Tom & Blackwatch Lessons from War

[Tom Hunter]

From about May 12 or 13 the Japanese have been pushing in Central China and have reached the gates of Chunking. There have been a few small bombardment attacks but no assult by either side.

An army of 100k Chinese showed up at Hisnyang where it found 100k Japanese defenders behind what we believe is a level 9 fort. So they left with the last 13,000 being forcibly ejected by a Japanese attack.

The British have responded by sending 2 squadrons of Blenhiems and US B17s based in India have also bombed the advancing Japanese. But the question remains is this the start of Japanese victory in China or just another step deeper into the swamp.

[Tom Hunter]

With the fall of Port Moresby the focus of the war shifts East and West.

To the East Allied CVs make an appearance off of Baker Island May 25th and bomb it heavily. That night American and Australian surface forces make their first appearance in months and add their own bombardment. The next day over 100 B17s hit the airfield. This combined strike pretty much shuts the airfield down leaving a number of damaged Japanese planes stuck there. Betties from Tarawa launch attacks on the CV TFs but get downed by the 43 Wildcats flying CAP.

The B17s from Canton continue to smash up Baker every turn keeping the airfield there out of commission. Baker is now in the same situation that the Allies face on the Canal a smashed up airfield that can’t be repaired as fast as its bombed.

The results of this effort have been very satisfying to the Allies. It’s the first time we have shut down a Japanese airfield and for the first time in months the aircraft kill numbers are moving in our favor.

I made a foolish mistake at tried to pass a Cruiser TF from Brisbane to Darwin. This was a juicy target for bombers based at PM and they sunk Ajax one turn and the Houston the next.

The Japanese invade Raba (spelling?) an Island half way between Timor and Java. Allied aircraft bomb the Japanese shipping scoring a few hits. The Japanese raid Koepang in retaliation finding obsolete Dutch aircraft flying CAP and shooting some down. Its all pretty small scale but its more attrition so I like it. Some day the allies will get some decent fighters to Timor to contest with the Zeros but right now we are licking our wounds after the huge air battles for Port Moresby and then with KB at the end of the raid in mid-May.

[Tom Hunter]

As we get close to the first 6 months of the war I thought I would post a strategic overview.

The Japanese are still on the offensive in a number of locations, some of these are clean up operations finishing off the Philipines, and taking the North Coast of New Guinea. The clean up operations are going to suceed there is nothing strong enough to stop them.

In China there is a big force of nearly 100k men in the Chunking area but many of them are a hex to the East of the City. The Chinese are responding and this is likely to turn into a series of major battles. There are also signs that the Japanese will put pressure on other parts of the Chinese line so China will probably have a very interesting June. Its worth noting that the only unit lost by either side in China so far was a small force of Japanese paratroopers. There is a lot of fighting in China but people seldom die.

The other Japanese effort that is getting serious resistance now is in the remaining islands of the Dutch East Indies. Timor has aircraft that have attacked Japanese shipping and been attacked by Japanese bombers. B17s from Darwin have bombed Kendari in retaliation. So far nothing decisive has happened but there is fighting going on.

The area near Port Moresby remains quiet. Near then end of may I tried to get a cruiser force to Darwin and lost a CA and a CL for my troubles as they ran past the Japanese base at PM. A week before KB took a few bomb hits from air based in Oz so the whole area has become a no go zone for both sides.

Bomb hits on KB have also changed the CV odds to more or less one to one. Even if the single bomb hit did little damage the 2 bombs on Shokaku should send her to the repair yards for a while and Blackwatch will probabley want the damage to Kaga fixed soon as well. This leaves the Japanese with 4 fleet CVs and a few new smaller carriers. The Americans also have 4 CVs and a CVE (Long Island) and the British have 3 CVs and Hermes. Niether side is strong enough to launch an unsupported attack into the teeth of the others LBA now.

The Japanese continue to bomb the Canal to keep its airbase no-functional. They have also put a force on the islands SE of the Canal to surround the place. This may work or it might draw the US CVs in to change the odds we shall see.

Further North US CVs, Cruisers and over 100 B17s based on Canton Island borrowed from the Japanese playbook and shut down the Japanese airbase on Baker. Baker now gets a daily pounding and is unflyable.

So we are close to equilibrium. Both sides are looking for ways to hurt the other. The Allies need to be careful because if they lose too much in 42 it will delay the big offensives in 43. The Japanese want to continue their expansion but need to start thinking about the defense as well.

May saw relatively little action the question is when and where will things really get going? What is the next move.

