Banana vs Uamaga - England vs Poland

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

12/31/1941

Something approaching a successful day today for the Allies.  Very modest success but I'll take what I can get.

Malaysia
10 Swordfish fly finally, heavily escorted by P-40s and Buffaloes out of Singapore.  Kongo gets missed a lot, but at least I tried.  A whole month without much Swordfish action means a lot of planes in the pool ready, so the four out of 10 losses are immediately made up.  ...morale will take a little longer.

Here it is [:)] . Just keep trying. With luck, one torp will end in the flank of a warship. This will pay your effort. Nice play for the rest ! I enjoy reading it.

[EUBanana]

1/1/1942

Uamaga has caught the dreaded lergy so turns will be slow for a bit.

A disastrous day, partly due to my slackness.

Malaysia
I took stock today, there are /3/ Indian Bdes stuck behind enemy lines.  Christ.  Disaster here, it means Singers is about 150 AV below what it should be.
Well, not much to do here but watch the pain.
Subs on standby to evac cadres.

DEI
Kuching is already packed with Jap bombers, so Nells can reach deep into the Java Sea now.  Some PCs get nuked, a couple of Clemson DDs get torpedoed too.  Its time for the Allies to get the hell out of here.  Force Z in Batavia cane it west at full speed, so do whats left of the DD force, and Colombo is set to be home. 
His carriers actually raided Palembang!  To my own surprise.  Basically all the Dutch CLs have been nailed to a greater or lesser extent though none have sunk.  CL Marblehead is the only cruiser at Palembang to not be hit, and its legging it north at full speed, but odds must be slim, the Java Sea is going to be a real gauntlet to run there.  It was a ~90 bomber strike force so I would guess thats two carriers maybe three, and there is another one at Kuching still.
I'm surprised he raided Palembang because its pretty damn dangerous for the Japs down there.  The Dutch airforce put up quite a reasonable fight, he got attacked by 15-20 Martins (no hits of course) in exchange, and there are mines all over the Java Sea (his CVTF is actually in a mined hex right now) and there are half a dozen submarines around too.  So its a dark day but maybe with some luck I might make him pay for it.
Sorong is being invaded, and he's garrisoned Amboina with aircraft now, so the ocean here is now verboten.

Now that ABDA is under pressure they are crumpling like a wet tissue paper and so far I've only chalked up a couple of cargo ships in return.

PI
Still holding up.  200 casualties in a bombardment at Clark, Manila is still under siege as well.  I'm tempted to fall back to Bataan and then sit it out.  I've still got a lot of the islands, he's bypassed everywhere but Luzon, and has a base on Jolo Island.

Burma/India
Day of rest, not much to say.  Looks like Burma will happen after Malaysia, though given he's destroying my Bdes in detail who knows what'll happen.
The British/Indian army is mostly in Calcutta now and sucking up squads from the reinforcement pool at an incredible rate.  All the key items - tanks, Indian squads - are drained dry.  Still, it'll be quite a formidable force when its all R&Red up.
First British carrier arrives in 7 days.

SWPAC/Australia
He's not made a move on Lae yet but thats surely the next thing.  Allied presence here is quite limited in that area atm - USS Gudgeon is the only Allied warship anywhere near.  A small cruiser SAG has fallen back to Rockhampton, and I'm still pondering reinforcing Port Moresby.  A fresh-ish Aussie Bde of 100 AV is moving up the rail lines to Cairns anyhow and might be airlifted over.  I do have adequate shipping to move them that way but there are IJN submarines prowling here too and they've already scored success after success.
Darwin is becoming absolutely packed with baseforces.  Unfortunately there are almost no combat units there.  I have no spare divisions to send, either...  I hope an early move on Australia isn't planned.  I'm kinda anticipating an assault on India actually after the DEI has fallen but we shall see.

CENTPAC
This is the reason why I suspect India/Australia is the plan because CENTPAC is a backwater.  Aside from Tarawa, which he took a while ago, theres apparently nothing going on and an extremely limited IJN naval presence.  Those carriers have disappeared from Rabaul though so could be redeploying... who knows.
I'm pretty much evacuating Wake and moving the CD guns to Midway.  Supply there is real bad as my Liberators used it all up on their raid of Kwajalein, and its too exposed.

Aaaaaand.&nbsp; YET ANOTHER BATTLESHIP TORPEDOED!&nbsp; [:@]&nbsp; God almighty.&nbsp; I even sent them on a circuitous route to San Fran this time, and the area is being swept by multiple ASW TFs, and still torpedo meets hull.&nbsp; Damage is pretty light, flotation <20, but its about in the worst possible place to be hit, in the more or less exact mid point between Pearl and the West Coast.

[EUBanana]

1/2/1941

Malaysia/DEI
HMS Truant gets depthcharged with 7 near misses N of Kuching, she was on a minelaying mission to Borneo.&nbsp; She's still in the war though, and will complete her mission as planned.
Force Z has made it out of the Java Sea and is now headed west to Colombo.&nbsp; Several destroyers have also made it out, and most importantly, DM Stronghold is among them.&nbsp; Marblehead is in Batavia and about to make the run through the gap between Sumatra and Java.&nbsp;
MLE Prome, in Soerabaja harbour, has some flot damage and so can't be used to reload mines, which is unfortunate.&nbsp; My minelayers are laying low in ports for now, I think they'll be doing one last run and then fleeing to India.&nbsp; Saving the MLE would be nice but I doubt that'll happen.
Allied submarines stalk the Macassar Strait where there is a lot of Jap warships prowling around, hopefully we can tag one.
the 8th Indian Bde in Malaysia, stuck on a mountain and besieged by the Japs, has had 5 AVs worth of troops pulled out by Catalina to Singapore.&nbsp; I'm not sure how the Catalinas can land on a mountain top but they did!&nbsp; In Palembang my Aussie Hudsons are converted to Dakota Is and start helping the Catalinas evac bypassed baseforces in Malaysia, bringing them straight to the oil.&nbsp;&nbsp; My Hudson pool was empty anyway, so another good plane upgrade there.
T.IVs and Martins scramble from Soerabaja and go for his carriers with Brewster escort.&nbsp; 6 T.IVs with Brewster escort make it through the CAP to bomb Ryujo but none hit.&nbsp; I reign in the range a bit so fighter escort and torpedoes are guaranteed.

PI
USS Perch sinks in Manila harbour after being bombed, there is another US submarine there with flotation damage too severe to make it out who will probably sink after being bombed again next turn.

