July 9-10 1942
I refrained from reporting the previous turn this morning because I wanted to await the follow-through from the 10th to report the action that takes place throughout. Both days are really one turn and this will be shown by the resolution of everything on the 10th. I will again note John's previous emails and the email I received tonight, which tell the story of the day:
ORIGINAL: John 3rd on July 8th
We have action at Midway. LOVELY. Better tell those marines coming to Midway that they need LOTS of coffins. “MALINES—You DIE!”
ORIGINAL: John 3rd on July 9th
Bring those bad BB on! MIDWAY is prepared to stand tall.
ORIGINAL: John 3rd on July 10th
That turn felt like a long, detailed 1944 turn…
Let's see what happens then, shall we?
India
In India, John is bombarding different airfields at different times to deny me their use and he is moderately successful I pull my fighters back to lick wounds from attrition. However, on the ground he suffers today as the 7th Australian Division and other units succeed in wrecking the IJA 4th ID, my tanks in the west wreck a Naval Guard Unit and tank Cocanada, and the 70th British ID meets a lone artillery unit (the 9th RF Gun battalion) which will be wrecked tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have some B17's port bomb Calcutta to middling results, but maybe it'll force him to post even more CAP there.
The real issues are how much can I slow down John's taking Asanol. If he continues to play poorly, I might even be able to hold it. Already, due to the damage done to the IJA 4th ID and some tank regiments near Ranchi and Patna, John is bring up an infantry division that was meant to support Asanol. Another division, the IJA 16th Division, is reinforcing Vizagapatnum by sea according to sigint and was originally at Calcutta. John, in other words, is diverting forces from his main thrust to ancillary and unimportant areas (particularly in the west). Vizagapatnum is not vital and he shouldn't be worrying about it.
His movements might hurt him. The 16th IJA ID reinforcing the brigade at Vizagapatnum might find itself in dire straits against a British ID, an Indian ID, and 400 tanks. The division moving up to support the wrecked 4th ID might find itself facing tanks and 3 divisions (a British, US, and Australian one - so GOOD STUFF for a change rather than poor Indian soldiers).
John has more units around Jamshedpur, but its unknown if they can actually take it (both Jamshedpur and Ranchi have 4 forts and 700+ AV with more that can be quickly railed in). Meanwhile, my reinforcements grow over time. How many more divisions can John quickly bring to India? The 2nd British ID is already on its way from Aden to Karachi (a number of Japanese subs lurking there have been sunk over the past few turns by ASW).
Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 2
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 5
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAP Dairen Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Koan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 25 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 8
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 9
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Keihuku Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAP Dairen Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Teikyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
Central Pacific
The real meat and potatoes for me (at least so far barring something unexpected next turn) is the near-perfect amphibious landing and taking of Midway all in one turn. Yes! Despite the bluster of John, it falls to the US 27th Infantry Division and supporting units. Midway will make a nice sub base and forward scouting base while also denying John the use of it to spy the movements of my fleets close to Pearl Harbor.
A number of Japanese coastal submarines (and perhaps some fleet ones) are sunk over the course of the night and day and the bombardment ships and capital ships embedded in the amphibious task forces do their job. US forces arrive onto the island largely unscathed and manage to take it in a triggered shock attack (fort level 3). No ships are hit by submarine torpedoes and only take glancing shell hits from coastal batteries. For now, we will retreat with our fleet, bring up the base units, and withdraw forces on the island over time. This is done to minimize risk of raiding Japanese fleets.
One thing I like about this operation is the use of the 27th Infantry Division, which is funny if you know its history during the war. In real life, the 27th ID was a bit unfairly maligned by Howling Mad Holland Smith for its performance at Saipan, where he viewed its progress as extremely too slow and cautious and thus (with Spruance's approval) relieved the divisional commander of his command, causing a huge crisis in relations between the army, marines, and navy. Ever since, various biographies by Marines (particularly in William Manchester's otherwise decent partial memoir/partial history book of the Pacific War
Goodbye, Darkness) have castigated the 27th ID and its men as unfit for combat and cowards. In reality, the conditions the 27th ID faced on Saipan were probably the toughest of the battle by far and the Smith asked them for suicidal progress beyond any division's capabilities.
As irony here and in an effort to fix their reputation, the 27th ID launches the first successful amphibious operation of my Pacific War. They fought gallantly and with speed.
If you are interested in the full combat report to see how I structured my forces and how the landings went down, let me know. Needless to say, the ASW did its job and 2, maybe 3 subs were sunk (including a RO and I-class sub), bombardments sufficiently disrupted the garrison, and my ships embedded in the amphibious task forces largely soaked the damage that would otherwise have been inflicted on the transports. The 27th ID was 100% prepped.
Time to flee back south. The CVEs might move north to get the small transports TFs north of Midway. My CVs in the SoPac seem to be safe for now and are slowly approaching Pearl Harbor. CV Indomitable is already in port doing minor repairs.
