Morning everyone. Zorch, yes, Real Life definitely interrupted. My family and I are all fine, with the exception of Sam, our oldest cat. Just real life intervening and getting out of the WitP habit. We've been playing on and off and I've been keeping up on the AAR notes. Here's something I wrote a few weeks ago, then on to the turns:
It’s been a busy month or so in the real world. My wife’s family came to our house for Christmas. That’s always great fun. My brother-in-law, son and I love games and we played a record number of games while they were here. I don’t think I turned on the computer once during that time.
While they were here, we noticed our oldest cat, Sam, was not himself. Nothing specific, but he definitely wasn’t himself.
Sammy was a Maine Coon. Weighing in at 16-17 lbs, he was a huge cat, and all muscle. He was a very kind soul, loving every living thing in our house, be it cat, human, turtle or bird. Yeah, he loved our bird too. He was often found sitting on our turtle tank with one paw in the tank playing with our turtle. He particularly loved my wife, Tracy, and daughter, Gina. If either one picked him up, he would wrap his front legs around her neck and hug her. Sammy was a long hair, so he needed to be brushed regularly. He didn’t particularly like it so someone (usually me, but often Gina or our son, Dominic) would hold him down while Tracy brushed him. One of my favorite memories is of Sam dragging Gina (5’5” and 120 lbs) along the rug to get away from Tracy’s brush. That was a regular event in the house.
Anyway, Sam started losing some hair on his neck. We took him to the vet, who had his blood and thyroid tested. Everything was normal. The next test was for ringworm, which takes a month. In the meantime, he continued to lose hair and weight. He succumbed to whatever it was on 20 Jan in my arms. It may have been pancreatic cancer.
Since we were married, we’ve lost 8 cats to various ailments. They all hurt, but none hurt as much as Sam. He was a special cat and will be missed.
Gina summed it up best: We miss you Sam! You were the greatest cat ever! We will never forget how fluffy you were, or how you gave the best hugs. You waited at the door for us to come home, and you played fetch. You were giant, you drooled when you were happy, and you converted almost every cat-hater you met. You will live in our hearts forever. We love ya Buddy! Leave your hair all over my room in heaven for when I get there, cause it wouldn't be home without it.
Good to see you here Mike. Sorry to hear about Sam.
I love cats and unfortunately my wife is allergic to them. I may never have a cat again, but they're always fascinating and fun for me and I think I would have loved meeting him.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
The Umikaze hit the Pickerel with a DC just outside of Truk. He keeps sending subs here and they keep taking damage. I have ~80 bombers (Marys, Anns, Sallies and Helens) flying ASW with 70+ skill pilots. The Allied subs are taking far more damage here than they are dishing out.
South of Noumea, the I-9 hit a TK with a torpedo. No report of her sinking.
In the afternoon, the I-9 hit a different TK with a torpedo. No report of her sinking either. They were both empty, unfortunately.
5 Fleet
The SE Fleet HQ landed at Amchitka today so hopefully, the 7 BF will upgrade its TOE to include the DP guns. Fingers crossed.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Two squadrons of Corsairs (6 and 11 planes) swept Rabaul from Lae today. They were opposed by 50+ various Japanese fighters. In the first sweep, I lost 2 Zeros (1 pilot KIA) to 2 Corsairs shot down. The second sweep was a little worse for me, and him also. This time each lost 4 planes (IJA – 1 KIA, 1 WIA). Nice!
SRA
MKB was 3 hexes away from more merchant ships (a couple only) and did not fly despite perfect weather. Go figure.
Nells flew against Merauke again, missing 2x xAKLs.
Burma
Over Shwebo, I lost an Oscar (+2 op losses, 1 WIA) to 2 Kittyhawk IIIs.
China
I had 2 divisions and about half a dozen artillery units just south of Chungking (over the river) and once again smashed the remnants of the Kweiyang garrison, pushing 3 of the 4 units over the river. I decided to stick around to hit the remaining unit tomorrow. That was a mistake.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
SS RO-104 – SE Fleet
SC Ch-35 – ASW
SC CHa-53 – ASW
South of Babeldaob, the Gunnel sank the TK Akatsuki Maru, a Type-1 TS TK (1250 capacity). She was hauling oil from Boela and full.
South of Noumea, the I-173 hit the same TK convoy the I-9 hit twice yesterday. She sank the TK Athelduke, a really big TK. Nice!
