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Those guys at Darwin are doing a great job! I count on them!

25 Feb. 42

Japan hits Hengchow again today and scores 2 more resource hits.

For the past few turns Japan has been bombarding bankha from the air, I have some Dutch recon planes there and they’ve been there for quite a while. His recent switch to bombing me here instead of Singapore (only 1 mission a day to Sing now instead of 3) leads me to believe he doesn’t want me to see something he must be planning soon.

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Day Air attack on Bankha , at 20,47

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14
Ki-48-I Lily x 34
Ki-46-II Dinah x 4

Allied aircraft
no flights

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
CW-22 Falcon: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 13

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Ki-48-I Lily bombing at 12000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on Bankha , at 20,47

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 17

No Japanese losses

Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 12000 feet
<snip>
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Right now nothing within their 5 hex range seems out of the ordinary, but I’ll keep a sharp eye focused on the Malay Peninsula for a while to see if anything develops.

Dutch bombers hit the 35th brigade at Madioen today and cause 67 casualties and 3 gun losses. Japan’s land bombardment there later in the turn shows his strength to be increasing as more and more units arrive to the base.

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Ground combat at Madioen

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1968 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 741

Defending force 44002 troops, 240 guns, 67 vehicles, Assault Value = 551



Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
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Near Rangoon allied bombers hit a couple of the Japanese units along the trails leading into Burma. I’m impressed with the A-24’s performance against the Japanese armor regiment, 4 of the units tanks are hit.

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Day Air attack on 7th AF Construction Battalion, at 33,32


Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 37
P-40B Tomahawk x 8


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on 1st Tank Regiment, at 29,35


Allied aircraft
Lysander I x 2
P-40B Tomahawk x 8
A-24 Dauntless x 18


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
89 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 4

Aircraft Attacking:
18 x A-24 Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
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A small allied supply convoy en route to Thursday Island with supplies gets hit by Japanese bombers flying out of Port Moresby. The ships in my task force are just small coastal AK’s and sailboats with capacities of 350 and 200. The Australian Dakota’s have been too busy to fly supply missions to the base and it needs supplies, so I’ll keep the fleet heading in on this suicide mission.

The two ships hit still have supplies aboard, so they’ll keep heading north as well.

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Day Air attack on TF at 49,93

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
D3A2 Val x 15
G3M Nell x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
MSW Killegray
AK Balus
AK Aussi
AK Lauralaba
AK Induna Star, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Matafele
AK Malahuka, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Scarba

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 8000 feet
<snip>
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At Palau US sub SS Grampus fires torpedoes at an AK but misses. The skipper then surfaces and rakes the ship with machinegun fire. Several of the hits are seen to penetrate the AK’s thin skin, but damage to the ship is minor.

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Sub attack near Palau at 51,68

Japanese Ships
AK Mikage Maru #20, Shell hits 6

Allied Ships
SS Grampus


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For the past several turns I’ve been evacuating some units out of Singapore via float planes to a base on northern Sumatra. So far I’ve gotten a little over half the 1st ISF base force out and half the 8th Indian brigade out. I’ve also gotten a chunk of the MAF (about 20-30 air support squads) unit out as well. My plan was/is to continue to air lift as much of these units out as I can before the surrender.

I’ll then begin to air lift these units to Port Blair to act as garrison there. My problem is I haven’t gotten any supplies into Port Blair yet and I won’t be able to stay there if I can’t get a convoy in. I’m not sure if it’s too late to try anymore though.

My opponent attacks anything I send to Rangoon and at least there is CAP there, Port Blair has no cover, so I’m debating simply staging these units through Port Blair then on to India and simply conceding the base to Japan at this point.

What does everyone think? Is it worth it to lose a bunch of cargo ships trying to supply Port Blair without air cover? At best the 8th Indian Brigade will have maybe 50-70 squads for defense (assuming I have enough time to get more of it out of Singapore, right now it has about 40), so it won’t be a strong garrison. Just strong enough to repulse a paradrop, not a landing.

