Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

Well, Mogami is my opponent and so far I have not paid a very serious price anywhere, except maybe the NEI.

Here is a map update of China showing the small battles that have been going on in February. Small red arrows show Japanese retreats, larger yellow ones the Chinese pursuit. In most cases this is a Chinese corp or two chasing a Japanese brigade or so. South of Wuhan it was 2+ Japanese divisions and about 8 Chinese corps.
There are also bombardment battles going on at the yellow circles. Mogami has been moving troops to Nanking:

Feb 10th:
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 67928 troops, 469 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 26956 troops, 272 guns, 7 vehicles

Feb 17th:
Ground combat at Nanking
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 72739 troops, 511 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 96277 troops, 1076 guns, 21 vehicles

I have not reinforced, the Chinese troop numbers are up as they recover from the disabled results of the initial shock attack. Peking is close to one to one, and in both cases the main objective is to increase Chinese troop quality, though China is building up forces to launch another big attack to try and take Peking.

[Tom Hunter]

Manila supply:
Feb 18: 4806
Feb 19: 4741

There is now a TF parked outside Manila bay, I guess Mogami does not want me sneaking any more ships in. Outside fortress Manila I counted 11 Divisions, 3 Arty regiments, 3 armored regiments and some engineers. All I can say is I am glad that stuff is in the Phillipines, if it were somewhere else it could really do some damage.

In the last two days the action (such as it is) has been focused on the South Pacific. KB showed up and sunk and AVD and an AK. They also shot down 3 F4F3s. Now what looks like a troop convoy is heading towards Guadalcanal. The Allies had a Marine defense battalion, a marine para battalion, another base force and a NZ Brigade heading to the Solomons but it looks like they may be too late, all are heading to Noumea, Luganville or Efate. If Mogami raids and leaves I will move in, otherwise the position farther South will continue to build up.




In Burma the two armies have seperated, and the Japanese are coming under increasing air attacks from the Allied bases in India.

In China not much has happened, both armies are moving around, Japan to throw the Chinese out of Nanking and China to throw the Japanese out of Peking. Until this resolves itself I am going to call it the battle of the two Kings.

[Tom Hunter]

Manila supply watch:
Feb 20: 4523
Feb 21: 3991

A small amount of supply is coming in on submarines, it will not stop the decline but it may give me 2-3 more days. The only way to get a meaningful increase is for another shipload to make it in. A 4500 AK is reaching the staging area East of Luzon and will try to get in during the next period of bad weather.

We have spotted another 15 units at Naga (there are 28 at Manila now) Mogami is getting serious.

In China the Japanese are trying to cut off supply to the troops fighting in Nanking, the Chinese are moving troops down the rail line to keep the route open. Further North 6 Chinese corps are gathering at Kaigan to join the battle for Peking. It will be some time before that group is ready. Lately intel is reporting Japanese units planning for attacks in China. Have I annoyed the Japanese into a change of focus?

In Burma the Japanese shifted from bombing Rangoon to attacking Akyab:
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 49
G3M Nell x 49
G4M1 Betty x 42

Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 13 destroyed

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 16

The loss rate is unacceptable to me so I pulled the fighters out. The British want equal or greater numbers and Akyab can't support that. Also two RAF Hurricane squadrons are in China where they trained by bombing the Japanese. That has pushed thier experience level from the low 50s into the low 60s but with the war starting to get serious it is time for them to return to British territory. I plan to put up a serious fight over Mandalay with somewhere between 60 and 100 fighters. The best circumstances would be for that battle to start 8 days from now, because the Zero bonus drops again at the start of March.

In the South Pacific the Japanese invaded Kaivieg on Feb 20th. Small attacks by Hudsons based in Rabaul had no effect, but a group of Beauforts just flew in and might cause more damage. KB is now one hex SE of Stewart Island, it ran over the two subs and has damaged them both. There are transports with it, destination unknown though Guadalcanal is most likely.

Father South the bases at Luganville-Efate and Noumea-Koumac are not really ready. Luganville is L3 and so is Noumea but they have 30 and 60 AV, they need over 100 each to be really effective. Efate and Koumac are both level 1 with 20 or so AV. More base forces are coming in, Noumea will get one in the next couple of days, but if Mogami strikes South the odds will be with him.

