War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Ostfriese]

They can cut the remaining time to complete production in half by accelerating production. Accelerated arrival dates and daily shipyard point costs for carriers up to the Shinano are:
Junyo: 2/20/42 (cost: 168)
Hiyo: 4/4/42 (cost: 168)
Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)
Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)

This is all on a per day basis. So he can accelerate production for 1 day and take 2 days off the time to complete, and then resume normal pace, and be on track to get it 1 day earlier than scheduled.

I don't believe it's practical to accelerate all of these. On 12/7/41, Naval Shipyards are producing 1384 points per day, and the unaccelerated production schedule costs 1123, so they have a surplus of 261 per day. So accelerating more than 2 of these means you will need to expand your shipyards or halt production on something else. Adding, say, 100 to their shipyard production capacity would cost 1000 Heavy Industry and 10,000 supply. After that's built, it would cost 300 HI daily to run that additional capacity. To put that in perspective, building a Zero costs 36 Heavy Industry, so the opportunity cost of that expansion is 28 Zeroes to expand plus 8 Zeroes per day to operate it.

Looking only at the per day cost, getting the Unryu on 4/8/43 instead of 8/7/44 would use up an equivalent amount of industry as producing 4951 Zeroes (122 shipyard per day--> 366 HI per day --*487 days= 178,242 HI; /36 HI per Zero = 4951 Zeroes)

EDIT: In terms of direct tradeoffs with other ship types, Merchants and Warships use different production shipyards, so you can't just halt a few tankers to get a carrier sooner--you still need to produce enough Shipyard Points at your warship shipyards. But operating those merchant shipyards costs Heavy Industry, so there is an opportunity cost to that similar to the example I did using Zeroes. A large tanker, for example, costs 30 shipyard points per day while it's under construction, so if you wanted to pay of the HI cost of accelerating the Taiyo by halting tankers, you'd could halt 7 tankers. But other warships you can more or less trade directly. Here are some example costs of those:
Type A1 submarine: 33 SY points
Akisuki class destroyer: 13 SY points
Yamato: 233 SY points

So, if you don't want the Yamato, you can halt that and use that to pay for accelerating a carrier or two.

By the way, producing one point of HI requires the consumption of one point of Fuel, so that's the other tradeoff lurking behind all of this (EDIT 2: To put that in perspective, using the example of the Unryu acceleration above, the fuel needed to support that acceleration would require 16 deliveries from a large tanker).


Thank you for this very elaborate answer :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:
I can see how rushing Junyo and Hiyo early in the war makes sense, because at this point it's a move the Japanese player can still afford (even though it's going to hurt somewhere else). Rushing anything else seems only viable if the Japanese are already winning or in extreme desparation.
All this makes losing a carrier even more critical for the Japanese player. Losing the Soryu back in February must have been a real pain in your opponent's behind. Junyo and Hiyo arn't adequate replacements.

Two more questions:
a) is strategic bombing of industry possible and if yes is it a viable strategy (or is the game practically over anyway if the Allied player can have heavy bombers in range of the Japanese home islands)?
b) does manpower eventually become an issue (like: can the Japanese eventually run out of men to fill their divisions/planes/ships), or is the industrial capacity the limiting factor?

[Molon Labe]

Two more questions:
a) is strategic bombing of industry possible and if yes is it a viable strategy (or is the game practically over anyway if the Allied player can have heavy bombers in range of the Japanese home islands)?
b) does manpower eventually become an issue (like: can the Japanese eventually run out of men to fill their divisions/planes/ships), or is the industrial capacity the limiting factor?

Yes, strategic bombing is pretty much the endgame strategy because trying to invade the home islands is borderline crazy with the amount of troops they'll have and the extent of the fortifications they can build. And also yes, by the time you can do that the game is pretty much over.

Manpower is modeled in the game, but the numbers are so generous to the Japanese player that all the strategy guides advise ignoring it completely. I paid no attention to it when I played vs the computer as Japan and it never held me back.

[Molon Labe]

27 May 1942
Enterprise hit by Japanese submarine, Hornet between two fires as KB reappears near Noumea

Timor
https://i.ibb.co/FK9XV3Q/Enterprise-fire.jpg

The Enterprise and Hornet had been lurking near Koepang looking to strike the substantial naval forces that had been congregating there. This area is, however, infested with enemy submarines. Despite ASW air patrols from Darwin, from the TBD squadron on Hornet, and 14 destroyers screening the task force, the I-20 penetrated the screen and put a torpedo into Enterprise's side. The explosion set off secondary avgas explosions, causing fires and flooding that threaten to destroy the ship.

The I-20 escaped without damage, none of my destroyers even got close enough to drop a pattern.

The AI isn't helping. The Enterprise detached from the task force with just one destroyer to try to make Darwin, which is just inviting another submarine to finish it off. The Hornet aborted its mission and started heading back east, which you'll see in following sections is a really, really stupid idea. And not because by turning around it was going right back to the I-20. Which did happen--but this time the escorts weren't sleeping and drove it off. Anyway, I've had to order it back west, right back into the submarine operating area.

And as it turns out, the enemy task forces we were hunting appeared at Koepang today--so, because the Enterprise is out of action and the Hornet gave up and turned around, we're not going to get an attack on them for at least another day or two, if at all.

Enemy land forces attacked Koepang and reduced the forts to nothing. This is going to be an enemy airbase very soon.

Japan
USS Seal attempted and failed to torpedo the IJN CVE Unyo outside of Kyoto.

China
We both sent escorted bomber raids to Kaifeng. We lost a P-40 and two Chinese Lancer fighters, plus a B-25 to flak. He lost 2 Zeroes.

At Chusien, Nate fighters shot down one of my SB-IIIs that I sent there in a probing attack.

Thailand and Burma
We had heavy losses over Tavoy today as the Nicks continue to work out well and as our fighter-to-bomber coordination is starting to break down again. 5 Blenheims and a Hudson lost, just one Oscar shot down by our escorts.

Strait of Malacca
The Brit CVBG, with the battleships heading to port to rearm, got some playtime near the Strait by itself, but the result was rather disapointing. We only found a single AMC and it wasn't carrying troops. Swordfish torpedo bombers hit it 4 times and sent it to the bottom. A second attack targeted 4 destroyers and a cargo ship--all torpedoes missed.

SouthPAC
The KB is back, this time at Noumea, probably my most important forward base with Pearl neutralized. It struck in force, hitting a CAP that was weakened to try to fill in gaps at Pago thanks to the KB's damage there. 3 P-39s were shot down along with 3 Zeroes; we never got to the bombers. The bombers focused on the airbase and caused significant damage, but we're still in operation. There was also a SNAFU on his side--a flight of Kates went to Efate unescorted and got bounced--21 shot down.

An attempted strike on the KB resulted in 4 P-39s shot down along with 3 A-24 Banshee bombers; 8 Banshees got through and attacked Shoho, Hiryu, and Shokaku but all missed.

I can reasonably expect the KB to start heading west to finish off Enterprise and contain Hornet.

[Molon Labe]

28 May 1942
Enterprise makes it to Darwin, but how long can it survive there?

Java Sea
The O20 torpedoed and sank a destroyer that was part of an ASW group stalking it.

Timor and N. Australia
Enterprise reached port and disembarked its air wing to Darwin. At least 5 enemy subs are converging on the port, either trying to stop it from getting there or to make sure it doesn't leave. One was moderately damaged by minesweepers that found it near the harbor. I'm removing my heavy bombers to make room for CVW-6 at the airbase, bringing in more fighters, and deploying subs to likely areas the KB might try to strike Darwin from.

Darwin doesn't have proper repair facilities, which severely limits the extent and speed that I can patch the ship up at. As it stands, it would probably sink if it went back to sea like this. It would also be very slow, and vulnerable to attack by submarines or aircraft, with Koepang falling.

Hornet managed not to suffer the same fate this turn as it moves back west to where it should be. I've detached a few more destroyers to Darwin for if/when the Big E is healthy enough to move. But Hornet still wasn't in position for the airstrike that should have happened yesterday. Enemy reinforcements landed in Koepang unopposed, and it put them over the top--Koepang is theirs. Which means the airfield is theirs, putting Darwin and the Enterprise in range of Betties and Nells.

Sumatra
Benkoelen was bombarded by the Haruna & company. So that's twice, maybe this is an opportunity if he keeps running these guys here.

SouthPAC
The KB is sticking around Noumea for now. We each lost 2 fighters in the KB's second strike. They all bombed from 20,000 ft today though, and hit almost nothing from there.

Efate attempted a strike against the KB, resulting in the loss of 4 P-40s, 3 P-39s, and 11 Banshee dive bombers. We got 6 Zeroes. 3 Banshees attempted an attack on the Zuikaku but missed.

China
3 Zeroes went down over Kaifeng trying to stop my bombers/escorting theirs.

The enemy army attacked but we held them off. The enemy appeared to take the worse of the battle as they already have many weakened units that were finished off. But, they still enjoy numerical supremacy. I'll pull back eventually, but as long as he keeps attacking without reorganizing, I'll stick around to hurt him a bit more.

He also attacked in Chusein, which was a 7000-casualty disaster for him. Not bad enough to invite a counter-attack, though.

Thailand
Tavoy held for another day, but forts are down to level 1. We are still benefiting from the enemy being disrupted by bombing and possibly supply shortages.

Note
I requested, and was reluctantly granted, my first Mulligan today. Originally, the Enterprise made it to Darwin, then went right back to sea to try to get to its homeport of Noumea because I didn't realize it wasn't going to automatically disband at Darwin. So with that error, I finished her off for him, along with the entire air wing. A really expensive consequence to not seeing one of the settings needed to be changed!

[Ostfriese]

What's a Mulligan?

[Molon Labe]

What's a Mulligan?

A golf term, a stroke that doesn't count. Here, it just means I was allowed to fix the error in my orders and resubmit them.

[Molon Labe]

29 May 1942

East China Sea
USS Tautog torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship.

SouthPAC
Noumea is in for a rough ride. Apparently, my opponent is confident he can finish off the Enterprise without the KB, which launched another strike. Our airbase there is pretty worn down so we only got 5 fighters up today; 1 was shot down, and we only got 2 Zeroes. The bombers all got through:

xAK Mormacsul, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Koolama, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Prince, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AS Pelias, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APD Gregory, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Admiral Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Vichy, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1

Thailand
The enemy fighters got to our bombers again and shot down 2 Blenheims.

Timor and N. Australia
The Hornet finally launched a strike, but it only sent VS-8 (half of which were on search duty) while VB-8 sat on the deck ready to go. Thanks to Koepang already having been captured, there were 18 Zeroes waiting for us, more than enough to handle 13 Wildcats and 9 Helldivers. All 9 bombers were shot down. Our fighters at least managed to get 3 of the Zeroes. So in the end, this entire op got us nothing except the Enterprise torpedoed.

A Hudson bomber on ASW patrol at Darwin reported scoring a hit on a Type A1 sub. A B-26 claimed to hit another one. I asked my opponent about this, and he confirmed that the I-20 was one of the subs that was hit, and there was much rejoicing among the crew of the Big E.

Malaya
Wirraways hit a convoy near Kuantan and put 3 bombs into a cargo ship, likely a kill.

China
Japan attacked my armies in Kaifeng again and was again beaten back with heavy casualties. I can't hold on forever, but this is nice while it lasts.

[Molon Labe]

30 May 1942

Solomons
The S-39 intercepted a replenishment group and put 2 torpedoes into the Ken'yo Maru, a fast oiler. It followed up with a second attack and hit it two more times just to be sure. [EDIT: The S-39 also sank an AGP, which I mistook for the incident of them sinking one of ours tomorrow near Darwin. So that's 3 successful torpedo attacks by the S-39 in a single day!]

Sumatra
Two Japanese submarines intercepted the Brit CVBG on the southwest side of the island and hit one of its escorting destroyers, sinking it. We inflicted some damage on one of them before they slipped away.

Between this and the Darwin incident, I'm worried that I've become predictable. There are no merchants here for him to hunt. He knows where I'm going to put my carriers to strike at him and he's staging subs there to wait for me.

Zeroes swept Palembang, but only got two of themselves shot down for it.

Timor and N. Australia
[EDIT: A patrol boat tender escaping Koepang was picked off by one of the subs blockading Darwin.--This happens tomorrow, not today.]

Instead of going right after the Enterprise, he tried to attack the ASW groups--9 Betties escorted by 40 Zeroes. P-39s as well as the Wildcats of VF-6 defended the ships, shooting down 14 of the Zeroes and all the Betties; we lost only 1 P-39 and 1 Wildcat.

I'm looking for a certain repair threshold to try to move the Enterprise before it's too late, but I'm not there yet and repairs are progressing very slowly. At this point I think the best I can realistically hope for is it will be bombed at dock but I'll force him to use the KB to do it and maybe get one of those carriers in exchange. He's going to have to go through subs and bombers to get here.

China
We got two more Zeroes over Kaifeng--the new Chinese P-43s are really working out well. They managed to get a B-25, though.

The enemy army advancing on Nanyang, now identified as the 35th Division, is now in open terrain and is being bombed by SB-IIIs for moderate casualties. I'm going to move some more bomber squadrons to capitalize on this.

SouthPAC
Noumea got hit again as the KB remains--although I think the results in Darwin today will make him change his mind for tomorrow:
xAK Howell Lykes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Admiral Wiley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAKL Surigao, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AM Turkey, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK San Vincente, Bomb hits 1
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1
xAP President Fillmore, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Procyon, Bomb hits 1
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Mormacsul, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Mormacrio, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS S-46, Bomb hits 1
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1

All that and 6 of my fighters (and a bomber on the ground) for the price of 6 Zeroes, 2 Kates, and 6 Vals.

We counterattacked with Banshees from Efate and got absolutely destroyed. 11 Banshees shot down by Zeroes, and 12th by flak, and 6 escorting P-40s taken down. We had no kills and no ship hits (Hiryu targeted by 4 Banshees).

We also lost 2 damaged ships trying to evacutate Pago Pago to reach a repair yard from when the KB hit there last week; the ships weren't as seaworthy as I hoped and additional compartments flooded.

Thailand and Burma
Tavoy held another day.

[Molon Labe]

31 May 1942

Timor Sea
One of the destroyers detached from the CVBG found a sub near Darwin and scored a few near misses with depth charges. A destroyer-seaplane tender found another and dealt some damage. A Wirraway reported spotting the I-20 specifically, so despite apparent bomb and depth charge damage she's still on station. Enterprise still isn't well enough to move. I'm shifting some planes around; B-26s are flying out to make room for the heavies to come back. The heavies will try to neutralize Koepang.

A patrol boat tender escaping Koepang was picked off by one of the subs blockading Darwin. (reported this as happening yesterday in error)

SouthPAC
Noumea was hit again.
xAK Admiral Williams, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Iron Warrior, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK San Vincente, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Procyon, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Iron Prince, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS S-46, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAP President Tyler, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Mormacrio, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Andrea Luckenbach, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Howell Lykes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AM Turkey, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
ACM Heath, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

We made them pay for that a bit. 2 Zeroes, 8 Vals (3 by flak) and 11 Kates went down. We had 4 fighters shot down and another 5 aircraft destroyed on the ground.

He split off 2 fast battleships from his CVBG, which encouraged my bomber pilots to be a little more aggressive. A B-26 got a hit on the Kirishima. Banshees made an attempt as well, but we only managed to have 3 find the ships between having few operational and thunderstorms in the area--8 others got airborne but aborted. The A-20s even got off their asses as well. But the B-26 got the only hit. One B-26 was shot down by flak.

China
Our offsetting bombing raids on Kaifeng cost him 3 Zeroes and 3 Ann light bombers, and us a P-40.

We've now got 12 SB-III bombers hitting the 35th division near Nanyang, causing heavy casualties. Still no enemy CAP protecting them.

Burma and Thailand
We lost 2 Blenheims to the CAP and another to flak at Tavoy.
Tavoy held off another land attack.

[Molon Labe]

1 June 1942

SouthPAC
Kongo and Kirishima bombarded Noumea:
PBY-5A Catalina: 10 damaged
PBY-5A Catalina: 2 destroyed on ground
A-20A Havoc: 2 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 24 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
P-39D Airacobra: 5 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 2 damaged
P-400 Airacobra: 2 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 16 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
Vincent I: 2 damaged
Vincent I: 1 destroyed on ground
Plus they sank the minesweeper patrolling the port.
The air battle was smaller here thanks to the damage done by the BBs: 1 Zero downed plus 4 of our fighters. The bombers got through unmolested:
xAP President Tyler, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Wiley, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Andrea Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Warrior, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Wave 2:
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

The KB is headed north and does appear to be headed for Darwin.

Timor Sea
Our ASW forces found another sub and hit it a little. We have yet to score a truly damaging depth charge hit on any of these Darwin subs. An Avenger from VT-6 reported bombing a submarine.

Enterprise's repairs are progressing, they're reporting they could theoretically do one more knot than they could do yesterday.

The B-17s hit Koepang, but it cost me. The bombers themselves got 3 Oscars and 2 Zeroes, but 4 B-17s were damaged badly enough that they went down on the way home. We did moderate facility damage to the base and blew up at least one Zero on the ground.

China
Another great performance by Lancers at Keifeng--5 Zeroes downed, no losses. We're still hitting the Nanyang armies hard.

He's rested his troops at Kaifeng enough that I've ordered mine to retreat. The next attack is going to suck.

Sumatra
An air raid targeted Benkoelen, close enough to Palembang to draw their CAP. We got 3 Zeroes and 4 Vals with no losses.

Medan has been captured.

Thailand and Burma
Tavoy has been captured, with the loss/capture of 1800 men. Their additional reinforcements arriving over the mountains put them over the top; they now have 30,000 troops here, more than 2 divisions worth.

Refits and Reinforcements
The Saratoga is getting a radar upgrade while its torpedo damage is being repaired. They're also replacing its 12 5" Mk10 guns and 12 of its 1.1" AA guns with 16 5" Mk12s ("unquestionably the finest Dual Purpose gun of World War II" according to NavWeaps) It's AA rating is actually going down slightly with the numbers of guns going down, but I think having the better radar will make up for that with improved CAP effectiveness.

The battleship New Mexico is getting a major AA upgrade.

It seems that just about every merchant I have is now due for an upgrade. Looks like a lot of them are getting 20mms along with the .50 cals the 20mms are replacing on destroyers. That, plus old naval guns are being installed. It's going to be tedious managing this.

SS S-32 arrives at San Diego
VMSB-243 arrives at Santa Barbara - just 2 Vindicators
303rd BG/358th BS arrives at Mojave - more restricted B-17s.

[Molon Labe]

2 June 1942

China
We got to their bombers over Keifeng again--7 Anns downed with no losses on our side. They didn't shoot any B-17s down outright, but one succumbed to its damage on the way back and another was too badly damaged to be repaired.


Timor Sea
B-17s hit Koepang again. 4 Zeroes went down thanks to the gunners. The raid caused moderate facility damage, plus an Oscar blown up on the ground and 2 ships in port hit with 500lb bombs.

The enemy sub presence at Darwin appears to be significantly diminished.

Sumatra
An air raid targeted Benkoelen; P-40s diverted from Palembang and splashed two Zeroes but the raid otherwise got through. There really isn't much there for the strike to be of significance beyond the air battle, though.

SouthPAC
The KB continues on a northerly course, more towards Rabaul or Truk than Darwin. It hasn't reached the Solomon Sea yet, so it's not too late for it to turn west. It would almost be disappointing if it didn't come, I've been scrambling to arrange a greeting party so much the last few turns. But without knowing if he has another plan in the works, if the KB doesn't go to Darwin, the chances of the Enterprise's survival shoot way, way up.

Thailand and Burma
An air raid targeted my retreating troops; they'll have a CAP tomorrow.
A Hudson bombed an enemy sub outside Rangoon.

[Molon Labe]

I've got some catching up to do, we've been at a high pace over the last few days. I actually don't think there's a lot of value in going into the details because most of what's going on is just trends continuing, the interesting developments I'm not even sure what day they happened on. So here's a summary of June 3 - June 9:

Darwin and the Enterprise
Amazingly, he didn't finish her off. The enemy sub presence has dwindled, but it looks like he might just be staging them just outside my aircraft range. I'm probing the seas with ASW teams and bait ships--no one's biting. The KB kept going north after the Solomons, it never turned West towards Darwin. He built up land-based airpower at Koepang, then moved it away it seems. My B-17s are hitting the base, but they're suffering unsustainable losses and won't be able to neutralize it.

The Enterprise itself has dewatered every compartment that isn't open to the sea. She still has significant system damage and those repairs are barely progressing at all.

Sumatra
He continued picking off bases in the northwest, then finally invaded in force at Benkoelen, where he's been bombing for awhile. It doesn't look like a very large force just yet, so the main thrust is still coming...somewhere. I'm tempted to use the Brit carriers to interdict, but I checked the ranges and I'd be facing hordes of Betties with Zero escorts if I got close enough to strike. My Falcon, DB-7, Mitchell, and Fulmar aircraft all took heavy casualties trying to stop enemy ships as we just didn't have enough fighters to escort them. We did get one new fighter squadron there, so maybe that will change soon.

Thailand
He's not advancing up the road north from Tavoy, it even looks like he's pulled some troops back towards Bangkok. He might make a direct push for Raheng.

China
The army moving up towards Nanyang thought better of it and turned east. My Kaifeng adventure is pretty much over as a stalemate at this point, now we just need to see what happens now that we've massed so many troops here.

CentPAC and Pearl Harbor
I tried sending a lone cargo ship to Pearl, and I was shocked that it worked--it was never detected, on the way in or out. That one boat saved a lot of hungry bellies and even got our forts up to Level 4. Now the question is, was that a fluke, or is his presence really so diminished that he can't aerially blockade Pearl anymore? I would consider returning to Lahaina if his airpower was negligible.

Also, a series of SIGINT intercepts suggested that a large task force was moving west, possibly from Pearl headed towards the Celebes area.

Reinforcements
USS Wasp has arrived, although she still needs to get to the warzone from the Canal. The British are producing Hurricanes in much larger numbers than before, which is going to help out in Thailand and eventually Malaya again.

[Molon Labe]

10 June 1942
Invasion of Sumatra

Sumatra
A small force of troops crossed the Strait and landed at Benkoelen and captured it.

Palembang was swept, costing me 5 P-40s with no enemy Zeroes shot down.

We lost 2 more B-25s and 1 more Falcon trying to hit the phibs on the coast.

Japan
USS Sculpin got into a rather embarrassing surface attack against an enemy cargo ship near Toyohara. We bounced 7 dud Mk14s off its hull before getting one to detonate, the whole time the Sculpin was taking hits from the cargo ships guns while its gunners couldn't score any hits of their own. That one Mk14 took the ship down, so all's well that ends well I suppose.

There was a second task force detected here. Classified as a flotilla of coastal minelayers plus at least one cargo ship and a troop transport--headed EAST. I question that these are mostly minelayers...but a large task force that includes merchants heading east from Toyohara is most likely an invasion force headed for the Aleutians. The only other thing east of here are the Kurilles, which make good seaplane bases, but you don't need a task force this size to build them up. If the Aleutians are the target, then spotting this task force near Japan has probably earned me sufficient time to stop the invasion. I intend to have dive bombers and a surface combat task force waiting for them.

Timor Sea
The jig is up. USS Hornet was spotted moving back to Darwin and I think he can figure out why. There are also enemy surface forces skulking around the Banda Sea. Three destroyers moved too far to the south and were attacked by VB-6 from Darwin, scoring a pair of hits on one destroyer for a confirmed kill. A few TBD from Hornet's VT-8 that weren't on an ASW patrol got in on the action, but failed to score any hits.

We hold contact on two enemy submarines and I'm going to try to put them on the defensive. Our B-17s bombing Koepang shot down a Nick and took one loss from flak. Damage to the airbase is still minor, but for now I'm going to keep whatever pressure on them I can. More on this "tomorrow."

Malaya
Our Wirraways scored a hit on a seaplane tender at Kuantan, setting it on fire. Why does he need seaplane tenders in Kuantan?

[Ostfriese]

10 December 1941


Time warp! :haha: :salute:

[Molon Labe]

Time warp! :haha: :salute:

Wow, and not just off by a little! Fixed.

[Molon Labe]

11 June 1942
Imperial Guards Division lands at Oosthaven, Enterprise Running the gauntlet

Sumatra
The Imperial Guards landed at Oosthaven, which probably means this is the main force. The western landing is probably to contain my troops and/or neutralize alternate airbases.

30 Sallies attacked Bengkalis unescorted; fighters came all the way from Singapore to take advantage--we shot down 6.

Bengkalis was captured.

Malaya
Wirraways returned to Kuantan and bombed a troop-carrying cargo ship, inflicting heavy damage. They made a second sortie and hit the same ship again.


