The Battle Under: Japan looks to the South

[SierraJuliet]

16 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese hothead runs amok again this time at Taung Gyi where a deliberate attack with max assault of 1 is ordered.  Not sure how this happened but only 20 casualties reported.  Everyone ordered back to a defensive stance for the time being.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 387 casualties and 21 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: 100 miles southwest of Changsha 9 Ann bomb China Command and cause 49 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Kweiyang 10th Chinese Air Base Force is bombed by 21 Sonia and loses 12 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Bataan 53 Helen bomb the airfield and cause 55 casualties, 5 airbase hits, 4 airbase supply hits and 13 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment attack at Manila causes 12 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost to 21 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 78 Allied casualties and1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: In the Coral Sea 17 Val and 20 Kate flying from a reduced KB made up of Kaga, Soryu and Shokaku score 1 bomb and 2 torpedo hits on AK Escalante R and this lone cargo ship is sunk.[align=left] [/align]3 Hudson land 1 bomb on AP Shintoku Maru causing 24 00 01 damage.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Siador.[align=left] [/align]Woodlark Island (undefended) is captured by Japanese forces.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  33 Oscar fly sweep over Palembang and encounter 5 Hawk 75A and down 3 of them.[align=left] [/align]South of Banjarmasin 4CW-21B Demon, 14 T.Iva and 10 Martin 139 locate a surface task force and score 3 torpedo hits of CA Kumano causing 61 84 26 damage.  Suzuya takes 2 bomb hits which cause no damage.  What a silly way to loose one of my valuable cruisers.[align=left] [/align]Mini KB raids Macassar with 15 Val and 34 Kate and destroys 1 K.K.51 and obtains 1 airbase hit, 1 airbase supply hit and 25 runway hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]AK Escalante R[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The Dutch air force reminds me that CAP is a brilliant idea when sending ships into sea areas containing contested air space.  At the end of the combat and after taking 3 torpedoes I was surprised to see Kumano still afloat.  I can’t see her making a safe port in time (some 6-7 hexes away) and yet I can’t bring myself to hit the scuttle button while there is a chance she could make it.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]In the Coral Sea Todd now knows where KB is but not its size.  I don’t recall any sighting reports and the strike was only a small 1 suggestive of 1 carrier only.  Hopefully this is a confusing report for Todd to decipher.

[SierraJuliet]

17 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Taung Gyi 40 Betty and 19 Helen bomb the airfield and score 3 runway hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 2 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost to 320 Chinese casualties and 11 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: 100 miles southwest of Changsha 9 Ann bomb China Command and cause 11 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment attack at Bataan causes 302 casualties, 2 guns and 1 vehicle lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Manila causes 7 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost to 64 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  32 Oscar fly sweep over Palembang and down 1 of the 3 Hawk 75A on CAP.[align=left] [/align]West of Macassar 3 Martin 139 attempt a bombing run on a surface combat task force only to loose 2 of their number to a CAP of 21 Zero.[align=left] [/align]Near Banjarmasin 14 Zero find another PT task force and shoot up PT TM-15 with 8 hits and PT TM-13 with 4 hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]Well out to sea north of Bonin SS Spearfish locates a tanker task force returning to the Home Islands.  The escort locates the sub and reports 4 hits.[align=left] [/align]Well to the west of San Francisco SS I-22 locates and transport task force and scores 1 torpedo hit on AP Barnett (causing 35 casualties) and is in turn depth charge attacked by DDs Dewey and Farragut and takes 1 hit causing 08 00 00 damage.[align=left] [/align] 
[align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]DD Shiokaze[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Shiokaze sinks at Gasmata after fighting a losing battle against flooding.  She is yet another of the victims of the Battle of Goodenough Bay.  The 2 stricken light cruisers from that action are also at Gasmata attempting to stay afloat.  Tatsuta is currently at 65 91 00 and Tenryu is at 64 78 00.  Kumano still survives (after waiting the whole turn for a sunk message to appear) but is now at 70 88 10 damage, up 4% flooding from the previous day.[align=left] [/align] 