All the non West Coast units in the US army are now either at sea on their way to the South Pacific or deployed in Hawaii, SouthPac or North Pacific. Same for the air units.

[Tom Hunter]

Here is the long promised look at India

The first number is the AP, the second is the airfeild size, then the fort last is the AV.

So Calcutta has 313 AP in defense, a level 4 airfield, a level 9 fort and 60 air support.

I did a little math and made the frightening discovery that the whole of India has 2919 Assualt Points and that includes almost the entire army out of Malaya. 6 Chinese SEAC divisions are coming in as well so that will boost me by a bit over 900 after they finish building up. 3 SEACs are in Burma fighting the Japanese already, they may end up in India as well.

FYI 2nd Division has not yet arrived and there are about 150 AP that are in transit and not represented on either this map, or the map of the other half of India that I will post later.

My plan is to get every fort to L9. Coastal air bases are not expanding unless they are behind a big fort with a lot of mines, and even then maybe not. The Inland airbases will be built up, Bangalore and Hyderabad will eventually get into the 5-7 range.

[Roger Neilson]

Cannot see any numbers?

Roger

[Tom Hunter]

I had a problem with the map, here is another try:





The small ports have RN base forces as garrisons. This is important because the RN base forces have CD guns in thier OOB which will do more to disrupt landings than other units. I don't expect any of those bases to hold but it will slow the invasion and also prevent Mogami from picking up a base on the cheap. Some of the air support units in Mardras will go to Hyderabad soon, other than that and distribution of the Chinese the garrisons are pretty well set.

[Mike Solli]

As a Japanese player, I end up fixating on the bottom of the map. There is no place in my game where I have 171k supplies in one hex.[X(][&:]

[Tom Hunter]

That is Pearl Harbor

Lahaina has about 100k

Hilo has about 80k

All three have level 3 airbases, some forts, hundreds of AV and well over a division of ground troop. There are over 340 aircraft there as well, Some are running South now because Mogami is pushing into the South Pacific.

In India there are sizable supply dumps in Trimcomalee, Madras, Daimond Harbor, Chadpur and it is leaking inland to Dacca and Calcutta but not fast enough

[Tom Hunter]

The war has gotten a lot hotter in the last few days

Manila supply watch:
Feb 22: 3986
Feb 23: 3748
Feb 24: 3443
Feb 25: 3440

Feb 23, the IJN try to support the army:
Naval bombardment of Manila, at 43,52 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

52 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Usugumo
DD Shinonome
DD Akatsuki, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsuharu
DD Asagumo
DD Minegumo
DD Natsugumo
CL Yura, Shell hits 3
CL Jintsu
CA Kumano
CA Mogami, Shell hits 5
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Nagato
Allied ground losses:
393 casualties reported
Guns lost 15
Runway hits 3
Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 2

The DD went down later in the day. Not a huge win for the Allies, but a win none the less. Since all the guns are 12" and up the CL and CA are probabley hurting a bit too.

On land he sticks to bombardment attacks, but the number of units is rising. I have one more blockade running coming in, it is just North of Luzon now, I am going to send it into the Phillipines sea and then come in from the West. Any supply at all would be a huge help right now.


The Chinese are pulling back from Nanking and Peking. Too many Japanese units running around in my rear area trying to disrupt supply. Curiously the Japanese seem to be abandoning Peking as well. Perhaps they are sending troops to invade Russia. Both sides are fencing now, looking for advantage and finding none.

In Burma the Japanese have taken Rangoon which was defended by the wrecks of some obsolete aircraft. 100 Japanese casualties were caused by a tac left in the seat of a Hurricane II. However they are only disrupted and will be in action again soon.

The Allies bombed Rangoon to keep the airbase shut, and smaller planes from Mandalay, Imphal and Chadpur went after the Japanese army.
Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 38
No Allied losses
Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 35

The Japanese are pounding Akyab in retaliation.
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 19
G4M1 Betty x 41 (+ about 40 Zero's escorting)
Allied aircraft
no flights

No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed
Blenheim I: 2 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 34

The Allies have CAP of 70 Hurricanes and 15 Hawks over Mandalay, waiting for the Japanese. I am hoping that battle does not get going until March, since in 3 more days the Zero bonus drops from 2 to 1 a big improvement for me.