5 Fleet
The 7 Base Force upgraded! Finally! I’ll load the SE Fleet HQ, the TF will top off at Etorofu, and then head to Marcus Island.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
The 2 Corsair squadrons hit Rabaul again, separately again. Overall, my losses were worse than yesterday, but I’m still killing off Corsairs faster than their replacements are coming.
Losses:
2 Zeros
1 Tojo
4 Nicks (+1 op loss)
IJA Pilots: 1 KIA, 1 WIA
IJN Pilots: 1 KIA
Corsairs: 2 (+2 op losses)
Around 10 Corsairs lost in 2 days! I can live with that!
SRA
MKB is heading home. Bingo fuel.
Burma
One Hurricane lost.
China
I attacked Urmuchi today with the 3 Tank Division, a tank regiment and a cavalry brigade. The 1:2 attack cost minor casualties on both sides and reduced the forts from level 2 to 1. The Chinese defenders are composed of 3x infantry brigades and a base force, along with some planes stuck there. I have the 26 Division headed there. I’ll attack again when they arrive in about a week.
Remember the poor Japanese just south of Chungking? Well, Ted had sent some 300k Chinese (the Great Yellow Horde) over the river to shock attack. Ouch! One of my divisions was trashed and the other took about 50% infantry disablements. The artillery is ok. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. On the bright side, I’ll bet he used a bunch of supply. I’m withdrawing in combat mode, not that it’ll matter.
The I-122 dropped off some mines in the shallow hex between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar. Ted’s BB bombardment fleet reacted and attacked her, hitting her once. Her damage isn’t too bad at 49-52(28)-3(2)-0. She’ll limp back to Singapore for repairs. The mines were laid. Let’s see if they do anything.
5 Fleet
Adak is looking good with almost 16k supply and the 7 Base Force taking DP guns every couple of days. Ted has decided to cower in Dutch Harbor for a while.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Ted has 2x Corsair squadrons flying out of Lae, but he’s having a hard time keeping them up to strength. They flew 5 & 4 planes in separate sweeps against 51 and 44 Japanese fighters. Yeah, they caused more losses than they took, but as long as I can kill 2+ a day, he’ll lose ground with them. Today, he lost 2 Corsairs in exchange for 8 Japanese fighters (including 3 op losses) and 2 Army KIA and a WIA for each service. I can live with that. I keep my fighters stacked at different altitudes in case he comes with his bombers.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
Nothing to report.
China
The Great Yellow Horde chose not to attack, much to my delight. I have 2 divisions and some artillery crawling south (in combat mode in case he does attack). They were beat up yesterday. He could have made a killing here. Maybe he doesn’t have the supply to attack? Don’t know.
In central China, there are some 28 or so Chinese units that are isolated and out of supply spread out over 3 hexes. I’m pushing them south into a city where they will rot. I hit the northern most stack of 1 HQ and 3x Corps with a division. The 3:1 attack pushed them south (the only open hex for them) causing 3553(260) casualties to 183(0) Japanese losses.
Other Stuff
My stuff is generally increasing nicely. As far as engines are concerned, the Ha-32 is up to 429 in the pool. I thought they may break 500 this month but it may be next month when that happens.
I ended up taking a few weeks off for the RL stuff happening (discussed above), so we’re both looking at the map and wondering what the hell we were thinking. The only fleet I see consistently is the British bombardment fleet hanging out at Chittigong. No Allied bombers flew today. I suspect he’s resting them for a push somewhere, probably in SE Fleet area, but maybe in 5 Fleet. I’m ready in both places.
KB is resting and recuperating, split between Truk and Kwajalein. Ted still has 3-4 subs (that I can see) around Truk, but my DDs and bombers harass him constantly, pretty well negating their effectiveness. The subs get hit on occasion, usually sending them home, and rarely one is sunk. It still will be a chore getting KB out of Truk undetected should they be needed. Both replenishment fleets are currently disbanded in Truk and they are short only ~5k fuel in the AOs holds, but there is no fuel in Truk. A convoy of 32k fuel is a few days out with two more of 44k & 32k fuel about a week away. Truk’s fuel situation will be ok soon.
Ted’s subs caught the I-173 SE of Noumea, hitting her twice. She’s limping home with this damage: 33-53(25)-3-0. I expect her to make it, but Ted’s DDs are definitely getting much better at ASW warfare.
The I-158, rounding the NW corner of Australia, found the Dutch AO TAN 1 and put a couple of torpedoes into her, sinking her. She was hauling fuel, to Darwin I suspect. That was one of the Dutch AOs that start the war. They’re pretty tiny.
