Cribtop HQ has taken stock and determined that operational sequencing will proceed as follows: 1) Operation DK (Timor) is loading today and will go in first with distant cover from KB; 2) Phase 2 of Operation SM (Bandjermasin and Makassar) will go next); 3) Denpasar (I think we finally spelled this base correctly) will be last. We will then move on Java and NW Oz, probably during March.
This is along the lines of SOP for the conquest of southern SRA region for Japan.
KUDOS on the sinkings at Darwin. [&o] I don't know if it was CF's inexperience as Allies to try to reinforce that base. IMO, it is not worth the cost early war as I can land at Wyndham and march overland with some armor units to cut it off.
Lots of little Val air groups arrived on the first and will be put to various productive uses (such as shipping out on Taiyo for her raid in the South Pacific and manning small non-torp enabled bases at the front, etc).
Resize to 27 plane units and fill out slowly. You can just use them to train up pilots for now. Also they are good for deployment to size 2 AFs in anti-shipping role.
Thanks for the comments on both the war and family fronts, gents.
I'm on a short paternity leave so the turns should come quickly. After finishing Denpasar, we are looking at using the two Divisions assigned to 16th Army (21st and 38th), along with three armored regts pulled from Luzon, to invade NW Oz before Java. Alternatively, we could use these forces for an early Java invasion to seize a lodgment, decimate the Dutch air force and cut the island in two while awaiting reinforcement.
Congratulations on the addition! It took us four before we realized what was causing the swelling......
VACATIONS!!
One of the serious problems in planning the fight against American doctrine.... is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine
Chief Petty Officer Matsuo Fujimaro sat in the ready room of the Genzan Air Group at the IJNAF's Chumphon airfield. Again.
Since the commencement of hostilities, Japanese arms had achieved one victory after another. Unfortunately, this glory had passed his Hikotai by. Since early January, the 40 G3M2 bombers and 9 A6M2 fighters had patrolled the waters west of the Malay Peninsula with nothing to show for it. Except, of course, for a desultory attempt to bomb the port at Rangoon and a continual game of cat and mouse with British motor launches at the Dutch port of Sabang. The strategic thinking was sound - "watch the approaches to Rangoon and close off the Malacca Strait, etc, etc." In practice, it meant flying NNW toward recently captured Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, SSE toward Great Nicobar and Sabang, then ENE back to Chumphon. Fortunately, with 1/3 of the Hikotai on search duties, Fujimaro had two days out of three off to listen to the radio for war updates. From his point of view, the war may as well not be on. The situation had reached a low ebb when Japanese Army units moving by rail towards Singapore had made a point of delivering good will wishes wrapped in old newspaper discussing the "Sitzkrieg" days from the European war. Fujimaro was just propping his boots up on such a rag when the alert klaxon jolted him upright.
"Attention crew." CPO Matsuo always used a formal style to address the crew of his G3M2. "Search aircraft report numerous British warships, including at least 2 battleships and 1 battlecruiser, moving SE in the channel near Great Nicobar. Our mission is to execute a torpedo attack on these vessels and sink them. May the Emperor live a thousand years. BANZAI!" This stirring speech was delivered just as the formation cleared the west coast of the Malay Peninsula over the captured enemy base of Victoria Point. Fujimaro felt a bit silly in retrospect as there was still over an hour of flying to the target's last reported postion. Still, he had to say something.
He recalled the briefing from the Hikotai CO. No one was sure why the enemy's Eastern Fleet had appeared in such strength without air cover. Perhaps they were aiming to bombard the IJAAF's airfield at Alor Star. Perhaps they were sailing under the false impression that the IJNAF was operating from Victoria Point (that base's vulnerability to bombardment was one reason Chumphon was selected for the Genzan Hikotai). Perhaps they were making a last ditch effort to support the enemy's defense of Singapore. Regardless, the mission was clear. Attack the enemy task force with highest priority on the capital ships.
Fujimaro's radio set interrupted his musings. "Enemy ships sighted, bearing 265. Estimate speed at 25 knots. No enemy aircraft present." This from the commander of a G3M2 search plane that had been keeping tabs on the English since early this morning.
"All aircraft attack. Use standard pattern." A command to execute a multi-prong torpedo attack designed to present the enemy ship captains with "fish" approaching from ahead, starboard and port. In theory, no matter which way they turned the enemy would face several torpedoes streaking toward their long broadsides.
There are few things more harrowing than an aerial torpedo attack. The crew of the target ships know that their lives are at stake, so resistance and evasion are employed to the fullest extent possible. From the perspective of the bomber, the approach is low, straight and steady. Easy to fly when no one is shooting at you. Terrifying when you must press home to the launch point, all the while knowing that you cannot deviate more than a few degrees from the designated approach vector.
