9 Oct 42
3 Japanese subs were on the move yesterday, trying to catch a big cargo convoy westbound from Ceylon towards the western map edge. The ships had been spotted 2 days in a row, and were moving 6 hexes a day, due west. The subs moved to intercept, but OPilot wisely jogged 2 rows to the south, still headed west. KB Fressia showed up in the exact hex predicted with a 6 hex move due west, and it got a depth charge hit on I-32, doing moderate SYS damage. All 3 subs will continue the hunt for one more day, picking different hexes 6 hexes towards the map edge. It's less than 50-50 for an intercept.
The Australian B-17s went back to hitting Daly Waters, doing heavy damage. The rotation has included Daly Waters, Gove, Port Moresby, and Katherine. I'm guessing that Katherine is next. Nicks from Lae and Zeros from Darwin are moved to Katherine.
Ansi in far, far northern China is captured. I had been chasing one of the weakened Chinese units into Ansi from the south with an armored unit, slowly wearing down the enemy that continued to take losses to a much smaller, but armored, unit. For the move into Ansi, I sent the armor back south to cover the base there, and moved a bigger infantry unit into Ansi. That worked.
Ground combat at Ansi (80,23)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 6733 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 210
Defending force 9209 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 232
Japanese adjusted assault: 165
Allied adjusted defense: 75
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Ansi !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), leaders(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
274 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Allied ground losses:
2702 casualties reported
Squads: 121 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 35 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 3
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
Defending units:
38th Chinese Corps
303rd Brigade
9th Separate Brigade
The 2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade will now chase the enemy to the northeast. I didn't expect to be able to pull supply anywhere near this far north in China, but I'm doing it. I'm contemplating going after that big oil producing base 2 more cities to the north. I think other Japanese players have had issues pulling oil out of there, so it may not be worth the trouble.
Northwest of Tuyun, Chinese units moved into the woods and attacked a small Japanese unit holding the flank. I had a division and armor here previously, but pulled them back into Tuyun. I wonder if OPilot will reinforce this fight. I won't order reinforcements.
Action in the South Pacific?