There are 2 brigades and a 103 AP Chinese division in the hex west of Mandalay, and 3 brigades, 2 Chinese divisions and a number of support units in Mandalay behind and L4 fort. This may be enough to hold the Japanese for a while, and the RAF is certainly working hard to mess them up as well.

[Tom Hunter]

The most serious fighting has been in the South Pacific.

The Japanese have bombarded Rabaul and sunk an AK unloading supplies there.

On February 22nd they started unloading troops at Guadalcanal

On the 23rd KB got within 4 hexes of Noumea, and the great Noumea Turkey shoot took place:
Day Air attack on TF at 71,110
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 70
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 21
P-40E Warhawk x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 6
B-26B Marauder x 24
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 17 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed
B-26B Marauder: 16 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CV Soryu
CV Shokaku
CV Hiryu

Several smaller attacks went in as well, no hits were scored. Some of the Allied planes in Noumea scattered to Efate and Koumac, or even to Nandi in Fiji.

On the 24th a few planes sortied against KB and failed to score hits. Japanese planes hit 3 AKs in Noumea harbor.

Further North B25s from Noumea and A24s from Luganville hit the Japanese support force, sinking an AV and dropping a 500 lb bomb on a DD.

Day Air attack on TF at 71,107
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 8
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AV Sanyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 7000 feet
4 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 7000 feet

Mogami is winning but the Americans still have well over 100 operational aircraft in the immediate area. The big problem for the US is base force capacity, Noumea has 81, Luganville 30, Efate 28, Koumac 23. If Mogami had arrived 5 days later Lugaville would have had 120, instead those troops are unloading at Nandi right now.

Hudsons have been flown in from Australia to keep hitting the support convoys, and other air units are coming in from Pearl. The Allies can fight a long attrition battle here, and when Efate turns into an L2 airfield Mogami's situation will get even more difficult.

The Japanese hit before Allied preperations were complete, so they are dong much better than they would if they had waited. I suspect the loss of the AV will convice him that this is not worth while. But if I am wrong and he tries to invade then the many Allied units that are close by will come into the fight, and it only takes a few lucky bombs to make this a very costly raid for Japan.

As an aside there are no transports in the immediate area, and the nearest surface TF is the Prince of Wales group which is now near Aukland.

[Tom Hunter]

Manila supply watch:
Feb 26: 3415
Feb 27: 3404
Feb: 28: forgot to check
March 1: 3380
March 2: 3688 A 4500 AK is unloading, but Mogami spotted it and 2 float planes attacked already. Unless I have some really good luck with thunderstorms it will be bombed to peices on the 3rd. No more attempts will be made to get ships into Manilia but subs are bringing in small amounts of supplies.

The low supply consumption is bad, it means the units are starting to eat thier organic supply. Mogami sent this email a couple of days ago:
Hi, Well the next week (First week of march)Is going to be interesting.
Japan is going to throw everything on the ranch at Manila I'll send you the
data the turn I order the assault (waiting for 1 more engineer to get there)
I was surprised this turn by recon report of 30k+ Allied troops at Noumea.
Almost forces me to try for it. (but the troops required are all sitting in
Manila) But I guess that will be the next major location. (I was wavering
between the Central and South Pacific)
Hope you are having fun with this game.
Hope you don't think I always play like this. I normally use many rules I
only impose on myself. This game is an experiment to me and so I don't have
any ego attached to the outcome. (I'm more interested in finding an answer
to a question then I am in the score)

This concerns me a bit, because if he is not trying to win then he has no chance. I am not certain I can beat him, but I am certain I can beat him if he is not trying to win. More recently he sent me Japanese production and resource statistics, but I don't want them, or any other information that will help me win the game.

In China the I decided to pull out of Nanking and Peking at the same time that Mogami decided to pull out of Peking. So we have these strange one unit on one unit bombarment battles going on there. I am guessing that the Peking troops are heading for Russia. The Chinese retreated to Kaigan and are now advancing again hoping to take the city.

Near Changsha a Japanese headquarters unit surrendered, causing a loss of 3,000 men and boosting the Japanese infantry point loss from 462 to 494. The usual daily combats have pushed it up to 500 since then.