Solomon Sea
2 destroyers approached Normanby Island, where the enemy landed troops a long time ago and pretty much left them there, stranded. These DDs were probably trying to evacuate them.

Milne has long been a base to USMC Vindicators, and this has more recently been supplemented by Banshees from Noumea as part of a greeting party for the KB should it attempt to go to Darwin. We also have B-26s in Port Moreseby that are in range. The strikes were embarrassingly uncoordinated in the morning, the dive bombers often arriving just 2 or 3 at a time. But the Vindicators managed an early hits on both of the DDs, and by late morning, the Banshees managed to hit one of them as well. In the afternoon, their attacks were more organized, and the Marines and Army bombers together scored 3 more hits on one and 5 on the other for confirmed kills.

China
We got two more Zeroes that were trying to keep my bombers away from their troops near Nanyang.

Timor Sea
The Enterprise is underway, currently under the protection of land-based aircraft from Darwin (including its own VF-6), Hudson bombers providing ASW support along its immediate path, with Hornet providing ASUW protection to its flank and several minesweepers and destroyers providing ASW support further along its intended path. The scale of this operation is massive:

Darwin Assets:
ASW:
4 AVDs (1 sunk by submarine)
1 Dutch CM (sunk by submarine)
3 AM
2 YMS
18 AUS Wirraways
13 AUS Hudsons
VT-6: 15 Avenger

AAW:
VF-6 - 27 F4F
3 P-39 Squadrons: 55 total aircraft
1 AUS P-40 squadron: 16 aircraft
4 B-17s squadrons (offensive counter air vs Koepang) - 36 aircraft

ASUW:
VS-6: 18 SBDs
VB-6: 18 SBDs

Transport: Bringing in extra dockworkers for repairs
4 Dragons
11 C-47
1 DC-2
7 C-33

Hornet Battle Group--protecting Enterprise northern flank from surface attack
1 CV
2 CA
10 DD, plus 4 detached to Enterprise
VF-8 - 27 F4F
VT-8: 15 Devastator - ASW
VS-8: 18 SBCs - ASUW
VB-8: 18 SBCs - ASUW

Supplemental surface forces
2 AM, 1 DD, 2 DMS - Advance ASW on Enterprise's path
2 CA, 2 CL, 3 DD - supplemental escorts for Enterprise, rendevous in Arafura Sea.

KB Greeting Party
3 DM - Laying mines in Horn Island chokepoint
3 US and 4 Dutch submarines
8 PT boats
8 LB-30 Liberators
26 B-26s
19 Hudsons
16 Beaufighters for low-level attack
15 A-24 Banshees
12 Vindicators
40 US P-40Es
16 AUS P-40s

Search aircraft
32 Catalinas (Dutch, AUS, and US)

Totals:
Fighters: 191
Bomber/Attack: 265
Transport: 23
Search: 32
CV: 1 (Enterprise doesn't count)
CA/CL: 6
DD: 18
Other ASW: 14
DM: 3
SS: 7
PT: 8

So if this doesn't work out, don't fault me for not trying, this might be my biggest op so far.

We're going east. I only have two choices, and the fact that our B-17s are not neutralizing Koepang means that the big E and Hornet would be under escorted Betty attacks for several days if we went west, and he could reinforce his numbers during that time. It's very likely he'd break through, putting both carriers at risk. Losing both is completely unacceptable. Going east is risky too-he has at least 2 submarines waiting in that direction, and search aircraft are keeping a very close eye on Darwin. I can reasonably assume that the KB will probably reappear uncomfortably close a day or two after we depart. If that happens, the Hornet will cut and run, and I'll try to draw the KB to my greeting party to make him pay a cost for finishing off the Enterprise. Both options suck, but the eastern route is less bad.

One of the subs we went after to keep it off Enterprise sank the AVD that went after it.

Hornet found a CL and 2 DDs lurking north of our path. We attacked with 25 Helldivers and 4 Devastators (armed with bombs as they are mainly tasked to ASW right now), but the wiggly little bastards managed to evade every bomb.

The Enterprise did not report being sighted by scoutplanes and did not encounter any submarines leaving the base. This is a great start, as it means if the KB is planning on appearing when we leave, he might not know we left yet, so we're getting a head start. But the amount of naval activity in the area is probably a big hint.

Reinforcements
No.118 Sqn RCAF arrives at Canada (fighter pilot training)
Eastern Army arrives at Madras (Command HQ - headed for Calcutta)
39th Can (Militia) Brigade arrives at Vancouver (restricted)
BB North Carolina arrives at Balboa - Maybe she'll join the Wasp, they have similar top speeds.
DD Buchanan arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

12 June 1942
Enterprise remains undetected; S-40 on eternal patrol


Japan
USS Pomano sank an AKL in the Okinawa-Kyushu gap

Sumatra
The S-40 had positioned itself to get a shot at the heavy surface group bombarding Benkolen on its way back to the Java Sea. It was detected an engaged in shallow water with accurate depth charge patterns. Its damage forced it to surface and it was gunned down.

Our Aussie P-40s did better, they got 2 Zeroes over Palembang with no losses today. But none of them escorted the B-25 missions, so two more of them were lost to Oscars. Our Fulmar fighter-bombers attempting a low level attack didn't fare much better, 2 were shot down, the rest routed.

Timor Sea and Arafura Sea
Enterprise made it another day without any evidence of it being spotted. It's kind of quiet over here. The B-17s had another mostly ineffective run at Koepang, not much else to say for now. But, spoiler alert:
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/a89a23b5-b6bd-47ea-9625-776bd1027475/ddf44we-a070e574-99fa-4375-a282-b150e6bb2ade.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJ IUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZT BkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2E4OWEyM2I1LWI2YmQtNDdlYS05Nj I1LTc3NmJkMTAyNzQ3NVwvZGRmNDR3ZS1hMDcwZTU3NC05OWZh LTQzNzUtYTI4Mi1iMTUwZTZiYjJhZGUuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIj pbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.Y1il5_9e rYeyj3517wED_omEkiUPxhERRKlY_ejDfoA

Reinforcements
DD McCalla arrives at Balboa
AM Shepparton arrives at Melbourne
No.16 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Blenheim (a very badly needed training squadron)

[Molon Labe]

13 June 1942
Heavies approaching Darwin--centered around Yamato

Darwin area
We opened up by locating one of the subs off Darwin and hitting it with a very accurate depth charge attack. This looks like a kill, so we probably avenged the AVD sunk here earlier.

The Yamato, Haruna, Hiei and several cruisers and destroyers were spotted approaching Darwin from the north. The AI captains wisely scattered our ASW forces out of the way. Fortunately, they failed to reach Darwin today which meant I got an airstrike on them and I got to evacuate most of the planes out of Darwin immediately afterwards. I'm getting a lot of help here because we have a railroad connection, so every plane that can't fly right now is still getting shipped out. If he was hoping for an aircraft massacre, he's going to be disappointed. Also, he probably still thinks the Enterprise is there--for the 3rd day, she still hasn't been detected (to my knowledge).

The first strike was 16 SBDs of VS-6 escorted by 7 Australian P-40s and 5 US P-39s. The enemy had 7 Zeroes on CAP over the task force, who managed to avoid most of my fighters and go straight after the SBDs. We ended up losing 4 of them to the fighters, while one Zero, one P-39, and one P-40 were also shot down. The strike was hampered by the weather as they bombed in a thunderstorm... also three battleships plus escorts put up a lot of flak, taking out another SBD before it could attack. Out of 11 SBDs that made their attack, only one bomb found Yamato.

VB-6 arrived next with 18 SBDs and 16 P-39 escorts. The enemy only had one Zero left on CAP, but it was able to shoot down a P-39 before it bugged out. The SBDs scored a hit on Hiei. After that two stragglers from VS-6 found the enemy task force and managed to miss. We ended up losing a total of 4 SBDs to flak.

Overall a very disappointing result that two dive bomber squadrons were only able to get two hits on huge targets with minimal air cover. I'm tempted to turn Hornet around to get a crack at these guys before they disappear, but Enterprise is going to be in range of Rabaul's aircraft soon and it's not going to consistently be close enough to airbases to reliably provide cover. Lexington is actually nearby too, but it probably wouldn't relieve Hornet in time for Hornet to get to the Yamato---also I'm still expecting the KB to respond and having 3 of my carriers together when his 6 show up is something I'd rather avoid. So, I'll leave the defense of Darwin to their substantial coastal batteries for now. (5x 155mm M1918; 2x 6-pounder (probably 57mm); 6x 6" MkV/VII, 2x 9.2", 2x 4")

China
Some of the enemy armies moving east near Nanyang have turned northwest, which looks like a move to flank my armies that left Kaifeng
and are now guarding a river crossing on the flank of the frontline. Going to have to move them back a bit and possibly engage. Our bombers are now focusing on this group, and the terrain here it open so they are taking a beating.

Sumatra
Another P-40 down over Palembang with nothing to show for it. These Aussie pilots just aren't on the same level as the Japanese.

Oosthaven held out against an attack led by the Imperial Guards Division, which was surprisingly weak. I'm not sure what explains the lack of enemy firepower here because they didn't take that many casualties in Java and they've had time to replace their losses.

Singkep has been captured.

Thailand
We got another disappointing air result over Raheng, as Oscars swept the air base and the US P-40s there got beaten 3 to 1. There also appears to be an enemy army advancing north up the road from Bangkok. At this time, I believe my forces here are sufficient to stop it, although I may have to consolidate with my Raheng forces if he's concentrated his troops.

Aleutians
My USMC dive bombers are in place. The surface task force is lagging behind, I'm going to have them steam at flank speed for a day to try to get on schedule. If the enemy really is coming, I'd expect my Catalinas to spot them tomorrow. One sub that wanted to dock for repairs at Dutch Harbor has been ordered to Seattle instead to keep it from being offline in port during a potential battle.


Reinforcements
VB-5 arrives at San Francisco (Yorktown's old squadron being reformed--I don't have enough planes to spare to outfit them, so this is going to be a hollow command for now)
369th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, ~30% strength)
140th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)
7th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (restricted, full strength)
14th NZ Brigade arrives at Auckland (unrestricted, full strength)

[Threadfin]

A mulligan is a do-over. It's a golf term usually used when the player hits a wayward tee shot, and wants to do it again, better this time.


Great AARs Molon Labe.


OOps, I was on the last page and it appeared that question was the most recent post. Already been answered.

[Ostfriese]

A mulligan is a do-over. It's a golf term usually used when the player hits a wayward tee shot, and wants to do it again, better this time.


Great AARs Molon Labe.


OOps, I was on the last page and it appeared that question was the most recent post. Already been answered.


No problem, now I know for certain :up:

[Threadfin]

I'd like a mulligan on my post haha :)

[Molon Labe]

14 June 1942
Emperor furious as his battleships bombard an empty port, the Grey Ghost nowhere to be seen...

Sumatra
A measure of payback for the S-40, an enemy destroyer-minesweeper hit a sub-laid mine adjacent to the S-40s old patrol area, very likely sinking it. The idea had been if he'd detected one, he'd steer towards the other. I guess he ran over both.


Darwin and the Enterprise
Yamato, Hiei, and Haruna stood off from Darwin, bombarding it at long range to avoid my shore batteries getting involved. The shelling caused major damage to the runways at the airbase, moderate damage to the service bays, and moderate personnel casualties. Overall, nothing that can't be rebuilt or replaced, and a very disappointing result for the largest battleship in the world that thought it was going to catch a carrier under repair. Only the Hudsons were left at the airbase, and they escaped damage. The port was completely empty, I had all the remaining ships scatter to nearby ports at top speed. The enemy force left to the northeast. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back next turn to hit us with secondary batteries. so I'm not having any planes return yet--we need to repair the runways first, anyway.

USS Hornet has been spotted by Rabaul's aircraft passing the Horn Island chokepoint, but not Enterprise. With the chokepoint now behind us, my submarines there have been reassigned to normal patrols. The elevated aircraft presence will continue for the time being. VF-6 and VT-6 are redeploying to coastal airbases along Enterprise's path. VS-6 and VB-6 for now will remain near Darwin for ASUW support, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to see if operating from Darwin will become feasible or desirable in the next few days.

Enemy Zeroes swept Darwin and were met by the fighters formerly based there flying a long-range CAP. We shot down 3 with one P-39 lost.

Thailand
A sweep on Raheng took down 4 of our P-40s, we got 1 Oscar.

Aleutians
Nothing yet. I'm probably leaving the dive bombers here even after the all clear is signaled.

[Molon Labe]

15 June 1942
Tanker Goyo Maru sunk near Miri, more submarines lurking on Enterprise's path

South China Sea
The S-37 missed a shot at a tanker convoy departing Miri consisting of the San Clemente Maru and Goyo Maru-- both very large and fast--and a PB escort. But a few hours later the same convoy ran into the KXVIII, and the Dutch sub put two fish into the Goyo, setting its fuel cargo ablaze. The convoy left the Goyo behind to burn, so the KXVIII put two more into it to be sure. The Goyo is a 10,000 ton Type-N, they only had 8 of them, so this is a major loss.

Coral Sea & Australian coast
Submarines were detected, engaged, and damaged off Brisbane and Cooktown. The Cooktown one is close to the Enterprise and was detected by its advance ASW escort--we're rerouting around it.

No contact with Rabaul's scoutplanes this turn.

SIGINT reports that a Shokaku-class carrier is headed for Rabaul. I interpret that to mean the whole KB. By the way, the Shokaku and Zuikaku are due for refits that would take them out of service for 3 weeks. Kaga, Akagi, and Hiryu will be due for a similar upgrade in July.

I had to scuttle Noumea's repair tender. It was damaged so severely in the KB's attack that it wasn't going to be useful for the rest of the war unless I got it to a repair shipyard. Very little of the damage was flotation, so with really nothing to lose, I ordered it to Brisbane. But because the system damage was so high, the little bit of water in the people tube quickly became a lot of water, and there was no way it was going to even make it back to Noumea. The lack of a repair tender at Noumea means that most of the damaged ships there are basically done. I only have one other, and it's needed where it's at.

China
They didn't waste any time crossing the bridge when my flank guards fell back to block the wide flanking force. So it looks like they intend to mount a counteroffensive here. I think they have more troops than me here, but if I play smart defensively I should be able to hold. My recon is better than it used to be, but not great, so I'm mostly guessing about this.

Malaya
Our Wirraways bombed another cargo ship in Mersing. A shame these bombs are so small, it's probably going to be fine.

Thailand
2 more P-40s down with nothing to show for it. The air campaign here is just brutal for us. I wish I could just take Bangkok and let the army blow up these Oscars on the ground.

We attacked their roadblock but didn't budge it, casualties were even and light on both sides. We'll have more units to try again tomorrow.


Reinforcements
The Wasp has arrived on the West coast. We transitioned VT-71 to Avengers.
AM Junee arrives at Sydney
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

16 June 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an ambush, Royal Navy smashes troop convoy, Oosthaven captured


Battle of the Coral Sea
EDIT: I started calling this the "second" battle of the Coral Sea, but looking back the "first" wasn't much of a battle, it was just me tearing up enemy ships unopposed.

The first combat event was well forward of the Enterprise's path, two minesweepers found an enemy sub off Brisbane and failed to damage it.

At first light, scoutplanes detected Carrier Division 3 making its way towards what I'll call the Lae Strait (the gap between Papua New Guinea and New Britain). The carriers had scouts of their own--a Val spotted the USS Nautilus waiting in the strait for it and attacked. The bomb was a damaging near miss--but the Nautilus' gunners actually shot the #$%^er down for trying. Nautilus remains on station, but the carriers are obviously alerted to it. Port Moresby launched an ill-considered level bombing attack on the fleet.

Later in the morning, the Hornet's radar detected a large incoming strike from the north--behind it. CARDIV3 is still too far away for this to be them, but clearly this is a strike from multiple carriers:
A6M2 Zero x 18
B4Y1 Jean x 13
B5N1 Kate x 14
B5N2 Kate x 8
D3A1 Val x 44
Hornet immediately scrambled a strike and sent it north to sink whoever launched the planes.

We managed 18 Wildcats opposing the enemy strike, plus a single Australian P-40 from a nearby airbase. They did OK, I guess, considering the equal number of enemy fighters: 1 Zero and 1 F4F shot down, plus 4 Vals and 4 Jeans. But that left quite a few getting through:
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires

So the opening blow knocked out my only operational carrier here--Hornet is in pretty much as bad of shape as the Enterprise was when this all started.

The Hornet's air wing found the enemy fleet, positively classifying the Kaga, Hiryu, Shoho, and Kongo (I suspect Junyo is there too). They had 42 Zeroes on defense up against our mere 8 Wildcats escorting 25 SBCs and 4 TBDs. The Zeroes splashed 3 Wildcats and 7 of the SBCs, one more SBC was shot down by flak during its dive, so we ended up with 17 SBCs and 4 TBDs actually making attacks. One TBD put a 500lb bomb (because the squadron was assigned to ASW duty they were carrying bombs) through Kaga's flight deck, setting off an Avgas explosion and setting the ship on fire. I don't think the ship is done for, but it is most likely out of this fight. An SBC also managed a hit on Shoho, which wasn't as damaging but it's a big bomb and a small ship, so there's a good chance this one is out of the fight too.

Port Morseby's bombers (2 Hudson, 5 Liberators) arrived at CARDIV3, running into 54 Zeroes and 9 Rufe float fighters. The fighters splashed the Hudsons easily, then got 3 of the Liberators. A fourth Liberator was lost to flak, leaving a single plane to attempt an attack on Shokaku, which missed of course. The number of enemy planes on CAP suggests the Akagi is here too.

Enterprise was next. 13 late-arriving Jeans went after her. We only had 2 Wildcats and a P-40 left on patrol; they did what they could, shooting down 1 before the attack (and two more on the way out). Flak got another, but that's still 11 torpedo bombers attacking a vulnerable ship:
CA Australia, Torpedo hits 1
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

A follow up attack by the KB-fragment failed to locate the carriers, finding instead the surface forces that had been part of Hornet's group before she broke off to try to get to port. 16 Zeroes escorted 27 Vals and were intercepted by 3 Australian P-40s. We got two Zeroes. The Vals only managed a single hit on a destroyer.

How did this happen? The KB was expected, but it was supposed to show up the way CARDIV3 did--at least a day away with enough warning to order the Hornet to bug out. I'm not sure where the western force came from--I can only speculate that it took advantage of the evacuation prompted by the Yamato's group to find a gap in our scoutplane coverage and it got into the Arafura Sea completely undetected.

Here's the situation now:
https://i.ibb.co/PwV4wWb/1942-June-16-Coral-Sea.png
I'm hoping CARDIV3 will face the brunt of my "KB greeting party", in particular from Milne as they have about 50 fighters supporting the bombers there, so they might break through in force. Enterprise's air wing is now at Cairns, which is further south than we want, but the northern bases aren't big enough to support offensive operations. VF-6 will help cover the damaged carriers; Enterprise's bombers can get involved if KB-west continues southward. Hornet's air wing--what's still operational--is going to Port Morseby, which could give them a shot at either group.

I'm laying a minefield in Cooktown since that's the obvious place for them to send surface forces to try to finish the damaged ships off. I'm also detaching a few cruisers to sprint around behind KB-west to maybe get a shot at the Kaga or Shoho if they try to retreat back the way they (probably) came. And the submarines that I just dismissed have been ordered back. Hopefully when the smoke clear tomorrow his carrier forces will have suffered as great a loss as mine.


Malaya
I've rebuilt my torpedo bomber squadron at Singapore, and sent them out hunting. They killed a cargo ship at Mersing with 4 hits.


Sumatra
Oosthaven has been captured.

Now for the good part of today. The Royal Navy CVBG had been moving back along the Indian Ocean coast of Sumatra, as it looked to me like the enemy task forces there were starting to venture too far to be supported by Betties that could have Zeroes escorting them. That target disappeared. But, I'm also trying to get a squadron of Hurricanes into Palembang from Rangoon. To do that I need an airbase in northwestern Sumatra as a refueling point, and the bases are dropping like flies. The last suitible base has enemy troops closing on it. So, my heavies are closing in for a bombardment of those troops. The CVBG was ordered back north to cover that operation. By random luck, we spotted a troop convoy protected by a single destroyer--probably airplane mechanics and base forces trying to move into my base after the infantry clears out my troops.

Albacore I x 27
Fulmar II x 12
Sea Hurricane Ib x 6
Martlet II x 15
Swordfish I x 6

xAK Senyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Eiko Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Aso Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Zuiko Maru, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Rokko Maru, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Tateisi Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Koto Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Mikasa Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Kawakaze

One Swordfish was downed by flak. I'd happily trade this success for a fully operational Enterprise or Hornet, but right now this is the good news in a world of despair.

Hawaii
Actually, there is one other bit of good news. After successfully getting a cargo ship to Pearl about a week ago, I started sending more. One is about to arrive tomorrow, and it hasn't been detected despite mostly clear skies. Lahaina airbase is really looking like a paper tiger. We managed to siphon enough avgas out of hangar queens to put a recon flight up: we spotted 9 support ships and merchants at harbor--including a sub tender--but no warships; airbase strength reported as 8 fighters, 29 bombers, no auxilliaries (scoutplanes and transports), and just 8000 troops estimated. I can't say I understand it, but it looks like the Pearl operation was abandoned, with the invading troops left stranded.

I'm going to respond to this conservatively. The first priority to to resupply Pearl because my cargo ships are so plentiful that if this is a trap and I lose a bunch, no big deal. But if I am able to resupply Pearl, I'll probe the invading armies and see if they are ready to fight or if they're starving and out of ammo. As for Lahaina, if I can get a supply convoy in undetected, then I can get battleships in undetected, and there isn't much that base can do to retaliate if the runways are a cratery mess. Also, an operational base at Pearl/Hickam can support lots of bombers.

Reinforcements
DD Duncan arrives at Balboa
ML No. 230 arrives at Karachi
177th USAAF Base Force arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

17 June 1942
Can I name CV-16 Enterprise?


Battle of the Coral Sea, day 2
USS Seadragon intercepted a task force including a seaplane carrier in the Solomon Sea--because CARDIV 3 included Rufes when Port Moresby's bombers attacked yesterday, I think this is CARDIV 3 but Seadragon just didn't spot the carriers. Anyway, the escorts were onto her immediately and drove her off.

Enterprise was trying to make it to the small port at Cooktown for hasty repairs. It was engaged first by a small element, 2 Kates with 6 Zeroes. P-39s based at Cooktown shot down both Kates and 3 of the Zeroes with just one loss. Obviously they weren't done, next was 18 Vals with 18 Zeroes--which we opposed with 18 P-39s. The Zeroes got the job done. 10 of them were shot down with no losses, but the P-39s never made it to the Vals:
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Australia, Bomb hits 2, on fire

...and that's pretty much it for day 2. My opponent is furious that his carriers didn't launch more strikes, and I'm pissed that my land bases didn't seem to even attempt to strike the carriers. Milne in particular should have held CARDIV 3 at close range from multiple search arcs, and had over 50 fighters to escort its dive bombers, so it would have been pretty evenly matched with their expected 50-60 Zeroes on CAP. And the enemy did press south, so CVW-6 was in range.


Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca
My Brit heavy task force ran into a destroyer that might have been covering the phibs. We fatally wounded it before it broke off, but not before expending a ridiculous amount of ammo and getting one of our destroyers moderately damaged. The task force would bombard the enemy invading Sabang later in the day, but at reduced strength thanks to this ammo expenditure.

There phib task force we hit is bigger than we realized; two small ships evacuating Palembang ran into 3 cargo ships with 4 escorts, two cargos were burning so this can't be a different task force.

With that contact report arriving with the CVBG covering the heavies, another air strike was launched, sinking the 3 remaining cargo ships and causing massive casualties to the troops inside them. One escorting DMS was also damaged by multiple bomb hits.

The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Palembang and got 2 transport aircraft shot down by flak, then the 39 paratroops that made it the the ground were immediately killed or captured. He complained to me that I had 2 divisions sitting there after I supposedly promised not to fortify Palembang. No, I promised to turn off the refineries once under siege so as not to take advantage of the fact that refineries produce supply, which would unrealistically make a siege ineffective. As if I'm not going to defend the biggest oil/fuel producing base in theatre. Sheesh.

Thailand
Another P-40 downed over Raheng... I'm a little annoyed because I actually ordered the CAP there to stand down since they aren't bombing, they're just picking my fighters off. No sense coming out to play when it benefits him, right? Apparently some fighters came over from a nearby base to help out...

Good news, though. Our reserve armies cleared the road again. Casualties 1151 against the retreating enemy army to our 190.

China
We had a major victory here today as the enemy flanking force, badly disrupted by days of bombing, was routed by my former Kaifeng assaulters turned flank guards. Casualties were 6547 to 1540, but the reality was even more skewed than that as the enemy suffered 246 squads destroyed instead of disabled, compared to my 12.

