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BURMA/INDIA
Today is a No Heavies day, so not much going on.

CHINA
Pressure continues to mount on the base NW of Sian. In other news, I am pulling back the units from Changsha, as I can't supply them, to Chungking. The aircraft based there are moved to Sian.

JAVA
Mini-KB sighted in the Java Sea. Least, so I assume. One CVE and CVL Zuiho confirmed. My Wirraways and Martins had a crack at it, 6 Zero CAP did not prove a deterrent, but no hits were scored.
Tomorrow, we have Swordfish in position at Tjilatjap again, and the Fortresses will fly again. 5000' seems a little too high, so I'm being daring and sending them in at 3000 feet. Against APs that is deadly, against warships with higher speed... well, we'll see.

SOPAC/AUS
Suddenly, all goes quiet on the PM/Gili Gili line. Bad recon day?
My shot up Fortresses are still recovering at Cairns, tomorrow I'm going to put a few on naval search to light the place up. Going to start bombing PM back when I'm in the swing of things.

CENTPAC
All quiet. My overloaded CVs are well past Canton Island now, I send them on the way to Auckland. I'm going to have my other CVs leave Sydney tomorrow and rendezvous, with some ARs, at Auckland. I figure if he goes anywhere next it'll be Noumea, though I think that'll be suicide for him to do that.

Two days in one this, but fairly quiet, so not much missed.

BURMA/INDIA
Got a second construction battalion fortifying Bangalore. An Indian Division is on its way here to anchor the defences of southern India.
The Imperial Guard are still on their hill, being bombed around the clock and attacked by a UK div. I get 20 to 1 odds but no surrender. Damn Japs. Tempted to send another three or four divs in and shock attack, but I get the impression they still wont surrender even then.

JAVA
Been bombing him at Merek but he's too far for Beauforts. Lucky for him. Yesterday was a washout, but today I hit Zuiho with a Swordfish torpedo and three 500lb bombs, one of which had an Ammo Storage Explosion. The magic words "heavy damage" have not appeared sadly. A CVE caught a couple of 500lbers as well but thats just paintwork scraching.
He still hasn't broken out of his beachhead. At the other end of Java I'm beginning to evacuate my airforce meanwhile, got AKs loading the short range Dutch a/c.

CHINA
My attack on Wuchow hasnt faltered yet due to lack of supply, and is at the city's gates. Recon suggests 4 units defending the place - I got about 12 "divs" attacking so I am hopeful.
Evacuating Ichang (not the city I said above, my mistake, its Ichang I'm pulling out of) has freed up more units for the Sian front, he will need much more force than he has concentrated there to reduce Sian.

SOPAC/AUS
Submarines are dying like flies along PM/Gili Gili as the KB wanders over them. Another base force unloads at Townsville, so that place will be as solid as Cairns is soon. Really suffering from lack of baseforces in Australia - for some reason they are all in India! Looks like the Brits and Indians have the monopoly on aircraft mechanics in the early war. I've got another big 270 av support baseforce arriving at Karachi in a few days, I'm seriously pondering moving it to Derby.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
All quiet. Norpac is getting quite heavily reinforced. Mostly with RCTs. Dutch Harbour has 60 Tomahawks, 60 medium bombers are on their way as well now, the surface combat TF with 2 BBs is at Dutch Harbour already, and I got more coming. Aside from the Tomahawks and bombers I've not changed any commands, but NorPac has quite a lot of ground units destined for the place anyway. I dont think Dutch Harbour or Anchorage will be easy conquests by any means.

In fact, after Java I think he's all out of easy conquests. Be interesting to see where goes next. India, Timor, Noumea or somewhere in CentPac is my guess. India I'm reasonably happy about, I've been paranoid about overcommitting in Burma, indeed aside from 2 Bde and 1 Div pinning the Imperial Guard all my units are back in India itself. The only weak spot is Colombo, which has no combat LCUs at all, but he doesnt know that.
Timor, well, if he goes for Koepang he'll have it, but I imagine it'll hurt him about as much as landing in Java did.
CentPac, he can have Midway - its not garrisoned at all. The Canton/Palmyra/Pearl line is quite heavily defended - Palmyra is the weak spot probably if he goes for it in that area. Noumea is a mighty fortress, I find it hard to believe he'll successfully take that, its got about 4 Divs worth of crack troops and millions of supply points.
Fiji and Pago Pago are only lightly defended, unfortunately I can't be everywhere at once even with the United States. If he attacks here, my response will be a carrier sortie from Auckland I guess. On the plus side that part of the map is packed with Catalinas so I should see him coming.