5 Fleet
All quiet on the northern front, with Adak still building its forts (currently at 5.78) and reinforcing the 7 Base Force with DP guns. Life is good.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
All quiet here too. I see LSTs and other ships at Milne Bay. I think Ted is going to make a play for Gasmata, but he may also take Goodenough Island. I have a 27 plane Betty daitai at Shortland and a 45 plane Betty daitai at Rabaul covering the water between Gasmata and Milne Bay. Any invasion force that heads into those waters should be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The only enemy planes I saw here today was a small flight of P-40Ks sweeping Gasmata. My fighters are covering Rabaul. If the Warhawks sweep Gasmata again tomorrow, I may put some Tojos in Gasmata to ambush them the day after.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
I lost 2 Oscars (2 KIA) to a Kittyhawk in the air. Nothing else seems to be happening there. My army sitting on the road between Akyab and Chittagong finally got supply. The AV ratio is in my favor at 2304:951 with his army bombarding mine every day. I’ve decided to conduct a deliberate attack tomorrow. Keeping fingers crossed hoping I beat him down enough to delay the inevitable a little longer. My goal here is to keep his army bottled up as long as possible. If this attack succeeds, he’ll be bottled up and worn down.
China
The two Japanese divisions that were beat up a couple of days ago by the Great Yellow Horde still are crawling away from them in combat mode. I risked switching them to move mode so they can get out of Dodge faster. Keeping fingers crossed that the Chinese don’t attack.
Other Stuff
Confirmed Allied ships sunk:
SS O20 at Darwin on 21 Feb 43. She was hit by a bombardment there on 6 Feb 43.
xAK Examiner near Auckland on 21 Mar 42 by the I-168. She was carrying fuel.
Again, no Allied bombers flew. I’m confident that he’s resting them to support an invasion. I expect something to happen in the SE Fleet area soon. I’m debating on whether to move KB out of Truk and station them a day ENE of Rabaul. Ted hasn’t stationed any subs (that I know of) in this area so I’m pretty sure I could hide them out there. It’ll burn some fuel, but the potential to trash an invasion fleet is real. I’ll think about it some more and make a decision tomorrow.
Another long time lurker here. Glad to hear most everything is good in RL.
I do appreciate your AAR and it gets plenty of reading and re reading as I get myself sorted for my own AE GC. You and your contributors have been a world of assistance.
Steve
Kido Butai, although powerful, was a raiding force, and this is exactly how the Japanese understood its usage. 'Shattered Sword'
I finally attacked the British Army on the road between Akyab and Cox’s Bazaar. Man, what a stalemate! The 1:2 odds attack cost me 4410(30) casualties to 600(16) British casualties. No real change here. My AV dropped from 2331 to 1923 and Ted’s dropped from 956 to 877. As a note, in future days both of them will slowly rebuild back to about where they were before the attack. Ted’s units are fewer in number than mine, but he has a weak tank and infantry brigade in the hex. What I am hoping is to beat them down to a point where I can kill off a number of squads. The problem is that I don’t get much supply to the hex to be able to attack. Definitely a stalemate.
In the air, we each lost a couple of fighters.
China
Remember the Great Yellow Horde? My 2 beat up divisions switched to move mode to try and run away this turn and of course, Ted decided to attack. Sheesh. Well, the divisions were pushed out of the hex, but Japanese losses were listed as 8187(649) to 1652(12) Chinese casualties. They really weren’t that bad with my divisions at 25/78 and 42/85. They’ll scamper south to the base over the river (can’t remember the name right now) and reinforce the garrison there. We’ll see what those half million Chinese do.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
xAK Mutsuyo Maru – Std-C, will convert to a TK
TK Gyoshin Maru – Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)
The I-17 caught 2 depth charges about 9 hexes SW of San Francisco. Her damage is 26-61(50)-2-0. She’ll begin the trek back to Kwajalein, but it’s going to take a long time. We’ll see if she makes it.
No Allied air attacks at all at SE Fleet or Burma. I’m sure Ted is up to something in both places. I can tell, when he rests his pilots.
Other Stuff
Reinforcement:
xAK Akitsushima Maru – Std-D, this is probably the last Std-D I build. I have a handful of them sending supply to Adak. They’re expendable.
One partial squadron of Hurricanes swept Magwe. That’s my major forward airbase there (mainly to protect the oil fields). I try to keep a couple of sentai there but there is always at least one. He’s ignored Magwe for quite a while. Is he going to go after the oil once again? It’s down to 127 (of 300 max) remaining, but I’d love to keep it for a while longer. I’m going to reinforce Magwe, just in case.
