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2 Feb 42 and 3 Feb 42

2 days of artillery bombardment at Singapore. Every day that the defenders hold is a victory for the Allies, having left such a weak force there.

Prome, Burma falls. I was hoping that the 1st Burma Division could stay ahead of the attackers, but that wasn't to be. Now, after retreating north, they are in no shape to be given any movement orders. B-17's will attempt to bomb enemy ground troops at Prome as they start to move out. Prome is clear terrain.

An apparent troop convoy is spotted west of Horn Island. It is probably moving to Darwin. It could be moving to Ambon, but Darwin makes more sense. Carriers are currently near the east tip of Timor, ready to cover this force. Nothing much to be done here for defense, except moving as many subs in the path as possible. Darwin is weakly defended.

4 Feb 42

Activity continues around Timor. The task force that looks like a troop transport did not move directly toward Darwin. Instead, it moved northwest, and is currently 7 hexes northeast of Darwin. I still think it will hit Darwin, and that it moved closer to a carrier task force near Timor for protection.

Darwin airfield is bombed by Betty's escorted by Zero's. Damage is insignificant. Some bombers are moved into Darwin to hopefully attack the invaders should they come.

B-17's do attack the Japanese units moving out of Prome, Burma. One B-17 is lost, 164 troop casualties. More importantly, it should have kicked them out of movement mode. I want the 1st Burma Division to escape, and this could help.

Balikpapan is invaded. An xAK takes one coastal gun shell hit, setting it on fire. It will fall.

Tulagi and Munda are invaded by fast transport. Tulagi had been mined but the mines went away in the last week.

Ocean Island is invaded and conquered.

And finally, Singapore falls. He used 3 infantry divisions, 2 tank regiments, 2 engineer regiments, 2 artillery units, and a HQ.

5 Feb 42

Balikpapan falls. It appears that no damage occurred to the oil or refinery. A Japanese surface group (2 BB, 5 CA, 6 DD) sinks a PT boat there. Then the same group heavily damages sub S-37.

After weeks of Dutch subs camping outside of Wenchow, waiting for Ise and Nagato to come back and bombard, the battleships finally return. Unfortunately, on the very turn before this, I withdrew the subs to Subic Bay for fuel. I may go back to the Wenchow area.

North of Darwin, 13 SB2U-3's attack a transport force. With 1 Zero on CAP, no bombers are lost and 1 bomb hits an xAP. In another raid, 2 bombers attack BB Fuso, and both are lost to a 5 Zero CAP. In a final raid, 9 bombers are jumped by 10 Zeros, and all bombers are lost. 11 SU2U-3's are lost

Betty's attack ground troops at Darwin. It will be invaded tomorrow.

Dutch bombers attack task forces near Balikpapan, and find heavy CAP. No bombs are dropped, and 7 bombers are lost.

In Burma, north of Toungoo, a small Burmese unit is destroyed.

Finally, Tulagi falls.

So, IOW, a normal day in February 1942. [:'(]

6 Feb 42

With the recent fall of Balikpapan, Japanese minewsweepers started clearing the minefield there. Just southeast of Balikpapan, I get sight of an interesting task force. It has an AO, a DMS, and an SC. That's it. It moved north to south past Balikpapan, and is only 7 or 8 hexes from Soerbaja. It's path makes me think that it may be sneaking to the south, headed for the open ocean northwest of Australia. And this could only mean that there could be raiders out there now. Once he took Koepang, this is very possible. I haven't been able to account for all of KB for quite awhile. Half of it, at most, is north of Darwin assisting that invasion. Speculation, but I'm being more careful now. I had a huge fuel task force passing Ceylon headed to Perth. I'm diverting it to Capetown. Screenshot of this mystery task force will be posted in the next entry.

The big news of the turn is the invasion of northern Australia. Troops land at Darwin. 3 battleships and others bombard. Coastal guns get 18 hits on the bombardment task force, but nothing that penetrates. With the landing task force, the coastal guns do little better, getting about 10 hits but nothing significant. At least 2 regiments land and they will quickly take Darwin. I figured this was coming, and will not defend forward of Alice Springs.

US carriers near Albany, SW Australia. A Brit carrier, and Hermes, have sortied and will rendezvous with the Americans near Cocos Island. My plan is to strike something signficant when he lands on Sumatra or Java. And then run. I do not want a carrier engagement. My preference would be to hit an invasion task force from the other side of the island.

6 Feb 42 - Java area

The tiny task force, now containing an AO and a small escort, is west of Makassar. It moved southwest, as depicted by the arrow. It is out ahead of any other ships, which is odd. If my bombers at Soerbaja had their range set a little further, I could have bombed this task force this turn. It is either headed southwest into the open ocean, or the commander got careless and moved it out front on the way to the Timor area.

4 Feb 42 - Darwin area

Enemy troops at Darwin. 2 major task forces to the east, showing cruisers and destroyers, but composition is really unknown. The Japanese have taken Manando, then Kendari, then Koepang, now Darwin. Lots of bases have been skipped, like Ambon, but their time will come.

