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Diego Garcia had 18th UK Div. until I pulled it to form the spearhead of the Sumatra invasion. That move proved successful and essential. Diego is no longer critical. It's still important, but not critical. So I have a Marine CD unit posted there along with some other CD units. Another Marine CD unit is inbound from Capetown. Socotra is no longer relevant to this game.

Cap, believe it or not, I've never been to Bonaventure Cemetery. I've only rarely been to Savannah. It's a fabulous city, though, so one day I'll have to attend to my lack of attention. (I'm not picking on Savannah, though. I pretty much don't go to any cities unless I have to.)

Robert Frost's poem "Birches" is about his memories of boyhood, when he would climb a limber birch sappling, then swing out his feet to ride the tree to the ground. In doing so, the birch would be left bent over. There are two parts of this poem that really stand out in my memory:

1. Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

I love those three lines because they paint a word picture that is so vivid. Can't you just see it?

2. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

I like that line and use it, modified, to fit things I enjoy doing. "One could do wrose than be a visitor of cemeteries."

A walk around the cemetry on Norfolk island is very interesting, you can follow the trials and tribulations of the settlers, so many deaths of infants, the roll call of the Foot regiments of the British Army and post the arrival of the Pitcairn Islanders, the dozens of headstones bearing the few surnames of the new arrivals.

Plus its on the seafront near Kingston, a beautiful setting.

CR, If I remember correctly you have run your fighter pools completely dry? How will you deal with this? Will you withdraw out of his sweep range or try to maintain the illusion that you are still in good shape? Not sure the latter can be done but perhaps its doable to an extent by merging squadrons?

My fighter pools are pretty dry. John hasn't tested them for the past month or so. I think he really took a licking in Burma for months, which discouraged him from fighing over well defended Allied fields. He's probably gathering Tojos and intends to resume at some point. That will make things tough on me, but my pools have a little in them now - especially P-40K, which is a workhorse - and I can call on the Navy as a strategic reserve. Part of John's challenge is that his best large airfields in theater have problems - Port Blair, Victoria Point, Kota Bharu and Georgetown have been lost or shut down or close thereto. He has Singers and he'll be building on Sumatra (his field at Padang just went to level 5). But right now he has to come to me at distance, which gives him a case of the yips, which is always a good thing.

Re the grave jesture...if you thinks it was bad for the faller imagine the consternation of the dearly departed at having a lawyer fall in through the roof! Do they sell occupiers liability insurance for such misfeasances?

I suspect that Dan fled the scene because he realized that he would not be getting billable hours from that client. As all lawyers will do, he ran as fast as he could! Horrifying brush with pro bono work, just horrifying!

As a public service to those who are jaded, discouraged, depressed, overhwhelmed by all the bad stuff dominating the news, etc., I herewith offer a chance for a six-minute tonic in the form of highlights from an obscure but classic movie starring Carry Grant. Warning: Don't click unless you have six minutes to relax and smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCgNTeQTHc4

Thanks for that. I love Black & White movies. I presently working my way through the "canon" of B&W movies. It started as a project to improve my photography (film noir is an influence) but I've fallen in love with the movies. This was a fun clip. It's hard for me to watch Cary Grant and not identify him as the the guy in North by Northwest. As for what constitutes the canon of B&W movies it is a matter of opinion but there would be some general consensus. Citizen Kane is at the top, but the list also includes such recent masterpieces as Young Frankenstein and Schindler's List. It was important to see Schindler's List, but on some level I wish I had never seen it. Ah and now I have messed up your whole point and made this post depressing

Schindler's List is truly a magnificent movie. One of the few modern films that succeeds in putting the viewer in a tragic historic situation and feeling like they are there. (Titanic and Saving Private Ryan are in the same category, IMO.)

I like North by Northwest, but Grant is at his best in Charade.

As for B&W movies, Hitchcock was a master: Saboteur, Strangers on a Train, The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rear Window and lots of others.

How about Twelve Angry Men and Petrified Forest. Too many to list!

Here is another handful; Sunset Boulevard,Raging Bull, Battle of Algiers,Treasure of the Sierra Madre,Maltese Falcon (Bogart fan here), Best Years of Our Lives and My Darling Clementine. A couple of points. The ultimate decision to do Raging Bull in B&W was because Scorsese thought all the blood in the fight scenes would be either too graphic or too fake in color. He wanted brutal fight scenes (and the movie really isn't about boxing) but didn't want to detract from them with a gore fest. A great choice. If you have not seen Battle of Algiers it has subtitles but it is a must see for reasons beyond its artistic merit (and merit it has). This movie documented the playbook for how terrorists operate against a superior conventional force. It is chilling that no answer has yet been found to that playbook and it is still in use and in the news every single day. Powerfull stuff wraped into a great movie

Bogart fan here too. How about To Have and Have Not? That movie is like a quote machine.

12/6/42 and 12/7/42

I just ran the turn for December 7 and discovered that a crisis is at hand. Yikes, Scoob!

