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Lexington is low on torpedoes and sorties and will be retiring. It's a shame. Would've loved to sink the Yamato and his remaining two CVLs. Guess I'll just ave to settle for the two CVLs I DID sinK! [:D]

You did good work and punished him for getting too adventurous. He will have to send the surviving capitol ships to the yards and with the ones you sank he has left himself with a decision, leave south central Pac to land base naval air only or bring in real portions of the KB. Forcing the Japanese to make these decisions so early will put pressure on him and maybe force more mistakes and open up earlier opportunities fro you.

July 3 1942

Decisions, decisions. This will be a small update to highlight the situation as I ponder what to do. I won't send the turn back to John till sometime tomorrow. However, my carriers are still at Luganville, have some fuel, and a decent amount of sorties left. John's remaining CVLs have been spotted east of Lunga on a trajectory towards it. Moreover, recon of Lunga shows not many fighters/bombers; and John seems to have a decent amount of ships hanging there (including some surface combat vessels). I could potentially move up for a dedicated strike; I would be just out of my LRCAP range from Luganville, however. John's CVLs will probably head north now that he thinks he's out of danger, so it might not be worth it.

Should we make July 4th something to celebrate? The DL on Lunga is low and he probably has more fighters than shown.




China

In China, John begins attacking Chinese formations in the western mountainous, rough areas southeast of Chungking and is finding the going tougher than he did in previous areas. The Chinese can hold out for awhile yet in these areas, but it will be nice if they can see 1943.

round combat at 76,50 (near Chihkiang)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26025 troops, 210 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 773

Defending force 40014 troops, 268 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293

Japanese adjusted assault: 269

Allied adjusted defense: 2485

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 9

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2518 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 138 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
214 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 60 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
13th Division
38th Division

Defending units:
37th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
14th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps

Ground combat at 77,50 (near Chihkiang)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 38162 troops, 348 guns, 198 vehicles, Assault Value = 879

Defending force 47853 troops, 139 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1350

Japanese adjusted assault: 259

Allied adjusted defense: 898

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2669 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 136 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Allied ground losses:
873 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
70th Division
15th Division
51st Division
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion

Defending units:
59th Chinese Corps
62nd Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese Corps
19th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Cavalry Corps
16th Group Army
30th Group Army

ORIGINAL: Anachro

July 3 1942

Decisions, decisions. This will be a small update to highlight the situation as I ponder what to do. I won't send the turn back to John till sometime tomorrow. However, my carriers are still at Luganville, have some fuel, and a decent amount of sorties left. John's remaining CVLs have been spotted east of Lunga on a trajectory towards it. Moreover, recon of Lunga shows not many fighters/bombers; and John seems to have a decent amount of ships hanging there (including some surface combat vessels). I could potentially move up for a dedicated strike; I would be just out of my LRCAP range from Luganville, however. John's CVLs will probably head north now that he thinks he's out of danger, so it might not be worth it.

Should we make July 4th something to celebrate? The DL on Lunga is low and he probably has more fighters than shown.

First of all, congratulations to your successful operation. Yes, there are probably many issues where you may say "but it would have been nice / even better if / or even but maybe I can still...". But frankly, IMHO the results you got are possibly what you can expect, - the armor on the carriers does what it is supposed/designed to do- (and if you extrapolate fromt this setup where you just face a bunch of CVL to a setup where you face one of the KB parts including fleet carriers to me confirm my concerns about Allied ability to deal with even a single one of the KB parts).

Which sort of defines the problem. Because my guess would be that John has already set wheels into motion in order to get after your carriers now that he knows where to find them/some of them. Not sure how plentiful your options to fade back into the dark are - the fewer they are, the more likely it is you will find something mean lurking for you, assisted by -as NY59giants confirmed- some beefed up recon capabilities. I would try to get out of Dodge, rest&replenish and hit elsewhere at a different point of time. But of course, maybe I am just a coward [;)]

Hartwig

@Modrow My dear Hartwig! When are you going to continue your AAR? As for the decisions, I largely agree with you and followed the advice in the following turn. The big decision factors for me were: his LBA, my depleted air strength, John's CVLs likely moving north and out of range anyways, and finally denying him knowledge of where exactly my carriers are.

July 4 1942

Sopac
My carriers move south from Luganville this turn, as does the CV Lexington. This is most likely a good decision as John's carriers don't move towards Lunga, but north towards either Rabaul or Truk. They would have been out-of-range of any strike. Moreover, John seems to have expected than I might try another strike, as he had his LBA set to naval strike. They attempted to sink an AVD at Luganville and met my CAP instead.

