Who needs a title? Dixie vs Mike Solli

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

Good Luck. Whenever I leave the Boise or Houston in that area, they get sunk by the small KB!

Boise has led a charmed life so far. 15 torps have been launched and she's dodged all of them [8D] I'm not expecting as much from Houston. Mike has split the mini KB. One CVL has been loitering between Borneo and Davao and another is near Singapore. This has helped a lot, if both CVLs had been together I would have lost more ships than the handful of transports so far.

[khyberbill]

I wonder how I can get that written as an HR?????

[Dixie]

It's time for an update, two days have passed since the last one it's now Dec 13th...

The Philippines

US and Fillipino forces are currently pulling back to Manila to make a stronger last stand defence. Minimal forces have been left in Bataan, realistically any forces in the PI are doomed so they may as well all be doomed together rather than being overwhelmed in small groups. It looks like Mike is also marching in from the south in an attempt to cut off those units fleeing to Manila but I should make it there first.
4th Marines have left the PI and will attempt to get clear before the IJ develop any airfields capable of supporting torpedo bomber ops.

B-17s have been operating against Jolo Island AF but results have been minimal, a handful of Jap aircraft have been destroyed on the ground and several Zeros damaged in interceptions for the loss of two Ds. The B-17s will soon have a far more important role to be carrying out…


Southern DEI

My ragtag fleet here has been performing fairly well. Mike has attempted three landings here, the landings at Morotai and Monokwari were successful although I managed to damage or sink ships at both sites. The landing at Weda was repulsed before the Japs could get ashore. The force at Monokwari was actually engaged by a converted flush decker AVD at one point...

I’m expecting the follow up invasions to have heavier support, both in the TFs and carrier support from the other IJN CVL currently at Palau which was spotted by USS Saury. Mike knows that Houston and Boise are nearby so any landings now will probably have at least cruiser support and possibly backup from the battleships currently at Rabaul, the days of a single MSW escort are probably gone [:(]. The Dutch will be providing some search capacity here to watch for more invasions but I think that the USN has achieved all it can for now in this area. Next invasions are expected at Manado, Weda (again), Sorong(?) and Amboina. I will be moving some TBs to Amboina just in case.

[Dixie]

The Northern Dutch East Indies and Malaya

An interesting two days here. My ground forces continue the retreat from the Japanese troops in Malaya. The garrison at Georgetown has been cut off after IJ paratroops landed at Taiping and two brigades are at Kota Bharu. The Australian AIF Bdes have been quietly slipping away from Singapore and are regrouping on Java for now.

Whilst the ground forces have been incapable of resisting Japanese pressure, the RAF have excelled themselves. On the 12th Blenheim bombers on anti-shipping duties hit and crippled the Jap carrier Zuiho when she strayed too close to Singapore. This was followed up the next day with more airstrikes, however these strikes failed to hit Zuiho, instead they crippled the other Jap carrier in the area. Hosho was hit by a torpedo from a Swordfish strike and RAAF Hudsons hit her with bombs as well. Zuiho and Hosho are now in trouble, neither ship will be able to make much headway in their damaged condition. The nearest friendly port is Kuching which is easily in range of several bomber units. B-17s have been moved from the PI to airfields in Southern Borneo and will start bombing the port soon in case Mike tries to repair there. Otherwise he has to make a perilous journey up to Indo-China which may well cost him a carrier.

I really got lucky with these strikes. The Blenheims did well in crippling Zuiho and I had expected Mike to move Hosho away at full speed, instead she was just a short distance away from her previous position with hardly any CAP (9 Claudes). I was afraid that Mike would have moved more Zeros into Kuching to provide some LRCAP over both carriers but he doesn’t seem to have done so. Hopefully I’ll get lucky again tomorrow…

The crippling of two Japanese aircraft carriers in as many days confirmed the feelings of many in the British military command who thought that the Japanese were a second-rate power incapable of combat with a Wetern nation. Caricatures of Japanese sailors and naval aviators were widely circulated in the days following the succesful strikes.

The Fall of Singapore
Maj B. Brush (Ret)
Boom Boom Books
1st Edition, 1954

[Dixie]

[center]15th Dec 1941[/center]

Malaya and Borneo

Despite having the presence of two crippled aircraft carriers in Northern Borneo the RAF and NEIAF both decided that today was a day off. Hosho and Zuiho are now both at Kuching, I’m assuming they were docked at the port to try and repair their damage enough to make the trek back home. Most of the ABDA forces have been assigned to attack the port at Kuching in an attempt to finish them off. Vildebeest and Swordfish biplanes are on naval attack in case they make a break for it or in case Lady Luck continues to smile and Mike tries to sneak in a repair ship.

