YueJin (Allies) Vs Hadros (Axis)

[YueJin]

Allies – October 25th/November 8th, 1942

The blockades in Australia hold with some minor damage on a couple of destroyer squadrons from the Japanese air force. With the removal of supply from all forces, only two marine divisions are still considered combat capable in the theatre. The fresh US 3rd corps will continue the push north to liberate Rockhampton as soon as possible. Wrapping up the Australia campaign by February 1943 would be ideal to coincide with the formation of a second carrier fleet. Invasion of key objectives can then be accomplished rapidly.



Fighting in India and China has largely stalled for the rest of the year with the imperial forces making slow but steady progress back towards the Burmese border. The recovery of the Japanese armies in Southern China means that the next major offensive will likely be conducted by the Communist forces towards the ancient city of Xi’an

[YueJin]

Allies – November 8th/November 22nd, 1942

A bloody turn in India and Australia sees the Japanese overrunning the British 10th corps completely demolishing the formation





The efforts exerted by the Japanese left them vulnerable to a counterattack however, and the Indian army plus 9th corps advance back through the jungle towards Imphal. Additionally, the Japanese carrier fleet has been spotted at Port Moresby, leaving the door open for the Royal Navy to blockade Chittagong. This should force a withdrawal towards Rangoon, accelerating the timetable of operations in South East Asia.





One of the submarine groups blockading Cairns is sunk and a small Japanese fleet of the cruiser Aoba and two destroyer groups is attempting to reopen supply to the troops trapped in Australia. This would be unacceptable, so the battleships Nevada, West Virginia and South Dakota with HMAS Canberra escorting move in to maintain control of the coast. The Aoba and one of the destroyer groups is sunk in exchange for moderate damage on the South Dakota.





In the land campaign, the Americans succeed in capturing Rockhampton with the aid of naval gunnery from the cruisers San Francisco and New Orleans. It will be important to break out onto the plains of Northern Australia next turn to allow the air force to keep pace with the advance. Most of the US bomber groups are still stuck around Sydney and desperate need to rebase north to cover the blockading forces from the Japanese carriers. They may decide to strike the battleships off of Cairns next turn meaning another major engagement could ensue shortly.

[ncc1701e]

What is the situation in Central Pacific? Do you still own Wake island?

[YueJin]

Allies – November 22nd/December 6th, 1942

The Japanese light carriers come out to attack the battleships that sunk the Aoba off of Cairns managing to sink the battleship Nevada and the Canberra. The decision is taken not to seek an engagement as Japanese air bases in New Guinea would be in range and the US air force would not be able to contribute as the bases in Southern Australia are out of range.





The blockades have done their job though and the American/Australian forces recapture the town of Mackay cutting off any possible retreat north of the Belyando river. The USAF rebases around Rockhampton and will be able to strike at any Japanese ships off the east coast of Australia now.





India is the other major conflict zone currently and the Indian army has made a breakthrough to Chittagong aided by supplies and gunnery from the Royal Navy. Japanese forces in the north are not receiving acceptable supplies with the port cut off and the line here should begin to bend very soon.





The position in the Pacific currently. The Japanese control all ports north of Fiji but you can see a serious lack of garrisons in the inner ring. In a couple of months when the US navy has been further reinforced, landings at Truk, Guam, Palau and Yap could be carried out very easily.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: YueJin

The position in the Pacific currently. The Japanese control all ports north of Fiji but you can see a serious lack of garrisons in the inner ring. In a couple of months when the US navy has been further reinforced, landings at Truk, Guam, Palau and Yap could be carried out very easily.

Thanks, can't wait to see the latest news.

[YueJin]

Allies – December 6th/December 20th, 1942

Surprisingly, the Japanese carriers attempt to press the attack at Australia, continuing on to sink the Arizona and the destroyer groups accompanying her. However, the US Air Force now has plenty of bases around Rockhampton and Mackay, the US carrier fleet is in strike range and the enemy is in a medium reconnaissance hex even before COMINT is used. The stage is set for a potentially war winning battle.





Seven airstrikes inflict 15 points of damage on the Japanese air wings as well as damaging the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro plus the cruiser Furutaka. This is a little under half the air force on the Japanese carriers wiped out, leaving the door wide open for a favourable carrier engagement.