We're still outnumbered here, and there is a bigger force that made it across the bridge. For now I'm going to hold position, try to get better recon, and let my bombers start wearing them down.

In terms of victory points, we actually inflicted enough troop casualties today across three battlefields that even with the loss of Enterprise, we nearly broke even.

Hawaii
My second lone cargo ship arrived at Pearl completely undetected. Today's recon report on Lahaina is similar to yesterday's, giving it credibility. I'm putting together a large resupply convoy to follow up behind the loners.

Reinforcements...and withdrawals
The 301st and 303rd bomber groups--B-17 training groups all--withdrew to redeploy to Europe. But they're apparently getting new aircraft, they left their bombers. So I now have about 40 more B-17s ready to assign to combat squadrons, should I choose.

DD Lansdowne arrives at Balboa
DD Stack arrives at Balboa
No.1 PRU RAAF arrives at Melbourne - Buffalo recon variants. Doesn't have the range to be immediately useful, so trainers for now. If a knifefight breaks out in or around Australia that could change.

[Molon Labe]

18 June 1942
The third sister perishes

Battle of the Coral Sea, day 3
As the battle is shaping into a decisive Japanese victory, the enemy's main concern was tracking down Hornet, which for all they knew made it to a nearby port already, or might even be escaping under cloud cover. In reality, it hadn't survived the night, succumbing to the damage it suffered in the first day. At Cooktown, 3 enemy destroyers detached from the KB entered the port and shelled the damaged HMAS Australia without suffering any hits in return. The same 3 destroyers found 3 of mine on ASW duty that had been trying to clear a path for Hornet; they lightly damaged all three before they cut and run. Further south, near Bowen, an enemy submarine intercepted a cruiser and 3 destroyers trying to make it to Brisbane, it torpedoed and sank one of the destroyers.

CVW-6 attempted an attack on the KB, mustering 16 SBDs escorted by 26 F4Fs. By this point, the 2 elements of the KB had recombined and I was facing a massive CAP of 52 Zeroes and 9 Rufes. We got massacred... all 16 SBDs downed, along with 7 Wildcats; we only got 1 Zero and 2 Rufes.

The KB sent an airstrike after the 3 destroyers that escaped his detachment. 3 P-39s attempted to provide cover but only got 2 of themselves shot down. Fortunately, the enemy Vals (18 of them) all missed. 27 Kates arrived next, unescorted. Alerted by the enemy raid, we now had 14 fighters on defense. We got 26 of them with no losses.


Celebes Sea
The KXV torpedoed a troop transport that appears to have been empty but approaching Tarakan. Apparently troops there are needed elsewhere. The ship will likely survive but it's going to struggle to get to a repair yard.

China
It's beginning to look like the defeat the enemy suffered yesterday is actually giving them an opportunity for a much bigger victory, as my "flank guards" that was the main force invading Kaifeng isn't in great position to support the new frontline. The enemy main force is now racing my "flank guards" to Chengchow. They have better roads to use, but they're also getting constantly bombed. Not sure who wins that race.

Strait of Malacca
An AGP and an AM evacuating Palembang were attacked by Nells, the AM was sunk but the AGP successfully refueled at Sabang (which will soon fall) and should make it to Colombo.

Sumatra
Fulmars attacked enemy shipping at Benkoelen, scoring hits on a light cruiser and cargo ship. One Fulmar was lost to flak.

[Molon Labe]

19 June 1942
Milne dive bombers annihilated by KB's CAP


Battle of the Coral Sea, day 4
The Kido Butai continues to search for the Hornet, this time checking Port Moresby. Our base at Milne responded, first with our USMC Vindicator squadron (12 aircraft) with 39 escorting fighters, up against 51 Zeroes and 7 Rufes on CAP. We lost 8 fighters and all the Vindicators, downing just 2 Rufes and a Zero. Next, 13 Banshees arrived with 11 fighter escorts. We shot down 1 Rufe while the CAP took down a P-40 and 12 of the Banshees.

Well that pretty much does it for Milne.

The KB hit the port at Cooktown with a small raid, still thinking Hornet might be there apparently.

I'm failing to reconstitute CVW-8 because the squadrons were all technically destroyed with the loss of Hornet, and the aircraft ashore are just fragments. So the aircraft are entering the reserve pool instead of being reconstituted as combat effective squadrons. I can't even give these to CVW-6 (which wasn't destroyed with Enterprise, they officially disembarked) because every squadron is flying different aircraft than their sister units--even the Wildcats are different variants. I'm going to work on giving some of the Helldivers to reform the USMC squadron that was just wiped out at Milne.

If I'm going to hurt him, it's pretty much up to the submarines now. Milne, CVW-6 and CVW-8 were my main weapons, and they're all done for, at least in the short term. Subs cycling back onto station from replenishing at Brisbane and Noumea are headed directly for the KB--which will only work if they turn south into them. A bunch of subs that had been patrolling the Solomons are also guarding the KB's likely exit routes from near Milne up towards Rabaul.

An otherwise uneventful day, air raids continue in China, Thailand, and Sumatra but that's about it.

[Molon Labe]

20 June 1942
Junyo detached from KB

Coral Sea
He's really got it in for my 3 destroyers running south (just 2 now, the worst damaged split off from them). They suffered a sub attack that missed yesterday that wasn't worth mentioning. Now, the Junyo has detacted from the KB and sprinted south, hitting these damaged ships with an airstrike:

DMS Trevor, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Edsall, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk

The main KB raided Milne and sank a minesweeper, and also severely damaged two cargo ships that have been desperately trying to clear the area for several days.

N. Australia
Darwin is coming under air attack again. I had been returning ships there that had evacuated with the Yamato was spotted. That was a bad call...I'm clearing them out again, maybe permanently. Some of the fighters that had been supporting Hornet and Enterprise are working their way back here to put up a defense.

Burma and Thailand
Oscars are being used in the attack role, trying to hit my small ASW boats at Rangoon. We shot down 5 with Hurricanes and got one more with flak with the loss of one Hurricane.

[Molon Labe]

21 June 1942


Coral Sea
The KB detacted its heavies and bombarded Port Moresby:
B-26 Marauder: 10 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
Beaufighter Ic: 16 damaged
Beaufighter Ic: 3 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 6 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 13 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 1 destroyed on ground
LB-30 Liberator: 1 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed on ground

Although I'm guessing he was looking for the Hornet in port. The detachment made for Rabaul, passing my Milne and drawing a PT boat attack. He sank two, we never got close enough to shoot.


N. Australia
Some evacuating ships came under Nell attack, which fortunately missed. We'll have a CAP tomorrow.

East China Sea
With the enemy committed to a major ground offensive around Kaifeng, centered around a 100k-plus soldier death star unit, he's going to be sucking supply in China like never before in this campaign. With that in mind, I've ordered several subs into the dangerously shallow East China Sea to try to interdict supply lines from Japan to Shanghai and other bases further north up the coast. We got our first kill of that operation with the sinking of an AKL by the USS Gar.

Hawaii
I'm about to have another cargo ship successfully dock at Pearl undetected. With enough supply to operate Kingfishers, I've noted that there is some merchant traffic here and identified its route of approach. Some of my subs supplying Pearl will be retasked to interdicting these merchant runs. The "big" cargo run is still several days off. If successful, I'll probably have battleships--Arizona and Nevada in the lead--and phibs on the way next.

Burma and Thailand
We got 6 Oscars (one by flak) l in the enemy's second attempt on my Rangoon area shipping--this time going after cargo ships, with one Hurricane lost. They also lost an Oscar trying to stop my bombers in the Raheng area.

I'd been supplying Port Blair to make it capable of sustaining air ops in the future if I needed it. Betties took advantage, sinking one of 3 cargo ships unloading there. I had actually considered moving fighters here for this turn, but I decided against it since the attacks on Rangoon were occurring while this raid was just something I thought might happen, so I missed a chance at unescorted Betties.

[Molon Labe]

22 June 1942

Coral Sea
The heavy detachment ran into some merchies at Milne but did not engage..probably out of ammo. I think these guys are doubling back to rejoin the KB.

The Junyo is still pursuing ships clearing out of the area. It's near the north end of New Caledonia--too far to be supported by the KB. Lexington already left this area, but it's not far. I expect it to turn back, but in the past he's shown that he's fine with parking his carriers off my bases, so we'll see.
Wave 1 (Vals)
DMS Zane, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Mungana, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DMS Boggs, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DM Tracy, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Wave 2 (Kates)
xAP Mungana, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DMS Boggs, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Montoro, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

An air strike on Milne cost the enemy 6 Zeroes and 2 Kates, we lost a P-40. Our B-17s that were in Darwin are now in Brisbane, they went after the Junyo as it continues south... one B-17 was lost with no hits on the enemy.

N. Australia
The Kittyhawks now on CAP here got bounced by a sweep--7 lost with no victories--clearing the way for the bombers we knew were coming later in the day.

South China Sea
KXI sustained light depth charge damage off Miri.

China
There is now a squadron of Zeroes trying to defend his death star near Kaifeng. We shot down 3 of them at the cost of 2 P-43s, our bombers are still getting through. A decent chunk of the death star has already arrived in Chengchow, so it looks like he's won the race.

Burma and Thailand
An enemy submarine showed up at Port Blair to finish what the Betties started, both remaining cargo ships were sunk.

One fighter on each side went down over Rangoon in a sweep.

[Ostfriese]

Bleak, but far from hopeless.

[Molon Labe]

23 June 1942
The Silent Service and US Army Air Corps strike back... a little.


Hawaii and the Line Islands
S-32 torpedoed a cargo ship near Pearl, which appears will survive.
I have a cargo ship docked and unloading now. I have another that could arrive tomorrow, but I'm having it hold off because there are two enemy task forces at Oahu right now... a pair of merchants and a flotilla of landing barges. Not sure if he's landing troops or removing them but I don't want my cargo ships spotted if I can avoid it.

Our airfield is now big enough to support level bombers, and today B-26s began raiding Palmyra.

Coral Sea/Solomon Sea
The KB followed the predicted exfiltration route near Milne. USS Grampus was first to attack, striking one of the KB escorting destroyers. The stricken destroyer was left behind by the KB, so Grampus tried to finish it off but missed. Further along, the KB was attacked by the S-39, which scored a hit on the Akagi. The damage does not appear to be serious.

Not only does the Akagi look OK, but it also appears that the Kaga and Shoho have resumed flight operations.

The KB launched raids against shipping near Port Moresby and the airbase Milne. At PM, the CAP clobbered the raid, shooting down 7 of 9 Zeroes and 17 of 22 Vals with no losses. At Milne, with a cost of 1 P-40, we shot down 10 Zeroes. The bombers got through and caused significant facility damage, but nothing we can't repair. Their dive bombers are nearly all shot down anyway, so reducing this base doesn't do much.

I'm moving CVW-6 to Port Moresby and sending level bombers out to make room. I don't expect the KB to stick around, but Junyo might pass through here before it meets up with the KB (it turned back around and is headed north). There are also several detachments--he may be trying to pick up those troops at Normanby island again. A PBY bombed a cargo ship near there this turn.

Burma and Thailand
Two fighters each side down over Rangoon. We lost one more Hurricane around Raheng.

The Nells that attacked port Blair made a run at cargo ships near Rangoon and found Rangoon's CAP protecting them. 4 of the 5 Nells were shot down, 1 made an attack but missed.

China
Looks like we made it. My "flank guards" main force will reinforce Chengchow tomorrow. The attack hasn't come yet, so we look on-time. We'll still be outnumbered but we'll be behind Level 5 forts. He attempted a bombardment attack with the substantial forces he already has there, but I took no casualties thanks to the forts, while counterbattery fire disabled several of his units.

Zeroes tried to stop our bombers and managed to shoot down 4 obsolete I-16s trying to protect them, but the Lancers took care of business--8 Zeroes down with no Lancers lost.

I'm also attacking an enemy army in the southeast near Chusein. We outnumber then 4-to-1 there, inflicting 1598 to 201 casualties.

N. Australia
We lost a Kittyhawk to a sweep; this squadron is already beaten down.

Japan
USS Pampano torpedoed and sank a PB that was apparently on an ASW patrol.

----
Air losses today were 62 to 19, with 27 of the Japanese losses taken by Zeroes. I'm hoping the silver lining in all this is that next time we see the KB, their pilots won't be as good.

The North Carolina has arrived on the West Coast.

[Molon Labe]

24 June 1942
Pearl cargo run detected...now what?

Hawaii
USS Tarpon found one of the enemy merchants near Oahu and sank it. It was carrying troops. It later found a landing barge and gunned it down, then attempted a gun attack on another cargo ship before return fire changed their mind. Recon is showing Lahaina troop numbers briefly went up, then down again to lower than when I started watching a few days ago. My guess is he's not moving anything in or out of Hawaii, he's moving exhausted troops off the front and replacing them with fresh reserves.

While my cargo ship on the way in was standing off, the one in port finished unloading and departed. It ran into an enemy PB. The PB's contact report led to a submarine finding and sinking the cargo shortly after. But more important, now he knows I'm running supply with single ships--just days before a large convoy is set to arrive. Will the Betties come back?

Solomon Sea
S-39 torpedoed a cargo ship at Normanby Island that had troops aboard.
The KB has moved out of view towards Truk. Junyo still appears to be lagging behind but is also headed that way.

Sumatra
Fulmars escorted by Hurricanes attempted to stop a cruiser group from bombarding Palembang, but Zeroes fought them off. One Zero was shot down along with a Hurricane and 2 Fulmars. The bombardment disabled a few aircraft and caused light facility damage.

China
An enemy bombardment at Chenchow once again hurt him more than me. The troop numbers look pretty even, except he also has tanks. Doesn't look like enough to overcome the fortifications.

I attacked again at Chusein, but this time he did more damage to us, I need to rest and resupply my troops.

Reinforcements
YMS-100 arrives at Astoria
China Air TaskForce arrives at Kunming
22nd Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego
267th Armoured Brigade arrives at Madras
4th British Brigade arrives at Aden
----

This turn was another Mulligan for the enemy...the settings on the cruisers attacking Palembang were incorrect and they ended up further north than he wanted, resulting in a torpedo bomber attack from Singapore. The error really wasn't all that different from mine with Enterprise so I gave it to him. In the original turn, he actually attacked Chengchow and reduced the forts to level 4. I also remembered--the first time--to stop my cargo ship leaving Pearl in addition to stopping the one about to arrive. Also, the attack at Normanby Island was done by PTs instead of a sub.

[Molon Labe]

25 June 1942

Sumatra
The cruisers that hit Palembang yesterday arrived late enough in the day that they hadn't gone far, so my opponent ordered them to shell Palembang again with the ammo they had in reserve. They didn't do much damage this time, and one of the heavy cruisers hit a mine. On the way out, they were attacked by the KXII, which scored a hit on one of their destroyers (a likely kill). The KXII--caught in shallow water--took severe damage from depth charges. It's headed to Singapore for emergency repairs.

Thailand
My fighter-to-bomber coordination problems really never went away, and today that cost me 3 Blenhiems that had few or no escorts. We also lost a Hurricane.

China
We splashed a Zero trying to interdict our bombers at Chengchow. Another enemy artillery attack hurt him more than me. I'm moving the I-16s here off the frontline, they're just getting killed but would be useful as trainers. We have enough P-43s and P-40s that we don't need them.

Hawaii
There is still too much activity to move my waiting cargo ship into Pearl. A second is now arriving--and the big convoy isn't far behind.

[Ostfriese]

My fighter-to-bomber coordination problems ...


Is that a problem the game simulates or is this more a problem of (not) giving the perfect orders?

[Molon Labe]

Is that a problem the game simulates or is this more a problem of (not) giving the perfect orders?

It's the Grisby factor. On my end, all I can do is set a fighter squadron to escort duty and set it to the same altitude as the bombers. Then the code goes to work and considers pilot experience, the presence of an AirHQ, leaders' abilities, the distance between the fighter base, the bomber base, and the target, the number of aircraft attempting to coordinate, probably the weather and a bunch of other stuff.

[Molon Labe]

26 June 1942

Hawaii
We continue to build on the number of submarines patroling near Pearl. USS Sturgeon gunned down a landing barge. The two cargo ships outside Pearl are still holding due to enemy surface traffic.

My sub patrols prompted him to switch is Mary bombers from bombing Pearl to ASW duty. S-31 was hit by one but wasn't seriously damaged--and the repair yard at Pearl is operational thanks to the cargo ships that got through.

N. Australia
Looks like sweeps/raids at Darwin are going to become a regular thing. Each side lost 2 fighters today. I'll have US P-39s backing up the Aussie P-40s (and their inadequately trained pilots) soon.

Sumatra
Unescorted enemy bomber raids got too close to Palembang--the only remaining fighter base I have here. We got 7 Sallies and 3 Anns as the CAP diverted to intercept.

Sabang has been captured.

Thailand
A Blenheim raid got bounced by Oscars, 2 Hurricanes and 1 Blenheim down with no kills of our own.

China
I attacked the enemy army at Chusien again but couldn't budge it. Even casualties.

[Molon Labe]

27 June 1942
Enemy blunder at Chenghow results in mass army casualties

Japan
Our sub patrols near Toyohara spotted a major convoy and a large tanker. We didn't hit anything--but there's clearly an increase in traffic here that will make this convoy route a priority now.

Hawaii
USS Thresher got a landing barge, Sturgeon another. Sturgeon's had troops on board.

The Marys on ASW patrol spotted my large cargo ship convoy. Hopefully it's too late for them to do anything about it, they weren't attacked today and they'll be docked tomorrow. Maybe bombed dockside?

Makassar Strait
The O23 torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Balikpapan.

Thailand
He's reinforced Bangkok with a lot of Zeroes. They swept Rahang, claiming 7 of our P-40s while we managed 5 of them. I noticed my pilot quality here isn't what it should be, so I'm sending some of these guys back to training squadrons. One of the replacements assigned was Boyington, who was freed up when I disbanded AVG-1 awhile back (no replacement aircraft available to get them back online). He'll be active in 5 days.

Sumatra
They swept the area near Palembang that they were bombing yesterday, drawing our our CAP and shooting down a Hurricane. Then they did it again, but we had the only kill, a Zero.

Now that I know he's avoiding getting within torpedo bomber range of Singapore, that leaves the only route to Palembang through a very narrow channel between Sumatra proper and a coastal island. I had the O20 drop a full load of 40 mines in the channel. Hopefully that will pay off soon.

China
Despite having originally moved troops across the river at our flanks and entering Chenchow overland, today he sent reinforcements directly across the river at the battlefield. This resulted in a disorganized, desperate shock attack that utterly failed against our fortified base. Casualties were 12,236 to 0. In terms of victory points, his destroyed squads were worth as much as two carriers. This probably marks the end of his counterattack.

[Molon Labe]

28 June 1942
Hickam AFB operational

Luzon Strait
USS Pickerel torpedoed and likely sank a troop-carrying cargo ship in a convoy at appears to only have minelayers as escorts--minelayers that apparently did not have ASW capability.

Thailand
Our US Army squadrons in Thailand are wearing down. 3 Zeroes down to 3 P-40s, but there are a lot more Zeroes (and Oscars) and not many more P-40s here.

N. Australia
Getting the P-39s to Darwin helped. 3 Oscars down to 2 Aussie P-40s.

Sumatra
6 Hurricanes on CAP attempted to interdict a massive enemy air raid--54 bombers and 43 fighters. We got one Zero, losing 5 Hurricanes. This British squadron is just about done for, although we do have a few replacement aircraft of this type and more on the way.

Hawaii
The large cargo ship convoy docked and unloaded overnight, the two solo ships also docked and will unload next. Our resupplied artillery units made a probing bombardment attack, which shows the enemy forces here to be more than 3 divisions worth, but weakened to the approximate power of 1 division. I might be able to push them into the sea with the armies I already have here. I'm not going to take that risk just yet.

The resupply of Oahu means Hickam AFB is now fully operational. I've moved in Wildcat squadrons and even a few spare Buffalos, a Dauntless squadron, PBYs, and 2 B-17 squadrons. I'm going to attempt to control or at least monitor the surrounding seas. I should have the planes online in a day or two. Anticipating the success of the convoy, I already have a battleship group and phibs headed for Lahaina. As long as he doesn't move Betties in, they'll keep going.

USS Thresher got attacked by a pair of Marys, but damaged them both with its AA and forced them to retreat. Not bad for a 20mm and a few .50 cals.

China
The enemy is retreating from Chengchow, at least in part.

I attacked the army near Chusien again, this time forcing the enemy to retreat. Casualties 3089 to 495 favoring me. I'm going to give chase for now--I think I'll turn these guys towards the coast after that.

[Ostfriese]

Casualties were 12,236 to 0. In terms of victory points, his destroyed squads were worth as much as two carriers. This probably marks the end of his counterattack.


That's one hell of a blunder.

[Molon Labe]

29 Jun 1942

Yellow Sea
USS Salmon picked off a full-size cargo ship in a convoy of mostly AKLs headed for Shanghai and slipped away before the escorting PB could retaliate. A good result, but I'm keeping a close eye on this. It's only the second ship we've sunk in the Yellow Sea despite the enemy's increased supply need in China and this water is shallow enough for non-upgraded enemy depth charges to be very effective. Two cargo ships in a week isn't worth losing a boat for.

Hawaii
An enemy sub picked off one of my singleton cargo ships as it left Pearl. My earlier estimate that the new aircraft at Hickam would be online in 2 days was too optimistic...it'll be more like a week. That's cause for concern, especially with the PBYs not online yet.

I did some maths...assuming the KB only does a gas-n-go at Truk and then heads for Hawaii at cruising speed, it would arrive on July 4. Oh, and SIGINT reports enemy transmissions at a spot in the ocean in near the Marshalls that's on the lane between Truk and Hawaii. If that was the KB, it's arrival would be July 5--that by itself is scary because it looks like it matches. My likely date of arrival at Lahaina is July 6. Setting that aside for a moment, the KB has been running at high speed for a good chunk of its last deployment, so they need maintenance, and they're due for refits. On top of that, if my cargo runs concerned him, the most efficient solution would be to bring the Betties back--he hasn't done that. So, I think a KB deployment to Hawaii right now is unlikely. But not something I can ignore. For now, I'm going to continue, but I'm probably going to stand off instead of going right in.

Thailand
2 more P-40s down at Raheng. But more important, no enemy bomber activity. I'm going to stand my fighters down for a couple days to let them repair planes and just not give the enemy anyone to play with.

Meanwhile, I've been gradually moving in more reinforcements to this region. I can now drive to Bangkok with the equivalent of about 3 divisions while still keeping enough in reserve that they can't bypass me and threaten Rangoon. Recon says I'm stronger than what they have in Bangkok and Tavoy combined. So in a few more days I'll start heading south again, all the more reason to keep my fighters healthy so that I can keep enemy bombers off the troops if they ever show up.

N. Australia
Another bad day at Darwin, 3 of ours down to 1 of his. I'm tempted to move in more fighters, but... I think with the surge of enemy fighters in Thailand and Sumatra, his numbers here are less than they were when I last tried to carpet bomb Koepang airbase. I'm short on fighters, but good on B-17s. And B-17s chew up enemy fighters pretty good. So, Offensive Counter Air is the call to deal with the threat to Darwin.

China
He now has armies leaving Chengchow in two directions, back across the river and to the south, the way the main force came in. I now have reinforcements arriving on the southern route, and he's also got more troops entering that space from the east, so my guys are caught between the two. I don't have good intel on numbers.

[Molon Labe]

30 June 1942

Hawaii
Our subs at Pearl took out another 3 landing barges, a Kingfisher bombed a small minelayer.

Ceram Sea
S-36 torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship in the narrow sea lanes here. There was a massive secondary explosion, so we're confident this one went down.

E. Australia
There are enemy subs all over the coast right now. Minesweepers damaged two slightly, Wirraways bombed another. A heavy cruiser from each of the two former CVBG are being escorted through here to Sydney for repairs.

N. Australia
Using B-17s on Koepang isn't going to work, the true fighters have left but the Nick fighter-bombers remain, and they're great bomber interceptors. 3 B-17s lost today, including the ones crashing on the way back. Plus another P-39 at Darwin.

Sumatra
The British Hurricanes at Sumatra got the better of a Zero sweep, shooting down 3 without loss.

Reinforcements
43rd BG/65th BS arrives at Los Angeles
43rd BG/403rd BS arrives at Eastern USA --these are both unrestricted B-17 squadrons, because I sent 16 airframes to Pearl I only have enough aircraft to outfit one of them.
142nd USA Base Force arrives at Fort Ord
5th British Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

1 July 1942
HMS Revenge torpedoed leaving Columbo

Bay of Bengal
After several days of maintenance, I reassembled a heavy surface task force and a CVBG to provide air cover and ordered them to Tavoy. The heavy task force was immediately attacked by a submarine a few hexes outside of port, scoring 2 hits on HMS Revenge. She's limping back to port and will survive, but will likely be out of action for months.