[flaggelant]

how did the torp hits affect the speed of kumano?
I haven't had any real hits against larger ships, except the bomb hits on Zuikaku (and hope not to get any more at all [8|])
so i'm trying to learn how to handle it from AAR's, your detailed description of the damage comes in very handy for this!


on Taung Gyi, you might want to switch from airfield to ground bombing,
i'd say its more disrupting to his forces than bombing the airfield is (not realy sure, but it sounds more logical)
bombing the airfield is good for supply hits, but letting him run out of supply is a great investment of time,
so i'd say; in order to not lose any momentum you need the disruption instead of a lowered supply situation.
how do you see the situation over here?  

on hotheads;
i had one at Yenen a couple of days ago, after going back from a deliberate to bombardment
one unit wanted to charge in... i found this to be a arm. unit, since these units can't  be set to bombarding
they don't respond to "set all to attack" in the way the rest does... could this be the case with your unit?

oh, and keep bombarding him with your groundforces, it only disrupts yours a very small bit and does more damage & disruption to the enemy

[SierraJuliet]

18 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Taung Gyi 39 Betty and 19 Helen bomb the airfield and cause 1 airbase hit, 1 airbase supply hit and 8 runway hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 159 casualties and 5 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: 100 miles southwest of Changsha 9 Ann bomb China Command and cause 34 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Kweiyang 10th Chinese Air Base Force is bombed by 21 Sonia and loses 6 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Shock attack by Japanese forces at Manila reduces forts to level 0 and achieves assault odds of 7 to 1 and the base is captured.  Japanese loses reported as 1665 casualties, 41 guns and 2 vehicles lost.  The Allied forces surrender 26 866 men and loose 110 guns.  Units surrendered are 11th and 91st P.A. Divisions, Asiatic Fleet, 112th USAAF Base Force, 31st USA Regimental Combat Team, 200th USA Coast AA Regiment, Corregidor M. Fortress and 45th and 43rd P.S. Regimental Combat Teams.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 103 casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Land:  The undefended base at Siador is captured.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  30 Oscar fly sweep over Palembang and down the CAP of 1 Hawk 75A.[align=left] [/align]10 T.IVa and 4 Brewster 339D locate the task force shepherding Kumano.  They land 1 bomb on Suzuya causing 03 fires only.  9 Zero flies CAP and down 3 Brewster and 3 T.Iva.[align=left] [/align]3 Martin 139 locate a surface action task force and loose 2 of their number to the CAP of 19 Zero.  Another group of 3 Martin 139 home in on this task force and this time loose 1 to the 12 Zero on CAP.[align=left] [/align]Near Pamakasan 14 Zero locate another PT task force and score 8 hits on PT TM-14 and 4 hits on PT TM-13.  When last seen #13 was reported to be on fire.[align=left] [/align]Another surface action task force is located by a group of 6 Martin 139.  This time 2 bombs hit Nagato causing 01 fire.  The CAP of 17 Zero account for 2 of the bombers.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]Near Kiriwina Island PGs Takunan Maru # 3, 8 and 10 locate SS Stingray and score 1 hit.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]CL Tatsuta sinks at Gasmata.  [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The sinking of Tatsuta leaves only Tenryu in serious danger at Gasmata.  She is steady at 63 78 00.  As for Kumano she is now at 71 94 03, 6% up on flooding, and still a few hexes away from port.  The next turn should see her sink or maybe she needs to be put out of misery with the scuttle button.  Just to show I can get a CAP organized my Zero fighters down a reported 11 Dutch planes with the only damage caused being a few ineffectual bomb hits.  A fleet of transports from Singapore is moving in on Banjarmasin so hopefully today’s results will slow up aerial attack on this invasion fleet.  PT attack remains a concern.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]The victorious forces at Manila are now free to link up with the forces already entrenched at Bataan and work away at defeating the 23 units holed up there.