If you don’t recall, the I-122 dropped a load of mines up near Chittagong, with the hopes of one of Ted’s BBs running over one or two. When she dropped the mines, that bombardment fleet reacted into the hex (I think) and one of the DDs hit her with a DC. She was limping back to Singapore and was caught today a few hexes south of Rangoon by the British sub Trusty. She took a torpedo and went down. I’m now down to just the I-124 of my four minelaying subs. Other subs can use that mine, but they drop only a handful of mines, not 40. I’ll have to be very careful with I-124 now.
Burma
As I said yesterday, Magwe is my major forward airfield in Burma. The second most important is Shwebo. Today, a handful of Hurricanes swept Shwebo and a full squadron of P-40Ks swept Magwe. Three Warhawks were lost for no Japanese loss. The P-40K is rapidly becoming obsolete. Ted gets a boatload of them each month, so they are still the major American Army fighter. Better for me.
Here’s one for the record books. The I-157 found an unescorted xAKL off Merauke. She surfaced and pumped a shell into the cargo ship. Then she broke off the attack and submerged due to damage! What?!
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Ted invaded Woodlark Island, a dot hex south of Gasmata again. The first time he did it, a few months ago, I counter invaded and took it back. This time he used the 503 Para Reg and 112 Cav. Ok. If he chooses to head north, he’ll have to fight his way through a bunch of subs, mines and infantry, not to mention Betties and possibly KB. Have at it!
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
Two full Hurricane squadrons (12 planes per Brit squadron, right?) swept Shwebo littering the countryside with 8 planes with a loss of 3 Oscars. Then, 9x P-40Ks and 5x Hurricanes swept Magwe losing 1 of each for no Japanese loss. Something is brewing here as well. He’s trying to whittle down my fighter strength (unsuccessfully, I might add).
Other Stuff
Reinforcement:
SS RO-105 – headed to SE Fleet.
An xAKL is confirmed sunk near Cooktown on 19 May 42.
My 12.8k TK fleet was headed back to Singapore when they were attacked by Tautog. She put a torpedo into one of them, lightly damaging the TK at 16-22(12)-0-1. The TK remained with the TF and safely made Singapore a few days later for repairs.
5 Fleet
I haven’t discussed Adak lately, mainly because nothing is happening there, other than the continued buildup. The 7 Base Force is up to 89% strength, constantly added DP guns, AS and engineers. The forts are up to 5.84, increasing 0.01 a day. At this rate, the forts will reach level 6 before the end of the month. Supply is just under 15k with 4k due to arrive in a couple of days. Life is good!
4 Fleet
Forts, forts, forts…
SE Fleet
Betties escorted by Zeros attacked the shipping around Woodlark today. I ended up losing 4 Betties and 9 Zeros (ouch) vs. 7 Allied fighters, including a Corsair. Gotta change the Betties to night attack.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
Magwe and Shwebo were hit by multiple Hurricane sweeps (no P-40Ks today). Total losses were 6x Hurricanes and 4x Japanese fighters (1 KIA, 3 WIA).
Other Stuff
Reinforcement:
SS I-37 – will head to 5 Fleet AO.
An xAK was confirmed sunk near Raoul Island on 18 Nov 42.
I forgot to change the Betties to night naval attack. The result of my mistake cost me 6 Zeros and 5 Betties over Woodlark Island this time. I finally changed to night attack.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
Well, it started. There were several fighter sweeps over Magwe and Shwebo as well as 8 bombing attacks on the oil fields at Magwe composed of 189x 2E and 24x 4E sorties. Losses were:
1 Japanese fighter
14 Allied fighters
16 Allied 2E bombers
1 Allied 4E bomber
Allied bombers lost 8% of their sorties and the oil fields had 2 points damaged, leaving 125 remaining. I had quite a few fighters damaged and swapped out some of my sentai with fresh sentai in reserve at Rangoon. In addition, I transferred the 70 Sentai, part of 2 Air Division (Manchuoko) to 3 Air Division (Burma) and upgraded the Nates to Tojos. They were rail transported to China where they will repair, then fly the rest of the way to Burma. If this battle goes on for a few more days, I’ll need the extra fighters. The problem I have isn’t losses, it is pilot fatigue and morale. I keep some of my fighters flying at maximum height for defense against Allied sweeping fighters and that saps their morale and spikes their fatigue, even with 50% flying and 50% resting, along with extra pilots. It is definitely time to increase the number of fighter sentai here. I’m still winning the air superiority war, but now I rarely take it to Ted’s airfields. I may have to change that and start my own air offensive once again.