Hawaii and Line Islands
USS Pollack sank one of the coastal minelayers operating near Pearl. With all the minelayers I'm seeing I'm surprised none of my cargo ships or subs have hit a mine. In the absence of a detected minefield, I have no idea what these guys are doing.

I have enough PBYs online now that my concerns about the KB showing up unannounced are somewhat alleviated. But only a little, because he's penetrated my search areas before.

This is also a good time to mention another collection of task forces is headed to Palmyra to take it back. That is is happening at the same time as the Hawaii op is pure coincidence, it's been in motion for awhile in terms of just moving assets in place over a thousand miles of ocean after several of my key hubs were bombed by the KB. A smaller bombardment force is headed to Johnston as a recon-in-force, looking for a fast-reaction force of aircraft that might be moved to Pearl in a hurry.

Thailand
Even though I'm resting my Raheng CAP, the enemy still got fighters of mine to play with because they diverted from Moulmein. One fighter down on each side.

Sumatra
The Palembang CAP diverted to engage a sweep to the south, shooting down a Zero. But, they wore themselves out on the sweep so that when the raid came we had nothing to throw at it...66 bombers in that group with few fighters. Oh well. These bombers are just attacking a small delaying force at a river crossing adjacent to Palembang. I'm not actually concerned about it.

China
It got a little ugly in the skies over Chengchow as the enemy withdraws. 4 Lancers and 2 SBIII bombers down for us, 7 Zeroes down for him.

Strait of Malacca
The lone surviving cargo ship of the former Palembang-Singapore route was sunk by a sub trying to run supplies from Colombo to Singapore. A long shot mission anyway, but one worth attempting.

Caroline Island
USS Plunger came under attack by a Kate and a Dave floatplane outside Truk. The presence of the Kate suggests to me at at least one carrier stopped at Truk for maintenance/repairs.

Reinforcements
2nd Recce Regiment arrives at Aden - unrestricted armored unit--straight to Burma
We also got a pair of destroyed Dutch squadrons back, but we have no aircraft to outfit them with and I don't think we'll ever get more.

[Molon Labe]

2 July 1942
Air campaign over Singapore resuming? 11 Oscars shot down there...

E. Australia
A corvette engaged an enemy sub near Koggala and scored a single critical hit with a depth charge pattern. The sub might be fatally damaged, but we did confirm that it didn't immediately sink as we briefly regained contact after it gave us the slip.

N. Australia
Things turning around here? One enemy Oscar down with no losses of our own. Our B-17s are on ASUW duty now, staying away from the Nicks at Koepang.


China
A single Zero was shot down in the Chengchow area. For now, we both have armies giving each other leave to retreat in an orderly fashion around the bridge south of Chengchow.

Malaya
There were 4 sweeps of Singapore today, all by Oscars. Our airpower here is somewhat reduced from its peak, but we still have the expert New Zealand squadrons and British Mohawks. We splashed 11 of the Oscars at a cost of 3 Mohawks, strongly suggesting the Japanese have a pilot attrition problem.

Sumatra
We managed to pounce on 2 Sallies that lagged behind their escorts.
There's also a task force detected on the Indian Ocean side of Sumatra that appears to be composed of a seaplane carrier and large surface combattants---that's a commerce raider task force. I currently have one tanker convoy in that area--I'm turning it to pass wide of them. I'm also recalling my task forces headed for Tavoy, my next convoy headed south to Perth is going to have quite an escort.

Speaking of the heavies headed to Tavoy, repairs on the Revenge are estimated to take 6 months. I'm going to reassess every week or so to figure out if its practical to send it to Cape Town instead of repairing at the relatively small Columbo shipyard. At a cruising speed of 6 knots right now, that's not practical.

Hawaii
Enemy forces on Lahaina are significantly greater than they've been the last week or two, there's at least a division there. This is concerning. I'm halting the phibs for now. The bombardment of Lahaina will proceed. I'm also noting that my raid on Johnston is going to arrive too late to hit them before I reach Lahaina. I'm ordering another probing attack on Oahu to try to confirm they've reduced the troop levels there. I'm still waiting for aircraft at Hickam to come online--I have fighters, a reduced-strength dive bomber squadron, a few PBYs, and a few bombers. The PBYs and bombers will be very helpful in the immediate future.

Reinforcements
CL Birmingham arrives at Cape Town
ML No. 246 arrives at Karachi
VMF-214 arrives at Pearl Harbor (2 Buffalos)
No.155 Sqn RAF arrives at Rawalpindi (16 Mohawks, unrestricted--headed to Burma/Thailand)
222nd USN Base Force arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, half strength)

[Molon Labe]

3 July 1942

Bay of Bengal
2 enemy submarines were detected on the track of the CVBG-escorted tanker convoy, one in close enough proxmity to be engaged by destroyers, causing moderate damage. Meanwhile the enemy heavies are moving northwest up the Indian Ocean coast of Sumatra--looking more like a bombardment group than commerce raiders now.

I'm doglegging everyone involved to avoid the subs. The CVBG is going to break off from the tankers to see if they can get a shot at the heavies. The tanker convoy is aborting their transit--no need to push this.

China
Our air forces are getting worn down while the enemy is reinforcing. 50 Zeroes swept Chengchow today, shooting down 1 Lancer. When my bombers came, they broke through and shot down 4 SBIII bombers.

AVG squadrons 2 and 3 are withdrawing as scheduled, and 2 US Army P-40s are taking their place. AVG3's aircraft went to the Chinese Air Force, AVG2's to the U.S.

The enemy death star at Chengchow made another push despite their earlier losses. Casualties 21631 to 6767 favoring us. Forts held.

Burma and Thailand
The 2 P-40 squadrons headed to China are the two that were resting at Raheng. The Mohawks on their way will help balance that out.

Zeroes swept Raheng, kiting P-40s from Moulmein and shooting down 3.

N. Australia
Darwin: 2 P-39s and 1 AUS P-40 down, no kills for us.

Sumatra
This time we got at the unescorted Sallies. 14 shot down.

Malaya
More sweeps at Singapore--4 Oscars down vs 1 Mohawk and 1 Hurricane. Maybe these planes should be escorting those Sallies?

Hawaii
Our probing attack shows one of the divisions in Oahu is a hollow unit, so it looks to me like he hasn't reinforced, he's moved troops from Oahu to Lahaina. Also, he's moved in another fighter squadron to Lahaina, which is concerning. Finally, there is a 4-ship task force approaching from the southwest that includes a destroyer.

The shelling of Lahaina will proceed, I'll try to attack from long enough range that a likely substantial minefield won't be a huge threat--I have 3 DMSs in company to help with that. Fighters from Hickam to provide air cover. I'm also activating my dive bomber squadron to perform some ASUW.

[Molon Labe]

4 July 1942
USMC provides occupied citizens of Lahaina with fireworks; IJN Nagato & transports sunk by Brit torpedo bombers off Sumatra

Sumatra & Singapore
The force I originally classified as commerce raiders and than reassessed as a bombardment group is in fact an amphibious group. They landed at Padang on the Indian Ocean side of Sumatra, transporting a third of the 1st Division, destroying a minesweeper on duty there as they approached.

At sunrise they were spotted and referred to Singapore for a strike package. The Oscar sweeps on Singapore continued, which may have interfered with the strike--it appears fighters ordered to escort my bombers were scrambled to fight the Oscars. 7 Oscars were shot down with a loss of 3 Mohawks and 2 Hurricanes over the course of several sweeps throughout the day.

The Albacore torpedo bombers flew 2 unescorted sorties against the enemy ARG at Sabang. My lack of escorting fighters was mitigated by the weather--he had Zeroes on a high-altitude CAP over the target, but my bombers approached low in a thunderstorm. The CAP did not engage either sortie. The first wave of 16 bombers hit the battleship Nagato twice and a troop-carrying cargo ship twice. The second wave hit the Nagato 4 more times, another cargo ship twice, and another once. Nagato went down while still under observation. Enemy troop casualties were about 900.

Hawaii
The S-47 torpedoed a cargo ship south of Pearl. S-33 followed up the attack,
trading gun hits with it. Thresher followed that up, bouncing a Mk14 dud off its hull.

My bombardment task force has yet to arrive at Lahaina, so the occupied citizens will have to wait until after midnight on July 5 for that fireworks show. But we did give them a preview as my reactivated USMC dive bombers attacked ships at port. Enemy Zeroes and Oscars defended--the Zeroes appear to be from Kaga, more or less confirming she's under repair right now. We flew two sorties, the first resulted in 4 Wildcats shot down for me and 4 Oscars and a Zero for them. The SBDs all missed. The second sortie saw one more F4F and Zero go down, and 2 more Oscars. One SBD hit the light cruiser Kuma, causing severe damage and starting a major fire.

China
My AVG replacements failed to escort my bombers to Chengchoon. 3 SB-IIIs and A-29s were lost, only one Lancer on nearby CAP was available to defend them--it shot down one Zero.

EDIT:
Australia
We have a squadron of Anson light bombers that just came online in Sydney yesterday. These guys are radar-equipped so I expect them to be good ASW assets. Yesterday I moved ASW-qualified Wirraway pilots to this squadron and put them on ASW duty, and today they've already scored a hit on one of the several subs operating here.

Bay of Bengal
Despite doglegging, there is a wolfpack of 6 subs in the path of the Brit CVBG. We prosecuted one that was close with no hits. It would seem that at least a secondary objective of the raid on Sabang was to bait my carriers again, and it more less worked. Time to leave.

EDIT2: The last Zero shot down (or more likely, scrapped at base) today was the 1000th Zero lost in the campaign.

[Molon Labe]

5 July 1942
The real Indendence Day fireworks show was after midnight

Hawaii, Johnston Island, and Line Islands
My heavy surface group--including Pearl Harbor raid survivors Arizona and Nevada--finally hit Lahaina. The small task force our dive bombers hit yesterday (1 CL, 3 DD) was there to greet us:
https://i.ibb.co/5rWNcw4/1942-July-5-Lahaina.png

The already damaged (and still on fire) Kuma was hit 4 times, at least one time by the North Carolina's main battery. I would guess she's done for. An enemy destroyer took a torpedo and is confirmed sunk, a second destroyer was damaged. The enemy withdrew and got out of our way. Troop casualties were reported from this battle, so it appears these ships were acting as fast transports, bringing troops from Oahu to Lahaina. North Carolina took 2 non-penetrating hits.

At Johnston island, our bombardment group of one light cruiser and 3 destroyers intercepted two cargo ships (one that I recognized as one that escaped a submarine attack a few days ago) as they approached, sinking both with gunfire and torpedoes. They then bombarded their objective, damaging 6 Mavis seaplanes and moderately damaging the airbase. Well, at least we probably know there aren't a bunch of Betties hiding here.

My heavies hit Lahaina next, standing off at long range to mitigate the risk of likely minefields here. We destroyed 16 aircraft on the ground and probably disabled the rest, sank a light cargo ship in port, and caused heavy damage to the airbase facilities.

But we weren't done yet, we had 6 operational B-17s and they all hit the port at Lahaina with smashing success:
ACM Shintohoku Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Rio de Janiero Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AG Soya, Bomb hits 1, on fire
ACM Kyo Maru #5, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Tokuwa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AGP Banshu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
ACM Toshi Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
The three mine tenders going down is huge--minefields gradually dissipate without tenders to maintain them, so that problem is going to solve itself. The enemy CAP shot down two USMC Wildcats escorting the B-17s.

USS Lexington's SBDs bombed Palmyra along with the usual B-26 raid from Christmas Island that's been softening these guys up. We land troops tomorrow.

Another massive supply convoy will arrive at Pearl and unload overnight.

As for invading Lahaina, I'm still standing off for now, but I think in the absence of a KB sighting, I'm going to postpone the op. Just seems like too big a risk when I can just get Pearl/Hickam back online and bomb/shell them as their mines dissipate and supplies dwindle. Hmmm. I'll decide "tomorrow."

Japan
USS Searaven got into a surface battle with an oil-carrying cargo ship near Kobe. The improvised tanker was hit with two detonating torpedoes (and several duds) and a little gunfire; it burned and sank. Searaven was hit twice but damage was minimal.

China
In the Kaifeng/Chengchow area, they swept while we tried to bomb; we lost a Lancer and a Wellington, them 4 Zeroes. Boyington got one of them for his 3rd kill, maybe he'll be an ace before I transfer him to VMF-214 in a month or so.

The enemy's success today came from the army near Chusein, I had run down the routed enemy army and tried to attack again, but it had been reinforced by another division. Casualties 500 to 2000 favoring them. I'm pulling back.

N. Australia
Two of ours, none of theirs.

E. Australia
A Wirraway bombed a sub.

Bay of Bengal
We disengaged from the wolfpack without further incident, disaster averted.

Malaya
Just one Oscar down today, both sides are wearing down.

Reinforcements
BB Valiant arrives at Cape Town
21st Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, near full strength)

[Ostfriese]

The 200 days of fuel you've mentioned a couple of times (Japan's initial fuel reserves) have passed by now, and he must have burned through his fuel reserves like crazy. Even though he has conquered some oil producing areas (DEI, Borneo, if I remember correctly) his fuel situation must be dramatic by now. He might not (yet) be running on fumes, but the danger of running out of fuel must be a constant threat.
His Hawaiian operation has definitely faltered. You seem to be only a very few steps away from permanently securing Pearl Harbor (it sounds as if it is about to become too dangerous even for the KB).



“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

[Molon Labe]

The 200 days of fuel you've mentioned a couple of times (Japan's initial fuel reserves) have passed by now, and he must have burned through his fuel reserves like crazy. Even though he has conquered some oil producing areas (DEI, Borneo, if I remember correctly) his fuel situation must be dramatic by now. He might not (yet) be running on fumes, but the danger of running out of fuel must be a constant threat.
His Hawaiian operation has definitely faltered. You seem to be only a very few steps away from permanently securing Pearl Harbor (it sounds as if it is about to become too dangerous even for the KB).



“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
We're past the 200 days, but he's captured Borneo and Java, and the last "tanker" I intercepted was in Japanese home waters. How many got through that I didn't see?

Yesterday I mentioned that I had to make a final decision on landing on Lahaina--I'm going to put those troops on Pearl instead. I'm doing that because he has a lot more troops on Lahaina now then when the operation began, probably more than a division. He also had a ton of engineers there, maybe still does, so the fortifications there are probably scary good, which means I need to outnumber him by a lot and I'm still taking heavy casualties. So for now my focus is going to be on eliminating the two divisions or so still on Oahu and rebuilding Pearl/Hickam into a major base.

The KB can still ruin that. If I use the Yorktown's airgroup plus enough Air Corps and USMC squadrons, I might be able to build up Hickam into a base that could defeat the KB, but that's going to take time. I can do what he did in reverse, and battleship the hell out of Lahaina and rearm them at neighboring Pearl, but if the KB shows up my battleships are done for. So he probably gets to have a functioning airbase for now, which means Pearl is probably still subject to an aerial blockade and bombings, depending on his willingness to deploy bombers there.

I do share some of your optimism but the situation is very fluid right now.

--------------
6 July 1942
Amphibious landing on Palmyra

Hawaii and Line Islands
I hate to admit I knew this would happen, but enemy submarines attacked my supply convoy arriving at Pearl, which was unescorted. I wasn't willing to decrease my ASW protection for my battleship group. One submarine torpedoed one of the ships, then surfaced to attack another on the surface--both my ships sank. But the others made it and dropped off about another huge delivery of supply, ensuring that I have the stocks to continue to build up Hickam again, and to sustain my ground forces there.

Our phibs landed at Palmyra, supported by a heavy cruiser, four destroyers, and 13 B-26s from Christmas Island. The constant bombing of the island over the last week or more (and a battleship shelling two days ago) softened them up a bit. Casualties were 90 to 1259 favoring them, but most of my squads were disabled, not destroyed, while his were more destroyed than disabled--also, a lot of his defense are tanks, not infantry.
Japanese ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 13 (11 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 131 (127 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
1259 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 84 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 34 (1 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Forts were reduced from 2 to 1. This is a good result, I expect to have the island secured in 2 days.

Our 6 operational B-17s and 11 SBDs at Hickam hit Lahaina harbor again, sinking an ammunition ship and a light cargo ship, and damaging a general tender and submarine tender. Recon is still reporting tankers and subs here I'd like to get.

The bombardment group arrived at Pearl next, having been delayed by needing to refuel one of the destroyer-minesweepers at sea. They suffered a submarine attack, but the destroyers screened it successfully--the torps were fired at an escort and missed. The sub was lightly to moderately damaged before it got away. The task force then dumped the rest of its ammo into the enemy troops outside Pearl, then docked to rearm.

I've reassigned two stateside unrestricted heavy bomber squadrons from training duty to combat and flew them directly to Hickam, so we should have a much bigger raid on Lahaina in a day or two. I'm also sending a B-26 squadron to Christmas Island, intending to replace the one there which will also move to Hickam as soon as Palmyra is secured. A paratrooper unit is also headed to Pearl, I intend to use them to try to get solid recon on the fortification level on Lahaina. My phibs standing off Lahaina are ordered to Pearl, I'm going to wipe out those troops first, then wear down Lahaina before trying to take it back by force.


Sumatra
Our Fulmar squadron attempted an attack on ships, but the Australian Kittyhawks assigned to escort them did not, so they ended up in a fight against Zeroes. 4 Fulmars and 2 Zeroes were shot down; the Fulmars turned back. 4 more Zeroes were shot down near Palembang.

China
One Zero and one Wellington down.

The same thing that happened at Chusien yesterday happened at Chengchow, I ordered an attack against a weak unit but by the time the order was carried out the unit had been reinforced. Casualties 1310 to 7800 favoring them.

Darwin
One more P-39 down. I'm sitting these guys for awhile, I'm not too worried about bombers showing up, I kind of wish they would since I now have 2 heavy AA units here.

Malaya
Sweeps at Singapore continued, 2 Oscars and 2 Hurricanes down.

[Molon Labe]

7 July 1942
Lahaina airbase wrecked

New Hebrides
I already had two heavy cruisers and two destroyers headed to Luganville to remind the enemy troops there I haven't forgiven them for slaughtering our marines here in the early months of the war. They had the good courtesy to have a cargo ship and a PB escort there when we arrived, so we sank those too. Looks like it was a supply run.

Hawaii
I'm not sure why, but my heavy task force wasn't able to transit 2 hexes--80 miles-- to bombard Lahaina today, so that will happen tomorrow. They're leaving the area after that as I'm expecting KB interference at this point. One of my tripwire submarines in the Marshalls was spotted by an "aircraft" although the report didn't bother to specify what kind of aircraft so it's rather ambiguous. Certainly could be Kates/Vals on patrol from a CVBG moving through.

Our heavy bombers are in business, though, and we hit Lahaina with 14 B-17s and 7 B-24s, splitting them between the port and the airbase. We hit and likely sank a sub tender, a patrol boat tender, and a general tender (probably the same one I thought I sank yesterday). We also destroyed two fighters and a bomber on the ground. Aside from one scoutplane that made a flight today and found my withdrawing cargo convoy, it doesn't appear they have any operational aircraft left, and the airbase itself has severe facility damage. If I can keep it damaged this badly he shouldn't be able to move in more planes without most of them wrecking on the runway.

I had my marines attack the enemy encampment on Oahu in force today instead of just an artillery bombardment. Casualties were 1113 to 283 favoring me, and the enemy was reported to have a supply shortage. Ooo rah!

China
They swept Chengchow, I only managed one Lancer in the air to oppose; it shot down one Zero and bugged out.

Malaya
Oscars are still sweeping Singapore, they got one Hurricane today without loss.

Sumatra
We got another shot at 46 unescorted Sallies just outside of Palembang--we shot down 9.

Reinforcements
AM Katoomba arrives at Sydney
xAK John Page arrives at Alameda
118th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden - full strength, unrestricted -- immediately shipping to Colombo
US 1942 AA Pool arrives at Eastern USA - I think this unit is going to immediately disband, placing a whole bunch of new AA guns in the pool to be distributed to AA units.

[Molon Labe]

8 July 1942
Marines at Palmyra struggling, probable enemy carrier response

Hawaii and Line Islands
My heavy task force shelled Lahaina again, then left the area to the east. Heavy bombers hit the airbase and port again during the day. The base looks like it's in really bad shape. We destroyed 6 more aircraft on the ground and everything else looks disabled. In the port, we hit a tender 3 times, should be more than enough to sink it.

A PBY reported successfully bombing an enemy submarine near Oahu.

The Marines on Oahu made another push, but ended up taking greater losses despite the poor supply situation of the Japanese invaders--officially 917 to 722 favoring us but we had more squads destroyed.

We tried to overrun Palmyra too, but the enemy turned our marines back, 176 troop casualties on our side with just one enemy tank destroyed. A lot of their defense are tanks, and a lot of our Wolverine tank destroyers were disabled during the landing. I'm resting our boys tomorrow to try to get those back online, we should get a bombardment from Warspite and Colorado to keep the enemy's heads down while we do that. B-26 raids continue daily.

We got another report of aircraft from our picket subs in the Marshalls, this time they reported the contact as a Kate. So, we probably do have at least one enemy carrier on the way. My amphibious task force is offloading at Pearl, hopefully we'll have them empty and gone in time. Wasp (Pearl) and Lexington (Palmyra) are bugging out.

China
Not a great day in the Chenghow area; the Zeroes shot down 3 P-40s, 3 P-43s and a Wellington (that flew unescorted despite the available/assigned P-40s). We only got 3 Zeroes.

Reinforcements
SS S-30 arrives at San Diego

https://i.ibb.co/Yc72Ljk/1942-July-8-Strategic.png

[Molon Labe]

9 July 1942
Rangoon mined

Burma and Thailand
Motor launches on ASW patrol detected mines in the river channels leading to Rangoon's port. They cleared a few and managed to give a transport convoy a clear path through, but one of them hit one as the day went on, sinking it. I'm calling in a minesweeper from India and another from Colombo to take care of this. Two convoys in Rangoon now are being ordered to remain there, another convoy that was on its way is going to wait in Colombo.

I'm doing some final recon of the Bangkok area--I have what should be a force strong enough to take it, or so I hope. I'm running out of time to do something about Singapore. Supplies there are already starting to tank now that cargo ships from Sumatra aren't getting there anymore.

Hawaii and Line Islands
The first two thirds of the amphibious convoy finished unloading and departed Pearl without incident. The final third took their place in the docks finished late in the day, and escorts spotted a sub as the convoy departed, prosecuting it and lightly damaging it. The only ships of mine left here in Hawaii are subs and a few cargo ships I plan on stationing here.

I'll be bombing Lahaina daily going forward. Today's raid resulted in an AKE being sunk in port (confirmed). Damage to the airbase is outpacing their repairs.

Several landing barges were sent to Pearl but they seemed to have run out of fuel enroute. One of my subs gunned one down; 4 USMC Buffalos strafed and sank 8 more.

A Kingfisher crew reported bombing a CL near Pearl, I'm pretty sure he meant to type "SS", we'd know if there was still a cruiser here.

Palmyra took a pounding from the Warspite and Colorado, but my troops aren't ready to take advantage. Maybe tomorrow.

Java Sea
The O21 was spotted and damaged by a PB, then Japanese aircraft found it again after it gave the PB the slip and hit it with a bomb. It's headed home for repairs.

Malaya
A new air campaign against Singapore is in full swing again, with multiple sweeps and bombing raids. We lost 2 Hurricanes, each one resulting in an ace wounded in action. We splashed an Oscar and 5 Sallies.

Sumatra
Our Palembang CAP strayed a bit again, shooting down 3 Oscars escorting bombers to the south. It looks like a battleship task force is headed to Palembang, hopefully they eat a mine going through that channel. If they avoid it we might get a shot at them with torpedo bombers.

Banda Sea
Yesterday I noticed enemy amphibious activity getting rather close to Darwin, so I moved the Beaufighter squadron from Port Morseby to Darwin. Today, they had a successful strike against a fast transport group near Selaroe, a small island east of Timor. They strafed and skipbombed a light cruiser and a destroyer there; the destroyer is believed to have been sunk. One Beaufighter was damaged, no losses. Not a bad debut.
https://i.ibb.co/yfxxdMf/1942-July-9-Beaufighter.png

Reinforcements
AM Adroit arrives at Portland
SC PC-578 arrives at Portland
xAK Maridal arrives at Aden
14th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

10 July 1942

Sumatra
The enemy heavy task force went through the channel to get to Palembang. A destroyer hit a mine and sank. The task force pressed on and shelled Palembang but didn't do that much; a few aircraft damaged, light facility damage. On the way out the KIX and KXIII tried to attack, but were spotted by escorts, and KXIII was lightly damaged by depth charges.