Jim

What about sending at Port Blair some supplies using fast transport DDs? From Tricomalae maybe...they should sneak through...and maybe placing a transport ac group at Rangoon, flying in some more supplies...
If he lands at Port Blair he need to be covered by his KB, unless you could bomb the landing crafts quite easily from Rangoon...so, yes, i think it's worth the risk...Port Blair can be a very usefull base in japanese hands...if you can deny it to him it's a good thing imho

I'm enjoying this - especially the defence of Darwin seen from 'the other side of the hill'!

From both sides' viewpoint I would regard Port Blair as a useful early warning/surveillance outpost, but not one to which I would want to commit more than a handful of defenders. Fending off the small SNLF paratroop units is one thing, but you need a respectable force to withstand a drop by his parachute regt's.

I agree with Gen Hoepner: reinforce/re-supply the Andamans with fast transports. The Abdiel class minelayers would be ideal for this, but maybe none have arrived yet.

Suppression of Bankha's recon capability suggests to me that he's planning to stuff some large TF's westbound through the Malacca Straits. Destination India? Possibly Rangoon/Moulmein? Seems like a lot of effort to conceal a move against anything less, e.g. the Andamans. If you have air support at Medan or Kuala you could transfer the recce group to one of those and see whether the bombing follows them. That should confirm whether he's making a serious attempt to blind you.

26 Feb. 42

At Batavia Dutch sub KXVII torpedoes the MSW Hinode and sinks her. No sign of the Zuikaku leads me to believe it made it to a port somewhere, I’ll be moving this sub now to avoid ASW task forces.

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Sub attack near Batavia at 20,60

Japanese Ships
MSW Hinode Maru #20, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS KXVII
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My sailboats and coastal cargo ships arrive at Thursday Island and are met by Japanese sub I-173, which hits two ships. The MSW sinks, but the Induna remains afloat (barely) and begins unloading what little supply it has left.

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Sub attack near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese Ships
SS I-173

Allied Ships
AK Induna Star, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

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Sub attack near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese Ships
SS I-173

Allied Ships
MSW Inchkeith, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Scarba
MSW Killegray
MSW Sanda

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Japanese bombers out of Port Moresby then arrive on scene and cause more havoc among the small fleet. The surviving ships are ordered to unload and head south, hopefully they’ll be able to complete unloading in one turn.

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Day Air attack on TF, near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G3M Nell x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Malahuka, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 8000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
G3M Nell x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Matafele, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Lauralaba
MSW Sanda

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 8000 feet
<snip>
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Japanese bombers hit Madioen again today and cause heavy damage. I’ve gone ahead and pulled the Dutch airforce out to Soerabaja. Daily raids like this will kill more air frames on the ground then an occasional naval bombardment at Soerabaja will. Also if Japan wants to bomb my airforce, he won’t gain the added benefit of hitting my front line troops as well.

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Day Air attack on Madioen , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
G3M Nell x 63
C5M Babs x 5
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
75 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 41

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x G3M Nell bombing at 11000 feet
<snip>
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The Dutch airforce hits Japanese troops at Madioen again today and gets ambushed by Japanese LRCAP over the hex. The escorts get massacred, but the bombers only lose 1 plane destroyed and about half of them (the rest aborted) continue on to conduct their raid.

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Day Air attack on 35th Brigade, at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 4

Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 7
F.K.51 x 2
Martin 139 x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 11 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wirraway: 6 destroyed
Martin 139: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x Martin 139 bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Japan launches another deliberate attack on Singapore today and it is again too soon for him. His adjusted AV is lower than mine and he fails to reduce any fort levels. Even though his adjusted AV was lower than mine, I took many more losses than he did. Some of my combat brigades have 100% disabled equipment at this point.

