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not much action this turn....

May 27th - the submarine S-38 which spotted the MSW TF leaving Rabual two days ago, was able to manuever in front of the TF and lie and wait for its prey. Hours later, the MSW Mejima Maru was in her sights. She launched a spread of 2 torpedo's. One ran too deep, but the other slammed into the little MSW, instantly sinking it. S-38 left the seen before Japenese ASW measures could be brought to bear on her. Later in the day a different Japanese BB group showed up to shell PM, destorying 5 planes on the ground. The rest of the day saw and ineffective air raid on PM from Rabual, and the landing of more troops of the 21st mixed bde and 65th bde.

May 28th - as troops continued to be landed at PM, my mine's struck once again, this time an AK was the victim. Near Rabual a dedicated ASW hunter group went after S-38 today, and caused only minor damage, but will still require a port call. Lastly, another ineffective air raid was launched by betty's from PM, but the high alitutude (18,000ft) skewed their aim, thereby causing no damage.

Elsewhere my bombardment TF consisting of the BB Idaho, 2 CA's, and 1 CL bombarded Wake Is, causing moderate damage to the runway there. The TF will proceed to Marcus Is, for another bombardment session.

Plan - 1) in the PM thearte, Operation BROAD RUN will continue to supply PM. The KB moved to a blocking position 120 miles south of Gili Gili. Makes me wonder if i can move in a fast transport TF from the west near Thursday Is. to supply PM...will have to be considered. 2) Huge airstrike planned on Mandalay. 62 Hurricanes and 70 P40B's will sweep the airfield in separate attacks. Following the fighter sweep will be 50 bomber's from Calcutta.

not a good turn over India..

May 29th - the 1st of two fighter sweeps swept into Mandalay today. This first group consisted of 67 Hurricane's. The Japanese brought 36 Oscars and 9 Zero's into the battle. Despite the numerical superiority, my Hurricane's got their ass handed to them. These Jap units must've had crack pilots with exp in the 90's. In all 17 Hurricanes were shot down to 11 Japanese planes (only 1 Zero). Soon after the hurricane sweep, 63 Flying Tigers soared in. This time only 30 Oscars and 8 Zero's were on CAP. The AVG were able to get the better of the Japanese CAP, but not by much, with only 8 Oscars shot down to 6 P40B's. At this time, with the Jap CAP reduced by almost 50%..my bombers should've had easy time to strike the airfields...but this was not the case, as my planes were grounded by bad weather[:@].

In the PM thearte, the Japanese attempted a deliberate attack that was easily repulsed by the heroic defenders of PM. All fortifications remained intact (lvl 4)

May 30th - it was a rough morning for the submarine S-40 stationed off the coast of Gili Gili as an ASW hunter/killer group spotted the sub, hitting it 7 times with DC's sending it to the bottom

Back to the India debacle, where things really started to go astray. This time my bombers out of Calcutta were able to get off the ground...however due to coordination areas, the arrived over Mandalay BEFORE my fighter sweeps. Unescorted, the bombers had a rough time...with the Japanese downing 9 bombers. My bombers did manage, however, to shoot down 4 Oscars and hit 1 Sally on the ground. Soon afterwards my AVG planes arrived over the scene (2 hours late). A feirce air battle erupted pitting my 40 P40B's against 12 Zero's and 17 Oscars (crack Jap pilots). The Japanese came out on top shooting down 6 Tomahawks, losing only 4 planes of their own (only 1 Zero). Luckly my Hurricanes didn't fly that day due to bad weather, as they probably would've been creamed.

