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A couple turns into having a continuous railway route to Ledo, shows me how difficult it will be to accumulate supply in adequate quantities for operations against Burma. So far supply is a trickle and until a number of bases expand it isn't going to improve. I'm optimistic, but it will take a little while to get established.

Oct. 6/42:

Japanese CV's were spotted northeast of Exmouth on the 3rd heading southwest. Zero sweeps appear over Exmouth on the 5th, but Allied LRCAP based at Carnarvon was ordered to stand down when the CV's were spotted moving closer. Allied Vindicator bombers based at Carnarvon sink a Japanese AMc that ventured too close to Exmouth. I don't believe this is KB, but sighting reports are sketchy. The Japanese CV's moved further southwest on the 6th to be within 7 hexes of Carnarvon, but I withdrew all fighter and bombers units inland as a precaution.

I think Andre's level of frustration with my play is increasing, as I've noticed more comments geared towards me on the forum and e-mail in reference to "Sir Robin" tactics. Having played Japan and having experienced the same thing, I used to harbour the same feelings. I don't feel that way anymore.

I'm starting to see that much of Andre's tactics rely on Allied play supporting untenable positions, or in some cases just hoping for poor play. I fail to see why pulling back 3 squadrons of air units from Carnarvon in the face of an unknown threat should be surprising. Why would I risk losing fighters over a base that I can't fully protect at this time. A quick naval bombardment followed by sweeps and possible air attack would see 3 trashed Allied fighter squadrons in defence of a base that doesn't matter. Had he not telegraphed his move so early perhaps he could have caught me unawares and laid a nice ambush. Instead, I think he expected me to stay in place and possibly get drubbed.

I am coming, and I'm not waiting until I have Essex class carriers or Hellcats. I choose to fight on my terms for objectives that matter with the limited resources at my disposal. There will be plenty of opportunities ahead for Andre to satisfy his bloodlust, but I simply will not foolishly throw away aircraft and ships against meaningless Japanese raids. If he wants a fight, raid Melbourne right now where the entire American Navy is upgrading, then he'll have a fight on his hands. [:D]

I have operations planned against Baker and Canton Islands, Ceylon, Port Hedland, Broome and possibly New Caledonia all scheduled to kick off in a matter of weeks. Why would I fight for Carnarvon when my entire air force and navy is preparing for bigger fish?

We've reached Oct. 7/42 and there is little happening other than daily Japanese bombings in China. Allied troops continue to build up bases in Southern and Eastern India in preparation for upcoming air offensives against Ceylon and Burma in a matter of days.

Screenshot of the Japanese carrier positions on Oct. 5th. Too bad I made the decision to upgrade, otherwise I could have sent five Allied CV's to defend Carnarvon having had 4 days of recon showing Japanese carriers cruising off the coast. I wonder what might have happened then.

Your post sounds like you are trying to convince yourself you are doing the right thing. [:D]
- and I agree with your logic, conserve your strength to fight where it matters and you can win. [:)]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Your post sounds like you are trying to convince yourself you are doing the right thing. [:D]
- and I agree with your logic, conserve your strength to fight where it matters and you can win. [:)]

I am doing the right thing, but who doesn't want to whack something in this game [:D]. I just regret the timing. If I don't upgrade I could have whacked him rather than him implying I'm scared to fight. As it stands though, my fleet will be fully upgraded and ready to rock and roll in just under three weeks.

Oct. 7/42:

Japanese CV's retire northwest, while this happens at Exmouth showing exactly why I withdrew my precious fighters from Carnarvon which could just as easily have been targeted had they been present. I'm happy though, a lot of Japanese fuel wasted on a meaningless bombardment of Exmouth and some intelligence on the location of a few Japanese carriers.

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Night Naval bombardment of Exmouth at 50,129 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Nagato
DD Minegumo
DD Natsugumo
DD Arashi

Allied ground losses:
303 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 5 (4 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 12
Port hits 10
Port supply hits 7

I guess he wants to keep Exmouth neutered despite Carnarvon being the better target even though the aircraft had withdrawn. I only have a small RAF BF and a USN construction unit at Exmouth. Carnarvon is my main airbase in the northwest, but that will change shortly when I heavily reinforce Exmouth with more units, CD guns and mines in preparation for my northern Australian operations.

Do you have any PT boats in the pools that you can put into Exmouth too? The consensus seems to be that mines don't get hit by bombardment TFs because they never come really close inshore. And CD units seem to like to wait for helpless amphibs rather than shooting at warships that might take exception to their temerity.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Do you have any PT boats in the pools that you can put into Exmouth too?

