This is where the action has been getting quite hot the past two weeks.
General Overview
Lots of reinforcements streaming into the theatre. Using these to reinforce Noumea, Luganville and to begin setting up shop at Efate and Ndeni. All Allied CV's are in the region as is a surface TF with two BB's. There are also four small surface TF's running around and making landings miserable for the Japanese.
Japanese have taken all of the Solomons, but so far, Tulagi still doesn't have a 1 size airfield.
Base by Base
Buna - Japs took Buna two weeks ago, losing quite a few transports to the A-24's there. Immmediately following the invasion, I swung a surface TF up there, which sunk every ship. Oddly, despite the surface TF being there, no planes from Rabaul attacked...except at night!
A few days later, since the Japs continued to reinforce Buna, I made a second surface TF raid...sinking all the ships again, and sending a lot of troops to a water grave.
Yet, the Japs continue to try to land stuff there. Plus, as you can see on the map, a Jap force is slogging over the mountains. I believe the strength is quite weak (there are two units...one unit is confirmed weak, the other unknown).
Milne Bay : Intelligence gave me a few days warning of the invasion of Milne Bay about two weeks ago. My surface TF met them...and wiped out the invasion fleet. A few days ago, Japs took another stab at it. The managed to land a weak force, but then the same surface TF arrived and wiped everything out again. On top of that, two allied CV's sunk a bunch of ships that seemed to be following (more on the allied CV's later). Anyways, the Japs have Milne Bay...but it has no supply, no support forces, no engineers...and thus, for now, poses no threat. I'll be keeping a surface TF nearby until Jap carriers arrive and drive me away.
Retaking Milne Bay is of moderately high importance...it's ranks below several other priorities now. By keeping a small surface TF in the vicinity of Milne Bay, I can prevent the Japanese from doing anything with the place...and since the unit there was mauled on landing (it only had a 15 AV), retaking Milne Bay should be easy.
Port Moresby - I successfully landed a large coastal artillery regiment, but lost three transports in the process. Small price to pay. Currently, 240 AV there. One brigade from the Australian 6th, a large tank brigade and the Australian 1st Army is currently being loaded up on a large amphibious task force. Should be loaded in a few days and reach Moresby in 10 days or so. What Moresby needs is some engineer units and some aviation support. These units are loaded on a transport headed to Sydney, but won't arrive for a while. Until then, Moresby will continue to have rather weak air defenses.
That said, the A-24's...what's left of them...is making life miserable for Japanese transports unloading at Buna and Samarinda. The P-40's, due to be withdrawn in three weeks, have earned their keep...killing one jap plane for every P-40 lost.
Moresby has significant armor and artillery assets. This greatly helps in the combat modification. This is especially so if the Japanese will invade Moresby by land (via Buna) instead of by sea. If the Japanese invade Moresby by marching over the mountains, they won't have armor or artillery units. My gut feeling is that the force approaching Moresby overland is going to get slaughtered. Once they arrive in Moresby, I plan on doing a shock attack. The Jap units are weak and fragmented (since they couldn't unload fully before the transports sunk), and likely low on supply.
I expect to lose a LOT of transports keeping Port Moresby functional and operational. But it's a small price to pay. Better to fight in Moresby than on the shores of Australia.
First plane reinforcements from the USA arrived in Brisbane. These planes will join the Cairns-Port Moresby "air shuttle system". They'll be especially important in a few weeks, since the P-40's are due to be withdrawn.
Perth - 1st echelons of the Australian 6th arrived. I shipped them to Sydney. I've loaded up the first brigade and another tank brigade to reinforce Port Moresby. Perth is safe now from anything but a true determined Japanese attack....300 AV in Perth (with armor and artillery) plus another 200 AV in Koolgorolie, which are there to protect the railhead.
Rossell Island - I saw the Japanese planned to invade Rossell island in the intelligence reports. I never paid this island attention in stock. But I checked it out and got a big surprise...the island has a 4 size port potential and a 7 size airfield potential. After seeing that, all of a sudden Rossell Island took on more importance. So, I scratched together a few Autralian "coy" units (I had no other PP's available to activate other units, since I used them all to reinforce Moresby), loaded them on a weak amphib TF and sent them up to Rossell Island...covered by an Allied CV TF. I dont even have a base force for the place yet. Right now, all that is there are two "coy" units for a grand total assault value of 18...although the units do have awesome experience (90).
Once I have enough PP's, freeing up some "real units" to better garrison Rossell Island is high on the priority list. I'll also be maintaining either a carrier TF or a surface TF in the area...to beat back any attempt by the Japs to take it.
Ndeni - (see map of area in following post). This has become another vital area in AE. In stock, it was a rather useless island. Now, it has a size 4 port potential and a 8 size airfield potential. Once I realized that, putting some troops on Ndeni became very important. About to land the 2nd Marine Defense Battalion on the island. A few days later, an engineer unit and a Marine Parachute battalion will land.
Why is Ndeni important? Because the Japs have Tulagi...and one would assume, sooner or later, will begin to construct a large airbase on Lunga. Ndeni is the counter to this airbase...and is close enough to Lunga to provide at least some land based air support for efforts to retake Lunga in the future. Finally, Ndeni makes a wonderful "early warning" base...giving the Allies more time and opportunity to see what the Japanese are doing.
Luganville - First LCU's have landed, along with naval support and a base force. Eventually will build this base up with a lot of supplies and fuel. But for now, Luganville pretty much has what it will have for the forseeable future. The AF and Port both need to be built up, and that will take time. Currently, there is about 250 AV here.
Noumea - 400 AV here now, along with ample supplies and at least "some fuel." I'm worried the two CV TF's and one BB TF is going to drain this fuel in a hurry. But the BB TF is there to provide some serious firepower, for future bombardment and to protect Noumea. Plus, they weren't doing me any good sitting back in Pearl. I'll keep this BB TF (which has the Warspite and Colorado) here for the forseeable future. The other BB's will remain back in Pearl.
Currently have one solid fighter group (with super high air to air experience levels), and two more will be landing shortly. An aviation unit along with a few other LCU's will arrive shortly, too.