China
Remember the Chinese army I have surrounded near Kanhsien? There are ~20 units in that base and an additional 8 units that were 2 hexes to the NE. I hit those 8 units today, trashing them some more and pushing them over the river to within 1 hex of Kanhsien. I’ll attack across the river in a few days bottling the entire force in town. Then I’ll surround the base and let them rot. This will free up the 13 Army, a rather potent force, for missions on the front line. I still haven’t decided whether to move this army to the battles raging south of Chunking, or to send them to Sian where they can sweep in from the north and take the 3 bases (which have 1 unit each) on the plateau where Chungking is. I’m leaning toward the latter but I’ll make a final decision when this operation is complete.
Just to the SW of Woodlark Island, the RO-103 surfaced and shelled LCT-59. No confirmation that she sank, but I’m pretty sure she did.
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
SE Fleet
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
Today, a large bombing campaign of Magwe’s oil fields occurred. Here’s the rollup:
Japanese fighters: 7 of 78 lost (9%) – Pilots: 2 KIA, 3 WIA
Allied fighters: 7 of 26 lost (27%)
Allied bombers: 41 of 85 lost (48%!)
One oil point was damaged (124 remaining). Needless to say, Ted was less than thrilled with the result. He told me he’s going to try something else. No idea what that will be.
China
The attack on the northern oil field at Urumuchi finally happened. The 3 Tank Division, 26 Division, 12 Tank Regiment and 4 Cavalry Brigade attacked the defenses there, which were composed of 3x Chinese brigades and 1x base force. The 3:1 attack reduced the fort to 0 and pushed the defenders out. Casualtis were 878(1) Japanese to 1832(219) Chinese. The cavalry will garrison Urumuchi, the 12 Tank Regiment will head to the NW to take the Chinese base up there and the infantry and tank divisions will pursue the rabble to kill them off. The infrastructure is relatively intact at: Manpower 1(1), Resources 38(2), Oil 47(3), Refineries 19(1) and LI 19(1). I will not repair anything here. I had heard that the stuff produced here doesn’t move. Here is what I captured:
I will test this for a few days to see what happens. I am leaving everything producing, for now.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
TK Kotai Maru – Type-1 TM
TK Komaki Maru – Std-E
61 Division Engineer Battalion – Eastern Army – will combine with some infantry to form the 61 Division.
B6N2 R&D advances to 9/43.
Ki-44-IIc R&D advances to 6/43.
The Perch caught the amphib TF that was returning to Shanghai (moved an infantry regiment to Rangoon) and put a torpedo into the AMC Nosiro Maru. Damage is 35-63(48)-6(2)-0. Fortunately, she’s only a day out of Shanghai so she should make it there to get repaired.
The I-174 ate a DC south of Tonga. Her damage is 3-38(31)-0-0. She’s headed back to the barn for repairs.
Finally, the RO-103 ate a DC 1 hex SW of Woodlark Island (where she attacked the LCT yesterday). Her damage is 27-79(41)-16(5)-0. She’ll limp back to Rabaul for repairs. I hope she makes it. I should have moved her after the attack.
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
SE Fleet
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
A small flight of Hurricanes swept Magwe.
A squadron of bombers keeps harassing one of my regiments holding the line SE of Katha. I had some of my Tojos try to intercept them, but they were flying too high and didn’t intercept. Today, I set some fighters to LRCAP the hex at 10k feet. Hopefully I can decimate another British bomber squadron. Heh, heh, heh…
China
Ted had moved all of his Chinese air units to Chengtu after I destroyed a fighter squadron in the air over Chungking a while back. I built up Sian enough to house an Oscar chutai and a sentai & chutai of Sallies. They bombed Chengtu’s airfield destroying a handful of obsolete planes (SB-III, I-15-III, Hawk 75, I-16-III) and damage about a dozen more, along with a bit of unrepaired airfield damage. I’ll continue to bomb them.
Other Stuff
Reinforcement:
xAK Risshun Maru – Std-A, will convert to a TK.
Quick R&D update while I wait for a turn from Ted and watch the snow get dumped on us here.
