A Good Place to Start - Matthew (A) v Fokko (J) - Bottlenecks Mod

[M Peaston]

18th March 1942


INDIA/BURMA

The AVG sweep of Rangoon was engaged by Ki-44 Tojos - AVG lost 5 H81-A3s and claimed 3 Tojos. North of Pegu AVG claimed 4 Sallys which bombed the retreating 13th Indian Bde. (Altogether it wasn’t a good day for the AVG as a pilot was killed in a landing accident at Liuchow)

Sweeps will go in over Rangoon again tomorrow; the Allied light cruiser force off Burma remains apparently undetected.


ABDA

Japanese aerial reconnaissance has been spotted over Merak, Batavia and Buitenzorg, but nothing yet over Bandoeng, which is the main Allied airbase on this side of Java.

1st Marine Raider Bn takes up defensive positions at Port Hedland, the first US Marines to arrive in the ABDA theatre.


PHILIPPINES

US and Philippine forces endure another lengthy air and artillery bombardment, but the expected ground assault doesn’t come.


SWPAC

6th AIF Div has successfully completed its deployment to Port Moresby. The convoy is returning to Townsville to transport 1st Marine Air Wing HQ to Port Moresby.


USA

6th Marine Rgt embarks on Queen Elizabeth bound for Australia



SUBMARINE WARFARE

O-24 is hit by air ASW off Saigon and is heading to Darwin for repair.

At Nauru Island Bonita hits an xAK with a dud torpedo.

[M Peaston]

19th March 1942


CHINA

The Chinese Air Force continues to bomb Japanese forces at Ningsia. There’s no sign of the Japanese pressing on to Lanchow at present.


INDIA/BURMA

Light cruisers Sumatra, Colombo and Cape Town bombard Rangoon, hitting the airfield and 33rd Division. Photo-reconnaissance indicates 10 bomber and 5 fighters were damaged. This was followed up with a daylight raid on the airfield by B17Es from Dacca. Fighter opposition was light and all 8 bombers returned, one damaged.

Also in action over Rangoon was a squadron of AVG; 3 H81-A3s were lost (no pilot casualties) in return for 2 Tojos claimed.

I’ve rotated in another squadron of AVG to Toungoo with the intention of sweeping Rangoon again tomorrow. Usually when I transfer a squadron I like to rest it for at least a day afterwards, but sometimes needs must.

Indomitable, Prince of Wales and Warspite reach Colombo. Prince of Wales is off to Surat for a refit.


PHILIPPINES

The Allied defenders at Bataan reel from another Japanese assault, yet still they manage to desperately hold on - just.


ABDA

Japanese forces land at Lolobato (Moluccas).

On Sumatra Dutch attempts to make a stand at Langsa don’t last very long. Survivors are falling back on Sabang.

Blackadder makes his first big decision; at ABDA HQ Brooke-Popham has been sacked and replaced by General Alexander.


SWPAC/SOPAC

Japanese carriers have been spotted east of the Solomons:

Solomons and Bismarcks.png (2.03 MiB) Viewed 1471 times

My working assumption is that they’re not out on a pleasure cruise…trying to catch Allied shipping at Tulagi? (Too late, all unloaded and returning to Australia). A few days ago a Japanese carrier raid could have caused real problems, but with 6th Division’s safe arrival at Port Moresby and the Marines furiously digging in at Tulagi, I’m not too bothered unless the carriers push much deeper. If they are covering an invasion, then where? If it’s New Guinea or the Island chain to the southeast then it’s all undefended (apart from Port Moresby), and other than being a general nuisance then there’s not much I can do. If it’s the southern Solomons, then the Marines had better keep digging!


NORPAC

259th Coastal Artillery Bn unloads at Adak. I’ve got some tankers loading up at Prince Rupert bound for Adak, when they arrive I’ll shift the submarine base there from Dutch Harbor.


SUBMARINE WARFARE

Searaven hits xAK Teiryu Maru with a dud torpedo off Shanghai.

