Matrix Games Forums

10th August, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
If this is for real it must have shocked Simon. My heavy bombers at Bangalore evidently found a cache of 1000lb GP bombs, as I managed to score several hits today with them. including on his heavy cruiser which has for months absorbed half of all the 500lbers intended to be used on his convoy. His CA didnt like the big ones!
End result of the days anticonvoy efforts - 2 APs and 1 AK on heavy damage. An AO was torpedoed by a Dutch submarine (FUEL CARGO BURNING result, excellent, is he having to transport fuel to Ceylon?) but the Dutchie caught some depth charges and will have to retire.
Tomorrow, a long range Beaufort raid from Madras is planned with AVG escort. Trimcomalee is just about in range. I've been rotating my a/c to keep up constant pressure, and my preferred target is, as always, ships.

Kaga's TF is headed north, but slowly. A raid on the west coast of India? Hmm.

Decided to be ballsy today. Warspite, forgotten over in Calcutta, is sortieing towards Ceylon. If Kaga moves back, so will Warspite, but there is so much shipping there, the RN wants to get stuck in!

DEI, CHINA
No changes.

SOPAC/AUS
Again, no changes. I've laid quite a big minefield at Tassafaronga now. Its still held by Japs - Japs without supply, who have been rotting there for months now since the Marines pushed them off Lunga. Well, he won't be evaccing that easy with ~750 mines there.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
The real reason for a post. Tarawa fell today, despite me leaving the supply AKs at Baker Island (oops!). The sheer weight of numbers of 3 divisions, even with five bullets per man and very little in the way of softening up, overcame the defending SNLF garrison. The Japs havn't been wiped out though, merely pushed off the base. Going to wait while the APs continue to unload my 3 divisions and while AKs arrive (3 days ETA, too long I know to be without supplies).
The battleships are retiring to Canton Island for rearming, the carriers are still loitering and bombing for one more day. Three CLs and about a dozen DDs are dispatched from Pearl to Canton, they are all shiny on 0 sys damage and I plan on swapping them out with the more weary looking escorts in my Central Pacific battleship force.

Future plans - aviation support unit + seabees in transit from Pearl to Tarawa. Move CentPac division from Canton Island to Tarawa. (Canton Island is, incidentally, CentPac in this game, I changed its HQ fairly early on). After Tarawa is secure, the 3 div invasion forces will prep for one of the bases near Kwajalein, not sure which, and retire to Canton for a months R&R. Harassing attacks on Kwajalein while they recover.

Operation Running Wild is going well, but I'm a bit cagey, as I don't know the location of all of his carriers. I'm still confident that they can't have redeployed to CentPac yet, but anything could happen in the next month. If he pulls KB out of India though the RN is going to come out to play - he must be making some difficult decisions about now.

Excellent. The Allies are putting on the pressure!

14th August, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
The heavy hand of over 100 heavy bombers focus upon the airfield at Trimcomalee today, as British warships are in the area. The airfield is blown to bits. 44 Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the field, half Oscars, half Sonia - the combat report was an underestimate for a change.

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Day Air attack on Trimcomalee , at 15,25

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 13

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 12
B-17E Fortress x 56
B-24D Liberator x 40

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 13 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 10 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah: 3 destroyed
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 13 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
406 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 111

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
8 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
7 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
5 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
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That'll leave a mark. After a day off, they'll be back.

Warspite is tentatively approaching still, and will be 120 miles south of Madras, with AVG Tomahawks on top cover. Risky. But if Warspite stays bottled up in Calcutta the Japs can come over whenever and sink her. Better to die on her feet, then on her knees!

7th Armoured is now at Mannargudi, another landing point he'll have to fight for. A base force with 90 av support arrived at Karachi too recently, its going to Mannargudi now. Bangalore is almost raised to maximum airfield levels so that'll free up some engineers to develop Mannargudi into a forward base, which will mean Beauforts threatening Trimcomalee directly.
The AO the Dutch sub sunk in the Bay of Bengal, however there won't be any celebrations aboard as the Dutch boat also sunk on the same day.

DEI
Three more submarines are now on station around Palembang and the Straits of Malacca. Not much action though. The bombing of Kendari continues apace meanwhile.