China
A sweep of Chengchow resulted in 1 P-43 and 3 Zeroes down; my bombing raid there shot down 3 Zeroes intercepting it. 1 Wellington bomber was lost to AA.

Singapore
Sweeps and raids on Singapore resulted in 1 Oscar down for them, 1 Hurricane and 2 Mohawks for me. I miss last week when we were culling them. I think I'm going to need to move the scoutplanes out of here, supplies are going too quickly. I've already stopped rearming subs here. One of the raids hit the Repulse, seemingly permanently confined to the shipyard.

Hawaii
I've outfitted VMF-214 with Wildcats, they'll be online in a few days. Buffalos on patrol found more landing barges to strafe, this time loaded with troops. They sank 3, killing about 700 enemy troops (55 support squads destroyed).

Our heavy bomber raid on Lahaina hit a sub in port.

Casualties were 585 to 682 on the ground in Oahu today, favoring them, but it looks like the enemy is starting to break.

At Palmyra, our marines shelled the enemy while the Wolverines were being worked on. Fatigue is also an issue, I'm going to have to rest them another day.

E. Australia
Destroyers found a sub off Brisbane, one ran itself out of depth charges attacking it. One pattern in particular hurt it badly, but it slipped away.

Reinforcements
13th Indian Light AA Regiment arrives at Colombo

[Molon Labe]

11 July 1942

Hawaii and Line Islands
Colorado and Warspite bombarded Palmyra. The enemy troops took heavy casualties. Our troops are still fatigued, though, so I'm not pressing today. We did engage them with artillery, causing significant damage.

My marines on Oahu continue to engage the enemy beachhead. Casualties 679 to 452 favoring us.

Sumatra
He's got a pair of minesweepers dealing with the mines in the channel southeast of Palembang. Fulmars bombed/strafed and probably sank of them. Nells bombed Palembang airbase and dealt decent damage at the cost of 1 lost to AA. Later on, Sallies hit the base, causing little facility damage but destroying a fighter on the ground. 2 Sallies were shot down by the CAP.

Malaya
Sweeps at Singapore took down 4 Hurricanes with just one Oscar lost. There's been a significant buildup of enemy fighter presence both here and in the Palembang area, it's getting overwhelming.

China
We lost another Wellington over Chengchow as our fighters continue to fail to escort our bombers in sufficient numbers. We got 3 Zeroes. An enemy sweep over Chengchow shot down a Lancer. I'm under the impression that enemy pilot quality in this region has improved significantly in recent days.

Ceram Sea
Our B-17s tried to hit shipping at Ambon; there were Nicks and Zeroes waiting for me there. The gunners show down 1 Zero, several bombers were shot up but there were no immediate shootdowns (I probably did lose a few on the trip back/landing/scrapped afterwards).

Marshall Islands
USS Halibut attacked an enemy cargo ship on the surface, getting 4 torpedo hits and several gunfire hits. The enemy surely sank and appears to have been transporting an artillery unit.

Reinforcements
VS-6D14 arrives at Alameda (floatplanes, restricted; will be a training unit)
329th FG/330th FS arrives at San Francisco (12/25 P-38s, partially restricted, training unit)
165th Field Artillery Battalion arrives at Seattle (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

12 July 1942
HMS Resolution sunk by submarine near Sri Lanka

CENTPAC
USS Thresher attacked an enemy cargo ship on the surface near Johnston Island, scoring a torpedo hit and raking it with all its guns (.50 cal, 20mm, 3"). The cargo ship appears to have been carrying an artillery unit and likely sank.

The ongoing land battle of Oahu claimed 1089 more enemy soldiers, 496 of my Marines.


East China Sea
USS Swordfish torpedoed an AKL in an escorted convoy near Okinawa, sinking it, and escaping the enemy escorts afterwards.

Bay of Bengal
I sortied the British CVBG and heavy surface task force to bombard Tavoy. I doglegged their course to avoid an area near Sri Lanka where I knew subs to be operating...but the subs found them anyway. HMS Resolution was hit by 4 torpedoes in the initial salvo. Our escorts pounced on the submarine and scored several solid hits with depth charges. The damaged forced the boat to surface. Extraordinarily, while on the surface, the submarine kept fighting while taking hits from the destroyers as well as the Resolution's secondary batteries. It got another torpedo salvo off, hitting Resolution twice, and hit a destroyer with its deck gun once, before finally succumbing to the gunfire.

Another submarine shelled and sank one my my AKLs near Sri Lanka. A minesweeper that had been escorting this ship was previously diverted to Rangoon to deal with the mines there.

Sumatra
Another 2 minesweepers are operating in the channel near Palembang, a Dutch Catalina bombed one of them. A raid of 27 Oscars and 52 Sallies hit Palembang (plus 6 more Sallies that arrived late without escorts), our CAP took down 3 Oscars and 15 Sallies, flak got another 4 Sallies.

Malaya
A raid of 56 Zeroes and 30 Sallies hit Singapore, we lost 2 Hurricanes trying to stop them. Flak got 2 Sallies, the Repulse was hit in the shipyard and light facility damage was inflicted on the port.

Reinforcements
SC-517 arrives at Los Angeles
328th FG/327th FS arrives at San Francisco (12/25 P-38, partially restricted)
329th FG/331st FS arrives at San Francisco (12/25 P-38, partially restricted)
18th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

13 July 1942
Palmyra liberated, IJA invasion of Oahu collapsing

Luzon Strait
USS Spearfish attacked an enemy cargo ship on the surface, scoring 2 torpedo hits and a few gun hits as well, sinking it.

Sumatra
3 light cruisers and 3 destroyers shelled Palembang, apparently having made it through the minefield. Nells and Sallies escorted by Oscars hit Palembang, causing minimal damage on the ground. 3 Australian P-40s were shot down attempting to intercept. 3 Oscars, a Nell, and a Sally were shot down by the CAP.

Hawaii and Line Islands
I ordered another real attack on Palmyra overnight, and it was successful today. The Japanese fought to the last man, but they were so beaten down by that point their resistance didn't amount to much, 1200 to 54 for casualties. Palmyra is ours again. Destroyed units:
23rd Fld AA Gun Co
12th Air Defense AA Battalion
38th Road Const Co
5th JNAF AF Unit
47th Nav Gd /1
(plus whatever tank unit was there earlier, was apparently already wiped out)

On Oahu, we're keeping the pressure on. Casualties were 1245 to 110 favoring us. It's only going to keep getting worse for them. We estimate the enemy has 15,000 troops left on Oahu.

China
I rested some bombers so my P-40s could sweep Chengchow (even though it's my own base, the enemy is starting to control the skies there). Overall, they lost 3 Zeroes and an Oscar, we lost 3 Lancers and a P-40.

E. Australia
Our ASW patrols connected with an enemy sub for a solid pattern hit. Didn't sink it though, probably crippled and returning to base.

Reinforcements
SC-518 arrives at Seattle
SC-522 arrives at Los Angeles
No.9 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Noumea (2/12 Hudson bombers, partially restricted, brought to full strength with reserves and set to pilot training)
7th BG/22nd BS arrives at Aden (American unit, 11/13 B-25, unrestricted--going to China via India)
34th Aviation Base Force arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

14 July 1942

Marshall Islands
USS Dolphin torpedoed an escorted Yusen-A class cargo ship near Roi-Namur. The ship appeared to be previously damaged, even so, the torpedo doesn't appear to have inflicted lethal damage. Dolphin encountered an escorted tanker and took a shot at it as well, but missed.

Malaya
Singapore was targeted with raids and sweeps for another day. We dominated the Oscars in the morning but the fight was nearly even by the end of the day. A training flight of Beaufighters was drawn into the fight. Enemy losses: 5 Oscars, 2 Zeroes; Allied losses: 2 Mohawks, 3 Beaufighters. HMS Repulse took another hit, other than that, not much damage on the ground.

Palembang
Sweeps and raids here too. Our CAP managed to pick off a few bombers that were too far away from escorting fighters; 1 Nell and 3 Sallies. Another Nell was taken down by flak. Base damage was pretty light.

China
I had one of my P-40 squadrons on long-range CAP over Chengchow to try to bolster the P-43s there. The losses today were all on our side, 4 P-40s, 1 P-43, and 1 SB-III bomber. Our bombers caused moderate casualties on the ground.

Hawaii
Looks like we got 3 enemy planes on the ground bombing Lahaina. On Oahu, casualties were 595 to 235 favoring us, but we didn't have many squads actually destroyed while he did. Several enemy units were wiped out:
25th Ind. Engineer Regiment
28th Shipping Engineer Regiment
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
The enemy is now reportedly surrounded. I'll be resting my marines tomorrow, they need a break.

E. Australia
The Anson light bombers struck again, hitting a KD6A class sub with a bomb near Brisbane.

Reinforcements, etc.
HMS Royal Sovereign is about to arrive at Sri Lanka after being repaired from battle damage sustained in February. It was spotted by a floatplane from one of the subs camping here, but not attacked.

6th British Brigade arrives at Aden - 71% Strength, unrestricted

A previously-arrived British Brigade at Aden is now at full strength and I'm moving it to Rangoon.

[Molon Labe]

15 July 1942

Java Sea
HMS Truant torpedoed and sank a Gozan class cargo ship near the cape dividing the Java sea from the Makassar Strait.

Ceram Sea
The S-41 shelled a Toho class cargo ship on the route between Kendari and the Celebes Sea, setting it on fire. The cargo ship appears to be carrying an artillery unit, as has been a recent trend. The ship is in no immediate danger of sinking, but it's in the hands of the crew to fight the fire successfully or not, and whatever unit is embarked will be taking damage as it burns.

A couple hundred miles east of that, the O24 encountered a flotilla of 4 mine tenders and sank one of them with a torpedo. I think it's strange to see these ships traveling in a group, especially when they aren't all that close to bases the merit defensive minefields. My best guess is they're headed for Surabaya and he's going to distribute them to other bases from there.

Bay of Bengal
HMS Decoy ran itself out of depth charges attacking an enemy sub off Sri Lanka, the sub escaped despite being solidly hit by two depth charge patters. Hopefully it sinks before it makes it to port for repairs.

Sumatra
The air battle over Palembang cost both sides 3 fighters each. The Aussies lost one of their few aces (7 kills).

China
We continue to fight over Chengchow; 3 Zeroes and 1 P-40 went down.

Malaya
We had the upper hand over Singapore today; 5 Zeroes down to 1 of our Mohawks. Enemy bombers got another hit on the Repulse.

Hawaii
We blew up two more bombers on the ground as we continued to bomb Lahaina airbase. B-26s from Christmas Island have been moved to Hickam to support the ongoing attacks on the enemy forces on Oahu. A paratrooper unit also arrived at Pearl, once their aircraft are online I'm going to send a few of them to recon the enemy base at Lahaina. Unfortunately the only way I'll actually be able to probe it is to attack it, so this may be a partial unit sacrifice, but I'll have an APD ready to pick them up all the same.

Reinforcements and refits
The KB's raid on Noumea and the loss of Enterprise and Hornet (resulting in the breakups of 2 CVBGs) has disrupted my upgrade schedules, which I'm now starting to get back on track:
DD Anderson begins refit while under repair at Los Angeles
DD Russell begins refit while under repair at Los Angeles
DD O'Brien taken out of commission to begin refit at Los Angeles
DD Phelps beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DM Pruitt beginning refit in shipyard at Sydney

Lexington is making a port call at San Francisco, mostly just to get it away from Hawaii/Palmyra after giving the KB a reason to be there. VF-2 is changing sizes from 27 to 36 aircraft, so I'm disembarking the USMC Wildcat squadron that was using that extra hangar space. They'll probably end up in Palmyra, now that we'll have an airbase there soon (after repairs, I trashed the hell of of everything there).

AM Kapunda arrives at Sydney
AM Stawell arrives at Melbourne
SS Albacore arrives at Balboa
328th FG/326th FS arrives at San Francisco (restricted, 6/25 P-39s; so many squadrons, so few aircraft to give them)
141st USA Base Force arrives at Tacoma (full strength, unrestricted)
35th Aviation Base Force arrives at March Field (full strength, unrestricted)

[PurpleCow]

This game looks great. Any games similar to this on the iPad?

[Molon Labe]

16 July 1942
Large tanker sunk by B-17s; bait ships again?

Malaya
Air raids over Singapore resulted in 1 Zero and 2 Mohawks downed, plus one Sally taken out with AA.

China
We're still fighting over Chengchow. 1 Oscar was shot down. The enemy is consolidating their ground forces in Chengchow itself, units that were adjacent have moved in.

Hawaii and Line Islands
https://i.ibb.co/nczMbk2/1942-July-16-bogey.png
A bogey has appeared near the blind spot between my search areas from Christmas Island and Pearl Harbor. Very much like what preceded the raid on Pago Pago about a month or so ago. It actually first appeared two days ago, I ordered a cruiser and a few destroyers out ahead of its direction of travel (east) to prevent it from getting into my shipping lanes. It disappeared for a day, then popped back up. If the pattern from before holds true, I've got a pretty good guess where his carriers are, so I'm just going to send subs there. No need to risk the surface group. I'm also assigning my PBYs to naval attack, if it's just a cargo ship like before they should be able to handle it.

Ceram Sea
At Babo, a small oil-producing base on the western end of Papua New Guinea, we sent 12 B-17s after a task force of tankers docking at the port. We scored a single hit on a Type 1 Large Tanker, setting its oil cargo on fire. It sank shortly afterward. They only start with 8 of these, so this is a high-value asset. They also had 8 similar Type-N large tankers, we previously got one of those as well, so they're down to 14 of 16 of their largest (and fastest) tankers. My opponent emailed me to demand that we disallow all bombing by 4-engine bombers because of this (he probably meant all naval bombing), I declined.

Reinforcements and refits
CA Vincennes beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at San Francisco
DD Woodworth begins refit while under repair at San Francisco
DD Ralph Talbot beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
DD Balch beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
DMS Southard beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
SS Tambor begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor
ML No. 303 arrives at Karachi
15th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted, full strength)

Intel
SS I-4 is reported to have been sunk near Efate on Apr 25, 1942 (hit a mine)

[Molon Labe]

17 July 1942


Sumatra
We lost an Aussie P-40 in a 24 vs 1 battle against Zeroes. I have some replacement aircraft for the British and New Zealand units so hopefully I'll be able to get a better CAP up soon. I might just disband this Australian unit soon, they're overdue for withdrawal anyway. The bombers taking advantage of this were bombing from 20,000ft so they didn't do all that much damage to the highly fortified base.

Malaya
We did a lot better at Singapore. 2 Hurricanes lost opposing the raids; they lost 6 Zeroes, 2 Oscars, and 5 Sallies (and a 6th to flak). They're also bombing from 20,000ft here, so same situation on the ground.

China
Another routine day of air battles over Chengchow; losses: 1 Oscar, 1 P-40, 1 P-43.

Solomons
My B-17s hit the port at Tulagi and hit an ammunition ship, setting it on fire. No, it didn't cook off.

Hawaii
After giving my Marines time to rest, we're going back after the remaining enemy troops on Oahu. Casualties were 1518 to 140 favoring us, and we wiped out several enemy units:
25th Ind. Engineer Regiment
28th Shipping Engineer Regiment
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment

Reinforcements/refits
CL Caradoc arrives at Cape Town
ML No. 269 arrives at Karachi
No.217 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (2/15 Beauforts - pretty useless with no additional aircraft in the replacement pool)
35th FG/39th FS arrives at San Francisco (disbanded unit that had been fighting from the Coral Sea area to Java, 4/25 P-39s, training duty until we get aircraft to outfit it with)

[Molon Labe]

18 July 1942
USS Saratoga returns to service

New Hebrides
I had 2 heavy cruisers shell Luganville. On the way back they were attacked by a sub, their destroyers failed to prosecute it. The shelling didn't appear to cause any damage, so clearly shelling this base isn't worth the risk to do again.

Malaya
Lots of bombers getting through and hitting Singapore this turn, but surprisingly, there still isn't a whole lot of airbase damage. We did lose 2 Albacores on the ground, though. HMS Repulse was hit again by a pair of small bombs and one 800kg whopper that actually did do serious damage. More hits like that and they may actually finish her off. We managed to only lose one Hurricane, he lost 5 Zeroes to the CAP, and two bombers to flak. Most of the bombing was from 15,000 instead of yesterday's 20,000. Estimated bomber sorties on Singapore today: 120

Solomons
B-17s from Milne flew to Tulagi for a second day, hitting the AKE two more times. It's not confirmed sunk, but I'd imagine 3 500-pounders is more than enough.

N. Australia
Our B-17s from Darwin tried to get some enemy merchant shipping at Koepang and were intercepted by Nicks. 1 B-17 was shot down; their gunners took down 3 Nicks. We missed the cargo ships.

China
The massive enemy army at Chengchow attacked, reducing my forts to level 4. Casualties were 26000 to 10000 favoring us.

Sumatra
The 16th Division has arrived at Palembang and has begun attacking with artillery.

Hawaii
We continue to eliminate the invaders on Oahu. Casualties 1165 to 19. Too bad they don't just surrender. Divisions are sometimes broken up into thirds; the "B" fragment of the 21st Division was wiped out. The other 2/3rds of the 21st are reported to be on Oahu, along with a formally-undivided 2nd Division and the 14th Army headquarters unit.

Our paratrooper recon of Lahaina doesn't appear to have reported a fortification level. Maybe that's because there aren't any. But we did get a list of units present:
4th Division
3rd Tank Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
11th Air Defense AA Battalion
2nd JAAF AF Bn
35th JNAF AF Unit
56th Const Co
13th JAAF AF Bn
2nd Div /1 (a fragment apparently brought over on those landing barges)
Total assault value: 410

Reinforcements/refits
USS Saratoga has completed repairs from the torpedo damage it took in the Naval Battle of Oahu, along with a refit that upgraded its radar and removed some AA mounts for a smaller number of higher quality.

DD Ward taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
DD Crane beginning refit in shipyard at Sydney
AO Neosho taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
AO Platte taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney

[Ostfriese]

Total assault value: 410


Is that a lot?

[Molon Labe]

Is that a lot?

A Japanese army division is usually around 450 AV at full strength, so with a division here plus two tank regiments, they appear to be beaten up a bit.

[Molon Labe]

19 July 1942
VT-5 delivered to Hickam AFB

Hawaii
The enemy sent another flotilla of landing barges to Oahu to try to evacuate troops. They were obliterated--2 by patrolling subs that surfaced to gun them down, and 10 by USMC Buffalos on low altitude patrol.

The land battle for Oahu claimed another 902 Japanese soldiers and 14 of ours.

USS Wasp delivered the Yorktown's former torpedo bomber squadron to Pearl/Hickam, which immediately transitioned from Devastators to Avengers. They'll be fully operational in 4 days.

The suspected bait ship is moving north towards Pearl, moving deeper into my PBY search radius. My subs are trying to reach it and are searching for possible enemy forces in the areas near it outside my PBY range.

Johnston Island
I used B-24s to raid Johnston and was surprised that there was a decent CAP of Oscars there. We ended up losing 2 of the B-24s to the damage they sustained in the raid. The raid itself didn't do any significant damage to the airfield we targeted. There are ships at Johnston, including a cruiser. Probably an evacuation.

Malaya
An enemy sub skipper got a little too aggressive (I know, Subsim doesn't believe that's ever possible), firing 2 torpedoes at a motor launch patroling near Singapore and giving its position away. The torpedoes missed and the ML retaliated, scoring multiple hits with depth charge patterns, severely damaging the sub. It didn't sink at Singapore--but I'll be surprised if we ever see it again.

Singapore was hit with air raids again; 1 Zero was shot down by the CAP and AA took down 2 bombers. A Hurricane, a Beaufighter, and 2 Albacores were destroyed on the ground. The damage to the base is still manageable, but my supply is cratering. During the original siege of Singapore, I had occasional cargo runs from Palembang and the factories in Singapore had sufficient resource stockpiles to produce supply--both of those are no longer the case. A possible ray of hope: my troop movements in Thailand may be producing a reaction; troops across the river from Singapore appear to be moving north. I'm putting a recon pilot in my last Beaufort and trying to get eyes on them. If the garrison gets too weak I might attempt to break out of the siege and retake resource areas to get my factories back at full capacity.

Celebes Sea
The KXVIII torpedoed an enemy PB on patrol near Tarakan. Surprisingly, the torpedo did not appear to cause severe damage, and the PB attempted to prosecute the sub. The KXVIII disengaged, then set up another torpedo salvo, which missed.

China
Two fighters down on each side in Chengchow, otherwise everything looks quiet.

Thailand
I've resumed bombing troops near Raheng to try to deter an attack on Raheng as I'm advancing towards Bangkok, and to soften them up in case they fall back to Bangkok. Nicks intercepted; 1 P-40 and 1 Nick were shot down.

Reinforcements and refits
DD Gwin beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Hughes taken out of commission to begin refit at Los Angeles
SS Gato taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane

[Molon Labe]

20 July 1942
Japanese carrier fleet approaching Pearl

Banda Sea
The S-36 attempted a surface attack on a cargo ship near the oil-producing port of Babo, but the cargo ship scored a hit on the S-36 that caused a fire. S-36 broke off.

Java Sea
The KX hit an enemy cargo ship with a torpedo off Batavia, causing severe damage. Later in the day, the KX found another cargo ship to target and hit this one 3 times, sinking it.

Hawaii/CENTPAC
S-47 visited the port at Johnston and found 7 destroyers on patrol. It took a shot at one (missing) and then evaded counterattack.

The land battle for Oahu claimed another 1746 enemy soldiers and 14 of ours. This wiped out the "A" and "C" portions of the 21st Division.

An enemy task force is approaching Pearl Harbor; at this time its composition is reported as a carrier, 2 battleships, and a seaplane tender. My take on this is that these are the 2 fast battleships of the KB coming in to shell Hickam airbase with at least one CV providing air cover. It appears that the enemy task force will arrive shortly after sunrise tomorrow. Bombardment task forces almost always try to arrive at night, so they might actually slow down and pause to hit us overnight after tomorrow.

At this time, Pearl/Hickam doesn't yet have a whole lot of ASUW capability; we have a partial-strength SBD squadron and a torpedo bomber squadron that's only starting to come online. Plus a ton of level bombers, but they're not going to hit warships all that well. Wasp just delivered the Yorktown's former fighter squadron, VF-42, to Hickam. So at least our SBDs will have a ton of fighters available to escort them. I have two convoys approaching that I'll order to hold off, I'm backing off the few DDs and CAs I have here to keep them out of the way. I have 5 S-boats on a patrol that I'm putting in the enemy's path. Wasp, since it's acting as an aircraft ferry right now, has only its own fighters embarked, so it's just headed back to California. Saratoga and Lexington, now commanded by Admiral Halsey, are on their way here, but whether they actually engage is going to depend on timing and how many carriers they actually have. If the enemy does get a shot at those carriers, their attack pilots are going to end up shocked by the amount of AAA they're going to put up--Lex and Sara themselves have been upgraded, there are 2 CLAAs in company, plus 2 heavy cruisers and I think 14 destroyers that have all had substantial AA upgrades.

China
One Oscar down over Chengchow today.

Sumatra
I used my Fulmars to attack land units approaching Palembang, which hit them without resistance, as expected. This move is intended to cause him to set up a long-range CAP rather than actually do damage. I'm moving my Albacores from Singapore to Palembang as they're getting blown up on the ground there--and because he's choosing his shipping routes to stay out of their range from Singapore, so we may get a shot at something tomorrow, and with any luck their fighter coverage will be on their land units.

Thailand and Burma
I shifted my bomber attacks slightly, hitting the base at Pisanuloke (next to Raheng) instead of the nearby armies in the open. It worked out and I caused heavy casualties to land units that are probably packing up to be shipped by rail to Bangkok--but they flew without escorts, yet again. Fortunately there were no defending fighters.

Oscars tried to strafe MLs on ASW patrol near Rangoon; they got nothing except one of their own shot down by AA.

Solomons
A PBY that snooped Tulagi found an enemy minesweeper there and bombed it as a target of opportunity.

Reinforcements/Refits
23rd Marine Regiment arrives at Eastern USA (near full strength, unrestricted)
AM Skylark arrives at Alameda
DD Laffey taken out of commission to begin refit at San Francisco
DMS Perry beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

21 July 1942
Kido Butai defeats USMC dive bombers, again

Solomon Islands
The S-28 attacked a convoy of tenders approaching the Solomons from the north, hitting a seaplane tender with a Mk10. The tender was not fatally damaged.

Malaya
A Japanese sub attacked an ML on ASW patrol and missed, the ML counterattacked, dealing substantial damage with depth charges before the sub escaped.

