Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland

[EUBanana]

Northern Australia isn't defensible so its been mostly evacuated. Darwin remains garrisoned though, mostly to be a thorn in his side. The image shows all pretty much.

ANZAC HQ is where it is because it lets me suck supply into Darwin overland.

[EUBanana]

In NE Australia the main problem is lack of decent fighter aircraft. Cairns has 2 Wirraway and 1 P-38F squadron. There are some P-40Bs at Brisbane, but thats it. There is hope though, 3 squadrons of Kittyhawks arrive in Australia over the next couple of weeks and all will likely be sent here.

There is a distinct lack of LCUs at Cairns/Townsville... hopefully this won't be an issue until PM has been taken down though!

[EUBanana]

The New Caledonia-Pago-Pago area is pretty weak at the moment.

However there are reinforcements on the way.

That convoy with the replenishment and ASW TF in tow right by Noumea is The Big Convoy, the one with 178 a/c aboard it.

754th US Tank Regiment is aboard the convoy just WSW of Fiji, along with a lot of engineers - thats the first LCU destined for Noumea.

Americal Division is on its way to Fiji, and the 102nd US RCT to Noumea, but they are deep in the Pacific and have a long way to go.

[EUBanana]

No screenshot for CENTPAC as its too big!  But deployments are as follows.

Pago Pago
111th US RCT (Bde strength)
7th Marine Defence Bn
Samoan Bde
30 av support, 2 squadrons of Catalinas (due to heavy Jap sub activity here).

Canton Island
161st RCT
1st Marine Defence Bn
56th US coastal artillery (16 x 155mm, nice)
60 av support, but only 12 x Mitchells + patrols

Palmyra
3rd Marine Defence Bn
119 av support, 22 Mohawks + one squadron each of Bostons and Marauders, plus patrols

Johnston Island
2nd Marine Defence Bn
30 av support but overloaded - patrols, 18 divebombers + 18 P-40B fighters

Midway Island
6th Marine Defence Bn
Detachment 1st USMC Defence Bn (six 155mm guns)
30 av support - 9 P-40Bs, 12 Mitchells, 12 Catalinas

French Frigate Shoal
unmanned except for an engineer unit, being built up to level 1 airfield so I can put a baseforce on it and not have to use ships to transport a/c to Midway Island.

Pearl Harbor
25th US Division
All the rest! 
~100 fighters
~50 fighter bombers
~70 level bombers
~20 dive bombers


Defences remain pretty heavily focused on Pearl for now.  But that is changing, slowly, due to lack of shipping.  the 24th US Division is currently at Pearl Harbour, but a third is being sent to Midway, leaving me with two other thirds to send to the various islands.  Each one is a solid Bde's worth.
Also reinforcements from the West Coast, which up till now have carried on past CENTPAC towards the Noumea area, are coming in, more baseforces, and a lot more aircraft.  Shipping will remain a problem though.

[EUBanana]

3/15/1942

BURMA/INDIA
A Glen carrying submarine has methodically worked its way up the Indian coast reconning every port. The presence of IJN submarines in the IO doesn't bother me too much, if the RN is good at anything, its ASW. I've sortied the British carriers again to try and hunt it down.
This does reinforce my belief that India is his next target though. To that end I'm going to save up PP enough to convert a US west coast division to SEAC command so it ends up at Aden.
Those two more divisions (2nd British and 6th AIF) are loading up at Aden, I've decided to send them to the mainland.
Not a single P-40E has been comitted anywhere as promised.

CHINA
Lots of sparring going on here. The CAF are at a disadvantage so are trying to keep one step ahead of him all the time. In general he has the advantage. the AVG, even with good pilots, seems unable to do anything to him, they are down to 9 P-40Bs now (I really need to upgrade them to P-40Es, another reason why the pool needs recovery time).

NORPAC
IJN submarines have exacted quite a toll here - a TK sunk and a damaged AP, though no cargoes were lost. Other than that, quiet.

SWPAC/Australia
Heavy bombers from Darwin raided Timor and hit a Jap transport TF, even from 15k feet the dice must have come up in my favour, an AK and an AP were hit by bomb after bomb. He pulled his shipping out of eastern Timor anyway so I guess that came as a surprise, that I could reach out and touch him from there. He now has Zeroes stationed on Timor.

SWPAC has gone a bit quiet, but I think its the calm before the storm. A second Bde from Tasmania is now embarked on the way to Cairns, where it'll be airlifted into Port Moresby (assault strength 72). My huge convoy carrying aircraft docked at Noumea, but a Jap submarine torpedoed a ship carrying Bolos despite the convoy being escorted by 4 DDs and 2 MSWs, and being shadowed by a 6 DD ASW TF (and well within Catalina-on-ASW-duty range as well). The sub got away with it too. [8|] Just another example of the apparently completely unstoppable IJN submarine arm. The Bolos were successfully unloaded at Noumea though, which is now packed with aircraft. unfortunately mostly bombers, which I already have plenty of, its fighters I desperately need.

Fuel does appear to be distributed by land after all. Suddenly Australia is bursting with it, everywhere. In any case the Allied navy is ready at Townsville for a potential Coral Sea clash.

