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December 25, 1941

Christmas Day

Georgetown fell. Aitape and Groot Natoena invaded.

Finally, the AVG/A engaged some Nates and Sonias over Changsa, downing 7 Sonias and 1 Nate.
I lost one P-40B to ops, but no pilot.

Game Note 1

I intend to put these out every so often. It will be a discussion in broad terms on where I think the game is
going and how I might proceed.

China: Before we embarked on our variant points assignments I offered to abide by the house rule of paying PPs
to release troops before marching across national borders. Xargun said no, we would use the same rules as our
last game, namely none. So I was/am free to move my Chinese units to India if I choose. I have decided to not
go that route but to defend China. In that vein I used some of my variant points to purchase 200k supply for China
and some increase replacement rates for heavy weapons for China.

I don't know how it will work out, but if I fail it just makes my job harder, but it will cost him, so we will see.

Surprisingly he is not pressing in China with ground forces. He is bombing a number of locations, but no real ground
action yet. Of course I am moving units that start in the open to better terrain for defense.

Burma. I have evacuated Burma completely. The troops there are about worthless trying to defend but can be useful as
garrison troops in India. And maybe later they can be useful. In 1944 they get Indian 44 rifle squads. I have no real
intention of reinvading Burma until 1944 or so. I will have to see how things work out. I do have more C-47s available
and since none of my transport squadrons have to withdraw, I might be able to support some type of reinvasion.

Malaya, PI, DEI: These will all fall, It will take some time, but in the end they will all fall. I have bought out all the
air units from the PI and they are now stationed in Java. I will see if they can be used there or if the need to all retreat
back to Australia. Time will tell.

Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific: In Australia I expect Xargun will take the Northern tier of bases. He seemed to think
that is the way to keep me from entering there. It actually isn't, but I really do not care. Normally I do not want to go in
that way, there are usually too many large airbases and the possibility of KB to make it profitable. When my recon showed
almost all the base empty I had to go that way. I do doubt I will be able to go that route this game.

I do not expect New Zealand to be any problem.

In the South Pacific, I am interested in occupying 5 main bases. Noumea, Nadi, Suva, Pago Pago, and Christmas Island.
I have full divisions slated to move to these bases and follow on support and defense units. I have enough PPs to release
what I need, it just takes a bit of time, I do get 100 PPs per turn and I have 2 US Corps HQs that are only temp restricted
and assigned from the start to the West Coast. So I am paying the 25% price for buy outs. My major problem is shipping.
There is a limited amount at the start and that has been sent with vanguards of forces to all bases. Many of my xAPs and
such start in Australia and it takes a lot of time to move them to the West Coast. Some are approaching now and will be
turned around with more forces.

December 26, 1941

A busy day for Japan.

Bases that fell today, Mauban, Groot Natoena, Aitape, Tavoy, and Howland Island was occupied by his rowboat corps.

A lot of bombing, no intercepts.

I plan on doing screenshots and further discussion at the end of the month.

December 27, 1941

I tried bombing Miri oilfields at night with my B-17Ds. They did not report any hits. I will quit that now and set them to continue to train.
They are not bad pilots, just not very well trained. And the moonlight is fading.

He is getting frisky with his landings. He landed at Davao, Manado, and Ternate today.

He tried bombing Singapore's airfield. He got a few hits, all repaired and forts growing. He lost 5 Nells to flak.

December 28, 1941

Ternate was taken. Davao was taken. Batangas was taken with large loses on the Allied side.

An amphibious landing at Wewak.

Pretty much normal air strikes by Japan.
He did try bombing Singapore again, sending 85 Nells and Bettys. Again, minor damage, all repaired, but
fort growth was slowed, not stopped. He lost 8 Betty and Nell bombers to flak.

December 29, 1941

Nothing much happened.

December 30, 1941

Manilla fell today, again with big losses to the Allies.

In the air I was able to intercept a couple of bombing runs into Wuchow.
The AVG did better this time, downing a Tojo, 3 Idas and 2 Sonias.

I was planning on doing a month end update with screenshots, but I am not feeling well.
We will see if I can at least start.

Sorry to hear you are under the weather. Rest when your body and brain tells you to - the AAR can wait!

December 31, 1941

I noticed that I had the last two dates wrong, corrected now.