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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 81525 troops, 337 guns, 77 vehicles, Assault Value = 1435

Defending force 61725 troops, 298 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 851

Japanese max assault: 1385 - adjusted assault: 1068

Allied max defense: 909 - adjusted defense: 1174

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)


Japanese ground losses:
1563 casualties reported
Guns lost 9
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
2436 casualties reported
Guns lost 74
Vehicles lost 1
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Japan launches a deliberate attack at Darwin and achieves 1-1 odds. The most distressing news though is he reduced the last fort level there. My only hope now is his supplies are low and his next attack will fail.

I’ve decided to stick it out here as long as possible. If I were to leave, the heroic coastal defense unit which has caused Japan so much grief here would be unable to leave as some of its guns have an asterisk next to them which makes the unit a fixed unit.

So the determined defenders at Darwin will stick it out as long as possible. Once the base is taken, they’ll retreat south all the way back to Alice Springs where they’ll stay and recover under the protection of the soon to arrive 3rd Australian Division which was ordered north from Sydney recently.

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Ground combat at Darwin

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33345 troops, 83 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 609

Defending force 16370 troops, 153 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 283

Japanese max assault: 510 - adjusted assault: 361

Allied max defense: 276 - adjusted defense: 246

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
493 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
391 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 1
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Once units from the US begin to arrive in Australia, I’ll use them to relieve the different Australian units garrisoning the coastal cities in Australia. These units shall then head to Alice Springs and form a large Australian Corps to retake Darwin with.

I prefer to use the Aussies since they are a fixed command and cannot fight anywhere except on Australia without paying massive PP to leave first. So by attacking northern Australia, Japan allows these units to have a purpose other than simply garrisoning coastal cities.

China



I decided to go ahead and give a general overview of the situation in China this turn, since Japan has pretty much cleared most of my Guerilla Corps from his rear areas now. I only have a few battered Guerilla units left in Japanese territory and they’ll soon die too, so it looks like things are about to shift to a new phase in China, with Japan consolidating and then possibly launching his first big attacks.

At Wenchow I’m in trouble, Japan has surrounded the city and is bringing in forces to try and force my 2 Corps there to surrender. I had real supply problems with my units east of Nanchang, so I conducted a strategic withdraw to Changsha with all but 2 units which went to Wenchow.

I now think it was a mistake to leave these units at Wenchow. Japan will simply gain a lot of victory points for them and I’ll still lose the city anyway. I should have just evacuated them as well and conceded the city to Japan once I made the decision to leave.

As you can see from the screenshot, I’ve got 13 Corps and 7 artillery units in the two cities of Hengchow and Changsha. 3 of these Corps are fixed units, so that gives me a strategic reserve of 10 Corps and 7 artillery units that I can use to react to any Japanese attacks in Southern China.

My front lines in the South consist of the city hex of Canton and the two forest hexes along the roads that lead east out of Changsha. The two forest hexes each has 7 Corps plus HQ’s and Canton has 6 Corps plus HQ’s. I can rapidly add to any of these three front line hexes from my reserve if needed, so I feel quite secure in the South.

In Northern China I’ve only got a few Corps at Sian which can be used as any kind of reserve, so I’m more vulnerable there than in the South. I also have 3 artillery units marching to Sian through the mountains, they should arrive in about 1 month.

My front lines in the north are cities I hold, except for the crossroads hex southeast of Honan. Yenan is a bit weak right now, but will eventually have another 3 Corps and 1 HQ once they arrive from the area a few hexes northeast of the city where they are busy crossing the river right now.

I also have the 3 cavalry corps in Lanchow with the fourth slowly marching across the mountains from Chengtu. This force is more of a defensive force in case Japan tries an end around move through the trail to the northeast, but it can also act as sort of a reserve if no northeastern move develops.

So Overall I’ve got a pretty decent defense set up in China now. My front line cities are rapidly increasing their fort levels, and I’ve put together a decent strategic reserve. Now I simply await my opponent’s moves to become apparent so I can begin reacting to them where needed.

I am mulling over a possible attack on Nanchang if my opponent commits a large force to reducing Wenchow. Unfortunately my recon is abysmal, so I have no idea if he’s surrounded Wenchow with Brigades or divisions.

