Dai Toa Senzo - Chuck vs Pat - CHS 155 allied side

[ctangus]

I honestly have no idea what Dai Toa Senzo means, but it sounds cool. At any case this is the allied side of Pat's AAR of the same name.

EDIT: Per Pat it means The Great Asia War. Works for me.


pat - don't read further [:-]




----------------

First AAR - I'm shamelessly hoping for advice so feel free to butt in.

Agreed to a restart - first start his KB didn't attack either first or 2nd turns due to weather. 2nd chance they did...

BB California is sunk. Arizona & WV are both at less than 10 sys damage each. The rest will live if he doesn't attack a 2nd turn, but will be out of action for a while: from 36-77 sys damage. A number of other ships are also hit, but not mortally.

OVERALL STRATEGY

Still working on it, but I plan to fight wherever I can inflict some damage or slow him down. Time is on my side. At this point if I can slow him down, even if I lose 3 to 1, I'm doing ok.

I had planned to hold a strong line of PH - Palmyra - Canton - Fiji - Suva - Noumea - Brisbane - Darwin. That's already gone by the boards as he invaded Canton first turn.

WEST COAST

Mostly setting up my supply lines. While I intend to convert a lot of ships, I'll wait until major AK reinforcements arrive in about 3 weeks. For now I'll use them to alleviate the critical supply shortage in C, S & SW PAC.

CENT PAC

Had been hoping to build up Canton, then Baker and/or Howland but he beat me to it invading Canton turn 1. I have forces prepping for Palmyra & Christmas Island. Plan to re-take Canton ASAP - Jan/Feb 42 if I can. Not having it stretches my supply lines too far.

The two CV TFs are heading in this direction; hoping to beat up on some shipping while KB's still near PH.

S PAC

Plan to build up/reinforce Suva, and to a lesser extent Fiji. Once they're secure I'll reinforce Noumea.

Nothing much happening here yet, though.

SW PAC

Other than moving a few ships around, this is pretty quiet.

PHIL

7 different landings on Luzon and 6 on Mindinao and a few on other islands. Not sure how long I'll hold.

Clark field is toast.

One possible bright note: with the large number of landings they're not all escorted. On Mindanao I'm having CA Houston attack what appears to be a CA and two transports, and CL Boise attack what are apparently two unescorted transports. Both are on their way to Balikpapan. Maybe I'll get lucky.

DEI

Landings at Brunei, Sinkawing and Palembang. I hope to make him pay for that last - definitely intending to bomb the h--- out of the oil once he takes it.

I had pulled POW out of Singapore south to Scerabaja. Joined up with 2 CLs out of Palembang. I'm going to bombard Palembang on my way to Scerabaja. If my intelligence is right he has two transport TFs and a surface TF with two CAs and 4 DDs there.

Similarly, I'm sending Repulse (with only 2 DDs as escort) north to Sinkawing on its way to Scerabaja. There's an apparently unescorted transport TF there.

See picture at bottom of post

Otherwise in the DEI I'm mainly evac'ing transport to India and/or Darwin. The MLs are laying mines all over. The ones with the longer legs will be sent to Trincomalee. The shorter endurance ones are being sent to Scerabaja, where I'm also sending a British MLE. (Nationalities don't matter any more in 1.795 I believe & hope.)

MALAYSIA

Port attack on Singapore. I fortunately had evacuated POW, but CL Mauritius was sunk and a large number of other ships damaged.

He's landed at Johore Bahru with apparently 1 brigade. I'm thinking of sending ground reinforcements there but haven't yet.

Sent all my torpedo bombers to Alor Star on turn 1, hoping for some hits on the inevitable invasion at Kota Bharu, but weather kept them socked in.

BURMA/INDIA

Nothing to note. Mostly shuffling units around, setting up my supply lines.