SOPAC/AUS
Heavy reconnaissance efforts in the Solomons suggest he has small garrison forces at Munda and Shortlands. No activity here suggests the bulk of his forces are at Port Moresby - 4 divisions, a lot. There is a lot of convoy traffic to Buna, I guess he's supplying them over the Kokodo trail.
The SC has examined the map here and a potential plan could be hatched focusing upon Goodenough Island, which is only lightly garrisoned by the Japanese and, with a Mitchell force, would cut off many Jap units from supply. Operation Running Wild is still going on in the Central Pacific and thus all Allied APs are earmarked, but after that has concluded in about 40-50 days with the cutting off of Kwajalein, we might turn our APs towards the capture of Goodenough Island or the island immediately to its east, at which point we'll let the Japs get all malarial for a few months without supply and with round the clock bombing of Port Moresby with the 100 Liberators which will be arriving on the west coast this month - and maybe another 100 Fortresses if I pull them from Koepang and Noumea.

That'll leave a mark.

CENTPAC
2/3rds the troops are still on the transports at Tarawa - I dont really have the sealift for 3 divisions, but with his carriers far away I reckoned I'd have time aplenty to unload. As the unloading has been undisturbed looks like I'm right. Supply has caught up with the Marines finally and the near disaster has been averted. Going to give them a week to unload and recover, and then we'll begin eradicating the Japs that are left.

My minelayers, which were busy in the Solomons, are in the process of being redeployed to CentPac, working with an MLE based at Canton Island. Soon Tarawa will have a 1000 plus mine defensive belt.

I love reading about these massive heavy bomber raids. [:D]

I think Simon has missed the bus for an India invasion. Do you think he'll try it? It seems to me that he'll have to secure at least part of India if he doesn't want Ceylon to become a big prison camp...

Sounds like you're doing well in the central pacific, as well. Kudos!

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

I love reading about these massive heavy bomber raids. [:D]

I think Simon has missed the bus for an India invasion. Do you think he'll try it? It seems to me that he'll have to secure at least part of India if he doesn't want Ceylon to become a big prison camp...

Sounds like you're doing well in the central pacific, as well. Kudos!

I think he's missed the boat, and I think Ceylon is going to be his Guadalcanal. That doesn't mean he's not going to try it though, so I'm keeping India well garrisonned and assuming he will make an attack, so the British aren't committing to any Burmese adventures or anything like that.

I'm confident enough that I'm going to try airlifting another division to Colombo and mire him there good and proper. To that end I'm going to blow Trimcomalee to the stone age. If he wants any hope of making progress in Ceylon he'll need KB, and while KB is away, the mice will play... Seems to me he needs to intervene in the Central Pacific in force as soon as possible or I'll be knocking on Japans door by mid 43.

Tough decisions for Simon.

15th August 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Warspites group was in Madras harbour when KB aircraft attacked at the limit of their range. Dropping little bombs damage was light but enough for me to retire the force (Warspite on 10 sys damage, lots of minor fires). A pitiful CAP of Spits and Hurricanes managed to down a few of the 50 Zeroes, making me think he must have more than a few numpty pilots in there now.
My confidence grows in the theatre. I am now 75% decided that we will attempt an aerial reinforcement of Colombo. I'm confident that Trimcomalee airfield can be shut down to support the operation, and at last minute I'll stack a lot of Spits at Colombo to protect the transports from any LRCAP he sends. With two divs, 1 bde and the sizable 9.2" guns of Colombo's base force there, and the high fort level, I don't fancy his chances.

Far off in San Franciso 60 Tomhawks are loaded into an AK and sent Indiawards. Its going to be a good three months minimum before they show up - and a risky trip too - but they will be invaluable when it comes to counterattacks, which I look forward to seeing. When PPs permit I'm going to try this 60 day rule to reinforce India with a West Coast division. (At the rate Winston wants ships that'll be 1946 though [:(].

CHINA
Some of the Chinese corp in Chungking are down to 40 assault points. I'm pulling them out to Chengtu and then going to airlift them to India for recovery - so damaged they are effectively useless, and Chungking can afford to lose a couple of these. Hope is that they will reinforce relatively quickly and then I'll be able to pitch em back in to the cauldron of battle . The joy of a huge transport aircraft contingent at Ledo - oi, Allied players, make sure you put 150 transports in theatre on the India/Burma border, you won't regret it! [;)]

DEI
4th Dutch regiment, 100 assault points, is almost at Lautern, aboard 5 APs I've been keeping at Derby to ensure I can move troops to and from Australia. I think its not only too late for him to take India, I'm inclined to think its too late for him to take Timor as well. I think he could do it - but at grievous cost which I don't think he could afford and would actually be playing into my hands if he tried it.

A lot more submarines are in position now at Palembang and the straits around Sumatra - veterans of the earlier Solomons campaigns where KB damaged a lot of Allied subs, the shipyards at Sydney have been slowly fixing them and now they are finally back in action mostly.