Port Blair Raid: My carrier strike aircraft flew against Port Blair, but the Avengers declined to carry torps for reasons unknown. So, after two days of raids, a few scratches scored against BB Mutsu. The only effective aspect is that the airfield seems shut down, which is pretty signifcant as it eliminates one major threat vector.

KB: But now all or most or part of the KB has leaped forward and is NW of Sabang and not that far from my carriers and a host of merchant ships that have been fleeing from Sabang to Colombo. The question is, what will the KB do? Raid towards Colombo to pick of merchants? Very possible. Try to guess which way my carriers will go to catch them? Seems unlikely since I have 360 degrees to flee. Or is this a feint preceding a combined air/sea assault on Sabang? IE, might John figure I'll move some of Sabang's fighters to Ceylon? Possible. All in all, I think the first option is most likely, with the KB moving to a point in the triangle between Sabang, Port Blair and Ceylon.

Ceylon and Sabang and the Allied Carriers: Colombo has a great deal of important shipping - it's a triage unit for cruisers and destroyers. Right now I have 165 fighters posted there, but I think I'll leave it as is for a turn. It'll hurt if the KB port strikes, but the Allied fighters would do some damage. Sabang has 315 crack fighter squadrons with a massive concentration of combat ships. It is an island in a sea, but I think it can hold for a day as is. So, the main thing is to decide what to do with my carriers. Three options: (1) retire towards Ceylon to provide some cover for my transports and to keep my carriers close to home and at least risk of getting trapped behind the KB; (2) retire at a high speed towards Chittagong; this will likely lead them out of harm's way, but it does put the carriers off in no-man's-land (but John can't really attack that region given the host of land-based fighters I can bring to bear; (3) do something unexpetcted: move my carriers towards Sabang, where they would benefit from LBA. The risk is that John might guess this or simply move his carriers that way without realizing I was doing the same. I don't want a carrier battle right now. All in all, a move towards Ceylon is probably the wisest, but I haven't decided yet.

Sumatra: Two enemy divisions are now at Sibolga, facing one beat up USA division. John is hammering the base by air and sea, but I cautiously optimistic the x3 terrain will give the Allies enough to hold. One of his divisions is at full strength, the other at 1/3rd. Mine is divided into three RCT that have 30% to 50% disruption and a combined AV of 186 (total AV at the base is 237).

Dan, you do realise that other than Japanese aircraft on day one, NO torpedo bombers drop torpedoes on port attack, EVER? (Unless it changed in one of the last Beta patches)!

Why are you keeping the division divided? Are there fragments elsewhere?

The regiments will be ground down faster than the combined parent.

Miller, I didn't realize that.

bbbf, early in the game, one of the RCT was assigned to a particular HQ; when I purchased the other two, I didn't notice that I was assigning them to a different HQ; so now it would cost 500 PP to get them aligned; and I don't have 500 PP to spare.

Another thing John might be doing is assembling his carriers in a blocking position in order to evacuate all of the ships he has hung up near Rangoon and Moulmein. Good chance of that, I'd say. If he's taking up a blocking position, then all kind of mayhem could ensue should I send my carriers towards Sabang.

Another option I have would be to strip the fighters from my carriers, send a bunch of them to Sabang and some to Colombo, and let my carriers skedaddle.

The decision has to be made within the next 45 minutes. [X(]

I've started issuing orders as though I'm taking the most radical course of action - steering my carriers for Sabang. I've changed land-based fighter range to four hexes and the carriers will have to sprint about 13 hexes to reach a point two hexes NW of Sabang. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with this - an unease in the spirit, once again. Darn. Tough decisions.

P.S. I'm pretty sure John sprinted his carriers 18 hexes (thus at max speed).

Decision made. The carriers will steam NW to a point perhaps six to eight hexes east of Trincomalee. John probably guesses this is the route I'll go, but if he's hunting flattops, this will force him as deep as possible from his own ports and he'll probably have to steam his full speed again to catch mine. Mainly, though, the deciding factor is that nothing is as important as my carriers, for as long as they're afloat John can't impose a lasting blockade vs. Sabang...and Sabang, in turn, is the most improtant hex on the map right now and will be for months to come in all probability. Many of my merchants will take a licking tomorrow, but most of the really valuable ships are already tucked away at Colombo. There are, however, a bunch of AOs scattered about, and I'm going to lose some.

ORIGINAL: Miller

Dan, you do realise that other than Japanese aircraft on day one, NO torpedo bombers drop torpedoes on port attack, EVER? (Unless it changed in one of the last Beta patches)!

I am not sure this is 100% true. This is from the manual.

Bombers attacking ports will attack any ships at anchor 50% of the time, however, TF’s docked
in port will not be attacked. These attacks use bombs with only a small percentage of torpedo
bombers using torpedoes (as it is assumed these ships may be in dry dock or protected by
torpedo nets). If there are less than 10 ships at port, the chance of bombers attacking ships
lessens with each number less than 10 (so, bombers would be more likely to attack ships if 9
were in port as opposed to 4).

I am sure that only a developer with access to the code would know what the percentage is and how
it might be affected, if it can be.

This is like Rear Window for us. We just sit back in the dark and watch. [:)]

You should check out where the little dog is sniffing.