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turns flowing again

AAR update soon

Thanks for patience

Can't wait. I look forward to this AAR every day. I am disappointed when there isn't a new post

Ditto!

Dec 5th
The B-29's probe the defences southern japan
About 2 dozen, they strike at tanegashima, an island just south of the main
islands

11 are shot down

Meanwhile, all over the empire, at 2 dozen isolated locations, lost units are bombed
day, after day, after day.


When, we wonder, will the real bombing begin?

The three men spend a long cold night in the quite house

It is a painful night.
Surrounded by a thousand reminders of their wives, of their children, simple
dolls, clothes, even their sent. All immediate, all painful.

"I had heard rumours, Tan tells them. Herbiesan used to have his camps, I thought
the new Emperor, the new Government had changed policy......I thought, obviously, wrongly"

"But where?..where will they have been taken?"

North, I would think, some where by rail......Tomorrow, if I can, we must see our Captain"




The dawn is bleak. The bus is colder than ever, it barely struggles along, jerking, shuddering.
the men doze

3 miles from the docks, it comes to a halt, one the driver seems to indicate, might be terminal today.
Grumbling the men leave the bus, and strike out by foot towards the docks

A mile along, a rail line
To their right, a rail yard, a half dozen train.

One, a great engine raising steam, a long line of dark cars strung behind it. Not
worth normally, a second glance
Except, this morning, for the small clutch of secret police walking down its length, away
from them.

All three men stop
"Are you thinking what I am?" murmurs Okano
"Yes" reply simultaneously Tan and Hirate

Silently the men get themselves out of the line of sight of those barsteds, and move towards the train


It begins to snow again, hard.

They slide quietly past the hissing engine, reach the first shuttered wagon
Hirate desperately tries to peer through the cracks in the carriage, there are people in there,
he can smell them, for a start. There is crying, and sniffling.
Unmistakeable, packed human misery

"Truck" hisses Okano, "this is hopeless........"
Mioko's voice pierces the cold
"here!, we are in here!"
Second carriage
A firmly locked second carriage that defeats immediate efforts to open it
'truck!, and truck again"

The guards are there, gathered around a fire at the end of the train.. It will take just one to glance
this way..

Tan takes charge
'Quick, follow me"
he moves quickly towards the engine, the other two following. A practiced leap, climb,
and he is on the steaming platform.
The driver is there, startled, he reaches for his shovel, as if to defend his train.
And places it down.
"Engineer Tan?"
Tan too stops. "Ah, Engineer Arigati!.......so good to see you again!"
Arigati nods respectfully, 'Hiei!......

"Not the Tokyo line I remember Arigati.......things have changed, for the worse"
The Old engineer nods again.....glances down towards the back of the train, spits
in their general direction,,,,,,
"That they have.........how may I help you Engineer Tan?"
"I want to steal your train"

"What!, hisses Okano
"If I remember Okano, once some men of Zuiho stole an elephant, and a tank, a train is nothing"

The old mans eyes widen, then crinkle with glee......"Shall I drive?, or can you
remember how to handle her?'
Tan grimely grips the throttle, places his hand on the brake lever. "Oh, I think I can.....
grab the shovel boys, we are going for a ride".




They only go three exhilarating miles
In the dark, on the siding, a thousand desperate people are freed, vanishing into the snow
There is little time for reunion, Tan gives the girls an address, deep in the
maze of Hiroshima.......



By midnight, all three of them are climbing the gangway again onto Musashi's deck

The whole night, to Hirate, seems like a dream
But one part, he will never forget
Tan leaves them with this " Nothing, you know, will
ever beat driving a steam train, not even a battleship"

dec 6th, dec 7th

Endless bombing across the lost isolated empire

Enemy fleet using its carrier power killing soldiers lost west of canton

Endless SS sightings near southern japan

Endless misery across the country as starvation begins to grip

The Emperors conference hall
"they will not negotiate, they will not ask for peace"
'Even if we ask for it?"
'No"
"Then how," asks the emperor 'do we end this war?"

The silence is long

Finally, Commander of home fleet answers
"By dying, apparently"

December 8th, Dec 9th

two days trapped aboard Musashi, working, preparing, repairing the damage the shock of her
own guns has created.
Two days of worrying, wondering if loved ones have truly escaped
Of wondering whether the engineer would talk
Of wondering if the secret police would soon come out into the bay, and board

two days of nothing


There are rumours, impossible to confirm, that the B-29's have bombed areas in southern
japan
Rumours, even more impossible to confirm, that they have suffered heavily



It rains. It sleets

Misery, cold
Wet decks

waiting, waiting

Waiting, waiting, in the rain

If there were crew members to be seen, I would swear it was the real BB. Really well done.

If you ever have a foggy, rainy day, it would be a great photo op too.

Dec 11th

From
Minister for production
to
War cabinet

Regret to inform honourable cabinet that the nations strategic ability to continue
war production is at an end
Fuel reserves are all but exhausted.
Request from you a new order of piorities:
Support of Civilian population (ie food distribution), kamikaze aircraft production, or hoarding of fuel
for final military operations.

the following fuel reserves.................






............
Yours
Production Minister



From
War cabinet
to
Production Minister

As all Civilians are now considered combatants in forthcoming final battles,
all fuel to be hoarded for final military operations (You are to set aside 50000 tons at
Hiroshima for fleet operations)

War cabinet

Welcome back. Hope you had a nice cruise[:)]

posted in wrong thread!

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

posted in wrong thread!

I have done that once or twice myself.[:D]

not dead yet
waiting on Cantona's Christmas to finish

You both deserve to be congratulated for a great game up to now my friend, but I must admit it is driving me crazy to know how this ends 👍

December 14th

Desperation
A good motivator of men.
For months now, the remnants of Burma's Army, the Army in Vietnam, and even a few that escaped from
Malaya, have been struggling eastwards across the lower southern corner of China.
Bombed daily, bereft of supplies, they have been cut of, lost.
Their Commander would, should have, by any Western Standard, surrendered his Army
months ago.
He has chosen a different path.

"There is food in Canton. Therefore, we will take it"
And so they have marched east, crossed rivers, moved North of Canton, losing a thousand men a day
to the bombing

Today, the entire Allied Carrier arm bombs them, 400 plus
And yet, .........desperation
The Army attacks Canton, enters the city
There are 2 chinese divisions only defending it.

The first attack fails
But if the next 2 divisions arrive......

(1 to 3, I lose 1300, him 600..........there is a small chance I might actually take it yet)

Turns flowing again, new computer working , game won't load sometimes, but we will manage.
I too wonder how this will finish.........

A turn!

I am completely baffled

Batavia, so long ago isolated, lost to Japan, is target for an amphib assault.

The main American Carrier force pounds the troops in Canton.

There just seems to be no sign of any more invasions of consequence.........

japan is starving, freezing, losing hope.
The people are, that is.
Those that matter, the ones who make the rules, enforce the rules, cling to "honour, Bushido"

They won't starve
They never do

Dec 15th

The Emperors Palace

They are the most powerful men in the remains of the Empire

For months now, almost helpless.
Now, gathered about the Crackling radio, just men.
But men filled with hope.
They cannot effect what they hear, they are as helpless as any man..

"This is the BBC. repeating the news, the President of the United States is dead. A coup is, or
continues to occur in Washington, with Gunfire, tanks reported all through Washington
A state of Emergency has been declared..........



"What does this mean Prime Minister? "The Emperor looks at him confused.
Ï think.......I think it means Japan might live""


[:)]