SOPAC/AUS
All quiet. I've commenced a harassment operation though. I'm assuming Buna is where he supplies PM from, no hint of Jap shipping headed there, and I've been marking the route with S boats for months. So, a half dozen subs are going to leave some surprises in the allegedly safe Buna harbour. Due to the lack of shipping the Allied submarines in the area in general are going to be turned to laying surprises for a while rather than patrolling when time permits.

CENTPAC
Still unloading. No Japanese counterattacks either. Place seems dead. The fleet is being reorganised at Canton Island, dinged up ships to Pearl for fixing, brand new polished DDs and CLs being doled out to the taskforces. My Anglo-American CVBG is venturing out again to raid Kwajaleins port once more.

Not happy with the performance of the shipyards at Pearl Harbour, my carriers there have barely been fixed a point in all this time.

Got a range of ideas now, all offensive in nature for a change. Question is which ones to use!

a) Lightnings at Koepang asap to work on his oil, possible move to a base on Sulawesi to reach out and touch him a bit closer - atm Soerabaja is really too far for Forts.

b) Raid on Goodenough Island to cut off his South Pacific defence with medium bombers, leaving him to rot in malarial bases for easy VPs later on. Would require the suppression of Port Moresby at a minimum which would be no mean feat even with Lightnings, and as he has a very solid defence in depth in the Solomons with bases all around the target even that would not prevent possibly crippling strikes.

c) Assuming successful and timely conclusion of Operation Running Wild, a continuation of operations in the Central Pacific, aimed northwards. Wake Island first, followed by Marcus Island or Saipan. Such a bold move might be unexpected, who knows what defence he has there? Maybe nothing.

d) Raid on Sakhalin. If I get it, it'll have devastating consequences, but Paramashimo Jima or whatever its called would have to fall first and it seems reasonably well garrisoned with a tripwire force - certainly enough to prevent a lightning advance anyway, and operating so near the Home Islands with only Attu Island as a forward base is a bit risky.

e) Invasion of Burma. Units have been prepping for Mandalay for some time now. Problem is this isn't possible until the Jap threats at Ceylon have been dealt with to my satisfaction.

I suspect I'll end up going for a) and c) on the grounds that in my view they would require the least amount of Allied assets to achieve. An assault on Wake Island could be handled feasibly while Kwajalein was being reduced by heavies.
My Central Pacific defences would be a little thin on LBA though, specially fighters. I have three Wildcat squadrons which I could deploy there to cover Baker, Tarawa, and whichever third base I take in the end. Might need to keep a carrier force here throughout. As I got 8 carriers that might not be so bad, they could be split into 2 x 4.

Been a while. Simon had one of his holidays again.

17th August 1942
BURMA/INDIA
Well, KB chased Warspite over to Diamond Harbour. CA Dorsetshire for some reason dropped out of the TF and was eaten alive by Kates. On the plus side this noble sacrifice meant Warspite got home in one piece. The TF is dinged up by Vals though, almost all ships are on 10+ sys damage, some are on 20. Warspite lost a lot of AA guns to Vals, and has an AA rating of around 400 now.
Warspite is out of the war for a while it would seem.

Thunderstorms ground my LBA meanwhile.

CHINA
He's ratcheting up pressure, headed for Kweilin now. This is a fight he can't win though, I have a lot of units at Kweilin R&Ring.
I've pulled out two more Chinese divisions from Chungking to Chengtu. Their assault values are both <20, they are more like platoons than divisions now... they will be picked up and taken to India for a few months R&R along with the two corps i'm pulling out.

DEI
Not much change here. Dutch regiment is almost landed at Lautern. Far away in Brisbane Lark Force Battalion is back to 100% of TOE - its not much, but they are being dispatched to Lautern as well. Its a long way on the railroad to the north coast, this won't happen for a while.

SOPAC/AUS
A Jap TF is sighted in the Solomons, at 7 hexes range just out of being Mitchelled. It was headed SE. Is this supplies for his three SNLF garrisons in the Solomons area? I hope so, he'll be getting bombed if it is. [:D] It appears to be an AK convoy anyway.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
My three divisions at Tarawa are finally ashore in their entirety and their disruption and fatigue is down to 0/5. The shock attack is ordered, the remaining rump of Japs there should be annihilated. A big base force for aircraft and SeaBees are not many days away now, so soon Tarawa should be a mighty Allied airbase and a stop off point for further offensive action into the Gilberts.
The bad news - all three divisions that participated in the landing are down to approximately 2/3rds their strength. They really need a rest. I'm pondering taking them back to San Francisco and leaving em there for three months or so, unfortunately.
Furthermore of the 3 x BB battleship TF, 2 BB and almost all the cruisers are being sent to Seattle for repairs, with SYS damage at 10 or higher. It may have been a limited offensive but it sure cost the Allies a bit of oomph. Luckily several more BBs are about to arrive in theatre so this isnt a huge loss.