Not much happened. Malacca was retaken by Japan, it was undefended. Mergui was taken,
and again not defended. A Shock Attack by Japan at Manado was repulsed.

Normal bombing by Japan, no intercepts by me.

January 1, 1942 to January 12, 1942

This is a big make up posting. I have really been feeling bad, and maybe I am on the road to recovery. I am trying to rid myself of
a bronchial infection, an it really has had me down. Anyway here it goes

Jan 1 - little happened

Jan 2 - Japan landed more troops at Manado

Jan 3 - Manado falls. At Tsiaotso he is starting attacking with considerable tank forces. I hope I can hold. I am moving both AT regiments, but they will take time to get there.

Jan 4 - Getting tired of his bombing my troops in China I start finally getting the AVG to China. the 3rd squadron shots down numerous unescorted Ann bombers at Chengchow.

Jan 5 - He attacks again at Tsiaotso, I am losing more than him, but I think I can afford it for now. I still have forts at level 3.
He attacks at Clark Field, losing more than I but I will not last long.

Jan 6 - Troops land at Morotai and Manokwari, both will fall tomorrow. Another DA at Clark field, he does more damage to me than himself.
The 8th Indian Brigade is destroyed West of Kuantan
In the air the AVG/2nd Squadron destroys numerous unescorted Sonias over Pakhoi
Empty Johore Bahru falls. All forces in Malaya are either in Singapore or destroyed. Major unit and HQ commanders have been changed for better ones

Jan 7 - Sidate falls, Morotai falls, I think Manokware changes sides.

Jan 8 - DA at Clark Field, forts down to 0. Will not be long now.
He landed forces at Tandjoengpinang, just south of Singapore, not sure why

Jan 9 - I sent 2 HDMLs from Singapore to Tandjoengpinang to see if they would attack. They never got close enough to fire their guns.
The Dutch did send some 139WH-3 bombers and put one 300kg SAP into xAK Kinkasan Maru
Troops land at Jolo
Another DA at Clark, they hold another day.
At Kweisui in Northern China my troops are booted out with heavy losses. But they did their job. He had go move numerous units there to do that. I gained time, just what I need in China
He landed and took empty Kavieing.

Jan 10 - Kind of interesting, he is bombing the troops at Singapore, not the airfield or port to stop fort building.

Jan 11 - SS KXIV put a torpedo into xAK Mikasa Maru and SS SXII sinks PB Tatsumiya Maru near Cam Ranh Bay
He attacked at Tsiaotso again, my forces held, and he lost more than I did, I think
Japan captures Cotabato
A Shock Attack at Clark Field fails to take the base, but I take big losses.
Again he bombs my troops at Singapore

Jan 12 - A DA at Clark Field any my plucky defenders hold another day.
No bombing at Singapore of any kind

That catches everything up. I realize it is a bit sparse, but not much really has been happening. There have been some discussion of how the Variants are going to work out and we have come to an agreement
and that will be a discussion for a later time. Our agreements will not have any real effect for many months.

If anyone has any specific questions, ask away. Right now I am waiting to see what will happen. I can see multiple TFs just outside Palembang, so I expect an invasion in the next day or so. KB2 is escorting them.
I am training pilots as fast as I can. I will need them

BTW, since I downed numerous bombers in China, there have been no bombing in China for a week or so

January 13, 1942

SS I-21 found xAP Idomeneus off of Lahaina and missed with 2 torpedoes. I have sent out
search aircraft and ASW forces to try and deal with it.

The dreaded landing at Palembang has started. He may not have brought enough. Although I will
not do another real "Fortress Palembang" again, I have move some of the other defense units from
Sumatra into Palembang. My forced bombardment attack was 144 vs 212. We will see.
One of his AKs was hit by 4 shells and set on fire. I heard sinking sounds during the turn, but nothing
showed up on the sunk ship list

I did not get any indication that KB2 is in the area, but it was last turn, so I expect bad weather is cloaking it.
I set up a number of Dutch medium bombers on night Naval Attack. Probably nothing will come of it, but to
be complete I also included a Patrol unit searching the area at night.

He also landed at Muntok.

He is bombing Clark Field forces pretty heavily. And Clark Field withstood another DA.

January 14, 1942

Turn went about as expected with one twist.

My night naval attack did not happen, bad weather.

Muntok fell today

Palembang withstood the first attack. I wonder how many more it will?

