Allied heavy bombers are ordered to hit the airfield at Efate but refuse to do so, I think the problem might be the level 4 airfield at Nandi but its almost up to level 5.
I'm sure you already know but doesn't hurt to have a reminder. B17's and B24's only fly normal range missions with reduced bombload unless the AF is size 5 or more. So i suspect your correct in the assumption that they will start flying soon.
I'm fearing an attack on Australia, making it a 2 front theatre and using KB to stop you bringing in the troops you have in NZ. Whats the Aussie coast like in defenses ?
sorry for the spelling . English is my main language , I just can't type . and i'm too lazy to edit
Allied heavy bombers are ordered to hit the airfield at Efate but refuse to do so, I think the problem might be the level 4 airfield at Nandi but its almost up to level 5.
I'm sure you already know but doesn't hurt to have a reminder. B17's and B24's only fly normal range missions with reduced bombload unless the AF is size 5 or more. So i suspect your correct in the assumption that they will start flying soon.
Yeah. Lots of engineers in Nandi, I was impatient is all. Doesn't matter now though, Nandi just reached level 5.
I'm fearing an attack on Australia, making it a 2 front theatre and using KB to stop you bringing in the troops you have in NZ. Whats the Aussie coast like in defenses ?
I'm suspecting as much myself. I've pulled all the big ANZAC divisions out of northern Australia and they are all now in Sydney, so Sydney is packed. Brisbane is fairly well defended too. North of Brisbane though all but the baseforces and air units have been stripped, as I don't want him cutting too many units off. If he lands north of Brisbane he won't be all that opposed, in essence.
There is plenty of shipping at both Sydney and Wellington so if he commits to either Australia or New Zealand the reinforcements can set sail that very day. I also suspect there'll be a carrier fight as with 9 CVs in theatre and with him on the offence it really won't get any better for me.
I think India is another possibility but at this late date I think that would be very daring. Ceylon has three divisions defending it, and the Indian mainland is covered by the Indian army, which is now reasonably large. Also there is a lot of aviation support and airfields built already in position, so while its true that the Allied airforce is mostly in Burma atm, they can relocate and be flying in a couple of days from Ceylon or southern India. Even the LCUs in Burma could be pulled out in a week or so via airlift, a lot of them (Chindit Brigades) are very air mobile as they dont have heavy weapons.
BURMA/INDIA
The RAF was in a bad way moralewise so did nothing until the 13th, which was D-Day. Neither did he. The RN cruisers remain at Rangoon unmolested. There has been a lot of SigInt regarding Japanese units embarked on a boat and moving to Georgetown in Malaya (3 artillery units spotted on sigint this week), so stuff is going on here alright.
Anyway on the 13th a massed assault was launched on Bangkok, the first major raid for almost two weeks, some minor divebombing with Hurricane IVs not withstanding. Total disaster. The Wellingtons with their P38s refused to fly from Rangoon - I think morale might be an issue for that, even with a week and a bit off their morale was around 60. The Wimpeys have taken quite high casualties. Then the USAAF heavies went in and got absolutely creamed by defending Tojos - these boys were unescorted and meant to be Raid 2, with Rangoons lot being Raid 1. It really was a humungous massacre of supposedly invincible heavy bombers, so Jap fanboys take heed! The end of day score was 89 Allies lost for 40 Japs - including the Japs on the ground - and of those 89 almost all of them were B17Es or B24s. It was an 80 odd bomber raid, but almost none got to their target, only a dozen bombers even dropped! I never saw a big 4E raid stopped cold before - now I have!
Burma continues to be reasonably well defended, but all thought of offensive action has ended given that SigInt.
CHINA
Fairly quiet. ROCAF just got a bunch of replacements so they are in the game again. Honan seems to be self sufficient in supply despite havign a mere 10 resources feeding 3000 AV of Chinese. I'm impressed. However the IJAF is conducting on average 200-400 a/c worth of bombers a day in China, and Honan is bearing the brunt of it, so the disruption of the defence is quite high.
Needless to say the ROCAF can do squat to stop that, its all they can do to avoid being wiped out as an aside. Its not like he even has to stop the regular bombing ops to deal with them. [8|]
AUSTRALIA
Had a reasonable couple of raids on Daly Waters with B25s and B26s. The Kittyhawks have recovered a bit from the low point of 20 : 1 kill ratios. In the last raid the kill ratio was actually down to 3:1, sad that that is deemed good but there we go. Medium bombers dont seem to have the clout to close airfields though, I'm deploying them 50 at a time and they are fully loaded but the airfield damage is quite disappointing given they are fairly low level raids.
I intersperse these raids with longer range Liberator raids on Darwin. I've hit a couple of disbanded APs and AKs here with the odd 500lb bomb. 4E bombers are in very short supply on the Aussie mainland though, we're talking single squadron raids and damage is limited. Darwin lacks any sort of air defence though so its kinda free pain for me to inflict, and thats rare.