My fighter problem will soon be solved too, as two squadrons of RAAF Kittyhawk Is will be in theatre very soon. I plan on waiting until both are ready and then sending them over to PM at the same time, along with some Mitchells.

Recon suggests two Jap CVs remain at Rabaul. The others are no longer on my screen but I think they remain at Singapore, ready for an Indian assault.

CENTPAC
Distribution of a split up US division is continuing. With his amphibious bonus expired I'm not really expecting many moves in this theatre, especially as he apparently has designs on India.

[EUBanana]

3/18/1942

BURMA/INDIA
Fairly quiet here.  That Glen carrying sub ran across a British convoy between Aden and Karachi and was attacked by ASW, no hits though. 
The British carriers drew a blank, and I think they could be more profitably used raiding around Sumatra, so I recalled them to Colombo with a view to doing that.

SRA
He's cleaning up in the PI and Sumatra still - he invaded Padang on the 18th, forcing my lone remaining patrol a/c in the SRA to pull out to Sabang.  He seems to have SAGs around Sumatra, hence why I'm pondering sending my carriers out to raid him here.

CHINA
Big Japanese advance towards Honan, but I think it can be checked on the road.  He's been sparring with me in the air but mostly I've been avoiding him - on the 18th though that changed and there was a big furball over Honan with indecisive results, one Oscar shot down for 1 P-43 Lancer.  Chinese air experience is becoming pretty good, my tactic has been to spread bombing raids out all over northeast China, this seems to be working in that it apparently cuts my losses to enemy fighters.

Australia
3 Kittyhawk I squadrons are now being uncrated at Cairns.  These will fly to Port Moresby fairly soon where I hope they will put up a bit of resistance.  They seem fairly decent planes by Allied standards and pilot experience is in the 60s, which for my air farce atm is pretty good.  I think I'll wait till April though, when the Zero bonus has faded a bit more.
In the north a Jap battleship force is approaching Darwin from Timor.  Kongo is hit by a 1000lb bomb dropped by a B-17 which blows off an antiaircraft gun, but thats not gonna faze him.  (I'm actually amazed at my B-17s, their experience, due to continuous raiding, is now reaching the 70s, and at this level of competence they seem able to hit ships fairly regularly even from 15,000').  I pull back some of my squadrons to Tennant Creek, as I presume he'll be bombarding, but the ones with more damaged a/c than ready stay put.
Still unloading at Noumea!  theres quite a bit to unload...

[EUBanana]

3/19/1942

Major Japanese raids on Honan force me to abandon the place. The situation isn't desperate but keeping a/c there will only get them torched, if past experience proves anything. The entire ROCAF is back in Chungking to lick its wounds. I still have 12 Lancers in the pool, mind, and Chinese average pilot experience is now typically in the high 50s or low 60s in their fighter squadrons, so I'm doing "OK."

Invincible Jap ninja submarine torpedoes a troop carrying AP twice in the western IO, and avoids the (admittedly lone) escort.

Darwin is bombarded by the battleships as expected, 1 B-17 is destroyed on the field but there are a large number of damaged ones and the base suffered 1200 casualties, mostly disabled engineering units it looks like.

B-26 Marauders are now flying from Noumea to Australia, having been uncrated - these will be stationed in Port Moresby in due course.

Also heavy Japanese activity sighted in Malaya.

Whats going on here then, eh?

[EUBanana]

3/20/1942

Quiet in Burma.

In India that Jap sub was on the route to Bombay and was attacked by the Indian PC escort - I've changed direction of that damaged AK to Karachi, hopefully the sub will be thrown off the scent.
Jap cruisers sighted left of Sumatra again, which is good as Brit carriers are on their way.

One of my totally shattered P-40E squadrons (at Karachi) is back to usefulness again - it was down to 3 frames, its now on 18. At least the build rate on P40Es is pretty good. I hope by the time he moves on India or Burma I'll be able to use this airframe again (the AVG in China, on the dregs, could really use a change of airframe).

Quiet in China, the entire CAF is now at Chungking. New P-43s are being distributed, the pool is down to about 10! I think the AVG is going to be next in line for P-40Es.

Good turn for Allied subs - of the minelaying variety, anyway. A PC hit a minefield laid at Buin by USS Argonaut a few days prior, and a PG hit one at Maloelap as well. USS Gar attempted to torpedo an AO at Rabaul but missed.

Now... its decision time as regards the USN. I still think he's going to be trying a Watchtower style invasion of PM soon. However its almost 4/1942, which as we all know is USN Upgrade Time. So, decisions. On balance I think I need every advantage I can get, and the effectiveness of US carriers is more important than Port Moresby - so I am beginning to move the US carrier force, and some of the upgradeable cruisers, out of SWPAC back towards Pearl Harbor, to be upgraded in April.

I'm going to do a carrier strike on Lae first, however. I've had a massive Dauntless raid in mind for some time now - one timed to coincide with fighter reinforcement of Port Moresby. I think its doubly important to do so now, so the threat of facing the USN carriers looms in his mind as he contemplates a Watchtower style assault. So the impact of such a move will be good psychologically, as well as for the security of PM.