With a large Japanese force in Nanking or moving North from the city the Chinese army at Changsha has the opportunity to hit Wuhan, now covered by 16 Japanese units. I doubt the place will fall, and I may not launch anything more than a bombardment attack but it will still reduce Japanese supply and increase Chinese experience so 4,000+ APs are on their way.

Burma is a pure air war at the moment. On February 28 Mogami decided to see what was flying CAP over Mandalay:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 43
Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 3
Hurricane II x 33
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75A: 1 destroyed
Hurricane II: 16 destroyed, 1 damaged

I was hoping to have 60 Hurricanes up but many did not fly. In spite of inflicting 3 to 1 losses Mogami has not returned. I put more planes in figuring that over time his quality will drop and mine will increase. Also on March 1 the Zero bonus declines again. But no battles occured so many of my fighters are back to bombing the Japanese in a desperate effort to improve the experience of the air groups. Right now the Hurricane groups are all in the 60s, with one exception in the 70s, but 3 of the Hurri groups are at 61 which is not good. The Dutch are a bit worse with 59 and 54 xp in the two groups of Hawks that are operating at Mandalay.

Down in the South Pacific Mogami continues to attrit the allied airforce as my planes launch the occasional bombing attack on KB. He also caught the cruiser Adelade in Harbor at Noumea and sunk it with 15 bomb hits. So far the Allies have not put a single bomb on the Japanese, but have lost between 120 and 170 aircraft trying.

It was not all bad news though on the 27th CAP from Koumac hit the Japanese over Noumea:Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A Val x 94
B5N Kate x 158

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
D3A Val: 7 destroyed, 16 damaged
B5N Kate: 14 destroyed, 2 damaged

The Jap bombing attack caught some planes on the ground and pounded an S boat and an MSW but Mogami decided it was not worth it and pulled the CVs back to a position North of Luganville.

The Americans have a lot of planes in the Islands and Efate is now a level 2 field, but the AV numbers are still much too low. More AV is at Suva and 2 base forces, and Airforce HQ and the Americal division are all East of Fiji on transports, when KB moves out of the area the reinforcements will land and it will be possible to put up a serious fight.

On Feb 27th Guadalcanal fell to Japanese attack, 1019 Allied troops were captured.


Strategically my big problem is air losses. The big raid into Noumea has cost me a bunch of planes and Mogami is getting a very nice kill ratio. The British are fast approaching the point where they can fight the Japanese and win, but the Americans are still not there. Regular air combat is good for me, my quality goes up as Japans declines, but I have not been able to force it anywhere but Burma. The loss of Guadalcanal makes this even more difficult since the Japanese can sit there and the Allies cannot move back into combat range without launching a major invasion.

Also Mogami has been very careful about keeping his shipping safe. So I have only sunk 25 or so Japanese ships, mostly because they don't come anywhere near me.

On the bright side Manila is holding down over 300,000 Japanese troops. I have no idea what will happen when Mogami's additional forces attack, but I know he sent more than 10 additional units, it will be a hell of a big hammer. The city may fall rapidly, or it may last until the supplies run low which is still some days away.

Either way hanging on there has been a huge help to both India and the South Pacific. Both these areas are getting stronger by the day, India is now organized and pretty much ready for Japanese invasion, and the troop numbers and air support in the South Pacific will double in the next 2 weeks.

Here is the Intel screen for March 1

[Tom Hunter]

Normally I wait more than a day between updates but March 3 will go down in history as the day the Japanese got serious about taking Manila.

First they sent in a shore bombardment force that found my poor AK:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Manila at 43,52

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro
CA Mogami
CA Kumano
CL Jintsu
CL Yura
DD Natsugumo
DD Minegumo
DD Asagumo
DD Harusame
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Shinonome
DD Usugumo

Allied Ships
AK Admiral Y. Williams, Shell hits 17, and is sunk

Then the shore batteries opened up (why they waited until after the AK sunk is beyond me, but what they heck).