SWPAC/Aus
Jap shipping sighted NE of Lae.&nbsp; I got plenty of bombers and Wirraways in Port Moresby, I cut the range on them to 4, which is another to reach any base on PNG he's likely to land in, and sit back.
Four S-boats have mined Tarawa and are headed to Brisbane now, those short legged subs are going to make themselves useful in the Coral Sea.
I'm pondering the defence of Darwin now, I'm sending one division up there anyway, question is where to put it.&nbsp; Tennent Creek or Katherine seems like a good choice at the moment.&nbsp; Once I've got the Wyndham/Broome baseforces over I'll probably put those at Tennent Creek/Katherine, and I might split that Div up to garrison all those bases on Darwins supply line to Alice Springs.&nbsp; Uamaga does like his paratroopers, I wouldn't be surprised if, later on when invading Aus, he does something like capture a vulnerable Wyndham and then paradrop Katherine.

CENTPAC/NORPAC
Pretty quiet here.&nbsp; My CD guns have arrived at Canton Island, and so has some fuel.&nbsp; My DMs are having a break as their sys damage is now around 15, but ML Oglala, on 23 sys, has been pressed into mining Wake Island as a matter of urgency.&nbsp; The CD guns at Wake are on the way to Midway, Wake is deemed expendable, I just wanna mine it so he can be made to suffer when invading.
An AS is headed to Dutch Harbour and an AV and supplies are on the way to Attu Island.&nbsp; When they are built I wanna put an MLE up here so I can stretch his assets by sub minelaying and patrolling around Hokkaido.

[EUBanana]

1/3/91

Malaysia/Burma/India
A reasonably profitable day in Malaysia, four tanks destroyed by the RA(A)F in Johore Baru.&nbsp; Malacca, which had been bypassed, falls, but not before my transport planes in Palembang have managed to evacuate about half of the baseforce.&nbsp; He's starting to fight back in Burma however, the predicted massive raid on Tavoy happened though damage was minimal.
The US combat engineer unit from the Philippines has been unloaded at Tivandrum, and they are going to turn it into a massive base with the help of some Indians.&nbsp; Thus forcing him right to the map edge if he wants to get by India.
12 British Dakotas are being uncrated at Ledo, they are the first in what I hope to be a huge airlift effort to help China.

DEI
Looks like this is it!&nbsp; an early Java offensive?&nbsp; There are two CVTFs representing most of KB apparently, battleships, the works, all converging on Soerabaja.&nbsp; I got to see T.IVs making torpedo runs on Soryu though not scoring any hits alas.&nbsp; Japanese counterstrokes were as lethal as I could expect - 17 Dutch fighters shot down in exchange for 4 Zeroes, the entire Dutch airforce is down to about two thirds strength now. &nbsp;
I've done a couple of alterations for the Dutch.&nbsp; Recon planes are being evacuated from Tjilitjap, they turn into valuable F-5s later on.&nbsp; An AA battery from Batavia has been dispatched to Tjilitjap, it might get moved further as needed.&nbsp; A SAG with the old coastal battleship Soerabaja has been formed up under Soerabaja fighter cover, not that I expect that to accomplish much.&nbsp; A mass evac of all ships able to move is ordered from Soerabaja, running up to Batavia again.
More offensively 20 P-40s and 10 Swordfish have been brought down from Singapore.&nbsp; Pretty much the cream of the Allied crop.&nbsp; They have been set to rest in the hopes that he'll press on with naval and port attacks, next turn they will be put to battlestations.&nbsp; His pilots will hopefully be fairly fatigued by the next turn, heres hoping they are still around to greet him then.

SWPAC
Fragments are starting to show up at Darwin, escapees from the Philippines and DEI.&nbsp; They are all set to march to Sydney to reform, they'll be out of the war for months though if not a year.
The Coral Sea area has gone very quiet, he's landed near Samo&nbsp; [&:].&nbsp; No idea what he's doing there.

CENTPAC
AV headed for Baker Island, supplies are being airlifted.&nbsp; I wanna see into the Marshalls.&nbsp;
That battleship his <censored> submarine torpedoed isn't going to make it!&nbsp; [8|]

[EUBanana]

Java's the capital of the war at the moment so here's a screenshot.

[EUBanana]

1/4/1942

Wow, another good turn.&nbsp; I actually feel like i'm hurting him!&nbsp; But there are some dire portents.

SEAC HQ
He attacks Johore Baru with his land death star but they've slipped away to Singers.&nbsp; Which means the siege of Singapore should begin in two days time.&nbsp; I imagine Singers will fall fairly quickly given I'm short 3 Bdes of the Malaysian OOB and two more have been very roughly handled.
I think I've got good use out of my Wirraways and Vildebeest though, they've been bombing him every single day since he landed pretty much, and thats surely got to add up to something.
He did a para assault on Tavoy today, an inspired move by him, though they didn't succeed in taking the base.&nbsp; He has forced my Mitchells and Blenheims back though.&nbsp; I think thats good for me really, it means I must've hurt him enough for him to want Tavoy bad.&nbsp; [:D]
Been pondering the Rangoon situation.&nbsp; All but the baseforce will be evacuated I have decided.&nbsp; A CL squadron is going to fast transport the CD guns to Port Blair, so he can be made a mess of if he gets ideas.&nbsp; I have left it to the last moment as always - heres hoping they don't get trashed.
My ground forces will await him over the river from Moulmein.

DEI
This is where the fun happened.&nbsp; All mine related.&nbsp; [:D]
Five mine hits on APs/AKs.&nbsp; On top of that a DD hit a mine as well.&nbsp; This happened during his invasions of Singakawang and Bandjarmasin.&nbsp;&nbsp; Nice turn of mine when it popped up, lots of "boom, X hit by VH2 mine!".&nbsp;&nbsp;
His carriers are, however, now to the left of Java on the map (SW?) which is very very bad.&nbsp; If he did some hard steaming up the map he'd run into a lot of fleeing Allied convoys.&nbsp; Hopefully he won't be doing that.
PG Soerabaja got torpedoed this turn, quelle surprise, but no real damage done.
The P-40s and Swordfish have been unleashed in Soerabaja.&nbsp; [:D]&nbsp; Lets hope they do some good.

As an additional cherry on a rosy Allied turn, USS Permit torpedoed an AP in Hong Kong harbour for heavy damage, and sends thanks to the Chinese Airforce bombers who are training up by spotting Jap shipping from Wuchow.

CENTPAC
Midway is almost up to 3 CD forces.&nbsp; The original, one from Wake, and one from USA.&nbsp; [X(]&nbsp; I think this is overcommitment, so am pondering putting one somewhere else...&nbsp; Canton Island or Palmyra or Pago Pago maybe.&nbsp; MMmmmm.

I wonder what his longer term plans are.&nbsp; Australia or India I suspect.&nbsp; We are after all, in the prologue of the game.&nbsp; We know whats gonna happen - he will hit the SRA.&nbsp; (Indeed the house rules say he has to).&nbsp; The interesting stuff begins when the SRA is his.&nbsp; I can see why Aus or India might be attractive because there is apparently bugger all Allied force in both places.

