945


Allied daylight and night bombing attacks against our bases at Amami, Ambon, Timor, Port Moresby, Milne Bay, Palau, Medan, Hengyang, Keelung, Bangkok, Tokyo, and Hiroshima caused extensive damage and many casualties - at least 24.000 civilians died, the Hayate factory at Hiroshima has been destroyed and supply depots badly damaged. Our CAP and night-fighters also suffered heavily, losing 200+ planes to enemy long-range fighters and defensive bomber armament while downing only about two dozen B-29s. Over Keelung we had better luck, 12 enemy fighters escorting 70 bombers met 85 of our interceptors who shot down all fighters and 39 bombers for 21 of our planes lost.
Our air forces in the Philippines and the Home Islands retaliated at night with raids against Iwo Jima, the Bonin Is. and Takao, but suffered heavy losses due to Allied night-fighters on CAP. A daylight raid from Keelung on Takao by 126 of our fighters and fighter-bombers brushed aside weak enemy CAP, destroying 21 planes in the air and 47 on the ground, losing 17 of their own.
Our planes at Kendari have attacked an enemy convoy near Sorong but bad weather and enemy CAP saved the enemy from damage. The enemy landed his troops and occupied Sorong unopposed.
In the Keelung-Amami area our air forces on Formosa, the China coast, the Home Islands, Amami and Sakishima have maunched numerous conventional and special attacks against enemy convoys, losing many many planes to enemy CAP and AAA, but sinking 1 DD, 2 APAs, 8 MCS and damaging other ships, amongst them 2 CAs, 1 AV, 5 DDs and a dozen MCS.

The enemy surface and carrier fleets as usual bombed and bombarded Keelung, bombarded Medan, and have hit Kagoshima, Ambon and Amami with carrier strikes. At Kagoshima, 112 of our fighters intercepted 84 enemy fighters and and equal number of bombers, but our inexperienced pilots splashed only 14 enemies for 99 planes lost in dogfights and 20 more on the ground. Counterattacks against BBs and CVs by our few remaining operational planes met heavy enemy CAP, and most of our pilots never returned. Off Medan, our air forces at Kuala Lumpur sighted an enemy TF consisting of 2 BBs, 2 CAs, 4 CLs, 1 CLAA and 20 DDs, our brave pilots managed to sink a DD and damaged a CA and a CL.
Our submarines sank 2 MCS north of Pearl Harbor and another off Midway and narrowly missed a CVL in the same waters. One sub failed to report in.

Air score this week 1226:344. Enemy subs sank 1 DD, 18 MCS and 2 TKs in our routine convoys.

Emperor LST orders GHQ to submit plans for a hit-and-run operation in enemy home waters in order to force the enemy to divert troops, ships and planes. The Emperor has promised several kegs of beer as a reward for the most cunning plan.

*****
01/29/1945

Many reports have been received in the last few weeks but constant air attacks have kept the file clerks in the airraid shelters. They are trying to catch up by cutting corners.

Ground War:
Amami Oshima: invaded and captured by 3rd, 5th Marine Divs, 77th, 93rd and 11th Airborne Divs, our 58th and 61st brigades plus 15th Army Eng continue to resist in caves and dugouts
Halmahera: captured unopposed by elements of 1st Cav Div
Medan: captured by CW forces, remnants of the Para Bde continue resistance
Port Moresby: last defenders eliminated
Milne Bay, Waigen: Allied attacks continue

Air War:
Ambon, Timor, Medan, Milne Bay and elsewhere the usual air attacks
Hiroshima I: hit by 60 bombers escorted by 50 fighters, 4/11 shot down for 124 out of 158 interceptors lost [X(], weaker second wave with similar loss ratios, moderate damage to supply depots
Hiroshima II: fighter sweep from Bonin Is. catch patrol craft in port, 60 interceptors engage 60 enemy fighter-bombers and loose 44 for 17 enemies splashed
Osaka: hit at night by 144 B-29s, 8 bombers shot down by AAA and night-fighters, 2000 civilians killed, shipyards moderately damaged
Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Takao: night bombing raids by our bombers with unobservable results

Naval Air War:
Amami: CV strikes in support of invasion
Kagoshima: CV strike on air fields, 41 planes lost for 7 enemies downed
Davao: strikes by CVE planes against supply depots
Amami, Okinawa and Keelung counterattacks against enemy TFs - heavy plane losses for only 1 APA sunk and 2 more damaged
Kendari: Sweep by 114 Zeros on special attack against CVE force, but pilots refuse to sacrifice themselves for lowly CVEs [&:] - 20 planes lost for 7 enemies downed


Naval War:
Keelung: heavy surface bombardment
Home waters: two of our subs sunk by air


Air losses 884:198
1 DD, 1 DE, 12 MCS, 2 TKs sunk by enemy subs


Emperor LST has threatened to cut the file clerk's beer supply if they don't catch up with the weekly reports ASAP.