CHINA

Frankly, I'm clueless. SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED!!! [;)] The guerilla units are mostly moving to cut off supply lines. The SEA units are moving into Burma. One surprise - he hasn't attacked Hong Kong yet. Appears to have units moving from Canton to Wuchow. I've got a couple units moving there to reinforce it.

[ctangus]

Bump - I edited the initial post, but the action is new.

[ctangus]

12/8/41 - Allies strike back!

CENT PAC

KB sticks around for another PH attack. All the BBs are in the red now, but the worst FLT damage is 51. All left will live to fight another day! And he loses 19 more carrier trained pilots.

DEI

My gamble with POW & company pays off! Two Japanese CAs and two DDs sunk off Palembang. A British CL & DD are both moderately damaged in exchange. They'll live, though, if they aren't attacked again. POW, despite 3 or 4 shell hits, is at 0/0/0!

I'd love to attack again & have a shot at the transports, but he has some CVs a few hexes ENE of Singapore which I'm sure must be on their way. My 14" ammo is running low too. I do have 6 PT boats heading this direction which will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

The ground combat's not going as well, though. Forts were reduced & I expect Palembang to be lost tomorrow.

MALAYSIA

Sending the Indian Div in Malacca to reinforce Johore Bahru. Torpedo bombers in Alor Star put two torps in BB Kongo! While I doubt it's fatal, it should also put it out of action for a couple months or more. Buys me more time.

OTHER

Nothing much more to note. Shuffling transports around, setting up supply lines.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hi

Nice counter attack with the POW, those 2 jap CA's are irreplaceable. Also his initial expansion is phenominal! and i have a feeling he will regret taking palembang this early as his fighters are going to be spread out everywhere.

what are your plans for malaya ? His landing at Jahore baru is a disater for the allies imo. also seems a bit gamey as he has to round singers to do it. Pretty sure the brits would have spotted that one coming. But if its not in your house rules then fine.

Canton falling is also v v bad and i'm pleased you are prioritising it or re-capture ASAP. I'm not very familiar with the CHS but i wouldnt imagine that there is much he can defend it with afaik. maybe start prepping an RCT and some arty for here?

Well looks like this aint going to be dull !

Good luck

[Sneer]

Johore baru landing is a gamey
malacca strait was under CD batteries- I don't see how it would be possible to move invasion fleet there
it also means that 24h before war started this convoy was 60 miles from singapore undetected
exploit IMHO

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Nice counter attack with the POW, those 2 jap CA's are irreplaceable. Also his initial expansion is phenominal! and i have a feeling he will regret taking palembang this early as his fighters are going to be spread out everywhere.

Thanks! I was proud of that - and surprised it came out as well as it did. Now planning to pull Force Z back to Scerabaja where they'll rearm. Tentatively planning to send them somewhere in the Kendari-Menado-Amboina area where they could react to invasion TFs on all 3 ports.

I'm open to rapid change though. While I'm not a big Doug MacArthur fan I do agree with his philosophy of "Hit 'em where they ain't" (or something like that). Pat's not only spread out as far as air goes, but naval resources as well. I'll be looking closely for a similar opportunity.

And I plan to bomb the h--- out of Palembang from Batavia once he takes it. Thanks for the point on his fighters being spread out. I was worrying about him putting heavy CAP there, but you're right - if he does it will weaken him somewhere else - I just need to find it. [:)]

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

what are your plans for malaya ? His landing at Jahore baru is a disater for the allies imo. also seems a bit gamey as he has to round singers to do it. Pretty sure the brits would have spotted that one coming. But if its not in your house rules then fine.

ORIGINAL: Sneer

Johore baru landing is a gamey
malacca strait was under CD batteries- I don't see how it would be possible to move invasion fleet there
it also means that 24h before war started this convoy was 60 miles from singapore undetected
exploit IMHO

Now that I've had it done to me - looking at the forces both to the north & south - I could see why it could be considered gamey. No house rules against it though so I won't complain.