Plan - 1) all planes that participated in the Mandalay mission are being stood down, to rest and recuperate. Further missions over Mandalay are in doubt, due to the experience level of my pilots. In summary of the battle i lost 38 planes to 26 Japanese losses. Not the ratio i was looking for, considering i had a 2 to 1 numerical superiority in fighters at the start. 2) Operation BROAD RUN continues as so far just over 1000 supplies pts have been brought into PM... i believe Miller is gonna need at least another Bde if he wants to capture PM

Footnote - the AP Kirishima Maru sank today, the result of the mine it struck near PM a week ago

May 31st - more enemy troops continued to unload at PM, but this time the Jap DD's wandered a little to close to shore, getting hit by shore batteries, setting 3 of them ablaze. The number of enemy units at PM is still at 5 (3 SNLFs and 2 Bde's). Later in the day a japanese BB TF raked PM once again with 14in shells, destroying a B-26 on the ground. These bombardments are really becoming bothersome as they are soaking up supply at PM.

June 1st - the SS Greenling stationed off Rabual, spotted a transport TF returing from PM. In her sights was the AP Mizuho Maru, which she managed to hit with a 21in torpedo (imagine that..no dud). The sub managed to slip away before the escorts could counterattack. Nothing else of note that day.

Plan - Other than the soon to be carried out bombardment of Marcus Is, nothing major in the works, just shifting around of troops and supplying of base's...i'll soon do an update as to where my forces stand across the board.

One thing though, i'm possibly planning a Swordfish strike from my British CV's that are at an undisclosed location in the Indian Ocean. The plan is for a night attack on one of the major ports in the DEI a la Taranto. Just wondering if anyway has tried this sort of attack and what were the results??

On another note...Churchill was screaming in my ear over the wire about how he need's more escort ships for the artic convoy route to Murmansk. He states the escort cruiser Trinidad ran into her own torpedo last month while escorting PQ15, she was later patched up at Murmansk, but on the return voyage was sunk by a Ju-88. He says he wants me to dispatch another escort cruiser to fill the gap left by the Trinidad, or i'll be in his dog house. Not one to like being bullied like this, nevertheless i'll send the bulldog what he wants, as i need all the political capital i can get. I hope he doesn't mind a D-class cruiser and two S-class DD's [:D]

another quite turn...

June 2nd - my planned bombardment of Marcus did not happen due to the captain of the force being spooked by a submarine sighting and retreating (in reality i forgot to change the mission from surface TF to bombardment TF). The captain will be reprimanded. In the PM thearte the Japanese attempted another deliberate attack but failed to knock down any fortifications.

June 3rd - very very quite turn. The submarine S-31 situated b/t Truk and Rabual spotted a transport TF moving south, probably moving reinforcements towards PM. The escorts managed to screw up any chance at a shot, thereby forcing the sub to retreat.

Plan - 1) the British CV night attack on DEI is a go. The Operation will be dubed FIREFLY. The target is Soerabaja, where intel points to the evacuation of a Japanese Div from the island to deployment elsewhere. The British TF is still a 3 days out, so hopefully the transports are still in harbor loading troops. Taking part in the night attack on the harbor will be about 40 swordfish torpedo planes. 2) In the PM thearte the KB has disappeared from my radar screen. Chance's are it moved b/t my search gap. Regardless a transport TF loaded with 11,000 supply will attempt to move to PM. 3) my surface TF near Marcus has been ordered back to bombard the island...hopefully all goes as planned this time.

June 4th - First, my bombardment of Marcus Is was finally accomplished, causing moderate damage to facilities there. Then my Chinese pilots scored their first kill as a Nate strayed into their airspace over Wuchow. Finally my troops at PM trade artillery barrages with the Japs.

June 5th - Today Japanese bombing raids in China started to increase in number, as a bomber raid finally netted more than 100 chinese troops near Changsa. Elsewhere everything is eirely quite.

Plan - 1) in response to the increase presence of Japanses bombers over China, i've decided to move my AVG to china, in preparation of a trap to be set in the next few days 2) Operation FIREFLY will commence tommorrow night (hopefully). Miller stated he's having supply issues in his last email due to the setup at the beginning of the game, so this may be a big blow to him. 3) still no sign of KB near PM, transport supply run to continue as planned.