There is definitely going to be a lull in the Central Pacific, anyway. I plan another raid on Kwajalein, but after that has been concluded I think operations will shift again to the South Pacific, specifically Shortlands.

19th August 1942

BURMA/INDIA
The weather cleared up today so a major air offensive was made against the Japs at Ceylon. Heavy bombers hit port and airfield at Trimcomalee, sinking two DDs and an AP as well as smashing up the runway good. Blenheims worked on the Jap ground forces sieging Colombo. Another AP sank in the Bay of Bengal.
I moved Spitfires to Colombo to challenge the Zeroes routinely LRCAPping the place. Air losses were very much in my favour, despite 22 Zeroes on cover over Trimcomalee I lost only 3 bombers, in return 4 Zeroes were shot down in addition to to 12 Sonias on the ground.

Day Air attack on Trimcomalee , at 15,25

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 4
B-17E Fortress x 64
B-24D Liberator x 46

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 6 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 6 destroyed
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Tama Maru, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nokaze, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
AP Montoiru Maru, Bomb hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
DD Uzuki, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
AP Matsukawa Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Iwashiro Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Kaijo Maru #2, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PC Sonan Maru #6, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
618 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 41
Port hits 15
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
10 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
12 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
12 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
7 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on Colombo , at 14,24

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed


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This offensive, specially moving the Spits to Colombo, is in readiness for using my transports.

DEI
Heavy Jap airborne ASW is making life difficult for my submarines around Palembang. Two have been forced to retire in recent days. I'm going to persist though.
Fortresses and Hudsons made a strike on Macassar and got surprisingly good results.

Day Air attack on Macassar , at 30,69

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 22
B-17E Fortress x 45

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
126 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 34

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
9 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
8 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
2 x Hudson I bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The combat report lies, 10 Betties were destroyed according to the air losses report.

4th Dutch Regiment has finally got ashore at Lautern, together with a Dutch AA unit and 24 Airacobras I now have a modest defence at the east end of Timor as well as the mighty fortress at Koepang.

SOPAC
My hatred of US medium bombers is bourne out today. He's been unloading supplies at Buna, the Mitchells and Bostons sally forth, and expend,day after day, their entire payload on a pair of Jap CAs without effect, in the main ignoring the many APs that are there. Utterly useless aircraft.
PT boats also raid Buna while he's there, putting a torpedo into a DD and an AP without loss. I had a destroyer raid planned as well but one of my DDs hit one of my own mines around Guadalcanal and the TF aborted.
His convoy is slinking off now, a bit bruised, but not annihilated by any means. I grounded my a/c as thunderstorms are forecast, and besides after 2 days of strikes they need a rest.

CENTPAC
Tarawa's defences are going up. It now has >270 av support, and I moved 50 Tomahawks, 50 Fortresses, 50 Mitchells and 12 Catalinas there. Two divisions are being pulled back, I've decided all the way to San Fran for recovering. The significant losses are putting my CentPac operations on pause for a while. No bad thing, gives me a chance to upgrade Tarawa.
Tomorrow my forward carrier force (2 Brit CVs, two US CVs) will be in raiding range of Kwajalein. Enterprise at Pearl is now on 0 Sys, the other carriers are all in the high single digits still though. [:(]

Been musing at the AAR for a while. His air losses are really mounting, every day the heavies fly he loses ~50 aircraft on the field.

In Ceylon in particular this is serious for him. We're at an impasse in effect, he needs the KB to have any functioning air power there at all, if he pulls out the USAF heavy bombers will eat him alive, and I'll be rotating troops in and out of Colombo with my C-47 fleet while his supplies are flattened. Meanwhile even the KB Zeroes are facing a rate of attrition from bomber guns and defending Spitfires which is far in excess of his ability to replace them with trained pilots. He has army Oscars there too but I've not seen one in the air for days, I assume the beat up airfield has put those out of commission.
Also, Simon must know that my battleships are just itching, begging, to pounce him. Throughout the game if a surface combat group has been nearby, its been sent in to do battle. He just parried Warspite coming in, and I'm sure he knows that if he gives me even the slightest chance, the Royal Navy is coming out. He may have dinged Warspite up but there are 2 x BB, 1 x CV and 1 x CVL at Karachi, the RN is spread out but it is not toothless by any means.
This is another factor forcing him to keep carriers around in the Bay of Bengal.
...and really, why does he want Ceylon anyway?