[SierraJuliet]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

how did the torp hits affect the speed of kumano?
I haven't had any real hits against larger ships, except the bomb hits on Zuikaku (and hope not to get any more at all [8|])
so i'm trying to learn how to handle it from AAR's, your detailed description of the damage comes in very handy for this!


on Taung Gyi, you might want to switch from airfield to ground bombing,
i'd say its more disrupting to his forces than bombing the airfield is (not realy sure, but it sounds more logical)
bombing the airfield is good for supply hits, but letting him run out of supply is a great investment of time,
so i'd say; in order to not lose any momentum you need the disruption instead of a lowered supply situation.
how do you see the situation over here?  

on hotheads;
i had one at Yenen a couple of days ago, after going back from a deliberate to bombardment
one unit wanted to charge in... i found this to be a arm. unit, since these units can't  be set to bombarding
they don't respond to "set all to attack" in the way the rest does... could this be the case with your unit?

oh, and keep bombarding him with your groundforces, it only disrupts yours a very small bit and does more damage & disruption to the enemy

Hi Flaggelant. Speed for Kumano had dropped right off. From memory I think she was around the 5 mark. Today she is running at 0….. Hmmmm maybe that helps making the decision about scuttling her. Thanks for the comments on damage description….. I put it in to give an idea of how bad the damage was…. Or in the case of Nagato how she steams on majestically just letting those bombs bounce off her armour… she is doing well so far.

Thanks for the thoughts on Taung Gyi. Generally I’ve been inclined towards bombing the troops to cause as much havoc as I can but I seem to have become fixated on bombing the airfield here. I’ll switch back to bombing the troops until the reinforcements arrive.

As for the situation in Burma I’m still stretched and need some of the Singapore troops to make an appearance. I’m also at that part of Burma where the roads start turning into trails and Jungle seems to be in abundance. I also expect that somewhere around here Todd has drawn his line in the sand so it should be hard going from here. He has also not been bombing too much…. Only Mandalay so far and my Zero fighters gave them a surprise last time they turned up. I really want to clean up the DEI first before I turn my full attention to Burma. There is also the small issue of capturing Port Moresby over in the east to secure that combat zone so hopefully Bataan will not turn out to be the long drawn out affair it was in RL.

Not sure what is the go with surprise attacks I don’t expect. There is no armour at Taung Gyi but there is a SNLF there. Maybe they are the gung ho ones. Todd seems to have suffered the worst from this so far with his 4 units that deserted Manila and trooped off to Clark Field to surrender. I’m not sure if this made any great difference in the final fall of Manila but I’m sure those troops would have served better by being in the urban hex.

[SierraJuliet]

This is the current situation in China.  Hengchow is surrounded and under siege.  I’m not prepared to force an assault upon this city until I have sufficient troops in the field surrounding the city.  I’m thinking particularly of a recent post regarding what is considered to be adequate troop numbers when a unit is surrounding.  From memory I recall Todd posting that he thought a figure of around 10 000 was ok for this purpose.  As you can see the northern routes are well sealed but very little is holding the line to the south.  Units are on the way to bolster the numbers here but until they do I will continue to bombard.  I’ve also adopted the approach that until they arrive the 6 Chinese units holed up here could conceivably make a break for it through the light forces to the south but no sign of that happening yet.  [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Todd also appears to have pulled back along this line.  Kweilin appears to have been abandoned and most troops have been moved back to the marker indicating 11 Chinese units.  There is also about 7 units station just to the north of Hanoi… I’m keeping an eye on them in case they make an aggressive move to the south.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]The blue line of course indicates the front as it presently stands all the way through to Rangoon.  Those British troops (around 19 000 IIRC) dug in at Taung Gyi need to be cleared from my rear area before I move on.

[SierraJuliet]

19 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Taung Gyi 2nd Burma Rifles Brigade is bombed by 24 Betty and 14 Helen causing 6 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 34 Allied casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 289 Chinese casualties and 5 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]The undefended city of Kweilin is captured.[align=left] [/align]Air: 100 miles southwest of Changsha 10 Sonia and 9 Ann bomb China Command and cause 41 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Kweiyang 59th Chinese Corps is bombed by 21 Sonia which causes 27 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 57 Allied casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Medan 2nd WS Garrison Battalion is bombed by 12 Sally and 13 Lily causing 67 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]South of Balikpapan Samarinda Garrison Battalion is bombed by 12 Nell and 15 Sally causing 27 casualties.  At the same location 8th DAF Base Force is bombed by 13 Nell causing 10 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Southeast of Banjarmasin 3 Martin 139 find a surface action task force and are met by a CAP of 20 Zero and 2 of the bombers are reported shot down.[align=left] [/align]A separate group of Martins locate Mini KB and this time a 17 Zero CAP reports 1 bomber shot down.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Sarmi.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.