[EUBanana]

1/5/1942

Terrible day today.&nbsp;
Looks like KB is doing a circumnavigation of Java, which took it in range of some transports - fortunately not the ones carrying my aircraft but they are just a hairs breadth out of range and its looking bad for them next turn.
A /lot/ of Allied shipping went down this turn, but it was all of the unloaded variety.&nbsp; Dutch MSWs and PCs have been slaughtered by the dozen, and there was the misfortune 5 TKs west of Java being hit with their escorts and all sent to the bottom.
Some of these ships were under Dutch fighter cover but it proved to be utterly useless.&nbsp; ~15 Brewsters and Hawks repeatedly failed to even engage unescorted Kates!&nbsp;

Also his ships are just out of range of Soerabaja's torpedo bombers so my anticipated strikes did not happen.&nbsp; Looks like I was a day too slow.

Elsewhere at Port Moresby he's unloading right next to divebombers and Hudsons by the score and they are all grounded due to *(&*£$ weather, and have been for days.&nbsp; (Forecast today : partly cloudy.&nbsp; FLY damn you!).&nbsp;

And by Timor he is hunting down fleeing cargo ships with pairs of DDs again.&nbsp; One such pair met up with 2 x AK + 1 Dutch AVD off Timor, the AVD was sunk and the Allied ships never even fired a shot.&nbsp; Woe.

Thats the only things of import that has happened in this turn, there wasn't much Allied redeployment to speak of.
In about 8 days there is a major Allied reinforcement, a lot of extra cargo ships and LCUs at both Aden and the West Coast.

[EUBanana]

1/6/1942

An amazingly action packed turn, lots of daytime surface combat (!).&nbsp; The Allied surface fleets behaved heroically in the face of impossible odds.&nbsp; The Allied airforce however proved amazingly inept if not cowardly.

Malaysia
He's starting to probe the air defences of Singapore, which isn't too good.&nbsp; All quiet here though yet.&nbsp; The siege has not begun.

DEI
All sorts happens here.
KB moves very far north (jesus, makes me think Uamaga is reading this!) pretty much ending up slap bang in the middle of the fleeing AKs west of Teloekbetong.&nbsp; A million airstrikes later pretty much the entire Dutch cargo fleet is toast.
In the Java Sea all sorts of action is going on, blasting everywhere!&nbsp; A mini KB of 2 CVE + 1 CVL in the Java Sea gets attacked by LBA out of Batavia.&nbsp; The swordfish sit on their arse (of course) but 25 Martins plus heavy fighter escort sorties!&nbsp; Theres attack after attack on the CVEs but of course the muppet Dutch fail to score a hit.&nbsp; In fact, despite many attacks by Allied LBA, there has thus far been one (1) hit with an LBA bomb on a warship.&nbsp; And all bar the Fortresses, they bomb at 6000'.
Lame.
Of more interest - the heroic old... well, I dunno what she is.&nbsp; Pre dreadnought?&nbsp; PG Soerabaja - she heads across the Java Sea, on her own, already leaking (7 flot when she left port!) due to be torpedoed by a KB Kate.&nbsp; She heads for Bandjarmasin where she finds a SAG, 2 CAs + 3 DDs.&nbsp; The very first Japanese hit on her takes out a 280mm Krupp gun.&nbsp; [8|]&nbsp;&nbsp; Which is just typical of my luck in this game.&nbsp; [8|]&nbsp; But with her one remaining Krupp gun she puts up quite a fight!&nbsp; despite her green experience 37 crew, theres a lot of firing, and Soerabaja is apparently tougher than week old vindaloo.&nbsp; 8 inch shells only penetrate at close range so about 3/4ers of the&nbsp; 64 (!) hits bounce off.&nbsp; Soerabaja tags Ashigara with a single 280mm shell before finally succumbing against hopeless odds.&nbsp; Glory in defeat is hers!
At the other end, at Merak, CL Java, badly damaged, is trying to limp away - unfortunately into KB, though KB is too busy trashing literally dozens of AKs to notice her.&nbsp; Java runs into CL Kinu and DD Sawakaze and daylight battle is joined!&nbsp; The 5.5 inch shells of Kinu prove ineffective and Java tags Kinu with a 6 inch shell, causing some damage.&nbsp; I'm thinking this is going OK but then Kinu lets rip with torpedoes, Java takes three hits and sinks.&nbsp; But she did get to fire her main guns in anger, and with at a minimum six Jap aircraft carriers in range, thats pretty good going.
And thats not all!&nbsp; By Timor he has surface assets combing the sea for fleeing ships.&nbsp; DD Shigure and DD Kawakaze find more than they bargained for however - CL Durban and DD Van Ghent, who are patrolling to try and hunt the hunters.&nbsp; Daylight battle is joined. Shigure is hit by three 6" shells and is grievously damaged, while Kawakaze catches one and is on fire.&nbsp; Van Ghent is hit by three 5" shells and left on heavy damage.
Later on Batavia is swept by a major Jap BB force, and the remnants of the Dutch navy there ae swept aside.&nbsp; A bombardment hits Batavia, damage to the port (filled with cripples) is bad, but the airfields are untouched.

Busy turn!
It went bad for the Allies but the odd hit here and there did shine through, and there was much heroism against massive odds.&nbsp; The only bad point was the Swordfish crew, who seem to be the laziest barstewards in Java, not taking off again, and the sheer ineptitude of the Dutch Martins who had a wonderful chance to bomb some flattops and blew it.

SWPAC
More ineptitude here.&nbsp; He's landing literally divisions worth of troops at Lae, taking his time, the best of a week - and for the fourth? day running, in perfectly clear weather, the 18 Dauntlesses, 16 Wirraways and 12 Hudsons at Port Moresby, not 2 hexes away... sit on their arse.

China
And here too!&nbsp; I order some Chinese bomber strikes.&nbsp; Nobody bothers to take off.&nbsp; I'm beginning to think Allied pilots tend to consider orders to be more... guidelines than instructions.&nbsp; [8|]

CENTPAC
Two surface actions here.&nbsp; Near-ish to Pago Pago a major Allied convoy runs into what I presume to be AMCs.&nbsp; PG Aikoku Maru and PG Hokoku Maru.&nbsp; I dunno what they are, but the unescorted convoy buys it big time - I only wish my Allied warships would fight as hard!&nbsp; An Allied TK and AK are both left on heavy damage.
More amusingly at Marcus Island CL Honolulu and DD Henley have been waiting for ages, preparing a little surprise.&nbsp; Today the surprise was sprung, 3 AKs with PC/PG escorts show up and are engaged.&nbsp; AK Bengal Maru is hit by 22 6 inch shells, in a fine example of Massive Surface Combat Overkill, where the entire Allied effort goes into blowing the crap out of one ship ten times over while ignoring the rest.&nbsp; In any case, one AK scratched, and containing something precious too, I can't complain.&nbsp; The Jap tail tweaked, its time to go home.

