Westerley Wind, Fine NJP72 (J) vs Lowpe (A) DBB Sce 30

[njp72]

Okay we are back in action after some interruption to the playing schedule.[:D]

First off China- Liuchow is the next target as the momentum builds to the offensive out west.

A trashed division and some infantry regiments were bought out on the cheap from the fighting around Changsha which will come in handy.

[njp72]

Patience required here Grasshopper.

Will be ready in the next 7 days to bring the pain to India and Burma. This should be exciting.[:)]

[njp72]

Consolidating here in Western Oz- nothing too exciting.

Will cut that rail line back to the East in the next week or so.

[njp72]

Good God this is a courageous move given he has no idea where the IJN CVs are (unless it is by sigint)

Out of the blue a single US CV raiding my communication lines to Perth. I was half expecting something like this so most convoys are no where near here. A week earlier might have been a different story though.

If he pushes forward or lingers for a couple of days, I doubt that CV will survive.[;)]

[njp72]

Quiet here which is what I want for now.

The air war will heat up soon as the Empire starts to really target the P40E and weaken its pools.

[njp72]

Whilst the great adventure will get going out West shortly, have to maintain appearances that Oz is still the main game.

Minor operations continuing to clear out isolated garrisons. The Kiwis are unlucky again and will soon be wiped out by their nemesis, the highly experienced 4th Brigade.

No doubt Lowpe will be thinking straight away that Fiji is poorly garrisoned once he sees the 4th in action again. Perhaps not knowing where KB is at the moment may give him pause???

[njp72]

Score board- long way short of any threatening Av at this point of time.

Still early days. By September 42 I will have a good feel whether it is achievable or not. Most likely not but all the point accumulation will come in handy when the bombs start hitting Japan.

[njp72]

A couple of big turns ahead. [:D]

Significant troops and shipping off the coast of Ceylon.

I'm assuming the CVs spotted are the Brits. If I am wrong this could get ugly.

It might get ugly anyway but there is no glory in retreat! Totsugeki

[njp72]

Solid progress in China. Changsha is weakening rapidly, perhaps it will fall in the next couple of attacks.

Trying to push up north as rapidly as possible before the Allies form another line of defence.

[njp72]

Big turn on the land and the sea.

Ceylon- after so many Allied warships were spotted (including CVs) the last turn or two were spent trying to draw them out in a clash before the IJN could commence their landings. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, this turn Lowpe came hard and for once his surface forces ran not into AKs but properly led and configured IJN taskforces.

Chokai and Ashigara really did a number on the British CLs. After being ambushed a number of times by the master (Lowpe) it was good to dish out some pain of my own.

3 x British CLs and 1 x DD sank- IJN barely a scratch- no penetrating hits.

[njp72]

The long lances ripped them apart at short range.

[njp72]

The British CLs had a shocker this turn.

As well as a number being sank (CLs) quite a few would be moderately damaged and looking to escape over the next turn or two.

[njp72]

On the ground, the Dutch finally capitulate after many shock attacks.

Incredibly stubborn but at least this problem is finally resolved.

[njp72]

And so is Changsha.

[njp72]

So the flashpoint continues to be Ceylon.

Despite his losses, Lowpe still has a stack of surface ships here and no doubt by now, well covered by land based air. At the moment I can't smash my way through to the beaches without attriting his naval forces a bit more.

On one hand I save some shipping, troops and warships but on the other hand I lose precious time.

The other disturbing part of this is Lowpe knew well in advance I would be heading to Ceylon- he read me like a book and if his CLs fought a bit better and I was slightly more careless with my amphib taskforces, I would have been massacred.

[njp72]

Last month of the amphib bonus and action has erupted everywhere [:)]

China-the offence is halted for the first time by a massing of anti tank guns and the emergency deployment of flown in Commonwealth forces. Will consider flanking options or may press the attack.

[njp72]

The abundance of British warships around Ceylon has resulted in a postponement of the invasion there.

Operations have commenced to secure flank security with the seizing of Addu.

Unfortunately KB has been spotted! [:@]

It had been hanging out there ready to pounce on Allied warships trying to run interference on the Indian operations. A trap which was not sprung.

[njp72]

Now this is where the game will really get interesting....[:)]

On the calculated assumption that Lowpe had planned for me to arrive in Ceylon into a pre-arranged kill zone, the convoys have been re-routed into the slugfest of Chittagong.

I suspect 40K British, Indian and Australian troops taking on approx: 60K of IJA in open terrain. Whoever wins this engagement will determine the fate of Southern India. I would rather fight the Allies in open terrain then behind forts or difficult terrain.

The die is rolled.[;)]

[njp72]

The Oscar is slowly getting on top of the P40E over the skies of Australia.

Plenty of Oscars in the pools not so many Zeros. Time for the Army to do some heavy lifting in the air.

A sustained strat bombing campaign on the East Coast edges nearer with the steady attrition of Allied fighters.

[njp72]

50th Sendai is having a good war thus far.

19 to 1 kill ratio [X(]

Let's see how long that can last.