Plans: in short I plan to counterattack at Johore Bahru- I don't see there's much of a choice. If I don't succeed, he'll take Malaysia 2 or 3 days quicker. If I do succeed it'll be weeks.

Here's the latest ground combat report:

12/08/41
Ground combat at Johore Bahru
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 4725 troops, 49 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 11369 troops, 115 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese ground losses:
89 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

The Indian brigade in Malacca is moving south and next turn I'll probably move the units in Mersing west. I was afraid that abandoning Mersing would hurt me, but it might be better for me that he take it so he has a retreat path. With 3 brigades, assuming some of those troops are base forces (5 units total), I might be able to dislodge him. At least I'm hoping.

The torpedo bombers that attacked from Alor Star last turn (2 torpedoes into Kongo! still happy about that) are now going back to Singapore. About half are now damaged though and the morale is low. They're standing down this turn - maybe more. Will probably set all naval attacks from Singapore to a range of 1 so they and the level bombers only attack at Johore Bahru. Want to prevent as many troops/supplies landing as possible.

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Canton falling is also v v bad and i'm pleased you are prioritising it or re-capture ASAP. I'm not very familiar with the CHS but i wouldnt imagine that there is much he can defend it with afaik. maybe start prepping an RCT and some arty for here?

Look's like one SNLF maybe. Didn't watch the combat replay closely:

12/07/41
Ground combat at Canton Island
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 1122 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 932 troops, 7 guns, 2 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Canton Island base !!!
Japanese ground losses:
21 casualties reported
Allied ground losses:
1514 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 2

I don't have anything prepping for it yet, but it's definitely priority number 1 in CENTPAC. I'll take a new look at what I can send there next turn.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Can't argue with anything your planning on doing, good luck shifting him from johore though. can you base a lot of a/c at singapore to trash the transports there? and also ground attack runs will disrupt and consume his supply.

Personally i'd throw the kichen sink at him . abandon alor etc and concentrate down south, if you can kick him out all the better else malaysia will fall very very fast imo. Assuming you can send some oil to singapore so the factories can produce local supply too. makes a big differance for a prolonged siege. just remember to hold jahore as once he is in singapore hex no production will occur.

Good luck !

[tc464]

Here is a couple things I have done against my current opponent that have aggravated him, and in a couple cases, slowed him down..

I set all of my air forces in Phillipines/DEI on naval and port attack. I combined some of the Dutch bomber squadrons to make them a little bigger, and they have done nothing but attack his shipping (Its Feb 42 in my game). I did not even attempt to take on his Zeroes. I tried to keep most of them on airfields outside of his bomber range, and that seemed to work well. You won't stop him, but you'll fill up his shipyards.

I put the Boise in a task force all by herself, and she raised all sorts of hell with his supply convoys. I had to withdraw her for a bit to fix some damage, but she's out again [:D] (Mike, my favorite little yellow devil, you reading this ?) I did the same for PoW, and some of the Aussie and Dutch CL's. I know its working from the aggravated emails I get from him [:D]

Watch the combat reports. If the force that attacks you is less than your defenders, think about running an attack on him the next day. I have done this twice..in Sian and in Clark Field. Worked both times, and in Clark Field, it delayed him almost 3 weeks. I also use the small units that he pushes off of a base to charge the next day. Suicidal, yes, but costs him casualties and supplies. And those units are going to disappear anyway, why not die for the cause ?

[Mike Solli]

Yes, your favorite little yellow devil is reading this. I'll respond to give my perspective of what my pain-in-the-ass opponent has been doing.

[:D]

ORIGINAL: tc464

Here is a couple things I have done against my current opponent that have aggravated him, and in a couple cases, slowed him down..

I set all of my air forces in Phillipines/DEI on naval and port attack. I combined some of the Dutch bomber squadrons to make them a little bigger, and they have done nothing but attack his shipping (Its Feb 42 in my game). I did not even attempt to take on his Zeroes. I tried to keep most of them on airfields outside of his bomber range, and that seemed to work well. You won't stop him, but you'll fill up his shipyards.

