Wobbly vs herb, ens hanamato

[1275psi]

27/3/43

I have had a terrible day, yet a wonderful day as well.

It began with the news that I was to be Assistant Officer of the day today.
This is no big deal really -except for one terrible fact -after outr travels all over the pacific, one is very, very short of the dress uniform one requires!

I was in a terrible panic -yet a miricle arrived =LCDR Masuyama, our beloved squadron leader came and saw me.
His years of experience shone through - he has a emergency uniform available for us inexperienced naval types. Spare -and in immaculate condition -how does he do it?

We anchored in the singapore roads very early today, and I was far too busy to be envious of my friends as they took the boat ashore.

There was the fuelling barge, the boats, colours, so many ceremonial things, and of course the rounds and inspections.

The engineer conversed with me - he is in bitter competition with all the other ships here for the facilities.he needs " a turbine, a main stop valve" and other mysterious objects.
he assures me though that the lights will stay on.

The day was long, and got longer as the afternoon wore on.
The captain has relaxed discipline slightly -un heard of - and allowed many of the sailors ashore.
The drunks are returning by the boatload.
The Captain has come done several times to observe "the fun and games" at the gangway, he observes the sailors with a wry eye.
I think he thinks they are are his children.
But secretly I think he is right -the men desperately need to forget the war for a day.
So, here I am, very tired, and somewhat frustrated, I too would like to get ashore.

But the wonderful news was the letter.

" My Dear Lt Oda.

You may think this strange to recieve a letter from someone you hardly know, but I feel compelled to thankyou for the kind words and thoughts you expressed to me over the sacrifice of my Brother for the Empire.
I realise that one is committed to one's duty, and that sacrifice is part of that, but I want you to know that every day I pray for your safety and well being at the temple.
I would very much like that you would write to me, and tell me more about yourself, as , well as you have struck me as one I would like to know better.

I hope I have not overstepped my boundries.
We pray daily for the success of our valiant armies and navies.

In best regards

Kisho
(Lt Hanamatos sister -yes I know you types, a girl in every port. I hope you remember me!)

remember her
How can I forget
Suddenly going ashore has lost its flavour.

[1275psi]

28/3/43

I did not make it ashore
Again we are putting new planes together -back to the AM3
At least I do not have a hangover
Hori in particular is a mess.

The war already is intuding
The enmy boasts today

"1st stages of the war have been successfully concluded. The next phase is about to begin"
Boasts.
But we all feel it -the pressure is rising

Tarwana is still being pounded, men are dying there of starvation now.
hanoi is being bombed
Finshasen falls under the shadow of the B17

We hit a AVD with army bombers at tulgia
No chance to see my Brother today.
Already elements of the fleet are sailing -the surface fleet is leaving.

I snatch five quick minutes -and get a reply to Kisho.

[1275psi]

29/3/43
Such is luck

I did not get ashore.
Already we cut a wide wake through the blue flat sea.
Already the fleet is at sea again.

Nobody knows what is happening.
Hori conciles me about not getting ashore

"at least you wil have saved some money!"
it appears that hori spared nothing in his run ashore.
lucky man

Amazingly the moral has soared on board
Again we are eager to bring the enemy to battle!

[1275psi]

30/3/43

Another day steaming steadily south, destination soerabaya it appears.

The enemy are reporting heavy bombing of targets in the solomons, and further boasts of immenant action are all over the radio waves.

A huge air action in central china, the allies have made a challenge -70 plus P38s sweeping changsa.
We shoot down 20, but the news is bad, some 50 to 60 of our army planes have been destroyed.
Only the Navy jacks stood up well.
Why can we not adopt them for carrier operations?
I some times curse the blindness of our leaders
We still cannot see our strategy clearly.
Eleswhere the war seems to be quiet

[1275psi]

31/3/43
A large battle fleet north of Goodenough island!
The main allied line of attack is revealed

We dock at soerabaya tomorrow, we will refuel, and I hope go further on to battle.
Allies claim many army fighters and bombers shot down over the battle fleet sighted.
Where are they headed?

[1275psi]

Editors note

It was always my intention to fight for every step of the way in the solomons -until wobbly totally wrong footed me by thrusting into the central pacific.
An attack on Siapan at that stage -or any of the central islands would have won him the war there and then.