Only a few of my units are pre-prepared for Nanchang however, so an attack probably won’t succeed, but it might draw off some forces from his Wenchow attacks. I doubt I can save the city however, so I’m only going to attack if he brings 4 or more divisions to Wenchow. That many divisions may mean he’s reduced his strength at Nanchang enough for a possible quick victory there.

I think I may transfer one of the ABDA recon units to China command and send it to Changsha first though, so I can get a peak at what’s in Nanchang before I commit to an attack.

Jim

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
What about sending at Port Blair some supplies using fast transport DDs?

D'oh! Yes of course, why didn't I think of that? Too late to do it this past turn, but I'll send some next turn and get the supplies flowing ASAP. Thanks G.H.

Jim

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel
I'm enjoying this - especially the defence of Darwin seen from 'the other side of the hill'!

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it.

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel
Fending off the small SNLF paratroop units is one thing, but you need a respectable force to withstand a drop by his parachute regt's.

He's committed two regiments already at Taung Gyi, does he have any more regiments available?

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel
If you have air support at Medan or Kuala you could transfer the recce group to one of those and see whether the bombing follows them. That should confirm whether he's making a serious attempt to blind you.

Yeah I split the two groups this turn. One stayed at Bankha and one went one base north. My float planes are one base north of that evacuating stuff out of Singapore.

I’ll watch to see if he adjusts his raids, only 1 raid hit Bankha today, but that may be due to fatigue.

Jim

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel
Fending off the small SNLF paratroop units is one thing, but you need a respectable force to withstand a drop by his parachute regt's.

He's committed two regiments already at Taung Gyi, does he have any more regiments available?

Only two regt's in the CHS variant I'm playing - I'd be surprised if your OOB is different. And it will take him some time to get his paratroops back out of Taung Gyi unless he airlifts them.

27 Feb. 42

Japan bombs Madioen with 57 Nell's and causes light damage to the base. I guess the forest terrain and level 4 forts make it hard for him to do significant damage to the base. He’ll need to bring in a lot more bombers if he wants to close the base down. If not I’ll slowly be able to keep the fort levels growing.

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Day Air attack on Madioen , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 57
C5M Babs x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 21

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 9 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
84 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 11000 feet
<snip>
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Later in the turn Japan launches his first deliberate attack and is repulsed. The allies suffer more casualties, but our adjusted AV’s leads me to believe Java is the new Manila. This base should hold out for quite a while if he doesn’t bring a few more divisions to the battle.

And even better, I have a small strategic reserve in Soerabaja (I have 200+ AV at Soerabaja and 65+ at Malang) that can swap out with units in Madioen so they can recover disablements. If the 500 supplies a turn at Soerabaja can keep everyone fed, this may prove to be a long siege indeed.

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Ground combat at Madioen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 52594 troops, 161 guns, 149 vehicles, Assault Value = 1153

Defending force 43996 troops, 246 guns, 70 vehicles, Assault Value = 554

Japanese max assault: 880 - adjusted assault: 432

Allied max defense: 547 - adjusted defense: 1307

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
1582 casualties reported
Guns lost 25
Vehicles lost 4

Allied ground losses:
2222 casualties reported
Guns lost 46
Vehicles lost 6
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With allied recon being notoriously bad, I decided to bomb several hexes near Burma that contained Japanese units. The Intel gained lets me know Japan now has a mixed regiment and a tank regiment 1 hex away from Moulmein.