That is true. He's been out of my bomber range for the most part. It's currently early Feb 42 and I own Malaya, the Philippines (except for Bataan), just about all of Brunei, Kendari and the surrounding small bases, Ambonia and some of the bases around it. I'm preparing for Palembang and Java. Beyond that, I can't say. My nasty, capitalist opponent doesn't need any more intel.[:D]

His air power has been slowly withdrawing to Java, where they are on 5-6 air bases. I've finally moved the majority of my bombers to bases in range of Java. Soon the Javanese civilians will be begging for the Japanese to take over, if only to stop the massive bombing. I have thousands, I mean hundreds of bombers preparing for the demise of the Allies there. [:D] Actually, I am just beginning the softening up of the area.

I put the Boise in a task force all by herself, and she raised all sorts of hell with his supply convoys. I had to withdraw her for a bit to fix some damage, but she's out again [:D] (Mike, my favorite little yellow devil, you reading this ?) I did the same for PoW, and some of the Aussie and Dutch CL's. I know its working from the aggravated emails I get from him [:D]

Boise is a royal pain in the ass, and has been from day one.[:-] I've decided that my goal in this game is to SINK THE BOISE. If I do that, I win![:'(] He's actually had quite a bit of success being a pain-in-the-ass using 1 ship TFs hitting my convoys. He typically hits APs, AKs, MSWs, PCs and PGs. Fortunately, he's killed few troops that way. He usually finds them after they've dropped their troops. There has been a steady stream of damaged ships moving away from the front line to the repair yards. I've lost about 5 DDs (mainly old) and about half a dozen subs. He's lost (that I know of) the Prince of Wales (just a couple of days ago - finally caught her), the Houston, a couple of CLs (oops, you haven't seen that replay yet[:D]) some DDs (a dozen maybe? can't remember) and about half a dozen subs. I don't think I sank anything at PH.[:@] Oh yeah, he hasn't seen KB since PH.[:D] You'll see it soon, my capitalist friend.[;)]

My plane losses (which I consider critical) have been very light. I've lost about 80 Zeros, Kates, and Vals so far.[:'(] Losses have been comparable with my Nells and Bettys, as well as my IJAAF.

Watch the combat reports. If the force that attacks you is less than your defenders, think about running an attack on him the next day. I have done this twice..in Sian and in Clark Field. Worked both times, and in Clark Field, it delayed him almost 3 weeks. I also use the small units that he pushes off of a base to charge the next day. Suicidal, yes, but costs him casualties and supplies. And those units are going to disappear anyway, why not die for the cause ?

I have to agree with my capitalist friend here. He does send his defeated fodder back in to die on my bayonet.[:)] The extra casualties I suffer are usually nearsighted soldiers who trip and impale themselves on their bayonets. We don't need 'em anyway.[:D] My Japanese don't eat as much as you Americans so supply is not an issue.[;)]

I will admit that he had an extremely lucky (if brief) success at Clark field. He had the audacity to shock attack me as I was investing the joint and my glorious soldiers had to "regroup".[&:] They've attoned for their sin. What's left of the poorly trained American army in the Philippines (and their Philippino lackeys) are withering away in Bataan. They are a great training opportunity for my air force.

Sian? I don't know what you are talking about.[;)] The Chinese are no match for my glorious army. I've currently invested Sian and will take it at my leisure.

Time to end now. I think I've demoralized my opponent enough.[:)]

[ctangus]

12/9/41

Not as exciting as last turn, but still some things to note:

WEST COAST

Loading transports, etc.

CENT PAC

KB is now ESE of Pearl Harbor. Appears to want to interdict shipping. Only 1 TF is remotely close, however. That's re-routed. If he sticks around a while I'll have to do something about TFs coming from the West Coast, but for now I'm glad he's not elsewhere.

Units prepping for Canton.