[RangerJoe]

Depending upon what you have available, I suggest that you build up and garrison Milne Bay. You probably will have to air lift in some supplies and engineering squads first unless you can get a fast transport and/or an amphibious TF there. That way you can build port facilities.

[M Peaston]

I would like to reoccupy Milne Bay. I do have 2nd Marine Rgt and 2/7 Commando Bn available at Sydney, but as they’re the only reserves in the area that aren’t restricted to the Australian mainland I’d like to keep them in reserve for now in case they’re needed elsewhere, especially if I need to reinforce Tulagi, Luganville or Noumea.

41st Division is due to arrive in Sydney on the 27th, and could possibly be available. The plan was for 41st Division to replace the Australian 1st Armoured Division in reserve, freeing up the 1st Armoured Div to defend Perth/Western Australia, but I can look at that again when the 41st arrives. There’s also the 6th Marine Rgt, embarking on Queen Elizabeth at San Diego, which should be in Australia by about 3rd April. Of course, it may all be a bit late by then.

Engineers are at a premium in this mod, there’s never enough of them, and none available for Milne Bay. That’s why I’m so pleased that the Australian I Corps Engineers and Pioneers are spending their days lounging around on Socotra.

[M Peaston]

“It’s not my fault” thought Blackadder to himself; “how was I to know? Roosevelt should have been more specific”.

It all started when Blackadder was packing for the train to San Francisco, and realised his ceremonial uniform was missing. His room had been broken into! A major security breach. Blackadder called in Drebbin, who called in Gently, who called in the FBI. It turned out it was in fact the FBI which had seized Blackadder’s uniform on Roosevelt’s orders! Roosevelt was very clear; Blackadder could have his ridiculous uniform back for the surrender ceremony, if he really must, but certainly not before then.

Surender ceremony? Surrender? Blackadder was completely stunned. Surely things aren’t that bad? Blackadder thought the war was actually going rather well - anyway, according to the BBC broadcasts he’d been listening to the war was going well. First we were beating them in Malaya, then we were beating them in Singapore, and now we’ve moved on to beating them in Burma.

The politics of warfare may be above his pay grade, but Blackadder didn’t want his senior commanders to be caught out by surprise in the way he was, so he flashed a message to his theatre commanders to prepare for a ceasefire pending Allied surrender. Then the proverbial hit the fan. It seems Blackadder may be off Roosevelt’s Christmas card list; Churchill’s too. Roosevelt was talking about the Japanese surrendering! Oh dear! The message was quickly ‘corrected’, a suitable junior signals clerk was identified to spend the rest of the war becoming more acquainted with a potato peeler, and so hopefully no great harm done.

But hopes don’t always work out as expected, and yet again Blackadder found himself in a crisis meeting with his senior advisors when he should be on the train to San Francisco. Also present was Blackadder’s new Head of Communications, Marcel Marceau.

Head of Communications Marcel Marceau.jpeg (6.55 KiB) Viewed 1419 times

“So, to confirm” said Blackadder, “we think USAFFE HQ in Bataan received the message about an imminent ceasefire and surrender.” Marceau nodded. “But we’re not sure” said Blackadder. Marceau shook his head. “What about the rescinding order?” Marceau just gave an exaggerated gallic shrug. “So we can’t say for sure that the message had anything to do with the fall of Bataan?” said Blackadder hopefully. Blackadder gave up trying to interpret Marceau’s waving arms in response. “Two can play at this game”, he thought, as he rolled his eyes to heaven with obvious displeasure. Marceau retorted by raising his hand to his forehead, prompting much sniggering around the table. “HOW DARE YOU!” roared Blackadder; after all, you didn’t have to be a mime expert to work out what THAT gesture meant…..




