Rising Sun over the Rockies - F.K. vs OSO - Wake captured by US

[FeurerKrieg]

May 11th, 1942
Some B-17D's and B-25C Mitchells attacked Magwe today in Burma. 16 Oscars based out of Meiktila arrived to defend and managed to shot down 2 of the bombers and leave about 75% of the rest damaged. Damaged to our airfield was light.

In China, Sian is on the verge of falling and tomorrow should see 100,000 Chinese soldiers in retreat. (3 to 1, forts 2->1)

The I-9, a Glen sub near Hawaii was hit today by a B-17E flying out of Pearl Harbor.

Sakura forces continue to sail south, as of yet unseen. Having reach their rendezvous point, most of the transports will head west to Gisborne while the carriers hang back and provide LRCAP. The next couple days could be good or very very bad.

Several bases enlarged airfields and other facilities today, including Savaii (2) and Papaete (3) in the South Pacific, and Mandalay (3) in Burma and Sinyang (3) in China.

[FeurerKrieg]

May 12th, 1942
In China, the Army captured Sian today, forcing over 100,000 Chinese troops to flee towards Kungchang. Our bombers hit Hengchow today, destroying 2 I-16c's and 3 SB-2c's.

In Burma, Helen's and Sally's, escorted by A6M3 Zero fighters, attack enemy ground troops south of Imphal as the 55th/A Division crossed the river and attacked along with the 21st/A Bge. Although the enemy took heavy casualties, we could not force them to retreat. (2 to 1)

At Sawahloento, another Dutch unit was destroyed, this time the Zuid Garrison Bn.

Operation Sakura: Today, our Kates and Jakes from the carrier escort group found a pair of minesweepers east of New Zealand. They were easily sunk, but the enemy certainly knows we have carrier forces in the area now. KB as of yet has not been spotted. We can only hope enemy intel has not figured out our locations. The MSW's sunk were Kiwi and Moa. Our transports continue to close on their landing zone.
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Enemy is alerted to our presence.[/center]

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Op Sakura Situation[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

May 13th, 1942

In China, Hengchow and Changsha are both hit by Japanese bombers, 5 P-43A and 2 SB-2C are destroyed between the two sites. A small Chinese unit north of Sian, off the main road, was forced back to the main Chinese army that is retreating from Sian.

In Burma, a small group of paratroops landed and captured Ramree Island near Akyab. Barges will pick them up and return them to Rangoon.

Nells and Liz bombers hit Wyndham again, destroying one Hudson bomber on the ground.

One of our tankers hit mine at Iwo Jima. MSW's will come up from Saipan and sweep the area.

OP SAKURA: The SS Nautilus was encountered and chased off by the fleet escorts as the transports move closer to Gisborne.

Ponape and Port Moresby airfields were expanded today. (sz 3 and 6 respectively)

Below is a shot of our current naval search coverage. As you can see the Pacific ocean is cover very well. Our search planes can reach well beyond the Hawaiian islands in their flight patterns. In the far south, you can see several Glen subs arranged to provide a pretty solid wall of coverage to detect any ships coming from the US to New Zealand.
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[FeurerKrieg]

May 14th, 1942
Hengchow and Changsha hit again, some P-43A's are destroyed.

2 B-25C's are shot down over Mandalay by Oscars and AA.

Zero's at Timor sweep Darwin, killing some P-40Es and Wirraways.

Op Sakura: In the nighttime, our escorts again drop DCs on SS Nautilus, damaging the sub. Throughout the day, waves of Hudson bombers from Auckland and Wellington attack the transport fleet. 25 of the bombers were shot down, while another 14 managed to attack the ships. Thankfully none of them hit. Our invasion force is now less than 60 miles off shore and will commense landing tomorrow evening. Float plane recon indicated light defenses at Gisborne, so only two divisions and several support units will be landed, so the enemy is not able to see our exact troop strength.

Overall today, air losses were 44 Allied to 8 Japan.

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First, an enemy sub is sent away.[/center]

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And then enemy bombers are soundly beaten.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

May 15th, 1942
PG Takunan Maru #8, dispatched from Singapore to attack a submarine seen in the channel, is torpedoed by the SS O20. It isn't sunk and will repair in Singapore.

