Payback - jzanes (A) vs. Rader (J). A Rader-free zone.

[Jzanes]

Meanwhile, the Japanese have landed and captured Kalidjati with at least 5 divisions. Java should be wrapped up shortly. What’s left of the dutch airforce will take potshots at ships and ground units before they succumb.

[Jzanes]

February 17-28, 1942

Another month has come to an end and let’s take a look at the current situation.

The Japanese have been focusing on their conquests in the DEI and have there is no sign of any new campaigns getting started. I lost a lot of small ships mostly at the hands of the KB at Melbourne. The Japanese continue to lose more planes and they are starting to score some big army losses points as they force the remaining Dutch to surrender.

[Jzanes]

Let’s take a look theatre to theatre.

China – The Japanese continue to be stalled out outside Sian and Changsha. I have managed to build up a decent reserve in both region. The Japanese completely destroyed the Sian heavy industry. He doesn’t realize it is completely destroyed though and continues to hit the heavy industry day after day with of course, no further hits. Meanwhile, the flying tigers continue to ambush Japanese bombing raids. The tigers lost about 10 planes over Changsha but rebounded to shoot down 52 enemy planes for no losses over my retreating forces near Wuchow. Lt. John Brownewell shot down 2 more planes to become the first allied double ace (10 kills). No one else has more than 7.

DEI – Northern Java has fallen and the Japanese are marching on the south and Soerabaja. I’ve been able to use the dutch air to hit his airfields and ground units for some minor damage without getting wiped out by CAP. I’m running out of airfields though and it’s a matter of time before the dutch capitulate.

India – Once the DEI falls, I anticipate a major push in Burma by the Japanese. I have moved the RN up to Columbo from their base at Bombay. If the Japanese come for Burma without any carrier support, I may commit the fleet to slow them down. Especially, if he makes a try to grab Port Blair.

Here’s what the Royal Navy has in the way of heavy vessels.

[Jzanes]

Australia - I Aus Corps starting to arrive in force at Perth. The provisional USAAF fighter and dive bomber forces are going to be withdrawn shortly which will leave the Australians with no airpower to speak of. I am going to have to rely on ground forces to keep Australia safe. There is a small TF made up of CA Australia, CL Boise, and a few other smaller CLs based at Perth.

South Seas - Slowly building up Penrhyn Island, Pago Pago, Canton Island, and Savaii. Hawaii and Christmas Island should be strong enough to hold against anything short of a total commitment by the Japanese. I have been moving my reinforcements up from the west coast in large convoys of several hundred ships guarded by a carrier TF. So far, this has ended the annoying losses to subs and surface raiders. Several other carrier TFs roam the region looking to keep subs and surface raiders in check. I’m trying to keep my carriers in areas that should be safe from a quick move by the KB.

Hawaii area:

[Jzanes]

Line Islands:

[Jzanes]

Samoa/Fiji area:

[Jzanes]

March 1-8, 1942

No new strategic developments. The Japanese continue to finish off Java and Sumatra while I build up my main line of defense. In the last two days there were several exciting actions. Firstly, the Japanese AMC Aikoku Maru sailed into Dutch Harbour and was met and sunk by my surface combat TF. Nice to clear out one of his surface raiders without loss.

[Jzanes]

The flying tigers have been at Chungking over the last week, resting and changing one of their squadrons over to P40E’s. The Japanese must’ve spotted me and sent in 10 air raids aimed at the airfield. Over the 7th and 8th, the tigers shoot down an estimated 117 raiders for the loss of 11 fighters and 2 pilots.

[Jzanes]

Lt. Brownewell gets his 11th kill and the AVG now has 21 aces and only 4 pilots with no kills. The AVG moves to Changsha and is at 100% CAP. I’m hoping he continues to send his lightly escorted raids against this city. Another whooping like that, might just shut down the Japanese airforce in China for some time.

[Jzanes]

March 9-20, 1942

Several relatively quiet weeks have passed. The Japanese have mostly given up bombing the Chinese and instead are trying to flank my Changsha position via the forest hex southeast of Hengyang. So far, I’m holding and am bringing up some reserves. The northern (Sian) area is completely quiet and I’ve been slowly sending northern units to the south via the Sian-Chungking road.

