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Actually, your reply is very helpful BB.

One of the first things I should do now is rationalise the speed of the advance. The supply lines are getting longer and there will be a large area to cover for the Japanese player. The further extended the Japanese player is, the weaker he must be locally (unless he gets sufficient warning time).

It is a big ocean..

This was the main reason for me , as a Japanese player, to not overextend and stick to what I could at least partially defend. The plan is to at least reinforce the Fiji's and Pago Pago as this could be used as these are great staging bases.

New Caledonia is lower on the priority list as Quixote's advance is rapid and he might just overrun it in january. At least Fiji already has some defenses in place.

Port Blair is receiving a brigade. If Quixote is landing there I want him to use at least a division. Cocos Socotra and Diego Garcia will receive attention as well.

I am torn on Burma. Currently Quixote is not in a position to jump on India but with the fall of Singapore perhaps days (yes...) away and looking at the amount of forces thrown against it, he might be ready in january. This is why I pulled the dutch into Sabang (more early warning) and am sneaking supplies in. Burma can't be defended if SE India falls. This might be why he is not pushing very hard there. Trying to draw in more troops...

Ceylon is a death trap. Troops get stuck on Islands and I don't think I will be able to stop him if he tries to take it, not even with the 18th Brit and I Australian Corps.

Destination India for the Brits and Aussie troops?

Use 18th Div. and an Aussie one as your reserve. Also keep some arty and especially tanks on tap to move if necessary. If you keep your reserve in Karachi they can help build the port and AF and forts, and should be fairly safe from premature battle until he shows his hand further south. The rail system from Karachi will allow rapid deployment throughout most of India and you can move them by sea if Aus. is the threatened area.

The most successful approaches to Burma seem to decide early on which forces can be sacrificed if the Japanese come full bore, and which should be pulled back to Bengal to start a defence line on the border. The forces that stay in Burma can set up a line in the jungle hexes close to the Indian border or, if the Japanese are tardy in coming, in the jungle on the other side of the open country in central Burma. Supply is the big issue here, and lately the trend is to take Ramree Island and push in as much supply as possible. Building the bases along the secondary rail lines leading from Calcutta to Chittagong will help bring supply to the Burma border too.

To me, the tricky part is deciding when and where to commit your scarce fighters and fighting ships. Only the AAR player knows his risk tolerance and has his assessment of the enemy to make that judgement.

I'm in CG2 as well and the IJA can make rapid advances in multiple theaters. Develop bases in the rear. Build forts. Establish sea lanes from the west coast to guys in the southern hemisphere. You lack USN base forces and ground troops to do more than a couple of these so be wise not to gift wrap them for the emperor. Try your mines (use wisely and sparingly) laid from subs. I like to station them near expected lines of approach and try and lay them just before he arrives. Hell. I don't know, I'm cowering![;)]

14-dec-1941

Short Summary today:

- Johore Bahru falls.. Brigades get pushed back into Singapore (now holding 600 AV unfortified). III Indian Corps is destroyed.
- The two AMCs that attacked Queen Elizabeth are sunk in daytime action by Pensacola, earning her some more daytime experience.
- 65th Brigade lands at Moresby. Should be sufficient to take it...

If I was to attack India I would try to draw as many troops as possible into Burma, fooling the other player into thinking he could defend it.

The more I look into it, the more I am coming to the conclusion that Burma is a death trap.

Making the following deployments:

Chittagong
17th Indian Division (two brigades still in Burma, landings taking place at Rangoon now. Hopefully this will fool Quixote into thinking I'll defend Burma strongly)

Ledo
19th Indian Division (depleted, will help to build up the base)

Burma
1st Burma division
44th Indian
45th Indian
BFF Brigade

These units will deploy to delay. If the IJA is not pushing up yet in january (smells like a trap) I'll reassess the situation and maybe pull them back to India (connect them to the rail grid, in case of emergency)

Port Blair
46th Indian, to prevent para's from taking the base

Calcutta
14th Indian (the two brigades currently deployed)
6th Australian Division

Diamond Harbour
18th British division

Howrah
7th Australian Division

Game plan in AV attached...