Enemy sweeps downed 2 Mohawks over Singapore. 3 bombers were shot down by flak. Enemy bombing accuracy isn't good enough to outpace repairs.

Oscar raids targeted MLs on patrol with strafing runs. Damage in the morning was insignificant, but they connected solidly in the afternoon, resulting in one ML scrapped.

Sumatra
2 Hurricanes down over Palembang, the first sweep was 40 Oscars to 4 Hurricanes and got worse as the day went on.

Hawaii
The enemy carrier force is getting closer, and it looks like the whole KB except for the torpedo-damaged Akagi. (confirmed: Junyo, Kaga, Zuikaku, Hiryu)

The six USMC Buffalos on low altitude naval attack orders decided the KB was an appropriate target. The CAP was 107 planes. They didn't come back.

The second raid was our partial strength SBD squadron (11 planes) with 21 F4F escorts, a small fraction of what was available. 5 got through, attacking the Hiryu and Junyo, but they all missed. All the SBDs were lost, to the CAP and 2 more to flak. 6 F4Fs and 5 Zeroes were also downed.

After one last raid that destroyed 2 light bombers on the ground at Lahaina, the level bombers and flyable torpedo bombers have all been evacuated to minimize the damage when the battleships hit us.

No airstrikes by the KB.

Pearl's Marines inflicted 1990 enemy casualties without taking losses, eliminating the 14th Army headquarters.

Thailand
1 enemy Nick shot down by Hurricanes trying to stop our bombers near Raheng. Some enemy forces at Tavoy are moving back towards Bangkok.

China
The enemy attacked at Chengchow, bringing forts down to level 3. Casualties 17810 to 7000 favoring us.

[Molon Labe]

22 July 1942
KB charges at Pearl, but doesn't attack...Land Battle of Oahu ends

CENTPAC
S-47 approached Johnston Island to attack the concentration of merchant shipping there. It torpedoed and sank an AKL. The Pollack was next, attacking another AKL on the surface, hitting it with one or two dud Mk14s but causing major fires with deck gun hits. S-47 got in on that action too, putting two torpedoes into the likely-doomed ship.

West of Oahu, the Flying Fish encountered the large destroyer formation spotted at Johnston a few days ago. It took light damage from a pair of near-misses.

The KB looks like it's going to Lahaina instead of Pearl. Covering an evacuation? It was so close we lost 1 PBY and 5 Kingfishers to the CAP. It didn't attack, with aircraft or with its battleships. And we lost track of it. Obviously, it's still close, though. It may be trying to locate any ships I had heading to Pearl and stopped on the northeast side of the island chain, so I'm backing those guys off even more.

The land battle of Oahu has ended at last, the blood of the last soldiers of the 2nd Division wiping out their foul footstep's pollution.

China
The battle in the air over Chengchow claimed 4 Oscars and 2 P-43s.

Singapore and Sumatra
Palembang was able to provide one British squadron with Hurricane replacements. The Mohawk squadron and New Zealand squadron are worn down and probably aren't coming back, so those Hurricanes plus a beaten down Aussie P-40 squadron are all that's left for both bases.

Singapore sweeps cost 1 each: Hurricane, Zero, Oscar. 6 Oscars assigned to strafing attacks were also downed by AA.
Damage to both bases is failing to outpace repairs.

Reinforcements
AMc Hinau arrives at Auckland
YMS-120 arrives at Los Angeles
VS-5 arrives at San Francisco (Yorktown's former scout squadron reformed; we don't have enough planes to outfit it yet)
No.205 Sqn RAF arrives at Koggala (Catalinas, we don't have qualified pilots for them so this has to be a training squadron)
I US Corps arrives at March Field (Corps HQ unit, unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

23 July 1942
KB disappears after charging Pearl

Malaya/Sumatra
Massive air raids continue.

We didn't have a CAP up over Singapore today. AA took down four bombers. Damage on the ground is still unaccumulating. Repulse took a few more non-penetrating hits. Oscars strafed Singapore's last minesweeper and sank it.

We managed to get 2 Hurricanes up over Palembang; 1 was shot down. Damage on the ground is not accumulating.

The Fulmars at Palembang took off to try to hit an enemy task force, but failed to find the target.

Thailand
Enemy Nicks and Oscars got through our escorts protecting Blenheim bombers attacking troops in the open near Raheng. We lost 2 Hurricanes and a Blenheim.

Hawaii
I have no idea where the KB ended up. That I have ships north, east, and south of Hawaii and none of them are reporting sighting aircraft suggests they turned around and left to the west, but I'm still worried they're going to show up in my shipping lanes or even off the west coast.

My PBYs took advantage of the KB's absence, though, and hit a cargo ship loading troops at Lahaina with a torpedo. I'm moving my bombers back to Hickam, but I'm not replacing any lost fighters and divebombers just yet.

Reinforcements
AM Dubbo arrives at Townsville
112th Cavalry Regiment arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)
11th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

24 July 1942
Successful Allied torpedo bomber strikes wipe out an ASW task force and sink a merchant full of troops; KB's general whereabouts known

Hawaii and CENTPAC
We haven't spotted the actual KB again, but we have something almost as good-Kates attacking the USS Thresher near Kona. Thresher was damaged, along with a Kate, but at least we know the KB is somewhere southeast of Pearl--possibly trying to cover transports covering troops.

If that's what it's doing, though, it's doing a **** job. 3 PBY Catalinas attacked a retreating merchant, hitting it with 3 torpedoes, sinking it instantly. 1759 land unit casualties were reported. 2 of the 3 Catalinas crash landed at Hickam due to the damage they sustained during their attack runs. VT-5 has let them know they'll take it from here.

At Johnston, the S-47 hit the AO Shiriya with a Mk10, setting its fuel cargo on fire. The Pollack also hit the tanker Tatekawa Maru with a Mk14, but of course it didn't explode.

Malaya and Sumatra
At Singapore, we got 4 fighters in the air on CAP, which was enough to shoot down a Zero and 2 Sallies. 5 more Sallies were shot down by flak as the enemy split his bombing altitudes at 10,000ft and 20,000ft. The guys at 10,000 are apparently quite vulnerable.

The Albacores that rebased to Palembang flew a sortie along with Fulmars and a pair of Aussie P-40 escorts. The Albacores did so well the Fulmars didn't even attack. An ASW squadron was wiped out--a PB, and 2 SCs. That's only going to work once, the next will have a CAP.

China
I've pulled back a bomber squadron from the Chengchow frontline because replacement Hudsons are available at larger bases in the rear. The ongoing air battle over Chengchow claimed 2 P-40s, a 1 P-43, and 2 Zeroes.

Thailand
The enemy has reinforced the base opposite from Raheng, which is good news because it keeps them away from Bangkok. Our escort situation was a mess again, 4 Blenheims were shot down; the escorts that did fly with the bombers shot down a Nick.

Solomons
I sent my B-17s to Guadalcanal after hitting Rabaul uncontested for a few days. 10 Oscars were protecting Guadalcanal-they shot down 1 B-17 while the gunners shot down 2 Oscars. We lost another B-17 to flak from the base. We slightly damaged the airbase, but in the port we found a sub and hit it twice. Regretfully, the bombers reported that the damage to the sub wasn't all that bad.

Reinforcements and refits
SS Whale arrives at Mare Island - assigned to Dutch Harbor
TK Mobilube arrives at Cristobal
AMc Sanda arrives at Auckland
38th BG/405th BS arrives at Eastern USA - B-25s, unrestricted, full strength

DD Porter beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles

[Molon Labe]

25 July 1942
KB disappears again, Chengchow resists a major push


Malaya and Sumatra
We managed 10 aircraft on CAP over Singapore today, which were able to bag 6 Betties and a Nell that had few escorts. Later in the day, though, a major raid of over 90 Sallies with at least 20 Zeroes escorting were able to shoot down 2 Hurricanes without loss, both shootdowns claimed the lives of British aces. Most of the Sallies bombed from 20k and did little damage; one squadron bombed from 10,000, one of their planes was shot down by AA.

China
One Oscar was shot down over Chengchow--Boyington's 4th.

The enemy "death star" army at Chengchow (about 150,000 troops) attacked in force, reducing my fortifications to level 2. Casualties were 13138 to 7247, favoring us. I think we'll be able to hold in spite of the decreasing forts.

Thailand
We traded 2 Hurricanes for 2 Oscars. I'm going to stand down my bombers here for awhile, the missions here aren't worth losing planes over just yet. The B-25 squadron that was recently delivered to India is now in Rangoon, so when we resume bombing it should hurt. I've also got 2 Canadian fighter squadrons on their way here now that I have destroyers available to escort the ships from South Africa.

Hawaii
There's a major surface task force at Johnston, not sure what their deal is. No sign of the KB today, including aircraft sightings. I'm sending subs southeast of Kona to try to re-establish contact. Heavy bomber raids against Lahaina has resumed. A Kingfisher spotted an enemy sub and bombed it on the surface.

Reinforcements and Refits
AVP Pelican taken out of commission to begin refit at Suva
AVP Thrush taken out of commission to begin refit at Eureka
SS Porpoise taken out of commission to begin refit at Singapore
AM Advent arrives at Portland (converting into a subchaser along with one other)
3rd NZ Division arrives at Auckland (unrestricted corps HQ)

[Molon Labe]

26 July 1942
So little happened here that I'm essentially skipping it. The one event of note is that my heavy bomber raid on Lahaina was intercepted by the KB's Zeroes. 5 Wildcats were shot down but the bombers got through.

27 July 1942
Another uneventful day.
S-31 torpedoed a cargo ship off Kona, Hawaii. KXV torpedoed another in the Celebes Sea, which was abandoned by its convoy, allowing KXV to finish it off as it burned. A pair of heavy cruisers bombarded Palembang and managed not to get attacked by my torpedo bombers and fighter-bombers. The KB moved south of Kona, prompting me to back off some troop reshuffling at Palmyra.

28 July 1942
Major air battles over Hawaii

Hawaii
A cargo convoy docked yesterday and dropped off 3 subchasers for Pearl. An enemy sub attempted to sneak into the harbor this morning but was spotted by a destroyer-escort from the convoy. Despite numerous damaging depth charge near-misses, the sub got away. A Kingfisher bombed another sub near Pearl.

Knowing the KB was lending its CAP to protect Lahaina, I had VF-5 perform a high-altitude sweep. They hammered the initial CAP but got sucked into a longer fight as the enemy scrambled more fighters, which stopped the hemorrhaging for the enemy. Losses here were 13 Zeroes to 4 Wildcats. A few B-17s went after the carriers next. The enemy CAP was somewhat depleted and failed to stop any of the bombers. But AA got two, and unsurprisingly, the Shokaku and Zuikaku were able to avoid being hit. After that, the rest of the heavy bombers, and one squadron of B-26s, hit Lahaina with Wildcat escorts. We lost 5 Wildcats to their 3 Zeroes and many Zeroes got through to the bombers. The heavies were a meat grinder for the Zeroes; one of the kills was by the bombers and many more Zeroes were damaged without bringing down any of the heavies. The B-26s were much more vulnerable though--we lost 5.

The enemy launched some small strikes of its own going after my new subchasers. Wildcats took down 2 Zeroes, 7 Kates, and 2 Vals in at least 3 different raids. Five of those kills were all by one guy, a rookie on his 2nd sortie ever and my newest Ace-in-a Day (FO Pond, Z.A. of VMF-223). But 6 Vals got through in the last raid, and 3 of them found their marks, 1 for each subchaser. So that was a really short career for them.

Malaya and Thailand
I now have a strong army sitting outside Bangkok, the enemy has responded by rebasing bombers to attack them. Which is a problem, because of losing Tavoy--I have the fighters to protect them, but they're flying too far to have sufficient loiter time. His armies from Tavoy are moving to cut off my army, so I'm going to let him, then double back and defeat that blocker army. By then I'll have other forces closing in on Tavoy and we should be back on track.

I few my recon B-25 variant from China to Singapore to snoop Johore Bahru. That flight, combined with SIGINT reports, leads me to believe that the overwhelming number of troops there are support troops with very little actual infantry. Depending on the level of fortifications there, this could be a paper tiger. There are significant resource producing sites there, so if I were to take it, those resources would end up in Singapore's factories and be converted to the supply I need to survive the siege. And with the bombers having other things to do up at Bangkok, the time to make a move here may be coming.

[Molon Labe]

29 July 1942
IJN Ise torpedoed transiting the Celebes Sea without escorts

Celebes Sea
The KXVIII spotted the battleship Ise entering the Celebes Sea unescorted near Tarakan. It hit it with 3 of 6 torpedoes, leaving it crippled and burning. I'm a bit annoyed with the AI, because there's just no reason not to administer a submerged coup de grace here, but the sub just slipped away without ever being spotted. I think it's likely we've seen the last of the Ise, though--the closest shipyard that can handle her is probably Hong Kong, and I doubt she'd survive the trip. So she'll probably end up sheltering at Tarakan and spend the rest of the war there.

As for why a capital ship with no ASW capability is passing through a choke point that my submarines have been patrolling continuously for months? Your guess is as good as mine.

Sumatra and Malaya
Raids on Singapore are getting no one to play with as I'm saving supply by not putting a CAP up. The enemy bombers just aren't doing that much anyway--and a lot of them are headed to Bangkok now. At Palembang, we lost 2 Mohawks and a P-40 in exchange for 2 Betties and 5 Sallies.

Thailand
My armies are still being hit by enemy bombers near Bangkok as my fighters have insufficient loiter time that far from base. We lost one Hurricane trying to protect them, and the enemy lost 2 Nicks to AA.

Hawaii
The KB intercepted another flight of bombers hitting Lahaina. We lost 6 Wildcats, with the bombers getting through. The KB then hit Pearl with a small airstrike, targeting ships in port. We lost one more Wildcat there, while shooting down a Zero, 4 Vals, and 4 Kates--that was all the attack aircraft sent. Once again, 5 of these kills were all one by one guy (MAJ Smith, J.L. of VMF-223), so we've had a new Ace-in-a-Day on two consecutive days.

Both of these new aces are still flying Buffalos. These were the guys strafing the landing barges before the KB appeared, they're now flying CAP at a lower altitude than the Wildcats. So I think the reason they're getting these kills is they're slipping in underneath the furball and getting to the Kates.

My bombers are getting shot up pretty badly, so I'm going to rest them for a bit.

Reinforcements and withdrawals
507th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Los Angeles (unrestricted, about half strength)

HMS Indomitable has withdrawn from this theatre to participate in the war in the European theatre.

[Ostfriese]

The Dutch submarine service strikes again.



And the aircraft losses the KB has sustained throughout your game are quite high by now. As your opponent has used the KB as an offensive tool most of his lost planes should also mean a lost pilot. Or can a substantial amount of these pilots be saved?

[Molon Labe]

30 July 2021
Kido Butai fighter squadrons significantly degraded

Celebes Sea
An ASW group guarding the sea lanes around the southeast coast of Mindanao was spotted by the KXV, which put a torpedo into a PB, sinking it. Another PB in the squadron attacked the KXV, but its depth charges couldn't reach it.

E. Australia
Minesweepers on ASW duty spotted an enemy sub and lightly damaged it with depth charges before it escaped.

China
The air campaign for Chengchow cost us a P-40 and 3 medium bombers, the enemy lost 3 light bombers. I'm resting my bombers again while I try to lock the skies down. I have a squadron of Chinese P-40s (aircraft left by the AVG when they withdrew) that's just about ready to come over here, my pilots just need to increase their defensive skill slightly before I trust them not to waste these aircraft.

Sumatra
Palembang's Fulmars attacked a PB on ASW patrol, scoring 11 hits with 250lb, bombs along with several strafing runs because overkill is cool. We traded one Hurricane for a Sally over Palembang itself.

About 3 divisions and change are now besieging Palembang.

Thailand
We downed one Zero that was protecting the bombers hitting our troops near Bangkok, AA took down 2 Betties and a Sally. But the bombers are getting through and doing significant damage. I should have these troops in better terrain in a few more days, but the buildup of airpower in Bangkok continues.

A bit off the coast, our Catalinas have spotted 3 ships, 2 of which were classified as destroyers. They look like they're going to head past Port Blair. They're walking right into the British CVs.

Hawaii
Apparently displeased with the result of their small raid yesterday, the KB hit Pearl/Hickam with a major strike today: 43 Zeroes, 32 Kates, 49 Vals. We were completely focused on defense with our bombers resting and got 28 Wildcats and a Buffalo up to resist them. The aerial battle was very much in our favor: 11 Zeroes down with no losses. But we didn't get to the bombers:

xAK Wind Rush, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Thresher, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Laws, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Lewis Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AA downed 9 Vals.
It looks like all these ships will survive.

The KB's air losses during the week+ it's been deployed here are accumulating. I'm counting 35 Zeroes down--and with a standard complement of 18 on all these carriers, that effectively means the KB has the fighter strength of 3 carriers instead of 5--assuming it can't resupply from Lahaina (we'll have an answer to that soon). In my mind, that means it's time to withdraw the KB, or he could end up with his 60 remaining Zeroes fighting 3x36 Wildcats from the Lex, Sara, and Wasp, plus another 30 or so from Hickam--that's 138 total. In reality, my carriers aren't here to capitalize on this: Wasp is playing aircraft ferry and is about to deliver more Wildcats to Hickam, along with a depleted VB-5. Sara and Lex are getting some maintenance after running from the area at high speed from when I lost track of the KB. But he doesn't know that. It'll be interesting to see just how desperate he is to evacuate these troops--is it really worth risking losing carriers?

EDIT: Ostfriese, I love that you were asking about the KB's air losses as I was reporting on them! About pilot losses, it's hard to estimate how many pilots he's losing because some fraction of them bail out, and some fraction of them are rescued. I'm fairly sure the game balances the odds of rescue based on whether the bailout was near friendly or enemy units. Here, we both have two major bases, Pearl and Lahaina, dueling each other in very close proximity. The pilots are being shot down over both. My take on this is that he was already hurting for quality pilots before this deployment, as there have been prior fights where KB Zeroes have gotten their asses handed to them by highly-trained USMC Wildcat pilots. And in this ongoing fight, we've won a couple rounds and lost one as well--so I think there's probably a significant difference in pilot quality from squadron to squadron as it stands right now. All of the USMC and USN pilots I'm bringing to this fight are what I consider "fully trained", an air skill of at least 70 and a strafing skill of at least 60 (strafing isn't that important, but having a secondary skill helps the Defensive skill grow more quickly). The days of him taking advantage of subpar American pilots are over.

[Molon Labe]

31 July 1942
Carrier battle in Bay of Bengal leaves IJN Hiyo crippled--KB remains at Lahaina despite severely degraded fighter squadrons

Hawaii
The S-32 took a shot at the seaplane carrier Nissin as it approached Lahaina and missed. I don't normally report failed sub attacks, but in this case, this task force appears to be an amphibious transport group to evacuate the remaining troops on Lahaina. Which means the enemy's operation here will probably conclude within the next 2 days. More on this later.

The KB launched another raid on Pearl, but it was a high level bombing attack from 25,000 feet and did little damage. The destroyer-escort that hit the enemy sub a few days ago was damaged. At the cost of 2 Wildcats, our CAP shot down 4 Zeroes, 4 Kates, and 4 Vals.

The KB did not leave after this. So, it appears he's committed to this evacuation. I've decided to raise the stakes. I'm giving replacement aircraft to the USMC dive bomber squadron that was wiped out about a week ago. I'm also transferring another USMC dive bomber squadron from Palmyra--yes, now that it's mine again, some of my planes have the range to fly from Pearl to my southern holdings. Wasp is about a day away--I was just going to drop off USMC Wildcats and a weakened USN dive bomber squadron. But I'm actually doing to drop off the Wasp's own fighters and one of its bomber squadrons. So, unless his two battleships blow the hell out of Hickam (which they probably would have done already if they were going to), within 2 days, I should have 3 operational SBD squadrons, 1 TBF squadron, and 50 more Wildcats to add to the number of operational fighters there (currently about 40). To try to slow him down from leaving, my heavy bombers are hitting the port at Lahaina tomorrow and my medium bombers are going to the port at Hilo (SIGINT reported enemy tanks being loaded there), unescorted. I'll take losses, but the heavy bombers are going to wear down his fighters even more. My fighters will all be on CAP to try to prevent him from bombing my attack squadrons on the ground while I'm preparing to hit him.

I've warned him that hanging out around my bases like they aren't a threat is going to cost him someday. Let it be now.

Lex and Sara are back at sea, but I expect they'll be late for this party.

Sumatra and Malaya
We lost a P-40 and a Hurricane over Palembang. At Singapore, recon is notes a significant decrease in the enemy troop presence at Johore. Wouldn't it be nice if that was the infantry regiment moving out? Hard to confirm who unless we're able to spot them around Bangkok in another day or two.

Bay of Bengal
So those "3 ships, 2 classified as destroyers" was actually the Hiyo CVBG. They tried to strike first, sending 19 Vals after my Brit CVBG unescorted. 9 of them turned around when they saw my CAP of 31 Martlets (Wildcats) waiting for them. The other 10 were wiped out.

Our strike wasn't that great. One torpedo bomber squadron somehow lost its escort despite taking off from the same ship. They'd arrive late with no fighter cover. The first wave was 6 Albacores and 6 Swordfish with 4 Martlets escorting. There were 19 Zeroes on CAP, which shot down 3 of the Marlets and moved on to the bombers, shooting down 5 of the 6 Swordfish before they got to the ships. Flak got another 2 Albacores on approach, leaving 1 Swordfish and 4 Albacores to actually attack. That was enough for the Albacores to perform an anvil attack on the battleship Hiei, which took one of the two torpedoes fired at its side. The surviving Swordfish went after the Hiyo and missed.

While the enemy CAP was fixated on that raid, my 6 remaining Albacores arrived unescorted. The CAP failed to react in time. 1 Albacore was shot down by flak on approach, and the remaining 5 managed to score 2 hits on the Hiyo. There were no secondary explosions, fires, or any other overt signs of severe damage. But the Hiyo is a converted ocean liner--I'm fairly confident that 2 torpedo hits is enough to remove it from the fight.

https://i.ibb.co/LP0kZm7/1942-July-31-Hiyo.png

I don't want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here--Bangkok is very close, and if my CVBG gets much closer it will be facing torpedo-armed Betties with Zero escorts. So I'm only moving in a little--if the Hiyo is crippled badly enough to still be in range, I'll hit her again. But I won't chase her into Bangkok's protective umbrella.

Reinforcements
No.24 Sqn RAAF Det arrives at Sydney - 6 P-39s
USMC AirFMFPac arrives at San Diego - unrestricted air HQ

[Molon Labe]

1 August 1942
Enemy departs Lahaina under cover of night

Thailand
More enemy bombers hitting my troops meant to take Bangkok. I'm starting to worry I've compromised any chance of success here by not retaking Tavoy first.

Sumatra
The two heavy cruisers came back to shell Palembang. I had attack aircraft with naval attack orders, but the enemy got beyond my range restriction (to prevent my aircraft from trying to attack a bastion with dozens of fighters) before the flight could be launched.

Hawaii
My bombers hit Lahaina and Hilo with minimal resistance. There were a few Zeroes at Hilo, resulting in the loss of 2 B-26s. There were no transports left at either base, apparently they took off overnight and didn't even have the courtesy to wave goodbye to the many subs that were waiting for them. As a consolation prize, the submarine I-124 was docked at Lahaina for repairs and got bukaked by the B-17s overhead for a confirmed kill.

Bay of Bengal
Paratroopers are seizing the Andaman Islands that don't have British forces guarding them (the only island guarded is Port Blair).

Catalinas picked up the retreating Hiyo CVBG just beyond my CVBG's strike range. It's going to get away. Maybe my goalkeeper sub off Hong Kong will get a shot at it in a week when it limps in.

Reinforcements and Repairs
DD Laffey beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
SS Porpoise begins refit while under repair at Singapore (external torpedo tubes)
SC-704 arrives at Eastern USA
AM Tui arrives at Auckland
XXXIII Indian Corps arrives at Madras (corps HQ, unrestricted)

The Bristol class destroyers are now due for a major upgrade--40mm Bofors guns and additional K-guns to throw depth charges. After this, their AA capability will be close to what some heavy cruisers were at the start of the war. Most of this class are currently with my carriers, swapping them out to get their upgrades will be a high priority.

[Molon Labe]

2 August 1942
Chengchow holds off another major attack, major enemy bomber losses in Sumatra

Thailand
We downed a Zero and a Sally going after our troops near Bangkok, but they're still getting through and doing damage.

Near Raheng, we've crossed the river to the east and taken the minor base of Uttaradit so that we can take Pisanouke without having to cross the river under fire. Taking Pisanouke will help keep our troops attacking Bangkok supplied.