Heres the big map of the situation on the 1st of May, 1942.

BURMA/INDIA
Rearrangement of my forces underway at the moment, in readiness for a possible attack. He keeps insinuating he'll be attacking India - maybe a bluff, but Simon is a Brit same as me, I'm sure he looks at those Union Flags on the map in a special light, as I do. [;)]

Ceylon - 1 division is loading at Karachi destined for Ceylon.

Bangalore - will be fortified to level 9 asap, both construction battalions are on the case. An Indian Division originally from Bombay will be deployed here.

Delhi - 1 Indian division will be staying here as a reserve.

Dacca/Calcutta/Diamond Harbour/Asansol - 7th Armoured, the 255th Indian Tank Brigade and the 18th UK Div are at Asansol as a reserve. The 254th Tank Bde is at Calcutta, Chandpur has a division and Diamond Harbour a Bde. the Bengal Construction Battalion is busy fortifying the coastal bases.

Burma Border - at the moment I got 3 Divs and 1 Bde in Burma, busy holding down the Imperial Guard. If/when I can get these guys to actually surrender I'll pull back all but the Bde (which will sit at the 9 fortified Jorhat) back to India proper. Probably 1 Div to Bangalore and 2 to Calcutta.

Burma Road Defence - Myritkina is garrisoned with 7 Chinese Divs, 3 CW/Indian Bdes and the 3rd Carabineers, a hefty force indeed. Supply isnt a problem as they are sucking it over the trail from Ledo.

Within the next 2 months 3 more Bdes are showing up at Karachi.
Overall I'm quite happy that the situation in India is under control. (I'll change my tune when 20 Jap Divs land at Colombo, but till then! [:)])

CHINA
Kungchang got reinforced today and a shock attack threw a Japanese Bde out. 18 Jap units sighted at Homan, but Sian has 48,000 infantry, 125,000 second line troops and plenty of supply, as well as the bulk of the Chinese airforce.
1400 assault points are about to hit his four units at Wuchow. *evil* Got a lot of ENG units in the mix there too, assuming the supply holds out, always touch and go, I have high hopes of taking the place.
Supply in general in China is quite good still, the Burma Road is solid, 6 squadrons of Dakotas and 8 Lodestars are providing constant aerial supply drops (another 2 squadrons of Dakotas are on the way). Overall, reasonably optimistic that the Chinese quagmire will be very deep and viscous for some time yet.

JAVA
Not much to say here. He's still unloading at Merak. Recon indicates 28,000 troops and ~300 vehicles there now. Batavia is bracing itself.

SOPAC/AUS
Not much to say here either. My heavies are very reluctant to hit PM from Cairns, I guess the range is too great. Pondering shipping an Aussie Bde over to Koepang, I got the PPs, I dont have the APs - but will have soon.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Nothing new.

In other news I found some fine European power metal mp3s so I watch combat reports with the gentle strains of "Samurai Samurai! Warriors of the sun!" in the background, marvellous. [:D]

I see Simon made a post, I imagine seeing my throng arrive at Wuchow brought that on. [:D]

BURMA/INDIA
Division at Karachi almost fully loaded for the trip to Ceylon. Moving the Indian Div at Delhi to Bombay as Bombay has more supply and the div only has an assault value of 127? Quelle horreur! I assume it is understrength and needs supply.
A MSW in every port now to stop his nuisance mining. DD Isis caught a mine a few days back that left it on 76 flotation damage, don't plan on letting that happen anymore.
The Aus/India sea route is still open though mostly unused right now. Mostly supplies to Aus, Dakotas to India. Three more squadrons of Dakotas are in the Indian Ocean at various stages of progression across the map.
Stillwells Heavies paste the resources at Taung Gyi, leaving the place on 40 out of 100. Mandalays resources are on 3 out of 100, levelled. Going to be considering the tough nut of Rangoon soon....

CHINA
He is making moves on Sian but I anticipate a long and costly battle. I'm making an assault on Yenen while he does that, but a smallish one, about 5-7 Chinese divs. (Small in Chinese terms [:D]). Down at Wuchow my armies move into position around the city, which is soon to feel the hammer of KaiShek!