As i wait for my next turn, i thought i would post some info on where i stand with my land units in each thearte

India
- Ceylon - 1 Aus Div, 1 Indian Div, 1 Tank Bde, 1 Art Rgt
- Madras - 1 UK Div, 1 Indian Div, 1 Art Rgt
- Calcutta Area - 2 UK Div, 1 UK Bde, 1 CW Bde, 3 Indian Div, 1 Arm Bde, 2 Art Rgt
- Burma Border - 2 Indian Bde, 4 Burma Bde, 3 Mtn Art Rgt, 1 Carbineers Rgt
- In Reserve (in the interior of India) - 1 Ind Div, 1 Arm Bde, 1 Art Rgt

Australia
- NW Australia - 1 Aus Div, 2 Aus Bde, 1 Aus Cav Div
- Perth - 1 Aus Bde
- SE Australia - 3 Aus Div, 1 Aus Bde, 1 Aus Tank Rgt
- Tazmania - 1 Aus Bde
- Brisbane - 1 Aus Div, 1 US Div, 1 Aus Bde
- NE Australia - 1 Aus Div, 1 Aus Bde, 1 Aus Cav Div, 1 Aus Cav Bde, 1 Aus Tank Rgt
- Port Moresby - 2 Aus Bde, 1 US Tank Destroyer Btn, 1 AT Rgt

South Pacific
- New Zealand - 4 NZ Bde, 3 NZ Cav Bde
- Noumea - 2 US Div, 1 Tank Btn, 1 Art Rgt
- Suva - 1 NZ Bde
- Pago Pago - 1 RCT
- Canton - 2 USMC Div, 1 RCT

Central Pacific
- Hawaii - 3 US Div, 1 RCT, 1 Tank Btn, 2 Art Rgt

North Pacific
- Kodiak - 2 RCT
- Anchorage - 5 RCT, 1 Canadian Bde

Canada
- 2 Canadian Bde

West Coast (eek)
- 1 RCT, 3 Art Rgt

China (i'll just post a picture since its easier).. each # represents the # of Chinese Div's

June 6th - well Operation FIREFLY wasn't the success i'd hope it would be. In the morning hours before daybreak, 36 Swordfish attacked Soerabaja. Low cloud cover prevented any type of coordinated attack, despite the presence of Walrus pathfinders. In the end, no hits were scored on shipping in the harbor, and 2 Swordfish were shot down. The British TF soon fled the scene on its way to Perth. In other news the submarine S-27 located b/t Truk and Rabual, spotted an AK, and slammed a torpedo into its belly, setting it ablaze. The sub was able to slipped away unscathed despite numerous ASW attacks. Later on that day a massive air raid from Rabual struck PM causing minor damage. The japanese then followed up the air attack with a land assualt. With the Aussie troops heads down from the 100 betty bomber raid, the Aussies were caught by surprise and had to give up there forward lines of fortifications and withdrawl back to there secondary line.

June 7th - on this day the submarine S-27 attempted another attack, this time it had the CVL Zuiho in its sight. Unfortunately all torps missed and the sub was chased away by DC's. More waves of Betty's came over PM later in the day, causing some more damage to the frontline troops there.

Plan - 1) major trap being set in China. I've moved 57 P40B's of the AVG over to Changsha for CAP duty. The Japanese have been doing daily runs at the base with only a dozen Oscars in escort, so a massacre is in the making (i hope). Meanwhile, i've moved all my Chinese planes to Wuchow (except the IL-4s). The plan is to launch an air raid on Canton airfield with 64 SB-2s and about 100 Chinese fighters. The experience level of these planes are extremely low, but intel points to there only being a small contigent of Nates running CAP over Canton, so if thats true, success will be high.

One thought .. the units on the indo china border are doing nothing , get them back apart form 1-2 ( even split one). to keep an eye on the roads coming in. 6 more corps can make a big differance somewhere else and he's very very unlikey to accack china from the west.