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

1/6/1942



SWPAC
More ineptitude here.  He's landing literally divisions worth of troops at Lae, taking his time, the best of a week - and for the fourth? day running, in perfectly clear weather, the 18 Dauntlesses, 16 Wirraways and 12 Hudsons at Port Moresby, not 2 hexes away... sit on their arse.

China
And here too!  I order some Chinese bomber strikes.  Nobody bothers to take off.  I'm beginning to think Allied pilots tend to consider orders to be more... guidelines than instructions.  [8|]

Just an idea: isn't the CAP put by the japs the reason for the bombers not flying? IF not enough fighters to deal with CAP, no bomber fly on the target...may be it is?
And maybe time to inspect your Air Leaders ? Some with great air rating and/or aggresivness could help?

[EUBanana]

Just an idea: isn't the CAP put by the japs the reason for the bombers not flying? IF not enough fighters to deal with CAP, no bomber fly on the target...may be it is?
And maybe time to inspect your Air Leaders ? Some with great air rating and/or aggresivness could help?

Well, in China the AVG are around to escort, so thats as good as can be done. The bombers do have experience 40 though so maybe thats it.

In SWPAC I'm pretty sure there is no Jap CAP. In any case its funny you mention that as I looked at the commanders last turn and fired the cautious divebomber commander and replaced him with an aggressive one. So maybe that'll make the difference.

[EUBanana]

1/7/1942

I'm having a hard time getting over how amazingly lucky he is.&nbsp; [8|]

Burma
Mitchells are back to bomb bomb bombing him, now out of Rangoon.&nbsp; Not much change.&nbsp; He's paying for every step at least!

Malaysia
The only Allied base in Malaysia is now Singapore, which is not yet under siege.&nbsp; Vildebeest and Wirraways bombed his forces today but several were lost for no real damage.

DEI

[8|]

The base at Batavia is dangerous with all those P-40s and bombers.&nbsp; Today the Swordfish flew - but the Martins didnt.&nbsp; They went for KB with heavy P-40 escort - ~15 P-40s, ~10 Brewsters and ~10 Demons escorting 10 Swordfish versus 50 Zeroes.&nbsp; The CAP wasn't too effective, 9 Swordfish made it through, and all attacked Soryu.
And all missed.
8 Hudsons bombed his shipping at Pontiniak with P-40 escort as well, and found CVE's Taiyo and Hosho.&nbsp; All got through the CAP, all missed.

Which means I've had about 50-60 aircraft make bombing runs against his carriers now, and not one has hit.

[8|]

The Allies are certainly getting the opportunities, but they just aren't able to capitalise.&nbsp; I am at least slowly chipping away at his pilot pools, six navy Zeroes bought it today.

Further south CL Durban gets attacked by 4 Jakes, of course they hit.&nbsp; But with baby bombs so no real damage.&nbsp; Durban retires south of Timor, ready to pounce on opportunities.

Aus/SWPAC
He's still at Lae, the ground forces there are holding off his invasion still, in fact he got 0 to 1 on his last attack and got a mullering.&nbsp; Looks like I was wrong before - he does have carriers there, so that explains the lack of bombing.&nbsp; I've rejiggled Port Moresby, so it has 32 Wirraways and 16 Dauntlesses now, hopefully that'll encourage the (aggressive) Dauntless commander to go for it.

CENTPAC
I tweaked him again, hee.&nbsp; CL Honolulu doubled back to Marcus Island and engaged his convoy a second time trying to supply the place.&nbsp; a PC got blown away by 6 inch shells and an AK and a second PC both got damaged slightly.&nbsp; Of little import but it does amuse me and makes up for the dire Dutch airfarce.


Given he's splitting his CVs up theres a slight change of plan regarding Allied CVs.&nbsp; Saratoga and Lexington are headed for the South Pacific and maybe find some opportunities, given the lack of a Death Star.

[EUBanana]

1/8/1942

Quiet day.

Thunderstorms ground aircraft in the DEI, the other theatres are fairly quiet.&nbsp; He does some fighter sweeps over Singapore but the Allied fighters declined to give much combat, a handful were shot down.&nbsp; I'm going to ground CAP there and let the massed AA guns, which Singapore has plenty of, handle the air defence (not a bad idea given the Nik mod to AAA).

One exception to the quiet.

The Dauntlesses and Wirraways in Port Moresby raid Lae.&nbsp; Turns out Shokaku is there, apparently on her own.&nbsp; The Wirraway escorts serve to get in the way of the Zeroes, they don't get any kills but they do protect the Dauntlesses, of which 16 make bombing runs.&nbsp; All miss.&nbsp; In the afternoon they have another go but only 4 dive bombers can be scrounged up as the rest are damaged.&nbsp; They make it through, at the cost of more Wirraways - but they all miss too.
I count almost 100 bombing or torpedo runs now against CVs/CVLs/CVEs having penetrated thin CAP - zero hits.&nbsp; I appreciate that they normally have experience around 55 which isnt the best in the world... but even so.&nbsp; He's a lucky guy.

There won't be a rematch at PM for a while - too many Wirraways bought it and too many Dauntlesses damaged.&nbsp; 19 Wirraways lost for essentially no gain.

Plans in China, gonna reinforce Wuchow, and I'm making moves on Ichang though they'll be a long time in coming.&nbsp; In a few months time I'll be in position to send combat engineers into China to help the KMT out, till then I dont plan much beyond not letting him ignore this theatre so he can strip it of divisions.

[EUBanana]

1/9/1942

The war goes on, things are settling down though, so not much new to report.

I commented in my last email to him that he was damn, damn lucky to have so few bomb hits.&nbsp; 100 sorties against flattops, not one hit.&nbsp; He replied that yeah, he's been terrified.&nbsp; So I guess the last few turns might've steadied him a bit, made him more cautious when going near land bases.&nbsp;

If that slows him down, thats good I guess.&nbsp; Given my 45 exp Dutchies can't hit the broad side of a barn!

Malaysia
He's still not besieged Singapore yet but he must be on his way, I expect him tomorrow.&nbsp; He has ships parked 1 hex away, such impertinence!&nbsp; I wake up the Vildebeest this turn.&nbsp; Escort is going to be essentially every fighter in Singapore (not using CAP anymore for a bit, too vulnerable to Zero sweeps).