So I re orientated, and have decided on a inner circle defence.
The solomons still have a lot of troops though, ones I failed to get out in time.
Now in every single game of WITP, or UV I have played against the kiwi menace he has at some stage wildly over extended himself.
So, I have to be patient, as he crawls up the chain he must finally realise that I have gone for an inner defence (a few hints might be needed), and then I can hope for an opening.
Poor KB has been all over the map trying to catch him , It will remain a fleet in being
This being a May 42 start game, new CVs are a long, long way away, so I have to be careful.

In all likely hood LT Oda will still be frustrated until the middle of 43, late 43 at least.
Sorry guys.
Or should I rotate his unit ashore again?, and send it to the front?

[jolly_pillager]

He should make good use of this time and get some flight training in [;)]

[1275psi]

1/4/43
Soerabaya

and what a dump it is

No leave - conditions ashore considered too dangerous for us Japanese, the natives are restless!.
Too busy today to write much, the war seems to have settled down to the allies bombing relentlessly on every front.
Allies claim "air superiority in china"
This has terrible implications for our training programs -it does seem that the last air battles there destroyed our latest batch of pilots before they could graduate!

Evil days I feel lie ahead of us.

tankers entering the roads - we are going to refuel, and sail again.....

[1275psi]

2/4/43
Still in soerabaya - hot, humid, smelly
hate the place
The bulk of the fleet has gathered here again, still refuelling.

The allies are on the move still in the solomon sea.
Tokyo rose is confident -the Allies will meet a wall of steel and fire at Buna!

[1275psi]

3/4/43
We sailed finally today, again headed south.
Hori jokes today at the daily briefing -our date with destiny gets closer with every mile we sail south.

Tokyo rose gives encouraging news
An invasion of Buna is underway - the shore guns have done well.
Allies claim that 5 ships will be lost -"acceptable and planned losses"
My point of view, as I think of this fleet about us -the bulk of our navy -how would we call the sinking of 2 Dds, and the crippling of 5 CAs?

Acceptable?

At least 10 Aks are reported off the beaches burning.
The Aussie 7th division is fighting the 8th base force.

despite Tokyo Roses boasts, I do fear that 5 , or even 15 ships sunk would be "acceptable" losses to the allies -such is the power gathering against us..
We must get a victory soon.
how can we win this war?

[1275psi]

4/4/43

The majority of the fleet is again at sea
We are headed North East -next stop is rumoured to be davao -.

We had a surprise visitor today - a lone Kate landed onboard, and disembarked Admiral herbiesan himself!

After the surprise of his unannounced arrival, hespent many hours on the bridge in deep discussion with Yamaguchi.

Then we got to meet him.

The ready room was very, very crowded, how strange to be addressed by the commander himself!
First he expressed deep regret and apologies at our failure to bring the enemy to battle in the Indian ocean -he laid no blame to ourselves, but on his decision not to send us south immediately the British had been sighted.

Then he turned to the current situation in the south pacific
The enemy had landed at Makin -where the men there had almost stopped the invasion cold on the beach.
It would fall -the Gilberts he said -would not be defended by the navy at all.
This was quite a shock!
At Buna, the base has fallen, and the battle for PNG was developing.

Then he to our great surprise spoke of the plans ahead
As we would be at the forefront of this effort, we deserved to know the great aim of the coming plan, as much of us was going to be expected
I must say, the plan sent a thrill through me

herbiesan explained that the Kiwi now boasts that he realises that we have gone "for an inner defence".
In response it appears that his CVs are are back in refit, and the advance depends on LBA
Therefore an opportunity has arisen
We have many, many men at Guam, and many transports are being raced to them
We are to meet them, and the grand plan is to reinvade Lunga, to disrupt his timetable -and to force the battle.

So be it.
we will do our best

[1275psi]

5/4/43
tarakan
Fuelling
Busy
Tired
tawi, tawi? next -then east to await the transports.

[1275psi]

6/4/43
The fleet continues to head east

tremendous day -an announcement at noon

" In celebration of the tremendous defeat of the enemy invasion of Makin island, where the dead lie deep on the beaches, the High commander has ordered a special SAKE issue to all members of the Imperial defence forces"

BANZIA!

In his arrogance the enemy came to makin expecting to find little defence, he has fled, fighting spirit will win this war!