Actually china looks very quiet lets hope it stays that way

humm .. also have the chungking units accepting replacements and when full or close send them out to replace baterred field units. also may be worth sending a pile to sian to act as a firebrigade for the north.

just my 2p

One thought .. the units on the indo china border are doing nothing , get them back apart form 1-2 ( even split one). to keep an eye on the roads coming in. 6 more corps can make a big differance somewhere else and he's very very unlikey to accack china from the west.

That is totally true, even more so in my game where theres a house rule of no incrusions on either side from or into Vietnam. But as you know there are a few Divisions on the trails at the beginning of the game, and they take a while to march them out. With Jap troops still in Nanning my plan there is to use those indo-china border troops to take Nanning (and that other base) then march to Wuchow to bolster the defense's there

Actually china looks very quiet lets hope it stays that way

humm .. also have the chungking units accepting replacements and when full or close send them out to replace baterred field units. also may be worth sending a pile to sian to act as a firebrigade for the north.

China is indeed VERY quite, in fact he hasn't moved 1 unit up to the front lines since the start of the game. Seems Miller has learned is lesson in your game with China. He's either decided to make it a backwater, and just play defense, or is sitting back behind his line, prepping his troops for an assault down the road. With that possibility i've purposely place 22 chinese units at Chungking to soak up replacements, and act as my reserve as i'm unsure as to where Miller plans to attack. Most of them are SEAC troops, as i have no need for them in Burma as of now.

Thanks again for the comments Rob, nice to know at least 1 person is reading my AAR

combined four days..since not much happened....

June 8th/9th - more bomber raids over PM today, Miller has been slowly inching his alititude down to make the bombing more effective, but still avoid the powerful flak...but came a little too low today as i netted myself a Nell bomber and a Betty. Meanwhile the submarine S-45 located near Rabual spotted a MSW TF. With precision aim the sub slammed a torp into one of the tiny hapless MSW's. Confirmation of it sinking is pending. Over China, where my planned trap was set....(suspense).......nothing happened. My Wuchow strike got grounded due to rain, and the Japanese didn't attack Changsha where my AVG was..and instead attack the hex next to it

June 10th/11th - ahh..the trap is sprung in China (well..kinda). Over the course of 2 days my AVG battled it out with 18 Oscars and 59 Bombers near Changsha. The AVG brought 41 planes into action. At the end of the day i was disappointed with the results with only 2 Oscars shot down and 1 Sally. Losses to the AVG were 1 P40B. The 2nd half of my trap, there airstrike out of Wuchow, never materialized as rain continued to ground operations there. Elsewhere the SS Grenadier stationed off the coast of Japan spotted an transport TF. She launched a spread of torps, but they all ran deep, therefore the sub retreated behind a hailstorm of DC's.

Plan - 1) the AVG is being withdrawn to Chungking to rest. Despite a numerical win over the air battle over Changsha, more than 1/2 the planes were damaged. 2) the airstrike on Canton with my chinese plans is still on. Hopefully the weather corroperates. 3) the officers in PM tell me that outcome of the battle will likely be a Jap victory unless major reinforcements of at least a Brigade are sent. After mulling it over with the General Staff it has been decided that reinforcement of the beligured garrison is impossible with such a strong air presence in Rabaul, and the unknown where abouts of the KB. Therefore all possible measures are being taking to withdrawl the 30th Aus Bde, the most capable unit, via C-47s out of PM, before the fall of the last foothold on New Guinea.

ORIGINAL: KDonovan

One thought .. the units on the indo china border are doing nothing , get them back apart form 1-2 ( even split one). to keep an eye on the roads coming in. 6 more corps can make a big differance somewhere else and he's very very unlikey to accack china from the west.