CPO Matsuo Fujimaro was not a religious man, but he found himself earnestly praying that the tracers whipping past the cockpit of his airplane would continue to miss. His prayers were interrupted by two simultaneous events. First, from his radio: "Enemy ships turning hard to starboard!" This meant the British commander knew his business. He had ordered a radical manuever at the last possible moment to ensure that most of the Japanese bombers would launch from points ahead or astern of the line of warships. This required the few aircraft approaching from broadside vectors, including Fujimaro's, to aim true if the attack had any chance of success. Second, flak from the target vessel, believed to be the modern battleship Prince of Wales, slammed into Fujimaro's aircraft along the port wing. It soon became apparent that the incoming rounds had been machine gun bullets rather than cannon shells, because the bomber still responded to her controls, however slowly. There was still a hope if Fujimaro could hold level for a few more seconds. He thanked the gods that no enemy fighters were present for thousandth time.
"Launch!" exclaimed Fujimaro's co-pilot at the appointed moment. Survival now was the imperative. Matsuo pressed the throttle to full and begged the damaged wing to hold up. Amazingly, the G3M2, not the toughest plane in the world's air forces, responded and gained altitude. Fujimaro waited for the fatal strike to bring the end, but it never came.
"HIT! Prince of Wales hit amidships! Well done, Matsuo." Fujimaro swelled with pride and relief as the Hikotai's commader reported that their aircraft's torpedo had run true and hit home. Fujimaro had no time to confirm the hit as he clawed for altitude, airspeed, and the chance to return home. Still, he knew in that moment he had performed his duty to the Emperor. From now on, death would be as light as a feather.
The G3M2 set course for Chumphon, home base of the battle tested Genzan Air Group. Airfield of heroes.
Subs
Escorts from an amphib TF bound to pick up troops at Manado for Operation DK chase off Sealion.
4th Fleet
Recon flights show that the enemy did indeed drop a second LCU at Canton Island. We order 1 CL and 1 DD to break off to bombard the island tomorrow. Intention is to determine enemy strength and to watch for the presence of a Marine Defense Battalion. The invasion fleet will sail to the Canton hex with "do not unload" orders. We will make a final decision tomorrow whether to invade or withdraw.
SE Fleet
We are moving an SNLF to Marcus Island to begin forming the perimeter. Base forces begin to unload at Ponape and Wake. CVE Taiyo launches from Yokohama with four DDs to raid the area East of Fiji looking for convoys.
Nadzab occupied.
14th Army
No change.
16th Army
KB and her Oilers dodge enemy subs by hugging the coastline of the Arafura Sea. KB will move into the Banda Sea tomorrow while the Oilers return to Babeldoab. Operation DK fleet is en route to the target.
Nells bomb Darwin but the enemy ships have either sunk or fled. No further hits are reported.
25th Army
We order the crossing of the Singapore channel.
Nells from Chumphon locate and then attack a large UK fleet near Great Nicobar Island (see above). We are somewhat disappointed as only 5 torpedoes strike home over the two air phases. Nonetheless, Prince of Wales and Royal Sovereign are each hit twice while Repulse is hit once. PoW shows heavy damage and there are sinking sounds in the phase immediately following the PM attacks. Tracker shows both BBs are claimed sunk, but Cribtop Intel assumes at most one BB down. We note what appears to be an escort TF of 2 ships in the hex after the replay. Best estimate is that PoW sank, Royal Sovereign is in the escort TF, and Repulse can still make battle speed. We believe the enemy was seeking to bombard either Alor Star or Victoria Point (in the mistaken assumption we were using that base). However, it is a bit of a headscratcher why CF exposed his UK battle line without any air cover. No matter, IJN subs and IJNAF Nells will be hoping for additional kills tomorrow. At a minimum we assume the enemy will be forced to abandon whatever mischief he had planned.
15th Army
We will sweep, bomb and DA Rangoon tomorrow.
China
We complete encirclement of Nanyang today and order all units to converge on the city. All green hexsides will be turned red and we seriously doubt the enemy can get out of this predicament.
Other
Saigon makes level 7 airfield, Saipan level 4. Several DDs begin February refits at Tokyo.
Nonetheless, Prince of Wales and Royal Sovereign are each hit twice while Repulse is hit once. PoW shows heavy damage and there are sinking sounds in the phase immediately following the PM attacks. Tracker shows both BBs are claimed sunk, but Cribtop Intel assumes at most one BB down.
Force Z meets its fate about two months behind schedule. Another mystery is why was Royal Sovereign along? That knocks five knots or so off the TF's maximum speed.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
We complete encirclement of Nanyang today and order all units to converge on the city. All green hexsides will be turned red and we seriously doubt the enemy can get out of this predicament.
This is a tough decision to make. Surround and totally destroy the units or just beat them up real bad. Ideally, you want to wreck his units rather than eliminate them as they come back at 1/3 strength in 30 days. I will leave some of my badly damaged units out in the open or move them that way so they can be totally destroyed.
Seems a strange move to include Royal Sovereign in that Bombardment force with Prince of Wales and Repulse. By including the old unmodernised R-class battleship he significantly slowed that force down by 7-8knots, and lost his change of a quick in-and-out bombardment.
When you see the Southern Cross, For the first time
You understand now, Why you came this way
Agreed. No idea why the RS was present. Was the TF doing something other than setting up for bombardment? Can't think of anything else it would be up to. Best bet is CF didn't know the Nells were at Chumphon and he figured the army bombers were no threat.
