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I am sending a DD group in Raider mode, night move to cancel the port blockade of Guadalcanal. Perhaps, Japanese carriers will show up again intoxicated by their success in Noumea.

In India, I am withdrawing step by step to the Dacca line protecting Ledo as long as possible to insure the air supply of China.

In China, the vital rail line south of Changsha is still holding preventing all supply to come from Hong Kong for all the Japanese armies there.

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March 1, 1942:

This is incredible how a single mistake can jeopardize a game. Now that I know the solution, I am a little upset at myself for not seeing it in time. But war is not over.

In the Solomon islands, Guadalcanal is threatened as well as Ndeni. I prefer to save the New Zealand corps there now and I am leaving Guadalcanal empty. I will try to save the Santa Cruz islands and I am sending a DD group, night move, Raider mode, to break the port blockade.

Reconnaissance is showing 19 ships in Rabaul. There is no mention of CV or BB. I don't have a COMINT yet to confirm if, yes or no, the Japanese CV fleet is still there. It is vital to track down where they are to anticipate their next move.

In India and China, frontlines are not stabilized and Ledo is now at risk.

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March 15, 1942:

It is raining in China and the consequence is big. Part of my front line is now completely and suddenly unsupplied. As such, I am obliged to fallback undefeated....

In Suva, I have just replaced a small infantry corps by a large infantry corps. I cannot afford to lose the Fiji islands. I have added an Engineer specialty to this corps in order to upgrade the port of Suva to port level 5.

In India, no breakthrough but the pressure on Ledo is clearly increasing.

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March 29, 1942:

In Rabaul, reconnaissance is now showing 17 ships but I have lost the track of the Japanese carriers.

Japanese 15th army is now at one hex of Ledo. Doing a risky move, an UK corps has just disembark at Chittagong. Keeping this port is important to deny supplies for the Japanese armies advancing in Burma.

In Rangoon, transport ships have been located. This is a warning. Maybe Japanese will try to perform a naval invasion near Calcutta or in Ceylon. Since the beginning, I am reinforcing Madras, Jaffna and Colombo just for this. A tactical bomber is now ready in Colombo. And the Royal Navy has now two carriers and one light carrier, all upgraded to the latest advancement.

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In China, my fallback to a new line, now supplied, is achieved. I have lost effectiveness in the process but this is only Japanese division in front of me.

However, in the south, Japanese is preparing a big offensive. There are now 6 armies, that appears in good shape, ready to strike on my line. I would not be surprising if the line is broken next turn.

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April 12, 1942:

The cat and mouse game continues between IJN and US Navy mainly based on night moves to avoid naval air strikes. My main problem right now is the lack of CA/DD groups. The four DD groups sunk in the first turns is now having an impact.

In China, Japanese army is resuming its attack with the good weather coming back. Same thing in Burma.

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I have no hope to hold anything in Ledo. Decision is taken to fallback to the Dacca line. I am merging my last Indian division to form another small corps and, as such, creates some zone of control.

I am using a COMINT to discover 16 ships in Singapore. However, I have no idea of the fleet composition nor if there are some carriers here. The search continues.

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April 26, 1942:

Naval landing near Calcutta, this is not a drill. The Japanese army is launching an important operation threatening all the Indian army engaged in Burma. The small corps in Calcutta is obliged to retreat. Japanese fleet is around to perform shore bombardment.

And, in the meantime, Japanese planes are striking some Indian corps to remove them operation points. The goal is to slow them down in their retreat to the Dacca line.

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The good news is that I have found the Japanese carriers. The bad news is that 10 carriers are in Rangoon. All IJN fleet is here.

However, in Rabaul, only 2 BB are there. This is an opportunity for the US Navy.

In Colombo, Royal Navy is in alert but against 10 carriers, I prefer to secure things and remains at port.

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By chance, I can deploy an infantry division this turn. So, I am deploying it in Calcutta.

Since we can't merge a corps into a division (why?), I am splitting the small corps. But I have forgotten about the army zone of control. So, it did not worked as planned. I can only put a small corps back in Calcutta.

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In China, it is raining and I suppose this is why no land attacks were done this turn. Meanwhile, I am moving few subs around Truk to do some reconnaissance and also to perform some supply interdictions.

A Canadian infantry division is landing in Tarawa that was not invaded in the first turns.

At last, US Navy is looking at the Santa Cruz islands that are under port blockade since two turns. It is raining around them so the naval detection might be impacted.