The problem is that base is pretty solid! Recon suggests only a 12 Zero CAP, but who knows what he has on strike escort duty, and he definitely has Kates there.

[EUBanana]

3/24/1942

He's begun an invasion of northern Australia, though not Darwin yet. I wonder what is up.

BURMA/INDIA
Well, when the British CVs were there (Kuala, northern Sumatra) the cupboard was bare. They were one day late, his transport TF already evacced. The two British fleet carriers remain on station, I've moved them 240 miles NW of Sabang, remaining on station but hopefully just out of his recon range.
At Victoria Point a modest size Japanese fleet is gathering. No CVs sighted, though there was a 5 ship TF marked as 'CAs' which might possibly be a mini CVTF - he does like his miniature air combat TFs. CVL Hermes, accompanied by all the old R class battleships, is in a TF just west of Akyab. The location of KB is unknown but if he's doing his usual thing (like he did at Wake) his CVs will be just behind his forward units ready to pounce on resistance. I hope to get a strike in before he full speeds them in, if that is the case.
There is frenzied building still going on in India, and reinforcement - a US combat engineering unit, originally from the west coast, is now unloaded at Karachi, and two more infantry divisions (one AIF, one British) are en route to Bombay from Aden.

CHINA
Its gone quiet for me due to bad weather/cowardliness. i do have air units in the Communist zone but they've not taken off - Lancers on training duties mostly.
He's been active though. SigInt reports units prepping for attack on Honan, and he does have 8 units on the road to it. I have, I believe, ample force here to stop him, and on the ground have ordered a defensive stance.
He's been bombing the tar out of Wuchow and Pakhoi for some time now. Training, or something more? I know he covets Pakhoi as the one remaining Chinese port - it is of some value to the Allies too, as Catalinas are based here, ranging into the South China Sea to search for Jap cargo ships.
A US west coast AA gun unit now stationed at Changsha has done reasonably in this time. Changsha does not get frequently bombed, but nevertheless they have claimed a couple of Jap bombers since their arrival. If/when I ever get the AVG back into the fray with P40Es, Changsha will be their base of ops I think.

Australia
Broome - an abandoned base - has been invaded and his flag will be hoisted tomorrow there. Derby has an ENG fragment still there but fell yesterday. His battleship bombardment of Darwin has negated the impact of that base pretty well, its still too shot up to intervene - even if I wanted to (the B-17s have been moved away now.)
I wonder if he has more ambitious plans for Aus than this?

SWPAC
Its gone kinda quiet. I'm waiting for April and then I might have a go at contesting him over Port Moresby with my three new Kittyhawk squadrons. Two B-26 squadrons are now at Cairns, but Port Moresby is only a level 2 airfield and so they cannot be productively employed - yet.
Its gone quiet because the USN are off to various ports to upgrade - mostly far away ones. That said, some little ships, mostly submarines, are being upgraded at Sydney and Melbourne so remain in theatre.
Noumea is now a level 4 airbase. Significant LCU garrisons are still incoming.

CENTPAC
Quiet as the grave. CV Hornet is en route to San Francisco from Panama, to upgrade. An old battleship on high sys damage, a veteran of the Pearl strikes that began the WitP, is finally being sent to the west coast with DD escort I'm working on slowly distributing material from Pearl (my tactic is to ship everything from the US mainland to Pearl, and from there pass it around the islands - this does slow things down a bit).

[EUBanana]

Well, just got the answer to the mystery...

Suddenly India feels a lot more secure, and Australia a lot less secure!

Three Australian divisions (one from Perth, two from Sydney) have been ordered to move and prepare for Alice Springs. Engineers north of Alice Springs have been ordered to head south, some engineers from the south have also been ordered to congregate there.

Suddenly India feels a lot more secure but I'm going to give it a month or so before deciding on the fate of 6th AIF, currently unloading on the Indian subcontinent.

[EUBanana]

3/27/1942

Quite a good day for the Allies really.  A total of 6 Zeroes destroyed, 5 shot down in air-to-air, plus a couple of Oscars, for an Allied loss of three.

BURMA/INDIA
Jap APs at Tavoy were bombed by six Liberators flying out of Calcutta (long trip) - first Liberator raid of the war.  They missed the APs (15k feet altitude due to house rules and these guys have experience 55 average) but the 10 zeroes who went up against them fared badly, the Libs shot one down.  I've moved some air units, Blenheims and Hurricanes and Wirraways (using the last as divebombers, where they are moderately effective) into Burma - not Moulmein or Rangoon, various airfields in the central areas - with orders to do naval strikes on any Jap shipping closer to Burma than Tavoy.
British carriers remain on station just out of Jap detection range (one hopes ).

CHINA
P-43 Lancers out of Yenen bounced a Jap raid on Chinese guerillas which has been a constant feature for weeks.  6 Lancers versus 17 Oscars and 8 Sonias resulted in one Sonia being shot down for no loss - my training program for the Chinese seems to be paying some limited dividend.  I'm looking forward to when the ROCAF have access to P-66s, which is fairly soon.
He continues to bomb the tar out of Pakhoi and Wuchow.

