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Cribtop Intel needs to make up its mind.

"There have been only three great intelligence officers in all history. Mine is not one of them."
-- General Douglas MacArthur
[:)]

[:D][:D][:D]

[:D]

BB West Virginia is back off the sunk list. Cribtop Intel needs to make up its mind.

Maybe it's like the Oklahoma, where they raised it from the floor of Pearl harbor, floated it out into the Pacific, and then sank it again. Perhaps they can't decide where it would look best? [:D]

March 7, 1942

We close the Burma road on the same day our armies march into the Sian hex. Hopefully an ominous sign for the KMT.

Subs

Our warships successfully evade the Dutch subs near Manado.

4th Fleet, SE Fleet, 14th Army

No change.

16th Army

We load to seize Lomblen and to move a base force to Dili. Both of these bases will be used to provide air support for Operation WD.

25th Army

We bomb Palembang's airfield into the stone ages but CF has pulled back his aircraft.

15th Army

We close the Burma road as both Lashio and Mandalay fall. Lashio is abandoned and falls to the RTA cav division (which will be divided now for garrison work in Burma). DA Mandalay destroys one defending LCU and forces another to retreat with 214:1 odds, casualties 1002(108) vs 157(0). Tokyo Rose harasses Cuttlefish. We are moving quickly to close out this front.

China

The North China Army enters the Sian hex in force. BA tomorrow to determine raw AS.

5th Fleet

Shemya Island occupied by very cold rowboat.

Other

BB West Virginia now listed as sunk again. Seriously. You can't make this stuff up. [8|]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

BB West Virginia is back off the sunk list. Cribtop Intel needs to make up its mind.

Maybe it's like the Oklahoma, where they raised it from the floor of Pearl harbor, floated it out into the Pacific, and then sank it again. Perhaps they can't decide where it would look best? [:D]

Operation Feng Shui perhaps? [:)]

March 8, 1942

Subs

IJN ASW harasses Skipjack for the 10,000th time near Formosa. Sargo duds on an xAKL near Davao.

4th Fleet

Nikunau invaded and taken by SA as our dot base warriors continue their tour of the Gilberts. The CVE raiders are about to turn onto a SSE heading in search of convoys.

SE Fleet

No change.

14th Army

We are a few days away from loading up 16th Division at Luzon and the stray regiment for 56th Division at Cotobato.

16th Army

We will invade Lomblen tomorrow. A big base force for Denpasar is loaded at Kendari. Indes Fleet and an LCTF for the Palembang op round the northern corner of Borneo and transfer to 25th Army AO.

25th Army

Rubble and a few damaged planes are bounced by the IJAAF at Palembang as the IJNAF switches to bombing the two small LCUs at the base. Mines are cleared at Singers and two vast convoys of merchants will arrive in a few days. Operation SJ will launch very soon. KB receives a warning order to end its brief vacation. I hope that keeping the CVs firmly off the radar screen for a few weeks has CF guessing about where they are.

15th Army

We are marching on Schwebo. Lots of support troops are slogging towards the railhead at Moulmein as we prepare to defend Burma against counterattack. Imperial Guards is still resting at Singapore and recovering disabled squads but will re-position soon. 2nd Fleet is landing at Bangkok with orders to move to Rangoon.

China

BA Sian shows raw AS at 4584 vs 3289. A bit more than we thought the KMT would have, but we will be adding up to 1400 more AS as reinforcements are en route, including a division just bought out of Kwantung Army.

BA Paotow shows raw AS of 254 vs 210. This mini-offensive by the enemy is thus stymied.

Other

The port units arrive and will be married with SNLFs to create CD gun bearing special base forces. Very useful units.

The port units arrive and will be married with SNLFs to create CD gun bearing special base forces. Very useful units.

