Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

Last, but not least, I did invade and take Meruke. There was no real garrison there so I wiped out a large Australian base force and an american construction unit. There was no naval fight at all so I'm not sure where his carriers are. I'm in the process of pulling back from Meruke but by taking it I'm starting to think that Darwin can be isolated. I know that the Indian shore guns don't help in bombardments of Chittagong, I wonder if the same is true in Darwin.

Still the absence of his carriers is a concern.

[John B.]

What gives with Tokyo? I had noticed that my heavy industry pool started to decline and looked around for a cause. Lo and behold, Tokyo and Osaka were out of fuel. There is plenty of fuel in the HI and 4.5 million of oil in reserve. As you can see, Tokyo has a lot of oil and it's refineries are on. I checked other cities and they have fuel but they are not stockpiling it. So, I"ve set Tokyo and Osaka to stockpile fuel. And, I'm sending ships to Port Arthur to pick up some of the 900,000 fuel there to ship directly to Tokyo. Do I need to shuttle fuel around the HI?

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
What gives with Tokyo? I had noticed that my heavy industry pool started to decline and looked around for a cause. Lo and behold, Tokyo and Osaka were out of fuel. There is plenty of fuel in the HI and 4.5 million of oil in reserve. As you can see, Tokyo has a lot of oil and it's refineries are on. I checked other cities and they have fuel but they are not stockpiling it.

Hard to say what's up. Fuel is also reserved for fleet needs, and it is not clear what you mean by "plenty of fuel in HI". As a stopgap, set Tokyo and Osaka as home base for KB and BB TFs. This would make the game draw some fuel from elsewhere

[John B.]

GetAssista, I think I solved the problem and I was not being precise in my previous message. What I should have said is that I have plenty of OIL in the HI. Imagine my surprise when I just discovered there there are not enough refineries to keep the HI supplied with the fuel it needs to feed its fleet etc... [X(] Now, I'm on a crash project to bring fuel in from the DEI and not just oil. Newbie mistake! [:-]

[John B.]

In better news, looks like we can scratch one flattop! Three torpedo hits, ammo explosion, and sinking sounds right away plus . . .

[John B.]

Just shy of 90 sweet sweet carrier planes under the waves. Nice to cut into his carriers to help stem his attempt to get things going. He has retaken Eniewetok and he knows my carriers are in the DEI so he may be moving up to cause mischef but I've moved most of my stuff out of Truk so there is not too much there for him to get at.

[John B.]

Meanwhile, my big thrust in China is moving out. I've even put together the 1st armored division and a Chinese infantry division for this push. I should be able to hit 7 corps with 12 Inf. divisions, 1 arm. division, and 5-8 arm. regiments. If that does not crack the line nothing will.

In the clear terrain near Chungking my central thrust finally ran into a wall of Chinese and I took some heavy losses across the river (the Chinese were aided by heavy bombers from Ledo hitting my boys).

I've managed to evacuate Meruke with fast transports (boy to I love that mission) and now I'm seriously thinking of making a play for Darwin. I can shore bombard it without too much risk and maintain air superiority. It would help tie down the DEI and almost force scott into the Central Pacific.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
In better news, looks like we can scratch one flattop! Three torpedo hits, ammo explosion, and sinking sounds right away plus . . .

Wow, talk about scary subs. Sara damaged last month, now Wasp sunk. Congrats!

[John B.]

The Sara actually has been hit twice but no sinking. It's nice to see one go beneath the waves!

[John B.]

That giant ripping sound you heard was a hole being torn in the Chinese lines north east of Chiking. Oddly, Scott's troops retreated to the city rather than along the road which probably saved them from annihilation. Now, do I dash across the river or wheel south to try to roll up Scott's line. Choices choices. I think at the least I need to send some troops to get across the river to the north but to turn south to roll him up. He can block the road to Chungking before I can get there and I'll just wind up with another siege. If I can force him out of his southern positions, he puts Kunming at risk.

[John B.]