I've been using some at Exmouth and Carnarvon, but Japanese destroyers have been committed first to clear the way. It's going to take a combination of defensive measures to stop the bombardment of Exmouth. I just don't have the pieces in place yet.

Oct. 8/42:

Japanese forces continue to retire from their recent Exmouth expedition, with the CV's apparently heading towards Batavia and the BB's making for Soerabaja.

I've sent an Allied SCTF to take up station at Geraldton to be available to interdict any future Japanese bombardment attempts.

In southern India I'm still waiting for a number of airbases to reach level two so I can start conducting sweep missions against Ceylon. Twelve squadrons of B-17's and B-24's are ready and waiting to target Colombo. The British Fleet has slowly been staging itself back into India, with four BB and 2 CA's based at Bombay. I'm critically short of DD's and have begun removing those that are available from escort duty to fleet operations instead.

The most recent CVE arrived at Tacoma a number of days ago and has reached San Francisco safely. It will join up with another CVE, BB Colorado and eight DD's already at San Francisco and travel to Pearl Harbor. I now have three CVE's, four if you include CVE Long Island, to provide air support for the Baker and Canton Islands invasions. There will be a total of six battleships available to support the landings.

All that remains is for the bulk of the fleet to complete their upgrades in Australia before operations commence in a matter of weeks throughout the Pacific.

Oct. 9/42:

Another slow turn. Not much to report other than the usual Japanese bombings in China, but there is one new development in India.

If you refer back to the last screenshot of India, there was 1/3 of IJA 5th Division occupying the wooded rail hex northeast of Silchar, blocking the railway. The Japanese have since moved west into clear terrain in an effort to escape. I think it would have been better to stay, as the blocked railway was delaying my advance. Now there is nothing stopping me from moving on Dacca and Chittagong. Now that the Japanese LCU is in clear terrain, I've ordered ground bombing missions to target it while Allied ground forces move to engage. I expect heavy air battles over the next week to gain local air superiority. I've moved a heavy concentration of fighters to Rangpur, Tezpur and Dimapur. I've also ordered sweeps of Dacca and Myitkyina to start the fireworks.

In Southern India I've ordered a small P-38 sweep of Colombo to be followed by 12 squadrons of unescorted 4E's to hit the airbase and port. Recon shows 40+ fighters at Colombo and 90+ at Trincomalee. It could be a costly day for the bombers, but it's time to apply pressure to the Japanese air force in India.

Allied 4E bombers are pretty tough, but whatever you do, keep the Wellingtons out of risky raids. They carry a huge bomb load (8X500 lb) for a 2E bomber but are very weak defensively. It is easy to be fooled by their long range and bomb load into thinking they are built like a 4E bomber.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Allied 4E bombers are pretty tough, but whatever you do, keep the Wellingtons out of risky raids. They carry a huge bomb load (8X500 lb) for a 2E bomber but are very weak defensively. It is easy to be fooled by their long range and bomb load into thinking they are built like a 4E bomber.

Only B-17's and B-24's are assigned to this raid. I've been using the Wellingtons against ground targets.

I have a total of 16 squadrons using B-17's and B-24's in India. They do the heaving lifting against the tough targets.

Oct. 10/42:

The raids today go badly for Allied fighters as it was a Japanese dive fest. The P-38's got their asses chewed by the CAP and 15 are lost on the day, 10 against A6M2 Zeros no less. The P-40's and P-40K's don't perform any better. Back to the drawing board. The Allied fighters are still no match for the Tojo and Zero fighters, especially on sweeps. I'll have to go back to the tactic of nibbling Japanese CAP, because today showed me I can't dominate a single Chutai or Sentai head on.

The bombers against the Zero CAP over Colombo perform fantastic though. Only one B-24 is lost to Ops. A Japanese sub in port takes a 500lb bomb and the airbase service damage shows 19%. Maybe the bombers should sweep and the fighters bomb?

A Canadian Kittyhawk squadron at Tezpur recorded it's first kill today. A little revenge for Hong Kong and much more to come.

Elements of IJA 5th Division were hit by B-25's. The plan is to slow this unit down enough to allow pursuing Allied ground troops to catch the rearguard and maul it. Another element of IJA 5th Division is at Dacca and I'm guessing the final one is at Chittagong. I see the possibility of completely trashing this enemy division.

There will be a 1 week break while I'm away on vacation.

I haven't received a turn from Andre since I returned from Phoenix on Nov. 10th. With all the latest comments posted by Andre of late against any type of Allied "Sir Robin" play, I'm not optimistic he's going to continue our PBEM. I'll just have to wait and see if a turn eventually arrives.