Burma/India
Thunderstorms today and more predicted tomorrow, thats fine, my B-25s at Rangoon could use a rest.&nbsp; Also my cruisers picked up about 3/4s of the Rangoon fortress and are now halfway to Port Blair, so storms are nice about now.&nbsp; I dispatch a single AK from Calcutta to ship 3000 supplies to Port Blair.
I have a firm plan now as to what to do with Rangoon.&nbsp; The base force is staying put so my Mitchells stay in repair and so he doesn't just paradrop it without a fight.&nbsp; The CD guns are going to Port Blair obviously, they might be a nasty surprise if he invades it (its about 90 AV plus quite a few big guns, well worth putting to good use rather than being a speed bump at Rangoon).&nbsp; The infantry will move when he is sighted crossing the Burmese border to the far side of the river, where they can meet him in a defensible position as he crosses.&nbsp; When they fall back, hopefully they'll head for Mandalay.
PoW and Repulse arrived at Colombo today.&nbsp; The first British aircraft carrier is on the way.&nbsp; Lots of RAF reinforcements are starting to show up - 3 squadrons of Hurricanes are en route to Karachi, in three days there is another 3 squadrons of Hurricanes plus some more Blenheims.&nbsp; So things will be firming up a bit in time for the Battle of Burma.
I change a West Coast combat engineer unit to SEAC command, I want more engineers in this land combat heavy theatre.

DEI
Palembang is hit by a nuclear bombardment.&nbsp; Off of cruisers, too.&nbsp; Weird.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Palembang, at 20,55 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Allied aircraft
no flights
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Allied aircraft losses
Do 24K-2: 1 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 2 destroyed
Hudson I: 1 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 destroyed
&nbsp;
3 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Hagikaze
DD Arashi
DD Nowaki
DD Maikaze
CA Kumano
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Allied ground losses:
2719 casualties reported
Guns lost 69
Vehicles lost 17
&nbsp;
Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 41
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 6
&nbsp;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I checked the damage it seemed fairly light however, so I think the combat report lies.

KB (well, much of it - he splits his carriers.&nbsp; 2 maybe 3 CV) is parked 5 hexes left of Batavia.&nbsp; Hehee.&nbsp; He must be showing the Swordfish a little more respect than previously.&nbsp; Thats fine, my guys are all resting there anyway because their morale is shot after the slaughter before.&nbsp; However he's being annoying as he's interdicting my supply convoy to Java, which is fairly low on supply.&nbsp; Therefore I've ordered 3 submarines up that way (2 dutch 1 US).&nbsp; He has 4 TFs in that hex, subs arent gonna do much more than die or maybe scare him, but if he's scared enough to move thats good.

He's rounding up Borneo.&nbsp; Bandjarmasin falls.&nbsp; Sandakan over at the east falls.&nbsp; A DD force hits Jesselton where I have PT boats sitting, the PTs get scratched for no Jap cost.&nbsp; Looks like he's taking a slight break though - what little was on Borneo was evacced out and he's steering clear of Java.
Down at Timor he has what is apparently two SAGs, one reporting BBs, but I dont believe that, probably CAs.&nbsp; I have two warships in the area - a screwed up USS Pope (Clemson DD, so fairly useless) and CL Durban.&nbsp; A /bit/ outgunned.&nbsp; They are making their way to Darwin.
The first Dutch refugees who pulled out south are landing in Perth today.
The baseforce at Wyndham has completed its move to Darwin.
I order a baseforce to move to Sabang, at the very India-wards tip of Sumatra.&nbsp; I had some success in my prior game at evacuating final refugees from Sabang using the Royal Navy on fast transport, so I'm getting ready for such a move.&nbsp; Which will require transport aircraft due to its remoteness, hence a baseforce there seems useful.

SWPAC
Gone quiet here.&nbsp; I got two Allied cruiser SAGs in the area, but thats nothing that can handle Shokaku.&nbsp; The smaller Aussie one is being sent to Luganville, and a TK + MSW are fuelling up at Sydney, ready to put some fuel down there.&nbsp; If he overextends towards Lunga they'll go smack his hand.&nbsp;
A bigger US cruiser SAG is sitting in Brisbane, doing very little atm.
Port Moresby, despite the massacre the Wirraways suffered they got morale 80 or 90 still.&nbsp; I set them to bomb a hopefully un-CAPped Jap force.&nbsp; Shokaku is still parked at Lae, which fell this turn, but with 7 Dauntlesses I'm not even going to try.&nbsp; FOr some reason the Dauntlesses, who suffered no casualties but a lot of damage, have morale 38, while the Wirraways, who were massacred, are apparently mad up for being massacred again.&nbsp; Go figure.
Fuel situation is critical in Australia, theres about 10k units in the whole continent it seems.&nbsp; A convoy of 10k of fuel is about to arrive in Perth from Java though which will help.&nbsp; On the plus (?) side there aren't many ships here to feed.&nbsp; [;)]

CENTPAC
My plan to raid Kwajalein was cancelled today when I realised that Honolulu was very low on fuel.&nbsp; I ordered CA Indianapolis + 1 DD to depart Pearl and do it instead.&nbsp; ML Oglala was sunk by a submarine despite heavy escort at Wake.&nbsp; [8|]&nbsp; As always my minelayers just get whacked whenever I try and use them.&nbsp; The escort sticks around as an ASW TF to hopefully nail the sub, and 6 x DM leave Pearl to do the job instead (sys damage is around 8 for them now).&nbsp; Otherwise its very quiet around here.&nbsp;
I'm trying to get the logistics here sorted out, getting fuel to various bases.&nbsp; An escorted TK has been sent to Midway, Canton Island has already been topped up, Pago Pago is about to be topped up.&nbsp; A lot of AOs and TKs just left the west coast packed with fuel, they are headed for Pearl but that will be spread around CENTPAC.

[EUBanana]

1/10/1942

Uamaga said it was a bad turn for him today, so he was getting me all hopeful. Git! [;)] Because if this was a bad turn for him I'd hate to think what an average one is like.

Malaysia
Well, a Jap BB got hit by a 500lb Martin bomb today. This being the 2nd hit on a ship the Allies have managed in 31 days, and not through lack of trying. This is why it was a bad turn for him apparently. [8|] All the Vildebeest missed. Now if one of those had hit it'd be something for me to be happy about. [:D]

I did however win in the air. He swept Singapore in force and found the skies empty. Meanwhile every Allied a/c in the city was off bombing or escorting bombers, and the bomber escorts - who massively outnumbered the Jap defender CAP, as they were all sweeping Singapore - shot down 7 Oscars without loss. So I think that was a small, sly victory. [:D]

Burma/India
My CLs at Port Blair got attacked by Nells despite the thunderstorm, luckily no hits. They are withdrawing back towards Trimcomalee but their fuel is almost out (crappy RN range), so I doubt they'll make many hexes and might be subjected to more attacks. Weather forecast is still bad though, and the range to the Jap airbases will be a little bigger so I dont think it would be unreasonable to expect them to make this little mission.
My aircraft are having some time off.
His paras at Tavoy have stopped attacking, they've been Mitchelled pretty badly. Sux2Bthem. [;)]

DEI
He's rounding up Borneo still, and it looks like he's attacking Timor, several big TFs incoming. nothing I can do, of course. His carriers are parked just off Java, looks like he wants Java very very much isolated before he moves in for the kill.
I'm a little surprised by the speed of his moves on Java - he's not even reached Singapore yet!
I will need to consider aerial evacuation soon, because with naval access sealed by Jap CVs, flying through Singapore to Rangoon is the only option to get the valuable P-40s out, and that route won't be available for much longer. I might be able to get some LCUs out from Sabang but only a very small number.