This should force the Japanese into either a direct assault on strongly defended and fortified bases (Diamond Harbour / Chittagong) or land on undeveloped bases (Cuttack and Vizagapatnam) and take a long route north and then east or past Calcutta/Howrah. Calcutta force can act as a local reserve as soon as the route is identified.

This should at least give me time to pull out forces on the border and/or still in Burma.

India is bomber friendly country and the RAF as well as US medium bombers are planned to redeploy there (42nd BG and the 31st PG earmarked )..

15-16-dec-1941

-Dutch cruisers and destroyers deployed to Darwin to counter raiders
-Port Moresby holds of assault (barely)
-Ships, including DD Voyager and the AP W.A. Holbrook sunk at Suva (will need ASW assets including mines there soon). No casualties to the troops they were carrying.
-Lighting attacks continue in the DEI, NG and the pacific (up to Luganville)

A6Ms try to clear Rangoon. Losses are severe (claiming about 6 A6M shot down for the loss of 6 H81s, 3 buffalo's and 4 Blenheims) but I'll still have 30 aircraft ready for tommorow. This should be enough to finish covering the unloading of all troops and most supplies.

Darwin is a good place to base a small cruiser force IF you have really good search of the Coral Sea and the exits from DEI toward NW Aus. In at least two AARs I have seen KB come from one side and mini-KB come from the other to trap every ship in the area north of Aus. One player lost about 20 CA/CL/DD and dozens of support and merchant ships that successfully evacuated the PI, HK, Singapore and DEI.
The Dutch fleet can be risked, but not the Brit./Aus./NZ CAs/modern CLs, IMO.

Where ever you plan to defend be sure to have armor and AT. He will have hordes of tanks and Burma Corp along with early Indian formations will fall easily to them. Be sure to get some recon (Lysander's are camera equipped)to cover jungle paths so you are not surrounded or cut off. I tend to withdraw some flying boats from Sumatra early and get them posted on Ceylon and Akyab for warning as well.

2 cent

17-dec-1941

IJN Submarines are very active. I'll need to work hard to get some defense against them in place.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 17, 41

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Sabang at 44,70

Japanese Ships
SS I-162

Allied Ships
xAK Gogra, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

xAK Gogra is sighted by SS I-162
SS I-162 launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Gogra


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SS I-164

Allied Ships
xAP Rohna, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
31 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

xAP Rohna is sighted by SS I-164
SS I-164 launches 4 torpedoes at xAP Rohna


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Suva at 132,160

Japanese Ships
SS I-172

Allied Ships
xAK Age, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

xAK Age is sighted by SS I-172
SS I-172 attacking xAK Age on the surface

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Submarine attack near Sabang at 44,70

Japanese Ships
SS I-162

Allied Ships
xAK Congella, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

xAK Congella is sighted by SS I-162
SS I-162 launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Congella


And finally a little bit of good news from China. Right now everybody else is trying to get to better ground. Proving hard though with the Japanese trying to cut retreat routs...

Ground combat at Kanhsien (81,57)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1604 troops, 12 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 66

Defending force 8835 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 245

Japanese adjusted assault: 9

Allied adjusted defense: 33

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
438 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
153 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
51st Recon Regiment
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /1

Defending units:
25th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Base Force

Fighters over Rangoon did a decent job again. They'll rest next turn. Although most troops are ashore I hope the G4Ms stay home for one more turn...

Plan Australia

I already said I was moving a big portion of the US fleet (cruisers, carriers) to the Australian East Coast. Still looking into the air situation with my first priority trying to reinforce Fiji.

Australian troops are redeploying to meet any threat. Most of the defenses will move East with skeleton crews defending West, North and South.

North
Darwin - 3 battalions

West
Perth - 13th Brigade(Indep.)

South
Melbourne area - 3rd Div.
Tasmania - 12th Brigade (Indep.)

East
Defenses focus around Sydney and Brisbane

Townsville - 30th Brigade (Indep.)
Brisbane - 4th and 5th Div.
Sydney - 1st and 2nd Div.

As soon as I can I will buy out a few NZ Brigades. They will be used to reinforce Lord Howe Island and Norfolk. This should enable me to keep lines of communication open for as long as possible.