Stay tuned

[Tom Hunter]

China is turning into the main thearter of conflict now. The Japanese are outside the fortifications of Chunkging launching bombardment attacks every turn:

Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 29694 troops, 363 guns, 5 vehicles
Defending force 20611 troops, 160 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported

At the same time the Chinese started moving a large force West from Ichang to cut the road to Chunking. Japanese bombers have tried to slow this force down but the Chinese advance continues.

The Japanese commander at Hisnyang gets reports of large troop movements out of Ichang heading West and decides that this is his chance to expand the empire of Japan, he moves West to Ichang and attacks:

Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 99413 troops, 1305 guns, 7 vehicles
Defending force 64216 troops, 388 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)
Japanese ground losses:
3214 casualties reported
Guns lost 75
Vehicles lost 2
Allied ground losses:
173 casualties reported

Well maybe the move West from Ichang was exaggerated.[:D]

Meantime in the South the Chinese army that spent the first half of May pounding the Japanese 6th Division is moving slowly back into action.

In the far North the Yenen garrison contiunes its bombardment attacks on the Japanese. Recently the number of Japanese defenders had been 189,000 down from 203,000 in late May and 40,000 less than the all time high of 230,000 at the hieght of the siege.

[Tom Hunter]

Here are the major loss statistics from March to June 1942. Its interesting to me that the over all loss rates are moving towards 1 to 1 over time.

The exceptions to that are ground losses in May and air losses in April. The air losses were high because of the battles around Port Moresby, they cost me a lot of planes. They also cost Blackwatch a lot and its doubtful I will ever know if it was worth while or not. Fighting hard for PM may have stopped Blackwatch elsewhere or slowed his advance in the Solomons or it may just have lost me 400-500 planes more than I would have lost otherwise.

Ground losses were high because Soerbaja and Port Moresby both fell and some smaller isolated garrisons have fallen as well. There is no chance of a repeat of a big base falling in the future and there was no chance of the troops in Soerbaja getting away anyway. So I think the May losses are the last big losses from the start of war positions.

March 26th

The planes losses so far are: 2384 allied vs 1942 japanese.

Land units losses are: 5984 allied vs 569 japanese

Ship losses: 290 (3583 pts) allied vs 76 1131 japanese

Alied capital ships losses: 1CV 4BBs 1BC 7CA 6 CLS
Japanese capital ships losses: 3CVLs 2CVEs 2CLs


April 22, 1942

Allied AC points lost: 3353 lost 969 since March 26th
Japanese: 2459 lost 517 since March 26th

Allied Army loss points: 7182 lost 1198 since March 26th
Japanese: 719 lost 250 since March 26th

Allied ships sunk: 329 lost 49 since March 26th
Points: 3901

Japanese ships sunk: 85 lost 9 since March 26th
Points: 1195


June 1 1942

Allied AC points lost: 3965 lost 612 since April 22
Japanese: 3076 lost 617 since April 22

Allied Army loss points: 9073 lost 1891 since April 22
Japanese: 966 lost 247 since April 22th

Allied ships sunk: 360 lost 31 since April 22
Points: 4218

Japanese ships sunk: 111 lost 26 since April 22
Points: 1424


The air losses are almost 1 to 1 now and I think they may stay at that level for a while. Shipping losses have moved closer together as well. This is partly because of the British ambush at Bali and partly because aircraft from Koepang hit the transports invading Raba pretty hard as well.

On land its all about China. There are no major allied forces in contact with Japanese forces outside of China. For that to change one of us will have to invade the other and we both have large CV forces of nearly the same size right now. If we invade we have to go up against LBA first and then risk a battle with the enemies fresh CVs. Not a very attractive prospect and the last KB raid proved that even sailing agaist LBA without enemy CVs nearby can be dangerous.

[Tom Hunter]

Warship losses to date:

Allied Japanese

CV: 1 Vs. 0
CVL/E 0 Vs. 5
BB/BC 5 Vs. 0
CA: 8 Vs. 1
CL: 7 Vs. 2
DD: 40 Vs. 16

It took me a while to learn to avoid LBA [:(]

Also a lot of my DD losses were Vs. Submarines, something like 15 or 16 of them. A similar number of Japanese subs have gone down so I guess its a fair trade.