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Day Air attack on 4th Mixed Regiment, at 30,35


Allied aircraft
Lysander I x 4
Blenheim IV x 7


Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on 2nd Parachute Regiment, at 33,31


Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 22


Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Blenheim IV bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on 28th Engineer Regiment, at 30,35


Allied aircraft
Lysander I x 2
Blenheim IV x 10
P-40B Tomahawk x 2


No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Blenheim IV bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on 1st Tank Regiment, at 29,35

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
Ki-27 Nate x 7
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 13

Allied aircraft
Lysander I x 2
P-40B Tomahawk x 15
A-24 Dauntless x 16

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged
A-24 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x A-24 Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
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Moulmein now has 5 of the 7 CBI brigade defending that hex with a total AV of 410. I had re-evaluated my deployments and realized I cannot march units south into Moulmein once Japanese units occupy the hex without initiating a shock attack. So I moved several of the brigades at Rangoon south in advance of any Japanese moves into the base.

These 5 brigades should be able to hold at Moulmein until Japan brings in more forces. Moulmein has 3 forts and is 44% of the way to the fourth.

For the past couple of turns, I’ve been amazed at how lucky my suicide run to Thursday Island has been. Very few ships had been hit and fewer sunk. This turn the full fury of Japan descended on the fleet and lots of carnage was caused in three separate raids.

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Day Air attack on TF, near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G3M Nell x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Malahuka, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 50,92

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
D3A2 Val x 15
G3M Nell x 26
E13A1 Jake x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
MSW Scarba
MSW Gale, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Lakatoi
MSW Sanda, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AK Lauralaba
AK Gnair
AK Alacrity, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Balus, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Bingera

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x E13A1 Jake bombing at 2000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on TF at 50,92

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
D3A2 Val x 14
G3M Nell x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Lakatoi
AK Bingera, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Lauralaba, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Aussi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Gnair
MSW Scarba, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Killegray, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 5000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amazingly 4 MSW’s and 10 AK’s still remain afloat. Of these only 2 sailboats are still undamaged, the rest are in very bad shape. I’ve left everything afloat with orders to try and get to Townsville. With most ships only values at 2-3 VP’s, it just didn’t make sense scuttling any of them.

The good news is, all ships were able to unload their supplies, and Thursday Island now has over 2000 supplies on hand. That’s almost 6 months worth of supplies for the tiny base and by the time they need more my transport aircraft should be able to handle the job.

After several turns rest and with more supplies offloaded to their troops, Japan once again tries to take Bandjermasin and the tiny Dutch garrison again holds its ground.

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Ground combat at Bandjermasin

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1640 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 47

Defending force 1339 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Japanese max assault: 40 - adjusted assault: 19

Allied max defense: 9 - adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
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Darwin Falls!

After several weeks of heroic struggle, the valiant defenders of Darwin are thrown out by a Japanese assault. Casualties for the allies are very high since the coastal defense gun unit was forced to surrender.

The shattered remnants of the Darwin defense force are ordered to fall back to Alice Springs. With no other base in the area capable of supporting aircraft, allied high command is conceding northern Australia to the Japanese.

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Ground combat at Darwin

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 32957 troops, 80 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 582

Defending force 16036 troops, 138 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 270

Japanese max assault: 472 - adjusted assault: 305

Allied max defense: 262 - adjusted defense: 119

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Darwin base !!!



Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Dakota I: 1 destroyed
Wirraway: 2 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
332 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
2270 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
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With northern Australia about to fall, I’ve began removing the few air units from Java I had planned to wait to remove until later. One 16 plane Martin group went to Broome and two fighter groups (Hawk 75A and Demon) are rebasing through Sumatra on to India. I had hoped the Demon’s could go with the Martin’s to Australia, but they just lacked the range to do so. The 2 remaining 339D fighters rebased out to Australia several turns back, since they were almost completely destroyed already.

This leave 2 Wirraways, 33 Martin’s and 5 Torpedo bombers along with a few patrol and recon planes in Java, All remaining aircraft except the patrol planes will stay and die on the island, I’ll pull out the patrol aircraft right before the end on Java.

Jim

Jim this AAR is good inspiration for all AFB's. Im learning a lot for it, mayhaps too late for my game with Yokel but certainly for any future AAR

ORIGINAL: cantona2
Jim this AAR is good inspiration for all AFB's. Im learning a lot for it, mayhaps too late for my game with Yokel but certainly for any future AAR

Thank you for the kind praise, I too have learned a lot from others AAR's. I find they are the best source for learning the game as it takes so long to play a game, it would take years to learn all the lessons on your own.