As my carriers move south, they spot John moving various subs around in an attempt to extract some vengeance for the sinking of his CVLs.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 120,150

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 109 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G4M1 Betty x 13

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 12
P-40E Warhawk x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
AVD Williamson

India

John seems to be highly concentrating on Asanol and launched a major land movement to surround Asanol while his bombers try and bomb it to smithereens from the air. While his bombers largely get through the LRCAP from Ranchi, he has A6M5 Claudes on escort duty that get eaten by my remaining fighters. After judging the situation, I believe it's time to get out of dodge and retreat north to Ranchi, which has 3 going on 4 levels in forts. This greatly simplifies my position, as I then only have 3 major frontline bases to defend instead of four. Moreover, Ranchi is also located in a Jungle hex, whereas Asanol is a clear hex. My forces at Asanol will do a fighting retreat under heavy LRCAP.

Up near Karachi where John has been harassing with subs, some MLs sink a Japanese sub.

Afternoon Air attack on Asansol , at 53,34

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 54 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A5M4 Claude x 46
G5N2 Liz x 30

Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 2
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
Mohawk IV x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A5M4 Claude: 6 destroyed
G5N2 Liz: 8 damaged
G5N2 Liz: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 44
Airbase supply hits 11
Runway hits 90

Submarine attack near Karachi at 39,7

Japanese Ships
SS I-156, hits 15, heavy damage

Allied Ships
ML No. 204
ML No. 214

SS I-156 is located by ML No. 204
ML No. 214 fails to find sub, continues to search...
ML No. 214 attacking submerged sub ....
ML No. 214 cannot reach attack position over SS I-156
SS I-156 forced to surface!
Sub slips beneath the waves

Air Losses

ORIGINAL: modrow

ORIGINAL: Anachro

July 3 1942

Decisions, decisions. This will be a small update to highlight the situation as I ponder what to do. I won't send the turn back to John till sometime tomorrow. However, my carriers are still at Luganville, have some fuel, and a decent amount of sorties left. John's remaining CVLs have been spotted east of Lunga on a trajectory towards it. Moreover, recon of Lunga shows not many fighters/bombers; and John seems to have a decent amount of ships hanging there (including some surface combat vessels). I could potentially move up for a dedicated strike; I would be just out of my LRCAP range from Luganville, however. John's CVLs will probably head north now that he thinks he's out of danger, so it might not be worth it.

Should we make July 4th something to celebrate? The DL on Lunga is low and he probably has more fighters than shown.

First of all, congratulations to your successful operation. Yes, there are probably many issues where you may say "but it would have been nice / even better if / or even but maybe I can still...". But frankly, IMHO the results you got are possibly what you can expect, - the armor on the carriers does what it is supposed/designed to do- (and if you extrapolate fromt this setup where you just face a bunch of CVL to a setup where you face one of the KB parts including fleet carriers to me confirm my concerns about Allied ability to deal with even a single one of the KB parts).

Which sort of defines the problem. Because my guess would be that John has already set wheels into motion in order to get after your carriers now that he knows where to find them/some of them. Not sure how plentiful your options to fade back into the dark are - the fewer they are, the more likely it is you will find something mean lurking for you, assisted by -as NY59giants confirmed- some beefed up recon capabilities. I would try to get out of Dodge, rest&replenish and hit elsewhere at a different point of time. But of course, maybe I am just a coward [;)]

Hartwig

I'm catching up on my reading after a busy week. First of all, congratulations on what you have accomplished. My first reaction to your "decisions, decisions" question was "go for the kill". But upon further review, I think that Modrow's approach may be the wiser course.

ORIGINAL: Anachro
@Modrow My dear Hartwig! When are you going to continue your AAR? As for the decisions, I largely agree with you and followed the advice in the following turn. The big decision factors for me were: his LBA, my depleted air strength, John's CVLs likely moving north and out of range anyways, and finally denying him knowledge of where exactly my carriers are.

Sean,

thanks for the kind welcome. Unfortunately, my opponent dropped the game, see here, beginning of the post

fb.asp?m=4539453

so hopes for continuation of that AAR are unfortunately in vain.

Of course, you may ask why I do not just start a new one for another one of my ongoing PBEM games. For a team game with distributed responsibilities, I don't like doing an AAR. Which would leave a 1:1 game with me as Allied which apporaches the end of 42. But for some reason, it does not feel right to me to start one in the middle of a game unless I just started/picked up or unless a special, interesting situation would develop.