20th March 1942



INDIA/BURMA

13th Indian Bde arrives back at Toungoo, having been taught a harsh lesson in warfare by elements of the Japanese 33rd Div at Daik-u. AVG again swept Rangoon in advance of the B17Es bombing the airfield. Not unexpectedly, the JAAF had reinforced its fighter presence with some Oscars. The Allies lost 5 H81-A3s (1 pilot killed) in return for claiming 9 Oscars and 1 Tojo. Notably, according to Allied reconnaissance the Japanese no longer have any bombers based at Rangoon. Tomorrow the B17s at Dacca will be stood down and the AVG will sweep Rangoon one last time before pulling back. I’d like to keep up the pressure here, but the H81-A3’s service rating of 3 makes it hard to sustain any kind of effort, and the RAF’s fighters are covering bases in India, Ceylon, Java, Timor and Akyab with nothing to spare for Burma.


PHILIPPINES

The Allied defence in Bataan finally crumbled, putting up little resistance today, and the Japanese now control all of Luzon.


ABDA

The Japanese capture Lolobato near Ternate.


SWPAC/SOPAC

There’s plenty of shipping detected at and around Rabaul, but the Japanese carriers have disappeared. I’ve got pretty good search coverage in the Santa Cruz and Ellice Islands, and again at Port Moresby. The weak point is the Solomons, with just a small flight at Tulagi so far. It is possible that the carriers have slipped through the Solomons into the Coral Sea; DD Helm has been detached from a convoy and is heading north to picket between Rossel and Rennell Islands, and all fighter squadrons on Australia’s east coast are on high alert. Lexington and Enterprise are just off Norfolk Island and should be safe for now.

In hindsight I should have picketed the Solomons/Coral Sea long before now.


SUBMARINE WARFARE

AMc Kianga was sunk by I-9 just outside Port Moresby. Considering the number of high-value targets that have been in the area in recent days, I’ll take this as a win.

[M Peaston]

21st March 1942


CHINA

The airfield at Lanchow reaches level 4, allowing the bombers based there to attack the Japanese at Ningsia with a full bomb load.

Chinese guerrillas advance on Anyang, partly for the nuisance value, but mostly because it is either that or be surrounded and wiped out in open terrain. I think the Japanese have already anticipated the move and reinforced Anyang, so there isn’t really much the Chinese can do other than just sit there.


INDIA/BURMA

AVG got their backsides kicked over Rangoon, losing four fighters without inflicting any loss on the Japanese. As already planned, the AVG is now withdrawing from Toungoo to regroup.


ABDA

A quiet day in the DEI. Japanese aerial reconnaissance continues over Merak Batavia and Buitenzorg. This, plus the fact that the Allies still hold Tarakan/Balikpapan makes me think that the Japanese will invade Java from the Batavia end. Heavy radio transmissions at Singapore plus troop transports seen at Palembang suggest that a Java invasion may be imminent.


SWPAC/SOPAC

There’s still no sign of Japanese aircraft carriers - they just seem to have disappeared.


SUBMARINE WARFARE

Sealion torpedoes and sinks xAKL Hokuzan Maru south of Formosa.

I-24 shells and sinks AGP Eridanus at Tulagi. Too often now I’ve failed to escort so-called ‘low value’ auxiliaries resulting in their unnecessary loss.

[M Peaston]

An overview of the current situation in the DEI.

DEI overview.png (3.49 MiB) Viewed 1376 times

My suspicion is that the Japanese will attempt a pincer move, advancing through Java and on to Timor, linking up with another advance from Manado/Ternate through Ambon/Kendari, isolating the Allies in Celebes and Borneo. Ambon, Balikpapan, Tarakan and Makassar only have token Allied garrisons.

Most of the Dutch airforce is concentrated on Java, along with an RAF Squadron of Hurricanes, a USAAF P40E squadron, a squadron each of RAAF Buffalos and Hudsons, a flight of Vildebeests and the long-suffering flight of Wirraways that did such good work in Malaya. The only Allied ground units contributing to the defence are RAF 223 Group HQ and some Gordon Highlanders at Soerabaja who missed their evacuation boat.

