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23/12/43

he sinks a tanker, and a AO today by SS, and 2 more AK
terrible, I am being strangled.[8|]
he continues to waste ammo hitting the Kokoda track, this is good, no bombs landing on my troops leaving Finchefsen, Tabpub is allowing quite a group to escape at the moment.
SS continue to evac troops.

Wewak is attacked heavily -6 zeke try to stop 9 P38 and 3 havoc -they strafe a DD
the second wave , 40 mediums strafe my fast transport group -7 zeke lost here for 3 havocs shot down.

At Kupang a repeat of yesterday -his P38s escort 4 liberators -who again hit the Ise.
2 days running, tomorrow a full division lands at dilli -hopefully his planes are getting tired

A desperate op begins.
Troops are at sea from camrah bay -destination Pahkio? on the chinese coast.
LRCAP fighters moving towards the area.

I abandon the fast transport runs from wewak, the fleet has too little fuel left to sustain them[X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][:(]

24/12/43
He is night bombing all over the map at the moment, Hong Kong, tavoy, Kuala Lumper, Kupang, rabual, Shortlands

His P38s again esort 40 mitchells and 26 liberators to Dilli
27 tojo/tony are on CAP -they knock down 12 of his crack planes, but lose 8 themselves.
The bombers get through -8 APs hit hard, and a AV smashed.
Troops getting ashore

a second wave sees 44p 38 sweep in, I lose 8 more defenders, he loses 4
The AV is sunk.
Troops still getting ashore -Timor has been reinforced well.

Allied deliberate attack at rahaeg -forts to 8! -0 to 1 attack, but 4800 allied casos

From this point on its all about disrupting Tabpub plans
He is such a methodical player -very picky about his leaders, his task force compositions, his army make ups. It all has to be "right"
Disruption upsets him.
It delays him
It delays him
It delays him
This is what is behind the pakhoi operation, I intend to buy a fortnight of time, a fortnight where his bombers turn there wrath away from tavoy, to the china front.
Despite my bravado -the troops at tavoy are finally becoming very disrupted and chewed up.
A grand plan is about to be swung into place
The defences at Tavoy"will collapse", and the troops will stream south all the way to Songhalia, on the malaya border.
Hopefully he will turn to follow.
Most of the troops will gather at bangkok, awaiting a chance to strike his flank, others will go to rahaeg -and try again to attack here -desperate , but I can still try to win a major victory.
At worse, in WITP, you cannot afford to lose a battle -here all the troops at Tavoy have a chance to refit , at best, tabpub will be spread out, at very best -any great plans he has will be

Disrupted
And Delayed.[;)]
It will be nice having the front in range of my fleet as well.

The pakhoi op begins on Crissy day
troops on several fast transports are in the middle of the south china sea -the 1st para regiment.
I have no transports left, so they will become special shock troops, tasked with siezing the bridges west of canton, as thetroops attack pakhoi

BB yamarishio makes palua -6system, 91 flood.
a AR assists
Its a busy ship -Hyugo is here as well -43/22flood
I have not lost a BB yet -do not intend to until the decisive battle![:D]

26/12/43
very bad weather over all the map
We drop the troops onto the chinese coast -a few E mails back and forth -tabpub asks is this legal?
I offer to redo the turns, he declines -too much planning , plus as its Para troops, to sieze a bridge is a use one woyuld use them for.
Also, this is a big landing -1000 plus men, so we agree not to make a habit of it, and the landing goes ahead
A lot of LRCAP, the 6 cruisers involved get away, they will go to Singas.
Transports approach Pakhoi, under rain clouds

27/12/43
2 regiments begin landing at pakhoi -no air attacks today.
The troops at tavoy are told to retire, the great"collapse" of the Jap front begins.
A huge gamble.
But I need to refit, rest the men, the pakhoi troops must buy me time.
1 chinese corps faces them -damn -thought it was a base force!

Little else to report -tomorrow might be very bad!
I put max LRCAP over the ships -and hope!