[Blackwatch_it]

I agree: at the end of the first six months we are entering in a new phase. The time of tha fast Japanese expansion is ending. I'm capturing the small bases that I left behind to consolidate my position.
The conquest of PI is quite complete and most of DEI is Japanese also.
In SOPAC only Lunga is still in Allied control. Maybe I'll leave the situation as it is, since Guadalcanal is not a threat anymore.
The air and naval attacks agaist Baker could be the start of the first Allied offensive in the Pacific. We will see if we will have a decisive Baker air/sea battle.
In China we are having a little of movement after some months of trench war. At least things are getting more interesting.

Most of my land units are at full stenght and ready for the future battle. The planes have experienced pilots and good bases. The ships are eager to meet the allied fleets when they will showup.

I'm waiting for lots of action in the next months

[Tom Hunter]

Cenpac and SEAsia remain quiet.

In the South Pacific a bunch of Betties land on Baker Island. We decoded the following messages on June 3rd 1942 coming from Baker:

Flight Lt. Yoshida: Sir this airfield looks like the surface of the moon, when will it be fixed?
Squadron leader Furashita: I don't know, and what is that buzzing noise?
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 102
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty 33 Destroyed, 28 damanged
June 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty 43 Destroyed, 38 damanged

There have been small actions in the air over Keopang and Dili in Timor but no more than 3 planes shot down on either side in any given day.

In China there are now 75,000 Japanese troops at Chunking facing 35,000 Chinese defenders. Kwieyang just took a bombardment attack from 3,000 Japanese who moved in, the 18,000 defenders were no impressed but more Japanese are sure to be on the way. Chinese troops continue to move towards both cities and there is a force coming from Ichang to cut the Japanese supply line. Events in China move slowly because of the great distances and bad roads but they are interesting to watch.

All the CVs have vanished, and they have been missing for weeks. Where are they?

On June

[Blackwatch_it]

Everything is quiet everywhere: no planes (only th B17 still pounding Baker), no ships, no landings. Looks like everyone is taking his holydays in June.
KB pilots are enjoying the company of exotic beauties on **** tropical beach drinking sake. The Combined Fleet is trying to raise the combat spirit but it seems that the ships are less attractive then island girls.

Only in China there is some activity. Chungking and Kweyiang are under siege. The Japanese troops that advanced to Ichang are retreating to Hsingyang. Other Japanese troops advanced north from Kaifeng and repulsed a Chinese counterattack:
Ground combat at 50,31

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 61955 troops, 442 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 144399 troops, 1990 guns, 23 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
505 casualties reported
Guns lost 31
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
6749 casualties reported
Guns lost 114

[Tom Hunter]

This was a very interesting day for me because I saw what I think is an effect of the huge air battles fought over Port Moresby in April and May. The Japanese launched a pair of airstrikes at TFs that are within range of thier airfield at Port Moresby. These are zero groups that pounded my air to pieces in April and May but also lost a lot themselves. Look at the casualty rate now:

Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 47,100

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
G3M Nell x 3

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 10 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
PG Moa, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Thursday Island at 49,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
B5N Kate x 27
G3M Nell x 9

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 13
P-39D Airacobra x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 35 destroyed, 1 damaged
B5N Kate: 12 destroyed, 1 damaged
G3M Nell: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Empire Mariott, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Kaiping, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Pibroch, Bomb hits 2, on fire


Allied ground losses:
107 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
1 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet
4 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet
4 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet
4 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet
4 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet
4 x B5N Kate bombing at 1000 feet

Of course there is fog of war but the Japanese really did lose 18 zeros set against a small number of P39s killed. Also it was P39s doing the fighting, they are not equal to the zero. This makes me think that Blackwatch took a hit to his pilot quality while capturing PM.

At sea there has been no action in the last 3 days, on land there was a Chinese attack on the Japanese forces at the rail junction North of Canton:

Ground combat at 43,40

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 99222 troops, 586 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 40947 troops, 523 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
817 casualties reported
Guns lost 22

Allied ground losses:
597 casualties reported
Guns lost 25

Not great but not a defeat either. Chunking and Kweiyang are both under pressure from 78k and 60k troops respectively but they have good sized garrisons and big forts. In the North the Japanese have opened up the rail junction 2 hexes SE of Homan (see map above) gaining tactical flexibility that I do not wish him to have but that I cannot take away at the moment.

The Japanese launched a successful air attack on Lautern in Timor winning the air battle and bombing some whirraways on the ground but that was about it for the island. Canton island B-17s continue to pound sand at Baker Island airstrip and the CVs remain hidden.