Naval bombardment of Manila, at 43,52 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

58 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Yura
CL Jintsu, Shell hits 5, on fire
CA Kumano, Shell hits 5
CA Mogami, Shell hits 6, on fire
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 7
BB Fuso
BB Nagato, Shell hits 2


Allied ground losses:
147 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Followed by an air attack by 44 Sallys and then this:

Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 362766 troops, 3354 guns, 571 vehicles

Defending force 92082 troops, 843 guns, 204 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 6

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 6


Japanese ground losses:
9742 casualties reported
Guns lost 207
Vehicles lost 46

Allied ground losses:
884 casualties reported
Guns lost 49
Vehicles lost 1

Manila is at 3961 supply, up slightly from the day before so maybe my AK bought me something. Moral is still good and disruption low in the combat units, but the support units are pretty beat up and low on supplies.

Japanese casualty figures went from 500 to 524. Obviously the American and Phillipino troops can't hold on forever but this could have been worse, the place could have fallen on the first attack. 360,000 troops is a lot of attackers!

[witpqs]

After reading the previous description of forces I expected the first turn he attacked would be very bad for Manila. Instead, a surprisingly good result for you. Like you say though, it's just a matter of time.

[Tom Hunter]

Manila supply watch:

March 4: 3824
March 5: 3689
March 6: 3426

Action on March 6:

Bombing attacks by over 270 Japanese planes[X(]

Ground combat at Manila
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 348161 troops, 2987 guns, 518 vehicles
Defending force 89492 troops, 775 guns, 204 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)
Japanese ground losses:
7318 casualties reported
Guns lost 217
Vehicles lost 14
Allied ground losses:
1696 casualties reported
Guns lost 33

Elsewhere the Allies continue to bomb Japanese troops at Pagan in Burma and the base East of Pagan falls to a Japanese regiment.

In China the Attack on Peking goes in on March 3:
Ground combat at Peking

Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 93045 troops, 679 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 21438 troops, 280 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2
Japanese ground losses:
136 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Allied ground losses:
2904 casualties reported
Guns lost 74

Since then a tank regiment and an infantry regiment have joined the defenders. Looks like Peking is a no go.

In the South Pacific KB is heading East from Luganville in the general direction of Pago Pago. Nothing in the on the Allied side except a pair of AVDs that are running. Numerous base forces and other forces are heading for the Noumea Luganville area after parking in safe places during the raid.

[Tom Hunter]

And a post in reference to the Japanese 4 to 1 victory thread on the main board.

The map shows the buildup of what I consider to be defesable Allied positions around the Pacific. A finished position has at least 3 mutually supporting airbases of Level 3 and higher (no more than one is level 3) with several hundred AV in the bases, no less than 2 divisions of ground troops and over 300 aircraft not including search planes.

In this game Hawaii is there, the build up was combat ready in early February 42 in spite of Mogami planting KB between the islands and the West Coast in December. The airbases still need to be enlarged and the forts are upgrading but the basic material, manpower and supply is in place.

The Calcutta-Dacca-Asanol area is also ready. Dacca is an L8 airbase, Calcutta L5, Asanol L5 all have ample AV and support. I am not expanding the airbases on the coast, it is too easy for Mogami to grab them with Naval support. Handing Japan an L5 airbase in Chadpur is a big problem for the Allies, but an L2 airbase next to Dacca is a big problem for the Japanese. This area is also ready at end of February 42.


Troops that were speeding the buildup in Calcutta have moved to Bangalore which is now L4 and climbing. Hyderabad is L3, Madras is 4 but not being expanded.

On Ceylon Trimcomalee is expanding a bit, but the main effort is to build up Mannagrudi so that the Allies have 2 airbases in close range of any base that the Japanese take on Ceylon.

In the South Pacific the Allies are not yet ready. Luganville is L3, Efate just went to level 2 and there is less than 120 air support in the whole area. However several convoys are coming in the next week or two and by mid March the situation will be very different with between 250 - 300 AV, and additional infantry division, more engineers and CD units. There are already over 300 planes in the area.

Port Moresby-Cooktown- Thursday is the final priority on my list. Thursday has a base force and will be level 2 by end of March. Port Moresby has recivied some re-inforcements but no new BFs so the air cover is weak. My best guess is that this area will be ready for serious combat operations some time in April or maybe May.