The fleet will enter the Celebes sea tomorrow, we are pressing for a quick diversion to tenibar island -the enemy send training flights there every day -a good opportunity to get some cheap kills?

The Sake was very good.
Moral is superb!

[jolly_pillager]

Reinvade Lunga?

Interesting.....might be a good way to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

But I would ensure a cadre remains behind for every unit committed...this will likely be a one way trip for the men.

[1275psi]

7/4/43
We made little progress today, as the fleet spent it re fuelling.
the enemy continue to bomb in the solomons, and rangoon was heavily hit
Changsa in China too recieved heavy attention.

A busy day, ship heavily involved in countless DC exercises.
Today I learnt how to use a fire hose.
It was fun.
Not sure why a pilot has to learn how to use one, but who am I to argue against some of the rather large Petty Officers who prowl the corridors during these exercises?

It passes the time I suppose.

[1275psi]

LCDR Masuyama came into the ready room looking like the cat that got the cream today.

He must have some influence
Apparently the Lunga counter invasion fleet is some 5 days from Siapan yet, and at least 10 days from Truk.
Every day large numbers of second rate fighters and Bombers dispatch from Darwin on training missions to a dot called tenibar.
We are increasing speed -Sorong next -then some "training" of our own.
can I break my duck?
I hope so.

radio full of Allied threats of "attempts to bring a japanese reaction with our next assualt"
And "bold action is promised"
We have been at see for nearly a month, and no action. Flew CAP today, the flight deck operations have of course been going smoothly every day we have been transitting, what once was a major achievement -launching and landing on a CV has become routine for me now.
Given enough time -even sons of fishermen can become proficient!

[1275psi]

Another long day at sea
tension grew from the start, as early morning CAP sighted several SS ahaed of the fleet
I launched today at about 10 -difficult launch, had to jam bucket loads of rudder to hold myself straight as we had a very viscous cross wind at the time

Found myself at 100 feet circling one of our Kates.
Here the sea is so crystal blue -and relatively shallow

An amazing sight -a SS happily cruising along submerged -supposedly invisible -yet showing so clearly to us above.
then it raised its periscope.
How clear the picture was -our fleet there on the horizon -and the silent , but revealed hunter attempting to intercept!
Our Kate swooped in -we have no depth charges -so our bombs have been set with a delayed fuse -and his attack was good!

2 mighty cracks, and the sea erupts
The shadow abruptly dissapears into the deep -oil stains the surface!

We land -and excited men congratulate the Kate crew.
Its not a CV, but still, a fine target to hit!

Later today we turned due south, headed to sorong.
reports of our target at tenibar continue to be recieved.
No sign of an allied attack yet for today!

[1275psi]

10/4/43
Sorong tomorrow

CAP is increased to max, we are flying non stop operations over the fleet.
Allied radio again able to be heard

PM pounded today
tarwana Naval bombarded
rangoon bombed

We spend the evening planning our surprise over tenibar
kaga TF will ambush the wirriways, the fleet will form a CAP trap to the islands north

I might even get a chance to engage the enemy again.
We are all getting excited again at the prospect of action soon.

[LittleJoe]

I like your AAR Writing style very simple and to the point, but give a interesting view of the war.

Its style reminds of 'Requiem for Battleship Yamato' a first hand account of the Okinawa operation on board Yamato.

[1275psi]

11/4/43

The fleet is gathered at sorong
Everywhere one looks we see the grey shapes of our ships.
Even to the untrained eye one can see how hard they have been driven -rust streaks the sides of many of the ships.

Somewhere amongst them my Brother i suppose is hard at work keeping the Nagato going.

Got a very close look at the Mushia today, she passed very close behind our stern as she sought her anchorage. Enourmous.
One feels pride when you see such a ship, and know that 20 years age building such a beast would have been beyond Japan.

And yet, they say America builds battleships as good, but in endless numbers.
Again, if we do not finish this war soon, I feel very afraid for the future.

We await Tankers, then tomorrow we will sail for a raid on tenibar.
The Lunga counter invasion fleet we are told, is loading at Guam, to meet its BB escort at palua, and then us at Rabual.

Changsa in China pounded for the 3rd day in a row today.

Our target -the wirriways are still flying over tenibar.