Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[Spidery]

December 24th 1941

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 2 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy: lba, Subic Bay, Pakhoi, Balikpapan, Naga (air drop), Mergui (air drop)
Japanese land at: Rabaul, Kendari

Philippines

lba is taken unoccupied and undamaged, Subic bay defenses are eliminated. Attack at Bataan by the 65th brigade reduces forts but inflicts very few casualties.
Para fragments are being used to capture bases.

China

Pakhoi is taken with 50% damage. More general progress forwards.

Malaya

Western rail line is now unblocked.

DEI

More sub action, an xAK takes serious but not fatal damage. A Dutch sub is hit 8 times with Type 95 DC. ASW ammunition is becoming in short supply for some ships.

Landing at Kendari without problems.

Balikpapan taken by two SNLF units crossing the river from Samarinda, just 3 points of damage to oil and refineries[8D].

Pacific

Landing at Rabaul without problems.
The Canberra is hit by a torpedo from I-159 as it heads around the South end of New Guinea and is confirmed sunk[:)].

India / Burma

Another sub attack near Ceylon misses. Mergui is taken by airdrop.

Engineering

San Fernando airfield expands to size 4, probably not needed now that Clark Field is in use.
Allies expand Chengtu airfield to size 2.

[Spidery]

December 25th 1941

Changed to Beta version 1123t.

Air Losses: 3 Japanese, 9 Allied, 3 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Calapan (air drop), Calayan (auto), Nanyang, Medan, Bandoeng, Cheribon
Japanese land at: None

Philippines

38th Division and some artillery arrive at San Fernando. Some Construction units will be shipped back to Hokkaido and Sakhalin.

China

Nanyang taken unopposed. Some cut off Chinese being attacked.

Malaya

Forces being railed South.

DEI

More sub action, a DWS is sunk. A Dutch sub takes a direct hit from a Mod 2-DC and is likely needing to return for repairs.

Medan is taken undamaged.

Attack at Kendari fails.

Bandoeng and Cheribon are taken and some float planes are destroyed at Cheribon.

A reinforcement convoy heading for Java strays too close to Soerabaja and loses 5 xAKL with troops on board to attacks by Dauntless.

Pacific

Rabaul is bombarded, by 4 CA, for little damage and the land attack on the base fails.

India / Burma / etc.

Allies launch an attack by B-17E against Saigon. No significant damage. Problem is that I don't understand where this came from. The direction arrow appears to point to Rangoon but Rangoon is size 4 so B-17E should be restricted to normal range (manuals section 9.4) and the range is 18 requiring extended range. Only Tavoy (size 4, range 12) and Singapore (size 6, range 17) should be possible bases but recon does not show bombers at these bases.

[Spidery]

December 26th 1941

Air Losses: 3 Japanese, 3 Allied, 3 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Guiuan (auto), Temuloh
Japanese land at: None

Generally quiet everywhere as forces gather for the attacks on Singapore, Batavia and Manila. In the next week or so a number of big battles will happen.

Philippines

[>:]

China

[>:]

Malaya

Temuloh is taken and all defenders surrender. LCU VP jumps 250 on the day.

Forces are detraining at Johore Bharu - will give them time to recover fatigue and wait for the forces from Temuloh.

DEI

No sub action and all quiet. A few Hudsons are shot down attacking a task force at Kendari.

Minesweeping at Balikpapan continues.

Pacific

Rabaul attack has been reinforced, no assault launched today.

India / Burma / etc.

First unit enters Moulmein hex.

[Spidery]

December 27th 1941

Air Losses: 4 Japanese, 2 Allied, 3 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Djambi, Rabaul, Moulmein, Masbate(auto)
Japanese land at: None

Philippines

First reinforcements (from Hong Kong) arrive at Clark Field, they will be sent to help take Bataan.

China

The main road to Sian does not seem to be well defended. I expected to see a road block on each hex. Advance from Nanyang proceeds unopposed.
Otherwise, keep moving forces to the South.
First Wenchow attack will be launched tomorrow.

Malaya

Readying troops for the Singapore attack.

DEI

More sub action and another Dutch sub damaged by a direct hit with internal explosion near Kalidjati. Claimed as sunk but I don't believe it.

Small Dutch force outside Batavia driven back into Batavia - Allies had a supply(-) but I don't think that is significant as it had been driven from Bandoeng and Batavia is so stacked it probably doesn't have spare supply.

Djambi taken with 5 damage - may take a while to repair this as supply is hard to keep there.

Pacific

Rabaul taken, lost 10 squads destroyed in the attack.

India / Burma / etc.

Moulmein taken with no trouble.

Economy

Very light damage to oil wells is good: 5 at Djambi, 3 at Balikpapan, 9 at Palembang, 1 at Tarakan. I have been keeping CAP over the oil wells in case of Allied attacks but none have happened so far. Also have AA at all of them except Medan.

There is 53000 supply in ships disbanded at Miri waiting to offload and build those oil wells. Palembang wells are repaired and supply will soon arrive at Balikpapan to fix those.

Supply in the home isles has stabilised at just under a million. Will be unlikely to increase this for a few months as Engine factories are being expanded.