SWPAC
Day of rest. Jap ninja sub sank AR Platypus between Cairns and Darwin despite six escorting warships and got away scot free. If only my subs were that effective. i've not even seen many "Torpedoes fail to detonate" messages.
...you only see those after torpedoes have hit after all. [8|]

CENTPAC
Watching cargo ships snail their way across the Pacific. An AK carrying 12 A-20s was sunk by another ninja sub despite escort and despite the fact that this valuable convoy was taking a massive detour into the SE Pacific. An unescorted AP was sunk by yet another ninja sub.


...his submarine arm is the bit that annoys me the most out of the IJ military in fact. Grr! [:@] I can do nothing against them!

[EUBanana]

1/11/1942

Its been a month pretty much, so seemed like a good time to see how the air war of attrition is going.



Not exactly a fine Allied performance, almost 3 to 1 against, but ~200 of those were caught on the ground in the first days which makes things look a little (not much) rosier.
It looks like the rate of attrition is adequate to blunt his pilot pools at least, and thats the main thing.
Aside from the Dutch my own pilot pools are fine atm.

Burma/India
Major reinforcements are heading into theatre, another 3 Hurricane squadrons, another CV tomorrow, with more on the way.&nbsp; What I really need are baseforces, and they are on the way as well fortunately.
Colombo is reinforced with an AA unit today.
My CL squadron made it out of Port Blair without being hit, the bad news is on closer inspection only infantry were picked up, not CD guns!!!!&nbsp; So someone has to go back and do it again.&nbsp; Probably them, as they are the expendables.&nbsp;
Trimcomalee is up to 1000 mines, when it hits 5000 (which will take the best part of two weeks) my lone Indian ML will start work on mining Colombo.&nbsp; I figure mines will be more fruitfully employed on an island after all.

I pulled out a depleted P-40 unit, 8 Warhawks, from Singapore to Tavoy.&nbsp; I think Tavoy will only be mine for a handful more days now, and I dont want all my P-40s wiped out in Java, so there we go.&nbsp; One unit of 16 P-40s + 8 damaged remains in Singapore, and another 24 unit P-40 squadron is in Batavia atm.&nbsp; These two will stay, to the bitter end probably.

Thunderstorms continue to ground my aircraft.

Malaysia
Singapore has about 650 AV of troops and forts 5, almost 6.&nbsp; Supply is good - but thats not many troops.&nbsp; There are 24 Japanese units at Johore Baru.&nbsp; [X(]&nbsp; ...it will be over fairly quick I imagine.
My cut off Indian Bdes are not going down easily though, he's engaged them so they can't escape to the coast and be evacuated, but they are still tying up a few Bdes of his and they don't look like they'll be surrendering soon.

He pulled his fleet back to four hexes from Singapore.&nbsp; The Vildebeest are stood down... but I bring Swordfish up from Batavia, they are resting today to get rid of the fatigue of moving, but tomorrow they should be ready to roll, and there are 12 of them with reasonable morale and experience.

DEI
KB remains parked off Java!&nbsp; five hexes away.&nbsp; Submarines converge on it.
He did a big strike on one of the northern Sumatran bases from Malaysia, where I had Martins stations.&nbsp; The airfield is on 30% damage.
I in turn launched raids on his shipping at Singkawang with Martins out of Palembang, and scored a hit - the second&nbsp; Allied bomb hit on a ship of the war.&nbsp; The lucky victim was... CVE Taiyo!&nbsp; 500lb bomb, deck penetration.&nbsp; Maybe he'll pull Taiyo out for repairs, which would be nice.
My ML, escorted by 2 MSW, was intercepted by a Jap CL + 2 DD on the high seas of the IO, left (SW?) of Sumatra.&nbsp; All Allied ships sunk.&nbsp; He really is a demon at these high seas interceptions.&nbsp; I guess the Japs can roam practically at will with the lack of effective Allied anti ship bombers with range like the Betty...
Jesselton is invaded and taken today.

Mutsu sighted at Koepang, invasion of Timor can't be far away.

SWPAC/AUS
CL Durban is at Darwin, so is a Jap ninja-sub.&nbsp; [:@]&nbsp; Lots of ASW aircraft are at Darwin, but they accomplish nothing, as always.
Jap ninja-sub between Port Moresby and Darwin has not moved.&nbsp; I dispatch the Kiwi Navy, 4 MSWs, to hunt it!&nbsp; With experience 37 this will likely be a fatal experience for at least some Kiwis, but what else am I supposed to do?&nbsp; I need that sealane open.
10k fuel unloaded at Perth now, another 10k a few days away.
Jap shipping sighted in the Coral Sea, headed for the Solomons...&nbsp; no Allied units in the area yet.&nbsp; None destined to be here for quite a while either.

CENTPAC
More Jap ninja-sub action, east of Penrhyn Island (big detours to keep out of main shipping lanes do not help apparently) an lightly escorted but valuable convoy of AKs carrying aircraft.&nbsp; One of the AKs carrying Dakotas gets torpedoed.&nbsp; It heads for Penrhyn on 80 flotation, looks bad.&nbsp; The rest carry on.&nbsp; He has Glen subs out here but theres absolutely nothing I can do, pretty much the entire USN is committed doing various things.&nbsp; I got 2 CVs sitting idle in Pearl simply because there are no escorts for them.
Fiji looks like a nest of Japanese submarine activity as well.

I rearranged my aircraft in CENTPAC in a somewhat limited way a while back (not enough av support on the atolls to do what I really want) to beef up ASW patrols on the Pearl-Johnston-Canton-Fiji line, but it is clearly still grossly inadequate and the IJN submarines are exacting a heavy toll, one cargo ship torpedoed a day on average it looks like.&nbsp; [:@]&nbsp; A big problem is that I left all the flush deck DDs on upgrade orders, and so on the 1st of Jan they all upgraded.&nbsp; ASW 8, nice - but they are all in the harbours being fixed now.&nbsp; Hopefully when they get online things will change.

[EUBanana]

1/12/1942

Burma/India
I've left the Chinese hanging, and moved my Dakotas from Ledo to Rangoon.&nbsp; They are shipping over the rest of Rangoon Force to Port Blair.&nbsp; I really need a baseforce there as well but that may be beyond my abilities as the place is under Betty interdiction.&nbsp; Two lone AKs are carrying in supply, and so is a fast transport destroyer flotilla.
He's not crossed the border into Burma yet.&nbsp; Tavoy remains mine but under siege by his paras.
A Dutch baseforce, pulled out from the DEI, has almost made it to Tivandrum, where they will become integrated into the glorious Indian Army!