The Japanese have finished off the DEI and commenced an invasion of Port Blair. My gurkha brigade has held up the 2 attacking Japanese divisions for several turns but is about to be overwhelmed. I have moved up the british carriers (Indomitable and Hermes) into a position where I can jump into the shipping lane between Port Blair and Sumatra if a good opportunity arises.

Anticipating the start of the air war over Burma, I’ve moved up the RAF fighters (about 120 of them) from Bengal and they are now flying 100% CAP over Rangoon at 35000 feet. I’ve noted that my opponent has been flying his sweeps at 30000 feet hoping to get the jump on my CAP fighters. Let’s see if we can play that game…

[Jzanes]

My intention remains to bloody and delay the Japanese in Burma but not to lose anything too important in doing so. My real goal, is to keep Ceylon and mainland India safe.

ANZAC area very quiet with some sub activity on both sides. Most of I Aus Corps has now arrived and Perth should be safe. I plan to lose Darwin when he comes and can live with losing Townsville/Cairns (if he comes for it) but losing Perth would hurt. My preferred plan for my 1943 offensive is to come up thru Timor and disrupt the Japanese resource area. Losing Perth would mean I’d have to recapture it before I could go on the attack vs. the DEI. The attack vs. Perth would have to be a costly amphibious attack as I can’t imagine you could march an army across the desert and come into Western Australia vs. Kalgoorlie.

I’ve lost sight of the KB for about a month now but at least ½ of it just appeared about 1,000 miles west of Eureka, Oregon and sank a CA and DD that happened to be in the area. In a way, this was good news as the early warning might just allow me to get my 2 large (but empty) convoys out of danger before they are ripped up by the KB. One large convoy is taking a more circuitous route back to San Fran while the other has turned around and is heading back to the safety of Pearl.

My opponent’s strategy seems to be to concentrate his land and LB air on the DEI/CBI front while using the KB/surface raiders/subs to harass and slow down the Americans. I would be surprised to see him make any further advances in the Pacific or to go further than Burma in Southeast Asia. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him breakthrough and smash the Chinese with either his current force or by sending reinforcements after capturing Burma.

[Jzanes]

March 21-April 1, 1942

The British carriers sink a few transports near Port Blair and then headed back to Bombay once the island was captured. The Japanese are on the move in Burma. A large force captured Tavoy and is marching on Moulmein. I’ve been setting up CAP traps but he is not using his bombers to aid his attack on Burma. In fact, with the exception of daily raids on Darwin and Bataan, the Japanese have pretty much stopped bombing with their air.

The KB has been raiding the West Coast. They hit Seattle harbor and sank 30 some small ships. They then moved north, sank a TF of 10 or so transport ships (empty at least), and are now threatening the Aleutians. I have all my West Coast fighters (200 obsolete planes) guarding San Fran. All my “good” ships are hiding in the San Fran harbour.

Meanwhile, small TFs leave Christmas Island daily with reinforcements for Pago Pago, Savaii, and Suva. I’m a long ways from feeling Samoa or Fiji is secure but given another couple months, they should be safe.

The American carriers and most of the rest of the fleet is undergoing repairs and upgrades in Pearl Harbour. I plan to have everyone sit in well-defended ports (San Fran, Pearl, Christmas Island) until the KB goes away. I don’t intend to go toe to toe with the KB until I load up my carriers with Avengers and F4F-4s. That means August 42 at the earliest.

No major developments in China. Changsha is looking safe for now. I believe the Japanese are sending troops to grab Kukong. I hope to pull back my troops before they get routed and will defend the forested hills north of Kukong instead.

Here’s the current scoreboard. I’ve lost lots and lots of ships to the KBs raids on major ports but very few warships or valuable transports have been sunk. The air war has slowed way down with my opponent admitting that his bomber squadrons are needing to be rebuilt. In a way, that’s too bad as that’s the only way I have to really do any damage at this point. I anticipate April will see the fall of Burma. I will try to delay him at Moulmein and Pegu. Once these cities fall, everyone will run for India. Hopefully, I get some troops to safety but if not, I still think India and Ceylon should be ok.