No word from Andre since Nov. 11th. With what occurred in a thread recently, I'm betting Andre will decide not to continue and this will be become the third PBEM dropped against me. If that is the case I will miss the game, because I was enjoying learning from the Allied perspective. I'm hopeful, but not optimistic.

Keep us posted.

Well, I stand corrected. I just received a turn from Andre. Good on him for keeping this going, but I hope I won't have to wait 2 weeks between turns every time [:D].

Now what the heck was I doing? [&:]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Now what the heck was I doing? [&:]

You were about to pound the snail snot out of the Japanese [;)]

Ha, I like the sound of that.

Oct. 11/42:

Quiet turn as Allied naval upgrades and troop deployments continue. A large TF carrying U.S. 43rd Division arrived safely at Pearl Harbor, as did three more BB's. The CVE's are still en route, but should arrive within a week. I won't move against Baker and Canton Islands until the navy upgrades have been completed in two weeks. If KB is in position to oppose my Central Pacific operations, I want to be able to move against New Caledonia or Broome immediately.

In India preparations continue for operations against Ceylon. Within a few more days I'll have two airbases in Southern India at level two within P40 range for sweep missions against Colombo and Trincomalee. Japanese fighter strength is down at Colombo so I will target it first. Trincomalee will be the tougher target. Royal Navy strength is increasing as more ships re-enter the IO. I'm slowly testing Japanese search capabilities along the west coast of India from Goa to Cochin and so far nothing is spotted. I may land on Ceylon within a month with upwards of five divisions if I can get air superiority within that time.

Also in India, Japanese 5th Div/A is not looking too good after 98 Allied 2E's hammered it in clear terrain near Silchar. A weak CAP of Zero and Nick fighters was easily dealt with by sweeping Allied fighters. Six Zeros and two Nick's were downed for no loss. I've ordered a deliberate attack with ground forces tomorrow. U.S. 27th and 32nd Divisions will spearhead the attack against Dacca and Chittagong. I want to destroy IJA 5th Division in the process.

Japanese units at Calcutta are down to 13, so the bug out is well under way. I can't really do anything about it, but it's more important to push into Burma. My northern front in China is beginning to crumble so I want to keep Andre focused on stopping me in Burma. There may be a chance to use Japanese reinforcement of Burma to my advantage elsewhere.

Oct. 12/42:

A great day in the air for the Allies. Allied sweeps clear the skies of Japanese CAP over IJA 5th Div/A and the 2E's follow up and paste the enemy force. As a bonus, a large raid of Sally bombers escorted by a few Nick's make an appearance to try and disrupt Allied ground operations. For the loss of one Canadian Kittyhawk, the Japanese lose 39 fighters/bombers on the day.

The ground assault against elements of IJA 5th Division go as planned. AAR follows:

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Ground combat at 59,38 (near Silchar)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11915 troops, 321 guns, 408 vehicles, Assault Value = 950

Defending force 3483 troops, 40 guns, 25 vehicles, Assault Value = 88

Allied adjusted assault: 274

Japanese adjusted defense: 5

Allied assault odds: 54 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2126 casualties reported
Squads: 52 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 50 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 19 (8 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (5 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
32nd Infantry Division
27th Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
50th Tank Brigade
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Heavy AA Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
35th Light AA Regiment
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment

Defending units:
5th/A Division

Allied units will continue to advance on Chittagong.

In China, the Chinese launch a local counterattack...and win!

AAR follows:

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Ground combat at 80,50 (near Changteh)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31320 troops, 172 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1238

Defending force 2256 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 103

Allied adjusted assault: 505

Japanese adjusted defense: 151

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
628 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 65 disabled
Non Combat: 27 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
704 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 64 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
65th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
25th Chinese Corps
63rd Chinese Corps
88th Chinese Corps
12th Group Army
10th Group Army
10th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
11th RGC Temp. Division

Ok, nothing to brag about, but this opens up the LOC to the defenders in Changteh.

More aviation support and squadrons are being redeployed to Southern India. I now have two bases within six hexes of Colombo and Trincomalee to allow sweeps. I'll begin hammering Ceylon within a week. The Royal Navy now has 4 BB's, 2 CA's and 6 DD's available to support operations against Ceylon. More DD's and CL's will be arriving within a few weeks. I have plenty of xAP's available for amphibious landings. I know they are not ideal, but I can only work with what I have.

In the Pacific, the American CVE's are four days east of Pearl Harbor. Once they arrive I can start to put together the Baker and Canton Island amphibious forces.

Fun times ahead.