The battle is largely one sided with the remaining Japanese planes being forced to provide CAP over their fleet but the presence of eight battleships makes target acquisition extremely challenging for the American pilots and whilst many ships are left with severe damage only the carrier Junyo and battleship Fuso are sunk.








Although a very disappointing outcome considering how skewed things were in the Allied favour, these are still significant blows to the dwindling Japanese navy and repairing the damage from this battle plus the 29 points of air strength lost will take up Japanese production for several months. The Americans could fight another battle like this again next turn and still be near full power.


On the land, the Australians manage to reach Townsville ahead of the retreating Japanese despite the onset of heavy rain making the march more arduous. Australia will not quite be liberated by the new year, but the day is close at hand.


In the South Pacific, the 1st marine division lands at Nomea, reclaiming the island only a couple of months after it finally fell to the Japanese. New Zealanders also land at Espirito Santo which will be used as an airbase to support further operations in the region.





As predicted, in India the Japanese front line begins to crumble. The Chinese 4th army group strikes out through Myitkyina, further constricting the route supplies can take to reach the troops. If the Thai forces defending Imphal can be broken next turn a further two Japanese armies could potentially be encircled and destroyed.

[YueJin]

Allies – December 20th/January 3rd, 1943

The Japanese fleet launches one overly ambitious last strike before returning to Rabaul which proves to be a disastrous decision. The few remaining planes fail to hit any of the American ships, guarded by fighters from Rockhampton AFB. In return, the battleships Nagato and Mutsu are sunk leaving Japan with only 6-7 remaining capital ships.





The chase through Australia continues. It remains imperative that the two Japanese armies remaining in Australia be completely destroyed or they could hold up operations by months garrisoning key islands. Fighters arrive at the New Hebrides islands and the New Zealanders land and prepare airstrips on Ndeni. If Guadalcanal and Bougainville can be taken, the Japanese fleet will be forced out of Rabaul for good.





The race through Burma is also on, as the Japanese retreat as quickly as they advanced last year. Chittagong is secured by the Indian 3rd corps and the airfields at Ledo should be captured next week, allowing vital resources to be delivered to the Chinese.

[YueJin]

Allies – January 3rd/January 17th, 1943


Cairns is liberated by the Americans leaving Normanton as the only remaining port possible for the remnants of the Japanese army to evacuate from. General Yamashita is also killed trying to rally the stragglers as his staff car is hit by a bombing raid.





With the recapture of Chittagong, the battle moves into Burma proper. The Japanese troops near the Chinese border are exhausted and the Indian national army is overrun. Although the Imperial forces are also tired from months of hard fighting in the jungle, keeping up the pressure may inflict crippling damage to the enemy in this theatre.

[YueJin]

Apologies to any readers for the delay, we had a weeks break but should be back on now.

Allies January 17th/February 14th 1943

The mopping up operation in Australia is finally completed with the sinking of the Ryuho and Hiryu which attempted to break the submarine blockade of Normanton port in the Japanese turn. I think one Japanese army was able to escape in the final days of the campaign but the rest of the force that invaded Australia has surrendered.






The remaining Japanese carriers showed themselves at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, sinking an American submarine. It's certainly nice to see them this far away from the main operational area.






The Burma offensive continues to gather pace with a daring attempt by the 3rd corps to cut the railroad from Rangoon. As the Japanese paratroopers are the only combat capable corps left in the area, a counterattack is not greatly feared.







The Japanese have pulled back their garrisons in the Gilbert and Marshall islands to reinforce Truk and the Marianas. As such, small landing parties will recapture the island of Kwajalein to use as a staging point for further operation in the Eastern Pacific.





Finally, the island hopping campaign in the Solomon islands has achieved it's first goal of putting allied fighters and bombers in range of Rabaul. With air cover in place, we can begin blockading the garrisoned ports in the area and isolate the Japanese on New Guinea.

[YueJin]

Allies-February 14th/March 14th, 1943


With Australia secured and the remnants of the Japanese fleet still in the Indian Ocean, the Allies are now firmly on the offensive in the Eastern Pacific. Rabaul, the key port in the Solomon islands is defended by the well dug in 16th army, a tough target surrounded by jungle and Japanese coastal defences, overwhelming force or starvation would be needed to capture it. Intending to push forward an aggressive timetable, two full American corps and marine divisions are committed to breaking the defenders within two weeks. Thanks to support from seven of the most powerful capital ships in the US Navy the morale of the defenders is broken in two assaults and the vital port is secured. With this success, Japanese positions on New Guinea are now indefensible and will be targeted next not allowing the Japanese time to react.