JAVA
He builds at Batavia, not attacking, biding his time. He has triple the number of troops. The end, when it comes, I imagine will be swift indeed. Leaving the units there though so the oil is nicely smashed up.
Evacuation continues at a leisurely pace at the other end of the island. Winston wants a CLAA and two DDs back this month - I'm actually tempted to give him a CLAA as the things are useless anyway, thus saving me 500 PPs for Java escapees.

SOPAC/AUS
A US Division eases into Pago Pago. On reflection, I've sent it on to Noumea, which will bring the Noumea garrison up to 3 US Divisions (including USMC and Americal) and two NZ Bdes. I got eyes on Lunga in the medium term now, and if I do "go for it", it'll be with two Divs - and I want 1 Div + Bdes behind at all times.
50 odd Fortresses out of Cairns raid Port Moresby and suffer grievous losses, 8 lost to CAP, 2 to flak. A solid hit though - combat report says 8 Betties, 8 Zeroes and 48 runway hits. But even the US of A can't take losses like that. Might switch to night bombing. [:(] is this cheap?

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Norpacs reinforcement - and it is major - is sucking up most of my Pacific AKs and APs. This turn is the first day I felt the bite of that, as I got Fortresses at Seattle I dearly want in theatre and no AKs to load them on to. Still... another two weeks and I wont need to touch Norpac again for a long time. [:D]

BURMA/INDIA
Stillwells Heavies flatten Taung Gyis resources again. Only 3 left there. So the only resource centre left untouched in Burma is now Rangoon. Going to rest up the heavies for a couple of days and then hit Rangoon airfield, see what can be done.
Elsewhere, reorganisation in progress. O20 just arrived at Colombo, which is good, I'm going to start laying mines around the place.

CHINA
My attack on Wuchow is arriving in detail, he sent 3 corps packing today, gah. How to make them all arrive at once, is the question?
He attacks Sian, I lose 3000 men, he loses 1500. Not good. Three more divs are arriving as reinforcement.
Most worryingly of all, he raided Chungkings resources, scoring only 3 hits, but still. Can't let him do that. I reinforce the place with 14 AVG Tomahawks and 24 of the not-so-crap Chinese fighters.

JAVA/DEI/SRA
Batavia falls, its defenders utterly routed by a land death star. Looks like he'll take Java in about as much time as it takes him to railroad south. Baby KB is now in the Indian Ocean to the west of Java, I imagine he's looking to cut off the place. Not good, got some subs evaccing fragments to Australia already. He's 5 hexes from Soerabaja at the moment - just one hex closer and the Beauforts will be taking off... [:D]
Elsewhere a TF is sighted approaching Sulawesi from southern Borneo. I move up 16 Beauforts from Koepang to Kendari as a temporary measure to put fish into ships.
My RN battlegroup centred around two R class battleships, which has been at Derby for months, sets sail for Koepang, and I reinforce Koepang with 16 Kittyhawks from Darwin.

SOPAC/AUS
Not much action. Just shipping things around.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Not much action again.

Today was a good day for Japs to die!

BURMA/INDIA
Now a quiet theatre. Almost got a 270 point av support unit at Ledo for max Dakota power. Airfield there still needs work though. Bangalore is developing nicely, many units (damaged mostly) are being pulled out of Burma according to the Supreme Commanders plans.

CHINA
He came at Chungkings resources again, and the AVG were waiting for him. Intell says 18 Sallies were shot down at the cost of a single I-16c, mwahahahaha. My forces move into Wuchow and his deliberate attack on the attackers (? ) is bloodily repulsed. Excellent.

JAVA
Apparently in an error on his part Mini KB nears Soerabaja, and the Beauforts fly! In an error on my part one of my 16er squadrons got pulled out earlier as I figured he wouldnt be so foolish (dum me), and Raiden is unkind as well as the aircraft are grounded due to bad weather in the morning phase.
MiniKB launches Kate strikes on my APs standing by for evac, however I got Hurricanes and Hawks on CAP over them and he pays dearly. Meanwhile Soerabajas strikes find targets, Zuiho takes another bomb and Hosho eats torpedo and a few bombs, for heavy damage.
Overall he lost 16 Zeroes and 10 Kates, the RDAF/USAF/RAAF lost 7 Warhawks, 4 Brewsters, 2 Demons and one Hawk, and a single Beaufort. No Allied ships were hit.
Excellent.