No invasion at Wake yet. One naval bombardment. I'm considering trying to reinforce it. Probably not for now.

MALAYSIA

He's now invaded Malacca. See picture.

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Personally i'd throw the kichen sink at him .

The sink and everything else is now heading south - either there or Johore Bahru. I'm not very optimistic, but we'll see.

DEI

Sinkawing and Palembang have now fallen. The bombing begins today.

ORIGINAL: tc464

I put the Boise in a task force all by herself, and she raised all sorts of hell with his supply convoys. I had to withdraw her for a bit to fix some damage, but she's out again [:D] (Mike, my favorite little yellow devil, you reading this ?) I did the same for PoW, and some of the Aussie and Dutch CL's. I know its working from the aggravated emails I get from him [:D]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try the same with Boise and Tromp for starters. There's still a bunch of undefended shipping around.

The idea of doing that with POW or Repulse makes me nervous, though.

PHIL

Northern Luzon has now fallen and that base on the SE tip. All of Mindanao but Cagayan is also in Jap hands, plus a few other islands. My fleet withdrawals are proceeding unhindered, though. I've sent some subs from Manila to his invasion hexes but no luck from them yet.

CHINA

He's now invaded Hong Kong as well as sent 4 units to Wuchow. I forgot to march some of the units I was planning to reinforce there! [:(] The general that didn't relay my orders will be shot at dawn. I'm afraid I'm going to be a day late.

BURMA/INDIA

Quiet

Thanks all for the feedback. You're giving me good ideas and confirming that I at least to some degree know what I'm up to.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks all for the feedback. You're giving me good ideas and confirming that I at least to some degree know what I'm up to.

You are doing fine imo. We all play differantly and each game has its unexpected moments. EEK Malacca ! .. blimey .. no offence but i think you are stuffed in malaysia. get some of the larger american subs over there and start evacuating bit of everything to india. May be considered gamey but after his landings on west malaysia its fair game imo.

AH yes China .. i always forget about it at the start too. I had the 3 brit DD's overrun at HK (really dumb). but there is no way you can remember everything.

Using POW and/or repluse as single raiders is a mistake imo. as any undefended targets wil get just as hurt by CA's + CL's. esp the marbehead imo .. fantastic transport killer. Just look at all her guns !

Good luck ! .. i think you may need it in malaysia. [;)] [;)]

[ctangus]

Malaysia does seem like a lost cause. Although if I can hold Malacca long enough to withdraw the northern units south thru it, I might yet hold out for a while. I've got some of the larger US subs already heading in that direction - was going to use them as minelayers from Trincomalee. I'm not sure if I'll evac cadres of everything, but certainly some.

I remembered the DDs in Hong Kong just this turn. Sent them on a suicide mission against transports in Formosa. Their chances of survival probably aren't much worse than trying to sail across the S China sea and maybe I'll cause some damage. It should keep him on his toes at least.

I hadn't taken a close look at Marblehead - I see what you mean!

[ctangus]

12/10/41

CENT PAC

KB is now SE of Pearl. Still not sure what he's up to with that. Looking for US CVs maybe? If so, he's looking in the wrong place. Any guesses?

Wake is still not invaded. A Jap surface combat TF remains there. Intelligence tells me that a TF is steaming in from the NW and the South Seas detachment (based on Truk IIRC) is loaded and coming there. Not much I can do there. 2 SSs are in the hex; maybe they'll get lucky.

SO PAC

Intelligence has also told me the Yokosuka 1st SNLF is on transports on their way to Luganville. Not sure where they're based, but I'd assume Truk. Again not much I can do this early - I'm sending a ML from Sydney to lay mines, hopefully before he gets there. I'll also have a surface combat TF nearby ready to react to him when he comes. I probably can't keep him from taking it, but I can probably make it hurt.