And, a nice little casualty list. He may put the hurt on the three armored regiments that exploited. I had no idea he'd retreat across country or that my tanks would go all the way. If he does not attack it will save me the points if nothing else.

[Bif1961]

Replaying history repeats history, Wasp sunk by 3 sub torpedoes and Sara hit yet again by a sub. In China looks like he is running or very short of supply, now is the time to push hard, exploit, exploit!

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
That giant ripping sound you heard was a hole being torn in the Chinese lines north east of Chiking. Oddly, Scott's troops retreated to the city rather than along the road which probably saved them from annihilation. Now, do I dash across the river or wheel south to try to roll up Scott's line. Choices choices. I think at the least I need to send some troops to get across the river to the north but to turn south to roll him up. He can block the road to Chungking before I can get there and I'll just wind up with another siege. If I can force him out of his southern positions, he puts Kunming at risk.

They retreated along the route to the closest supply source, and city (chengyang or smth?) is closer than 6 road hexes to Chungking.
Good for you because now you can rush(and I mean RUSH!) and try cut the road from Chungking south then encircle all that Kweiyang defensive line. This will put the Chinese in the position of trying to break the encirclement and expending supply doing this, or let those caught wither
I would expect though he has some reserves to put roadblocks.
Also march one unit into the city he retreated to to occupy that hex side.

[John B.]

I don't think that I'll be able to get to the Chungking road in time. My tanks move one hex per turn on the major road so it's only a few days but (a) there may be troops next to me that I'll have to push through (b) he is sending his long range bombers on interdiction which is likely to slow down at least some of me (no matter how many planes are on cap I dont shoot them down) and (c) he has 70 units in Chungking so he will be able to put up a serious road block. My main hope is to get him out of Kweiyang (sp?) and threaten kunming. He has been short of supply for a long time but when I attack at fairly even odds, even with the negative supply modifier I get a bloody nose. Still I'll push as hard and as fast as I can to take what he'll give me and if he's weak I'll see if I can cut the road. I also have an attack brewing at Paoshan to come at Kunming from Burma. I'll have six divisons to his two corps. But, he is rushing in reinforcements and he'll have air superiority coming out of Ledo.

[John B.]

Well the great China offensive has gone well thus far. As you can see, Scott's entire line has been ripped apart. Kweiyang has fallen in the south and, where the arrow is, I'm crossing the river and looking to cut the major road between Kunming and Chungking. My goal down here is to take Kunming before turning my attention to the central group of cities. I have five divisions at Paoshan in the west but the entire british and american airforce is able to bomb me there so I'm not sure how much progress I'll be able to make on that front. In the north, I'm very surprised that Scott is getting out of Kienko. That will give me an airbase just three hexes from Chungking and allow me to dominate the skies over that area something that was tough from the more distant airbases. He is moving a whole lot of forces to the South.

[John B.]

Things are quiet in Burma, almost too quiet. I've taken most of my forces to send them against Paoshan so I'm a bit vulnerable there. My only saving grace is that it can take a long time for an offensive to develop in Burma and I do have another regiment moving in to help take up some of the slack.

[John B.]

The second invasion of Australia is proceeding. Scott seems to have been a bit passive about this attack and his carriers have disappeared from sight for a couple of weeks now. I don't know if he's planning on a counter attack else where or if he's going to try to rush my BB bombardment TFs. The Darwin shore batteries are helpless against the BBs so I may do another round of bombardments and then land the 5th division right into Darwin. He has four units there two of which are the shore batteries. If I take Darwin I can shut down this front.

[John B.]

Finally Attu,

He keeps building up his capabilities on this front. Just in case he has a northern front attack in mind I have the Mini KB up here and it will land a brigade on Attu in a month or so.

[John B.]

The VP still show me in the plus column so I can't complain.

[John B.]

I had a little problem in late October when I discovered that Japanese refineries don't produce enough fuel to maintain Japan. So, after an emergency fuel lift things seem to be on more of an even keel but more juggling is required than I thought. The current bottle neck is engines but I'm working on that as well.