Tough call on killing the Chinese units, but it seems a bit unrealistic not to finish them. CF is trying to rescue them but I doubt he can pull it off this time. Is there upside to destroying the large number of disabled squads KMT LCUs start the game with? That army is a monster held in check by lack of supply.
I-28 arrives at Tokyo. An I-boat sniffs the Nicobar Islands searching for cripples but finds nothing.
4th Fleet
Bombardment of Canton Island by 1 CL and 1 DD draws no return fire. This leads Cribtop HQ to order the invasion tomorrow. Baker Island invasion is also approaching the target. Finally, a base force finishes unloading at Wake. A group of Jakes is at Saipan awaiting deployment there.
SE Fleet
An SNLF loads at Truk to garrison Marcus. AA units are outbound to Rabaul, Lae and Shortlands.
14th Army
DA Puerto Princesa takes the base with 20:1 odds and forces the surrender of a PA base force.
16th Army
KB moves into the Banda Sea and (so far) dodges enemy subs. The Operation DK forces are heading to a RV at Manado. KBL will meet up with KB and form MKB. CVE Hosho and CS Mizuho will find new employment as they are too slow to keep up with the fleet carriers.
Sansapor is occupied by rowboat. This is interesting because the former garrison of Sorong retreated here and must have faded out by attrition.
SA Balikpapan as a brigade of 38th Division crosses the river from Samarinda takes the base, odds 10:1. One LCU is destroyed and 3 retreat, casualties 1251(130) vs 254(13). Facilities are taken at 241(59), which is good for a shock attack. We capture loads of booty, including 39K oil, 54K fuel and 13K supplies. Tokyo Rose brags as usual.
25th Army
Bettys from Sinkawang sink AS Holland as she tried to sneak down the Borneo coast.
15th Army
No targets for our Nells out of Chumphon, but we do hear additional unexplained sinking sounds in the turn and Repulse is now also claimed as sunk. We doubt it, but do see a single ship trying to make Sabang from the east. Is this the DD assigned to the escort TF from yesterday minus her sunken charge? Who knows.
We sweep and bomb Rangoon today with no CAP. Where is AVG? More accurately, why are the Americans cooling their heels in Toungoo? DA Rangoon goes well, forts drop to 2, odds 2:1, casualties 1099(26) vs 2483(5). We will attack again in a few days and believe we have sufficient force to take the base in time.
China
Recon shows CF attempting to march a KMT LCU to the rescue of Nanyang. However, they are coming overland from several hexes out and will soon find a Japanese unit blocking the path.
Jcar: I completely agree, which is why I'm skeptical we sank 1, much less 3 of the behemoths. Still, there is evidence in the form of otherwise unexplained sinking sounds and the odd 1 ship TF making for the nearest port that point in favor of at least 1 enemy BB sinking. Time will tell but at a minimum all 3 BBs will be in the (very small) Allied shipyards in the region for months.
Sulu: Let's just say that Urumchi is a phase 3 objective, and that we hope you mean this as a compliment on our progress to date. [;)] We are not driving on the communist north as in our opinion there is little of value behind all the good(ish) troops and rough terrain up there worth taking, Sian excepted.
Here's a screenshot of the north China plain front, however:
1 - Our Sian Army pins the enemy's Sian Army 1 hex to the SE of the city. CF's choice not to defend the approach to the city in the rough terrain helped us advance this far, this fast. We will string units along our LoC back to Loyang to prevent flankers and await reinforcements before pushing the issue here.
2 - Note hexside control in the Nanyang hex. We have two LCUs rapidly closing out the last two green hexsides. They will surely arrive before reinforcement and thus isolate Nanyang, which contains 18 LCUs.
3 - CF is moving this stack, a single corps, to attempt relief of Nanyang, but we have new units moving up from the south to block the river line. They are advancing through much more forgiving terrain and should arrive first.
Attachments
Operation ..b 6 1942.jpg (259.34 KiB) Viewed 287 times
What's your take on Lanchow? It offers more fuel/oil potential than Sian. Tougher terrain to be sure, but it doesn't leave your Northern Flank hanging out in the wind either if taken.
Luck is the residue of design - John Milton
Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
What a quagmire for Cuttlefish, it looks like he's fighting your war in China instead of his.
He should have any number of his small guerilla outfits divided up and littered through out the countryside to try and stall your drive on Sian, I guess getting trapped at Nanyang thats all moot. He may have been better served with a token force at Nanyang and the bulk of his forces digging in on the road to Sian in better defensive terrain.
Now that I see the map I can see why you haven't made a move north toward Urumchi. He's making a mistake by keeping those forces S/SE of Yenan considerimg the weak supply flow he'll probably be getting especially when he gets in combat. I get things started on the first turn those forces are much better protecting turf around Lanchow , Kungchang, Tienshui and acting as a reserve force for Sian if needed. He's at risk of getting rolled up out there if you take Sian and points north.
I agree with the posts that say make Nanyang a prison camp instead of killing them off atleast for the time being.
Good Job!!
"There’s no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself.” ~ Erwin Lutzer
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