DEI

6 Nells attacked Scerabaja from Palembang. They get through 12 CAP (Dutch in s----y planes) and none abort - and attack POW. Despite wicked AA, POW eats a torp! I check her and she's at 0/0/0 still!!! [:)][:)][:)] Even a dud should at least cause 1 SYS in paint damage. I'm starting to become a very big Prince of Wales Fanboy. (I asked for Pat's combat report to see if there's some kind of synch issue. Haven't gotten it yet. I referred to another attack in case he thinks POW is out of action for a while.)

Force Z is replenished and heading towards Kendari right now.

My plans to plaster the Palembang oilfields are going nowhere. 3 squadrons of Martins in Batavia don't take off due to bad weather. 2 B-17 squadrons fly from Scerabaja to hit the oil fields but have no luck, and are damaged enough from the CAP (12 zeros, 21 oscars) to stand them down. None were damaged either when my units retreated.

There's a TF transport headed SW just E of Palembang. Not sure if it's going there or to NE Java. To play it safe I'm putting the Martins back on Naval attack.

Baby KV is N of Brunei moving east.

PHIL

Ann's from Jolo are starting to take a toll on the shipping I'm trying to evac. Nothing sunk but at least 3 AKs that are unlikely to make it.

2 DDs from Manila scored hits on 5 of 6 transports unloading at Tacloban. Also, the Japs just shock attacked there at 0-1 odds. I'm going to bombard with the DDs before withdrawing them and shock attack back.

Otherwise, it was pretty quiet here. Clark is still toast.

MALAYSIA

Combat report from Malacca:

12/10/41
Ground combat at Malacca
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 9111 troops, 52 guns, 53 vehicles
Defending force 9051 troops, 33 guns, 1 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2
Japanese ground losses:
630 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Allied ground losses:
194 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Reinforcements are on their way. If I'm lucky tomorrow - certainly the day after. But will that be soon enough? If I can hold Malacca, I'll be able to successfully withdraw the units in Northern Malaysia. If not, I'm in big trouble.

He's taken Kota Bahru.

One minor bit of good news: he shock attacked at Johore Bahru at 0-1 odds and another Aussie brigade should be there in a day.

BURMA/INDIA

Nothing at all is happening here - I'm starting to think all units were sent to Malaysia or Sumatra. No invasions on the horizon. Which could be good news. Units are prepping & moving toward Moulmein, and a couple other places. If I succeed in holding Malaysia a little while I could be well set up by the time he starts to move here. I'm also moving recon planes from the DEI to this area, in case I'm just missing something.

[ctangus]

12/11/41

CENT PAC

KB continues to move south. Directly SE of PH, about halfway between PH & Palmyra. I hope he doesn't plan to stick around my shipping lanes for a while - that could be annoying.

Wake Island was taken today by the South Seas Detachment.

I'm sending Lexington & Enterprise to bomb Canton. There's air stationed there now, but if it were Betties or Nells, they'd have attacked me already. Once I'm done there, they'll head to So Pac where they'll try to beat up on the invasion I know is going to Luganville.

DEI

Slowing down a bit here. I've yet to hit his oilfields at Palembang, but I'm trying another night attack. The B17's in Scerabaja have atrocious morale and are standing down.

Yesterday's torp hit on the POW seems to be a synch issue thing. It's currently on its way towards Kendari, to hit targets of opportuniy on south Borneo or Celebes.

Otherwise quiet.

MALAYSIA

Here's the combat report (his) of the last Malacca attack:

Ground combat at Malacca

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 8492 troops, 40 guns, 56 vehicles

Defending force 9453 troops, 30 guns, 2 vehicles

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
237 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
227 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

I have another Indian brigade that will probably (hopefully) arrive there tomorrow. In that case I might (fingers crossed) hold him up long enough to retreat all my northern Malaysia units through there. I think I'm toast, though.

Naval air attacks from Singapore have proven pretty ineffectual, particularly today. He's also been bombing the airfield and it might be closed in a couple days.