So for the moment, I guess it's the peanut gallery for me . But maybe another interesting opportunity for another pickup will present itself at some point of time, so that I would have something to write about...

Hartwig

July 5 1942

SoPac

My carriers move south of Suva and while doing so the Lexington task force runs into a Japanese submarine, which manages to put a torpedo into BB North Carolina. However, the damage is very minor (only 7 in major flotation damage), so it should be fine as long as there are no further torpedo attacks. In light of the sub danger, ASW air assets are heavily reinforced at Suva while the carriers will skip Suva altogether passing south of it to head towards Palmyra. Lexington will be refueled by an AO along the way.



Australia

In Austalia, my carriers lie in wait for whatever John might send as a reaction to me moving on Carnarvon. I'm already bombarding the place with two CA task forces continuously while also bombing with medium bombers from the air. John might over-react and send a division or something from his landings at Darwin, or he could send surface ships. It's possible he might bring down his carriers from India, but it's a long way from Ceylon to Carnarvon...



India

In India, the entire Imperial Japanese Army comes to play and are moving all around Asanol. As mentioned, I am doing a slow retreat with my forces to the more defensible Ranchi, which is a Jungle hex. John bombards my forces at Asanol with the three divisions he already has there and suffers 13 destroyed squads for his trouble. He is bringing more forces in. Part of me wants to stay and let him try himself on my lvl 4 forts (didn't quite make it to level 5), but it's risky with forces all around the base. Pulling back to Ranchi shortens my front.

One interesting thing, however, is that John happens to have the IJA 4th Division east of Ranchi. Last turn, he saw that I only had one unit there (a towed TD battalion) and probably thought he could get an easy win by shocking it out of the hex. However, the 7th Austalian Division arrives over night and his shock comes up against a wall. Perhaps he did a Banzai charge? I will put this hex under decent CAP tomorrow, bomb it, and deliberate attack with my on forces considering the number of disablements he took. Nice.

In the west, my forces are moving on Vizagapatnum. However, I notice that John has a brigade randomly moving west from Cuttack. Looks to be a brigade size with 7k men and ~30-40 guns.

Ground combat at Asansol (53,34)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 39682 troops, 336 guns, 121 vehicles, Assault Value = 1269

Defending force 49585 troops, 740 guns, 622 vehicles, Assault Value = 1353

Japanese ground losses:
540 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
18th Division
67th Division

Defending units:
46th Indian Brigade
40th Infantry Division
16th Australian Brigade
138th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
53rd (Sep) Infantry Regiment
75th IAC Regiment
147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
44th Indian Brigade
87th Mountain Regiment
Sarawak Force
36th Indian Brigade
1st ISF Base Force
2/2nd Hy AA Regiment
46th Construction Regiment
103rd RN Base Force
222 Group Base Force
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
2nd Peshawar Base Force
77th Coast AA Regiment
77th Heavy AA Regiment
3rd ISF Base Force

July 6 1942

Very short update to mention currently. I'll write more probably in the next post, but for now, this is all you get!

India

So far, my units fail to push back the 4th ID.

Ground combat at 53,32 (near Ranchi)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12063 troops, 201 guns, 196 vehicles, Assault Value = 423

Defending force 10918 troops, 102 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 178

Allied adjusted assault: 197

Japanese adjusted defense: 279

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
441 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 77 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
220 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 14 (2 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Australian Division
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
150th RAC Regiment

Defending units:
4th Division

Pacific

Heavy radio activity picked up by sigint in this hex. What is it, I wonder? A roving carrier task force? Convoys headed for the Aleutians? We'll soon find out, I suppose.



SoPac

A number of B17's launch a port strike on Lunga from Luganville and score a number of hits on 2 Japanese AKEs and 1 AV. Unfortunately, three of the B17s are lost as a result, but if those ships burn up, it'll have been worth it.

Morning Air attack on Lunga , at 114,138

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 31
A6M5 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 3
B-17E Fortress x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
AKE Cormasta, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AV Kamoi, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Lyons Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

VP Situation

The VP situation shown below. Despite the red, the VP ratio has actually improved in my favor slightly. Would like to avoid auto-victory... Notice the jump up in Japanese ship VPs, but it also includes the Hiryu which is most likely not sunk.

Auto-victory shouldn't be a concern, even if China becomes a real drag for you.

In many games, by the summer of '42 the Japaense lead is around 3:1 or better. The "high water mark" is often around September '42. Thereafter, the Japanese lead begins to diminish. So many Allied reinforcements have arrived by then - and so many assets are available - that losses tend to occur and accumulate at a low enough ratio (1:1 or thereabouts) that the Japan's lead ratio steadily decreases.