I made a concious decision to set Hawaii as the highest priority, then the South Pacific, then Port Moresby. Any one of these could have been pushed up at the expense of the others. My feeling was that if Mogami grabbed Hawaii early he would be very well positioned to get 4 to 1, because it would make gettiing into the war very difficult for the Americans. South Pacific was second because I felt I had a fair chance of winning the race to build it up, especially with Manila holding as well as it has. Port Moresby is the most difficult to defend, and I am unwilling to risk losing it, then haveing no forces for the South Pacific, then losing Noumea too.

In India things are looking as good as they can. Almost the entire army got out of Malaya, and several Chinese divisions are moving into positions around the country. But even with all those forces and the 2nd Inf division the Allies still have under 4,000 AP in the whole country. Because the distances are short and the airbases numerous I don't count planes in any given location. Every plane in India can be anywhere on the subcontinent in 3 days. Right now there are over 400 American British and Dutch planes in India. Not really enough, but we work with what we have.

[patrickl]

Hi Tom,

I share your feeling about Hawaii islands. If Mog takes that plus Christmas Island etc, he can then base his KB, LBA there and threaten ships carrying aircraft, LCUs, fuel and supplies from West Coast to Australian and South Pacific. If he will to deploy his Glen carrying subs bet West coast and PH plus the route south of LA along the edge.. double jepardy! IMHO.

Regards
Pat

[Tom Hunter]

I was very impressed by Adm. Laurent's recent seizure of Hawaii. It will be interesting to see how that game plays out over time.

At this point I don't think Mogami can take Hawaii at all, to much stuff in too many different locations, plus the constant possibility of an attack by the US CVs.

[Tom Hunter]

Manila supply
March 7: 3239
March 8: 3040

Mogami is bombing the land units, not the port or airfield so I suspect he thinks all the supply is gone. That is good, because with 300 planes he could knock the supply level down 300-500 in the first day and that would burn it up much faster than the 150 per day I am using now.

The defending units are starting to run out of supplies now. Inspite of the 3000 in the city many of the base forces are at zero. The combat units are well into the red. Will Manila last 15 days (3,000/200 supply per day) or more, or less? stay tuned.

In Burma the Japanese crossed the Sawleen river into a Chinese division and two brigades West of Mandalay. They got 1 to 1 on the shock attack so they are disrupted, the Allied units are heading for Mandalay which has an L5 fort. Allied airstrikes are pounding the Japanese merclessly, and slowly raising the XP levels of my Hurricane pilots. Most are low 60s, but the only unit in the 50s is the 16 plane Dutch Hawk group.

Allied 4 engine bombers have launched a few successful attacks on the Japanese base at Tavoy blowing up 40 planes in two days. That happended in early March but I neglected to metion it.

In the South Pacific I keep trying to hit KB and he keeps shooting down my planes. I made a mistake and put the 51st base force on ships to Noumea. It is unloading there now, but KB is off Fiji, and if I had it at Nandi my air support situation would be a lot better. On the 8th KB found a convoy carrying the Americal division and escorted by the Chicago. Chicago is sunk and the transports are scattered, I suspect many of them will get away because KB is low on ammo. So far no losses to the Americal but I might lose a boats worth we shall see.

In China I think I have seriously outmanuevered Mogami. The Chinese army at Changsha moved to Wuhan, pinning the Japanese garrison in place. Mogami's main mobile army has been chasing some HQs North of Nanking (Red Arrows). I moved the troops that had been guarding the North side of the river at Wuhan to Kaifeng where they have joined with the troops coming North from Nanking. If the Chinese can catch the 100k Japanese troops out in the open they can shock attack them and chase them back to the nearest supply source. If they manage to get two (or more) shock attacks off then the Japanese will be out of supply and incapable of offensive operations for a week or three. That will give China the chance to mass forces and maybe take another city or two.

Of course if Mogami is smart he will just run away, but the offensive is an appealing fantasy and he might get greedy for the HQ units.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
Manila supply watch:

I will miss this as regular part of your posts once Manila falls [:D]

Please replace it with "<some other place> supply watch".

O.

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
Manila supply watch:

I will miss this as regular part of your posts once Manila falls [:D]

Please replace it with "<some other place> supply watch".

O.

How about:
San Francisco supply watch: 999,999 supplies, 999,999 oil.[:D]

Maybe you could make a keyboard macro to save time![:'(]