The retreat continues in Malaya, 6th and 22nd Indian Bdes are trying to hold up the Japanese advance but not much chance of that… Luckily most of the British forces are already ahead of the Japanese advance on safely in Singapore. I’m surprised Mike hasn’t put much (any) effort into bombing Singapore yet. With any luck this state of affairs will continue and I’ll be able to build some nice fortifications here.

As I’ve already mentioned, the AIF brigades are withdrawing from Singapore and will regroup in Java. From here they will either aid in the defences or be withdrawn to Oz for future use. No.100 Sqn will be withdrawing soon as well, the Vildebeest’s short range means that targets are difficult to come across as Mike seems to have left Kuantan as far as shipping is concerned. They will be heading back to India to provide coastal defence.

The RAF Blenheims of 223 Group will be going over to various ground attack missions for now. When things start to go really pear-shaped they’ll be off as well. 224 Group will stay for as long as possible before running away to Java to restart the whole process again. Depending on how things progress 453 Sqn may be re-equipped with Hurricanes, or they might stick with the Buffs and I’ll use all my Hurris in India.


[center][/center]

[Dixie]

[center]BRITISH OOB, MALAYA AND SINGAPORE
15th Dec 1941[/center]

Army
Singapore
Indian III Corps (HQ)
12th Indian Bde
28th Indian Bde
Malaya Army (HQ)
1st Malaya Bde
2nd Malaya Bde
SSVF Bde
22nd Brigade AIF (Rear echelon only)
27th Brigade AIF
Singapore Fort
1st HAA Regt HKSRA
1st Indian HAA Regt
2nd HAA Rgt HKSRA
2nd Indian LAA Regt
3rd HAA Regiment
3rd LAA Regt HKSRA
1st ISF Base Force
2nd ISF Base Force
MAF Aviation

Kota Bharu
3rd ISF Base Force
8th Indian Bde
FMSV Bde

Malay Peninsula
15th Indian Bde (22,49)
6th Indian Bde (23,48)
22nd Indian Bde (23,48)


Royal Air Force
No.223 Group
No.34 Sqn: 16x Blenheim MkIV (Tengah)
No.60 Sqn: 10x Blenheim MkI (Sembawang)
No.62 Sqn: 16x Blenheim MkI (Tengah)
No.36 Sqn: 9x Vildebeest (Detached at Kuching, Borneo)
No.100 Sqn: 16x Vildebeest (Seletar)

No.224 Group
No.453 Sqn (RAAF): 16x Buffalo I (Sembawang)
No.488 Sqn: 16x Buffalo I (Kallang)
No.243 Sqn: 11x Buffalo I (Seletar)

No.205 Sqn: 5x Catalina (RAF Seletar)
W Flight RAF: 5x Wirraway (Kallang)
4 AACU: 6x Swordfish (Detached at Kuching, Borneo)

[Dixie]

Philippines  

The first Japanese units have arrived at Clark Field, whilst I’m not too happy at the fact they’ve grabbed a load of supplies the airfield itself is a wreck.  I’m not sure what Mike will do next, I’m hoping he concentrates on Bataan so I can fort up Manila but I expect I’ll be disappointed on that front.  Everything on Luzon has now retreated back to Manila except for three units, one at Bataan and two south of Manila.
Tomorrow will also see a change in tactics for my US fighters in the PI.  Up until now they’ve been used as either defensive CAP or to escort the few B-17 raids that have gone ahead.  Now they’ve been armed with bomb racks and will attempt to cause some damage to Mike’s shipping which is getting rather too complacent for my liking. An IJN task force carried out a naval bombardment of Cagayan but caused little damage, most of the USAAF bombers have departed and the only ship here was a damaged civilian passenger ferry which was quickly sunk. Another IJN surface group is in the Sulu Sea, I’m not sure what they’re going to do but I can’t do anything to hinder them anyway so…  

4th Marines are well and truly on their way out of here now.  The next obstacle is for them to clear Jolo Island and the bombers based there, once the convoy is clear of there they should be home free.  I’m actually almost tempted to use them to retake Morotai if I can pick up some supplies to help them seeing as they left Manila without any.  It would certainly give Mike something else to think about and would almost certainly cost him a valuable base force.  The other option is to head to Oz and re-equip for some added defence in the region.    