[align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]CV Junyo has arrived at the Home Islands.  I will await the repairs to Akagi and Zuikaku and this new addition will join up with them to move south to reconstitute KB.  Kumano is still afloat but only just – she is now at 71 98 00.  The capture of Kweilin was a surprise but I suspect that after the encirclement of 6 Chinese units at Hengchow Todd was wary of having the same thing happen at Kweilin so a pull back would appear to make sense.

[SierraJuliet]

 [align=left] [/align]20 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 63 Allied casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: At Sian 22 Ann strike and score 2 airbase hit, 2 airbase supply hits and 10 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Homan a sweep by 23 Zero meets a CAP of 8 Tomahawk with 3 Tomahawk being reported as destroyed.[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 2 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost to 159 Chinese casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Bataan 21st PA Division is bombed by 14 Betty and 41 Helen for 102 casualties and 3 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 246 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: 3 Hudson locate a transport fleet near Gili Gili and land 1 bomb on board DD Isokaze causing 29 10 08 damage.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Admiralty Islands.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Banjarmasin 10th DAF Base Force is bombed by 27 Nell for 77 casualties and 1 vehicle lost.[align=left] [/align]At Medan 15th DAF Base Force is bombed by 16 Sally and 15 Lily for 36 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]2 Martin 139 try to sneak in on a surface action task force and loose 1 of their number to the CAP of 22 Zero.[align=left] [/align]Land: The undefended base at Sarmi is captured by Japanese forces.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.[align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]CA Kumano[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Hit the scuttle button for Kumano and sent her on her way.  Todd has had a force of Tomahawk stationed at Homan for a couple of weeks now.  I moved some Zero to Yenen to fly sweep and see what happens.  Initial result appears to be promising.

[SierraJuliet]

21 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment a Taung Gyi causes 6 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 117 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: 24 Ann bomb Sian and cause 2 airbase supply hits and 15 runway hits. [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 141 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese forces seize the undefended base at Admiralty Islands.[align=left] [/align]Fergusson Island is occupied by Japanese forces.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Sea: Hyuga, Ise and Sendai bombard Banjarmasin causing 284 Allied casualties, 4 airbase hits, 18 runway hits, 6 port hits, 7 port fuel hits and 9 port supply hits.[align=left] [/align]Air: Off shore from Banjarmasin 4 CW-21B Demon, 6 Brewster 339D, 14 T.Iva and 6 Martin 139 locate and take aim at mini KB.  21 Zero on CAP and bring down 1 Demon, 3 Brewster, 4 T.IVa and 1 Martin.  9 more Dutch aircraft now out of the fight and no damage to mini KB.  Cool.  The fighter pilots on Zuiho are also racking up a few of kills too.[align=left] [/align]2 Zero locates PT TM-6 and report 4 hits.[align=left] [/align]At Medan the Medan Coastal Gun Battalion is bombed by 12 Sally and 18 Lily with 42 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Banjarmasin. [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Todd appears to have decided that the time is ripe to use some of those vast naval assets he has had sitting around since the opening day of the war.  East of Wake Island a surface task force has been located moving towards the west.  Screen shot coming up soon.  This task force is a concern as reports have battleships in the mix here – perhaps Todd is coming with the kitchen sink intent on relieving the Japanese Empire of Wake Island.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Mini KB getting into the thick of it too by drawing off the Dutch air attacks and putting a dent in their offensive power without any damage coming the Japanese way.

[SierraJuliet]

Screen shot of the approaching US fleet.  Looks like something nasty on the way but at least this time I have advance warning.  Todd is aware that KB (part of it at least but Im thinking that he thinks it is the complete KB minus Hiryu) is well away to the south lurking around the Coral Sea so I think he has decided to take advantage and use his battleships.  Is there an invasion fleet with this lot as well?