SOPAC/AUS
Not much new. SS Gar, NE of Gili Gili, gets attacked by a Val. So the KB is found...
As for my own plans for an Allied Death Star, I've almost formed up every Allied carrier in the hemisphere (bar Hermes) at Auckland now. Hope the KB comes down Noumea way. [:D]

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Spent today shuttling around single AKs and fast transports supplying my forward recon bases, which are beginning to run low on supply. Pearl Harbour drips with beans and bullets, its the outermost bases that are running out.

There was a fair bit of action this turn, so I enclose the full combat report for a change, as its actually pretty indicative of whats going on overall for once.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/07/42

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TF 32 encounters mine field at Batavia (19,59)

Japanese Ships
MSW W.20
MSW W.11
PG Kiso Maru
APD APD-33

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TF 8 troops unloading over beach at Macassar, 30,69


Japanese ground losses:
529 casualties reported

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TF 8 troops unloading over beach at Macassar, 30,69


Japanese ground losses:
578 casualties reported

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Sub attack at 24,54

Japanese Ships
TK Nissan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
MSW Kaiyo Maru #1
MSW Hinode Maru #18

Allied Ships
SS Swordfish
(Been heavy sub/ASW activity in the Java Sea for a month now. Up till now the Allies have been out of luck, hit a TK today coming out of Palembang, doubtless loaded with oil for the Home Islands)
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ASW attack at 20,59

Japanese Ships
DD Suzukaze
DD Umikaze
DD Yamakaze
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS Salmon

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Day Air attack on Chungking , at 43,32

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 35
Ki-15 Babs x 5

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 7
I-153c x 10
I-16c x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 36 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 damaged
I-16c: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Resources hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
(Hands off my supply)
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Day Air attack on 13th Division, at 42,39


Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 7
IL-4c x 4


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x IL-4c bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on 51st Division, at 42,39


Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 3


No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x IL-4c bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on Imperial Guards Division, at 34,24


Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 14


No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Hurricane II bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Imperial Guards Division, at 34,24


Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 9
Blenheim IV x 22


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing at 5000 feet
6 x Blenheim IV bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Blenheim IV bombing at 5000 feet
6 x Blenheim IV bombing at 5000 feet
(These guys just refuse to give up. [:(])
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Day Air attack on 14th Chinese Corps, at 42,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 5
Ki-51 Sonia x 62
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-51 Sonia bombing at 2000 feet
18 x Ki-51 Sonia bombing at 2000 feet
17 x Ki-51 Sonia bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 14th Chinese Corps, at 42,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 44

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
20 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
10 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
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Day Air attack on 9th DAF Base Force, at 30,69

Japanese aircraft
C5M Babs x 1
Ki-21 Sally x 20
Ki-49 Helen x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 damaged


Allied ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
20 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
19 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Macassar at 30,69


Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 3


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Kogi Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Macassar at 30,69


Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 8


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma
AP Nichiryu Maru
AP La Plata Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
1 x Martin 139 bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 21,58


Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Haaburu Maru
AP Kiyozumi Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Wirraway bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Wirraway bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Malang at 22,66

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
B5N Kate x 12

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 11
Hurricane II x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 17 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75A: 2 destroyed
Hurricane II: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Eidsvold

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
G4M1 Betty x 4
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Macassar at 30,69


Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 15


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Ikazuchi
DD Hato
DD Inazuma
AP La Plata Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Beaufort V-IX bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Macassar at 30,69


Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 8


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
APD APD-31
AP Nichiryu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Ikazuchi

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
2 x Martin 139 bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 20,64

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 4
CW-21B Demon x 13
Brewster 339D x 16
Martin 139 x 3
Beaufort V-IX x 6
P-40B Tomahawk x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 21 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 9 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 1 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 14 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 2
CVE Hosho, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
2 x Beaufort V-IX launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x Beaufort V-IX launching torpedoes at 200 feet
(The RDAF is still kicking, you may notice. Hawks are pretty good)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 20,59


Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 5


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CL Nagara

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Wirraway bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Wirraway bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 20,58


Allied aircraft
Martin 139 x 2


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Bokuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Martin 139 bombing at 3000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Malang at 22,66

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
B5N Kate x 4

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 12
CW-21B Demon x 3
Brewster 339D x 12
Hurricane II x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
B5N Kate: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75A: 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AP Van Rees

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 24,54

Japanese Ships
TK Nissan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
SS Swordfish


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Ground combat at Sian

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 215538 troops, 1851 guns, 316 vehicles

Defending force 148409 troops, 753 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)


Japanese ground losses:
3506 casualties reported
Guns lost 127
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
4771 casualties reported
Guns lost 94


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Wuchow

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 45078 troops, 558 guns, 7 vehicles

Defending force 29780 troops, 185 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
895 casualties reported
Guns lost 39

Allied ground losses:
454 casualties reported
Guns lost 7


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Sian

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 121423 troops, 569 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 213215 troops, 1685 guns, 312 vehicles

Quick as I gotta go to work!

