Mar 4-7, 1942
John lands at Jaffna and consolidated his gains before moving on to the main cities/hexes of Ceylon. I am considering retreating from Trincomalee to Colombo if I can as, despite the forts, somehow the supply situation there has been bad for weeks despite requesting suppl there for quite some time. Troops might hold out better if they are all concentrated at Colombo. Meanwhile, John has also landed at Akyab and his KB is roving up towards Bomboy. Most of my ships have fled farther north to Karachi. Unfortunately, for the turn, I do lose some cargo ships I forgot I had set to move to Capetown a few turns previous.
John's troops that had landed at Jaffna were covered by either CAP or LRCAP and I do a number of sweeps from Madras in the last turn that remove it. I will try bombing his troops to slow them down over the next few turns.
Morning Air attack on Jaffna , at 31,45
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 6
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 7
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 15
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
Meanwhile, in the Northern Pacific. A small Japanese force carrier raiding force composed of the Junyo, 2 CVE's, and the
Yamato is discovered north of Pearl Harbor near the Aleutians. This force was discovered on March 4th, but has continued roving towards my West Coast in an attempt to get some easy shipping targets despite potential for danger on a return trip. Either this is bait for a trap from half of his KB carriers missing since last seen in the South Pacific with plans to hit my carriers if they appear or John is being reckless.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Dutch Harbor at 178,65, Range 9,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CV Junyo
CVE Ibuki
CVE Taiyo
BB Yamato
CL Aoba
CL Kako
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Shigure
DD Umikaze
DD Wakaba
CS Poroshiri
Allied Ships
xAKL Kahuku
My carriers are south of Pearl Harbor at the moment, but are set to rendezvous with tankers to try and more towards a path along this roving raiding force's retreat from the west coast. Some good news here is that in his attempt to hit my shipping, John's carrier force fell prey to a CAP trap and should probably retreat next turn. He might try to hit something with his surface forces.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Prince Rupert at 199,43
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
A6M5 Zero x 6
B5N2 Kate x 11
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 43
F4F-3 Wildcat x 14
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 6 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
Below you can see the plane losses for the last turn, with particular attention to the damage caused to his raiding force. I smell a trap, but my nav search hasn't spotted any other carriers in the North Pacific, but there is a lot of ocean my patrol craft do not cover.
" - BBfanboy
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