[SierraJuliet]

22 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Taung Gyi 26 Betty and 7 Helen bomb 2nd Burma Rifles Brigade and cause 32 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land: At Taung Gyi Japanese bombardment causes 22 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 2 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost to 132 Chinese casualties and 9 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: At Sian 24 Ann score 2 airbase hits, 2 airbase supply hits and 7 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Homan 21 Zero tangles with a CAP of 17 Tomahawk.  1 Zero is lost and 2 Tomahawk are reported destroyed.[align=left] [/align]At Kweiyang 20 Sonia bomb 59th Chinese Corps and cause 13 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  At Bataan Japanese bombardment causes 149 casualties, 3 guns and 1 vehicle lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Medan 15 Sally and 20 Lily bomb 2nd WS Garrison Battalion and cause 61 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Banjarmasin causes 14 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Central Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: 24 Nell and 17 Betty escorted by 24 Zero set out from Wake Island in search of the contact located the day before.  A task force containing BBs Tennessee, California, Pennsylvania and Arizona is located and bombed without effect.  1 Nell is destroyed by flak.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]South of Banjarmasin SS KXVII picks out DD Asakaze in the escort for a surface action task force and gets 1 torpedo hit causing 33 63 23 damage.  Nasty but hopefully she can make it to Balikpapan before the flooding gets too much worse.  No follow attacks by the escort so the sub gets clean away.[align=left] [/align]Near Singapore a Sally reports a hit on SS KXIV.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]CA Minneapolis (reported as scuttled from the Enterprise group – this now makes 2 cruisers sunk from that action)[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The air strike against the American fleet was not what I had hoped it would be.  Is this my inexperience haunting me by setting the bombers at 12000 for a naval strike – should they have been set at 100 to ensure a torpedo strike or is one of those distance things where they will only carry bombs after a certain number of hexes?  In any event I have sent all the planes at Wake Island anywhere but there as the battleships are now within range to conduct some bombardment exercises.  All that is left are 6 damaged Betty plus their rather well trained pilots.  I’m expecting an invasion as well and am sure that Todd will have sent a considerable force.  My fort level is only at 1 and screen shot below shows what land units is currently on the island.  Quite a lot of men but not too much offensive power I’m afraid.  [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]I was a bit despondent about all of this until it occurred to me (1 turn later than it should have) that I had 3 perfectly good carriers (Akagi, Zuikaku and Junyo plus Kirishima and Hiei) sitting in ports at the Home Islands patching up some minor repairs.  It occurred to me that if Todd was in fact doing an invasion he is likely to be there for some time so there may well be a great opportunity to sneak in with these 3 carriers and get amongst some transport shipping.  That is of course assuming an invasion is on.  The ships are madly scrambling with a rendezvous south of the HI scheduled before attempting to turn up somewhere to the north of Wake Island.  Just have to get them past the sub picket that Todd has set up off shore from the HI without being observed.  If this goes to plan it should be a surprise to Todd as I’m fairly certain that he has put this operation in motion in the belief that he has accounted for KB being in the Coral Sea.  We shall soon see.    

[SierraJuliet]

Here is the disposition of forces around Wake Island.  Not much to do for the time being but sit back and see what the Americans have planned.

[SierraJuliet]

23 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: At Taung Gyi 26 Betty and 11 Helen bomb 1st Burma Rifles Brigade causing 32 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 22 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 199 Chinese casualties and 5 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: The dueling in the skies over Haman continues with 21 Zero taking on 17 Tomahawk.  1 Tomahawk is reported destroyed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese shock attack at Bataan reduces fort level from 6 to 3 and achieves assault odds of 3 to 1.  Japanese forces loose 7171 casualties and 186 guns and 20 vehicles lost to 1586 Allied casualties and 48 guns and 11 vehicles lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Emirau.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  At Medan 17 Sally and 16 Lily bomb 6th Dutch Naval Base Force and cause 49 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Biak.[align=left] [/align]South of Kuching Japanese forces finally catch up with No. 107 RN Base Force which surrenders and 828 prisoners are captured.[align=left] [/align]Japanese shock attack at Banjarmasin achieves assault odds of 67 to 1 on the fort level 2 base and SE Borneo Base Force and 10th DAF Base Force retreat after losing 21 casualties to the Japanese 18 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]CL Tenryu (Sinks at Rabaul after I decided to attempt to move her from Gasmata to a better port.  Add another warship to the tally from Goodenough Bay)[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The excitement at Wake Island did not eventuate.  An American task force containing an assortment of warships was last seen heading east well away from Wake Island.  I’m not sure if this was a recon in force or Todd thought better of it after 50+ bombers made a fruitless attack on the fleet the day before.  In any event Wake Island remains within Japanese territory.  The result at Bataan holds out the prospect of a swift conclusion to this campaign.  My troops will spend a few days bombarding and reducing their disruption levels.  Preparations for the assault on Hengchow are almost complete and the assault should commence within the week.