28/12/43
The landings continue at Pakhoi -thunderstorms ground all china air -so the ships remain untouched all AM
Usual bombing in Burma though

In the PM one field in China opens -22 tojo, 13 jack, 3 zeke and 36 oscar defend the ships at Pakhoi
46 P40 escort 9 mitchell, its a slaughter -32 P40 shot down!!!!!

I lose 19 experience 30 level oscars, and just 5 tojo, 2 jack.

The landings are a disaster though, not even half the troops loaded, and he has more troops at Pakhoi than me -AHHH CRAP!

TRAK or/and Ponape I expect are next on the Tabpub invasion list.

29/12/43

Some light air action over the troops in china -the hope of dragging his airforce from Burma to China is a false one -how do I know -TABPUB tells me in a mail that although tempted, he has decided China air will handle it[:@]

Bombing of rabual , and the destruction of a oscar unit in china is the PM phase -Im already pulling my air out of the op.
The withdrawal of the troops from tavoy is underway -a silly move when I really think about it -but its too late now!

Now Im committed to the withdrawal in Burma -can I recover my armies strength?
A lot depends on whether Tabpub lets it or not[8|]

30/12/43
Pakhoi fighting begins -it wont be long though -only 1000 troops landed instead of the 20000 planned[:@][8|][:(]

(im an idiot)[:D][:D][:D][:D]

He pounds away all over the map -ponape is definately going to be next!
terrible day against the SS menace, 5 ships lost today!

And Tavoy is empty -and falls.

31/12/43
some night bombing from both sides, just a nuisance

71 P38 sweep kendari -23 oscar and 6 zeke defend -and all are shot down
60 heavies then come in, and cause chaos

7 AP, 2 AK, 2 ML and a SS all smashed.

And here comes the invasion fleet for Ponape -spotted some 6 hexes east of ponape, DEATH STAR approaching!

In PNG 69 P38g sweep Wewak -18 george and 41 zeke defend
14 P38 shot down, for 16 george lost, only 10 zeke lost

A second raid of 100 plus heavies at 30000 feet , escorted by 52 P38j take down 20 defenders, only 16 hits though.
The Georges are finished as a fighting unit, they begin the painful process
of pulling out.

The troops in Burma have a horrible day on the road south of tavoy, pounde, and pounded

Pakhoi troops are in big trouble too

SO -the entire op was a bust.
You live and you learn I suppose[8|]

As we enter 44..........

The fleet is still intact -2 BBs out of the fight, and some of the capital ships have high system damage.
It is split into 2 fleets -one in the home islands -7CV,4cvl, 5 BB, and a a scattering of escorts.
The rest is gathered at Palua
Fuel is in crises!!!!

The merchant fleet is shredded, I am literally down to 3 big convoys for my oil tankers, and finding AKs is a real problem

No ships being produced anymore -not enough oil

Im having a lot of fun juggling ships!

The army is stretched to the limit, no reserves anywhere.

Still, not all doom and gloom.
TABPUB dispalys a great tendancy to telegraph his punches.

At some stage he will have to tackle Siapan, or the Paluas.
Here I hope I can lure his CVs towards fleet 1, and have the second fleet from the home islands come in and hit the invasion fleet.

All dreams I suppose.
At the moment I do not have enough fuel to move them -actually some ports have plenty -but no ships to carry it south to where I need it[X(][:(]

Well, as 44 begins, here comes the death star
I suspect this little black duck is in for a very, very painful 44[:'(]

1/1/44
as expected MSW at ponape.
despite all my bluster to tabpub about lines in the sand, i cannot help the place.
Big enemy fleet approaching truk as well.

120 heavies flatten bangkok field -232 hits!
Over wewk 48 p38 vs 51 zeke, we lose 18 to his 16
heavy bombing of troops in Burma
Truk recieves a massive death star strike -9 kate[8|] counter attack -and miss a DD and the Uber CAP
many others do not[:(]
Usual heavy bombing all over the map

As 44 begins, I must be patient. Truk can go, ponape can go.
China was stupid, can I hold
In Burma its now a pursuit, we run south, will he follow<
Already troops are slipping up towards rahaeng -can I swing around behind him?
I am depending on bangkok holding of course, if it does not, the bulk of my army will be lost.
Plan is to win at rehag -shatter many of his units, then pull back to bangkok, and Hold there.
If rangoon is left empty though, would be a dream to take it.