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Two subs are sent first. Their attack fails but the enemy fleet is, at least, detected. It means the next attack will have a naval detection bonus.

Then, US Navy is sending three DD groups in night move to perform a naval attack. During the night naval action, the Japanese DD group is sunk. Only one fleet remaining but, next turn, I fear the Japanese counter attack even if their carriers are not in this sector.

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May 10, 1942:

Supply interdiction around Truk was successful with 80 points of stockpile sunk. In the Santa Cruz islands, the Kirishima battlecruiser was badly damaged by US air force.

However, during two naval engagements, two US DD groups were sunk.

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In the south of China, all the line is attacked by several armies. Losses are important and I won't have the production to repair everything. I don't know what to do with the Flying Tigers air unit. I did not repair it but I hesitate to disband it for gaining few production points.

However, the big news is the miracle in India. Heavy rain is saving Calcutta from the Japanese army. I can reinforce the small corps with the infantry division of last turn and I can try to form the Dacca line.

With heavy rain, no Japanese planes can fly. As such, the Royal Navy is trying to be intercepted by Japanese subs to destroy few of them. But, it fails. The fleet heads back to port to avoid the IJN.

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Other than that, US submarines are continuing their supply interdiction campaign, this time around Saipan, Tinian and Guam.

Ndeni is saved by an US fleet, in night move to avoid planes, and raider mode. No port blocade next turn. In the meantime, I am starting to perform a port blockade of Noumea still with night move and raider mode.

The Canadian unit in Tarawa is replaced by an US unit and the Canadian are moving to protect Nauru.

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May 24, 1942:

Suva's port has been upgraded to port level 5. The effectiveness at sea of US Navy in the area will improve. US sub campaign continues to provide good results in supply interdiction.

In China, the Japanese army is too strong. I am losing step after step but I don't have the PP to repair them. Since Ledo is captured, there is no way to help the Chinese.

In India, the Dacca line is holding for now.

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I can't risk to lose an army encircled in Changsha. So I am leaving the city taking the AAA guns in the process.

Searching the sea, only 5 ships are remaining in Rangoon. And there are still 17 ships in Rabaul. Using another COMINT on top of Singapore, I am able to locate 16 ships in Kuala Lumpur.

My guess is that this is the Japanese carrier fleet. This is interesting. The question is, whether or not, Japan has still enough landing ships to try to take Ceylon. Near Calcutta, an army and a marine division carried out a naval invasion. This is already 40 landing ships used.

They are surely there to protect the isolated army near Calcutta from the Royal Navy.

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Quite sure, the Japanese sub is still in Fleet mode. I am taking a risk and move the Royal Navy near Calcutta. Submarine interdiction is done but with good results for the Allies. Please note that the sub did not achieve "sub surprise" (bug correctly solved).

I am moving a second fleet and I am doing a land attack with shore bombardment. The first one at 3:1 and the second at 4:1, but the Japanese army is clearly not destroyed.

IJN will surely move next turn, we will see... To be continued. Hope you are enjoying the AAR so far, I am trying to detail as much as possible to give you some tips on how to play the game.

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June 7, 1942:

Heavy rain in India is again helping me. I can't determine if the Japanese army south of Dacca is in supply or not. However, north west of Calcutta, I am isolating the Japanese marines with few divisions arriving from the deployment queue.

Interesting to notice that the two fleets of the Royal Navy are in hexes under heavy rain. As such, no air attack was possible from carrier based planes or land based planes. That's why the IJN did not show up.

Hope to have a weather forecast in WP2 to plan such moves even if weather forecast must have a percentage of failure.

Still doing supply interdiction against Japanese islands with my subs waiting for better torpedoes. I hope they are increasing their experience with this, I will monitor this.

In China, however, the weather is perfect and land attacks are resumed. In the news, Japanese decides to invade Port Blair that was undefended.

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Since all the Royal Navy is there, I decide to do one attack 2:1 under heavy rain to try to destroy the Japanese army south of Dacca. But, it did not work, marshes helping the defenders.

The Royal Navy is then moving back to the security of the port of Colombo. Still patrolling around Jaffna and Colombo to intercept any naval invasion attempt.

In China, my production is down to 52. I have lost Changsha meaning I have lost 10 production points. Thus, I try to rearrange my frontline with the best remaining units, all damaged anyway.

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