EVERYWHERE ELSE

Generally quiet out here. Rabaul is being slowly overwhelmed although the base held out against the first Japanese attack. The USN will be naming a new light cruiser after HMAS Adelaide which was sunk in a defiant gesture against the IJN battleships which were protecting the landing.
The biggest news is that the British 18th Div arrives in two days, they are off to defend an important British island and dockyard. The Div will be split between the bases on Ceylon to defend against a seaborne invasion. Until 2nd Div arrives the defence of India will be in the hands of my understrength Indian Army units. Units are slowly being reinforced one at a time to bring up their combat strength to a better level. The RAF around here is in dire straits, no modern aircraft at all and I don't think 3 squadrons of Lysanders will be a lot of use [8|] At least there are some Hurricanes arriving soon and the AVG are kicking about as well.

[Dixie]

16th December 1941

Malaya & North Borneo

Confirmation has been received that Hosho has sunk. [8D] A major propaganda coup is achieved for the British as the Japanese lose an important warship. In particular the Daily Mail will herald the sinking as a triumph over the next few days.
Seemingly in revenge for the destruction of Hosho the Japanese Navy bombarded Singkawang, destroying a Vildebeest on the ground and damaging the facilities. I am considering moving Force Z from the Java Sea to block any more attempts like that, although the risk of losing major surface units is not worth the risk right now.
The planned aerial strikes on Kuching failed to materialise, only two Dutch Martin bombers made it through to bomb the port and they achieved nothing. The B-17s from Southern Borneo failed to even find their way to the target…[8|] Maybe tomorrow will be better on this front.
I now have two Royal Navy submarines patrolling the waters between Malaya and Borneo. Trusty is trying to catch any ships leaving Kuantan whilst Truant is moving to attack any ships (Zuiho mainly) trying to leave Kuching. Hopefully the British and Dutch subs will make up for the dud rate on the US Fleet boats. But probably not [:'(]

Not really part of Malaya or Borneo, but the transport ship Prome has arrived in Western Sumatra carrying a load of mines. With plenty of Dutch minelayers kicking around and a lot of US Fleet Boats with their crappy torps there will be a lot of work for the IJN minesweeping forces.


Philippines & South Borneo

Clark Field was captured leaving the Japanese in command of the wrecked base.
There was a brief surface battle near Iloilo when a Japanese surface group caught the unescorted convoy transporting the 4th Marines. Luckily only one ship was sunk with the rest scattering in the darkness. The force then bombarded the base causing light casualties. A similar scene unfolded at Tarakan where the bombardment finished off the heavily damaged USS Langley and damaged the tanker Agnita enough that she has been scuttled.
SE of Davao S-41 put a torpedo into a Japanese troop ship. With their current heading it looks like they are trying to move to invade Davao, Houston has been sent on a high speed dash to try and intercept them. I’m risking running into Ryujo in an attempt to screw up Mike’s plans a little, it's not much but it's about all I'm willing to risk right now.


New Guinea

Rabaul has been captured. The sheer numbers of IJ troops ashore and the support of warships meant that any defence would be all too fleeting. The survivors are marching to Gasmata where I will attempt a Dunkirk style evac. The problem with this is that most of the merchant shipping in the area has been sunk by the IJN, right now I have three transports in the area trying to evac Kavieng as well. Any troops who survive are being offloaded at Buna, not that they’ll be able to provide much of a defence.
All of the air units were saved from Rabaul, giving me a formidable striking force based in New Guinea [8|] It's a shame that the base at Port Moresby is not actually a viable position to be holding. [:(]


Central Pacific

Reports of IJN subs are keeping me busy here right now. There are at least half a dozen dotted around Hawaii. Three are spread across the usual shipping lanes from the US to PH with three more to the SW of Pearl. If only I had some RN destroyers out here…
I am also moving USS Tangier out to French Frigate Shoal to extend the naval search coverage on the approaches to PH.
In other news, more mines! [:D] The fast minelayers are already out working and will shortly be joined by more when they are seaworthy again. Now I wish I hadn't been so hasty in sending Oglala out to Palmyra.