And while the KB is pinned, I'm running riot elsewhere.

Quick report for 20th August 1942...

My CVs raiding Kwajalein came across another one of his convoys. Unusually, it had two AS's in it. What are they doing? In any case, they both got sunk [:D]. Along with a few other transports and patrol boats.

22nd August 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Thunderstorms for days in India, but today I bit the bullet, and the C-47s flew anyway, reinforcing Colombo with a half strength indian division. My heavies, set to bombard the Trimcomalee airfield simultaneously, didn't fly. Zeroes however did, and about 10 C-47s were shot down en route. Supply is good at 400,000 in Colombo.
Engineers from all over India are converging on Mannargudi now intent on building the airfield up to size 4. An RAF HQ unit which has been idle at Jorhat for far too long (it was originally the HQ unit from Singapore, evaccing cadres helps [:D]) is dispatched to Mannargudi in readiness, as is a base force currently at Karachi.

KB is sortieing to the south of Ceylon, maybe a raid up the coast again? Who knows.

CHINA
Stalemate still. Pressure is building at Kunchang again, he outnumbers me 2 to 1 there but seems to be badly messed up or out of supply, as his attacks are much less effective than my own.

DEI
Been working on Macassar with my Forts and Hudsons, he has Betties there but no fighter cover. Don't have enough firepower to really lay waste to the base but I do chip away a half dozen Betties whenever my boys fly, and I'm sure it has an impact on his supply.

SOPAC/AUS
Not much going on down here. Got an eye on the Solomons in case of further Jap activity. Going to try bombing the Buna airfield which is currently size 0 but being built, one presumes, and see what we can do.
I'm suffering from a lack of baseforces to accommodate all my airpower. Again. Despite having a 270 av support unit transferred here from India. Far away in San Francisco AKs are being loaded up with supply and SWPAC baseforces, with the aim of being, eventually, deployed in North Australia.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Japanese heavy units are spotted near Paramashimo Jima or whatever its called by Catalinas, a BB is apparently there. Could be lies, who knows. Probably a tanker. [:D]
Yesterday my CVs had their final attack on Jap shipping around Kwajalein, and again, it sure did hurt. Yet another AS and an AO were sunk immediately, and a dozen other vessels, mostly APs, heavily damaged. Kates and Zeroes from Kwajalein (Kates presumably from CVE Taiyo which sunk in Kwajalein harbour earlier) sortied and did break through the carrier CAP - Formidable took a torpedo but she's a tough old girl, shes on 4 sys and 0 flot now. Maybe it was fog of war?
For the first time in days now Tarawa has no Allied ships in its tiny port. Some SeaBees are being moved over from Baker Island to build the place up, but aside from that Tarawa is going to be on its own for a while.

An MLE is now about 5 days out from Canton Island, when that arrives heavy mining operations around Tarawa will begin. Supply is now excellent, there must be 400k supply in the Baker/Tarawa/Canton/Palmyra group.

Pulling my CVs back to Pearl to swap them out with refitted vessels (Wasp and Enterprise probably). Pearl has 3 CD units, I'm going to send one of the USMC ones down to Tarawa I think but that'll take a while to action.

26th August 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Ohhh he made a balls up today alright.



As I suspected earlier he was doing a raid. Kido Butai is quite far up the western Indian coast, and he had trailing replenishment TFs. I assumed it was an invasion force and set the heavy bombers at Bangalore to naval attack to mess him up. They ignored KB due to the CAP but he didnt cap his replenishment TFs and they got heavily bombed. Silly. He should have had them much further out. Lots of FUEL CARGO BURNING messages. [:D]
This is the benefit of recon here, the Catalinas at Panaji and Colombo were tracking him all the way.

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Day Air attack on TF at 13,20


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 3
Beaufort I x 14
B-17E Fortress x 13


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AO Notoro, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AO Tsurumi
MSW Kyo Maru #3
MSW Kyo Maru #1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
2 x Beaufort I bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Beaufort I bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Beaufort I bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Beaufort I bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 12,22


Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 37
Wellington III x 8
B-17E Fortress x 44
B-24D Liberator x 39


Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Hamakaze, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Kiso, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 18, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)
PG Shinko Maru #5, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AO Erimo, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AO Sata, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
DD Yukikaze

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
2 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
1 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
1 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
1 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
1 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
1 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
2 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
2 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x Wellington III bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x Blenheim IV attacking at 100 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet
4 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 5000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had UK carriers based at Panaji in readiness for raids at Ceylon, but they legged it as soon as the Japs arrived, towards Aden.
Wonder what he'll do now with his fuel all toasted? [:D]

DEI
Lots of sub action around Singapore. A Jap AK was torpedoed by a US submarine, and an AP torpedoed with duds. Yesterday a Jap AP was torpedoed with duds in the Malacca Strait - probably the same convoy as today.