18-dec-1941

Horn Island falls. I thought it was just under blockade to prevent reinforcement (recon showed CL and DDs in two taskforces there). The Australian CAs and CL Perth were in striking range but I held them back, worrying about being outnumbered in a low moonlight night fight.. Turns out it was a couple of old CLs and DDs covering a transport taskforce afterall. The defenders crumbled on the first day.

Right now moving the dutch cruisers in range from Darwin (need to move away from a CV taskforce approaching anyway) and going to strike during daytime next turn with Australia, Canberra, Perth and Le Triomphant. Here is hoping the taskforce stays in place a bit longer. Rabaul is now capable of launching torpedo planes at level 4. My cruisers should be ok as long as I stay near the coast on my way back to Sydney.

AVG shot down a dozen G4Ms and a couple of Nate fighters for no loss over Kanhsien. The base still got bombed heavily by remaining navy and army bombers. AVG and RAF over Rangoon rested. Base and shipping there went unmolested. The fighter cover over Sabang got sweeped. Managed to unload enough supply to last troops there a while..

Edit
Should be Zuikaku/Shokaku moving on Darwin from the North (now about 200 miles ENE of Koepang ). According to my calculation it is not possible for Quixote to have (many) fleet carriers in range to strike from the east on the Australian Cruisers as Akagi/Soryu/Hiryu just moved from Singapore days ago. The only wildcard is Kaga and the CVEs. Searching just past Rabaul did not turn up carriers. Even if he had them in range, it would be a big risk/gamble for him, considering he doesn't know the position of my carriers and I only lost sight of his a couple of turns ago.

Taking Horn early like this says he will invest PM and Darwin in short order. It also says you can't smuggle oil cheap out of the DEI nor merchant shipping. My guess at this point would put him trying hard to isolate Australia in short order. Are you getting some of the merchants out of Sumatra? As a side bar to this, imagine a move on the west coast of Australia losing Perth. I would be sure to develop a couple of the bases on the south central coast as a precaution. I think Horn is a red alert. Final chapter of the ramble: Have you done anything in SoPac as far as a supply depot, relay station, and staging area?

To be honest, the DEI are already closed down by his early and aggressive expansion. I hold Java, but it is covered by torpedo armed LBA.

Port Moresby is taken by 65th brigade (same brigade that took Rabaul, this unit starts the game on Formosa).

It is still very early in the game. I am investing in Fiji and Pago Pago. New Caledonia is a no go zone for me. No time to reinforce it.

It could still be a very good ruse to keep me of balance. Australia just doesn't really make sense....

I hope Australia does not make sense. I'm about to lose it.[:@]

19-dec-1941

A succesful counterattack at:

Ground combat at Kanhsien (81,57)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 7292 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 225

Defending force 1381 troops, 12 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 42

Allied adjusted assault: 106

Japanese adjusted defense: 13

Allied assault odds: 8 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
439 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (8 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
212 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
25th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Base Force

Defending units:
51st Recon Regiment
Yokosuka 1st SNLF

You can tell how succesfull I am in China so far. This is my best result in two weeks....

The attack on TF at Horn Island did not materialise.. for whatever reason. The Dutch and Australians are still undetected and are going to try again before withdrawing towards Sydney.

A reinforced carrier group (CVEs, CVLs and perhaps a few CVs) raids the Darwin area and sinks xAPs, xAKs, AS and AMs still in place. Silly that I didn't get those ships out (maybe) but I can live with losing these... It doesn't hold me from building up East Australia.

Dutch fighters avoid enemy A6Ms and manage to shoot down 10-15 Nell bombers.. 95 G4M and G3M bombers destroyed so far (37air/18flak/8ground/32ops). A very decent result with about 50 trained pilots killed I would say... The Japanese can train a lot of pilots but they are really low the first few months of the war. That should help lower his results or at least force Quixote into taking less risk (allowing me to move in more troops and supplies in contested areas)

Have you considered making Tahiti your transitpoint instead of Fiji? Its really easy for him to get a jump on Fiji without being detected in advance. And protecting two bases instead is obviously twice as hard.

I would start sending everything to Tahiti for now. Its deep enough that its very unlikely he will get a jump on you. In the meantime I would build up Vavaú (can be built up to port level 6) while using only Fiji as a search base. At least for now. Its playing it safe but if he has Fiji on the invasion schedule you won´t be able to stop him anyway.