Malaysia
Singapore is now under siege.&nbsp; Crossing the strait costs him 3500 men though and he's got a lot more to bring over, so the pain has only begun.&nbsp; Singapore supply is on 36k, so I don't think supply will be an issue in this one.&nbsp; Fort level is 5 very nearly 6.

Ground combat at Singapore
&nbsp;
Japanese Shock attack
&nbsp;
Attacking force 29289 troops, 118 guns, 64 vehicles, Assault Value = 1150
&nbsp;
Defending force 57598 troops, 449 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 711
&nbsp;
Japanese max assault: 714 - adjusted assault: 190
&nbsp;
Allied max defense: 758 - adjusted defense: 1381
&nbsp;
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 5)
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Japanese ground losses:
3527 casualties reported
Guns lost 29
Vehicles lost 9
&nbsp;
Allied ground losses:
217 casualties reported
Guns lost 15
Vehicles lost 1


PI
He has been bombing targets in the PI for a long time with no Allied opposition beyond AAA.&nbsp; Today he tried assaulting Clark Field and it was bloody but the forts dropped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Clark Field
&nbsp;
Japanese Deliberate attack
&nbsp;
Attacking force 91841 troops, 436 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 1905
&nbsp;
Defending force 40834 troops, 332 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 832
&nbsp;
Japanese max assault: 1900 - adjusted assault: 1115
&nbsp;
Allied max defense: 900 - adjusted defense: 834
&nbsp;
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)
&nbsp;
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Japanese ground losses:
4619 casualties reported
Guns lost 54
Vehicles lost 12
&nbsp;
Allied ground losses:
532 casualties reported
Guns lost 47
Vehicles lost 7
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The defence on Luzon is down to a perimeter of Bataan/Clark Field/Manila at the moment.&nbsp; Looks like Clark Field won't last much longer, it might be time to pull everything back to Bataan.

DEI
He hovers around Java with what looks like the majority of the IJN, but taking care to be at 5 hexes range or greater from any key Allied airbase.&nbsp; USS Skipjack was depth charged and very badly damaged by Singkawang, most likely will not make it.
Palembang hit by another nuclear bombardment!&nbsp; [:@]&nbsp; That said the number of engineers seems to actually be going up there.&nbsp; I'll need to pull over some troops from Singapore by airlift I think before Singapore crunches - which will shorten the length of time Singers will hold but might let me trash the oil more decisively.
Japs are landing at Koepang now.
CL Dragon, which was badly hurt and limping out of Palembang, found Jap carriers halfway between Java and Aus, and was sunk.

SWPAC/Aus
Dauntlesses hit Jap shipping at Lae from Port Moresby.&nbsp; AP Tafuku Maru takes 2 1000lbers for heavy damage, CL Kashima takes 3 but is merely on fire.&nbsp; PM is finally developing some teeth...

CENTPAC
Ninja subs continue to plague me, I'm continuing to feed aircraft into the ASW war, I've not seen any Allied bombers even attack a sub yet but I suspect thats down to inexperience, so the moral is : keep trying.


Rear Areas
I got a massive reinforcement today of all kinds.&nbsp; A lot of NORPAC LCUs, a lot of CENTPAC LCUs, a couple of SWPAC LCUs even, a whole bunch of fighters and baseforces at Aden, and a lot of merchant shipping - of the order of 40 TKs and even more AKs.&nbsp; And a BB and a CV at Aden.&nbsp;
So a fair bit of time was spent sorting out convoys.

I'll talk about deployments when they actually are nearing completion though, a lot of the convoys dispatched won't be arriving in place for months.

[EUBanana]

1/13/1942

Its going pear shaped in the Java Sea area alright...

Malaysia
Air battles rage over Kuantan again, where his fleet is.&nbsp; The Allied fighters get a mauling but do cover the torpedo bombers and Wirraways (who I prefer to use in bomber mode - they can actually achieve things as bombers) to the targets, in this case CL Sendai and DD Oshio.&nbsp; 8 Wirraways and 12 Swordfish don't score a single hit, however.
In a convoluted air transport network, the Catalinas at Singapore are transferring a base force to Sabang.&nbsp; At Sabang, Dutch transport aircraft are then transferring the baseforce to Port Blair.&nbsp; I expect op losses as Sabang is a tiny airfield but, well.&nbsp; What are transport aircraft for if not stuff like this?&nbsp; [:D]
Port Blair will get about 20 odd av support, enough for me to put fighters there, which is all I want.
A few more units crossed the straits to Singapore, he took 500 odd casualties for 135 of mine in the shock attack.&nbsp; An Allied bombardment at Singapore dished out another 50, and Allied bombers hitting the troops at Singapore managed only 10, and with heavy loss due to CAP.

PI
The ground war here is going my way again this turn at Clark Field.&nbsp; An Allied bombardment caused 500 casualties, a Jap one in reply caused 50.&nbsp; I like these odds.&nbsp; He must be badly disrupted after the other day.

DEI
He bombards Palembang and Batavia pretty much at will now with massed battleships and cruisers.&nbsp; I thought the likes of Fuso were too slow to do this without being in torpedo bomber range but apparently not.&nbsp; Fuso did, however, hit a mine this turn while on a bombardment run.&nbsp; [:D]
Damage is quite severe, made worse by the tiny Dutch reinforcement pools.
He has 3 CV TFs dotted around Java.&nbsp; However there is a small gap between them and I am trying to sneak out the few stragglers left through it.&nbsp; Badly damaged merchants mostly.&nbsp;

SWPAC/Aus
His CVs have left Lae for some reason so I've had the Wirraways on naval attack.&nbsp; Today they earn their keep.&nbsp; A Jap PG catches a 250lb bomb, and AP Kitano Maru catches 2.
Rabaul is up to a level 4 airfield, which is going to make reinforcing and resupplying PM tricky in the extreme now.&nbsp; [:(]
I appreciate that PM is his if he wants it bad enough, but I prefer to at least try to fight.&nbsp;
So I will.&nbsp; [:D]

CENTPAC
More ninja subs.&nbsp; He's not a moron either, that AK carrying transport aircraft that he torpedoed off Penrhyn is now limping to Penrhyn which is the only hope of survival.&nbsp; Needless to say he moved the submarine there already so it'll be picking up a torpedo as a greeting probably.&nbsp; Sigh.
An empty TK was torpedoed twice near Fiji.&nbsp; Another sigh.
My crazy Kwajalein raid is gonna happen in 3 or 4 days.&nbsp;

[EUBanana]

1/14/1942

Burma/India
A devastated Buffalo squadron (3 planes left!) has been flown from Singers to Port Blair, which is being topped up with baseforces and CD guns, all airlifted in.&nbsp; Two 3000 supply lone AKs are trying to sneak in supply under the nose of his Betties at Victoria Point.
Victoria Point was bombed by 40 odd Blenheims/Mitchells today but results were poor.
The paras camped by Tavoy shock attacked the place today but were repulsed, though forts dropped to zero.&nbsp;
Looks like Port Blair is going to serve as an aerial escape route&nbsp; to India...