Resource flows from Hokkaido are good but not yet shifting enough from Sakhalin. Fuel and resources are both flowing from Fusan okay but oil is not yet flowing.

Some HI being saved and also Vehicle, Armament and Merchant pools are growing nicely.

No tankers running out from Palembang yet but the various xAK that have been running invasions are stopping at ports to load fuel. First tankers should be able to leave Palembang in a couple of days.

[Spidery]

Planned Japanese High-Water Mark. Apart from in China this should all be taken in the first half of 42.

[Spidery]

December 28th 1941

Air Losses: 2 Japanese, 5 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Tavoy, Kendari, Balabac (air drop), Beaufort
Japanese land at: None

Philippines

The SS Seawolf is sunk in port at Manila.

China

Attack at Wenchow goes badly. The destroyed unit is a third of one of the RGC Divisions.

Japanese adjusted assault: 528

Allied adjusted defense: 862

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
1188 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 106 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
453 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 65 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Malaya

Readying troops for the Singapore attack.

DEI

Some sub action and tidying up of forces. Kendari taken.

The American aircraft have vanished from Soerabaja - may have re-united with their carriers.

Pacific

Glens get a possible sighting near Wake Island. A sub screen in the area will try an intercept.

India / Burma / etc.

[>:]

[Spidery]

December 29th 1941

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 0 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Kudat (auto), Dinagat (air drop)
Japanese land at: None

A Dutch sub sinks an xAK with some AA guns on board in the harbour at Kalidjati.

4 divisions plus artillery, tanks and engineers, just under 2000 AV are ordered to attack Singapore.

2 Divisions plus ancillary troops ordered to move into Manila, 1.5 more divisions to follow later.

Recon of Wake Island suggests it has not reinforced.

[Spidery]

December 30th 1941

Air Losses: 4 Japanese, 0 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Batangas (auto), Lubang (air drop)
Japanese land at: None

Philippines

The 31st PA Division moved from lba to Clark Field and has been subject to repeated attacks but refuses to surrender. The latest attack was:

Attacking force 22333 troops, 278 guns, 115 vehicles, Assault Value = 909

Defending force 3567 troops, 57 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 66

Japanese adjusted assault: 280

Allied adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 28 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
147 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

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

DEI

A Dutch sub at Kalidjati takes two full hits from Mod 2-DC plus some near misses and may have sunk. Two DD attacking subs run out of ammunition. An AG has been sent to Kalidjati and can be used to rearm DMS, PG, SC etc. but the DD will have to go elsewhere.

China

An attack near Changsha fails but is not costly.

Cut off Chinese around Sinyang are attacked and take more casualties.

Pacific

SS I-168 uses gun fire to sink an xAKL just outside of Pearl Harbour.

Australia

3 CA bombard Port Hedland - I had seen the Dutch MTB heading South and expected to find them there, but no luck.

[Spidery]

December 31st 1941

Air Losses: 1 Japanese, 4 Allied, 1 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Dumaguete (auto), Utan Melintang, Tjilatjap, Watampone
Japanese land at: None

Most things are quiet at the moment because the Allied air force has retired and Japanese invasions are stopped because most forces are involved in conquering Singapore and Java. Until these forces are released there is little to spare for invasions. Also, until the air bases are secured too many fighters are needed to protect the oil wells to provide adequate CAP for future advances.

Philippines

The Philippino division at Clark Field resists an attack at 106 to 1 but then surrenders as surrounded.

Bataan attack has been reinforced and will try again. Forces enter Manila tomorrow.

Malaya

A cut off Ghurka Brigade surrenders when attacked.

Forces will enter Singapore in 2 days.

DEI

Subs seem to have retired from the Kalidjati area.

Minor actions taking bases and forcing Dutch troops back.

China

Some cut off forces surrender and others are driven back.

Surprisingly, there has been no sight of the AVG or Chinese air force. This may be because I have avoided bombing bases or the main troop concentrations. There are few fighters in China and most of those are Nates.

Pacific

A small xAKL is sunk by SS I-5 just up coast from San Francisco.

Australia

An enemy task force is spotted South of Koepang and is reported to contain a CV.

[GreyJoy]

I see you are planning to land and conquer Assam. How do u suppose to hold those plains and eventually evacuate them in time if the allies reinforce India with some American IDs and tanks?
 
 

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I see you are planning to land and conquer Assam. How do u suppose to hold those plains and eventually evacuate them in time if the allies reinforce India with some American IDs and tanks?

I'm not absolutely certain what I will do and it will depend a bit upon what I see. However, holding Calcutta generates 15000 supply per month and if it delays the loss of Magwe to bombing by a month that is 81000 fuel. It costs 10000 HI and 15000 supply to rebuild a division so a certain amount of losses can be accepted.

I originally planned this when I thought HI was key for the long game but I now realise that supply is just as important and whereas the HI trade-off is clear the supply one is less so.

Not needing to pay PP to move across borders I am sending some tanks, AT, heavy artillery and AA the long way around overland that may bolster the defenses.

My thought is to take it, hold until late 1942, then a controlled withdrawal to Burma leaving a road block at Calcutta. If the Calcutta factories are destroyed by bombing then that hurts the Allies as well.

