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This is a new AAR. I am moderately experienced WITP player but this is my first AE game.

AAR is not for my opponent to read until the end.

The Imperial Japanese Government declared war on the Allied Powers with surprise attacks on the Americans and British on 07 December and the Dutch on 08 December. The IJ attacks have been rapid with multiple landings across the entirety of the Pacific with several notable victories. The Allieds have yet to join the battle decisively as the scramble to come up with an effective response to the Japanese Offensive.

CENPAC Theater
The Imperial Japanese Fleet struck at Pearl Harbor over the course of three days. Three ports strikes managed to devastate the American Battleships with the Arizona and California being sunk. The Japanese Carriers approached within 100 miles of Oahu and the US managed to launch several strikes on Day 2, losing over 80 planes in the process. The Japanese broke contact to the west with the American Battle Line decimated, the American Carriers safe and the American Air Power pummeled but still relatively intact. At least 5 IJ Subs remain in the waters around Pearl Harbor with American Destroyers attempting to clear them out for the arrival of reinforcements.

Still, the Americans managed to achieve one tremendous victory in the opening round when the Japanese attacked Wake Island. The US Marines weathered the initial attack and counterattacked the decimated Japanese, completely destroying the invaders. 2000 Imperial Japanese Soldiers of the Maizaru 2nd SNLF were killed. Japanese Battleships have arrived on the 15th and have commenced bombardment and the IJ Carriers have been spotted to the east of the Island.

SOPAC
The Imperial Japanese have begun to make tenative movements into the area (Makin, Nauru, Ocean Island and Tarawa) with small invasions but no major surface combatants spotted.

SWPAC
The Imperial Japanese have conducted several rapid advances into the area with landings at Rabual, Kavieng, Shortlands and Lae. Three of the sites were immediately taken but Rabaul is still holding out after four days but it is likely that another landing force is on it's way. The Americans are sending a number of submarines and bombers from Pearl Harbor to Australia in order to give them credible threat but are limited at the moment by lack of Aviation Support outside Australia proper. Losses have been light with Patrol Aircraft at Port Moseby evacuating isolated Australian Companies from the north coast of New Guniea to Port Moseby.

DEI
The Imperial Japanese have advanced the quickest with landings across the north and east coast of Borneo and at Sorong. The landings have been small with several of the sites holding out for a couple of days before being overwelmed. Tarakan and Balikpapan in particular are still holding out as of 16 December but IJN Cruiser TFs off the east coast of Borneo have prevented any sort of Naval assistance from arriving. The Dutch Air has been extremely ineffective in gaining hits on IJ ships. A number of American and British Cruisers and Destroyers have linked up with the Dutch Fleet off Java and are moving to western New Guniea in order to strike against a the perceived lightly escorted efforts in this theater.

SE ASIA
The Imperial Japanese conducted landings at Khota Baru, Kuantuan and Mersing on the eastern coast of Malaysia quickly overwelming the defenders. The Japanese Army has gotten at least 60,000 troops ashore and have begun to advance southwest out of Kuantuan. The placement of the Japanese landings suggest that are trying to isolate Singapore from the rest of the Malaysia defenders. Force Z was destroyed on the first day of the war but the Japanese have yet to conduct any sort of air attack on Singapore and the British and Australian Aircraft have scored several bomb and torpedo strikes on the Japanese Navy with the most surprising strike being a successful torpedo and 500bomb attack on 09 December that sunk the Japanese Battleship, Kongo, off Mersing. The other battle of significance has been the arrival of the AVG in Rangoon with several large air battles over Rangoon with the AVG holding their own against the Japanese aircraft.

PI
The Japanese have conduct landings across the entire length of the Islands with little resistance to their advances in the south and central zones. However, the battles have been fierce with the Japanese making heavily contested advances in Luzon. The Japanese have advanced in Legapsi, Vigan, San Fernando and Aparri. The Flipino and American forces have counterattacked at Clark Field and Batangas, throwing the Japanese back with sharp casualties. The Japanese forces are building combat power and it is likely that there will be new pushes at Clark Field and Batangas but Manila has been bought at least 1.5 weeks of respite to build their defenses. The US Navy has largely conceded the waters around PI with the exception of their submarines which have been effective in conducting attacks but every torpedo strike has malfunctioned. The American B-17D bombers have been effective in flying with ground strikes consistently aiding the allieds during their counterattack at Batangas.