BURMA/INDIA
Heavy bombers attacking Rangoon get chopped up. Clearly, daylight raids on the place are out. A retreating naval search unit from Java is sent to Akyab.

JAVA
He continues to advance south along the Java island. No airstrikes today from my forces, seems quiet-ish.

CHINA
No airstrikes. He attacks Sian again, where he has the upper hand. He also attacks Wuchow, and is repulsed again. Going to be some days yet before my forces aimed at Wuchow are in position, giving him plenty of time to respond along the RR should he so desire.

SOPAC/AUS
All quiet.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Two transport TFs supplying Baker Island get hit by my Mitchells based at Canton Island. One eats 7 bombs and is on heavy damage, the rest is marginal.
I got PT boats at Canton, and I'm sending em in tomorrow. [:D]. They should be able to get to Baker in one day (getting back again will take a week, but enh, they are there to be used!).

All my CVs have rendezvoused at Auckland now. 7 x CV looks nice on the map. [:D]

BURMA/INDIA
A huge Allied ASW force sinks a Jap sub off Trimcomalee. It then gets split up - four DDs to Trimcomalee, four DDs to Madras, and the rest go back to Colombo. I intend to aggressively prosecute any Jap submarine contacts in the area from now on, and Colombo is a bit too far out of the way for swift response.

Rearrangement contineus meanwhile. Going to turn Bangalore into a major reserve airfield.

JAVA
Hosho absorbs 3 more bombs from Fortresses, and sinks. Yay. First carrier sunk of the war, even if it is a "carrier" in the sense of HMS Spurious.
I am rudely awakened to the fact that the base at the southern tip of Java has a port 0, and thus cannot load a/c. Oops!
So I send the convoy on the dangerous route to Soerabaja. I want to pick up the Hawks and Hurricanes who dont have the range to make it out on their own power, and as many base force fragments as possible. the convoy is currently one TF but I'll probably split it out into single ships when the evac time comes.
Bit worried about my two RN battleships at Koepang. 44 fighters are based at Koepang but aside from 16 Kittyhawks they are all the marginally useful scrapings from the RDAF - the solid fighters I left at Java. Pondering moving them out as he has Betties in range from Amboina but... enh. decisions. It looks like he's driving south through Sulawesi in a flanking action, and I think his mini KB excursion to Soerabaja was also intended as an attempt to cut Java off so, for now, I'm gonna leave them there exposed. Koepang is real important now, as I've been evacuating baseforce fragments to the place, so its got a lot of av support (200+ with about 20 units there) but no combat troops. Cant surrender that easy.

SOPAC/AUS
The loss of Port Moresby and Gili Gili hinders me as to reinforce North Australia I have to either risk myself to air attack or go the long way around, quadrupling the time taken. Not good. Problem is a landing at PM is unbelievably exposed, no less than three airbases covering the approach. Disaster. [:(] I will have to mull on this problem later on when I got the force to do something about it.

Other than that musing, quiet. a 100,000 supply convoy just docked at Brisbane to keep the war rolling. Bad weather at Cairns grounded my Forts.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Mitchells bomb his convoy at Baker Island again, end result of the days effort is 2 APs and 2 PCs on heavy damage each. My PT boats didnt get all the way from Canton to Baker, they stuck half way for some reason, bah. Fairly happy with the US/Australia supply route anyway, Pago Pago is the only weak spot in my estimations.

CHINA
My troops at Wuchow are being used as training for every Jap level bomber in the country. [:(]. Its so sloooow going along the road too, it'll be a week before I'm in position. I imagine I wont be able to take Wuchow, but so long as he keeps having to move his Japs around the place he wont get thoughts like pulling any out. So long as China keeps kicking him, even if its mostly ineffectual, I guess I'm happy.
At Sian the bombardments go my way for a change. For some reason my bombers refuse to attack him there - bad weather seems odd as its been that way for a week now. Oh well.