In China, after recon showed Chinese airforces moving to Kweilin, our bombers hit that airfield destroying 3 SB-2cs and 3 P-43A Lancers.

Another sweep at Darwin brought down 3 P-40Es, and 1 Wirraway.

Tongatapu and Kiska both expanded airfields today. (sz 3 and 2 respectively)

Operation Sakura:
The SS Thresher was chased away early in the evening. Fuso and Yamashiro then moved in and found only the MSW Tui at Gisborne. The easily sunk the ship with a pair of 14 inch rounds and several 8 inch rounds from the heavy cruisers present.

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Another New Zealand MSW gets steamrolled.[/center]

The path thus cleared, Hyuga, Ise and six heavy cruisers proceeded to shell the landing beaches. Troops and armor began unloading rapidly and the landings were spread so far up and down the beach, there was no problem keeping the NZ cavalry unit that was present from defending the beaches or interfering with the landing. The units landed will press forward immediately with an attack and attempt to secure the base tomorrow.

315,000 troops, over 1000 tanks, 7 battleships and every carrier we have are now fully engaged in this adventure - the invasion of New Zealand has begun!

[FeurerKrieg]

May 16th, 1942
In China, Kweilin is hit again, 2 P-43A and 1 SB-2c are destroyed.

At New Zealand, step one is successful. Gisborne falls easily as the lone cavalry unit there is routed towards Wellington. The remainder of the fleet will now move in to unload. Three Daitai of Zeros are flying in to relieve the carrier fighters of CAP duties. Ground units will move to Wellington and Hamilton as fast as they are unloaded.
[center]
A foothold is captured in New Zealand.[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

May 17th, 1942
Kweilin and Changsha bombed today. Kweilin was empty, but we killed two more P-43As at Changsha.

Paramushiro Jima airfield was expanded. (Sz 2)

Many troops unloaded at Gisborne and several units are now on their way west.

Otherwise, very quiet today.

[FeurerKrieg]

May 18th, 1942
In China, our bombers and fighters have stood down since there are no longer any good air targets. The Lily's will be upgraded to Lily-IIs and then we will decide where we want to resume bombing.

At Sawahloento, another Dutch unit, the Riouw Garrison was destroyed.

In Burma, another attack outside of Imphal failed to push the defenders back (3 to 1). A full division will cross the river shortly to finally clear this area. Then an SLNF unit will take up guard/watch duty on the trail coming from Imphal.

Over five hundred engineers managed to increase the size of Gisborne airfield already (sz 2). The airfield can now accommodate the full operation of the fighter there. Some Recon planes are also coming in to fly recon over Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton.

[FeurerKrieg]

May 19th, 1942
The 33rd Division crossed the river in Burma and after a bit of rest will attack to push back enemy troops.

Wallis Island airfield was declared open and operational today.

Most of the troops at Gisborne have unloaded. Some supplies and a few final troops are unloading, but the first group of transports will start heading back to Suva tonight.

[FeurerKrieg]

May 20th, 1942
The I-160 is hit by SC's near India, but will make it to Singapore with no problems.

Hurricanes sweeping Mandalay shot down 5 Oscars, but lost two of their own. Meanwhile, the 33rd Division finally cleared the jungle outside of Imphal. It will now head back to Mandalay.

In China, the large Japanese Army at Sian moved across the river towards Kungchang. A solitary Chinese Corp was shattered and fled west into the mountains. Also, near Hengkow, a pocket that had been trapped for several months finally began to break apart, as one corp disbanded today.

Upolu expanded its airfield today. (sz 3)

At New Zealand, enemy transports were spotted at Wellington. Not sure if they are evacuating or reinforcing, but either way, our escort and floatplane carriers are going to move in to see if we can launch a Jake strike against the ships.

[FeurerKrieg]

May 21st, 1942
Nells attack ships at Darwin since the local CAP there was depleted by Zeros several days ago. They score hits, sinking the PG Asheville and damaging the PG Tulsa.
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Enemy ships hit at Darwin[/center]

Penhryn Island airfield is able to support long range torpedo bombers now, so construction there will shift to island fortifications and defense.