Elsewhere Fortresses hit Kendari, as they do, putting 29 aircraft in the bag, including 15 Zeroes. The airfield there is a wreck, they must all be pinned down.

...the tides of war are definitely turning now.

A SWPAC Australian Division arrived at Derby - I think on balance its gonna stay at Derby. I was going to reinforce Timor with it but lets not be hasty sending it into malarial zones without a need. I'm beginning to think that a Jap invasion of Timor will be some time away yet. If ever. Might need that division in good shape to nudge up to Bali potentially. If he lets me take Bali and hold it... it'll be a quick war. [:D]

SOPAC/AUS
Not much going on in the South Pacific. Recon suggests both PM and Gili Gili are very heavily defended still. Might regret this when it comes time to send CVs to the DEI.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
A quiet has resumed here, furious building is going on. Tarawa is up to airfield 3, and Fortresses have begun recon duties in earnest in the Marshalls. Single units at Jaluit and Maloelap, presumably SNLF garrisons. No problem. Maloelap has an airfield 4, so that'll likely be the target of any more island hopping. It appears to have Zero CAP but no bombers. It is in standard B-17 range so we could start splattering it fairly soon, when Tarawa reaches airfield 4.

As to the feasibility of the island hopping - ground units in CentPac are in short supply.

My dispositions are - and I think they are quite thinly spread :-

1st USMC at Tarawa
161st RCT at Baker Island
24th Div and an armoured Bde at Canton Island, my main hub for Central Pacific operations
1 x div at Palmyra
1 x div, 1 x RCT at Pearl Harbour

As you can see, not much for offensives. I could rustle up the two RCTs maybe for a hit on Maloelap... whatcha think guys? Overreaching?

Airbases are not a problem really, its just ground units.

Norpac is, of course, quiet. I still have BBs there just in case, mainly for distraction purposes.

this war is over....[8|]
Someone got greedy, and thought they could do a PZB, before securing the flanks, or defeating the main enemy.

Great AAR though.

yep, if bali falls, the japs are goners.
from another jap player trying to fight a war without oil or fuel[8|][8|][8|][:(]

He's definitely made some poor deployments.

He has about between three and five divisions at my guess in the South Pacific, just dying of malaria. And SNLF garrisons in the Solomons, now pinned by Mitchells at Lunga. This stuff is all a waste, I'm just going around it.

His pilot pool is feeling the burn too. The AVG at Madras did a sweep of Trimcomalee when KB was in port a few days back, and knocked down half a dozen Zeroes without loss. And the AVG's experience is down to <70 due to losses. He must have a lot of numpty pilots. KB operations around the Java Sea and an attempt at Timor are responsible for that.

If were him... I'd get out of Ceylon ASAP, while he still can.

29th August, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
While the KB was playing up in Karachi - fairly ineffectually due to monsoons - Illustrious and Hermes have managed to get past KB without being seen and are now just off Ceylon. The dreaded Swordfish put a straggling AO to the bottom, and the two intrepid British CVs will do a quick pass around Ceylon and sink any ships foolishly left out of the port.
After this daring operation, they will retire to the south, where a replenishment TF has been waiting just for such an opportunity (if you look at the world map above, its the green dot west of Sumatra).

Unfortunately he's pulled most of his heavy units out - heavy bombers had a go at BB Haruna in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, 7 hits did not faze her, though about half of them were 1000lb bombs from Liberators.

A slight change of plan here - my submarine force, so ineffective on patrol duties - just one probable, in the face of extremely intense ASW that has dinged up half a dozen subs - are going to be used en masse in a minelaying role, using Diamond Harbour as a base. About 8 subs can be spared for this operation, the target is currently the ocean hex west of Rangoon, not in Rangoon itself where it will be easily swept. The heavy bombers, with the British carriers sweeping the east coast of India, will revert to airfield and port attacks at Trimcomalee.

DEI
Lots of sub action still in contrast to earlier months. PCs are hunting my subs around Vietnam, there is still convoy traffic being attacked around the Java Sea, and USS Gato made a surface attack on an AK off the coast of Japan, hitting with one torpedo and two 4" shells.
Bad weather has been limiting aerial operations but my Forts and Hudsons have continued harrying Kendari airfield when possible. A convoy was briefly spotted at Kendari the other day, presumably bringing in supply.