North Pacific

So far there has not been anything much going on around here. I have received a sighting report of an IJN sub near Cold Bay, this is probably involved in some sort of cheeky mine-laying mission seeing as there is bugger all else for it to be there for.
A small fleet is being assembled at PH for duty in the North, so far the main element will be a TF based around USS Saratoga. With the KB in the Marshalls for now and the Ryujo around Palau and the other two small carriers out of the picture air support is likely to be minimal for the IJN. The chances of an invasion are also likely to be minimal but as the Boy Scouts say “Be Prepared”. There will be a minimal surface combat element based around a pair of Omaha scout cruisers.
Because of this, and because it looks like a tempting target, 4th RCT are onboard a convoy heading up to Nome. Tucked up there out of the way it’s of minimal value but at 45 VPs it’s worth as much to Japan as a cruiser. The NorPac RCT in Seattle has already boarded ships and will be moving to PH until the spring when I will have a better idea of what is happening with the Line Islands.

[font="Courier New"]Planned USN North Pacific Fleet

TF.28.1 (RAdm R.S. Holmes)
USS Maryland (Capt B.W. Badger)
USS West Virginia (Capt W. Borowski)
USS Raleigh (Capt I. Fanning)
USS Detroit (Capt. A. Dawley)
USS Gridley (LCdr F. Stickney)
USS Dunlap (Cdr A. Colhouer)
USS Waters (LCdr H. Armstrong)
USS Crosby (LCdr G. Domingo)
USS Kilty (LCdr L.Collie)

TF.28.2 (Capt D. Ramsey, USN)
USS Saratoga (Capt D. Ramsey)
USS Northampton (Capt W. Chandler)
USS Salt Lake City (Capt E. Small)
USS Craven (Cdr R. Puglia)
USS Benham (LCdr J. Worthington)
USS Ellet (LCdr F. Gardner)
USS Fanning (Cdr E. Imes)

TF.28.3.1 (Lt K. Ricketts, RCN)
HMCS Sans Peur (Lt K. Ricketts)
HMCS Dawson (Lt O. Ingersoll)
HMCS Edmundston (Lt S. Evans)
HMCS Quesnal (Lt. U. Ainsworth)

TF.28.3.2 (Lt S. Cheshire RCN)
HMCS Mirimichi (Lt S. Cheshire)
HMCS Outarde (Lt P. Evans)
HMCS Quatsino (Lt R. Livingstone)
HMCS Chignecto (Lt R. Peirse)

TF.28.4
USS Cuyama (Cpt O. Brinkmann)
USS Tippecanoe (Cdr A. Macondray)
USS Dixie (Cdr I.R. Hipps)
USS Brazos (Cpt W. Townsend)
USS Teal (LCdr N. Stewart)
USS Gillis (LCdr S.W. Krampe)

4th Submarine Flotilla
USS Fulton (Cdr E.S. Sheetz)
USS Tuna (LCdr J. DeTar)
USS Cuttlefish (LCdr M. Hottel)
USS S-27 (LCdr H. Jukes)
USS S-28 (LCdr J. Crowley)
USS Nautilus (LCdr W.H. Brockman)[/font]

Any particular requests for screenies? Or other questions? Am I the only person reading this? Only time will tell [:D]

[Ambassador]

Hi, you're not alone.  Although, since I'm reading both your and Mike's AAR, I won't take any part in discussing the strategies of either of you, for fear of divulging bits learned from the other's.[;)]

[Monter_Trismegistos]

Prome is a MLE?

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Monter_Trismegistos

Prome is a MLE?

Yes, she starts out in Ceylon. Seeing as there wasn't any actual MLE class in the real world though she's written into the AAR as a just a regular ship carrying a supply of mines down to the DEI. As far as I can tell she's the only one I've got, or will get.
I've got plenty of ports in India that can support minelaying operations but none in the DEI where there was historically a small supply of mines at Singapore so she's off to Java for a bit.

[Dixie]

[center]17th December 1941[/center]

Malaya & Northern Borneo

There were more abortive attempts at hitting Zuiho in port again today. Although the B-17s found the target today their bombing was off, the Dutch Martins mostly turned back after being mauled by the local CAP. I can’t gey hold of good fighters quickly enough here…
RAF bombers flying out of Singapore fared better, an escorted attack by 3 Blenheims and 2 Wirraways caused 3 bomb hits on two IJN transports at Kuantan without any losses to the CAP. Other Blenheims tried to bomb a Jap cruiser force out at sea and failed.
Total air losses today were 1 Martin 139 and 1 Ki-27 ‘Nate’. Mike has now finally taken the lead in air-to-air kills but he’s still lost more aircraft in total. Zero bonus, ha!