John doesn't like AV and will make it clear, if you ask him, that he wouldn't accept it even if it did occur. But I know what you mean - you want to avoid triggering that threshhold. You will. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Anachro
One interesting thing, however, is that John happens to have the IJA 4th Division east of Ranchi. Last turn, he saw that I only had one unit there (a towed TD battalion) and probably thought he could get an easy win by shocking it out of the hex. However, the 7th Austalian Division arrives over night and his shock comes up against a wall. Perhaps he did a Banzai charge? I will put this hex under decent CAP tomorrow, bomb it, and deliberate attack with my on forces considering the number of disablements he took. Nice.

Yeah, that's the way [;)]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Anachro
What would you guys recommend here? Any suggestions? Any advice? Land combat is not my forte. Does the position look threatening and should I move north. Jamshedpur, Asanol, and Ranchi all have 3-4 forts.

I do not have strategic advice, but you can try play John's known weakness - aggressiveness - the same way Canoerebel did on numerous occasions in their land war. With just-in-time reinforcements against shock attacks. John seems to not be able to resist launching an attack if he sees weak forces in the hex [:)] Local road network is pretty developed to allow some unexpected moving in here and there.

Anachro: However, the 7th Austalian Division arrives over night and his shock comes up against a wall. Perhaps he did a Banzai charge?

Yes, a shock attack is in effect a banzai charge. The attacker gets X2 to his attack because of surprise and speed is part of a frontal charge, but he loses the protection of field forts and terrain. If he fails to break the morale of the defender and make him run, he suffers the kind of losses your TDs and Aussies inflicted on him.

Your second attack did not dislodge the 4th division, but he suffered proportionately much higher disablements than your troops. If he has no reinforcements coming in, you should be able to boot him out of the hex with another attack, if your troops have anything left in them.

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Anachro
What would you guys recommend here? Any suggestions? Any advice? Land combat is not my forte. Does the position look threatening and should I move north. Jamshedpur, Asanol, and Ranchi all have 3-4 forts.

I do not have strategic advice, but you can try play John's known weakness - aggressiveness - the same way Canoerebel did on numerous occasions in their land war. With just-in-time reinforcements against shock attacks. John seems to not be able to resist launching an attack if he sees weak forces in the hex [:)] Local road network is pretty developed to allow some unexpected moving in here and there.

I think John is just not good at estimating travel time. He seemed to constantly misjudge his attacks on CR's forces, first in hesitating when he arrived in the hex and saw approaching forces in the adjoining hex, then deciding to attack later when the approaching forces were almost certainly about to arrive. Canoerebel, OTOH, is very good at working out LCU travel times and making sound plans based on that.

July 7 1942

This turn opens up with John's email to me:

Well…I couldn’t inflict damage to your warships with only airpower down in the SoPac…

Asanol BABY. I’ll give you ELEVEN reasons let me take it!

Not much to report today, but John manages to get a hit on the CV Wasp as it is transiting south of Pago Pago on its way to Palmyra. His sub commanders are just too good! They never fail to break through the ASW protection to reach the capital ships! Always, I have had many, many capital ship torpedo hits despite lots of escorts in the game. Argh! The good news it that, much like the hit on BB North Caroline, the torpedo fails to caus any damage whatsoever. Major flood damage is only at 1 and systems damaged might have creeped up to 13 from 11. Phew! Yup, John sure has caused major damage with his subs so far! [:D] We pray no more happen.

There are sinking sounds from John's side this turn; I'm guessing one of the AKEs or the AV from yesterday sank or was scuttled, but it could have been a CVL or a CA, however unlikely.



In India, my forces fail again to dislodge the 4th division. We hope this time with the addition of the 193rd Tank Battalion they will not fail. John is very adamant on me leaving Asanol; I have no desire to stay there, having already prepared and am still preparing various bases far into the interior with forts. For hundreds of miles north of Asanol, all the bases have at least 3 forts of better.

Ground combat at 53,32 (near Ranchi)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11912 troops, 199 guns, 196 vehicles, Assault Value = 458

Defending force 10361 troops, 102 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 120

Allied adjusted assault: 115

Japanese adjusted defense: 287

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
155 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Assaulting units:
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
193rd Tank Battalion
7th Australian Division
150th RAC Regiment

Defending units:
4th Division

Did anyone else notice that the G.6 class CVLs have better armor than the Yorktown-class CVs? [:D]

Did anyone else notice that the G.6 class CVLs have better armor than the Yorktown-class CVs?