CHINA
The fighting has continued in China with the Japanese conducting an offensive against the approached to Changsa with at least two Chinese Corps pushed back with heavy losses. The Chinese are conducting an offensive of their own against the Japanese at Ichang with the opening moves occuring on 16 December. The most notable things have been continued resistance at Hong Kong with the British and Canadian defenders continuing to resist and hold the city as of 16 December. The Chinese Air Force actually managed a significant port strike against Haiphong harbor with seven cargo vessels damaged by the Chinese bombers flying low over the harbor.

Losses:
Allied Aircraft - 491
Japanese Aircraft - 257

Allied Ships - 63 (4 BB, 1 CA, 8 DD, 2 SS, 19 AK/AP/TK/AO, 29 others)
Japanese Ships - 6 (1 BB, 1 DD, 4 AK)

Riva Ridge, I think you misidentified your opponent for this Grand Campaign, Hunchback77 is not your Japanese opponent, I believe vonTirpitz is your opponent in this game. Please clear it up.

Done. 

The following items of note happened in the past 5 days...
 
1.  The expected Japanese push in the Phillipines began with the Japanese decisively breaking through at Batanagas and the area just to the northeast of Manila.  The Filipino Army evaporated with the accompanying American units fleeing to the battlefield into the suburbs of Manila.  The allieds suffered 6000 casualties in 2 days worth of fighting with the allieds attempting to reestablish a line within the city.
 
2.  The pace of the Japanese advance into the DEI has slowed momentarily as the Japanese attempt to consolidate their recent gains in Borneo after taking Tarakan and Balikakpan.  American Destroyers fleeing the Phillipines almost scored a huge victory when they came across 2 Japanese light carriers completely unescorted south of Davao (the escorts had moved to the west coast of Borneo to support with bombardment attacks).  The destroyers failed to scored a single hit on the carriers and they escaped. 
 
3.  There was one minor allied victory when Australian and New Zealand Cruisers sortied out of Brisbane and intercepted a Japanese Invasion TF that had just unloaded at Tulagi.  One xAK and PB were quickly sunk prior to the Cruisers escaping to the south. 
 

The tempo of the Japanese Offensive picked up over the past two weeks as the Japanese cut deep into the DEI, catching the Allied Forces unprepared with the speed and ferocity of their actions. From Port Moseby to Batavia, the Japanese are driving the Allieds from the sea and air and advancing at will with few exceptions. Elsewhere, the Japanese continue to advance in the face of spirited resistance. There has been little good news and the Allied High Command is stunned and reeling by the calamity being visited upon them as they attempt to craft an effective response.



CENPAC

The American Forces have begun to recover in the wake of the surprise attack against Pearl Harbor with the Americans beginning to fortify the Islands to the south of Pearl with various base forces and Patrol Aircraft. The IJN has flooded the area with multiple submarines that have ranged from Pearl and off the west coast of the United States (Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles). The submarines have been terribly effective with 2 Destroyers and 3 Transports sunk (one Base Force and 10 P-40s lost with them). The most unfortunate loss however was the loss of the USS Saratoga about 100 miles east of Pearl Harbor on the 20 December to a submarine attack. The sinking was so quick that the entire complement of aircraft were lost with the ship. The Americans have accounted for 3 Submarines destroyed but the battle continues as convoys from the west coast detour around the patrol areas in order to arrive unmolested. The other landing of note was the eventual fall of Wake Island after their earlier heroic defense.



SOPAC

After the initial landings south of Kwajelein, the Japanese have not conducted any additional landings. Like the Central Pacific, the Japanese do not appear to be making any major inititatives in the area as the Allieds are using the area to ferry the first materials westward.



SWPAC

There were few small engagements in the area with the Japanese rapidly moving southward after the fall of Rabaul on 22 December with a surprise attack on Port Moseby on 25-26 December. The KB made an appearance after it's attacks at Pearl Harbor and Wake Island and have interposed themselves between the Port Moseby landing and Australia in order to forestall any Australian interference. The combat has been relatively light in the area as the Australians have declined to squander any of it's combat power in a hopeless geasture though the Australian Cruisers did sortie once to destroy an unprotected Japanese cargo ship and patrol boat. Port Moseby continues to hold out against the initial landings having received supplies and minor reinforcements prior to the arrival of the invasion force.