Georgetown was captured today, the static force that had been left behind were all either captured or killed during the all too brief battle for the town. Mike’s advance seems to have stopped 120miles north of Johore Bahru, this means that the last parts of the forces retreating to Singapore will make it safely. In another slight change of plan, 22nd Indian Bde will hold at Johore Bahru as a last attempt at some sort of rearguard effort.

Philippines

Japanese troops are ashore at Davao after Houston didn’t make the high speed dash to intercept them. It looks like that may be a good thing though, there are two TFs there one of which has several CAs in it. Even if they aren’t full size cruisers they’d make a mess of Houston with Long Lance torps. In a last ditch attempt to do something here the USS William B. Preston has put to sea and will face off against the Japanese forces.
I do have confirmation of some cruisers in a different TF. One of my empty convoys ran into three IJN cruisers and was wiped out, 6 transports down for no gain there. The current heading of the TF looks like it will take them to Manado, probably for more bombardment attacks.
The USAAF has ordered the remaining B-17 groups to leave the islands, a few damaged ones are left and as soon as they are repaired they’ll be leaving as well. Two groups have been sent west to join the ABDA forces marshalling in Java. The other two are heading south and will form part of the new SWPAC command based in Australia.
Seeing as Houston has failed in her initial mission I have a special mission in mind for her now. It will either cause her probable loss OR it will provide a major propaganda boost for the Allies and annoy Mike a little. Stay tuned to find out…


Central Pacific

A minor victory today, USS Chew became the first Allied warship to sink a Japanese submarine, one sticky gold star to the crew there [:)]. However the attack has expended all of Chew and Allen’s DCs so the group is heading back to PH to reload. The rest of the destroyers in their group have a poor ASW armament so I feel it’s better for them to stick with the old four-stackers for now.


West Coast

In response to paniced reports of Japanese invasion fleets patrolling along the Wesy Coast the USAAF has assigned it's long range aircraft to naval search missions. Activity in the WC ports is ramping up now with ship movements increasing. Several ships have been earmarked for conversion to fleet support ships, mostly ARs, and they will make their way to San Francisco to begin work. Other ships are forming convoys to transport fuel, supplies and troops to CentPac and beyond. B-17 groups assigned to India have already begun the long journey via Hawaii, Canton Is, Fiji, Australia and the DEI. Fighter groups have had their aircraft crated and loaded on board ships for Hawaii. From there they will fly down to Fiji before loading onto more freighters to move to Oz and then through the DEI to India.
Seeing as they WC repair yards are empty [8D] USS Colorado is moving to SF to finish her repairs.

[Dixie]

[center]19th December[/center]

It’s another two day update today.

MALAYA & BORNEO

More of the same here. The Blenheims have been in action against Japanese ground forces, light casualties have been inflicted on the advancing hordes. Jap bombers have started to bomb the isolated garrison at Kota Bharu, since they have been coming in unescorted No.243 Sqn have been sent up country in an attempt to ambush the bombers when they return.
Naval action has been minimal recently since most of my ships in the area have been sunk. IJN subs and IJNAF torpedo bombers have been whittling away at my fleets, and seeing as I can’t protect my ASW units from air attack I can’t do a great deal to hunt down the subs.
The attempts to bomb Zuiho in port have been a failure from the start, more aircraft have been moved into range of Kuching and the raids will continue. An interesting report has been received of another IJN carrier to the NE of Kuching.


THE PHILIPPINES

Japanese ground forces have pushed the last line of defence south of Manila back into the city. Work on the fortifications is proceding slowly, only lvl 1 at the moment but hopefully this will be offset by the urban terrain making it difficult for Mike to weed out my forces.
In some more positive news, a short naval battle at Vigan was (just about) a minor victory for the Allies. A small group of PT boats from Manila engaged four Japanese patrol boats. Although three PTs were sunk one IJN boat was sunk and another left on fire and listing heavily. The lack of repair facilities around here might finish her off, or I might get lucky and manage to get an attack from S-38 which is lurking nearby.
More shipping has been sunk by IJN surface units as it attempts to flee. Half of the convoy transporting 4th Marines was sunk by Japanese cruisers and battleships, luckily I had separated the faster ships in the convoy and send them on ahead so they are almost safely out of the danger zone.
USS Houston was sunk by carrier borne torpedo bombers as she attempted a high speed dash towards Palau.