I would also like to hold it long enough to flatten the factories in Delhi, Hyderabad, Cawnpore, Madras etc. to further put a strain on Allied supply.

[Spidery]

Some summary pages for the end of 1941

The economy:

[Spidery]

Largest aircraft pools

[Spidery]

Sunk Japanese ships excluding AK. The loss of the LSD hurts.

[Spidery]

A summary of some reported Allied losses. Small craft not shown.

The CV Saratoga is almost certainly false, the CA Australia may be the Canberra instead, the CLs are probably Danae, Durban and one other. The American sub count is probably correct but the two fleet subs are probably S-class subs instead. Probably only one, maybe two, of the Dutch subs are actual.

[Spidery]

The intel screen

[Spidery]

January 1st 1942

Air Losses: 0 Japanese, 6 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Mauban (auto), Lucena (air drop), Nanning, Sambas, Praboemoelih, Pingsiang, Buitenzorg
Japanese land at: None

CL Enterprise is removed from the sunk list[:(].

Philippines

Bataan has been reinforced by a PA division and the attack gets 1:1 reduces forts to 0 but makes little progress.

900 AV have entered Manila and will dig in a defense until more arrive.

Malaya

Big fight at Singapore tomorrow

DEI

Continuing progress against minimal opposition.

China

Nanning falls, no opposition, 50% damaged. Lots of runway damage - I think this may have been caused by partisan activity.

Continuing to try and take space by movement rather than direct attacks but it is now slow motion in the woods.

Lots of supply bases have been given up without a struggle. This is nice[:)].

Pacific

Bombardment of Wake goes well. SS Tambor is in the hex and takes 3 damaging near misses from DC. Wake landing is in two days.

Australia

A sub attack against a large miscellaneous convoy near Port Hedland misses[:@]. Pity my cruisers aren't in the vicinity.

The sighting South of Koepang is now showing as 3 CV and the Betties that could have attacked (range 13) failed to. The task force has moved 7 hexes West of where they were yesterday. If they continue like this they will be out of range tomorrow so will try a night attack. There is a sub I can put in the path.

Why would he be moving is carriers here[&:]? Best guess is that they were at Darwin and moved out to collect their air groups and maybe saw a change to target the cruisers? They could try and move to a position to attack the fleets at Kalidjati from the West side of Java, that would be risky as there is a lot of CAP available.

Burma

Moved adjacent to Pegu and Pegu looks poorly defended.

Odd recon at Lashio, yesterday with 4/9 DL reported 14 units but only 780 troops. Today with 9/10 it shows as empty[8|].

[Spidery]

January 2nd 1942

Air Losses: 0 Japanese, 1 Allied, 0 Pilots
Japanese occupy: Dumanquilas (auto), Tawi Tawi (air drop), Semarang, Manado
Japanese land at: None

Mystery[&:]

Last turn there were 2 ship sinking noises during the turn, this day another two. There are no recently damaged Allied ships to explain this; could be some of the damaged subs, could be that the Dutch MTB ran out of fuel and are sinking.

Philippines

Regular bombing, still finds targets in Manila docks.

Malaya

Singapore attack is mixed. Defense was stronger than expected but the crossing is established. Disruption and fatigue is high amongst the infantry so will be a wait of a few days before can attack again. Allied losses suggest they may have lost 50% of AV.

Attacking force 69536 troops, 771 guns, 682 vehicles, Assault Value = 2173

Defending force 41895 troops, 453 guns, 312 vehicles, Assault Value = 635

Japanese adjusted assault: 1314

Allied adjusted defense: 1003

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
7545 casualties reported
Squads: 176 destroyed, 383 disabled
Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 159 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 145 disabled
Guns lost 65 (32 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Vehicles lost 52 (5 destroyed, 47 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3762 casualties reported
Squads: 115 destroyed, 228 disabled
Non Combat: 96 destroyed, 104 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 88 (11 destroyed, 77 disabled)
Vehicles lost 49 (24 destroyed, 25 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

DEI

Semarang falls, can rail some more division fragments there and continue to Soerabaja.

Menado that had been a block falls. This frees some small invasion force to push forward.

China

Finding some big road blocks now but still pushing forward.

Pacific

[>:]

Burma

Pegu is now empty.
Rangoon port damage is increasing each day so assume it is empty and suffering from Partisans.

[GreyJoy]

You'll take Singa very soon after that result.
In a week or so if you really push for it. Then, the hard choices arrive: India, Ceylon or Northern Oz?

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

You'll take Singa very soon after that result.
In a week or so if you really push for it. Then, the hard choices arrive: India, Ceylon or Northern Oz?

Agreed. Also, I should have Rangoon within the week and that will give me a place to get some eyes in to have a look around and see what is happening in Burma and India.

I'm not sure I can take Java without sending an extra division there. Likewise, Manila needs another division but that will probably be one bought out with PPs and on its way from Japan.

If I go for India I think I need at least two of Java, Singapore and Manila cleared to have enough divisions. Would 3 divisions be enough to take Ceylon? And, is it worthwhile?