I'm starting to wonder if it would be practical to bypass Bangkok and just start working my way down the Malayan peninsula. If I can take and hold Victoria Point I have some prospect of keeping troops supplied to the south. From there, if I can take Georgetown I'd be close enough to Singapore to airlift supplies.

https://i.ibb.co/qyJZY3d/1942-Aug-3-Thailand.png

Sumatra
An air raid against forces just outside Palembang was intercepted by Hurricanes, along with raids on Palembang proper. Total losses were 4 Zeroes and 21 Sallies. Many of those Sallies arrived unescorted. The impact of relocating fighters to Bangkok is kicking in.

China
Raiding the enemy army at Chengchow cost me 3 P-43s. The army attacked in force, bringing our fortifications down to level 2, casualties 15818 to 5048 favoring us. Even with the forts coming down, the numbers don't look too good for him. And maybe he agrees--at least some of the enemy units are pulling out after the battle.

Hawaii
I resumed heavy bomber raids on Lahaina. The raid was resisted by 6 Zeroes--is the KB still lurking nearby? One Wildcat and one Zero down.

West Coast
A sub was detected near Seattle yesterday by ASW aircraft. Today, one of three ASW task forces found the sub and attacked, but missed. Sub activity off the west coast is rare so far.

Reinforcements and refits
BB Nevada beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco (AA upgrade, 40mm Befors replacing 1.1" AA mounts)
DD Woodworth beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco (Bristol class; Bofors+Kguns)
AMc Scarba arrives at Auckland
2/215th Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment arrives at Aden (unrestricted, empty unit -- but plenty of AT guns in the pool to fill this out)

[Molon Labe]

3 August 1942
No, don't be more aggressive! USS Pollack severely damaged off Johnston

CENTPAC
Overnight at Johnston, the USS Pollack got caught snooping around for transports and suffered serious damaged in a shallow water depth charge attack. The CO didn't think it was all that bad and stayed on station. So, it was located and attacked again in the afternoon. It's a miracle it wasn't sunk then and there. Even after the 2nd attack, the CO kept the boat on station and I had to manually order it to return to Pearl. Between the flooding and engine damage it will probably take about 10 days to make the short trip--if it makes it at all, which is unlikely.

Luzon Strait
USS Searaven encountered two cargo ships in the shallows near Bataan Island. It failed to get any detonating Mk14 hits and didn't want to close to engage with its gun. But, the important result is that it looks like the enemy is hugging the coasts of the small islands to try to avoid my blue-water sub patrols. The Searaven was assigned here to see if that was the case, so I'm going to adjust a few more patrol areas to try to catch them leaving the coastlines--maybe plant a few minefields, too.

Sumatra
Another great day for the Brit & Kiwi pilots defending Palembang -- they got 6 Zeroes and 12 Sallies with just 2 Hurricanes shot down. AA added another 3 Sallies. The Sallies are getting lower and more accurate though, we lost 4 planes on the ground from the bombing.

The enemy army attacked Palembang, bringing forts down to level 3, casualties 4454 to 1614 favoring me. Short of receiving major reinforcements, he can't win this way, a starving us out is his only hope and that could take months.

Hawaii
A Kingfisher bombed an any sub near Pearl. Pearl is inside a soft blockade right now, it looks like there are about 10 enemy subs playing hide and seek with my patrol aircraft. It's a shame the KB destroyed those 3 subchasers a few days ago. But, my ASW pilot training is paying off, I've assigned some of my best to the Kingfishers and Catalinas here and they're getting results.

Reinforcements and Refits
AM Starling arrives at Alameda
No.457 Sqn RAF arrives at Melbourne - 2 Spitfire prototypes - it's going to be awhile before these go into production for us to fill out the squadron.
19th Canadian Brigade arrives at Vancouver (restricted)

Vengeance dive bombers are now in production for the UK. I should have enough to fill a squadron before the end of the month.

Strategic Outlook
I'm starting to feel pretty optimistic that we might have turned the tide. The enemy's withdrawal from Hawaii was a huge defeat for them, and it looks like it cost them 2 divisions of troops. They're "getting back" 3 divisions from this operation, but they've lost so much ground by having them here for the war so far, they should have had Singapore and Palembang months ago.

Help may be on the way for Singapore, but I still don't know if I can actually take Bangkok to make that possible, and the troops pulled out of CENTPAC might be headed here to assure a Japanese victory in Malaya. I still think my best chance to hold Singapore is to have my armies try to break out. I'm just trying to give them a little time to plan since that river crossing is going to result in disorganization and high casualties.

I enjoyed taking Palmyra back so much I'll probably keep doing that all over CENTPAC. What I'd like to do is assign a bunch of subs to be tattletails and send them out in front of two sets of islands at a time. The KB will probably only respond to one invasion at a time, so when the subs spot them (or start getting overflown by Kates) we pull that invasion back, so hopefully 1 out of the 2 succeeds for each iteration. It's even possible we might be able to bait enemy carriers into a losing battle. I don't think any of them have had their June upgrades yet--Akagi is probably getting its upgrade now while it's under repair--but that's 3 weeks of downtime for the rest of them. So he either keeps putting that off or has to reduce the size of the KB to cycle them through. Combine that with his pilot quality dropping off and I may get an opportunity.

I can't help but notice that I'm not seeing a whole lot of naval activity from him. Other than the evacuation of Hawaii, it's really just been the brief CVBG deployment to the Bay of Bengal and a few ASW patrols. Maybe the lack of fuel is finally catching up with him? If my adjusted sub patrols start finding tanker routes that he's been able to get away with using, then at least we'll know he's been able to get some benefit from taking Borneo and Java. But so far, I'm maintaining constant sub presence near the oil ports, near Japan, and in all the choke points in between, and I'm only rarely spotting tankers, so for now it looks like my subs are deterring him from attempting to transport fuel/oil. I just had an evil thought--if he's not using his tankers, there's a good chance they're just sitting in ports in China or Indochina. His fighters are stretched thin at the moment so those ports might not have a lot of protection, and most of those bases are within range heavy bombers--if I deploy the heavies there. So maybe I'll do that.

China is looking like a complete stalemate right now.

[Molon Labe]

4 August 1942
USS Jarvis sunk off Pearl by submarine

Hawaii
I have 2 convoys arriving, the first is a supply convoy that includes ammunition ships and subchasers that will stay at Pearl. The second is a group of mine tenders. I sent out the only two operational ASW ships at Pearl to try to clear a path for them, a destroyer and a minesweeper. The destroyer Jarvis encountered two enemy subs, the first took a shot at it, missed, and got away. The second scored a fatal torpedo hit on Jarvis. The minesweeper moved in to try to find the responsible sub but never found it.

Kingfishers scored two hits on subs near Pearl later in the day. The first convoy arrived safely. The minesweeper and the two subchasers that arrived with the convoy are going to go out and meet the second convoy to try to bring it through safely.

There is a relatively large surface combat task force loitering near Johnston. I think this is a covering force for the evacuation there. I'm going to send some B-24s to Johnston to try to bomb the ships being loaded; I expect there will be some resistance by fighters but it's worth the risk. There's no sign of enemy carriers anymore, so I might send Lex and Sara after them if the enemy takes his time.

Sumatra
We traded a Hurricane and 2 P-40s for 2 Zeroes. Additional enemy forces are about to cross a bridge to reach Palembang. I don't know why they're taking this risk--all the other troops there took the long way around to avoid this. But we may have a bloodbath on our hands here in a few days.

Thailand
An infantry brigade has caught up with the armor I've had advancing on Tavoy, they'll assault it together in another two days or so. This should leave the enemy units that were moving into the mountains from there trapped between two of my armies that outclass it. Enemy bombers continued to harass my main Bangkok force, but now that we're in the mountains the damage is far less than it used to be. Our long-range CAP took down four Sallies--our fighters are closer now that the troops have pulled back a little so they're doing better.

To the north, it looks like Pisanuoke has a Royal Thai Army division guarding it. These aren't nearly as strong as Japanese divisions, so I'm willing to keep going in. There's another unit in the mountains that's coming down to block the road to Raheng again, I expect the reinforcements I have already headed to Raheng will be more than a match for these guys that have been cut off from supply for months, so at least for now I'm not concerned about it. In any case, I already have airlift operations working to keep Raheng supplied.

China
At the cost of about 100 political points, I pulled the American B-25 squadron off the front lines and transitioned them to B-24s to go through with my plan of probing enemy ports for tanker fleets. One thing I hadn't considered is the atrocious service rating of the B-24, though. The time estimate to get all aircraft ready is currently at 20 days! With that much delay, I might hold off on this mission. The 90th Bomber Group is arriving on the east coast over the next 6-25 days. Based on how close the Canadian fighters are to arriving in India (departed Canada 7/25) I'd say ~20 days is about right if I was going to ship the 90th to China via India. So if I'm willing to be patient, I might be able to hit multiple ports simultaneously instead of taking them one at a time and letting him pick up on the pattern.

Reinforcements and Refits
SC-709 arrives at Balboa
AMc Killegray arrives at Auckland
SS S-35 begins refit while under repair at Brisbane (long overdue 4/1942 radar installation)

[Ostfriese]

4 August 1942
USS Jarvis sunk off Pearl by submarine



Five days earlier (and about 3,500 miles further northeast) than in reality.

[Molon Labe]

5 August 1942
Transport torpedoed in Bay of Bengal


Bay of Bengal
This was an unforced error on my part. I had meant to escort a troop convoy with an depth charge equipped armed merchant cruiser, but I assigned one without depth charges, which meant this convoy was effectively unescorted. It dropped of its troops at Rangoon without issue, but ran into a sub on the way back, which torpedoed one of the transports. Since I'm behind on mission reports, I'll skip ahead--the flooding was survivable and it was headed for Colombo for repairs. But a small fire on 5 August wasn't brought under control, and by the next day it wasn't so small anymore. The fire caused more water to get into the people tube and by 7 August the ship had sunk.

Sumatra
More sweeps and raids; losses: 3 Zeroes, 3 Hurricanes, 1 P-40. A land attack brought Palembang's forts down to Level 2.

Thailand
We shot down 7 Sallies trying to bomb my secondary force attacking Tavoy.

Solomons
We spotted a sub tender at an atoll to the north of the Solomons were we've seen tanker traffic before. This is odd because there's no real base here. Any fuel there above a rather small threshold would suffer spoilation loss due to lack of proper facilities. But, that didn't stop us from bombing it with B-17s--one 500lb bomb hit for moderate damage.

CENTPAC
At Johnston, the S-47 put 2 fish into a cargo ship for a confirmed kill. No troops aboard.


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

6 August 1942
Palembang's Albacores get a pair of APDs

Bay of Bengal
A light cargo ship was gunned down by a Japanese sub. The cargo ship had been acting as sort of a tanker for a pair of small ASW craft that couldn't make the trip from Karachi to Rangoon on their own. The ASW craft had been delivered and the AKL was returning to port unescorted, so it was an easy target.

CENTPAC
At Pearl, a pair of recently-delivered subchasers managed to hit a Japanese sub on their first war patrol today. Not bad, but they'll need to do better to actually sink one.

Now that Pearl has mine tenders again, a minelayer got to work setting up a defensive minefield. Skipping ahead again...within the next 2-3 days it had laid 300 mines, good enough for now. I have enough tenders to support 450.

Kingfishers got another hit on one of the subs blockading Pearl.

Thailand
We lost a pair of fighters trying to protect our Tavoy army with nothing to show for it.

Our bombers went active again and hit Pisanuloke, causing heavy troop casulaties. Probably caught someone packing or unpacking for rail transport.

China
Chengchow is still an active battlefield, at least in the air. We traded 3 P-40s for 2 Oscars and 5 Zeroes.

Sumatra
The Albacore squadron struck again, hitting a pair of APDs on ASW duty with torpedoes. One sunk immediately. The other was hit by a followup raid of Beaufighters, which hit the crippled ship with 3 250lb bombs and several strafing runs, finishing it off. One Albacore was shot down by flak, another crashed on landing from the damage it sustained in the attack.

Solomons
The B-17s returned to the northern atoll and bombed an ammunition tender, setting it on fire.

Refits/Reinforcements
DD Aaron Ward beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
DD Buchanan beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
DD Lardner beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
DD McCalla beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
--these 4 are all Bristol class boats from the Lex/Sara CVBG
SS S-36 begins refit while under repair at Brisbane

[Molon Labe]

7 August 1942
So uneventful I'm just going to do this in one paragraph.
-We lost 3 fighters at Palembang with nothing to show for it
-In Chengchow, we traded 2 P-40s and 3 P-43s for an Oscar, a Zero, and 5 light bombers.
-We lost 2 P-40s trying to defend our army at Tavoy, we also lost a Blenheim bombing Tavoy. We're both trying to disrupt each other's armies enough to tip the balance in the coming ground battle.
-Our armies attacked Tavoy, bringing its forts down to 0. So far, so good.
-Our B-17s from Milne went to Guadalcanal to bomb a tanker instead of the northern atoll, which was bad because the enemy had plenty of fighters there. One B-17 was shot down, we missed the tanker.
-We expanded the airfield at Palembang, which means the squadrons there are now eligible to transition to other aircraft types. The degraded New Zealand squadron received a batch of new P-40s to replace the Hurricanes they ran out of. I am disbanding the Australian P-40 squadron here because it's past due for withdrawal and costing me political points to keep active.

DD Bancroft taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
DD Hammann taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
AD Dixie beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
SS Grouper taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
AM Conflict arrives at Portland
SS Amberjack arrives at Eastern USA
VF-8 arrives at San Francisco (immediately took a bunch of F4F-3s that I needed as replacements for carrier losses--jerks)
VMSB-242 arrives at Santa Barbara (2 Vindicators--training squadron)

-----------
8 August 1942
Slow again and I need to catch up...

-We did great at Palembang today, 4 Zeroes and 4 Sallies downed with just one Hurricane lost. And that's without the NZ squadron. Bombers took out 3 fighters on the ground, though.
-Also a good day over Chengchow: 9 Sonias down with just 1 P-40 lost.
-We got one Zero over Tavoy--the bombers are getting through for both sides.
-The S-47 was badly damaged in a depth charge attack at Johnston, and like the Pollack a few days ago, decided to stay on station. I manually ordered it back--fortunately, it did not get attacked a second time before I was able to give that order. The Pollack is still afloat by the way, but I'm still not expecting it to make it to Pearl.
-A Kingfisher bomber a sub off Pearl again. I'm surprised they haven't gotten the hint yet.

CL Trenton beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Duncan beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Lansdowne beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
SC-703 arrives at Eastern USA
SC-706 arrives at Balboa
AM Igonish arrives at Vancouver

[Molon Labe]

9 August 1942
Enemy airpower stymies advance on Tavoy

CENTPAC
At Pearl, the DE Humpreys completed repairs from the KB's strike and went right back to work trying to clear Pearl of enemy subs. One of its prey took a shot at it. It's partner, the DD Caldwell, found the responsible sub and caused serious damage with depth charges.

Kingfishers got another 2 hits on sub. I took a look at their stats and noticed they either carry 2 250lb bombs or 2 100lb bombs. Maybe the reason the enemy isn't clearing out after so many hits is just because the hits aren't that damaging. I'm decreasing their search radius slightly to try to make sure they're carrying the 250-pounders.

Sumatra
One fighter down on each side.

China
One P-40 down over Chengchow.

Thailand
I attempted a shock attack on Tavoy, but it failed thanks to the disruption being caused by the enemy bombers. I'm going to try to concentrate my fighters on CAP here next turn, while sending my bombers to Pisanuloke where they're unlikely to run into a CAP right now. My attack on Tavoy simply won't succeed unless we can stop most of the enemy bombers. I'm sending another brigade down to help, too.

There was plenty of air combat over Tavoy this turn, but no one was actually shot down.

Reinforcements/Refits
SS Narwhal taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
SS S-37 taken out of commission to begin refit at Darwin
SC-702 arrives at Balboa
AM Oudh arrives at Calcutta
51st FG/16th FS arrives at San Francisco (0/25 P-400s, unrestricted)
21st Australian Brigade arrives at Sydney (0% strength, restricted)
7th Aus Div Cav Regiment arrives at Sydney (5% strength, restricted)
91st Infantry Division arrives at Corvallis (20% strength, fully restricted)
Conversion of two minesweepers to subchasers was competed at Portland, the subchasers are headed to Pearl.

[Threadfin]

Great stuff Molon Labe! This AAR is a lot of work, I know. Keep it up. The big blue fleet is starting to come off the ways I imagine. Well I don't know how that works, but I expect your power to grow immensely over the next year or so. Pay back.

[Molon Labe]

It's building. I'm planning my next amphibious moves and it looks like I have enough ships to support it. Here's a list of new arriving ships, excluding merchants and anything smaller than a destroyer:

https://i.ibb.co/KmLWQts/1942-Aug-10-Arrivals.png

[Threadfin]

Fast battleships....


Yes please. The tables are turning. Hopefully those two can survive and then thrive when the rest are integrated. Good luck commander!

[mapuc]

Every time I see the word "Reinforcements" I try to recall episode from the WWII series War Factory.

The first year after the attack on Pearl the factories was beginning so slowly to change from civil production to military.

Can't remember when but in the middle of -43 or was it -44 these factories was spiting out material.

Markus

[Ostfriese]

Every time I see the word "Reinforcements" I try to recall episode from the WWII series War Factory.

The first year after the attack on Pearl the factories was beginning so slowly to change from civil production to military.

Can't remember when but in the middle of -43 or was it -44 these factories was spiting out material.

Markus


All the major participants of WWII had their war production peak in the early half of 1944. The USA were the sole exception, their war production peaked in 1945 and would have continued to grow had the war continued.

[Molon Labe]

10 August 1942
USS Pollack lost, Palembang holds off shock attack

CENTPAC
Flooding progressed out of control on the Pollack at is got within about 160 miles of Pearl. Looking at the reports, I decided it was hopeless and ordered the boat scuttled.

Thailand
We took a step backwards, losing 4 fighters over Tavoy while only shooting down one Zero and one Sally. Disruption of the troops below remains too severe to attack effectively.

The Pisanouke raid encountered a few Oscars on patrol. They got one Blenheim; Mohawks on CAP nearby intervened and shot down one Oscar.

Solomons
There's suddenly a lot of naval traffic around Guadalcanal, so I'm keeping the raids going. Zeroes intercepted but no planes were downed on either side; the bombers attacked the port but didn't cause any damage (rainstorm).

USS Seawolf tried to get in on the action, but it was spotted and depth charged. It's limping back to Brisbane.

Sumatra
The Japanese army attacked all-out, and we held them off. It's 45,000 troops of theirs vs 29,000 of ours, which isn't so bad when we're defending. Casualties were 9465 to 905 in our favor, fortifications holding at level 2. This looks like it was an ill-considered attack, maybe he's desperate for this fuel?

Reinforcements and Refits
DM Preble beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
SS Trigger begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
DD Bailey arrives at Balboa
SC-520 arrives at Los Angeles
SC-701 arrives at Balboa
No.452 Sqn RAF arrives at Melbourne (2/16 spitfires)
90th BG/321st BS arrives at Eastern USA (B-24s, already on the way to Capetown, then India, then China)

[Molon Labe]

11 August 1942
Chengchow resists shock attack, enemy takes massive casualties

Sumatra
We lost a P-40 and 4 Hurricanes defending Palembang with just 2 Zeroes shot down to show for it. The enemy started bombing the oil facilities, there are now massive fires that are doing damage-over-time to the facilities. Another confusing move, as I've told him I shut the refinery down to avoid a rather gamey result--10% of the refinery's output is Supply rather than Fuel, and Supply is what your troops use, so the oil refinery can actually keep troops supplied and combat ready during a siege. With the refinery shut off, all he's doing now is destroying his future facilities.

Thailand
We shot down two Zeroes but the bombers got through again. We're losing the air war over Tavoy, but it might not matter, disruption levels are returning to normal.

The first of two Canadian fighter squadrons has arrived in India and is making its way to Calcutta, where the fighters will be made ready and flown to Burma or Thailand. I was going to split these squadrons, 1 of P-40s and 1 of Hurricanes, but the key fighter attribute in Thailand right now is range. The P-40 is a little better without drop tanks, but with tanks, the Hurricane is superior, and I have plenty of supply at my main bases to support drop tanks. Hurricanes it is.

We lost one Blenheim over Pisanuloke as the Mohawks decided to sit a round out. But it was worth it: our army took the enemy base.

China
Two Oscars shot down over Chengchow. The enemy attempted a shock attack, which his always enough to make me nervous with an enemy army this size (173,000). But we held the line, fortifications holding at level 3. Casualties 25,355 to 11,825.
That wasn't that close and it's only going to get worse for him, hopefully he takes the hint.

We hit Hong Kong with Wellingtons but came up empty. A few Nates were on CAP and caused a little damage to a few planes. Weather seems to be a constant problem here, and this strike was no exception.

Caroline Islands
USS Finback was bombed by an enemy aircraft near Truk. I'm pretty sure that's a line I've written before, I think the Finback may have to stay away from Truk for awhile--after it's repaired.

Repairs, Refits, Reinforcements
Repairs on the HMS Ramillies have been completed at Cape Town. It will be headed back into the theatre.
SS Sculpin begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor
No.31 Sqn RAAF arrives at Wagga Wagga (16 Beaufighters, restricted. I don't have a reserve of trained fighter-bomber pilots to assign, but I do have ex-Wirraway pilots trained in low altitude naval bombing, so I'm assigning them here and training them in air-to-air and strafing. This will probably stay as a training unit until Australia actually comes under threat or until I start taking territory back--I'll pay the PP for it and use it to attack shipping.)

[Molon Labe]

12 August 1942
Two tankers hugging coast of Borneo sunk by USS Snapper

South China Sea
Allowing my subs to venture into shallow waters is again bearing fruit. Snapper encountered two 2900 ton Std-C class tankers (which started the war as cargo ships, they're converted) carrying oil from Miri/Brunei east, presumably bound for Japan. It set up a submerged torpedo attack on the first and hit it with both torpedoes it fired--one detonated. The oil it was carrying ignited and doomed the ship. The Snapper then surfaced to engage the other tanker, firing a total of 10 torpedoes plus naval gunfire. Four torpedoes hit, two of which detonated (both in the final salvo), sinking this ship as well.

This raises a question of how long these tankers have been making these trips, hugging the coast, evading my submarine patrols. I'm not too worried, though, ships on this route would still probably be going through the Okinawa area chokepoints, and if it was just these two, they're too small to have been making a huge difference. I should be able to identify good places for minefields based on this information (and the Dutch sub O20--a minelaying specialist--just completed repairs), and I'll continue to adjust sub patrol areas to try to find coast-huggers and the areas where they have to cross deep water.

Sumatra
Our Palembang CAP took down 2 Zeroes and a Sally before enemy sweeps cleared the skies. An enemy Lily was downed by flak. The fires are getting nasty and are damaging facilities as well at stored oil. Love it.

Thailand
We lost another Blenheim near Pisanuloke---this one's on me, I should have canceled these strikes after we took the base.
At Tavoy we traded a Hurricane for a Zero and a Sally. My armies at Tavoy are starting to get organized enough that I'm willing to order an attack for tomorrow.

2 ships were detected offshore in the Bay of Bengal. Not sure what their deal is. My carriers are too far south to respond at the moment.

Hawaii
I'm still bombing Lahaina every day--today, we lost a B-17 to flak. I'm moving my bombing altitude up from 10k to 12k to try to mitigate this in the future.

Solomons
I attacked Guadalcanal's port with B-17s again, this time getting results: we destroyed a mine tender and damaged a sub. One B-17 was lost to flak.

Reinforcements and Refits
SC-700 arrives at Eastern USA
No.25 Sqn RAAF Det arrives at Perth - Buffalos--a badly needed fighter training squadron
1393rd Construction Regiment arrives at Corvallis
12th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

13 August 1942

Japan
USS Haddock engaged a pair of light cargo ships near Kyushu. It missed the first with torpedoes, then engaged the other on the surface. It probably scored enough gun hits on it to sink it, but fired torpedoes anyway and got one to detonate.

Thailand
The enemy started sending their fighters to the Raheng area instead of Tavoy. We traded a Mohawk for an Oscar there, while we were able to bomb Tavoy unmolested.

Our land forces attacked, despite the change in balance in the air it wasn't enough, casualties were about 200 to 100 favoring them. We might have to wait for reinforcements from our reserve force in Moulmein.

China
At Tsiaotso, slightly north of Chengchow, the enemy tried to bomb us with 22 Sonias. The Chengchow CAP diverted and splashed 7 of them. Damage on the ground was insignificant.

We hit Hong Kong again, and again the results were poor. One Wellington was shot down by the Nates guarding it.