*****
02/05/1945

Ground War:
Haiphong: in a meeting engagement of forces advancing on Haiphong from both sides, several Chinese Armies have been pushed back
Milne Bay: last defenders of the 1/35 Bn have been eliminated

Air War:
Nagasaki: night attack by 120 B-29s - 4000 civilians killed, shipyards and depots moderately damaged
Tokyo: night attack by 120 B-29s - 15 downed, 5000 civilians killed, shipyards heavily damaged
Nagoya: fighter sweeps from Bonin and Amami, 27 enemies splashed for 64 interceptors lost
Keelung, Hongkong, Hengyang, Bangkok etc.: usual rain of bombs and bullets

Naval Air War:
Sakashima, Keelung: enemy carrier raids
Menando: Allied LBA from Waigen catched convoy - 3 APs and 2 AOs sunk
Kendari: our air force at Kendari traded blows with CVE-TF - 60+ planes lost for 11 enemies splashed, not hits on TF
Timor I: air forces on Timor joined the fight and sank 1 Casablanca class and 1 Bogue class CVE, losing 24 aircraft
Timor II: our LBA catched Allied convoy in the Java Sea - 1 AP sunk, 1 AV damaged, 6 enemy fighters splashed for 34 aircraft lost
Halmahera: another convoy catched by our LBA - 1 Bogue class CVE, 4 AP sunk, one CVE damaged
Palau: 24 Tenzan torpedo bombers temporarily based at Palau surprised an enemy convoy on its way from the Java Sea to the Marianas and in repeated attacks sank 1 APA and 3 DDs

Naval War:
Kuala Lumpur: bombarded by RN
Attu: obeying the Emperor's orders, the remaining units of Combined Fleet launched a hit-and-run raid - Adm. Nishimura with 2 BBs, 2 CAs, 1 CL and 9 DDs (many of them damaged but still full of fight) bombarded Attu and destroyed 16 aircraft on the ground, in the process surprising a bunch off US DDs and sinking 2 Sims class, 2 Gridley class and 2 Mahan class vessels

Sub War:
3 subs lost to PBYs near Minami Tori Shima, Iwo Jima and Okinawa


Air losses 678:285
2 CDs, 20 MCS and 2 TKs sunk by Allied subs

Emperor LST is elated over the surprise pulled off in the Aleutians.

Attu: obeying the Emperor's orders, the remaining units of Combined Fleet launched a hit-and-run raid - Adm. Nishimura with 2 BBs, 2 CAs, 1 CL and 9 DDs (many of them damaged but still full of fight) bombarded Attu and destroyed 16 aircraft on the ground, in the process surprising a bunch off US DDs and sinking 2 Sims class, 2 Gridley class and 2 Mahan class vessels

Nice sneak attack! (Isn't it fun that the US air superiority means little in the winter months?) What's the effect of the USN losses on the score?

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock
What's the effect of the USN losses on the score?

Strawbuk leading with about 150.000+ points against 100.000+ for the Emperor - but this will change when my forces at Keelung are wiped out, which can happen any week. I will loose a dozen divisions and sundry smaller units because I can neither resupply nor evacute them. Hope this won't be enough for auto-victory.

I will keep concentrating my remaining air assets for strikes against his fleet units - I'm running out of planes since industries are wrecked, but from time to time my pilots still strike gold (sank a BB recently [:D]). The game has reached end of march - writing AAR takes more time than actually playing the game...