Losing Darwin doesn't bother me. It is expected. He brought enough troops that it was going to fall with anything less than divsion-sized defense, and I won't risk that much so far from the parts of Australia that matter.

4 Feb 42 - Burma

Prome has fallen. The 1st Burma Division is in the hex just east of Prome, but will escape the hex before the combat occurs this turn. Another roadblock unit is just to the northeast. Hopefully the 1st will stay ahead of the pursuers.

Another spearhead is moving northeast on the rail line.

2 Brit base forces are headed north on the trail south of Akyab. They will dig in at Akyab and Cox Bazaar.

7 Feb 42

Landings continue at Darwin, with the few remaining coastal guns getting a few hits. Allied subs in the area have been ineffective, getting almost no shots off, and a couple taking some depth charge damage. Lots of Kates are on ASW. Finally, Darwin falls to the 144th and 146th infantry regiments.

Japanese minesweeping continues at Balikpapan and Singapore.

Something is definitely up with the mystery task force spotted yesterday headed southeast of Balikpapan. Dutch PT boats moved from the easter tip of Java east a few hexes to Mataram, one of the two possible transit points for the mystery task force. It didn't run into any ships, but the Dutch PT boats got a detection level of 3/6. Japanese bases are far from this hex, so I'm 99% sure that there's some type of task force in the area, something bigger than the mystery task force. It is probably refueling or about to. Or escorting the AO for a raid south. Interesting.

Still no light seen at the end of the tunnel. Not seeing much of a chance for a good counter punch yet. Not until the Allied carriers get into position, and then only if the Japanese oblige with an attack in the area. Meanwhile, the daily job of moving supplies, fuel, and men continue. No news is good news in this area. Lots of stuff is on the move, and not running into opposition, not even being spotted by subs. And there are subs out there, but I have a good idea where they are hunting off the West Coast, and I'm not providing any targets for them.

8 Feb 42

Almost nothing happened. Battleships Ise and Nagato make another appearance bombarding Wenchow. This has occurred twice in the past week, after a lull of a month or so when I had Dutch subs and mines waiting for them. My subs are refueling in the Philippines and are heading back to the China coast.

Big Picture

Darwin has fallen. Japanese troops are starting to move south from Darwin. There's nothing to stop them before the lack of supplies will. Alice Springs is being defended.

In the Philippines, the Allies still hold Clark and Bataan. Movement arrows are shown into Clark today.

In Burma, after the fall of Rangoon, Prome has been taken. Japanese forces are pushing north, about to enter the Burma plain. Towns are being defended but the enemy is strong enough to clear them all. The Allies first real attempted defense in Burma will be in the jungle north of the plains.

Singapore has fallen. No Japanese move on Sumatra or Java yet. Most of the northern coast of Borneo has been captured, as has Tarakan and Balikpapan.

No activity at all in the Aleutians. I have Cats watching the more western islands, but there's no Allied defense until the eastern islands, and that defense is still weak.

10 Feb 42

Dili in invaded. Timor is undefended other than a battered unit routed from Koepang.

51 Sally's from Singapore bomb ground troops at Palembang.

8 units have moved into Clark, but no attack yet.

Another roadblock Burmese unit is destroyed near Toungoo. Meiktila falls.

A Dutch sub is spotted by Formosa, on the way back to guarding the approaches to Wenchow. I wonder if the battleships will return now.

11 Feb 42

Boela is invaded.

Enemy ships continue to sweep mines at Singapore.

B-17's bomb 2 infantry regiments at Meiktila. Only 61 casualties, but movement is slowed, and that is the goal. It now looks like the 1st Burma Division will escape, although it will have to go through the jungle toward Akyab.

Dili falls, isolated a small Allied unit in the jungle between Dili and Koepang.

General movement away from Darwin was toward the northeast, toward the northern tip of New Guinea. A task force was spotted just southeast of the tip also. Could it be that the Solomons won't stay quiet after all? No apparent move toward Sumatra or Java yet. Singapore may have to become operational before that happens, possibly.

Australian units have been appearing at Aden, and are quickly loaded and shipped to Karachi.

12 Feb 42 - 14 Feb 42

Fairly slow period.

Boela falls.
Makassar falls.
Air attacks at Clark but no attack yet.
Taung Gyi falls.
Mandalay falls.
The towns in Burma are falling as fast as the Japanese can move to them.

The mines at Singapore have now been swept, and I spot surface combatants moving toward the base from the east.

Bases in eastern Java are now being reconned. All are covered, although with just weak Dutch units.

15 Feb 42

It's about time for things to get interesting. Not this turn, but soon.

Clark is bombed.
Palembang is bombed.

At Clark, the Japanese make their first probing bombardment attack. Japanese forces include 2 infantry divisions, an infantry regiment, 3 tank regiments, and engineer regiment, and just 2 artillery units. Assault values are shown as 1096 to 618. I know that the fort level is 2. He doesn't have enough here right now, but there's more shown to the north and at Manila. It is unknown how much of that has combat value.