Next turn the USS North Carolina arrives on Map. It won't have any effect on the game but it makes me feel good. [:)]

[Tom Hunter]

June 15th 1942

An American CV group was crossing from Wake to Saipan for a CV raid when this happened:

Day Air attack on TF at 69,61


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5
SBD Dauntless x 17


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Montevideo Maru
AP Seattle Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AP Nichiryu Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Baikal Maru
AP Ryuyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 69,61


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5
SBD Dauntless x 25


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
PG Nanpo Maru
AP Toko Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PG Kanko Maru
AP Montevideo Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Nagaragawa Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP Victoria Maru, Bomb hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 69,61


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6
SBD Dauntless x 17


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Nagaragawa Maru, on fire, heavy damage
AP Atuta Maru
AP Peking Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Heizan Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Tamaki Maru

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 69,61


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5
SBD Dauntless x 33


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Tamaki Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AP Montevideo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Heizan Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AP Toko Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP Argentina Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
153 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
1 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet

The question is what did they catch? They are out in the middle of nowhere and they run into at least 13 APs with 2 PGs escorting. Blackwatch cannot be pleased with this but why are they there? Is KB somewhere near? Did they catch an invasion force? Any thoughts people? Allied intelligence is baffled.

[Tom Hunter]

June 16th

To my intense frustration the Japanese convoy spends the day hiding in thunderstorms. So they get away in spite of being located in the same hex as the CV TFs. Ugh.

Blackwatch is singing the praises of the rain Gods today.

In other news the Japanese take Tassafronga on the Canal. This is disturbing but there is not much I can do about it. The airfield there is a wreck and I have no bases in support range.

More Japanese bombing of Timor, they blew up a Whirraway on an otherwise empty airfield in Lautern.

In China the Chinese defeated 40,000 Japanese North of Canton and drove them back into the city. Both sides continue to bombard various places and our armies are in contact at Chunking, Kwieyang and Yenan. Its hard to believe but right now China is the most active theater in the war.

[Blackwatch_it]

Some rain is good, keeps the grass green.

[Tom Hunter]

China has turned into one of the most interesting theaters in the war, mostly because things are pretty quiet everywhere else.

A good feeling for the mix of forces can be got from the combat reports, these are all bombardment attacks, no one is getting hurt.

Ground combat at Kweiyang
Japanese Attacking force 63131 troops, 756 guns, 3 vehicles
Chinese Defending force 36988 troops, 217 guns, 0 vehicles

Ground combat at Chungking
Japanese Attacking force 73132 troops, 840 guns, 4 vehicles
Chinese Defending force 52863 troops, 399 guns, 0 vehicles

Ground combat at 45,34
Japanese Attacking force 7083 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles
Chinese Defending force 48426 troops, 281 guns, 71 vehicles This is the road hex that the Chinese are advancing into from Ichang. There may be more than 7k Japanese in the hex, Blackwatch has started trying to bait me into shock attacks by showing only part of his forces.

Ground combat at Yenen
Chinese Attacking force 110297 troops, 598 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese Defending force 171226 troops, 1748 guns, 150 vehicles

Its difficult to predict what will happen next in China. Japan is deep inside Chinese territory but its very likely that we are both holding back forces to take advantage of the situation. I have Dutch recon units flying around looking for the Japanese army and Blackwatch flies a lot of recon as well. Anyone care to make predictions? Am I surrounding Blackwatch or is he setting me up?

And there is still the question of the transport fleet that got hit by the US CVs near Siapan. 3 of the APs sank 2 in port one on the way, so it looks like their trip was interrupted pretty effectively but sadly there was no massacre (or happily if your a Japanese fanboy). Where were they going? To reinforce Tarawa? To take Lunga? Its like the location of TF34, the world wonders.

[Tom Hunter]

This was a really bad day for transports.

At Guaudal Canal the Japanese ran into a small TF of DMSes that were on their way to deliver supplies to the island.

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Haruna
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
DD Kasumi
DD Harusame
DD Yugure
DD Isonami
DD Akebono
DD Uzuki
DD Satsuki
DD Minazuki
DD Fumizuki
DD Nagatsuki

Allied Ships
DMS Southard
DMS Hopkins, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
DMS Dorsey
DMS Long, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
DMS Elliot

A few hours later the Royal Navy continued to burnish its reputation as the most dangerous surface force in the Pacific when a cruiser force caught the Japanese at an Island base near Timor.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Maumere at 28,73

Japanese Ships
AP Hinko Maru
AP Koei Maru, Shell hits 63, and is sunk
AP Meiko Maru, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AP Meiu Maru
AP Meiyo Maru, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AP Nitta Maru, Shell hits 7, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CL Durban
CL Birmingham
CL Newcastle
DD Mugford
DD Ralph Talbot
DD Patterson
DD Craven
DD Peary
DD Inconstant
DD Isis

The rest of the Pacific was ...pacific..[:D] but in China the Chinese have pushed the Japanese forces back one hex SE on the road from the rail line to Chunking. There are now 85,000 Chinese troops between Changsha and the forces in Kwieyang and Chunking.