[SierraJuliet]

24 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: At Taung Gyi 9 Betty and 3 Helen bomb 1st Burma Rifles Brigade and cause 47 casualties and 1 gun lost.  2nd Burma Rifles Brigade is bombed by 22 Betty and 12 Helen and loses 137 casualties and 4 guns lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 245 Chinese casualties and 5 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: At Sian 24 Ann score 2 airbase hits, 1 airbase supply hit and 14 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Homan 20 Zero mix it with 16 Tomahawk with 4 Tomahawk reported shot down.  Major E.F. Overend of AVG/C bailed out and was rescued.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Roxas.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment attack at Bataan causes 401 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Land:  The undefended base at Emirau Island is captured by Japanese forces.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  26 Zero fly sweep over Macassar and strafe the airfield losing 1 of their own and destroying 2 F.K.51.[align=left] [/align]South of Balikpapan 8 Nell bomb VI Garrison Battalion and cause 14 casualties and 1 gun lost.  Samarinda Garrison Battalion is bombed by 19 Nell and 20 Sally and loses 21 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Banjarmasin 3 Martin 139 drop 3 bombs on MSW Hinode Maru #20 and she sinks.[align=left] [/align]Land: The undefended base at Biak is captured by Japanese forces.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.

[align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]MSW Hinode Maru #20, AP Baikal Maru (last of the damaged AP from the Enterprise raid on Wake Island she had been stuck at Wake attempting to bring flooding down to an acceptable level and left harbour after the American fleet was sighted.  Flooding was in the 80s and raced to the 90s and she was scuttled)  As it turned out I should have left her where she was.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]So far the AVG stationed at Homan has been a good target for the Zero pilots.  For the loss of 1 Zero at least 10 Tomahawk have been destroyed in aerial engagements.  The American fleet continues to steam east and Todd messages that he likes to keep a respectful distances from torp tot'n girls called Betty and Nell.[;)]

[SierraJuliet]

Troops are in position for the assault upon Hengchow.  I believe there are sufficient forces surrounding the city to make a break out very difficult let alone the forces currently preparing for the assault.  Screen shot shows current force disposition with the blue line denoting the current front line.  

   

[flaggelant]

on Midway & torp attacks;
is midway a LVL 4 airfield allready? 'cause you need lvl 4 to launch torps
(betty's fly torp missions on their normal alt.)

couldn't tell from the screenshots, but i don't think it is atm??


and on the Hengchow surrounding;
hit the W button and check zones of controle, an engaged unit can only move to a place where there is no hostile controle
(so if you're fighting allies in a hex, your units cant move to another hex if there's an "A" in it).
From what you posted earlier on i assumed that you guys had house rules on surrounding enemies, but i'm starting to doubt
that this was what you meant.

in short, if you have a "J" in all surrounding hexes around Hengchow he isn't able to move out, the only thing you could worry about is a Chenese wargroup sent out to change this controle zone, but otherwise there's no reason to keep 10K of troops in every hex (it is however needed to send a small unit to a neighboring hex to claim japanese controle).