*****
02/12/1945

Home Islands, Ryukyus, Formosa:

• Amami: ground attacks continue with only 3 US Army divisions - the Marines must have been withdrawn for another invasion - but where?
• Sakashima: captured unopposed by 5th Marine Div, 7th and 9th Aussie Divs - 30 Kamikaze aircraft lost
• Keelung: bombed and bombarded by LBA and surface forces, but no carriers - counterstrike by 66 Ki-51 on special attack from Amoy, 61 lost for 1 CVE heavily damaged and slight damage to a BB, a BC and several cruisers and DDs
• Bonin Is.: fighter sweep from Nagoya with 129 planes met by 58 enemy interceptors - we lost 66 against 38
• Okinawa: night bombing attack from Hiroshima by 55 bombers - 27 night-fighters rose and downed 22 bombers, the rest caused moderate damage to supply depots
• Nagoya I: night-bombing attacks from Pagan with 120 resp. 90 B-29s - 9000 civilians killed, heavy damage to depots
• Nagoya II: daylight-attacks from Bonin Is. with a total of 23 fighter and 119 bomber sorties against 356 interceptor sorties - 60+ enemies splashed for 130 fighters lost, 12.000 civilians killed, Hayate factory and AFV factory heavily damaged
• Tokyo: night-bombing attacks from Guam with 120 resp. 92 B-29s met by 140+ night-fighters - 20 bombers shot down for 17 fighters lost, 3000 civilians killed and moderate damage to oil facilities reported
• 2 of our subs sunk by PBYs off Iwo Jima, 1 US sub sunk by air off Nagoya

Northern Australia area:

• Waigen Is.: defenders of 1/20 Bn eliminated
• Timor: hit by air raids from Tenimbar Is. and Broome, 27 planes destroyed on the ground - air atatck from Timor against cargo-TF near Ambon, 1 APD sunk for 47 planes lost [X(]
• Kendari: air raid from Ambon by 120 bombers - 15 enemies downed for 16 own planes lost
• Palau: carrier raid destroy a number of planes on the ground, pathetic counterattack laughed off by the enemy

Asian Mainland:

• Medan: bombarded by RN
• Bangkok: atatcked by 60 bombers and 60 fighters, depots heavily damaged
• Amoy, Hengyang, Zhangjang bombed by the enemy, Rangoon and Suichan attacked at night by our bombers - light damage to depots

Air losses 570:324, no ships in routine convoys sunk but 2 MCS and 2 TKs damaged, 1 enemy sub sunk

Emperor LST wonders where the Marines and CVs will strike next

*****
02/19/1945

Home Islands - China
- Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and Nagasaki repeatedly bombed, 33.000 civilians died and industries suffered heavily, 20+ B-29s downed by CAP and AAA
- Hengyang: Allied attack with six Chinese Armies, the 36th CW Div and Merill's Marauders stopped cold by 3rd, 13th and 34th IJA divisions, the enemy lost 2200 men for 170 casualties on our side
- Zhangjang: recaptured by our forces, 2nd, 8th, 33rd and 74th Chinese Armies routed
- Amami Oshima: enemy ground attacks supported by air, four AVs, several APs and MCS trying to resupply Amami sunk by enemy air and subs
- Keelung: bombed and bombarded without remorse
- Foochow: raided by carrier air, 60+ aircraft destroyed on ground
- Formosa area: two of our submarines sunk by PBYs

NEI - Philippines area
- Kendari: raided by enemy CV-TF consisting of 3 CVs, 1 BB, 1 CL, 1 CLAA, 16 DDs - counterattacks from Kendari and Timor anihilated by CAP
- Medan: bombarded by RN, ground attacks continued

Pacific Ocean area
- Midway: attempted sneak attack of our remaining carriers against enemy cripples and convoys in the Midway area was discovered by enemy LBA, P-47s and TBMs damaged a CVL

Air losses 778:460, no ships in routine convoys lost

Emperor LST sends beer to the victorious forces at Zhangjang in order to encourage them to keep up the pressure


*****
02/26/1945

Home Islands - China area
- Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima bombed time and again - 30.000 civilians died, almost no producing factories left
- CV raid against Tokyo - 5000 more civilians killed and supply depots hit hard
- Amami Oshima: air and ground attacks continue, our defenders of the 58th and 61st Independent Brigades are holding out in isolated pockets
- Keelung: bombed and bombarded without remorse, 11 DDs on Tokyo Express run sunk by enemy surface forces, enemy ground attack finally breached our defenses and captured the base - our defenders still include the following formations: 8th, 10th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 32nd, 35th, 46th, 66th, and 105th IJA Infantry Divisions, 6th, 38th, 39th, 128th Independent Brigades, 31st SBF and a few small detachments of units based elsewhere - although doomed to sure destruction, these gallant troops continue to resist in underground installations, caves and tunnels
- Foochow: Kamikaze attack by 50 fighters and 20 bombers on enemy CVs anihilated by enemy CAP
- Okinawa: two more subs sunk by PBYs

NEI - Philippines area
- Medan: bombed, bombardment, ground attacks continue
- Kendari and Timor: raided again by enemy CVs, weak counterattacks by Kamikaze Coprs failed to score
- as usual (and no longer repeated in every report), air attacks against Timor, Kendari, Palau, Bangkok etc.