And good luck in China. In both my games I have done very poorly there. My personal view on it (quite possible just me not being very good at the landwar) its impossible to achieve anything in China besides delaying the inevitable. Once supply is gone (and it will be eventually) there is nothing to do but slowly losing. I hope I´m wrong though and you can do better than that! [:)]

To be honest, I haven't considered it. Maybe I should. It does seem to be a bit far back. You are right about Fiji though. Until you land at least two additional divisions it is very hard to defend. On the other hand, if you manage to hold onto it it is a great "stronghold".

With what I have there now losing it wouldn't be a big problem. I want to see how the situation develops. Thanks for the tip.

20-dec-1941

Guam falls...

An armoured unit takes Moulmein. Not sure what to make of it. He might use it to shock attack across the river into Pegu. See if I can get some AT guns in place there.

The Australian cruisers ran into the TF that landed troops on Horn Island. Sinkings include an old, slow escort cruiser (Katori). After ravaging the convoy the cruisers push ahead and run into 4 DDs patrolling the area. In the close quarter battle Canberra takes a long lance and has to limp home.

Ships will flank back to Sydney (Canberra still makes 23 Knots at just about 20(12) float damage)

Night Time Surface Combat, near Horn Island at 92,129, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Shell hits 25, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CL Tenryu
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 2
PB Chiyo Maru #4
PB Aso Maru #3, Shell hits 3
PB Keijo Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Sydney Maru #2, Shell hits 1
xAK Tamashima Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Kunitu Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Okuyo Maru, Shell hits 3
xAK Seikai Maru
xAK Yomei Maru
xAK Eizan Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAK Yae Maru, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Australia
CA Canberra, Shell hits 2
CL Perth
DD Le Triomphant

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Horn Island at 91,128, Range 3,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Mutsuki
DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Oite
DD Hayate, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CA Australia, Shell hits 1
CA Canberra, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
CL Perth
DD Le Triomphant, Shell hits 3, on fire

Le Triomphant gains a lot of experience and should do better next night attack. Canberra, Australia and Perth also see experience gains into the mid sixties...

And these were just old Japanese destroyers (Kamikaze and Mutsuki class)



The dutch cruisers do not engage. I set to bombard Horn Island and escape towards Sydney next turn.

The dutch fighters are torn apart over Batavia...

Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 24,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 45

Allied aircraft
B-339D x 25
CW-21B Demon x 10
75A-7 Hawk x 10

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-339D: 8 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 6 destroyed
75A-7 Hawk: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 20000 feet

CAP engaged:
1-Vl.G.IV with 75A-7 Hawk (0 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes
2-Vl.G.IV with CW-21B Demon (0 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
3-Vl.G.IV with B-339D (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 43 minutes
1-VI.G.V with B-339D (3 airborne, 7 on standby, 0 scrambling)
10 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Raid is overhead
2-VI.G.V with B-339D (2 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Raid is overhead

Watched the replay and Singapore bites the dust after a cross river shock attack:

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 49391 troops, 551 guns, 539 vehicles, Assault Value = 1666

Defending force 28566 troops, 398 guns, 221 vehicles, Assault Value = 645

Japanese adjusted assault: 1081

Allied adjusted defense: 423

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Singapore !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 7 destroyed
Swordfish I: 1 destroyed
Vildebeest III: 1 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), preparation(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
870 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 77 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 48 disabled
Guns lost 21 (1 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 61 (5 destroyed, 56 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
34518 casualties reported
Squads: 1126 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3307 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 142 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 227 (227 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 227 (227 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 26

Assaulting units:
1st Tank Regiment
18th Division
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Division
48th Division
4th Tank Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
25th Army
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Southern Army
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
1st Malay Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
22nd Australian Brigade
2nd Malay Battalion
SSVF Brigade
11th Indian Division
27th Australian Brigade
2nd Gordons Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
12th Indian Brigade
272/273rd Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
29 Battery/3 HAA
Singapore Fortress
Singapore Base Force
224 Group RAF
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
Malayan Air Wing
Malaya Army
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
110th RAF Base Force
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
5th Field Regiment

Thats the fastest I have seen Singapore fall. The only thing I think I could have done is replace some of the bad leaders the defense gets. Would have kept Singapore going for perhaps a few more days...