We could have left the garrison to starve for a couple of turns and achieved this with half the landing craft but I have 270 more in production and want to push the tempo up as I intend to be landing on Japan by the end of 1944 this game.


In the Marshall islands, small American landing forces have captured Kwajalein, Enewetak and Wotje to use as staging positions for further raids into the Caroline and Mariana island groups.





In Burma, the oilfields at Yenangyaung have been recaptured which will provide very useful fuel for British bombers arriving in the area shortly, even with American aid keeping the British oil reserves up has been slightly difficult. The presence of all surviving Japanese warships in the area though is preventing amphibious operations to speed up the jungle trek.

[ncc1701e]

Nice to see you back in action.

[YueJin]

Allies-March 14th/April 11th, 1943


In a surprising move, the IJN strikes the destroyer groups blockading Manus, sinking two of them. The US Navy is slightly out of position to counterstrike as we didn't expect the Japanese to be so bold as to risk their last naval power here. Land based fighters from Rabaul and Kavieng clear a lot of the carriers air wing out of the way to allow our carriers to try and catch the Japanese on the retreat. The battle turns out much more evenly than expected with the CVL Ryujo and CA Furutaka being sunk caught and sunk by dive bombers but tragically, a single torpedo from a weak Japanese counterstrike finds the CV Wasp and she is scuttled later that day.

Still, even the inconclusive nature of this engagement is a good outcome for the Allies. This turn an additional two CV's, a CVL and a BB arrived at Los Angeles (one of which has been hastily rechristened Wasp II) to allow two full carrier groups to operate in the Pacific now and the damage to Japanese air wings, battleships and infantry forces cannot be repaired easily.





Anglo-Indian forces are largely exhausted, at the end of a long supply line and with the monsoon season soon arriving in Burma, may have to wait for landing craft to arrive to continue the push into South-East Asia.

In better news though, the Chinese army has recaptured the island of Hainan taking control of the coal mines from the Japanese further weakening their production capability. The weather will soon clear in Central China allowing for a renewed offensive by Communist and Nationalist forces across the country.

[YueJin]

Allies-April 11th/May 9th, 1943

With the weather clearing over China, the summer offensive of 1943 is underway. Small breakthroughs are made against the weaker Japanese divisions including a river of the Yangtze. Shanghai and Nanking are the primary objectives for this year as well as inflicting constant casualties on the Japanese to ensure they cannot spare production repairing or producing new naval or air forces.





Further south, the enemy position must be even weaker than expected as they abandon Rangoon, allowing imperial forces to recapture the vital port. Not only will this allow supply for further penetration into Thailand, but the Burma road will also be reopened providing even more power to the Chinese offensive.





In the Central Pacific, Truk, Guam and the Palu islands are blockaded in the hope that either the surviving Japanese navy will attempt to destroy the blockaders or a small force will be able to land and overrun the starving defenders.

[ncc1701e]

Are you sure you can do a port blockade in Guam and Truk with planes on top of them?
This is more port supply interdiction here. Maybe I am not well understanding the rules yet.

[YueJin]

Yup, the only thing that stops blockades is having your own naval group adjacent to the port as well in the current build. Maybe something's changed in the beta.

Here you can see a single submarine group putting Guam and Saipan out of supply even with air units on both.

[YueJin]

Allies-May 9th/ May 23rd, 1943

The landings at New Guinea are slated to begin at the end of March. To soften up the defenders around Lae and Port Moresby a small British force secures several beaches ahead of American army. Moving a huge concentration of AA guns into Rabaul pays off as an ambitious bombing raid leads to the destruction of an entire Japanese air division. With three wings of 1944 tech escort fighters now available, Japanese air power should be heavily limited in effectiveness.





The Chinese offensive begins in earnest with Communist forces advancing to Xi'an whilst the Nationalist armies in the south continue crossing the Yangtze and attempt to encircle two Japanese armies around Nanchang. Only four Japanese armies have been identified in China and several divisions are already on the verge of collapse. Breaking through to Shanghai this year seems a possibility.