DEI

The DEI has been the primary focus of the Japanese Offensive efforts with the majority of the identified Japanese Battleships and Cruisers committed as well as three Japanese light/escort carriers. The first prong of the Japanese Offensive has bypassed the Dutch bases off the southwest coast of Borneo and has attacked Batavia. Over 50 merchant vessels attempted to escape with roughly 25% of them being destroyed but the remainder managing to escape towards the Indian Ocean. The Japanese Battleships have wrecked havoc on Batavia but the Dutch continue to attack with their aircraft being completely ineffective. The second prong of the offensive moved towards Soerjaba with 60 merchant vessels attempting to escape but this movement was not as successful as the Batavia breakout with the Japanese Cruisers pursuing them the shipping towards Australia, sinking roughly 75% of the unfortunate vessels. The third prong was the only land new landing at Ternate. The American and Dutch Cruisers in the area made their stand against this effort with two seperate Task Forces attempting to get around the escorting force and striking at the troop transports. The American Cruiser TF failed to intercept and the Dutch TF was intercepted by Japanse Cruisers in the first pitched Surface Battle of the war. The De Ruthyer was savaged and the Dutch Fleet fled southward. The Dutch High Command has been completely overwelmed as they attempt to fashion some sort of credible resistance in the area.



SE ASIA

The pace of combat has slowed as the Japanese have slowly advanced from their beach-heads against the British Defenders. Japanese Bombers have begun the process of isolating the Malaysia theater with one relief convoy intercepted and the loss of the 46th Indian BDE at sea. The British have begun to divert further relief convoys to Burma and Java in order to avoid senseless loss at sea. Additionally, the Japanese Bombers have begun to bomb the airfied at Singapore, driving most of the ships out of the port but not significantly impacting air operations. The Japanese have managed to push back the Defenders at Temuloh but so far the British line has held against the Imperial Army. However, the British and Australian Forces have begun to get run down and are not likely to hold the line without breaking at some point early in January. The other fighting of note has been a concerted Japanese Air Offensive against Rangoon. The AVG was committed to the defense of Rangoon (along with a handful of Buffalos) with several large 100 plane battles against the Japanse Oscars and Zeros. The AVG managed a 1 to 1.5 kill rate but have subsequently withdrew after losing roughly 50% of their available fighters. Japanse Bombers have begun to sink Allied Cargo Vessels in the area creating a travel advisory into the area.



PI

Flipino resistance was spirted for roughly two weeks with the Filipinos even managing to push the Japanese back at Batangas before the Japanese second offensive broke through the lines and pushed them back to Manila. The Americans and Filipinos pulled back to the outskirts of Manila and have been under constant shelling by the encirciling Japanese Army. Further to the west, the Japanese Offensive turned into a bloody melee at Clark Field with over 10000 casualties being suffered in the battle before the Allied resistance broke. The Japanese held the field as the Allieds fled southward to the Bataan redoubt, leaving the western approach to Manila open and allowing more Japanese forces to join the siege at Manila. Further to the south, the Japanese have made several landings to take the various isolated outposts in the PI.



CHINA

There has been numerous desultory fights in the Chinese theaters with the Japanese Army usually getting the better of the poorly equipped and trained Chinese Forces. The Japanese Offensive against Changsa has slowed with progress being limited more by lack of Japanese aggressiveness and less by any Chinese prowness. However, the Chinese Offensive at Ichang was very successful in driving out the Japanese Defenders with the Chinese taking the city on 24 December. The other action of note was the Japanese Army finally taking Hong Kong after an epic 22 day siege that along with Wake Island has been the watchword for doomed but heroic resistance against the unstoppable Imperial Forces.



Losses:
Allied Aircraft - 812
Japanese Aircraft - 425

Allied Ships - 205 (1 CV, 4 BB, 1 CA, 1 CL, 12 DD, 4 SS, 116 AK/AP/TK/AO, 66 others)
Japanese Ships - 16 (1 BB, 3 DD, 5 AK, 3 SS, 4 other)

Player Note:
 
Been an interesting game so far.  My initial impression of my opponent was that he was somewhat careless in his game play due to the lack of escorts with some of his invasions and because I sunk the Kongo because it was hanging out at Mersing and had been attacked three or four times prior to finally being sunk (it wasn't damaged in the previous strikes but I was consistently getting bombers close).  However, by assessment has been revised.  My opponent has been very aggressive and has knifed into the DEI far quicker than I thought he would.  I have lost over a 100 merchant and auxillary ships in the past 14 turns due to not believing he was going to get that close to Java that soon.  Short of a big miracle, I don't think I am going to be able to get a good defense together in the DEI and he will have the area wrapped up in the next 2-3 game months. 
 
That being said, I am feeling good about other areas.  I have suffered pretty light losses against primary combatants (save the unfortunate Saratoga) and ought to have a nice sized Allied Fleet in being soon enough.  My opponent is going to have NG wrapped up pretty soon but I think I am going to have the possibilty to hurt him if he continues to play aggressively. 
 
RR