CENTRAL PACIFIC

This has generally been an encouraging theatre for me. Despite losing the AK Castor between Hawaii and Johnston Island to a submarine attack my ASW efforts have so far paid off. After the I-24 was sunk my various ASW groups have reported attacks on several IJN subs.
I-18 was attacked by Castor’s escorts and left on fire.
I-19 was attacked by an ASW TF damaged.
I-17 was attacked by an ASW TF and left on fire and heavily damaged.
I-16 was attacked by an ASW TF and left heavily damaged.
These attacks should result in two of the subs sinking, and the other two will be needing some repairs. I also have sighting reports on two more submarines NE of Pearl Harbor. There is an ASW TF in the area which is moving to attack one sighting, assisting them in this is the USS Enterprise which is using it’s SBDs to spot enemy subs. Not the best use for a fleet carrier, but there isn’t much else for them to do right now.


INDIA

My first Hurricane squadron has arrived. Except they’re equipped with bloody Buffaloes instead. So they’re pretty much useless to me right now. Bugger.

[khyberbill]

My first Hurricane squadron has arrived. Except they’re equipped with bloody Buffaloes instead. So they’re pretty much useless to me right now. Bugger.

You need 16 hurricanes in the pool for squadrons to receive them. Note that the level in the replacement pool doesnt drop. At least you got Buffaloes. I received Lystanders! And of course you are stuck with them until May when you can upgrade them...with planes from the pool. I think this bug or whatever you want to call it is for all of your planes thus, watch when you are getting P-40's or P-38s and make sure you have 24 in the pool or you will end up with P36's.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

My first Hurricane squadron has arrived. Except they’re equipped with bloody Buffaloes instead. So they’re pretty much useless to me right now. Bugger.

You need 16 hurricanes in the pool for squadrons to receive them. Note that the level in the replacement pool doesnt drop. At least you got Buffaloes. I received Lystanders! And of course you are stuck with them until May when you can upgrade them...with planes from the pool. I think this bug or whatever you want to call it is for all of your planes thus, watch when you are getting P-40's or P-38s and make sure you have 24 in the pool or you will end up with P36's.

I'm a little pissed off seeing as there were 15 Hurris in the pool when they arrived [:@] What makes it all the more annoying is that I haven't upgraded any of my Indian/Aussie squadrons to Hurris [8|] Lysanders [X(] That's going to hurt, even without the Zero bonus [:D]

[khyberbill]

I'm a little pissed off seeing as there were 15 Hurris in the pool when they arrived What makes it all the more annoying is that I haven't upgraded any of my Indian/Aussie squadrons to Hurris Lysanders That's going to hurt, even without the Zero bonus

Your only recourse is to go back to the save turn where you had 16 hurries and start from there. You are now in a hole, and digging fast. I tried to play on for three months and it just gets worse. You have all these silly planes sitting on the tarmac, or grass, while IJ hammers you. You need the hurries.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

I'm a little pissed off seeing as there were 15 Hurris in the pool when they arrived What makes it all the more annoying is that I haven't upgraded any of my Indian/Aussie squadrons to Hurris Lysanders That's going to hurt, even without the Zero bonus

Your only recourse is to go back to the save turn where you had 16 hurries and start from there. You are now in a hole, and digging fast. I tried to play on for three months and it just gets worse. You have all these silly planes sitting on the tarmac, or grass, while IJ hammers you. You need the hurries.

I'll cope mate. I haven't had any turns where I had 16 Hurris in the pool so going back a turn won't help. [:(] I can cover the gap in the line with either Indians or Aussies, or pull an extra US fighter group out of the PI. One squadron is not going to screw me over too much, hopefully. Now that I've got enough in the pool the rest of my Reinforcements will arrive with decent(ish) aircraft.

[khyberbill]

I'll cope mate. I haven't had any turns where I had 16 Hurris in the pool so going back a turn won't help. I can cover the gap in the line with either Indians or Aussies, or pull an extra US fighter group out of the PI. One squadron is not going to screw me over too much, hopefully. Now that I've got enough in the pool the rest of my Reinforcements will arrive with decent(ish) aircraft.