It's a very interesting AAR to read, but could you please post the date with each AAR post you make?

ORIGINAL: String

It's a very interesting AAR to read, but could you please post the date with each AAR post you make?

OK then, will do so from now on. [:)]

10th May, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
With Ledo now at ~290 av support I rearrange my aircraft. 108 transports are now positioned there, with 3 squadrons of Hurricanes defending them. ATM their morale is low and fatigue high so they are having a few days rest
I notice Pagan has resources, silly me, so I set the heavies to bomb them next before I attack Rangoon again.

CHINA
Stalemate at Wuchow and Sian, for now. I have developed yet another huge reserve at Chungking - my previous spoiling attack, long since having retreated and rested. I'm pondering committing it to Sian - its significant, about 15 or so units. For now I dont, but I think I might well do.

JAVA
I dunno what he's doing here. Asleep at the keys or maybe trying something daring which I dont see? Anyway, baby KB doesnt retreat as calculated, it actually continues towards Soerabaja. I moved 16 Beauforts back there today and the results arent pretty. Zuihos pathetic CAP is smashed and Zuiho gets a lot of torpedo hits, sinking at days end.

...? Free points!

SOPAC/AUS
I'm summong all APs in theatre to Noumea in readiness for a potential assault upon Lunga. In the meantime Reef Island is going to be a forward Catalina base, an AVD is there, and a single AK with 7000 supply on its way. Noumea is now built to max proportions, so two EAB units are dispatched to Luganville to work their magic there.
The two ARs I dispatched from Pearl earlier are almost at Auckland. My fast transport unit of CLs and DDs which was at Cairns ready to supply PM is dispatched to Noumea, making for quite a little armada there. Really, everything is in position. Lots of aircraft, -lots- of ground troops, the most potent ships the Allies have, the Jap Zero bonus has expired... The shade of MacArthur is whispering in the Supreme Commanders ear, urging attack!

The goal of any assault will be mainly simply a lure to attempt to lure the KB out to a location near a major Allied base, with ARs ready to patch up damaged ships - ie in a position favourable to me. I really want to try and blunt the KB to limit his further conquests - India, especially, would be an unfeasible target minus a couple of fleet carriers to protect from the many Beauforts there.
That said, I think Lunga is a prerequisite for an assault upon Gili Gili/Port Moresby so it serves a geostrategic purpose as well albeit a minor one.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Mitchells pound more transports at Baker Island again. There has been no reports of dead soldiers so I assume its a supply convoy, though it seems ot be quite a big one. I'm surprised he went there given he knows Canton Island is defended from before, I guess he thought Mitchells couldnt hit Baker.
Neither did I actually. [;)]

11th May, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
I just can't crack the Imperial Guard. More I think about it the more I think I'm going to send in a crushing force, another 3 divisions maybe, and then shock attack him, see if I can get it over with quickly. This is wearing on and on, and its pinning down 2 Bde and 1 Div, all valuable to me. Also he started reconning Imphal which makes he think he's coming back over the border for more.
7th Armoured and an Indian reserve div I had at Chandpur are sent to the Imperial Guard.
A UK Div arrives at Colombo, Sri Lankas allotted defence.

CHINA
Massive bomber strikes at my troops at Wuchow, but they seem to have little effect. The AVG is now nearby and capable of LRCAPPing them.
In the north east my forces are beginning to bend alarmingly.

JAVA
Jap ships continue to mill around Soerabaja without a purpose, this turn CL Oi and a Jap DD go down to torpedo induced magazine explosions. His ground forces are at Bandoeng now.
Intense submarine warfare continues in the Java and South China Seas but without any hits.

SOPAC/AUS
I move another 16 Kittyhawks to Derby from Townsville but its over the RR and they'll be being uncrated for some time. Supply edges across the map towards Reef Island so I can put Catalinas there and recon Guadalcanal...

CENTPAC/NORPAC
PT boats finally arrive at Baker Island, and find two APs a PC and a PG all on fire and heavily damaged. The PC and PG eat torpedo and sink, and the PTs retire. Looks like between them and the Mitchells almost that entire convoy was wiped out.
A convoy begins to load up at San Francisco carrying an RCT and SeaBees for the South Pacific. ATM their waypoint is set to Pago Pago - I might just leave them there...

12th May, 1942

Been a delay as I was in Berlin RL on holiday!