Northern Australia
Darwin falls, 30,000 Japanese soldiers are on the Australian continent.  The capture of Darwin actually had a fairly high cost, I'd guess of the order of 4000 casualties chalked up by the coastal batteries and light damage done to a large number of Japanese merchants.  The Australian defenders slipped away (aside from the CD guns), 150 AV versus that lot is just going to result in a lot of dead ANZACs and I have no Aussies to spare...  six Wirraways were lost due to being pinned there by damage, oh well. 
The Darwin LCUs are already at Katherine.  He's been conducting heavy recon of the bases between Darwin and Tennant Creek, including a massive raid on Katherine by carrier air, I'd guess 2 or 3 CVs worth. 

The plan : as already mentioned, 3 Australian divisions are headed for Alice Springs, which is being fortified and airstrips built.  ANZAC HQ is being pulled out of the north entirely, and will end up probably in Melbourne.  Dakotas are already at Alice Springs helping draw units quickly over from the northern area.  I'm glad I had the foresight to build Cloncurry up to a level 4 airfield, a single Australian Bde and extra aviation support is being sent there, hopefully providing me with a reasonably secure airfield to bomb the tar out of him. 

SWPAC
Barges have successfully transported some valuable engineering vehicles to Port Moresby under the nose of the Japs at Lae.  He only realised what was going on when the goods were already dropped off and the barges were returning to Cairns - he set some Zeroes to strafe the barges, but unfortunately for him I moved two squadrons of Kittyhawks to Port Moresby the day before and the barges were covered.  Several Zeroes were shot down for no loss.  Jap ASW has been heavy around Lae, but the Dauntlesses at Port Moresby found no targets to sink their teeth into.
Further south, an EAB unit has been dispatched from Noumea to Luganville, and he's reinforced Lunga, recon reveals six LCUs there now though Lunga remains a beach.  I'm tempted to try taking an island closer to the Solomon chain - Irau, Rennel Island, who knows - but none have suitable airfields except Tulagi and I don't think I have the cojones for that move.  [:D] 
I've also dispatched two big engineering units to the islands south of Tarawa - not Nanumea, the ones a bit further south - with the goal of building those up to use as a potential base to assault Tarawa later in the war should I so desire.

[EUBanana]

3/29/1942

BURMA/INDIA
Pretty quiet around here. O20 is a Dutch minelaying submarine which has not only survived the fall of the SRA (O19 did not, being sunk while evacuating cadres) but has now been completely fixed at Aden from accumulated sys damage. O20 is now busy running mines to Port Blair from Trimcomalee.
Jap transports seem to be if anything withdrawing from the Burmese border, I wouldn't be surprised if Tavoy was being stripped.
A British replenishment TF is getting ready at Aden, and will eventually be positioned somewhere between India and Australia. I' m anticipating that the Royal Navy (and maybe even the USN) might have to be deployed somewhere in that space fairly soon... an AS is being readied here to be sent to Perth, as well.
Plenty of medium bombers are ready to bomb any shipping that approaches Rangoon, in any case.

CHINA
No a2a combat lately. My P-43s continue to train up on Japanese ground targets, and he's doing likewise with me. Wuchow remains a favourite target, I might move my Changsha AA gun to there... but I only got one, unless I airlift more over from India (very possible, given how many AA guns the British seem to have. They got an entire frickin' army of them.)

Northern Australia
90,000 Japanese troops are advancing on Katherine, the Aussies are pulling out rather than being kicked out. Photo-recon of Darwin reveals a 22 Zero carrier air CAP, but its well out of range of any suitable Allied airbases.
His avid collection and building up of the bases on PNG is clear now - he wants to close down the Cairns-Darwin route even more decisively than possession of Timor already achieves. (Hence my preparation of replenishment TFs in the Indian Ocean in case I choose to go the other way). Clearly that supply line into Australia will be key, and I've already dispatched a few old S boat subs and Dutch submarines to the waters there, though as its all shallow its not ideal sub ground. USS Argonaut has just left Sydney rearmed with mines which are going to end up being laid at Amboina, as well.

SWPAC
An RCT is unloading at Noumea, so its now officially Garrisonned. Japanese activity is sighted at Lunga, a small transport TF. Luganville has been built up to a level 1 airfield.

My Kittyhawks at Port Moresby have been pulled out as 60 bombers and 40 fighters came in and squelched the place. However, I pulled them out immediately soon as the writing was on the wall and so losses were light (about half a dozen Kittyhawks destroyed). The augmented air defence at Port Moresby (there are a dozen 90mm guns and a whole host of 40mm) seems to be working. For example, on the 29th 60 Japanese bombers bombed from 12k or 13k altitude, and if you include ones that crashed on the way home, 5-6 of them were shot down by the AA guns, a pretty decent rate of attrition.

I've decided to resume construction of the airfield at Port Moresby. Its fortification level is up to 4, but the airfield only 3, and I'd like it to be more resistant to Jap bombing. I'm about to find out if sound detectors can be transported by barge as well, as the AA unit at PM was airlifted and the sound detectors are apparently too big for a Catalina or being lashed to the deck of a cruiser, and its too dangerous to use an AP there.