Malaysia
More Jap troops dribbling over the straits to Singapore, getting shot up while so doing.&nbsp; His bombers - hundreds of them - are trashing the three trapped Indian Bdes who are up in the central Malaysia mountains, who are still stubbornly not surrendering.&nbsp; Every day they resist is a day I'm surprised though.&nbsp; He's not started seriously working on Singapore fortress yet.
...I got a month to last for it to fall on the historical date.
...I don't think this will happen.&nbsp; [;)]

DEI
The bombardments continue on Palembang and Batavia, and I just have to give it up.&nbsp; In fact, I should've done this a while ago.&nbsp; [:(]&nbsp; There isn't much the Dutch can do, surrounded by CVs who hover just out of fighter range, and with IJN battleships massed at Singakawang.&nbsp; The Dutch airforce is pretty ruined, but there may yet be some chance of minor regrouping.
Batavia and Palembang airfields are being evacuated anyway.&nbsp; The air defence in the north of Java is being moved to Tjilitjap (on the far side, harder to bombard hopefully) and inland to Badoeng.&nbsp; Not ideal in either case as these airfields are small but needs must.
What do with the bombers at Palembang was a harder decision - in essence they have no where to go.&nbsp; I ended up moving them to Singapore but I rather doubt its any safer for them here.

Koepang falls, he has landed a HUGE force with almost no opposition.&nbsp; 10,000 Japs versus 1000 Dutch!&nbsp; If that landed on Darwin I'd be screwed.
Maybe it will be soon enough.&nbsp; [:D]

SWPAC/Aus
A Dutch AS is based at Rockhampton now, that cuts sub torpedo reload travel a bit.&nbsp; The third strength Bde at PM is being airlifted out to the Australian mainland, a fresh Bde is ready to be rotated in.
That small Allied cruiser force I mentioned before (CA + CL + two DD) is settled at Luganville but is low on fuel.&nbsp; AO Neosho plus escorts is nearby and headed over.
PM is the only part of the map where Jap shipping has actually been attritted.&nbsp; Wirraways and Dauntlesses still are making Lae dangerous for him.
He's continuing to land all over Papua New Guinea's north coast.&nbsp; I do wonder why, most of those bases seem kinda worthless.&nbsp; Hoovering up every VP he can?

Two US CVs are just passing Pago Pago now and will be in the SWPAC theatre ready for action.&nbsp; Original plans to have Allied CVs hide in Frisco until July at least have been changed, as Uamaga seems to like splitting his carriers up.&nbsp; I would like to send all four to SWPAC but cannot due to lack of escorts.&nbsp; Hopefully the others will catch up as DDs and cruisers are fixed.

CENTPAC
Its fairly quiet here but the IJN sub arm remains highly active, and utterly resistant to my attempts to take the fight to them.&nbsp; ASW patrols, escorts, aircraft - all seem helpless.&nbsp; He torpedoed an AV at Baker Island today, that place has had about as much ASW effort put into it that the USN can manage.&nbsp; Six DDs on patrol popping in every so often, Catalinas and Hudsons all on ASW duty - to no avail, even though he's in the shallow island hex.
CL Trenton + DD escort will be raiding Tarawa in a daylight raid tomorrow.&nbsp; Its a fair distance from Kwajalein but risky nevertheless.

[EUBanana]

Oh I forgot the Chinese theatre as stuff was happening there today.

My AVG squadron at Wuchow has been working on Jap occupied Hong Kong and the shipping around Hong Kong of late, with a Chinese long range bomber squadron (Il-4s?) and the short range ones.&nbsp;&nbsp; Resistance has been light, as he has Oscars and Nates defending Hong Kong.&nbsp; The Oscars are achieving 2:1 kill ratios against the AVG but the Nates are just target practice and overall it looks like I'm winning this little matchup.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Chinese bombers have been mostly going for the port as he has transport ships disbanded there, and do score the odd hit.

I looked at them today and their experience is going through the roof!&nbsp; Some of the Chinese bomber pilots have experience in the 80s, and even the wussy short range bomber squadron is doing alright.&nbsp; Some of the AVG fighter pilots are top notch too, there's one guy there with experience 81 now.

[EUBanana]

1/15/1942

Malaysia/Burma
Fairly quiet here.&nbsp; Day of rest.&nbsp; With one exception, Tavoy falls to the Jap paratroopers finally,even without air support.&nbsp; No Allied aircraft were caught on the ground.
I'm lazy but not that lazy.&nbsp; [:D]

PI
Ground combat at Clark Field continues to go my way.&nbsp; He scores 200 casualties on a bombardment, i score 500.&nbsp; This is good.&nbsp; He hasn't deployed many aircraft to the PI, he sems content to bypass it and let his ground troops slog it out.

DEI
CV Akagi is still welded to the NW coast of Java - and an AO is sighted as well, wow, he plans to be there for some time.&nbsp; Jap carrier air nukes some AKs carrying supplies who have made it all the way from Aden that got a bit too close.&nbsp; I wonder if he'll give me a window to get in.&nbsp; Probably not by the look of it.
Jap MSWs are clearing mines around Borneo.
CVL Ryujo is at Bandjarmasin still.
Bombardments against Palembang and Batavia continue, but at least my aircraft are out of there now.

SWPAC
He's landing at Kavieng, and Australian Wirraways at PM are still using his troops at Lae for target practice.

CENTPAC
My raid on Tarawa happened today.&nbsp; The cruiser Trenton and destroyer Tucker found a hell of a lot more than they bargained for however.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95
&nbsp;
Japanese Ships
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 1
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 2
CL Yubari, Shell hits 1
DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 1
DD Hayate
DD Asanagi
&nbsp;
Allied Ships
CL Trenton, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1
DD Tucker, Shell hits 4,&nbsp; on fire
&nbsp;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95
&nbsp;
Japanese Ships
CL Tenryu
CL Tatsuta
CL Yubari, Shell hits 3,&nbsp; on fire
DD Kisaragi
DD Hayate
DD Asanagi
&nbsp;
Allied Ships
CL Trenton, Shell hits 18,&nbsp; on fire
DD Tucker, Shell hits 20,&nbsp; on fire,&nbsp; heavy damage
&nbsp;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trenton must be made out of adamantium or something.&nbsp; Not one Jap 5.5" shell penetrated and I thought despite the massive outnumbering that I might come out even, as Tucker was blown to bits.&nbsp; Then the torpedo hit and I sighed, but Trenton still put up a pretty good fight before retiring.&nbsp; Tucker was finished off by a Jap submarine that was lying in wait at Tarawa but Trenton is gonna make it, on 30 sys damage.&nbsp; She did score a few penetrating six inch hits on the Japs but I can't really claim this as a draw.&nbsp; It was a loss but not a significant one.