BURMA/INDIA
Quiet at the moment. Not even Jap recon planes were in evidence. My division attacks the Imperial Guard on their hill, gets 35 to 1 odds, and they refuse to surrender. Tomorrow my heavy bombers will flatten what few resources are left at Pagan.

CHINA
Wuchow is at deadlock, with me outside the city, I don't think I'll be able to take this. It's pinning several Jap divisions down, though my units are being bombed by the entire IJA airforce while they are so far forward. The AVG had a go at LRCAP over Wuchow today, they shot down six enemy for one of their own - unfortunately the one was an ace with 20 kills.
At Sian it is clear that he'll have the place within two weeks maximum, maybe less, unless I do something. There are reinforcements on the way, they will be trickling in over the next week - have to see if that improves matters.

JAVA
He reaches Tjilatjap today, I pull my 3 Swordfish and 8 Wirraways that were there out. He continues to take naval losses in the Java Sea, the Swordfish put a torpedo into an AP, and two submarines scored hits. Fortresses out of Soerabaja bomb Batavias oil somewhat ineffectually.
At Soerabaja the pullout begins. RN engineering units, refugees from places like Hong Kong, are first to bag an AP. 16 Hawks and 16 Hurricanes are loaded onto AKs as well in a somewhat risky evacuation of this valuable, short range materiel.

SOPAC/AUS
Night bombing Fortresses out of Cairns bag half a dozen Betties and Zeroes at PM.
Noumea is now gathering all APs in theatre - I imagine I'll be able to get about 15 or so. My forward Catalina base at Reef Island is taking too long to bring into play so I set a fast transport unit to supply the place from Noumea. I want recon of Guadalcanal so I can find an empty area to land troops on, and Reef Island is close enough.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Mitchells recon Baker Island and find 7000 troops there. I dont have the naval power in CentPac to advance though, I'm just going to bomb him and make him uncomfortable around the edges of his empire.
Midway Island is fully developed but I lack the ground and air forces to adequately cover it. It did have 3 ENG, 1 AA, 1 CD unit there, today I pulled out 2 ENG and the AA, leaving it to a skeleton garrison. I might put a NorPac RCT there - I got 2 NorPac RCTs at San Francisco still - as NorPac is pretty crowded now, surely I dont need all those men in the frigid north.

All sorts of confusion lately, we only just got it all straightened out. [:(]. Missing files, emailing the wrong file, all sorts of fun.
Anyway, we are now running at 1.5.

14th May, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Mostly quiet. About to converge upon the Imperial Guard with another div and 7th Armoured. Getting off the mountain again after they presumably win will take weeks. [:(]. But I got to do it. I notice his troops retreating slowly along the trails back to Burma, so he has been truly defeated for now and doesn't look to be wanting any more just yet.
A new Bde arrived, its going to Bangalore to join the Div already there.
3 more squadrons of transport aircraft are unloading at Colombo.

CHINA
A devastating day for the Chinese. In assaults at Sian and Wuchow I lose over 10,000 men. I'm pulling back from Wuchow, defeated. Sian, well, I return to the defensive ramparts and cling on dearly.

JAVA
Tjilatjap somehow resists for a day, one Dutch regiment vs 2 Jap Divisions and 3 armoured brigades. They won't be resisting tomorrow.
My evac APs are back in the open ocean, so the limited evacuation at Soerabaja was a success. I have extracted by ship :-

15 Hurricanes
ABDA HQ
12 Vildebeest
4th Dutch Regiment
106th USAF base force

I got the merchies and the time to extract more, sadly I dont have the PPs. Going to have the ships linger though, the fighters are all Brewsters, Warhawks and Tomahawks now, long legged frames that can make it to Koepang on their own so they will be the last to leave.
To be honest I think Timor makes for a better stand anyway. He cant land on Timor and not be in Beaufort range of Koepang. He will be in range of Australian based bomber squadrons. The base forces and supply at Koepang is in place, though not the ground forces. He doesnt have any enormous bases like Palembang or Singapore in range of it.

Fuel situation is quite bad, 14k at Koepang, a total of 22k fuel on the north coast of Aus. A TK convoy from Karachi will be leaving in about four days, but it'll be a long time in coming, and those British battleships at Koepang are hungry.


SOPAC
My night attacks at PM went from killing 6 or so a/c a night to 1 a/c a night if I'm lucky with the 1.5 patch, so I'm abandoning the night campaign while I only got 40 Forts. Instead I'm turning my efforts to Gili Gili which I hope to be less well defended.