[M Peaston]

Once again, Blackadder has missed his train. He, Mainwaring and Dai Station are poring over a map of the Indian Ocean. None of them need to ask where Socotra is now; they are all too familiar with its location. As per regulations, the entire force of Australian artillery, pioneers and engineers has disembarked at Socotra ready to reembark, but now there’s another problem.

Blackadder is incredulous “What do you mean they can’t all get back on board?” Dai Station, with some embarrassment, tried to explain again “Well, as many of the supplies are still on board some the ships, there isn’t much room to spare, and bearing in mind the regulations restricting ships to carrying no more than one unit, realistically we have to try and get each unit back on the ship it came off”.

“But wasn't that the whole point?” interjected Mainwaring with all the patience he could muster, which to be frank was never much at the best of times. "Everybody disembarks, then everyone gets back on board. That’s what you said had to happen”.

“The trouble is” sighed Dai Station, “it seems nobody thought to write down who and what was on which ship to start with. We need to unload all the supplies from all the ships, then just start all over again”.

“But doesn’t anybody know which ship they just came off” said said an exasperated Blackadder, who by now knew full well there was going to be some silly reason why they didn’t. “How can they sail over six hundred miles without knowing which ship they’re aboard?”

“It depends how drunk they were” replied Dai Station; he leant forward and whispered to the others “Australians”

Ah!

Blackadder snapped. “Transport half of them to Karachi” he shouted, “return for the other half, then take them to Karachi as well. We’ll sort it all out there!” Blackadder was tempted to instruct Dai Station to go to Socotra and remain there just in case something similar ever happened again.

[RangerJoe]

At least get the engineers started on base improvements!

[M Peaston]

The engineers are the first to go to Karachi - I've got much use for them in India.

Shhh.....don't tell Blamey. Everyone knows once they're deployed in India it'll be a long time before they're released for Australia, if at all.

[M Peaston]

Japanese forces at the fall of Bataan (20th March)

14th Army HQ

48th Div
28th Div
21st Div
38th Div

2nd Tank Rgt
4th Tank Rgt
7th Tank Rgt

21st Ind Engineer Rgt

1st Heavy Artillery Rgt
8th Medium Field Artillery Rgt
1st Medium Field Artillery Rgt
15th Ind Mortar Bn
2nd Ind Mortar Bn
5th Mortar Bn
20th Ind Mountain Gun Bn
3rd Ind Heavy Artillery Bn
9th Ind Heavy Artillery Bn


Even allowing for garrisoning Luzon and mopping up the remainder of the Philippines, the Japanese have a pretty powerful force to sweep south through the DEI - or wherever they chose to go.

[LargeSlowTarget]

“But doesn’t anybody know which ship they just came off” said said an exasperated Blackadder, who by now knew full well there was going to be some silly reason why they didn’t. “How can they sail over six hundred miles without knowing which ship they’re aboard?”

“It depends how drunk they were” replied Dai Station; he leant forward and whispered to the others “Australians”

Ah!

Some things never change: Australia the Drunkest Country in the World

[M Peaston]

Thanks for the article LST - nice find!



Sorry for the lack of an update - October was a busy month. I do have a somewhat quiet turn to report back on now.




22nd March 1942




INDIA/BURMA


Prince of Wales arrives at Surat for her refit.

CLs Mauritius and Caledon, plus 2 DDs, are heading for the Andaman Sea with orders to interdict any Japanese shipping there and generally to look for trouble. I suspect the Japanese may try and seize Port Blair soon, and also there are two DMSs at Rangoon sweeping mines, so it is likely shipping may be heading there soon too.

I’ve been thinking about how I am going to deploy Eastern Fleet. Currently the main fleet units are based at Colombo. There is a cruiser squadron at Cocos Island (to guard the Indian Ocean convoy routes and intervene around Java if the opportunity arrives) and another cruiser group at Calcutta (to protect troop convoys from Calcutta to Chittagong and Akyab).

Expecting Eastern Fleet to protect India from a seaborne invasion is unrealistic, so the fleet is now tasked with assisting in the defence of India and protecting the Indian Ocean convoy routes. A secondary task is contesting control of the Bay of Bengal.