SOPAC/AUS
All quiet. Not much to be said here really...

CENTPAC/NORPAC
A plan has been formed. The damaged two divisions that participated in Tarawa will be retired to Pearl not SF, and will assume garrison duties for a while. This will free up the big ~480 assault point Pearl Harbour defence division, and an RCT, which will be used in offensive operations. With the KB in Karachi we have to keep pressing on, to the very gates of Japan!
With my carriers rotating in port it would look like 3 CVs will be spared for this operation, Wasp, Hornet and Enterprise. Fresh CLs and DDs have been accumulating at Pearl Harbour for some time, so escorts are no problem. Plenty of APs to use, thats not a problem either. Plenty of supply has been directed and is still being directed towards CentPac as well.
The question is which target. A strike on Wake would be easy, but hard to defend when he comes back. A strike on one of the bases near Kwajalein, probably Maloelap, would serve to immediately interdict all Japanese shipping in both the Marshalls and the Gilberts, but would be higher risk with Kates and Zeroes known to be stationed at Kwajalein itself - though not enough to resist 3 US carriers, one would presume, and I've already buzzed the Marshalls/Gilberts with carriers twice, leaving a trail of Jap wrecks and shot down aircraft.

The question is not whether - the question is where.

1st September, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
The KB is returning from the raid now, and is just off Panaji. In earlier days he bombarded Karachi and Bombay, sinking about a half dozen ships, the most important of which were BB Resolution and CA Chicago.
Today the KB bombarded my airfield at Bangalore, causing me to lose about 50 aircraft in total, though he lost 32 aircraft himself, mostly Zeroes.
I got Illustrious and Hermes into the Bay of Bengal, but was foiled by bad weather, allowing his convoys to scuttle away. Two MSWs were sunk but that aint much of a haul. [:(]. My carriers are running southwest now to refuel.
For now he's still bogged down at Ceylon, but he has another div on the trail, when that arrives we might need to evac.

CHINA
Stalemate. Still. For months.
I guess this part of the game works, eh?

DEI
Not much change, I've fooling with my 4 squadrons of Catalinas at Koepang to go on recon missions, Soerabaja/Bali/Amboina/Macassar. Don't want to focus on one place in particular for fear of him getting suspicious.

SOPAC/AUS
Moved 50 Forts from Canton Island which were doing nothing to Lunga. Might try and test his defences a bit around Rabaul, if they are fairly light we'll start a bombing campaign to suck up his resources here too, if heavy, we'll skip over to Aus and up to Koepang to join in the fun there.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Kwajalein is ringed with submarines, Tarawa reached level 4 today so the air offensives can now begin.
At Pearl Harbour a new carrier TF is organised and the Pearl Harbour division and an RCT are loaded onto APs. A small AK TF is put together for supplies.
The target will be Wake Island. Kwajalein is going to get heavily bombed by Fortresses while this is going on, partly as a distraction, partly to prevent interference by long range Jap aircraft.

4th September, 1942

BURMA/INDIA
KB continues to pound at Bangalore. The heavies there I grounded due to thunderstorms but he presses on anyway.
The RAF is giving a solid defence - KB is getting a right butchering from them. When the US carriers finally have a go at them, it looks to me like it'll just be a mopping up exercise...



No lasting damage to the airfield again. Thunderstorms every day for over a week now, must be that monsoon time yet again. [:(].

At Calcutta three spent Chinese divisions are almost completely reconstituted, an Indian brigade is at 100% of TOE, and a Burmese BFF Brigade which escape the carnage is at about 85% of TOE. I'm having real trouble evaccing a Chinese corps from Chengtu, I've got most of it but the 76mm AT guns seem really difficult to move via air transport - my 150 Daks are managing to lug over about 2 a day. Still, almost done.

CHINA
Japanese reinforcements are starting to trickle slowly into Chungking, but he'll need a lot more than a trickle to get his 2 to 1.
I have to hope the Chinese theatre holds until the Indian campaign is over - assuming i can crush him in Ceylon, I plan an immediate Burmese offensive which should put the pressure on him, and I'll be able to use my heavy bombers in China to make him eat up valuable supply.

DEI
Thunderstorms have slowed down the tempo of operations here, too. He finally took Davao - that outpost has held out all this time (!!!), but then he didnt reinforce his own troops besieging the place, merely waited for the supply loss to kill them all.
Fragments of the Davao garrison were, of course, evacuated to Timor long ago.