Just imagine that the Chinese troops are imprisoned within the 60X 60 hex, you can have a lot of troops in 30 x 30 km's afterall.
this way you can muster more forces within Henchow to finish of the enemy, instead of just surrounding them.

so remember; hit the "W" button every now & then [:)]

[SierraJuliet]

25 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 20 Allied casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Hengchow causes 161 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Air: At Ichang 9 Ann bomb 78th Chinese Corps and cause 4 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Bataan 19 Betty and 54 Helen bomb the airfield and score 61 casualties, 2 guns lost, 3 airbase hits, 2 airbase supply hits and 11 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 188 casualties.[align=left] [/align]The undefended base at Roxas is captured by Japanese forces and 2 Warhawk left behind by the Allied forces are destroyed on the ground.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: At Port Moresby 79 Nell and 24 Betty bomb the airfield and score 2 airbase supply hits and 12 runway hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  South of Balikpapan 18 Nell bomb 8th DAF Base Force and cause 28 casualties.[align=left] [/align]South of Banjarmasin 3 CW-21B Demon, 5 Brewster 339D and 6 Martin 139 locate a surface task force and a CAP of 12 Zero.  1 Brewster is destroyed and no damage caused to the warships.[align=left] [/align]Another attack on surface action task force by 2 Martin 139 sees 1 Martin destroyed by a CAP of 9 Zero.[align=left] [/align]2 Zero locates PT TM-5 and report 4 hits and vessel seen to be on fire.[align=left] [/align]Another aerial assault this time by 3 Demon CW-31B, 3 Brewster 339D and 10 T.IVa sees 2 Brewster and 1 T.IVa destroyed by the CAP of 10 Zero.  MSW Fumi Maru #2, however, is hit by 1 torpedo and she sinks.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]MSW Fumi Maru #2[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]My previous post regarding troop dispositions around Hengchow was posted out of order (should have been after this post).  The assault on Hengchow is set for 26 February 1942.  The aerial assault on Bataan resumes.  The bombers have not flown for a few days for reasons unknown so I changed orders to bomb the airfield and we are back in business.  Bombing of Port Moresby has commenced as early preparation for the eventual invasion.

[SierraJuliet]

26 February 1942
[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 7 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: 24 Ann bomb Sian and cause 6 airbase hits, 2 airbase supply hits and 23 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]Northeast of Homan 14 Sonia bomb 3rd New Chinese Corps causing 18 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land: At Hengchow Japanese forces launch a shock attack.  The forts are reduced to level 4 and assault odds of 26 to 1 are achieved and the base is captured.  Japanese loses reported as 2640 casualties, 53 guns and 3 vehicles lost.  39 151 Chinese prisoners are captured from 5th War Area, 22nd Army Group, 7th, 48th and 82nd Chinese Corps and 5th Chinese Air Base along with 169 lost guns.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Bataan 11 Betty and 38 Helen bomb 21st PA Division causing 21 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Japanese bombardment at Bataan causes 338 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  North of Banjarmasin 26 Nell and 9 Sally bomb VI Garrison Battalion and cause 20 casualties.  Later on another 13 Nell bomb the same unit and cause 19 casualties.[align=left] [/align]South west of Banjarmasin 10 Hawk 75A, 3 CW-21B Demon, 2 Brewster 339D, 9 T.IVa and 6 Martin 139 locate a surface action task force.  A paltry CAP of 5 Zero only manages to damage of number of the attackers.  1 torpedo strikes Fuso causing 11 28 16 damage.[align=left] [/align]2 Zero locate PT TM-5 and report 4 hits.[align=left] [/align]Later in the day a Dutch strike of 9 Hawk 75A, 3 Demon CW-21B and 5 T.IVa locates another surface action task force.  This time the Japanese have a CAP of 16 Zero up.  1 Zero is destroyed in exchange for 1 Hawk and 1 T.IVa destroyed and no ships damaged.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No reported action.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Hengchow at last!  Time now to do some reorganization of Chinese forces.

[SierraJuliet]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

on Midway & torp attacks;
is midway a LVL 4 airfield allready? 'cause you need lvl 4 to launch torps
(betty's fly torp missions on their normal alt.)

couldn't tell from the screenshots, but i don't think it is atm??


and on the Hengchow surrounding;
hit the W button and check zones of controle, an engaged unit can only move to a place where there is no hostile controle
(so if you're fighting allies in a hex, your units cant move to another hex if there's an "A" in it).
From what you posted earlier on i assumed that you guys had house rules on surrounding enemies, but i'm starting to doubt
that this was what you meant.

in short, if you have a "J" in all surrounding hexes around Hengchow he isn't able to move out, the only thing you could worry about is a Chenese wargroup sent out to change this controle zone, but otherwise there's no reason to keep 10K of troops in every hex (it is however needed to send a small unit to a neighboring hex to claim japanese controle).