The issue is, base the fleet too far forward and it becomes very vulnerable: base it too far back and it becomes ineffective.

Currently I’m thinking about maintaining cruiser squadrons at Calcutta and Colombo (I’m assuming the Japanese will take Cocos soon enough) and basing the main fleet units somewhere on India’s west coast between Cochin and Surat. Cochin has the advantage that it is developing nicely as a port (to facilitate fuel shipments), but may still be a bit too far forward. I might base the old battleships at Cochin, and have a fast(er) carrier group somewhere like Bombay. Formidable is heading to Mombassa from Cape Town; I’ll make a decision before she links up with Indomitable.


ABDA

Still no Japanese moves, at least not any that have been detected.

Hermes has taken on a squadron of Fulmars at Darwin and is now heading to Saumlaki to cover 132nd Regiment’s deployment there. Repulse is heading back to Port Hedland.


SWPAC/SOPAC

Norfolk Island Coastal Arty Bn, Norfolk Island Bn and 26th ADC squadron arrive at Suva. The coastal artillery will remain there, the other two units are going to occupy Nukufetau in the Ellice Islands.


NORPAC

154th Artillery Rgt is embarking at Dutch Harbor bound for Adak.


SUBMARINE WARFARE

Sculpin manages to hit two xAKs of Shanghai with dud torpedoes.



At the moment I’m just waiting for the Japanese to strike in the DEI. I would like to preempt things and hit first - but Fokko is keeping his cards very close to his chest. I can’t “hit him where he ain’t” as I don’t know where he is in the first place! The carriers that appeared off the Solomons a few days ago disappeared without doing anything - I think he may have just been showing them there as some kind of diversion. On the positive side, so far I have been allowed to develop my plans largely unhindered - and not just in the DEI.

[RangerJoe]

You can enlarge the FAA Fulmar squadrons, give them the extra Fulmars and train fighter pilots for the RAF as well, there is also a Canadian FAA squadron as well. They may lose a few points of experience when moving to fighters since they were trained on fighter bombers but they will not lose any of their skill levels.

You can enlarge the torpedo squadrons as well to train RAF bomber squadrons although you won't have that many extra torpedo aircraft.

[CaptBeefheart]

Still no DEI action, eh? It would be great to have that much time to move fuel from the DEI to Perth unhindered. You probably wouldn't have to shut down Australia's HI to keep fuel up.

Cheers,
CB

[PaxMondo]

....
On the positive side, so far I have been allowed to develop my plans largely unhindered - and not just in the DEI.

Personally, I think this is a death strategy for the IJ ... sitting back waiting for the allies in '42 means in mid-'43 the IJ get crushed. So, you are doing a great job. Focus on you, finish getting your defenses set Aleutians, NZ, OZ, India. If he doesn't move into those areas by mid-42, then you can start firming up your defenses in the DEI/Burma areas. CHI is just what it is for the allies, I wouldn't worry it. I've never seen a game where CHI was consequential for the allies. Sure, if you keep it, the end game is sooner and easier; but you can say the same for the DEI, Burma .... in the end though, the allies can easily recover from these.

It's when the allies lose any of those first 4: Aleutians, NZ, OZ, India to IJ that can create issues and hence should be the targets for the IJ. Don't take this to mean any of those areas are insurmountable; they aren't. But they do create significant issues and delays for the allies.

[M Peaston]

Hi Captain Beefheart and PaxMondo,

Firstly, apologies to all for the lack of any updates. There hasn’t been any activity in the DEI, or elsewhere for that matter, as my PC has been dismantled and shoved into some random room to make way for some very disruptive house renovations. I was hoping to get a chance to reassemble it (the PC not the house!) and get a turn or two done, but most of the house is still a building site. Realistically I’ll probably wait now until all is finished, which should be by the second week of December. (When I say “finished” what I really mean is a brief pause before someone starts murmuring about the next big thing that ‘needs’ doing….)