Magwe falls.
Gasmata falls.

Paras drop onto Port Blair in the Andamans. The odds are just 1 to 2, but Allied casualties are 60 and Japanese are just 9.

15 Feb 42

The Allied carriers have met up at Cocos Island and completely refueled. They will head east this turn. A Japanese task force is spotted east of Sumatra, and odds are that it is headed to Palembang. If it lands there this turn, I cannot intervene with carriers this turn, being too far away. I can, however, attack next turn. I may have to leave the Brit carriers behind to do so. The downside would be that most of the invasion troops would have already unloaded.

I would like to make a nice attack with my carriers, and then run for the hills. The Japanese have been very cautious with fleet movements, rarely invading far away from land based air cover, using carriers most of the time for support, and using lots of warships for escort and screening. They have been thorough, but a bit slow because of this.

I believe the Japanese strategy is to leave Java for last, enveloping it from the north and the south. The enemy knows that a lot of units were extracted from Singapore. They had to go somewhere. It's obvious that they aren't in Palembang. The enemy could very well suspect that they are on Java.

The complications for my potential carrier strike is that once Palembang is captured, Bettys will range much further to the west of Sumatra and Java than right now.

So I must weigh a less than crushing blow at a Palembang invasion versus waiting for a Java invasion.

Again, my goal is to avoid a carrier engagement. I want to hit and run. I haven't been effective at countering his moves so far. I'd like to let him know that I'm out there somewhere and make him even more cautious, and slow.

16 Feb 42

SS Triton takes a shot at a destroyer in a task force near Macassar. Ships seems to be massing a bit here south of Balikpapan. I wouldn't be surprised to see a push to the eastern tip of Java soon.

Japanese carriers have been invisible for awhile. An Allied sub is getting a high detection level in area of the empty islands that stretch from Timor to Java.

Battleships Kongo and Haruna with escorts are boldly attacked by 3 MTB's one hex from Palembang. 2 MTB's are sunk, as the fight occurred during the day and the torpedo boats couldn't close the range.

Palembang is invaded. The battleships stand off one hex blocking the entry passage. Palembang will fall next turn.

Allied carriers move east of Cocos Island, undetected. With an 8 hex move, they could be 6 hexes from Palembang this turn. I choose to not move the full amount, as I'd like to hit the combat ships also, and 7 hexes is too far. However, if Palembang falls, there's a decent chance that all the ships will be gone in 2 turns. I'll decide what to do turn by turn. Caution is the highest priority.

Port Blair is attacked again by previously landed paras. The attack goes at 1 to 1, but this time the Japanese take all of the casualties. (22)

17 Feb 42

4 US carriers, 1 Brit carrier, and Brit Hermes are ordered to strike range of Palembang, and hopefully nearby task forces.

Near Palembang, the Kongo and Haruna task force finishes off the last MTB boat that was trying to harass them. More troops land at Palembang, and Palembang is easily taken.

Near Manando, SS Triton fires a couple of torpedoes at a task force. A torpedo hits, and IT EXPLODES! A Japanese patrol boat is heavily damaged. Not much, but something.

Also, the Japanese paras at Port Blair are finally successful, with the help of some Sally's bombing. Port Blair falls.

In Australia, Katherine falls.

Lots of Dutch bombers launch from eastern Java, targeting a couple of task forces inbound. No CAP is observed. 30 Dutch bombers drop bombs and get zero hits. Most had naval bombing training near 60.

Allied Carrier situation displayed in the next post.

17 Feb 42

Allied carriers are ordered to move to a point 4 hexes southwest of Palembang. Shipping at Palembang may or may not still be there. The task force circled and marked "1" is reported to be led by 2 CV's. I believe that, at worst, only 1 of them is a big CV. Both are probably smaller. This is my prime target, or the combat ships which disappeared this turn.

Near Balikpapan, another carrier task force is spotted, marked "2", and this looks like at least half of KB. It will either head toward Java to support the impending landing, or refuel at Balikpapan.

The task forces marked "3" includes invasion shipping headed for Bali or Java. These ships were the ones bombed by 30 Dutch bombers last turn, to no effect.

Here we go. I didn't spot any planes at Palembang last turn, but who knows what will happen this turn. I want a quick hard hit on the Japanese Navy, and an even quicker escape.

Fingers and eyes crossed for success on your raid!

fingers & eyes crossed to be sure, toes curled, bungholes tightened, jaws clenched, upper lips stiffened!

I hope our esteemed host has his ducks lined up properly, for best strike co-ordination, search, escort & CAP. If the weather-gods smile, he might just slip in undetected & deal some hurt to IJ shipping & combatants.

I see 3 CV TFs, so I assume 2 CVs per TF, that'll be best for co-ordination at this stage of the war. The idea of a quick hit&run raid is great, so long as apb doesn't neglect the "&run" part.