SOPAC/AUS
Thunderstorms have closed this theatre down too.
Noumea, which has been an enormous fortress for months, is beginning to be wound down somewhat. 64 Mitchells which were intended for SEAsia but have been at Noumea for the best part of 1942 have been loaded onto AKs and sent to go the Perth. Some CentPac Mohawks have been loaded onto AKs and sent to Canton Island to be decrated and distributed throughout the Central Pacific campaign. 50 Fortresses have been moved to Lunga.
The 50 CentPac Fortresses I moved to Lunga have been moved back again to Tarawa (make my damn mind up eh? [;)]) as a tentative strike on Kwajalein with 50 heavies didnt make much of impact.
There are a lot of SWPAC units there too which I will, in the fullness of time, move to Australia - I want to really put some pressure on him in the Dutch East Indies as soon as possible. Noumea's own intrinsic garrison will end up quite small - 1 squadron each of Dauntlesses, Airacobras and Hudsons.
Speaking of putting the pressure on him in the DEI, a big base force and an aviation support unit just arrived from the USA at Brisbane. They are gonna go trekking over to Derby - they represent a future Bali force, maybe. [:D].

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Still getting my Wake invasion organised. Should start happening tomorrow though. One thing I'll be lacking is battleship support for bombardments... enh. I'm gonna go without it, thats not vital.

9th September 1942

BURMA/INDIA
Mannargudi is now airfield 2, 60% the way towards 3. baseforce, HQ and more engineers are about 4-5 days out now.
KB has been nosing around Colombo lately, bombing it rather ineffectually. My heavy bombers have been grounded all this time due to weather.
Today, something slightly unusual, two MLs were spotted near Calcutta. Whatever they were doing, both were sunk by Beauforts I have on patrol there.

Illustrious and Hermes have been refuelled and are waiting far to the west of Sumatra to see where KB goes. It might be raiding time.

40th Chinese Corps still hasnt been fully pulled back to India by my Dakotas - I assume the week after week of thunderstorms has something to do with this...

CHINA
I assume he has supply problems aroudn Sian as my bombardments there are inflicting 400 casualties a day now. Today I've set them to do a deliberate attack, two squadrons of bombers are slated for ground attack as support.
Chungking meanwhile continues to tip, very slightly, in his favour.
Supply is slowly dwindling but theres plenty left. Enough to last till Christmas I would say.

DEI
Kendari airfield is on 70 damage now, and the poor sucker Betties and Zeroes there get regularly blasted. Recon over Bali suggests its empty! The subs are keeping up a tempo of operations around Palembang and off the Home Islands - not scoring many hits, but at least they are attacking a bit.

SOPAC/AUS
Mostly rearranging for future hits. 1 Aussie Div + 1 Aussie Bde are set to prep for Bali. Two USN baseforces are on the railroad to Derby. Got enough APs but this operation will require carrier support. Getting the carriers there will be a whole challenge in its own right as Port Moresby is in enemy hands. [8|]
I expect this operation to begin in about three months, it'll be a while before I'm ready.
Heavies from Lunga have been testing Rabaul, he has a squadron of Zeroes there and 50 Forts isnt enough to crack that nut. They are standing down.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
50 Liberators arrive at San Francisco, they fly over to Pearl, step 1 of their long journey to, in the end, India. Two Pearl veteran BBs are now at 2 or under sys damage, almost ready to go.
My Wake Island operation has begun. Carriers and APs and AKs are ordered to rendezvous at Midway Island - that'll take a week, I would guess. Some TKs have been sent to Midway as well, currently it has 0 fuel. I also pulled the battleships I had assigned to Norpac down to Midway Island, so I will have BB support after all. Midway has an excess of baseforces, so if/when Wake falls I'll be shipping one of those over for Catalina and Wildcat cover.
There will be only one day of preparatory bombing. Plan is the battleships will unload everything they got at Wake while all carrier aircraft are set to go for the port. The day after, the US Army will land, and the carrier air will switch to half port, half ground attack.
Elsewhere 100 bombers now blacken the skies over Kwajalein every other day - the place is wrecked. Submarines have been nuisance mining Kwajalein harbour, and more subs are on patrol around it. I don't anticipate any interventions at Wake from this direction...

Mmm, this is a turnout for the books. He's abandoning his siege of Sian in China, pulling back. A pretty momentous change given we've had about six months of more or less static warfare (and not through lack of trying on either side).
At the same time 120 Sallies turned up and bombed Sian's oil into oblivion - I'd been wondering where the IJA airfarce had gone... [:(]

Might have to draw the heavy bombers out of India to counter this while I still can. To be honest - China is more important, its pinning down more troops. Luckily Mannargudi will be up and running in about two weeks I'd guess, so I shouldnt need the heavies so much.