Yeah, He should name one of them the IJN Dan. He lost a ton of these to a badly timed thunder run last game so now he gave his CVL's thick armored decks and the armor actually makes them much faster.....34 knots! "What if"s can be fun but when he ships start to defy the laws of physics it gets a bit silly.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Did anyone else notice that the G.6 class CVLs have better armor than the Yorktown-class CVs? [:D]

Well, I think it is consistent in the BTS reality setting. Which may deviate from the real reality slightly at times [8D].

They are converted CAs, and so they simply inherited the Mogami class armor. Be glad the lost some of their main guns

Your new CVL are converted CLs and inherited the Brooklyn class armor. The 25 vs 125 for tower armor is probably just a typo.

And of course it's all "real", including a slight speed gain. After all, based on a quick search Lexington BC speed/armor data vs Lexington CV speed/armor show a slight speed gain while essentially inheriting the protection (according to Wikipedia). So the principle of creation is evidently sound (the loss of 4 2x16 inch turrets doesn't really count, right ?) [8|]

Hartwig

July 8 1942

Today, some developments. John notices I am moving on his left flank in India, but he shouldn't be able to reinforce the area beyond what is already there. My tanks east of Vizagapatnum will cutoff the rail. I have the a British Division and 400 AV of tanks moving in, but if that isn't enough, I have a 300 AV Indian division waiting as reinforcements. Once Viza is taken these units will move back to Ranchi.

South of Patna, another British Division shocks and severely wounds a Japanese tank regiment and gun unit. At Asanol, the bombardments and encouraging enough in my favor that I decide to reset my units movement in Combat OP to see if John will try an attack. I do this given how the bombardments have gun so far, but also because my northern line of retreat is improving: John is taking far greater losses in bombardments at Asanol, is moving all his units in the north in clearing up the hexes, and I will soon push the 4th Division back from east of Ranchi. The British Division at Patna is also moving south.

While I fail to push the 4th Division back today, a tank brigade and US ID are moving in. It will be pushed back soon.

Another British ID arrives at Aden today.

Ground combat at 54,31 (near Patna)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 15273 troops, 259 guns, 233 vehicles, Assault Value = 458

Defending force 456 troops, 21 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 46

Allied adjusted assault: 316

Japanese adjusted defense: 2

Allied assault odds: 158 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 91 (77 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
80 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
70th British Division

Defending units:
11th Tank Regiment
8th RF Gun Battalion

Ground combat at 53,32 (near Ranchi)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10782 troops, 162 guns, 118 vehicles, Assault Value = 457

Defending force 10223 troops, 102 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Allied adjusted assault: 127

Japanese adjusted defense: 255

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
457 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
237 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
7th Australian Division
193rd Tank Battalion
150th RAC Regiment

Defending units:
4th Division

Ground combat at Asansol (53,34)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 51896 troops, 442 guns, 187 vehicles, Assault Value = 1597

Defending force 45046 troops, 664 guns, 450 vehicles, Assault Value = 1299

Japanese ground losses:
389 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
18th Division
56th Division
67th Division
14th Army

Defending units:
147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
87th Mountain Regiment
46th Indian Brigade
44th Indian Brigade
138th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
Sarawak Force
16th Australian Brigade
53rd (Sep) Infantry Regiment
40th Infantry Division
36th Indian Brigade
2/2nd Hy AA Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
222 Group Base Force
77th Heavy AA Regiment
2nd Peshawar Base Force
3rd ISF Base Force

In other news, my ships and troops approach Midway and John notices.

John's message to me today:

ACTION!

WE close in on Asanol with 8 ID, you counter with a long-awaited lunge at my left flank, and we have action at Midway. LOVELY. Better tell those marines coming to Midway that they need LOTS of coffins. “MALINES—You DIE!”

I wonder if this is a bluff or not. He claims he anticipated a "long-awaited lunge" at the left but he has nothing there. Marines aren't going to Midway, but the 27th Infantry Division. I am a bit worried about the heavy radio activity south of the Aleutians a little while back, but as far as I know the large majority of the KB is in India; and John's CVLs are/were in the SoPac. So I'm not sure how much of this is bluster and how much is substance. I'm going to assume bluster and that he is only reacting now. This turn we finally picked up sigint that a transport carrying an Air Flotilla is heading to Midway. Maybe Canoerebel can weigh in.

Sigint

Heavy Volume of Radio transmissions detected at Kwajalein Island (132,115).
26th Air Flotilla is loaded on a Lima Cargo class xAK moving to Midway Island.