[EUBanana]

4/1/1942

April! P-38Fs are coming off the production line now. The first Beaufort I and Wellington squadrons arrive in India fairly soon - and its only a month to go before British units can upgrade, which is pretty important.

BURMA/INDIA
Some submarine success for a change. HMS Truant engages a Jap convoy between Tavoy and Georgetown - Uamaga clearly has attention to detail as the convoy was moving in the coastal hexes in defiance of AI routefinding, avoiding all deep water. Unfortunately Catalinas in the area spotted him and Truant was dispatched accordingly. The convoy was unescorted and returning to Georgetown - unescorted convoys? More evidence that India is not his priority. In any case Truant engaged with torpedoes three times in two days, torpedoing an AP once and an AK twice. The sub is now headed back to Colombo to rearm.
Sabang and Medang fell to him today so the entirety of Sumatra bar one isolated base in the highlands is in Japanese hands.
And an Albacore from the British carriers attacked a Jap submarine north of Sumatra - so they've pulled back, now he knows they are there.

CHINA
Big air battles raging over Honan now, but they remain indecivise. Low XP pilots all around. My P-43 pool is able to handle the losses easily anyway. Stalemate on the ground. I'm waiting for my armies to reconstitute themselves, I've never seen the Chinese rifle squad pool on numbers <10 so consistently before.

North Australia
His advance from Darwin continues without any blood being spilled... yet. CL Sumatra and CL Durban plus a couple of DDs are headed to Perth, with raiding of northern Australia in mind.

SWPAC
Pretty quiet here aside from the sub war, I-10 was engaged by USS Kennison which was escorting a troop convoy near Noumea, and depth charged repeatedly (one direct hit, but no heavy damage). Meanwhile USS Dolphin, on war patrol near Lae, was attacked by a Jap hunter-killer flotilla including the deadly Jap APDs, and left on 90 flotation damage after repeated hits. She's limping home but Townsville is a long way, she's a goner.

[8|] His ASW is a lot better than mine by any reasonable measure...

[gladiatt]

well, so the big show has started, but in the wrong place...
It would help bring the us force much quicker (when it will come !)
And it would preserve India...
Good fight

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: gladiatt

well, so the big show has started, but in the wrong place...
It would help bring the us force much quicker (when it will come !)
And it would preserve India...
Good fight

Well, I've not totally disregarded Australia - the only problem is I should have built up Alice Springs really but didn't. Still, I think I can hold him there unless he lands a lot more than those three divisions he already landed with.

There are two AIF divisions in India and I'm torn as to whether I should load them up ASAP and send them to Perth while I still can, or if he's planning a move on India as well.
I know from SigInt that he has units (like the Imperial Guard) preparing for Burma, so I don't think he plans on not attacking in the CBI area, it just depends on how vigorous the attack is.

How many divisions does Japan have to throw around at this point in the war? A dozen or so, presumably.

[EUBanana]

3/4/1942

BURMA/INDIA
Some air clashes on the Burmese border. He has such massive superiority though though I get the sharp end. Hurricanes bear the brunt fortunately, thats where the pools are well filled.
14 P-40Es in the pool now, 10 more to go and then the AVG will make its presence felt in China again.

CHINA
Some bad news here as he starts getting aggressive with his fighters in Communist China, where my training program is going on. A handful of P-43s are shot down but its serious despite the small numbers as they are a precious resource. The backbone of the ROCAF is four P-43 squadrons until the AVG get P40Es - they are at full strength but now only 3 Lancers are left in the pool.
Quiet on the ground here.

Northern Australia
Japanese troops enter Daly Waters, which is defended by a lone independent company, there for recon purposes really. P38Fs are in position at Tennant Creek, the bombing campaign of his forces is is about to begin.
I notice Alice Springs is within transport range of Cloncurry, which is perfect - aerial transport to and from a besieged Alice Springs is apparently possible.

Reactions to the Aus invasion
It isn't in Australia but the Japanese invasion has influenced a few decisions elsewhere. The 753rd US Tank Regiment, in Noumea (valuable as its a full strength armoured unit) is being loaded up on AKs for transportation to the Australian mainland - I think armour will be useful in the Aussie desert.
The 6th AIF division in India is going to Ceylon - mainly so if I decide to move it to Australia its in a big port ready to roll straight away. And a few old Caledon class light cruisers are on their way to Perth, where they will contribute to a surface raider force operating between Perth and Broome.

SWPAC
LB-30 Liberators flew an 800 mile round trip to bomb Lae from Cairns. No damage was done, one LB-30 was lost, but its a pretty good proof of concept. 3 LB-30 squadrons are operating in Australia now, and when they are all ready (which will be a while) I plan on a long range bombing campaign of Lae - probably, unfortunately, at night.
An attempt to resupply Thursday Island fails when they run over a Jap submarine which torpedoes a schooner. The Jap sub reports back to his masters and Nells scramble from Lae at long range, blowing away the rest of the convoy.