I should note I've also had some very good luck that has allowed me a few advantages. First the two large convoys that shipped the US regiment and PS regiment out of Manila were never spotted, thus allowing me to add almost 200 AV to the Dutch defenders on Java.

Second I spotted his second invasion force heading to Kalgan just in the nick of time. Had it taken even one turn longer to spot him, he'd have cut Java in two and quickly wrapped up the defenders, so I've had some very good luck that most games don't see.

Jim

ouch! Darwin has fallen....that's a pretty bad news...however his deployment in Java is pretty weird...i think he lacked in concentrate his forces....Northern Oz worths nothing Jim.Don't worry. You're gonna bomb him out as soon as Alice will be full of 4Es...[;)]

Jim, kudos to you, you've made your own luck. Yes, you may have been lucky the convoys shipping out of Luzon weren't spotted, but you are now reaping the benefit of your decision to purchase the forces making possible a strong position further back. Those Philippine Scouts are now doing you a lot of good at Madioen, and I agree it's a position that looks as though it can hold against what he currently has deployed.

If you should get levered out of Madioen there might be an interesting opportunity for the Dutch armour to get in behind him, should he send all his forces the wrong way to Soerabaja. If forced to retreat, I assume Madioen's defenders would fall back on Malang, and the Japanese would probably follow them. In that case there might just be a possibility of the Dutch armour getting back into Madioen, and then on to Kragen, if it were deployed on the alternate route at 23,65. Probably a pipedream, but posterity's verdict would be appealing: "Marmon Herrington: the new Tiger tank of the Pacific."

28 Feb. 42

February comes to a close and the allies sill hold on at Singapore (barely), Manila and in southern Java. At this point I’m feeling comfortable India is pretty secure now. I just landed the 7th British Armored Brigade at Bombay along with the 222nd Base Force unit and the 222nd Aviation Unit. These will go to Bangalore to join the 18th British Division.

With maximum aircraft support now in southern India and northern India (2 aviation units arrived some time ago and went to the north), getting ashore in India is going to be a lot more difficult than it would have been up till now. And in 14 more days the 2nd British Division will arrive at Aden and will be sent to join the 18th in Southern India.

Due to the fact I think Australia is under worse threat than India, I’m sending both the 6th AIF and 7th AIF divisions straight to Australia as soon as possible. I know it’s a dangerous journey for the Divisions to make, but I really do think India is secured from sea invasions given that I’ll have sufficient strength to repulse anything that lands right now due to so many Japanese divisions still being tied up in sieges.

A Japanese AK at Bangkok and PG at Rabaul are both reported sunk this turn from previous damage.

A Japanese BB task force bombards Soerabaja this turn, but the two coastal defense units there (Batavia CD unit is there now too) keep the base from suffering too much damage. 1 bomber is destroyed on the ground, but both BB’s suffer several hits.

The largest gun in the two CD units is the 150mm CD guns, so I doubt much happened to the BB’s other than a few points of system damage.

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Naval bombardment of Soerabaja, at 23,66 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed

40 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka
CA Atago
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 9
BB Fuso, Shell hits 7


Allied ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 1
Port supply hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bankha is bombed twice again today, but Medan, the base just north where I sent the other group of recon planes is not. Perhaps Japan is simply preparing Bankha for landings.

For the first time Japanese assets are spotted in the Indian Ocean. Vildebeest torpedo planes from Colombo launch a strike on the PG Ukishima Maru just south of Trincomalee and score a single bomb hit.



I’ve rebased some Blenheim’s to Colombo and Madras in hopes I get another shot at the PG this turn. I’m also sending the Dutch CL’s with Doorman in command (the DD’s are running supplies to Port Blair) 5 hexes south of Colombo in hopes they get a reaction move to intercept the gunboat. Doorman is pretty aggressive, so we may see a surface action this turn if he rolls an intercept.