Air losses 408:220, six MCS sunk by enemy subs

Emperor LST sheds tears of anger and frustration over the vain sacrifice of the troops trapped on Formosa.

*****
03/05/1945

Home Islands:
- Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka bombed relentlessly despite revitalized CAP - 26.000 civilians killed, industries and supply depots flattened, 50 interceptors lost for 70+ B-29s downed
- Keelung bombed, bombarded, ground attacks
- Nagasaki: freighters assembled at Nagasaki for blockade-running supplies to Keelung caugth by LBA from Amami, Okinawa, China - 36 ships sunk
- Takao: sub sunk by PBY after sinking 2 MCS, Kamikaze from Amoy sank one large APA

Aleutians:
- Attu: raid of one IJA division finds well-entrenched US Army Rgt and fails to capture the base

NEI:
- Medan bombarded by RN
- Kendari: attacked by carrier-air and LBA, followed by invasion: 4th and 11th Aussie divisions plus 11th, 14th, 23rd, 30th brigades eliminated the 8th SBF and captured the base

Air losses favoring us (!) 171:261, no losses in routine convoys

Emperor LST prays to the gods of beer for enlightenment...


*****
03/12/1945

Home Islands, China:
- bombs kept raining on devastated cities - records lost due to communications blackout
- Keelung: attrition of our defenders continue, once again many blockade-runners sunk by LBA and carriers
- Nanning: successful attack by Gen. Yamashita captures the town, 4 Chinese armies forced to retreat
- Foochow: raided by carriers, 41 Kamikaze aircraft destroyed on the ground, pathetic counterattack only made the Allies laugh...
- at sea: our subs sank a new large freighter ('Victory' class) and heavily damaged a CVE, two subs failed to report

Aleutians:
- Attu:bombarded by remnants of fleet, ground attack fails again nonetheless

SRA:
- bombing attacks against Medan, Bangkok, Timor, Bali, Palau, Jitra
- Medan: brave defenders of the 1st Para Bde finally wiped out
- Strait of Malacca: the Para's sacrifice was not in vain - it gaves us time to deploy our new wonder weapon - 50 Betty bombers based at Kuala Lumpur and armed with Ohka guided bombs attacked the RN supporting the Medan operation (2 BBs, 2 CAs, 3 CLs, 2 CLAAs, 19 DDs) and sank the following ships:

• 1 KGV class BB [8D][:D][:'(]
• 1 Fiji class CL
• 2 Dido class CLAAs
• 2 Valentine class DDs
• 2 Quickmatch class DDs
• 1 Tenacious class DD

Another BB, a CA and a CL were damaged. BANZAI!!!

Air losses 347:314, no ships sunk but one enemy sub killed by escorts

Emperor LST has ordered that a new beer brand named 'Ohka' should be rushed into production and distributed to all air units.

Strait of Malacca: the Para's sacrifice was not in vain - it gaves us time to deploy our new wonder weapon - 50 Betty bombers based at Kuala Lumpur and armed with Ohka guided bombs attacked the RN supporting the Medan operation (2 BBs, 2 CAs, 3 CLs, 2 CLAAs, 19 DDs) and sank the following ships:

At last -- the organically guided cruise missles! (This is why I try to keep a number of Betty squadrons when I play as Japan.)

*****
03/19/1945

[*] Amami Oshima: Enemy ground attacks continue to reduce our few remaining pockets of resistance.
[*] Keelung: Our trapped ground units are bombed and bombarded without mercy. While bravely trying to deliver desperately needed supplies to Keelung, about 60 of our freighters were sunk by enemy LBA in the area - further attempts to run the blockade have been suspended , but the Army will continue restistance to the last man.
[*] Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo have suffered a total of 14 heavy night-bombing raids - a total of 34.000 civilians were killed, supply depots and factories damaged. Our night-fighters downed about 50 bombers, suffering some losses themselves.
[*] Palau, Timor, Bangkok, Hengyang, Medan, Menando and Balikpapan all struck by the usual air raids, damaging supply depots
[*] Davao: A sweep by 30 enemy fighters from Halmahera has destroyed 24 of our planes on the ground - we must find other places to assemble our future Kamikaze units
[*] Surabaya: Enemy CVs have been reported prowling the coast and attacking base facilities, depots and ground forces on Java. We have identified TF 59 consisting of fleet carriers and TFs 55 and 66 containing CVEs - this indicates an enemy invasion is imminent. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it but to order our garrison to fight to the death.
[*] Medan: Our air forces in Malaya pursued the fleeing enemy fleet and sank one CVE and one DE
[*] Total air losses this week 101:126 [:)], no losses in routine convoys.
[/ul]

Emperor LST pledges never to surrender as long as there is beer in stock.