A new weapon is being deployed in the war against the submarine in SWPAC, as well. The Q ship. [:D][:D] I figure I may as well use em as Q ships rather than upgrade them to transports which I have quite a few of already. There are four RAN Q ships in Brisbane, and I've dispatched them singly around the sub infested waters of Noumea and the Coral Sea. The chance of their survival is as minimal as their chance of success but you never know. Maybe they will actually fight back in a surface engagement?

[EUBanana]

4/7/1942

BURMA/INDIA
The Jap shipping sighted at Tavoy moved to Victoria Point in this period. A Dutch short range submarine nosing around Victoria Point got attacked by PCs and slightly damaged, being pulled back to Colombo for repair. A Tambor class submarine has taken up position between Victoria Point and the straits.
All quiet in the air.

CHINA
All quiet over this period, but I did order today the deployment of three P-43 squadrons back to the front at Yenen after some time off, and the lone US AA unit is almost at Wuchow. The P-43 pool is at 6 frames now, and the ROCAF is up to its full strength current OOB of 48 Lancers.
The P-40E pool is at 20, so 2nd AVG, current at Karachi in pieces, will soon be upgraded and sent back in.
Stalemate on the ground, but my cavalry units are approaching Yenen and a baseforce has almost made it across the trails from Chungking to Communist China, so I'll be able to hopefully deploy more air power there (at Sian).

Australia
The P-38F has been at the forefront here, the Allies lone P-38 squadron is currently based at Tennant Creek, unfortunately only a level 2 airfield. Marauders regularly bomb Daly Waters with escort, sometimes the P38s sweep on their own. Their experience is pretty bad - 55 average when they started the fray. But even with what is I presume a serious experience penalty they are doing well against the Zeroes, getting a 1:1 kill ratio (2 for 2 since the last posting). On top of that my Marauders had a particularly lucky hit on the Jap airfield at one point, toasting 4 Zeroes on the ground (not bad for a 12 medium bomber raid).
An S boat and a Dutch submarine arrived in the Darwin area on the 4th. The S-boat covered the approaches, the Dutch sub cruised right into Darwin where it torpedoed a Jap AK and was damaged lightly by depth charges in return. On 11 sys it was ordered to withdraw and the S boat went in but was driven off by ASW. More S boats are coming with aggressive commanders, the shallow water doesn't bother them quite so much anyway.

He's not advanced beyond Daly Waters yet, his force there is confirmed again at 2 divisions + 1 Bde + support. Recon suggests six LCUs at Darwin but masses of shipping. His strategic objective here is still hazy - is his goal the complete conquest of Australia or merely taking the northern coast? I'm still pondering how many, if any, reinforcements Australia should receive.

If his plan is to stay put where he is I have to say I'm happy about that. I can bring up as much force as I want to Tennant Creek/Alice Springs pretty much, and work on wearing him down.

My British cruiser squadron is now halfway between Aus and India, so I'll have a small naval presence around Perth then. CL Sumatra is on the way there as well, and I've made preparations to get a Catalina squadron in position at Exmouth using an AVD and an AK to run supplies between Exmouth and Perth.

SWPAC
A barge squadron braves a huge number of IJN subs and makes it to Port Moresby losing only one of their number and an unloaded one at that. Cargo was some support squads left behind by one of the baseforces there. Supplies are being Catalina'd over still (I use Catalinas as transport aircraft at least as much as I use them for patrol! Quite often the Cats run transport while I use B-17s to patrol) and he isn't blind to that fact, one has been shot down by Zero LRCAP. 2000 supplies were landed at Thursday Island by my little coaster squadron that got nailed, so I guess mission accomplished of sorts.
USS Bass, one of the Barracuda class subs, was lying in wait at Lunga (Lunga, Buin and Shortlands are all marked by submarines) and torpedoed an AK. A few days later it was relieved by an S boat and is en route to Townsville to rearm and refuel, but the S boat was promptly attacked by a Jap hunter killer flotilla no doubt drawn by the Bass' success, and the sub lightly damaged. Its remaining on station but in the deeper waters of the Solomon chain rather than Lunga itself.
Luganville is a level 2 airfield now, and another three squadrons of aircraft (1 fighter, 2 bomber) are almost at Noumea. Lots of Jap subs around this part of the world but they have, for once, not been massacring me.


CENTPAC
Odd situation developing here. Some unloaded APs strayed off course by accident and went a little too close to Tarawa on the way home. Halfway between Tarawa and Nanumea they were jumped by a small Japanese CVTF which put a squadron each of Vals and Kates into them, doing heavy damage to about half the convoy.
An oops on my part. What makes things interesting is that the four US CVs - all bar Hornet - were that day at Canton Island refuelling on their trip home to Pearl to be upgraded. And even more interesting is that a brigade of Americal Division is being loaded onto APs at Suva to be sent to Nanumea.

Pearl's shipyards are overloaded quite badly atm by the majority of the US cruiser and DD force which is being upgraded, so a slight delay on the carriers arrival there seems acceptable. Accordingly they are steaming out of Canton Island at full speed, headed to cover my APs and maybe pounce that miniature CVTF.

I hate to get any hopes up of a carrier battle here though, its happened so many times in this game - CVs nearly brushing with their opposite number - but always at the last moment someone blinked.