SOPAC
A CL + 5 DDs meets an enormous Jap battleship force including Yamato at Norfolk Island and is greased in a daytime battle, all 6 ships sunk. APs were reported there, but it was a lure. The Allied carrier force was actually four hexes from Norfolk Island but bad weather meant no strikes. In exchange for this risk USS Saratoga was attacked by a RO-boat, the torpedoes missed though thank God and the escorts blew away the submarine. Submarines at New Caledonia reported Vals flying overhead so the Allied carriers then slunk back to Auckland.
A massed heavy bomber raid from Nandi at Luganville was much more successful than the debacle at Bangkok despite being on half bombload. Still heavy casualties though. 89 Liberators vs 57 Zeroes and 11 Tojos = 13 dead Liberators, but of the order of 30 Japanese aircraft destroyed and a lot of airbase damage.
Luckily I got a lot of B24Ds, and given these big raids happen once a week, so long as catastrophes like Bangkok can be avoided, 13 Liberators is a cost I can afford. I think I'm going to be quite merciless to my unfortunate bomber crews... I consider it good news that I can in theory shut down Luganville from Fiji though at a cost.
Gisborne is now mined up, 5000 mines. Auckland is next.
CENTPAC/NORPAC
Quiet as the grave. Reinforcements are trickling in across CENTPAC though, another P38 squadron is now settled at Nandi having island hopped all the way from Pearl. Wildcats are building up at Pearl too, I get quite a few USMC squadrons of these. CVE Long Island is hastily ferrying them from Pearl to Fiji as fast as she can.
I get several US fast battleships as reinforcements in the next month, and two CVEs, Nassau and Copahee. A full strength Indian division arrives at Karachi soon too, another reason why I think India is not a desirable spot for him to be about now. As for me, I'm just clinging on until P38Gs and Spitfire Vs arrive... which isn't all that long now!
BURMA/INDIA
Definitely things going on here. SigInt reported a Japanese division en route to Georgetown, along with the artillery. I've packed the Strait of Malacca with submarines, he'll be walking over hulls practically with luck.
His cruisers roam by Port Blair, but the RN have kept him away from Rangoon. Unfortunately my air campaign here has been a disaster and I'm calling it quits for a while, pulling the excess bombers back to Calcutta for R&R. Morale is completely shot. The Tojo basically defeated the 4E bomber, at least for now.
I'm hoping he doesn't hit me in mid evac because a BB TF is reported NE of Victoria Point and there is apparently a CV in Singapore, which I believe as he did move it within range of Trimcomalee a little while back. CVL Hermes and BC Repulse are hovering somewhere South of Calcutta just in case.
Far away, the British fleet carriers have left New Zealand and are en route to Perth.
CHINA
Not much to say, the fighting at Honan continues. Chinese reinforcements are finally arriving in Sian, about 1500 AV worth when they all show up. Reconstituted divisions. Their morale is in the sewer and their experience abysmal, so I don't expect much from these guys. He has about 50 units in Honan or covering Honans flanks, so as per usual it seems he has a quantitative and qualitative advantage, so... i'm screwed, as usual.
AUSTRALIA
He continues to pull out but has many LCUs still in Australia - 19 in Daly Waters (40,000 troops), ~15 elsehwere in Aus. One skill I totally lack in this game is the ability to turn number of units and number of troops into likely AV value. I wonder if anybody here could give a hint on how many troops per AV? I would guess around 500-800 AV for 40k troops but I really have no clue. I'm still being cagey, most of the Aussie army is in Sydney/Brisbane.
Shipping is totally gone from north Aus except one AP disbanded at Darwin, which is the one I bombed a lot a few days ago.
He's evacuating fighters from Daly Waters, my Kittyhawks now outnumber him 2 to 1 and get a decent kill ratio now. Numbers clearly matter...
SOPAC
British CVs are heading back to India, given all the ominous portents. Long trip though from New Zealand to Karachi... Japanese CVs sighted at Luganville, not sure how reliable that is though - not very I think because my B24s at Nandi hit the place regularly and the CAP is not all that heavy. Damage is moderate, losses would be acceptable if the B24D pool wasnt trashed after the disasters in Burma.
Given I can close Luganville down with some effort, and given he has a lot of ships there, my US CVs are moving up to Fiji and I hope to do a carrier strike on him (finally) if KB is not spotted there.
CENTPAC
Quiet here, but a good day - USS Argonaut laid some mines at a tiny atoll and a Jap minelayer hit a mine the very next day, and promptly sank. [:D] Now I have MLEs at Suva and Pago Pago my subs are switching to mines. Argonaut leads the charge and is fresh out of refit at Pearl Harbour, short of enemy action I expect her to be quite busy over the next month.
The war grinds on, attritional battles in the air continue in Australia - another disaster though, 2:1 kill ratio to the Japs (more like 30:1 if you only consider air to air kills).
Liberators hit some Jap shipping at Efate, despite the houseruled 15,000' minimum altitude they scored a few hits.