I've amassed 18 APs and about 12 AKs at Noumea, pondering a landing at Lunga before the place gets too thick with Zeroes. Not sure if I'm gonna go for it or not though. We shall see, but I like to be ready. [:)]

CENTPAC/NORPAC
A Val is sighted on ASW duty near Kwajalein. Carrier presence? My Norpac reinforcement is almost complete now, 3 RCTs at Dutch Harbour.

15th May 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Ledo is up to 132 transport aircraft now. Looks like we'll get up to about 150 or so in the vast aerial burma road, after all the allocated are in place.
7th Armoured arrived on the Imperial Guards hill today, with the intention of forcing the matter. A shock attack is ordered.
BB Ramillies + 2 CL + 3 DD leave Colombo. Plan is to get them to link up with Revenge and Royal Sovereign, currently at Koepang. Probably too late and its a spur of the moment thing but what the hell, worse that happens is they turn back half way.

CHINA
Woe. Wuchow is hit by the Japanese and 60,000 Chinese are routed, retreating up the road. I'm sending them all the way to Chungking where they will rest, in the sweet balm of plentiful supply. Kweiyang has 1500 assault points there, so I'm not bothered about a counterattack.
Sian holds well, ish. I'm bombing him effectively there and it seems to be having an effect.

JAVA
Air battles come to Java again today. My Forts have been constantly hitting Batavias oil in an attempt to deny as much of it to the Jap as possible, but today 15 Zeroes were waiting. Two Fortresses were shot down with Jap loss though oil hits were scored in return. Batavia is currently left on 67 oil, so my bombers have stripped off a third.
Tjilatjap holds again but surely not tomorrow.
Jap Lilies and Zero escort out of Batavia try to hit Soerabajas ships, and get mauled. Int screen tells me that 13 Zeroes and 11 Lilies were shot down in exchange for 4 Warhawks, 4 Brewsters, 4 Demons and 2 Hawks. One of the Japs got his 19th kill, so I'm hoping it was a crack unit and those 11 lost pilots will hurt him.
Batavia still has >100 fighters stationed there, he aint gonna be able to raid it at will.

AKs carrying the Hurricanes and Vildebeest from Soerabaja are now in what I deem to be safe territory the SW of Java, they are told to head to Koepang. The result of the evacuees head for Aus.

SOPAC/AUS
60 Fortresses from Cairns raid Gili Gili and do surprisingly little. Recon suggests a CA is there. Wonder whats going on.
My fast transports arrive at Reef Island and deposit 750 supply there. Together with an AV thats a functioning forward recon base, so the Catalinas move up. Going to leave them naval searching for a turn as Lunga is nice and close, tomorrow I'll switch to recon and see whats there.

New Mexico, Mississippi and 3 CL + 5 DD head from Auckland to Noumea, totally fixed. That'll be my bombardment/SC taskforce. The many carriers (7 of em, pretty much the entire Allied force) stay at Auckland to be fixed, they are still a bit dinged up. Lex is the worst on 10 sys, Enterprise has 8, Indomitable 6, the rest are <5. I have 2 CLAAs, 2 CLs, and 18 DDs (all high AA DDs) at Auckland to act as escorts for the CVs.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
A hunter killer TF sinks another Jap submarine, I-21 this time, east of Pearl. Thats the only action.
A convoy carrying 50 Mohawk fighters nears Pago Pago, good stuff, as these will be needed at Noumea if a South Pacific campaign begins to heat up.

Look what I found in the sigint report today...

21st Division is planning for an attack on Akyab.

Oh really?

Better make sure I got lots of Beauforts at Dacca to ensure a warm welcome. Also means I better consider hitting the airfield at Rangoon with the heavies.

Unfortunately I already subbed the turn so I think I've got three divs now tied up with the Imperial Guard. [:(] Or I would abort that escapade and ensure a solid reserve.

16th May 1942

Just a quick update, in a hurry RL and it was a quiet turn.

Tjilatjap falls. An AK is shot up and torpedoed by a Jap sub E of Soerbaja, that'll have to go so I send a PG over and set Beauforts to ASW.
In Burma the Fortresses reduce Pagans resources to 0. Pondering what next, finish off Mandalay (9 resources) or start work on Rangoon?

No ships sighted around Lunga.