Just imagine that the Chinese troops are imprisoned within the 60X 60 hex, you can have a lot of troops in 30 x 30 km's afterall.
this way you can muster more forces within Henchow to finish of the enemy, instead of just surrounding them.

so remember; hit the "W" button every now & then [:)]

Thanks flaggelant. I'd forgotten about airfields needing to be at level 4. Wake Island is still at 3 and I am working at changing that now. Guess that was a lucky escape as tocaff could have kept on coming and braved those bombs that bounce off battleships and then caused plenty of havoc by bombarding the island. Lucky break for me and good lesson for this and future games.

I'll be checking out the W button. Our house rules aren't specific on the point of encirclement but it is caught under a gentlemen's agreement we have (eg if it doesn't seem right don't do it). A number of hexes did have for quite some time less than 1 000 infantry holding the line. I did not appreciate that in game terms a small force such as this would preclude a break out, however, I tend towards thinking that a much larger force would generally be required for this job. From reading Todd's comments in a post on this issue I know he is of the same view..... therefore a bit of time was taken to bring to numbers up to scratch. I think in game terms it is worth doing and ensures there is no ill feeling generated by using minimal forces for this tactic. I know there are plenty of different views out there and this is where I stand. Besides I'm having a ball in China and have captured far more than I expected in such a short time!

[SierraJuliet]

27 February 1942[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment at Taung Gyi causes 5 Allied casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Air: 24 Ann bomb Sian and score 3 airbase supply hits and 13 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Ichang 9 Ann bomb 70th Chinese Corps and cause 4 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Air: At Bataan 12 Betty and 43 Helen bomb 21st PA Division and cause 96 Allied casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Land:  Troops are ashore at Ormoc.[align=left] [/align]At Bataan a Japanese shock attack is ordered.  The forts are reduced to level 0 and assault odds of 15 to 1 are achieved and the base is captured.  Japanese losses reported as 2258 casualties and 35 guns and 5 vehicles lost.  60 443 Allied prisoners are captured along with 214 guns and 88 vehicles lost.  The following units surrendered:[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]118th USN Base Force, 101st, 103rd, 104th, 105th, 106th, 109th and 111th USAAF Base Forces, 1st, 2nd, 21st and 31st PA Divisions, 88th USA Field Artillery Regiment, 86th USA Coastal Gun Battalion, 192nd and 194th USA Tank Battalions, 14th PS Engineer Regiment, 803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion, 1st USMC AA Battalion, Corregidor CI Fortress, 4th USMC Regiment and PAF Aviation Regiment. [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]South Eastern Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: 76 Nell and 23 Betty bomb Port Moresby and cause 2 airbase hits, 1 airbase supply hit, 16 runway hits and destroy 1 Hudson.  1 Nell is destroyed.[align=left] [/align]Land:  North of Gasmata the survivors from Rabaul are finally cornered.  A Japanese shock attack achieves assault odds of 100 to 1 with 8 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost.  NGVR Battalion and No. 101 RAAF Base Force surrender 2357 prisoners.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air:  North of Banjarmasin 18 Nell bomb Samarinda Garrison Battalion and cause 20 casualties.  [align=left] [/align]South of Pontianak 2 Brewster 339D and 5 Martin 139 take on a CAP of 33 Zero resulting in 2 Martin shot down.  The survivors make a run on Nagato and drop 1 bomb on the battleship causing no damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Central Pacific[align=left] [/align]Sea:  DD Isonami makes port at Marcus Island after leaving Wake Island.  The journey was unplanned (due to the recent battleship sortie) and has been more than detrimental to her condition.  Her flotation now sits at 95% and set to be lost next turn.  In her last act her crew identifies a mine field and deal with a couple of mines (might I add that the mine disposal was carried correctly – not by using the ship to explode the mine – at least she will go down with some dignity).[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]No action reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]Nil[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]The fall of Bataan leaves only a few bases in the Philippines to mop up and plenty of troops to deploy in other theatres of the war.  A nice position to be in but one that I suspect is going to take me that much closer to Todd’s line in the sand and a defensive line that will be harder to crack.