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That is a fantastic result at Chengchow, a terrific victory there. The supply malus for the Japanese bodes ill for them in that theater.

4/9/45

Strategic Bombing: Sweeps went in before the bombers (not a common occurrence) and cleared out a nest of Georges and Sams. Weather shot down the B-29s from Formosa and some of the bombers from China, but enough sortied from China and Korea to hit Shimonoseki pretty hard. This raid was daylight at 10,000 feet. At that altitude, accuracy and results were dampened a bit but I didn't lose any Superforts. That's significant. This base will require one more good whack.

Tomorrow's raid will daylight at 8k against Hiroshima, which had no fighter cover today. I'm hoping to finish off that as a target.

Japan lost a lot of fighters today. At one point, the ratio of the major sweeps was 42:7 in favor of the Allies. So John's fighter corps is having real trouble now.

Those George’s are new , no? That and Franks. You are knocking down better planes than you are flying. I’m thinking that Johns pilot pools are gassed

Those models have been around a long time - look at the number of each that have been destroyed.

There's no doubt now that he's using green pilots of late. I know he has a corps of excellent pilots that he's using selectively. Eventually, he'll guess the right place and time, and I'll mis-guess, and he'll tear into a raid. But the past week has been a Happy Interval over Japan for Allied pilots.

4/10/45

Korea: Keijo is on the brink of falling.

China: Chinese army rails forward to Chengchow. I think the Kaifeng Pocket is about to get ugly for Japan.

Very impressive.

I'd much prefer your post-war Asia to the one that we got historically.

John finally hit the bottom of the barrel when it comes to his pilots, it seems. The fact that he's got plenty of pilots on carriers well away from the main action is very telling.

Maybe he's got another "India - 1945" operation under his belt?

If your speartip is going straight to Peiping you could have an awful river crossing shock attack into X4 HU terrain plus forts. You might want to take the delay and ford the river between Peiping and Tientsin.

Yeah, that's the plan.

4/11/45

Battle of Keijo: On the third day, a third consecutive deliberate attack comes off at 1:1 (disappointing), drops forts to 0, and inflicts considerably more damage against the Japanese. My guys need a rest, but the enemy garrison is gassed. AV of all but one division dropped to zero. I have a fresh division (100% prepped) one day out, so I'll renew the attack day after tomorrow. I have left one armored unit set to deliberate attack.

4/11/45

Raid on Hiroshima: Strong raid against Hiroshima faces very light opposition. 4EB losses are negligible. These daylight raids at 8k to 10k against light CAP have been efficient and successful.

Fighter sweeps against John's strongest bases (Nagasaki and Fukuoka), just to keep him on his toes, result in roughly 1:1 exchange, with each side losing about 25 good fighters.

Japan lost a lot of fighters today. At one point, the ratio of the major sweeps was 42:7 in favor of the Allies. So John's fighter corps is having real trouble now.

As enthused as I am about Allied victories, I think April 9th was an anomaly having much to do with the fall of Chengchow before John evacuated his aircraft. [:-]

That was the ratio in aerial combat between fighters on sweep versus CAP.

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Very impressive.

I'd much prefer your post-war Asia to the one that we got historically.

John finally hit the bottom of the barrel when it comes to his pilots, it seems. The fact that he's got plenty of pilots on carriers well away from the main action is very telling.

Maybe he's got another "India - 1945" operation under his belt?

I'd much prefer your post-war Asia to the one that we got historically.

Not so sure. The Marines occupied populated parts of China right after the war (and took causalities) and the situation was deteriorating. There was going to be a winner take all civil war once the Japanese were dispatched no matter what. I suspect we did what we could, realized it was not enough, and retreated in good order. If you have not read "With the Old Breed" you are missing one of the great memoirs of the war. Much later on he wrote a follow up, China Marine, about his short stay as part of the occupation force in China. It's a glimpse into a dying culture that Communism would eradicate from the earth

As to Singapore. If I recall you got a black eye or two there because of strong fighter protection. If he is adding troops, he is adding planes, and these might be good pilots. If you are going to make a push you might consider taking the Death Star and flattening the airfields and bleeding off any fighters. This will not be to difficult as John does not have a network of interlocking airfields. He can get stuff in, but there is no credible threat to your fleet and once the airfilds are trashed it will be easy to keep them that way

Singers has been under reconnaissance for a long time. John has a lot of fighters (about 140 or so) and bombers there. I haven't tested them yet because I suspect they are among his better squadrons. Right now, I don't have enough good squadrons in Malaya to work that angle. When the time comes, probably once Korea is decided, I'll be able to shift resources there - if there's still a war going on.

John clearly puts a lot of stock in Singers. He places more stock in it than I do, so I'll be cautious. I think that's part of the reason KB South is lurking down here. I'd take it if it was relatively easy, but I won't embroil myself in a costly charnel house when there are better ways to employ my assets in China and Korea.

But there may be ways to lure him into traps, etc. I don't have a specific plan yet, but I'm mulling over various notions.

The bigger picture is this: the Allied lead has increased to 140k to 76k. I'm 12k from victory. Points are comming much easier than they were just a week or two back. The Japanese are having trouble getting their fists up to defend themselves in the Home Islands. Korea is going to turn turtle on them when Keijo falls in two or three days. And the disaster that is China just went from major to immense - the Chinese army at Chengchow has 5000 AV - this is above and beyond what was already present and probably sufficient to handle the Japanese in the Pocket. Some of that 5,000 will help will reinforcing and reducing the pocket, but most of it will advance on Peiping.

In other words, the game is going to end by medium-term. I'm 100% it will end no later than the end of May. There's a chance it could end in early May. There's a remote chance it could end by the end of April.

In other words, the game is going to end by medium-term. I'm 100% it will end no later than the end of May. There's a chance it could end in early May. There's a remote chance it could end by the end of April.

Vegas bookies are giving a wider time spread.

4/12/45

Malaya: Allied army drawing closer to Singers, taking Malacca today.

4/12/45

China: The collapse of organized enemy resistance is underway, I think. The Kaifeng Pocket is a lost cause for John, though he probably has no way of knowing that yet. He is cobbling together a line at Peiping and Tientsin, which makes sense. The Allies will focus first on the Pocket, which probably won't take long, before releashing 4,000 or 5,000 AV to take on Peiping.

Korea: Key attack at Keijo tomorrow, and a snap invaison of Antung tomorrow or the day after.

Strategic Bombing: A good day with no opposition over Sendai and Sapporo.

In other words, the game is going to end by medium-term. I'm 100% it will end no later than the end of May. There's a chance it could end in early May. There's a remote chance it could end by the end of April.



Vegas bookies are giving a wider time spread.

Isn't the real question whether Canoerebel's AAR will hit 500 pages before the war ends ?

Or get 1m hits!