*****
03/26/1945

Wild week this time...

• Amami Oshima: Ground attacks by the US 77th, 93rd and 11th Airborne divisions continue to attrit our defenders. 250+ Kamikaze aircraft from Nagasaki broke through 30+ enemy fighters on CAP over a supply convoy and sank 2 CVE, 200+ Kamikazes from Kagoshima did even better, sinking 1 Hawkins class CL, 3 Gearing class and 1 Sumner class DDs as well as 2 APAs and 1 MCS. Banzai!
• Keelung 1: Ground attacks including the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th Marine Divisions, the 6th, 24th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 38th, 41st, 81st, 96th, 98th US Divisions and the 5th Australian Division with strong air and naval support resulted in 4300 enemy soldiers killed - we lost only 3100 men despite all the shelling and bombing. His firepower doesn't match our spirit!
• Keelung 2: And just to show what spirit can do, 76 brave bomber pilots from Amoy attacked the bombarding BBs despite a 57-strong CAP overhead. Only one pilot survived interceptors and flak, but he aimed his plane at a battleship and dove straight down to crash the forward turret. The hit must have triggered a turret fire that flashed down into the magazines, for observers from a Navy SBF fighting near Keelung saw the ship exloding, hurling shattered metal and debris sky-high 'like a bunch of frogs jumping up all together'. The observers described the ship as 'odd-looking, with only two big turrets in front of the superstructure and none aft', it is therefore assumed that the Free French battleship Richelieu has been the victim of this brave Army pilot [8D]. Oh btw, enemy LBA sank a couple more blockade runners trying to get back to Japan, but well...
• Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo: suffering through relentless night-bombing attacks with at least 20.000 civilians killed, supply depots damaged and the rubble of factories saturated with bombs just to make sure... To add insult to injury, enemy CVs dared to bomb Osaka and Nagoya, sinking 1 AV and 12 DEs in port. Counterattacks by 78 fighters and 20 bombers from Osaka were intercepted by 120+ fighters on CAP - only eight of our fighters returned to base. Attacks from other bases met similar fates. Even the most experienced pilots left flying our latest fighters stood no chance against Hellcats and Corsairs.
• Surabaya: Like foreseen, the enemy invaded this week under cover of several carrier-TFs - the 4th Australian Division reinforced by the 30 Aussie Brigade, 1st, 8th and 14th NZ Brigades and the 37th US Regiment had no trouble taking the base from the lone brigade of the 18th IJA Division responsible for this sector. The remnants of this unit now hold blocking positions on the roads leading to Tjilatjap, where the bulk of 18th Division is dug in.
• Attu: In the Far North, a raiding force of 8 DDs clashed with an enemy surface force consisting of 1 CL and 12 DDs, losing one Akitsuki class DD to the accurate gunnery of the CL, but obtaining at least one Long Lance hit on the offender in return. Our DDs proceeded to shell the airfield and destroyed 25 planes on the ground.
• Palau, Timor, Bangkok, Hengyang, Medan, Menando and Balikpapan all struck by the usual air raids, damaging supply depots
• Total air losses 566:367, the reports for routine convoy losses were destroyed during the carrier raid on Nagoya port when bombs hit the building housing the Escort Command HQ.

Emperor LST raises his beer for a toast on the brave unknown pilot who scored against all odds.

Guys, this AAR had been slowed down by the arrival of MediumSlowTarget 16 months ago, and now it will slow down even more due to the arrival of SmallSlowTarget. The Emperor is very busy at the moment safeguarding the continuance of the dynasty, but he shall return his attention to the conflict against evil Strawbuk ASAP.


Btw, Emperor LST has received a long-distance telephone call - somebody with a heavy french accent whined 'Hey, you sank my battleship!'. The identity of the capital ship recently sunk by our air force has thus been confirmed.