You will soon find out that both parts of these BFs are assigned different commands that are not listed. Therefore, you will need to spend those valuable PP to change commands for both parts before recombining. Anybody that has played as Japan has moaned and groaned about this. [:@]

Probably an unexpected bonus with Cuttlefish retreating into Sian. I had a hard time getting supply there with a large army and plenty of supply in China even after evicting the Japanese. Don't be surprised if the city falls quicker than expected . If you can spare some armor I'd get them rolling up the road that leads to the far north in China those and a few of the smaller Cav units can go a long way atleast from what I saw on the receiveing end. [;)]

ny - I did note that and was put out.

Sulu - I suspect his supply problems are pretty dire and armor is already feeling its way to flank the city. I sure hope it falls quickly. 600ish AS arrive in a few days and we'll try a DA then.

Program Note

I am leaving tomorrow for a work related conference and won't be back until Friday, so we will go on a short break until then.

I'm back at last from my conference. The war will resume tomorrow, gentle readers!

March 9, 1942

Subs

No contacts.

4th Fleet

PB Okiyu Maru, heavily damaged by a USN sub weeks ago near Baker Island, sinks 1 hex from TB. A brave little ship that almost beat the odds. [:(] TB made level 1 port yesterday and could have repaired her. The base is now furiously working on an airfield with 4 construction engineer units present.

SE Fleet

We have almost finished unloading supplies at Munda and the base is building nicely.

14th Army

In a few days we will swap a garrison unit for 16th Division.

16th Army

While a base force unloads at Dili, we invade Lomblen. Recon a/c move into Dili and will recce NW Oz just a few days before the invasion goes in. The last elements of 5th Air Division HQ will be delivered to Denpasar by FT TF tomorrow.

We are building up a strong recon picture of Java. The enemy has massed his air assets at Batavia, will small concentrations of unescorted bombers at Malang and Soerabaja. Ground units are mostly split betweent the two big bases with a scattering of base forces and a clump at Tjilatjap.

25th Army

Getting into position for Operation SJ. Won't be long now.

15th Army

As we close in on Schwebo, the enemy moves an LCU into Akyab. This base is held by 1st Raiding Regt. Crack troops with 39 AS, 46% prep, 1.80 forts in a jungle hex. Recon seemed to indicate the enemy unit was small, I guess we'll find out next turn. With Imperial Guards en route to the theater, the British shouldn't possess Akyab long even if they do re-take it.

China

We accidentally forget to call off the BA at Sian. Lots of reinforcements headed to the hex. No sign of an enemy counterattack, but we are watching closely with hordes of recon planes.

5th Fleet

Kiska Island occupied by rowboat.

March 10, 1942

Today we cross a unique threshold. March 10, 1942 was as far as I got in either of my two prior aborted AE PBEMs. In the longer PBEM, March 10th represented the Battle of Kangean, in which MKB whacked the British CVs and Battle Fleet at the dot base of Kangean, near Soerabaja. From here on, I am in virgin territory. Hopefully we can continue forward without major blunders. [:'(]

Subs

Dutch sub KX is reported to be off the sunk list. No surprise as we only got one solid hit on her if memory serves.

4th Fleet

No change.

SE Fleet

Vella Lavella invaded.

14th Army

We note that flak opposition to our daily raids at Clark Field and Bataan has dropped to almost nil. The enemy is probably low on supply by now. Cribtop HQ has targeted May 1 for the beginning of the end on Luzon as we are more interested in pressing the war into Oz than cleaning up this isolated post.

16th Army

Lomblen falls while troops needed to support invasions of Darwin and Java unload at Dili, Lomblen and Denpasar.

25th Army

We pound Palembang in preparation for the upcoming landings here. Indes Fleet arrives at Cam Ranh Bay and refuels. The invasion fleet should arrive at Singapore in the next 48 hours. Cribtop HQ estimates loading beginning on the 13th and invasion launch not later than the 15th. The Java invasion will occur within a matter of days after the fall of Palembang.