On New Zealand, Hudsons from Auckland and Wellington attacked the 4th Division east of Hamilton. Both waves made it to target, but Zeros flying CAP from Gisborne caught the group from Wellington and damaged all three planes.
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CAP out of Gisborne[/center]

Our Jakes didn't attack at Wellington, but the enemy ships are still there, so we'll move into Kate range to see if we can bag some ships. Hopefully enemy 4E bombers don't show up.

[FeurerKrieg]

Hi all,

Sitting here at work I was thinking about this game. So far Sakura seems to be going well enough, and regardless of how it turns out, there is a big portion of the empire to run and plan for at the same time. I have been moving some Naval Gd units to various islands across the Pacific, as well as keeping a very detailed list of bases and where to send Base Force unit as they arrive. However, I still have some degree of forces that can be concentrated where the Allies might be expected to strike, but since I haven't played as the Allies before, I am not 100% sure of the strategy my opponent might take from here on.

Polling for opinions now - if you were in the Allied shoes, and assuming New Zealand is captured, all Pacific islands except PH have been captured and are at sz 4 airbase, Japan holds Burma, Akyab, Port Blair, but has made no other moves. You know the Japan carriers are in the Pacific. No carriers lost on either side - Japan lost 2 CA's, Allies lost 2 BBs, some CA, several CLs.

What would you do as the Allies?

[Alikchi2]

In re: Sakura, the Japanese juggernaut seems almost unstoppable. Keep your forces concentrated - I'd be looking for a chance to hit those transports with the Allied carriers, then dart away.

As for what I would do.. honestly? I would wait. You're in too good of a position right now for me to attack within acceptable risk. There's no way I can support any invasions with LBA (except possibly in the North), and concentrating all my carrier strength is inviting the KB to steam in and crush it. Therefore, I have to wait until I get additional CVs and CVEs, enough to support an invasion far from home against both LBA and the KB. (Probably my first target would be an island south of Pearl.) I'd focus on the ground war where I could - and funnel American forces into Burma. (Historically I think there'd be an outcry with American ground and air strength sitting uselessly at Pearl or San Francisco while Commonwealth forces struggle).

[cantona2]

Id wait but in the meantime upgrade all the Blenheims in India to Libs then start pounding your Burmese airfields. Has he based heavies at PH to hit JI?

[FeurerKrieg]

He hasn't attack with B-17's out of pearl for a long time now. I think the hit to morale and damaged aircraft was just too high. Johnston Island bristles with AA guns and about 50 A6M2s.

He HAS been using lots of 2 and 4 E bombers in Burma though. I've tried to avoid standing up with them for now, as I don't want to lose pilots. But once I get Tonies and Tojos maybe I'll see what we can do there. Thankfully there are several bases there that overlap CAP coverage, and if I recall Spitfires are fairly short-legged so I'm hoping to keep most of my fighters back where the bombers can't be escorted. But P-38Fs are sitting in Pearl now, so we may see some of those head to Burma.

Alikchi - yes- I am almost hoping he goes for my transports at New Zealand. Unless he got SigInt on my carriers, he does not know that KB is in the Tasman sea. If any strike group heads towards NZ from the west, we should get a good fight, and at this point, my carrier air is still top-notch.

[cantona2]

Whats his use of subs like. I've found that submarines, despite the dud rate, are the best way to hit the Japs in first year of war.

[cantona2]

@Alikchi - if NZ goes its going to be extremely difficult to get US ground forces into Burma

[Nemo121]

Personally I'd use Hawaii as a launching ground for an invasion of Johnston Island with a view to securing the northern flank of a drive to Fiji and Caledonia in order to re-establish SLOCs with Australia.
 
This would also have the benefit of allowing the British Navy and ground forces to link up with Australian and American units with a view to driving northward either into the DEI (west of New Guinea ) or along the eastern coast of New Guinea through Truk, Saipan etc.

[FeurerKrieg]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

@Alikchi - if NZ goes its going to be extremely difficult to get US ground forces into Burma

Isn't there someway the Allies can move things from San Francisco to Karachi or Aden) by withdrawing them or something?

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

ORIGINAL: cantona2

@Alikchi - if NZ goes its going to be extremely difficult to get US ground forces into Burma

Isn't there someway the Allies can move things from San Francisco to Karachi or Aden) by withdrawing them or something?

Is there? [&:] Would be great to know if there is