PHIL

He took Cagayan - all Mindanao is in his hands now. I might be able to hold for a little while in Luzon, despite him being all over the place. I have a couple transports with supply headed through to Manila & Bataan, and I'm flying supply in from Tarakan with C-60A Loadstars. (Are they unique to CHS?)

I had a bombardment TF about to hit Jolo, but Baby KB is NE of Borneo heading east. They could come down that way within a day. For now that TF is holding still. If he heads towards Manila with Baby KB, I'll send my TF in tomorrow.

CL Boise will still hit unprotected transports at Davao.

BURMA/INDIA

He was advancing towards here. There's a unit, unidentified as yet, SE of Moulmein. I have a couple brigades there, building forts, plus Gurkhas being shipped in. I intend to hold there for a few weeks at least. Going to get a little training done against that ground unit. We'll see.

Situation in Phil (forgive my drawing):

[ctangus]

12/12/41 - GREAT DAY FOR THE ALLIES! From Cent Pac to Malaysia to China.

CENT PAC

KB's going back towards Hawaii. Currently 3 hexes SE of Hilo. Is he trying to catch BBs going back to the West Coast? If he is, I've lucked out - I almost sent the first two yesterday, but decided to wait until I clear out some subs NE of PH. Trying to catch my carriers? They're elsewhere. [:D] (See later.)

Two transport TFs are near PH and I'm racing them in full speed. Sara's not far away - I'm sending her NE of Pearl, just close enough to fly in all her squadrons if I need to.

What little CAP has recovered at PH is flying at 90%.

GOOD NEWS - My raid of Canton Island catches several TFs there. I sink three CLs and put bombs into a 4th. A couple other ships take hits and a MSW is sunk.

I've now sunken 5 cruisers - 2 heavy - in 6 days of hostilities. [:)]

My pilots report 60 fighters and almost as many bombers at the airfield there?!? Had I known that, I wouldn't have come close. He must have had them all stood down. Or no supply. I'm moving out of the area at full speed SW, towards a radio intercept of 2 days ago. It might be a sub, or it might be an invasion TF heading towards Fiji Fiji. Assuming I escape Canton, I'll be in shape to hurt that.

SO PAC

I realized I desparately need patrol planes here. A squadron of Catalina's is now at Fiji Fiji, though I've now deprived the Panama Canal area of their two squadrons. Most likely not an immediate worry, but I want to get something back down there eventually, just to be safe.

Two New Zealand CLs I'd sent to Suva are going towards Luganville, ready to respond to the planned invasion there. They'll shortly thereafter be joined by a CA, CL & DD sailing from Brisbane. Very short of DDs down here. If my radio intelligence proves inconsequential, I'll send the CVs there.

SW PAC

He's now taken Kavieng, Lae, and most of northern New Guinea. The NGVR battalion and an Australian independent company have been kicked out of their bases. I'd like to fast transport them out, but don't have the assets right now. I'll keep it on the agenda as something that's desirable, but no big loss if I can't.

DEI

He did send Baby KB north of Jolo - the bombardment TF I almost sent there is retreating towards Balikpapan. Between Baby KB, a CS east of Mindanao and Anns & Sallys on Jolo, he's beating up on my shipping fleeing the Phillipines. No current targets for my merchant raiders. Force Z is heading S of Manado, ready to respond to an invasion there or Amboina.

Retreating merchants are starting to arrive at Darwin. The larger ones are being sent on to Brisbane, the smaller ones I'm keeping there.

MALAYSIA

Operation Kitchen Sink (thanks Rob for the name) is going as well or better than hoped for:

Johore Bahru - [:D]

12/12/41
Ground combat at Johore Bahru
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 9976 troops, 74 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 10776 troops, 110 guns, 4 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese ground losses:
1314 casualties reported [:)]
Guns lost 20
Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

His modified assault value was 0! He must be out of supply. The Aussie brigades are delibarately attacking tomorrow to inflict more damage.