That is totally true, even more so in my game where theres a house rule of no incrusions on either side from or into Vietnam. But as you know there are a few Divisions on the trails at the beginning of the game, and they take a while to march them out. With Jap troops still in Nanning my plan there is to use those indo-china border troops to take Nanning (and that other base) then march to Wuchow to bolster the defense's there

Actually china looks very quiet lets hope it stays that way

humm .. also have the chungking units accepting replacements and when full or close send them out to replace baterred field units. also may be worth sending a pile to sian to act as a firebrigade for the north.

China is indeed VERY quite, in fact he hasn't moved 1 unit up to the front lines since the start of the game. Seems Miller has learned is lesson in your game with China. He's either decided to make it a backwater, and just play defense, or is sitting back behind his line, prepping his troops for an assault down the road. With that possibility i've purposely place 22 chinese units at Chungking to soak up replacements, and act as my reserve as i'm unsure as to where Miller plans to attack. Most of them are SEAC troops, as i have no need for them in Burma as of now.

Thanks again for the comments Rob, nice to know at least 1 person is reading my AAR

i think you will find more that 1 reader [;)].. and if i have scared him off china ( i doubt it ) then all the better . he will really concentrate after our game . so beware .. hence the firbrigade in sian idea..

unfortunately prepared traps can be spotted .. as your opponent can see the little airbase symbol .. so make sure there some bad a/c that he beats up first THEN move in the trap so the af icon is always lit up.

well it the traps never work as advertised anyway .. soot im typing this as i read your last report

good luck KD

Miller should be cautious....China in scn 13 is much stronger than in scn 15 (no disablements)

June 12th - not much action this turn. I've been doing daily bombing raids with my B17's, hitting the japanese assault forces at PM. Despite these attacks the japanses launched another assualt on PM today, but were beaten back by my troops. In China, my troops launched an attack on a Japanese brigade outside Nanning. Despite a fierce battle neither side gave way. Other than that not much but the usual Jap "training" missions in China...and my own "training" mission on Akyab.

June 13th - nothing of note, other than the appearance of the KB near Gili Gili today. The submarine attempted to penatrate the DD screen to get a shot at a CV but was driven away by escorts, causing minor damage to the sub.

Plan - 1) In response to the presence of KB in the area, i've reassigned the B17's from Cooktown from their bombing raids of Japanese forces, to naval attack in hopes of getting a lucky 500lb hit on the Jap carriers (as they are unarmored in this mod). 2) the withdrawl of the 30th brigade has hit a major snag, as order's for the mission keep getting misplaced by some low-life desk clerk (in realitiy..they aren't flying for some reason) 3) in China, my forces outside Nanning are to rest, as they are low on supply. 2 squadrens of C-47s are being moved to the area to carry out some air supply drops to my troops there so they can continue the offensive

June 14th - the Japanese brought in a fast transport mission to drop off more supplies for their troops at PM. Unfortunately for them, my mines proved once again to be a nuisance as the DD Kikuzuki struck a mine and promptly sank. With my base force's now on alert to the presence of japanese ships in the area, my coastal batteries manage to score a hit on the DD Ayanami, setting it afire. Later in the day the Japs picked up their air attacks on PM, launching simultaneous attacks from Lae and Rabual. Short on AA guns, my forces only shot down 1 zero out of the 260 planes in the attack. My B17’s responded by launching an attack on an oncoming bombardment TF, but failed to score any hits. Later the night the BB’s hit PM hard, causing severe damage to the runway.

June 15th – The jap bombers returned with another 260 bomber raid over PM today, causing minimal damage. Also my B17’s returned to hit the bombardment group leaving the area, but once again failed to score any hits….grrr

Plan – 1) in China, Miller has landed 8 units at that base south of Nanning. Apparently, miller intends to contest this area, instead of losing it to the overwhelming Chinese forces in the area. In response to this I’m moving 12 Chinese units down from Chunking to assist the 65,000 troops there in the effort to take Nanning. 2) In the PM theatre, the evacuation of the 30th Aus Bde finally got off the ground, and is thus far successful with 75% of the force off the ground at PM and returned to Cooktown. Whereabouts of the KB is unknown, as what was sighted last turn as the “KB” may have been the approaching bombardment TF that hit this turn. The report was suspicious, however, as 2 CV’s were spotted (not in name though), and I find it hard to believe my PBY’s may have mistaken BB’s as flattops. In any case, I’m going with the worse case scenario that the KB slipped out of PBY range a few hundred miles East of Gili Gili, and is sitting there waiting to spring a trap, which I won’t fall for.