Well, a man can dream can't he?[:)][:)][;)]

2/1/44
Ponape being invaded
truk continues to be pounded
bombing all over the map
green island occupied today by a full usa division
rabual is basically empty, and in PNG the troops cut off at Finchesen have actually all escaped[:'(]
take a year to rebuild, but the process of evac of these troops to home islands is ordered -got to find some ships 1st!

3/1/44
tabpub informs me that the retreat from tavoy has thrown him off -he welcomes it but it left him puzzled.
Me too -what was I thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The invasion of ponape is going on, and green island continues
Huge raid on Bangkok again,and for some reason an inordinate amount of metal dropped on the poor troops on the kokoda track
I believe these guys are eating each other now.
Lost a tanker and a APD today, for 2 ss definately sunk

4 tank battalions are in pursuit of the army in Burma
BBs Yamishiro at system 58, BB Hyuga at 42 system set sail from palua today, here is hoping they make it.

4/1/44
Ponape the enemy troops stream ashore, and the base quickly falls today
however mines and guns claim 4 LST, a couple of DDs, and BB Nevada and Oklahoma strike mines too.

he sweeps kendari with 71 P38j, 24 tony, 6 george 4 zeke, 8 oscars
6 lightings are shot down, 14 tonies, and a george go -the george unit has to be rebuilt.
Its feeling a bit grim all over the map

5/1/44

bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs, and more bombs


bah!

6/1/44
As the enemy chases our troops down the path towards bangkok, a I think unexpected and forgotten element has activated

kamikazes[:@][:@][:@][:@][:@]

They will soon be deployed -I am already selecting the units, and trying to decide where to deploy them

Home islands

3rd fleet activated
Akagi
Kaga
Hiryu
Soryu
Shok
Zuik
taiho
CAs and DDs
4th fleet activated
zuiho
ryuho
chitose
chiyoda
nagato
mutsu
mushia
dds
5th fleet activated
CA, dds

At Palua

1st fleet activated
CVE times 5
Yamato
Fuso
Kirishima
kongo
6 CAs

2nd fleet activated
Junyo
Hiyo
Unryo
Amagi
Katsaguri
Ryujo
DDs

So, we are in position for the classical pincer movement
CVs role is simple -absorb his strikes so that the BBs can get in amongst them.
This with the kamikazes fills me with a new sense of purpose.
I really look forward to 44 now, I hope tabpub will get a fright.

PS i will stste now -I have no compuction about flying Kamis at max altitude to combat the uber CAP.
If he wants to stop em -he will have to use the method the allies tried in real life -kill em on the fields.
With his cautious approach, I do not think so.

Shameless bump, as I await tabpubs here to eternity holiday in gay pariee to finish[8|]

he's back at last

8/1/44
Tabpub lands troops at port Moresby -the Aussie 9th Div
It has less AV than the starving defenders there -so that gives an idea of how many troops are trapped in lower PNG[8|]
Still, I like the way he wastes efforts on troops already out of the war.

In Burma the great gamble begins (been too many gambles lately), as a large number of divisions move north at speed from bangkok towards rahaeng -its a race I think, if i can win at rahaeng, I threaten his rear.
South troops are getting away towards songhlia -and recovering as well.

usual bombing about the map.
The fleet realy is ready now, pretty desperate efforts to gather fuel being made.
Some engineers found in Korea are sent to the phillipines, and a northern area AV regiment is bought, and sent to Davao -if it survives the SS!

Kamis in place shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh[:'(]

6/1/44
Sunk an enemy ss today, and the DD vendetta near vic point with I-156
His army is splitting in burma -some coming towards bangkok, some headed south, some towards Vic point
he bombs all over the place

My troops stream north towards rahaeng -what a risk!
If bangkok fall, there goes the entire east.
I think it will, tabpub too cautious to lunge at it

Not much air action at the moment.

10/1/44

Only one thing of note today, he moves fighters to lanchow as the betties continue to conduct city attacks all over china -its only a nuiscance, but it helps

I look at the map, and the date -its 44 and he has a Loooooooooong way to go!