I have 3x30 Ki-44-IIc factories that will be completing their acceleration of the final Tojo model soon. In 16 days, the Tojo IIc will accelerate to 5/43, at the end of March 43. At that point I am going to convert the factories to the N1K1-J George to assist acceleration there. I currently have 6 factories assigned to this model, with 3 completely repaired and the others very close (3x30, 28, 27, 26). The George has accelerated to 8/43, with 49 points toward 7/43. That will allow the 3 Tojo factories to repair relatively quickly, bringing me to 9 R&D factories. Also, the Ha-45 will become operational in 4/43 with 240 repaired factories currently and increasing to 360 when they become operational. I should get to 500 engines in the pool by mid to late May, doubling my R&D for the George, Frank, Peggy, Francis, Myrt and Grace (when their factories finish repairing).
The I-25 caught an unescorted convoy heading back to San Francisco and put 2 torpedoes in to the xAK Autolycus in the morning. Later that day, she put 2 more torpedoes into the same cargo ship and had the satisfaction of seeing her go down.
The I-25 wasn’t finished. She then found the xAK John Burke, surfaced and put 3 torpedoes and a couple of shells into her sinking her.
The I-25 is the only sub I have in this fertile area. I dispatched another sub from Kwajalein to assist her since she’s used many of her torpedoes. It’s just too good an area to not have subs there. It also takes ~10 days to get a sub there from Kwajalein.
5 Fleet
I expect another move against Adak once winter is over. Fortunately, the fort level will have reached the magic “6” (currently at 5.88) and most or all of the DP guns will be in place. The 7 Base Force is currently at 91% strength with only ~8 DP guns needed to reach full strength (plus some engineers and AS). There are also 200 mines in port and 18k supply. I have Emilies doing naval search out of Amchitka Island, which is working on a level 2 airfield. Once that is achieved (hopefully by the end of March), I will station some Judies there. That should come as a big surprise. There are 42 Oscars stationed at Adak as well.
I’m considering moving some carriers there (stationed at Etorofu), probably a slice of MKB. Still pondering that. It’ll cost some fuel, but could be worth it. There is a steady stream of merchant ships going to and from Dutch Harbor. I’m increasing Glen coverage of the area to the east of Dutch Harbor to find the route they are taking. I usually lose the convoys a day or so after they leave Dutch Harbor and don’t see them until they are about to arrive there. Admittedly, I only have a few subs (including only 1 Glen sub) in that area right now.
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Ted swept Shortland Island with 22x P-38Gs at 39k ft. I had a sentai of Tojos on CAP, but they were looking for bombers and were at 15k ft. I was lucky with the losses with 5 Tojos lost (2 pilots WIA) against 4 P-38s lost.
I sent a BB/CA bombardment fleet out of Truk to hit Woodlark Island. Ted usually has ships there. He’s building up the base (still a dot hex, but probably not for long). I want to hit those ships and hopefully trash the base to slow things down.
SRA
Nothing to report.
Burma
I finally caught the Vengeances that were bombing my regiment to the east of Katha today. 5x Oscar IIbs ambushed 10x Vengeances shooting down 5 for no loss. It’s the little victories.
Elsewhere, a Hurricane was shot down over Shwebo.
China
My Sallies hit Chengtu’s airfield again today damaging ~8 planes and causing more damage to the airfield. More importantly, they got a couple airfield supply hits. Killing supply here is more important than anything.
I have decided to send the 13 Army up to Sian and then attack to the west to liberate the 3 bases to the north and west of Chungking. That will reduce Allied China to only 1 base (Chungking) that is producing supply for him. That will drastically curtail the inexperienced but massive Chinese Army from doing anything useful for him. To the south of Chungking, there are Chinese units causing a few problems, but nothing I can’t manage. This includes the Great Yellow Horde (GYH), some 65 Chinese units of >500k strength. I don’t think they have enough supply to do anything because they’re just sitting on the road, 2 hexes south of Chungking. I’d love to surround them, but I don’t have the force to do it right now. If I can clear the 3 bases mentioned above and then surround Chungking, the GYH will die on the vine, as will all the other Chinese units scattered around the countryside.
I suspect this will take most of 1943. Once Chungking is isolated and the other units are destroyed or surrounded, then I can start to pull good units out of China to reinforce my perimeter.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
xAK Kinmon Maru – Std-A, will convert to a TK.
63 JNAF AF Unit
I have noticed that Urmuchi will not ship anything out. I’ve heard that base has that problem. Does anyone have a solution to this? I turned off the refineries so I don’t build up too much fuel and lose it to wasteage.