Lots more havoc is caused among the sailboat convoy trying to withdraw from Thursday Island this turn. 1 MSW and 9 AK’s (2 undamaged still) remain afloat at the end of the turn.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 49,93

Japanese Ships
SS RO-63

Allied Ships
MSW Gale, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 13,27


Allied aircraft
Vildebeest IV x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PG Ukishima Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Vildebeest IV bombing at 5000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Portland Roads at 49,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G3M Nell x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Balus

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Portland Roads at 49,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
G3M Nell x 27
E13A1 Jake x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Aussi, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Scarba, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Killegray, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x E13A1 Jake bombing at 2000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 48,95

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Gnair

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 4000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another attack at Bandjermasin fails to take the base.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Bandjermasin

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1652 troops, 7 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 49

Defending force 1277 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 9

Japanese max assault: 42 - adjusted assault: 9

Allied max defense: 7 - adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)



Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I doubt these guys can hold on much longer, very few squads remain non-disabled, so eventually they simply won’t have an AV to defend with anymore.

Jim

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel

Jim, kudos to you, you've made your own luck. Yes, you may have been lucky the convoys shipping out of Luzon weren't spotted, but you are now reaping the benefit of your decision to purchase the forces making possible a strong position further back. Those Philippine Scouts are now doing you a lot of good at Madioen, and I agree it's a position that looks as though it can hold against what he currently has deployed.

If you should get levered out of Madioen there might be an interesting opportunity for the Dutch armour to get in behind him, should he send all his forces the wrong way to Soerabaja. If forced to retreat, I assume Madioen's defenders would fall back on Malang, and the Japanese would probably follow them. In that case there might just be a possibility of the Dutch armour getting back into Madioen, and then on to Kragen, if it were deployed on the alternate route at 23,65. Probably a pipedream, but posterity's verdict would be appealing: "Marmon Herrington: the new Tiger tank of the Pacific."

Thanks. Yokel,

I'll gladly take credit for the strategy, but I'd say it's virtually impossible to get two large convoys out of Manila to Balikpapan unspotted and undamaged, so luck (and the weather) played a huge part in things there.

As to the armor move, I agree it would be a very good move, but I’m a bit leery to do it without a discussion with my opponent first, due to our house rule which prevents using small units to isolate land formations.

While it was intended not to allow destruction or bizarre retreats, I’d say cutting off supplies would probably fall under the rule as well. Unlike the guerilla units in China whose zocs were merely a nuisance, the Dutch armor unit may be too big to dislodge, yet too small to meet our 25% rule.

I’ll have to think of a way to discuss this with my opponent without giving away my hand, perhaps I can find a situation on land in China that would keep him from *seeing* the intended move. Thanks for the tip though, I hadn’t given much thought to my probable retreat paths yet.

Jim

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: Local Yokel

Jim, kudos to you, you've made your own luck. Yes, you may have been lucky the convoys shipping out of Luzon weren't spotted, but you are now reaping the benefit of your decision to purchase the forces making possible a strong position further back. Those Philippine Scouts are now doing you a lot of good at Madioen, and I agree it's a position that looks as though it can hold against what he currently has deployed.

If you should get levered out of Madioen there might be an interesting opportunity for the Dutch armour to get in behind him, should he send all his forces the wrong way to Soerabaja. If forced to retreat, I assume Madioen's defenders would fall back on Malang, and the Japanese would probably follow them. In that case there might just be a possibility of the Dutch armour getting back into Madioen, and then on to Kragen, if it were deployed on the alternate route at 23,65. Probably a pipedream, but posterity's verdict would be appealing: "Marmon Herrington: the new Tiger tank of the Pacific."

Thanks. Yokel,

I'll gladly take credit for the strategy, but I'd say it's virtually impossible to get two large convoys out of Manila to Balikpapan unspotted and undamaged, so luck (and the weather) played a huge part in things there.