[EUBanana]

4/9/1942

Not a full report, just a couple of days have passed.

His carriers have slunk away but now he's paranoid about whats going on around Nukufetau, and suddenly Jap subs appear around the place in thick swarms.&nbsp; My AVD there was sunk by one, and my convoy carrying a third of Americal division ran over one on the way (but the APD escort kept it at bay).&nbsp;
That was supposed to be a surprise, but not anymore i guess.&nbsp; I have over 100 engineers and 50 engineering vehicles on Nukufetau building fortifications, the hope was that if he didnt see the airfield getting bigger he might not realise that I'm digging in under his nose.&nbsp; I'm up to similar designs on Baker Island.

In Australia the air war has been intensifying in the last few days, the bloodiest air battles since the opening slaughter in fact.&nbsp; An Allied raid on Daly Waters went badly wrong, the P38s were outnumbered 3 to 1 by Zeroes and 7 were shot down for no loss - pretty serious given their replenishment rate.&nbsp; On the other hand, I massed three squadrons of Kittyhawks at Port Moresby and swept Lae, getting a good bag - 5 Rufes and 4 Zeroes, in exchange for 3 Kittyhawks.&nbsp; Also hopefully the sight of 47 Kittyhawks in the air might give him some pause over Port Moresby.

[EUBanana]

11/4/1942

Recon now indicates there about 15-20 Japanese units on the Darwin-Tennant Creek line. This, along with his deployments on Papua New Guinea, which are clearly there to defend his supply line by putting northern Australia within range of multiple Japanese airbases, tells me that this is not just some limited invasion, but this is It. Accordingly there has been a major shift in emphasis by the Allies towards reinforcing Australia.

BURMA/INDIA
6th AIF has been loaded up on AKs and will be sent to Perth. As I've decided this is Serious, I might well send the other AIF division currently in India. There is no shipping yet so the decision is going to be deferred a bit while I move enough transports up.
This convoy will be covered by the British carrier force.
Everything is quiet in the Burma/India theatre anyway, no moves on Burma. No Jap shipping other than ASW has been sighted in the Tavoy/Victoria Point area. No more sweeps of Port Blair. No nothing.

2nd AVG squadron has been upgraded to P-40Es and is at Ledo, ready to fly over to China.

CHINA
Its been a pretty wearing time for the Chinese airforce. Several P-43s have been shot down but losses are only somewhat exceeding the rate of replacement. The real problem is pilots, the ROCAF's experience is being thinned out again. I'm not too worried though given the 24 P-40Es with crack pilots soon to be deployed here.
Some pressure is being placed on him around Yenan, the three cavalry divisions and four infantry divisions are moving up to the front.
Lots of Jap ships sighted at Hong Kong, but he's stopped bombing Wuchow, which is now fixed. ???

AUSTRALIA/SWPAC
Japanese armoured units are leading the push in the north. 150 AV of tanks drives along the Australian rearguard like cattle. Such a powerful mobile force in the desert is Serious. I doubt I'll be able to hold on to Alice Springs with that.

Around Port Moresby a Japanese carrier fighter trap showed up and met with an... odd response. In the morning 20 Dauntlesses scrambled from Port Moresby totally unescorted and were massacred by the CAP. Then in the afternoon 40 Kittyhawks escorted 3 Dauntlesses and met the same 50 Zeroes - and were massacred, 30 Kittyhawks for 6 Zeroes. The Dauntlesses ran away seeing Death approaching.

This is Bad.

* Darwin is seething with Jap ships, we're talking 50 minimum. And its been like that all week.
* He's continued hoovering up Dutch airfields around PNG and northern Australia, and expanding them. Hollandia reached level 4 airbase this last week, for example, and even the tiny islands are not escaping his attention. He wants em all.
* There are about 20 Jap ground units, not counting the ones at the isolated north coast bases (Broome, Wyndham etc). Confirmed major units sighted are 2 Jap infantry divisions, 1 Jap Bde, and at least two armoured brigades.
* Daly Waters is too small an airfield to base bombers from atm but he has a lot (50 odd) of Zeroes there. Too many for the RAAF to handle - the USAF does have bombers in Australia but not many fighters, and those fighters that are there are on the east coast and of types of limited value (P40Bs in small numbers - not good enough given the lack of replacements).
* 3 Australian divisions are en route to Alice Springs, and will get there just before his troops do. Problem is - Alice Springs currently has a fort level of 2. There are a lot of engineers there now but they can only dig so fast. Also there are no tanks aside from a few extremely understrength Australian armoured brigades who in no way can match the Japanese armoured force. 753rd US Tank Regiment is a full strength unit which is equal to the Japs, but is still en route from Noumea to Sydney and won't be available for some time.
* The defences of eastern Australia have not been neglected. There are several Bdes around the Townsville/Cairns/Cloncurry area, and more units still at Brisbane and Sydney though a lot of them are understrength.
* As already mentioned 6th AIF has left India but won't be arriving in theatre for a month. APs have already left Sydney headed for Auckland, to pick up two NZ brigades, one of which is being released by PPs. Once I've extricated Americal Division from Suva, I'm going to send that to Sydney as well, so there are some fairly major Allied reinforcements headed for Australia in the short term (a couple of weeks). Given that movement on the Australian rail system is very fast, it remains to be seen if thats quick enough! The conquest of Australia could be very, very quick.
* Interdicting his supplies into northern Australia would seem to be almost impossible. The only weapon available to even attempt entering that deathtrap are submarines, and even those are pretty naff given its all shallow water there. Regardless, the best part of a dozen submarines of all classes have been directed there to spit into the hurricane.