15th Army

A bit of a problem for us as IJAAF bombers are socked in by bad weather and the enemy gets a 1:1 at Akyab, dropping forts to zero. Casualties for both sides are negligible, but CF has 45th Indian Brigade, approx 125 AS, and the base will almost surely fall. We will use Imperial Guards to counterattack the place soon, but the jockeying in Burma has already begun.

CF in his e-mail noted he had to re-take Akyab since "it is part of India," but it's actually part of Burma in AE. Is 45th Indian Brigade unrestricted? If not, per our house rules CF will either have to buy it out or pull back. No big deal either way, but I want to keep this house rule fresh in both our minds as we get closer to the inevitable counterattack.

Burma. From the JFB perspective, you can't live with it, can't cut off China without it. [;)]

5th Fleet

Agattu Island occupied by rowboat.

I'm only a few days behind you as the Allies (March 8th) and I'm out of supply at Clark and Bataan. You should be able to lower your bombers to 7 or 8,000 ft and not get hit by flak "IF" he is truly out of supply except what each unit is holding onto. He has some Vals there that drop bombs at 2,000 and still gets hit by flak.

If you can spare them, a couple of CAs in a Bombardment TF should help with Akyab. Fighter sweeps in AM phase and then escorted bombers in PM phase (set bombers to Naval Attack with Ground Attack secondary).

As a personal preference, I've always treated Akyab as part of India so that the Allied player can use restricted Indian troops there.  Seems reasonable since Akyab has road connections only to India.  Unless you feel really strongly about it, I wouldn't raise the issue.
 
Congrats on making it to March 10.  I hope you'll go all the way with this one.  Knowing your gentlemanly opponent, I'm sure you will.
 
Go get 'em!

Crib, I've never played Cuttlefish before, but knowing him thru reading AARs, if you point out to him that Akyab is in Burma, it will be the first time he notices it. He will likely volunteer to retreat the restricted unit(s) back to India. It is your house rule and should be obeyed. However, as CR notes, Akyab "appears" to be more Indian than Burmese given the "road" net. You could offer, while noting its true national alinement, to make Akyab an exception to the house rule. In this manner, you both remind your opponent of the house rule and allow him a face saving choice. You create a win-win situation for you and your worthy opponent. That is, of course, a concept that is totally alien to our representatives in Washington.

ORIGINAL: princep01

Crib, I've never played Cuttlefish before, but knowing him thru reading AARs, if you point out to him that Akyab is in Burma, it will be the first time he notices it. He will likely volunteer to retreat the restricted unit(s) back to India. It is your house rule and should be obeyed. However, as CR notes, Akyab "appears" to be more Indian than Burmese given the "road" net. You could offer, while noting its true national alinement, to make Akyab an exception to the house rule. In this manner, you both remind your opponent of the house rule and allow him a face saving choice. You create a win-win situation for you and your worthy opponent. That is, of course, a concept that is totally alien to our representatives in Washington.

+1

I have to admit, I have always thought of Akyab as part of India due to the road linkage. Only with closer scrutiny to the map did I see that it is, in fact, part of Burma. Learn something new ...

Aye, I think you have to assume an opponent is honourable until they prove they aren't with repeated rule breaches. We all forget a rule sometimes or make a wrong click ( I've done that with bomber altitude etc myself a few times ). Mostly I just either remind them of the HR and insist it is applied going forward ( if it favours one side over the other ) or drop the HR once it is breached ( if it doesn't favour one side over the other ). On occasions I've gained advantage by forgetting one I usually offer an equivalent "loss" to balance out any gain I might have unintentionally made. Akyab though is a pretty significant strategic position so I think if the HR is that he shouldn't occupy it with forces from India then he should evacuate it.

Oh, absolutely gents. I never assumed CF was doing anything untoward, just wanted to make sure he knew where the boundary is based on his comment. He does and everything is on the up and up.

A somewhat common HR is restricted troops within 3 hexes of their border. That allows for an active defense along borders.