And then - Malacca:

Ground combat at Malacca
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 8597 troops, 53 guns, 56 vehicles
Defending force 15959 troops, 63 guns, 3 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese ground losses:
699 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
Allied ground losses:
133 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

The first of the Indian Brigades heading south arrived just in the nick of time. Also, I noticed that the leader of the Indian III Corps was atrocious - 15/25 or something like that. I replaced him with Wavell - just yesterday. (I was lucky with that - despite knowing that I should, I rarely check leaders.)

Two more Indian Brigades arrive tomorrow! The adjusted odds on his shock attack were 76 to 185, even with all my forts gone. I should easily be able to kick him out when I want.

Plan is this:

1. Finish retreating the units from Kota Bharu & Kuantan.
2. Once a retreat path is open for him kick him out of Malacca.
3. Kick him out of Johore Bahru then kick him another hex NE.
4. Retreat everything to Johore Bahru. The units that were retreated will go to Singapore, to recuperate more.

If he comes close behind my heels heading SW from Kota Bharu, I might be in trouble. Otherwise it should work quite well.

Question: should I deliberate attack with 5 brigades, even b4 he has a retreat path open?

If this works, I should be in better shape, and he in worse, than if he did a traditional offensive in Malaya.

BURMA

5 units now SE of Moulmein. So much for thinking he wasn't sending anything here. I've got some air units attacking there - I want to see what those units are. Overwhelming force and I'm outta there. If not, I'll still try to hold Moulmein - it's a choke point. Gurkha regiment is currently in Madras loading to come here.

CHINA

Whohooh! WUCHAW!

First he attacks:

Ground combat at Wuchow
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 28832 troops, 272 guns, 34 vehicles
Defending force 40917 troops, 200 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese ground losses:
4251 casualties reported [:)]
Guns lost 68
Vehicles lost 9
Allied ground losses:
154 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Then I counterattack:

Ground combat at Wuchow
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 23675 troops, 130 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 23324 troops, 171 guns, 17 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 32 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
241 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Allied ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

I think those 3 units (a div & I forget what else) are going to be out of action for a while!

[ctangus]

Canton Island & vicinity. Check out the air reportedly based there. Nothing flew!

[ctangus]

Here's Malaysia & the next two phases of Operation Kitchen Sink:

[Rob Brennan UK]

Nice going .. I love the POW too the repulse seems to be a magasine hit magnet though .. be careful.

I lost canton early in one game and went all out to retake it ASAP .. i loaded a ton of ap and ak units with inf/arty and anything i had in america. sent the tf to 10 hexes east of canton on patrol do not retire. then in for a massive invasion ( 2 divs + tons of other stuff) .. BUT i had my CV's following and met KB .. lost 4 CV's in a coastal hex but took canton solidly. Its a game i am still playing and thorougly enjoying ..

Yes some allied commanders are really bad at start .. sack percival from malaysia hq asap !
I am lazy at checking leaders too .. just have a look at ones due in combat soon is my motto.

If you can, first line defence at johoru baru then singapore is ideal imo.

In burma .. hummm .. i tried a forward defence of moulmein for the firat time and it was almost a disaster .. be very careful .. mandaly is the best place for a stand imo .. rangoon is a deathtrap on the vanilla map not sure on the CHS one though.

one thing i always do and have always annoyed japan is get 1 dutch inf ( from w sumatra ) one dutch BF and the rangoon CD unit and send to to the andaman is. seems to work wonders.

Your oppenent is very fast at attacking so i would almost expect an india attack after malaysia. i send out a few picket AK's to detect carrier movements in the indian ocean and south of ceylon. A fast suprise attack on karachi can ruin your day very very badly. dont forget the use of PP's to send stuff from the us coast to karachi. personally i just send some canadians but then again i have never faced a gamey jap player .. your choice ( CD fort for exapmle)

thanks for yuor AAR/ and what do you use for screen shots ? i am having trouble getting mine

have fun