Another sub was found and prosecuted in the straights south of Formosa. The SCs, Ch-10, 11 & 12 patrol the straights and found the Pompano today. They hit her twice forcing her to the surface. Then they started shooting at her, hitting her only once. Of the two SC classes (Ch & CHa) I like these better because they have Type 95 Mod 2 DCs. (The CHa class has the Type 95 DCs.) But I discovered today that their guns suck. I begin getting a string of E escorts (Otoris initially then a new one). I will group the Otoris in 4 ship divisions as escorts/ASW, but the other (Matsu I think?) I will group with 3x Ch class for ASW. That way, when a sub is forced to the surface, there will be something with a real gun to shoot at it. What happened here was that the Pompano got away after surfacing. She hasn’t sunk, but I doubt she’ll get home. She should have been sunk by gunfire after eating 2 depth charges.
After that attack, a couple of Allied DEs caught the RO-104 7 hexes east of Cairns and hit her with 2 depth charges. She’s still afloat but pretty badly damaged: 32-82(47)-1-0 and limping back to Rabaul. We’ll see if she makes it. Anyway, that area between Pt. Moresby and the Aussie mainland is becoming too hazardous for my subs. I’m pulling them out of that area and placing a few of my ROs south of Milne Bay and the remainder will form 2 east-west lines in the hex rows 1 and 2 hexes south of Gasmata. I fear an attack against Gasmata and want to have as many weapons available to trash it as possible, to include subs, mines, midget subs, DP guns, Betties and possibly KB.
No, it’s not over yet. Some Mutsuki class DDs caught the Permit a hex to the SE of Truk and hit her with a depth charge. She definitely didn’t sink, but that hit should send her home. That’s good, because I’m sending supply convoys out from Truk to Rabaul and Shortland Island and will send another out to Kwajalein soon. Also, KB is there should it be needed. I see only 1 other Allied sub sniffing around Truk, but I suspect that there may be a third one out there. There usually is. Assuming the Permit goes home for repairs, that’ll leave (for now) 1-2 Allied subs near Truk. Oh yeah, there’s also another fuel convoy 1 day out and a supply convoy from Japan a few days out. Truk is a hopping place, and I want the Allied subs gone so I can hop in peace. My DDs and ASW aircraft are doing a great job, but I’d rather Ted’s subs litter the bottom of the ocean there.
Finally, The I-28 patrolling off the northern US west coast, surfaced and shot up an xAK there, hitting her with 3 torpedoes and 9 shells. The xAK went down. That was an excessive amount of ordnance for 1 cargo ship, and an empty one at that.
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
The P-38s swept Shortland Island again, shooting down 3 Tojos (plus a couple of op losses, 4 KIA, 1 WIA) for 1x P-38. Ouch. I’m going to replace that sentai with another one from Rabaul so that one can rebuild and rest.
The BB/CA bombardment force will reach its target hex, 8 hexes from Woodlark Island. Then I’ll decide whether or not to send them in. I see a couple of TFs and one sub in the Woodlark hex. One TF is composed of LCTs (targets) and the other is DDs, probably ASW. The only thing I am concerned about is the sub. I’d hate for one of my capital ships to eat a torpedo. We’ll see how things look tomorrow.
SRA
It looks like I finally drained Palembang, Medan and Singapore. That’s good. I wanted to do it before Ted gets too rambunctious with my TK convoys. I still produce a lot so there will still be convoys heading to Japan, but the total amount of oil/fuel in that area is down to ~200k vs. the 5-800k that was there for the longest time.
Balikpapan is still shipping all of its fuel to Truk (and will continue to do so as long as possible). Tarakan ships its fuel to wherever it is needed (Hong Kong this time). I have 3 CVEs stationed at Soerabaja and some surface ships and subs there as well. There is currently 67k fuel there. I ship out fuel when the total there is >50k, but don’t have any TKs stationed there. I am going to move some to be stationed there to haul it out more regularly. They’re currently in Japan (new conversions) but will head out shortly. The last bases, Babo and Boela, have a few TKs and xAKs to haul the oil/resources to Babeldaob. So far, I’ve lost some TKs, but I’ve been successful in getting stuff to Japan with little loss.
Burma
My Oscars caught the 5 remaining Vengeances over my regiment just east of Kalemyo, shooting down four of them for no loss. One of the pilots shot 3 of the four!
Elsewhere, I lost an Oscar (1 WIA) to his Hurricanes.