As to the armor move, I agree it would be a very good move, but I’m a bit leery to do it without a discussion with my opponent first, due to our house rule which prevents using small units to isolate land formations.

While it was intended not to allow destruction or bizarre retreats, I’d say cutting off supplies would probably fall under the rule as well. Unlike the guerilla units in China whose zocs were merely a nuisance, the Dutch armor unit may be too big to dislodge, yet too small to meet our 25% rule.

I’ll have to think of a way to discuss this with my opponent without giving away my hand, perhaps I can find a situation on land in China that would keep him from *seeing* the intended move. Thanks for the tip though, I hadn’t given much thought to my probable retreat paths yet.

Jim

This is speaking like a gentleman and fair gamer! Well done!
I agree, but at the same time i say that the rule can be seen also by the other face of the medal: if it's unrealistic that a little unit cut the supply lines of a big army just moving in her back and this doesn't allow the army to go back, at the same time it's true that a big army doens't simply move on without leaving anything in her back, so to say that the realism should imply also leaving, as advancing, some minor units behind you to rapresent the logistic, the reserves etc etc....

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
i say that the rule can be seen also by the other face of the medal: if it's unrealistic that a little unit cut the supply lines of a big army just moving in her back and this doesn't allow the army to go back, at the same time it's true that a big army doens't simply move on without leaving anything in her back, so to say that the realism should imply also leaving, as advancing, some minor units behind you to rapresent the logistic, the reserves etc etc....

Yeah the more I think about it the more I think the move would be fine on a temporary basis. In other words a raid into his rear to hopefully capture the base and possibly his supply stocks, but then I leave voluntarily allowing him to extricate himself from the zoc issues by quickly retaking the base.

As long as I don’t try an attack while the zocs are in effect to cause his advancing army problems, I think the spirit of our house rule is honored and I still can cause him problems if he fails to protect his rear areas.

I just wish zocs weren’t so all or nothing in this game. No way is the Dutch armor unit large enough to isolate 60,000+ Japanese from their supply bases across two or three 60 mile hexes, but simply placing a zoc does exactly that.

So I think I’ll attempt a raid but then pull out as soon as success or failure of the mission is determined. I also shall not remain in Madioen (thus creating contested zocs) if he has sufficient defenders to prevent the bases capture, as that would trap his entire army and prevent it from moving. If my opponent objects at all during the move, I’ll cancel the op immediately. That’ll maintain the necessary surprise without being unfair to my opponent.

Jim

Yes, good decision Jim.Sounds honourable and fair

I second the Generals statements

1 Mar. 42

Another Japanese bombardment task force hits Soerabaja and this time it’s made up of only CA’s. Two of the CA’s suffer many hits, hopefully the 150mm and 120mm CD guns caused some decent damage. Damage to the base was moderate and a few aircraft were destroyed on the ground.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Soerabaja, at 23,66 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
F.K.51: 3 destroyed

43 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 13
CA Mikuma
CA Ashigara
CA Nachi, Shell hits 9
CA Maya
CA Takao


Allied ground losses:
924 casualties reported
Guns lost 20
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 12
Port hits 10
Port fuel hits 5
Port supply hits 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like my opponent has decided its worth some sacrifice to try and smash the CD guns at Soerabaja. If he can bludgeon them enough, perhaps he’ll try a landing. Soerabaja has about 190-200 AV, so it’ll take more than a division to storm the base.

Recently I sent my DM’s from Pearl to Wake at max speed and dumped a bunch of mines there. The minefield paid off this turn when an AK loaded with troops hit a mine. Heavy damage is reported, hopefully it goes down with a good chunk of the unit it’s carrying still onboard.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 148 encounters mine field at Wake Island (85,72)

Japanese Ships
AK Nanrei Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other than air strikes at Manila, Singapore and Madioen, not much else happened this turn. But I’m not complaining, at this point of the game a slow turn is a good turn for the allies.

Jim