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8373 troops, 44 guns, 104 vehicles, Assault Value = 213

Defending force 4766 troops, 43 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 143

Japanese adjusted assault: 90

Allied adjusted defense: 85

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
118 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
525 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

I thought this was amusing and is the twist, how many torpedoes did he expend for this mighty sinking?

Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkep at 49,87

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B5N2 Kate x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
HDML 1096, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

No attack at Clark Field today.

January 15, 1942

Well my Dutch bombers flew their night naval attack mission, but all missed their targets. But since most of them targeted CVs I would imagine
Xargun was a bit shaken.

Palembang was lost and it looks like there was no damage to the facilities.

He did a shock attack at Tsiotso in China. He only got a 1 to 2 attack, did not lower the forts and took a good amount of losses, the losses were
about equal on each side, but he did lose a number of vehicles, probably a lot of motorized support and not tanks

Ground combat at Tsiaotso (88,42)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 18698 troops, 104 guns, 767 vehicles, Assault Value = 850

Defending force 22754 troops, 118 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 539

Japanese adjusted assault: 703

Allied adjusted defense: 913

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1175 casualties reported
Squads: 43 destroyed, 49 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 89 (5 destroyed, 84 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1782 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 190 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Recon Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
35th Division
5th Tank Regiment
8th Recon Regiment
20th Recon Regiment
11th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
98th Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
27th Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps

I did target Palembang oil with a night city attack by every medium and heavy bomber in Java.

January 16, 1942

My bombers did bomb Palembang, met no fighters in the night, Xargun says he had night CAP up but they didn't engage.
It looks like I took out about 30-35 oil, I will try again tonight with only my B-17Es. I am going to try an sweep the base
with my one P-38E squadron and some Dutch B-339D fighters

Clark Field fell, really heavy losses, but they held for a good while, and it is inevitable they will fall some time.

One thing I was able to do was to upgrade the 9th Indian from Ind Inf Sections to Ind Inf Sections 42. A considerable increase in firepower, hope it helps.

January 17, 1942

Not the best of turns.

B-17Es did destroy an estimated 7 more oil at Palembang. He has Nates on night patrol.

Caught a sub East of Lahaina, put two direct hits and 3 damage hits. Not sure if it will make it back home.

He sent a tank regiment from Palembang to Praboemoelih and took the base scattering my units there.

My sweeps of Palembang went badly, he had Zeros up on day CAP, I was hoping for Oscars or Nates.
I lost a number of fighters, many Dutch. It is about time to retire from the SRA. 26 Dutch fighters lost and 10 P-38Es lost
and only a miserly 7 Zeros shot down. I am not ready for high quality pilots in Zeros at this time

January 18, 1942

Cagayan fell today. Lots of Allied losses.

Sambas on Borneo was invaded, probably will fall tomorrow.

13 x B-17Es bombed the oil at Palembang and all missed the target.
But they did shoot down 2 Nates and 2 more Nates were listed as ops losses.

SS I-21 that I hit last turn East of Lahaina is now listed as sunk.

January 19, 1942

Again, 15 x B-17Es attacked at night the oil at Palembang, and no hits. But, they did shoot down 3 Zeros.

Sambas on Borneo was taken today.
A Da by Japan at Tsiaotso in China again results in me losing about twice as much as him even though it was a 1 to 2 attack.
I hope I can hold out until my AT units get there. I am not sure they will turn the tide, but I really do not have a lot else to try.

He landed troops on Ndeni.

January 20, 1942

And one more day, 21 x B-17Es fly night city attack against oil at Palembang and all miss, but they did shoot down 2 Nates.

Pucheng in China falls, Lahat on Sumatra falls.

I hit an xAK outside of Davao with 3 DOINKS and one good torpedo.

January 21, 1942

Pretty quiet turn.

Had at least 2 more DOINKS on the xAK South of Daveo, heard sinking sounds during the turn, maybe it sank, it was on fire.

12 x B17Es night bombed Palembang, no hits, one Nate lost to ops.

Toboali was taken by Japan.

January 22, 1942

Not much happened. A Dutch Bn moved into Palembang yesterday and Xargun seemed to freak.
He did two naval bombardments, brought KB2 in and bombed it. I didn't attack at all, the unit
can just sit there until he eliminates it and it will keep the oil from producing.