Good idea to pull the GI's out of PI. Eventually they will get run over there. Just keep up your force pools in your key fighters. The other ones to guard are your kittyhawks. For some reason, mine do really well.

[Dixie]

[center]20th December 1941
[/center]
Malaya

Japanese troops have now reached as far as Johore Bahru where 22nd Indian Bde is preparing the meagre defences. I don’t expect them to hold out, but when they are forced back they might be able to damage the airfield here as well as destroy the forts they were manning.
No.243 Sqn intercepted the daily raid against Kota Bharu, but even against unescorted bombers the results were poor. Only one Japanese plane was shot down with 13 more damaged. The Buffs have withdrawn from the airbase as I expect Mike to send some sort of fighters out tomorrow. Here’s hoping this little trick causes Mike to tie up more fighters in escorting his bombers from now on.
The first of the air units have started to withdraw from Singapore now. W Flight has taken their Wirraways and are now in the Andaman Islands prior to a return to Burma. No.205 Sqn have moved their Catalinas to the island of Singkep. From here they can continue their shipping searches around Singapore. The Buffs in Singapore are having major problems with serviceability, the three squadrons here have 19 aircraft ready to go between them. Not good…


Dutch East Indies

The shipment of mines for my Dutch minelayers is currently off the Northern end of Java, in a few days I’ll be able to recommence minelaying in the DEI.
RAF torpedo bombers attempted a strike against an IJN cruiser force 120 miles from Northern Borneo, although they located their targets they didn’t manage any hits on the cruisers and got badly knocked about by AA fire. At least all aircraft returned safely, so another strike might happen tomorrow.


The Philippines

Not a great deal happening here again. Manila based fighters set out to bomb the Japanese airfield at Clark, a few scattered hits aren’t going to achieve much though. As soon as the Zeros show up it’s going to be withdrawal time I think, 17th Fighter have already left and are on their way to Java. I am going to use them to fly CAP over any ships I try to move within Nell range.
There are a few damaged ships currently in Manila, including to USN submarines. S-40 and Tarpon were both damaged by IJN escort ships and need some emergency work before they leave for Australia and permanent repairs. The patrol vessel Isabel is also here along with a few transport ships. The transports are going to load up as much fuel as they can and attempt to run the gauntlet.


Central Pacific

Or more precisely, Hawaii region. Good efforts from the ASW ships again today as the I-23 was sent to the bottom in the deep water east of Hawaii during the night. At the moment there are no other sighting reports of Japanese subs in the area, so hopefully they’ve all sunk or gone to lick their wounds. Optimistically I think I’ve sunk, or damaged them enough that they’ll sink, an additional two IJN subs. The ASW forces are returning to PH for some well earned rest and a reorganisation of the ASW TFs.




In general things are going fairly well. They could have been better, but they also could have been a LOT worse. The IJN submarines in the Pacific have suffered a bloody nose, but the poor experience of most of my ASW assets in the DEI has meant some heavy losses of merchant shipping when the subs and LBA have combined. The initial successes with Boise and Houston will be harder to repeat as air searches have indicated more heavy cruisers south of the Philippines. Something else that is annoying is the inability of my LBA to hit the Zuiho whilst she's sitting in port. Sending her to the bottom would be a massive boost.
I've lost the KB, so there isn't much movement happening west of Hawaii right now. The most likely options are for the KB to either head into the DEI and support operations there since the IJN carrier force has been slashed here. Or, they could move to support an invasion of the Solomons and/or New Guinea. Or, they'll be back to support an invasion of Midway/Johnston/Line Islands. I'm not sure how many 'spare' divisions Mike has at the start or how much shipping he'd have to lift one, what I do know is that my troop convoys are travelling bloody slowly. IF I can get them there first then I should be able to hold the Line Islands, and possibly even Johnston Island. Another worry is that I don't have the troops available to hold anything south of the Line Islands, leaving the Samoas and Fiji vulnerable. Whilst this isn't a war-losing problem it will mean supplying Oz would be difficult.


P.S. I hate China. [:@] No particular reason why...

[khyberbill]

P.S. I hate China. No particular reason why...

I hate China too. Land combat there is like running in water up to your waist. I do send a few AA units from SF (change their HQ to China Command) just to make the IJA and IJN pilot training program hazardous.