[Jzanes]

April 2-9, 1942

A very quiet week overall with a few new developments. In China, my opponent captures Kukong and threatens my defenses south of Changsha. I am bringing forward reinforcements and hope to hold in the hills north of Kukong (79,55). The AVG is ready for action based at Tuyuan but my opponent has stopped attacking with his airforce for the time being.

Here’s a screenshot of china with the front lines I am trying to establish.

[Jzanes]

Meanwhile in Burma, my opponent has captured Moulmein with about 3 Divisions worth of troops. I have concentrated my assault value at Pegu and hope to slow him up for a bit as he crosses the river. At the same time, I’m thinking about how I’m gonna make my escape if he breaks thru at Pegu. Several squadrons of Hurricanes are guarding Rangoon but again, my opponent advances without any air support. A good plan as I don’t think he’s gonna need it to shatter the weak British brigades defending Burma.

[Jzanes]

Australia, New Zealand, and the South Seas remains quiet. I continue to build up Fiji, and Samoa. I’ve lost sight of the KB for about 4 days. They hit the Aleutians for several turns before disappearing into the mist. Luckily, my CL squadron was able to run for Pearl before the KB caught me. They even managed to sink a Japanese AV they came across in their run to safety.

[Jzanes]

April 10-17, 1942

The Japanese smash my defense south of Kukong. The survivors flee across the river to Hengyang. I intend to try to hold the river line and am moving as many forces as I can spare to this threatened flank. The red lines in the screenshot below show some of the troop movements in this area. The black line represents my intended defense line.

The flying tigers are currently based at Changsha. They have been busy flying CAP, LR CAP, escort, and sweep missions over the last week in support of the Chinese. They have destroyed about 50 japanese planes for the loss of 10 fighters.

[Jzanes]

Bataan fell after only 4 deliberate attacks. My opponent had brought in several divisions of troops and my forces were out of supply. 87,000 POWs march off into captivity.

The Japanese are about to cross the river into Pegu. I have about 500 AV but recon shows 35 (!) japanese units approaching. This could get ugly fast. I’ve pulled back some support units to Mandalay and anything else I can salvage from Burma will be a bonus. I have my B17s based at Calcutta and they intend to harass the Japanese as they march further into Burma. Perhaps this will bait my opponent into using his airforce and give my massed hurricane squadrons something to shoot at.

[Jzanes]

No sign of the KB for over a week and no other sightings or sigint regarding further Japanese offensives. My strongpoints continue to build up and my naval forces are either sitting in harbor or finishing their upgrades.

The Japanese have been bombing Darwin daily but have been pretty much leaving the rest of the continent alone. The Australian populace have been calling for more direct support from the Americans. Good news good people, Dugout Doug is on the way! SWPAC HQ arrives in 4 days.

[Jzanes]

April 18-27, 1942

No new major developments in the last week but there are signs that a new front is about to be opened. More on that in a bit.

First, a look at China. The Japanese stopped short of crossing the river to Hengyang and instead took a right turn and have cut off several corps. I still hope they will be able to retreat to safety or more likely get pushed over the river by a Japanese attack and suffer massive losses. I have decided to pull the rest of my troops around Changsha back across the river and we will make our stand in the cities of Changsha, Hengyang, and Siangtan.

My B17s are now based at Chungking and plan to hit Japanese heavy industry centers once the weather clears. I generally avoid flying missions if the weather is “thunderstorms”. The flying tigers are also based at Chungking and will fly CAP to defend the heavies.

[Jzanes]

Meanwhile in Burma, the Japanese are moving to flank my Pegu position rather than directly crossing the river. This works for me as I don’t think I would’ve survived the river crossing shock attack if he attacked directly. It works for him as I’ve decided to give up defending south Burma and am moving everyone back to Toungoo to try to form a new line. Before the exodus, I hit the Japanese monster stack with my B17s but suffered 6 losses to flak. That precluded any further bombing but I did sweep the hex with my hurricances the next turn. Around 30 hurricanes ran into 25 zeroes and shot down 12 of them for the loss of 1 RAF fighter. I think my opponent and I must’ve been reading the same forum posts regarding the power of the high sweep. I came in at 35,000 and met his zeroes flying CAP at 30,000 feet. The hurricanes have moved back to Chittagong for further rest and training. I will probably look for another opportunity to strike as the Japanese march into central burma.