The reinforcement sentai (70 Sentai – 42 Tojos) arrived in Hanoi and will reach Burma in a couple of days.
China
The 26 Division and 3 Tank Division caught up with the former Chinese Urmuchi garrison (3x brigades and 1x base force) and pummeled them again. The 18:1 attack killed 2222(187) Chinese to 121(1) Japanese casualties. My troops continue to chase them north. The Chinese are out of supply and should die soon.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
AM Wa-104 – ASW
E W-25 – Convoy escort based in Japan, probably Tokyo
E W-26 – Convoy escort based in Japan, probably Tokyo
SC CHa-54 – ASW
The xAK Knoxville City was confirmed sunk near Victoria on 11 Feb 43.
Economy:
Things are looking good. Since the beginning of the month:
Fuel is up 100k (currently 3.25 mil) – note that this doesn’t include fuel in TKs headed for Japan, at least 150k, possibly more. Life is good!
Supply is up 75k (currently 3.47 mil)
Oil is down 60k (to be expected, currently 2.5 mil) – there is some in TKs but I don’t know how much offhand. I suspect it’s most of that missing 60k.
HI is up 80k (remember, my goal is +100k per month, currently 1.29 mil, goal is 1.3 mil for March)
Armaments: 108k in the pool, 500 of 620 are off.
Vehicle points: 13k in the pool, all 150 are on (and will remain on).
Merchant yards: 100 of 807 off (I’ll slowly turn more off with time). Hopefully, this will offset the increased HI cost of the increased number of pilots entering training each month.
Air R&D:
-Zero M5b becomes operational in April 43. I may or may not produce this model. The M5c becomes operational in July 43. I need to look at the differences to see if it is worth it to produce yet another model of aircraft.
-Tojo IIc becomes operational in May 43. (Production 120, replaces Tojo IIa, skipping IIb which also becomes operational in May 43, I’d like to say I planned it that way, but it’s really dumb luck. I recall doing some figuring many moons ago, but didn’t really expect to hit it dead on.)
-George K1-J becomes operational in June 43. (Production 90-120, convert Zero M2 factories, which have been off for months.)
-Norm becomes operational in June 43. (Production 30, replaces Jake.)
-Jill N2 becomes operational in June 43. (Production 30, replaces Kate, which has been off for months.)
-Zero M5c (Armor!) becomes operational in July 43. (Production 120, replaces Zero M5b currently off.)
-Tony 100-II becomes operational in July 43. (Production 90-120, factories from R&D.)
-Judy Y2 becomes operational in July 43. (Production 30, replaces Judy Y1. I really want the Judy Y3 & Y4 for my carriers. The Y1& Y2 will do limited ground-based missions but mainly be a Kamikaze. The Y3 & Y4 use the Ha-33 engine.)
It just dawned on me that I need to do some calculations to figure out when to upgrade the R&D so that the Y2 & Y3 become operational at the same time. I want the Y3 as early as possible. Hmm…
Ok, I figured it out. When the D4Y2 R&D advances to 10/43 (late April 43), I’ll upgrade to the D4Y3. That airframe (and the Y4) use the Ha-33 engine and will also become operational on 10/43 in early October. When I upgrade to the Y3, I’ll shut off the Ha-60 engine factories for good with ~500 in the pool. I’ll continue to build 30 D4Y1 a month until 10/43 and upgrade to 30 D4Y2 a month. I’ll run out of engines in Aug-Sep 44 with about 200 D4Y1 and 300 D4Y2 produced. Kamikazes! When I shut off the Ha-60 factories, I’ll have 2 factories at a total size of 120 that will be available for conversion to something else for late war.
In China, I bombed Chengtu's airfield again, destroying a few planes and damaging a few more, while adding to the damage.
A couple of Hurricanes were shot down in Burma.
Finally, Ted invade and took Ramree Island with some Chindits. I've never paid any attention to that dot hex. Now I realize how important it is. he can move one hex to the road cutting my supply line to my army. [X(] I have plans. I'm moving the 4 Parachute Regiment north for an air landing. I have 99 transports to haul them. Also, my theater reserve, the 21 Division has spent pretty much the whole war in Singapore. They're loading up for an seaborne invasion. I'm also sending up two bombardment TF, one of 4 BBs and 4 DDs and the other of 4 CAs and 4 DDs. Finally, I'm sending my tiny KB, the one that trashed the 9 Aussie Division a while ago. They still have 9 Zeros, 21 Kates and 27 Vals. I'll take that lousy dot hex back!