[YueJin]

Allies-May 23rd/June 6th, 1943

Disaster at New Guinea, as not only does the wet weather set back the capture of Lae, but the CA Salt Lake City and BB's Indiana and South Dakota are sunk by the Japanese air force flying from Wewak and Jayapura. The Japanese pilots suffer heavily for their success, taking 25 points of damage from anti air fire from the ships and the air superiority fighters at Rabaul and Kavieng. Combined with the losses in China it seems doubtful that they can recover to repeat this feat next turn and with any luck, Lae should fall even if the rain continues, giving us the foothold needed to quickly wrap up the New Guinea campaign and turn our sights onto the Philippines and Marianas Islands by the end of the year.

Seven destroyer and cruiser groups are in production to reduce our reliance on the battleships but it will be some times before the burden can be lifted off of the heavy ships.






In China, the Japanese are evacuating their positions south of the Yangtze entirely and seem to be attempting to reform their lines around Nanking. In the short term, Chinese objectives are to recapture the cities of Anking, Hefei and Sinyang which will allow for either a further thrust north to dislodge the enemy around Xi'an or a pivot east to the resource rich Nanking and Shanghai.

[YueJin]

Allies-June 6th/June 20th, 1943

Our blockading forces take a pummelling again as two submarine groups and a destroyer group are sunk by Japanese airpower. Once again, the Japanese take over 15 air losses for their successes, even victory further weakens Japan now.

The remaining Japanese carriers and their escorting battleships move to relieve Truk by sinking the destroyer group blockading the island. This leaves it wide open to attack from the twelve American fleet and light carriers within striking distance, as well as the escort fighters (1944 tech) from the Solomons. The sweeps from the land based fighters clear out 13 strength of Japanese naval air before the two carrier groups arrive to press the attack. Frustratingly, the American pilots are ambushed from above on their way into attack the enemy carriers and can only sink the fast battleship Kongo and inflict minor damage on other ships. The second strike is slightly more effective with bombers finding and sinking the CVL Zuiho as well as crippling the Ise and Yamato.

Unfortunately, the rain allows the Japanese to escape the main American CV fleet which fails to locate their damaged opponents. As such, the Japanese live to fight one more engagement with their ever dwindling naval resources.












The front in Southern China continues to disintegrate at a rapid pace. Japanese forces are forced to fall back or become enveloped by the veteran Chinese armies. Morale is high and soldiers have been told they will be participating in the liberation of Shanghai and Nanjing by Christmas with the invaders being repelled from the country by 1944.

[YueJin]

Allies- June 20th/July 18th, 1943


The incessant rain falling over the Pacific Ocean has forced the progress on New Guinea to a snails pace and delayed the capture of the naval base at Truk. These hold ups have called into question the ability of American forces to secure the Philippines, Marianas and Bonin islands by the end of the year. Lae and Port Moresby have been secured though and the second wave of Australian troops landed to push onto Jayapura. Once clear weather arrives, the end is in sight on New Guinea.






In Burma, African and Indian troops supplied with bridging equipment and supported by dive bombers prepare to cross the Salween river into Thailand. An Indian division has also landed at Port Blair to support potential operations on the Malay peninsular.





In China, the historic city of Xi'an is recaptured and troops advance within touching distance of Shanghai and Nanjing. A small skirmish even breaks out in the suburbs of Shanghai by overeager local commanders desperate to win the honour of liberating the city. The Japanese will likely withdraw to the mighty Yellow river and attempt to dig in for the winter. If this last natural barrier could be overcome, even Peking could be in our sights by 1944.

[YueJin]

Allies- July 18th/August 29th, 1943

The end of the war is approaching as Japanese forces retreat on all fronts.

In the Pacific, New Guinea has been secured as well as Guam and Truk, leaving the Japanese with no major bases left in this area of operations.





The Chinese continue the rapid reclamation of their country, liberating the old capital of Nanjing and trapping Japanese armies in Canton and Shanghai. American troops have also landed on Formosa bypassing the Philippines as the island will be used to assist the operation to take Okinawa.





There is little resistance facing British and Indian troops in South-East Asia and the fall of Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore is inevitable.





The four remaining objectives for the Allied forces in 1943 are the Bonin islands and the port of Busan in Korea. The capture of these locations would enable an invasion of mainland Japan in 1944. The home islands have been heavily fortified with all remaining Japanese airpower and the majority of their field armies stationed there so even with complete naval superiority casualties will likely be heavy.