CENTPAC
Strange situation around Nukufetau continues. I've decided to abort completely. Americal Division is headed back to Fiji, I'm not even going to attempt a landing. From there, it will embark for Australia. The problem then becomes one of evacuation, I have three engineering units on Nukufetau that I want evacced asap. To that end, the four American carriers are staying on station there (I'm fairly confident that given his splitting of CVs that this is an adequate force to throw back pretty much any fleet he throws at Nukufetau in the short term) and APDs are going to be used to evacuate all the engineers.
The CVs need to be upgraded and refitted but the US shipyards are all full anyway. Really the USN needs two months minimum before it can really exert itself again, and after this little rather abortive operation the CVs need a rest.
Not good timing.

[EUBanana]

15/4/1942

Been a bad few days to be Allied. A Jap invasion of Port Moresby finally, and the Allied sub force is taking a beating. And I've counted 5 torpedo misses in a row from Allied subs now!

BURMA/INDIA
Very quiet, nothing to say here. Suffice to say I'm counting the days now till the British can upgrade! Going to be a lot of Wellington bombers here soon.
USS Grampus is attacking quite a few Jap ships around the Victoria Point area but has missed repeatedly.
I've decided to move the Moulmein base force to Rangoon. Moulmein is a wreck and the baseforce badly hurt by all the bombing. But I want to reopen this theatre fairly soon. The Brits aren't pulling their weight and are allowing him to concentrate elsewhere, I'm very much hoping that in May that will change, with Wellingtons blackening the skies over Thailand.

CHINA
Slow battles of attrition. I'm not hurting him at all here but every day a Chinese aircraft is shot down, sometimes a Lancer, sometimes a bomber. AVG are still being uncrated at Ledo, they are taking their time, but again, I desperately want the Chinese to start pulling their weight with their help.
USS Seawolf was depth charged heavily at Hong Kong, 30 flotation but its a long way home!

AUSTRALIA
Amboina has been mined, no Jap patrol craft there so hopefully it'll be a surprise for some warships or TKs when they go there to refuel. USS Argonaut is headed back to Sydney for more mines.
Sub slaughter here - an S-boat was fatally depth charged at Darwin, a second hit by a bomb off Port Moresby and sunk.
Major Jap offensive on the remaining bases at Papua New Guinea. He landed at Port Moresby on the 12th with about 4 brigades plus tank support (AV 750) and what looks at a guess to be about 4 CVs. Much more than the lone Aus brigade defending can withstand! But thats partly due to my choice, I decided not to ship more force to PM given the situation there. The focus is on yet another Allied evacuation. On the plus side he's taken about 5000 casualties just getting ashore, the CD fire has been pretty murderous on his troops (though not his ships), and my aircraft made it out of there with no problems. He's taking his time attacking,presumably because he thinks PM is much more fortified than it is. in actuality the engineers were terribly slow, and PM is only a fort 3.
Another S boat attacked an AO at Port Moresby, but missed this juicy target (of course). On the plus side that valiant sub was attacked all night and all day by half the IJN, for only 10 sys damage at the end of the day. She's retiring to Australia with a cadre of the Aus brigade at Port Moresby.
There are other jap landings at Dobadura, Sag Sag, and maybe Milne Bay very soon, so PNG is going to be very much his very soon.
The next worry after this is Noumea...

Quick round up of the ground war in Australia...
2 NZ Bdes are being loaded up at Auckland for transport to Sydney.
753rd US Tank Regiment is being unloaded at Sydney, will be headed for the deserts for some tank warfare asap.
Americal Division is being loaded onto the Aquitania at Fiji for transport to Sydney.
2nd Marine Division is en route from Pearl to Noumea (which will bring Noumea's AV up to about 500).
6th AIF left Colombo a few days ago but its a loooooong way to Perth...
The Jap advance is being bombed heavily north of Tennant Creek. HIs armour has run ahead of his main force and is being hit quite hard, I think a good half dozen tanks have been trashed in the last week, and given he only has about 120 odd thats a reasonable percentage given the battles have hardly begun. His tanks are a bit ahead of his main force and will be temporarily checked at Tennant Creek by about 300 AV of Aussies.
3 Aus divisions are nearly at Alice Springs, and what little Aussie armour exists is not too far behind.
The Aussie Bde at Cairns is being moved to Townsville in case he assaults NE Australia next.
The Aussie Bde at Adelaide is similarly moving to Townsville.

There are significant US reinforcements in the next 30 days - 1st Marine Division, an RCT, and an understrength US Army division. Remains to be seen what happens here though.