Baker Island continues to be bombed by 80 B17s just about every day. Japanese CV based aircraft hit the surviving Philipine Division on Cebu. Mostly we both prepare and snipe.

[Tom Hunter]

During the first 5 days of July the war in the air has heated up over Timor. July 4 was the worst day for the Japanese with 68 planes destroyed but there have been similar battles on the 2nd with 44 Japanese and 17 Allied aircraft shot down, and on the 5th when 17 Nates came in against 44 Allied fighters and got murdered.

In other theaters the Japanese continue to pound Guadalcanal and have cut off all supplies for some time. Rumor has it the Americans are resulting to cannibalism.

Nothing has been seen of the US CVs since the raid near Saipan and the Royal Navy has been keeping quiet as well. Maybe there is a force of 7CVs and 10 BBs heading for a raid on the home islands, but then again maybe not.

In China there are Japanese armies attacking no less than 5 Chinese cities but two of these armies are deep in China and out of supply. I will do a seperate post on China later with a map.

Here are some statistics, notice that the air losses are moving the allied direction, we are now just over 600 points apart, in June it was almost 900.

[Alikchi2]

Things seem pretty quiet, except in the air and in China. Which puts you in a pretty good position, I think. [:)]

Deep-penetration carrier raids.. they're risky, but judging by the last one you tried, definitely can be worth it!

[Blackwatch_it]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

Things seem pretty quiet, except in the air and in China. Which puts you in a pretty good position, I think. [:)]

Deep-penetration carrier raids.. they're risky, but judging by the last one you tried, definitely can be worth it!

I strongly agree, Tom should try more deep CV raids, I'm willing to suggest interesting target such as Rabaul.
Maybe that things are going to be not much quiet anymore.
Cebu, the last important base in PI was captured by Japanese troops on 7/9.
Lunga is daily bombed by sea and air. Nice to hear about cannibalism, this means that in a short time I will be able to capture Lunga sending just a SNLF unit.
Also the loss rate for the air battles over Timor is sligtly changing:

Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
A6M3 Zero x 36
Ki-21 Sally x 12
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 4
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4
CW-21B Demon x 2
Brewster 339D x 3
Kittyhawk I x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 10 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 10 destroyed, 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 2 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 12 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 7 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 5 destroyed

[Tom Hunter]

Even allowing for FoW Blackwatch is correct the losses over Koepang were much closer to even this turn. I think it was 14 allied to 17 Japanese over all but the Japanese destroyed more of my planes on the ground.

Still it looks like an attrition battle to me, Blackwatch has 3 airfields covering Timor and I have 3 defending it. We are both building them up, Lautern on the opponsite end of the island from Keopang just became an L4 airfield this turn. Maybe my twin engine bombers will finally start to fly!

Things have been quiet on both sides for weeks now any bets as to who will move first and where?

[Tom Hunter]

The map shows the situation in China July 10th. It does not show the deliberate attack Blackwatch launched on Yenen July 2nd that cost him 9000 casualties, or the counter attack I launched July 3rd that cost me 6,000.

There are regular bombarment attacks in all hexes that have Japanese and Chinese troops in them.

Kwieyang just had a Chinese deliberate attack that may be interesting:
Ground combat at Kweiyang
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 104594 troops, 621 guns, 40 vehicles
Defending force 57424 troops, 434 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 3 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
932 casualties reported
Guns lost 27
Allied ground losses:
760 casualties reported
Guns lost 17

The Japanese bombarment attack earlier in the turn cost Blackwatch 148 casualites and 33 guns so it looks like I am winning. Blackwatch is surrounded and cut off but the Japanese are really hard to kill and who knows what is on the way.

At Chunking there are 50,000 Chinese facing off against 70,000 Japanese who are also cut off but I don't have the numbers to counter attack yet. So even though Blackwatch has taken a big risk in China its still a swamp with no sign of victory for either side. I wonder if its draining his supplies? Any one care to describe what its like to be stalemated in China from the Japanese point of view?




The formation labled paratroops may be survivors from the Japanese paradrops back in March 42. I think they have been wandering the hills of China trying to get out since then. Its the only way I can explain the unit that is there.