Still no DEI action, eh? It would be great to have that much time to move fuel from the DEI to Perth unhindered. You probably wouldn't have to shut down Australia's HI to keep fuel up.

Cheers,
CB

I may have been premature in stopping fuel shipments out of the DEI when I did; I think I had more time to do so than I realised. With Palembang now Japanese and the routes to Balikpapan/Tarakan well within bomber range that leaves only Soerabaja now. I’m getting enough fuel to Perth from Abadan to be able to send some on from Perth to Port Hedland and Darwin. I’ve no intention of shutting down Heavy Industry in Australia if I can possibly help it, I'd like to keep it running even if only for 'role-playing' purposes.



Thanks for your opinion and advice, PaxMondo. As LST reminds us, his design intent was to apply logistic brakes to an early Japanese advance, and to a later Allied one, and this might be weighing heavily on Fokko’s thinking. That said, I did expect the Japanese to push much harder and faster in the DEI after the early capture of Singapore. Maybe the pace of Japan’s advance will pick up now Bataan has fallen.

China has been designed to make its capture more difficult, I’m reasonably confident of being able to put up a good defence of Australia and the South Pacific if necessary, and although the Aleutians are only lightly defended at the moment I do think the Japanese would need to be concentrating elsewhere at this stage. I think my one big vulnerability is a seaborne invasion of India. I can’t stop it at sea, and on land I think I have deployed badly. However, I don’t see any sign at all that the Japanese are preparing to invade India.

All in all I am happy with the way it’s going.

[CaptBeefheart]

The Dutch must be good spellers as a nation if they can remember how to spell all of these places. The port on the southern coast of Java is a nice one to build up. It's a bit safer for Perth runs as you can't get stuck like you can on the north coast. I'm going to try: Tjiltitjap? No help from spellcheck on that one.

Oh, and no need to apologize for delays. Real life happens.

I just fired up the Ironman 3 scenario of the new build. This one has plenty of AMCs with 14 Kates and 7 Zeroes for your sinking pleasure. They'll go all the way to the southern edge of the map. I have no choice but to turn off most HI in OZ. Once I can clear the area to the West and SW of Oz, I'll be able to move the big stockpiles of fuel and supplies in Cape Town. I'll have to bring my U.S. carriers all the way there before that'll happen, though.

Cheers,
CB

[M Peaston]

The Dutch must be good spellers as a nation if they can remember how to spell all of these places. The port on the southern coast of Java is a nice one to build up. It's a bit safer for Perth runs as you can't get stuck like you can on the north coast. I'm going to try: Tjiltitjap? No help from spellcheck on that one.

If you have problems with difficult place names, try the English method of changing them to something easier.

“Hachinohe? That’s just too difficult. We could alter the spelling a little to make it a bit simpler to spell and pronounce.”

“Something like ‘O-X-F-O-R-D’ maybe?”

“Perfect!”





23rd March 1942




INDIA/BURMA

The Japanese advance in Burma gains momentum with the capture of Tharrawaddy, north of Rangoon.


ABDA

132nd Rgt and 181st Field Artillery Bn begin deploying at Saumlaki. 182nd Rgt at Perth receives the expected order to embark on transports bound for Babar.


SWPAC/SOPAC

KB has reappeared just to the east of the Solomons, near where they were last seen on 19th March.

1st Marine Air Wing and 10th RAAF BF land at Port Moresby.

Norfolk Island Bn and 26th ADC are re-stowing at Suva and when ready will head off to occupy Nukufetau in the Ellice Islands.

Enterprise and Lexington have taken on some fuel just off Norfolk Island, and are now off to join up with the other US carriers on the West Coast. I plan for them to rendezvous with another replenishment group at or near Christmas Island.


SUBMARINE WARFARE

I-166 took some hits from a pair of motor launches off Pamekasan and is reported to have suffered heavy damage.

KB.png (1.65 MiB) Viewed 900 times

[RangerJoe]

If spelling these places is not your forte, then just do what Greyjoy did. Socotra became Scoodra!

But then, English is not his first language . . .