June 16th - Jap ASW hunter killer groups were out in full force tonite, trying to sweep the seas clean of my S-boats. However, my S-boats got the better of them, as S-46 lit up a gunboat with a torp. During the day there were more massive air raids over Port Moresby resulting in minor damage. More importantly though, the air attacks suppressed my troops at PM long enough for the Japs to get the jump on then, driving my forces back to another line of hastily prepared fortifications.

June 17th - Once again the jap bombers were back over PM, and once again the follow up ground assualt caused my troops to fall back to their last line of defense. The end appears very near

Plan - 1) with the end near, i've cancelled operation BROAD RUN (the air supply mission to PM). The withdrawl of the Aus 30th Bde was completely, so at least it won't be a total defeat for me. Now i just have to wait for the inevitable. 2) in China, my forces outside Nanning are still hovering around 40 disruption, so they will have to sit out another turn before i renew my attacks there.

anything else useful in PM ? .. you can always change the theatre command and carry on withdrawing. maybe the PM defence brigade ?

In china Nanning is really a long trek from chungking so any troops sent will be completely unavailable for anything urgent, and is nanning really that important ? nightmare to supply iirc too.

anyway you seem to be doing well and PM was inevitable really. good luck

rob

maybe i've got a little too much Stalin in me...but i probably would have left the 30th Brigade to defend Morosby and make the Japanese work as hard as possible (and shed as many combat squads in the process) for PM. From my own experiences vs. jungle type hexes, a small but entrenched defensive force can hold out for quite a long time. Never forget my first assault on Rabaul....only two weak battalions there held up 5 SNLF type units for over a month before i finally took the base.

Rabaul can be a nasty place if you only use the starting troops at Truk . bect way imo is to get the SS det. down asap. that will crush the allies.

anyway .. going off topic sorry

IIRC, even after getting South Seas down there (belatedly) it was still a tough fight.....almost started to get paranoid and think Rabaul was a special defensive hex [;)]
Alas, it was just jungle love....

as expected...Port Moresby fell this turn

June 18th - today the Japanese launched a surprised banzai attack on my front lines at Port Moresby. Despite suffering heavy casualities the Japanese manage to break through the Aussie front lines. Had it not been for a couple hundred rear line troops and their heroic stand, the japanese would've split the force in two. Instead my troops were able to recover, protect their flanks, and beat a retreat out of Port Moresby towards the southeast, into the jungles. Late in the day the Japanese flag flew over Port Moresby.

June 19th - nothing but more air "training" missions in Burma and China.

Plan - oddly my troops retreated out of PM, instead of having to surrender. I was under the impression that if there wasn't a retreat path for Allied troops, then they would surrender after defense became impossible. Gili Gili and Buna are both held by the Japanese, so there shouldn't have been any retreat path for my troops. Anyways, this brings up an interesting delimma. What to do about those 10,000 troops stuck in the jungles. The force consist of 6 LCU's (3 BF's, 1 AT Rgt, 1 Tank Btn, 1 Aus Bde). I figure i have several options in which i would like some feedback on.....
1) i can let the troops die, become target practice for Japanese bombers.
2) i can try a possible suicidal evac by ship of as many troops as possible
3) with 64 C-47's transports in Australia, i can attempt an air supply mission to the beligured troops, so that they can start a march towards Gili Gili to give Miller a headache.....
Any other suggestions are welcome as i can not think of anymore. Anyways i'll be posting a roundup of the battle of Port Moresby so you can see how i faired. Here's a screen shot of the aftermath