Sumatra
The elite New Zealander squadron showed its appreciation for their brand new P-40s by shooting down 5 Zeroes with no losses.

Solomons
Our B-17s got another mine tender at Guadalcanal, no losses. It still looks like there's much more here to get. I'm going to take a bit of a chance here--recon flights over Guadalcanal and Rabaul say there aren't any bombers around, so I'm sending a few cruisers up there for a port call.

Reinforcements
CLAA Juneau arrives at Balboa
AM Wallaroo arrives at Sydney
SC-708 arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

14 August 1942
Hong Kong reinforced with fighters, major bomber losses result

Luzon Strait
USS Skipjack encountered a transport and a cargo ship off Bataan Island. It fired 4 torpedoes at the transport, hitting it once, but it was a dud. It attempted a surface attack on the cargo ship, and to its credit, it persisted in the attack long enough to cause significant damage with its gun. But it also fired every last torpedo on board at it--20 total--scoring 4 hits, all of which were duds. So, it's headed back to base to rearm.

Bay of Bengal and Thailand
The bogeys spotted a few days ago was a surface combat task force of 3 CLs and 5 DDs. They bombarded Victoria Point and cleared datum to the south. Damage was minor.

Sweeps in Pisanuloke took out 3 of our Mohawks.

China
I raided Hong Kong one time too many. This time there were 43 Zeroes waiting for us. 4 Wellingtons were shot down. That's going to be the last raid here for awhile.

Hawaii and Line Islands
The Wasp delivered VF-8 to Hickam while a convoy delivered a squadron of P-39s. Another convoy delivered PBYs meant for Pearl to Palmyra--they'll fly the rest of the way in to avoid the sub blockade. The Kingfishers reported 3 hits on enemy subs--the first hits since I dropped the patrol range. Maybe this time we really hurt them. Local ASW surface forces are now in 3 groups (3 subchasers, 2 DDs, and a PG and an AM).

Reinforcements
SC-705 arrives at Balboa
YMS-114 arrives at San Diego
20th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

Also, intel reported the IJN Kako sunk. This was a heavy cruiser hit by a torpedo bomber in the Strait of Malacca months ago that I thought had gotten away.

[Ostfriese]

Damn them Mk 14s, they are worse in your game than they were in reality.

[mapuc]

I recall that USA had some problems with their main torpedoes in the start of the war, but this was solved after some years or so.

In the end of -42 I thought they had solve to problems.

Well I may remember things wrong.

Markus

[Ostfriese]

I recall that USA had some problems with their main torpedoes in the start of the war, but this was solved after some years or so.

In the end of -42 I thought they had solve to problems.

Well I may remember things wrong.

Markus


You are quite right. Both the submarine launched Mark 14 as well as the surface launched Mark 15 had serious technical problems. They ran too deep (solved around September 1942), and both their detonators (contact and magnetic) were faulty. It took the Americans almost two years to correct the problems (until about November 1943).
After that the Mark 14 was a very reliable weapon and was the main reason the American submarine force obliterated the Japanese merchant marine. It was used by the US Navy until 1980.


Molon Lobe has already mentioned that at some point the torpedoes will become more reliable in WiTP as well. I don't know, however, how the earlier Mark 10 is modelled in the game, which -while outdated- was a more reliable weapon in the early stages of the war.

[Molon Labe]

15 August 1942
Loose lips sink enemy troop ships

Marshall Islands
https://i.ibb.co/Cn686vf/1942-Aug-15-Intel.png
Three days ago, we received SIGINT indicating elements of the 4th Division were loaded on a ship headed to Kwajelein in the Marshalls. The 4th Division was previously known to be deployed to Lihue and Johnston, and we were monitoring an evacuation of Johnston at the time. So, assuming the report was accurate, I might have had both a point of origin and a destination for this ship. I already had subs in the Marshalls patrolling as a KB-early-warning network. Looking at the reefs and shallows and the likely direction of approach, I thought it likely the incoming transport would pass north of Wotje, so I placed 2 of 3 subs in that corridor, with the 3rd playing goalkeeper closer to Kwaj.

Today, a troop-carrying Aden class cargo ship was intercepted in that corridor by USS Saury. The cargo ship was unescorted, allowing Saury to attack on the surface. It hit the transport with 9 Mk14s (of 12 fired), 3 of which actually detonated, for a confirmed kill.

That looks like a rare intelligence success in this game. I don't actually know for a fact that the ship is the same one from the report, but the odds are pretty likely since it definitely came from the east.

Sumatra
Sweeps over Palembang eventually cleared the skies of my CAP, but enemy bombers didn't exploit that. 2 Oscars and 1 P-40 were lost.

Thailand
At Tavoy, our bombers hit the enemy troops in a thunderstorm, unmolested by fighters as they were sweeping Pisanoulke aggressively instead. The bombing was mostly ineffective due to the weather. We lost 2 bombers to flak. The enemy base forces shelled our troops, causing light casualties but enough to eliminate an infantry squad, which is discouraging.

The sweeps at Pisanoulke cost a Mohawk and a Zero.


Solomons
Our B-17s severely damaged an enemy sub in port at Guadalcanal.

Hawaii
Kingfishers reported another hit on an enemy submarine. We had a few engagements by surface ships as well, but no successful attacks. I thought I'd have taken care of this problem by now. We've detected 8 subs this turn, that's down from a peak of 10 a few days ago, but even without damage they have to return to port sometime.

Reinforcements and refits
The second Canadian squadron being deployed to Thailand has arrived in Calcutta, India, to have its planes assembled to fly to Rangoon.
SS Sturgeon taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor (yes, I still have subs that haven't completed their 4/1942 radar installation. 5 left after this one.)

[Molon Labe]

You are quite right. Both the submarine launched Mark 14 as well as the surface launched Mark 15 had serious technical problems. They ran to deep (solved around September 1942), and both their detonators (contact and magnetic) were faulty. It took the Americans almost two years to correct the problems (until about November 1943).
After that the Mark 14 was a very reliable weapon and was the main reason the American submarine force obliterated the Japanese merchant marine. It was used by the US Navy until 1980.


Molon Lobe has already mentioned that at some point the torpedoes will become more reliable in WiTP as well. I don't know, however, how the earlier Mark 10 is modelled in the game, which -while outdated- was a more reliable weapon in the early stages of the war.

I don't know the actual dud rates of any of the weapons, although I'm sure there's a database editor I could find and use that to find out. But by observation, the Mk14's dud rate is over 50% and the Mk10's is probably lower than 25%.

Per the manual, on January 1943 any torp with a dud rate over 49% will have its rate reduced BY 20%. In September 1943, any torps with a dud rate over 20% will have the rate reduced TO 10%.

[Molon Labe]

16 August 1942
Enemy bombardment task force shot up by Palembang's aircraft

Solomons
Our bombardment task force ran into an enemy sub on the way in and damaged it with depth charges. Then we ran into a pair of mine tenders--replacements for the ones blown up by the B-17s--they were easy prey. We shelled Guadalcanal after that, but the ships were were going after had already left. We shot up the airbase pretty good, though.

Sumatra
An enemy bombardment task force of 2 CL and 2 DD made its way up the channel between the mainland and the island off Palembang, running into the KXIII. The destroyers spotted it and depth charged it before it could attack, but, I may have received the benefit of delaying this task force. Usually these bombardment task forces hit me before sunrise--not this time.

We attacked the enemy in waves just outside Palembang's port. The first was a group of Fulmars making a low-level attack, which ended up being ineffective. They were being chased by 3 Zeroes, which may have affected their accuracy. Next came 12 Albacores, escorted by 15 Mohawks. The Mohawks kept the lone Zero still covering the ships at bay, but the small and manueverable ships were mostly up to the task of defending themselves. We got one hit on the CL Naka. 6 Beaufighters came in next, hitting the CL Isuzu with a pair of 250lb bombs and starting a fire. The Fulmars made a second attempt in the afternoon--one was shot down by a Zero, but they got a 250lb bomb hit on the torpedo-damaged CL Naka. The Albacores returned next and whiffed, but they reported that both cruisers were burning and the Naka appeared to be heavily damaged. And finally, the Beaufighters returned, strafing one of the destroyers with 20mm cannons.

The enemy is hitting Palembang with bombers hard--probably about 90 bomber sorties. Damage on the ground is accumulating and our fighter squadrons are wearing down. We got 1 Oscar at the cost of a P-40 and a Hurricane.

Thailand
I'm resting my Tavoy troops and bombers during stormy weather. When it breaks I'm going to hit them again. I also have a reserve brigade on the way down to reinforce my Tavoy army. At Pisanuloke we traded a Mohawk for a Zero

The enemy is hitting Port Blair with massive amounts of naval bombers--at least 60. I think they intend to invade--if they succeed, it's going to make landing reinforcements at Rangoon difficult. I've recalled the Brit CVBG from the southern Indian Ocean--it might be available in time to stop this.

China
The air war over Chengchow is picking up again, 43 Zeroes swept it. We shot down 4, losing 3 P-40s.

Hawaii
Suddenly the submarine threat is diminishing. If I remember correctly, there were only 4 subs detected and all reported heading west.

Reinforcements
BB Washington arrives at Balboa
SS Kingfish arrives at Eastern USA
18th FG/333rd FS arrives at Pearl Harbor (2/25 P-39)

[Molon Labe]

17 August 1942
Why so many unescorted troop convoys?

Sumatra
The enemy bombarded Palembang despite their task force getting shot up yesterday, but it was just the two destroyers. I guess the 20mm Hispano wasn't enough to deal serious damage, how disappointing. The cruisers will probably get fixed up in Batavia or Surabaya.

Heavy bombing of Palembang continued, we got 2 Zeroes for 1 P-40. But that P-40 squadron, just having received new aircraft days ago, is down to 4 remaining planes.

Palembang turned away a land attack. Forts have been reduced to Level 1. Casualties 2376 to 762. As discouraging as it is to see the forts come down, the enemy probably needs 2x as many troops as it has here to actually overrun my base, so we're really seeing the consequence of putting so many divisions into Hawaii. But it also means he might be able to put himself over the top of the evacuated troops turn up here.

Japan
USS Cachalot encountered a pair of ships transporting troops near a chain of atolls leading to/from Tokyo harbor--no escorts. It made a submerged attack on one, hitting it with 1 of 4 torpedoes and inflicting what is likely to be lethal damage. The best move for this guy is probably to drop off the troops on the closest atoll before the ship goes down. Cachalot attacked the next on the surface, firing all 14 of its remaining torpedoes, scoring only 1 hit--a dud. We got a few hits on it with the deck gun, but so did the enemy--one of which actually took out the Cachalot's gun. Back to base it goes...

China
The overwhelming number of Zeroes at Chengchow is wearing my CAP down. But we still managed to get the jump on them in a rainstorm, shooting down 3 with no losses. If they were to restart bombing missions, we'd be in trouble.

Thailand and Bay of Bengal
Another day of forecasted storms, so I'll be resting my bombers again tomorrow, as I did for today.

The enemy bombed the hell out of Port Blair again. There's a large task force approaching as well--likely an invasion force. I'm ordering my carriers to step on the gas--I don't think I can stop the landings but I can probably catch them on the beaches. I'll be in Betty range, but too far for the Zeroes to escort them, so hopefully any enemy strike on the carriers will be swatted down.

An enemy army is approaching my Bangkok invasion force, currently holed up in the mountains to keep from being bombed until we can take Tavoy and have a decent CAP over them. I don't have a good force estimate on them, but I think even if it's a large force I'll be OK if I don't try to attack.

Hawaii
For the first time since we moved back into Pearl, we hold no submarine detections in the area. I'm routing a number of convoys that had been going around this area to dock at Pearl, including base forces for upcoming amphibious operations and a squadron of F-4 Lightnings (P-38 recon variants).

Reinforcements
AM Tamworth arrives at Brisbane
SC-699 arrives at Eastern USA (bad planning on my part--I don't have a cargo ship left here to act as a "tanker" to get this guy all the way to the Panama Canal. I noticed this awhile back and I'm rebasing several ships from LA to Eastern USA to keep this from happening again, but this one will be delayed about a week)
SS Peto arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

18 August 1942
Narrowing down coastal convoy routes

Solomons
More tanker activity at the northern atoll, Ontang Java. The S-42 tried to take a shot at a tanker but was spotted by a PB and depth charged for light damage.

Sulu Sea
The KX detected an enemy convoy and torpedoed a cargo ship in it. The cargo ship was transporting fuel and was set ablaze. This convoy was previously detected on 16 August near Brunei, so we have a pretty good idea where the enemy is routing its fuel convoys out of Brunei/Miri. Also helpful was a convoy contact on 17 August that may narrow down which they this convoy is going, as there are two routes through the Philippine Islands:
https://i.ibb.co/8rXgp1G/1942-August-18-convoy-routes.png
Sorry about the hexes, but the colors are pretty important here: ships need blue or white hexsides to move through. So, we've been spotting traffic at Bataan Island in the Luzon strait, so it's entirely possible that that's where this shallow-water convoy route terminates, and that corroborates with the Northeast heading of the 2nd convoy. But we can't rule out Legaspi or Leyte just yet.

There is some bad news in this: this route might have been active for months without me ever spotting it. We could only spot these guys near Japan before we started specifically looking for coastal routes. So his fuel situation might not be so bad right now.

Thailand and Bay of Bengal
The enemy task force approaching Port Blair split, the cruisers bombarded the port while the phibs landed adjacent to the base. Our carriers are nearby but did not arrive in time to launch a strike today--maybe tomorrow.

Japan
USS Grayling intercepted troop transport near Aogoshima, more or less in the same spot the Cachalot had an intercept yesterday. It hit it with 1 of 4 torpedoes with a good detonation--and a confirmed kill. The transport appears to have been empty.

China
Despite being outnumbered, our CAP at Chengchow got 2 Zeroes with no losses--plenty of planes headed back to base full of holes, though.


Sumatra
Another day of being pounded by something like 100 bomber sorties. We're losing planes on the ground and facility damage is accumulating. Flak downed 1 Sally--hardly unacceptable losses.

Reinforcements, Refits, and Withdrawals
Some bad news on this front--I have a transport ship, the Tasker H. Bliss, due to withdraw tomorrow. The ship was severely damaged in the KB's raid on Noumea, and the loss of the repair tender there limited my capacity to repair anything there. The base is something of a junkyard of immobile ships right now. I knew about this withdrawal so I've been prioritizing its repair. I managed to get it out of Noumea to Sydney to be serviced by a real shipyard a few weeks ago. But even there, repairs were slow. I put it to sea with partial repairs about 10 days ago, bound for San Fransisco where the withdrawal will be complete. It's barely limped past New Caledonia in that time. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to start losing political points due to this ship still being in theatre.

BB South Dakota arrives at Balboa
DD Nepal arrives at Cape Town
129th Infantry Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

20 Aug 1942
British CVW defeated by Bangkok's fighters

Sumatra
The enemy dropped his bombing altitude down to a shockingly low 5000 feet. Damage was severe to both sides. We shot down at least 17 bombers with flak, and probably damaged all of the rest of them. Air-to-air losses were an Oscar, a Mohawk, and a P-40.

Airbase damage is at 60%, we lost 10 aircraft on the ground this turn.

Bay of Bengal
The British CVBG launched a strike on the Port Blair invasion task force, which was met by 20 Zeroes and 9 Oscars on long-range CAP from Bangkok. That's a number I wasn't prepared for this far away from their base--we only had 7 Martlets escorting the strike of 4 Swordfish and 12 Albacores, with most of the fighters standing by to protect the fleet against Betties that never came. The enemy CAP nearly obliterated the British carrier air wing. 3 Marlets were downed and they tore into the bombers, taking down 3 Swordfish and 11 Albacores. Only two bombers reached the enemy fleet--the enemy just turned into the attack and avoided the torpedoes.

The enemy bombers kept hitting Port Blair, ignoring our CVBG. They also hit the base with paratroopers, and thanks to the severe disruption caused by the bombing, we weren't able to wipe them out.

This is really highlighting the inadequacy of the Wildcat/Martlet--I'm having great success against the Zero with a lot of other fighters, mostly fighters that are faster than the Zero. But the Zero can outturn and outrun the Wildcat, so it's not like we can hit and run. Worse than the Wildcat are the biplanes that the Brits think are adequate attack aircraft. British Avengers can't get here soon enough.

Reinforcements
AM Gladstone arrives at Melbourne
No.23 Sqn RAAF Det arrives at Brisbane (6/6 P-39, restricted)
No.321 Sqn RAF arrives at Trincomalee (1/6 Catalinas, officially a Dutch command but with access to British aircraft; transitioned to British PBYs and assigned pilots for training)

[Molon Labe]

20 August 1942
Carrier battle in the Bay of Bengal - CVE Unyo likely disabed

Luzon Strait
USS Sargo hit a cargo ship with a Mk14 in deep water for a confirmed kill.

90 miles to the south, in the shallows, USS Trout also hit a cargo ship, inflicting severe damage that we expect will sink the ship. The Trout later engaged another ship on the surface, hitting it with 4 Mk14s, one of which exploded. It dealt decent damage with its deck gun as well before it broke off, we also expect this ship to sink.


The Battle of Port Blair - Day 2
I kept my carriers on station another day because they were close enough for replacement aircraft to fly in from Colombo. So we went into this fight at close to full strength despite yesterday's thrashing. We also learned why his long-range CAP from Bangkok was so effective--because it wasn't a long range CAP at all. IJN Hiyo--last seen at the beginning of the month limping away from here with torpedo damage--was back, and it brought its friend, the Unyo.

The enemy made the first strike - 28 Zeroes escorting 12 Kates and 9 Vals. We had 18 Martlets on CAP. They took out 5 Zeroes, but never got to the bombers. We got a lucky break here as my opponent screwed up his altitude settings--the Vals level bombed instead of dive bombed. So they all missed. The Kates attacked as they should, but they also missed. This is a fairly strong task force on flak, but it didn't take any aircraft down.

Our counterattack was 12 Martlets escorting 15 Albacores and 5 Swordfish, they had 46 fighters on CAP. They shot down 4 of the fighters and massacred the Albacores, taking down 14 of them. With 6 bombers getting through, we managed a decent attack, hitting the Unyo with a torpedo--no secondary explosions, fires, or other indicia of serious damage. Intel reported 8 "operational" losses of Vals today, which suggests to me that the Vals he sent on the strike had trouble finding someplace to land.

The Betty attack we were expecting finally came, but in much smaller numbers than we expected--9 aircraft, unescorted. The CAP let them all in. Fortunately, my carriers were more nimble than the enemy pilots were accurate. The CAP took 7 of them out after they attacked. A total of 24 Betties and Nells bombed Port Blair--I bet he wishes they were on Naval Attack orders this turn.

Next was a wave of 20 Zeroes and 12 Kates. 6 of the Kates were carrying bombs--apparently one of the carriers is already out of torpedoes. The 6 Kates with bombs imitated the Vals' high-altitude level bombing from earlier in the day and missed. But one of the torpedo-armed ones got a hit on HMS Illustrious. The only aircraft shot down in this wave was one of my Martlets. (Going from 46 Zeroes to 20 on CAP is another good sign the Unyo is disabled; we didn't shoot down anywhere near 26).

My commanders actually sent a second wave, you have to wonder why--5 Swordfish and 4 Marlets against 21 Zeroes. We lost 2 Swordfish to the Zeroes and 1 more to flak, and the survivors missed.

Our air wing is spent and we don't have more extra squadrons laying about at Colombo, so it's time to RTB. The damage to the Illustrious is minor, nothing that won't buff out in the docks. As for the land battle--the paratroopers took the base today, so the entire amphibious landing has proved to be irrelevant, aside from the massive aircraft losses and possible disabling of an escort carrier.

Thailand
We bombed Tavoy, losing a Blenheim to flak. Our armies attacked but failed to break through. We also confirmed the enemy army advancing out of Bangkok is just 1 division. I'm going to stick to bombardment attacks for now, we outnumber them significantly but they're already in the mountains and have a defensive bonus.


Sumatra
We lost a 17-kill ace over Palembang today; 3 P-40s total were shot down with no victories. The base was bombed again from 10,000 feet, that wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday.

China
We lost 3 Lancers over Chengchow with no victories. Enemy bombers attacked the city instead of the airbase today, causing massive fires.

Solomons
An enemy task force is headed southeast from the Solomon islands towards the New Hebrides. I'm calling up a response from Australia and Pago, but I think local airpower is going to have to deal with this more or less alone.

Japan
USS Grayling was bombed by an ASW aircraft near the Aogoshima chain. Damage is severe--she's headed back to port but there's no guarantee she makes it.

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Mahan beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at Brisbane
DD Reid beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at Brisbane
---overdue AA upgrades for these 2
AD Cascade arrives at Balboa
YMS-130 arrives at Tacoma
81st RAAF Wing arrives at Sydney (unrestricted support unit)

[Molon Labe]

21 August 1942
From Hell's heart, I stab at thee

Japan
In the Okinawa passage, the Grenardier botched a surface attack against a cargo ship, wasting a bunch of torpedoes and only damaging the target lightly with its deck gun.

To the east, the Grayling is losing its damage control fight. We keep getting messages that the flooding is getting worse. It's not going to make it.

Sumatra
2 of ours down, 1 of his. 90+ bombing sorties, we're holding out.

China
3 of ours down to 1 of his at Chengchow, more bombers getting in unmolested. My B-24 squadron is finally online, maybe instead of hunting the tankers, I'll look for the Unyo. With now fast the Hiyo was repaired, I don't think it went all the way to Hong Kong, probably just Saigon.

Thailand and Bay of Bengal
We sent a massive number of sweeps into Tavoy because intel reported he'd moved his fighters there from Bangkok. But our pilots reported no joy...the massive fighter force moved again, they're in Port Blair now. Why? I'm going to start hitting Tavoy hard again, and my reinforcements are about to arrive. Once Tavoy is down, I'll be able to cover my troops pushing into Bangkok, and once Bangkok falls, the enemy supply lines through Malaya will be cut and our armies will start pushing south.

Port Blair will be a problem as a bomber base, no doubt. I may hit it with battleships if I think I can do it with one fleet carrier and one light carrier supporting (I'll pull the Hermes of training duty, but one of the two CVs is due to withdraw soon). But, assuming I can't suppress the new bomber base, I probably can't reinforce Rangoon directly anymore. Kind of late for that, though, I've been reinforcing since the beginning of the war, the damage to his strategic position is done.

Espiritu Santo and the New Hebrides
The task force includes carriers, and they're headed for Efate. I'd say this is another evacuation--a very high-risk one. How desperate for troops is he?

I was going to oppose this with A-20s and B-26s, but now that I know this is a part of, if not the whole, KB, I'm going to take a good shot at it. The level bombers are clearing out to make room for the SBDs of Carrier Air Wing 6, flying in from Milne. The Wildcats of VF-6 don't have the range to make it out here, so the USAAF will provide P-39s as escorts. Between them and a pair of submarines, I should hopefully get reliable intelligence on the number of carriers here so I can decide what else to commit. The force coming in from Australia will just be targets, so they'll hold. But the reaction I mentioned yesterday from Pago...is Halsey. If it looks like we outnumber them--and we very well could if they're finally getting their refits--I'll reacquaint Nagumo with my One-sans.

Lots of scores to settle here, between those troops he's pulling out being responsible for wiping out a USMC regiment plus an army battalion and a base force, and CVW-6 looking for revenge for the loss of the Big E.

[Molon Labe]

22 August 1942
KB confirmed near Luganville--but it turns around and leaves

Solomons to New Caledonia

A replenishment group leaving Noumea towards Suva (in case the carriers kept pushing south of Luganville) was attacked by a sub, the PG escort was hit once. Damage is substantial but not fatal. This group will be headed to Sydney now for repairs. I'm sending two minesweepers on an ASW patrol, they'll just run the route between Noumea and Suva that the replenishment group got hit on.

The carrier force detected the S-28 lurking in its path and depth charged it for minor damage. Then it turned around and went back to the Solomons. Not sure why they got cold feet all of a sudden. It doesn't appear any ships actually made it to Luganville. Scoutplanes got a better ID on the task force, and it does appear to be the whole KB.

There's a whole lot more traffic in the area, including a tanker convoy approaching from the northeast and a SIGINT report of radio transmissions to the north.

Halsey is turning around-I wasn't going to take on the whole KB in any case, I'm certainly not going to chase it into the Solomons.

Sumatra
Another naval bombardment of Palembang, plus 90+ bomber sorties. The airbase is practically disabled. I'm turning off all replacements.

China
He's moved a division behind my front lines at Chengchow. My guess is he's trying to attack my northern flank where I'm rather weak, heading around the long way to avoid river crossings. A division won't be enough, though. I've been bombing them for relatively heavy casualties since before they got behind my lines, that will continue. But I'm also going to move up some reserves to encircle and eliminate them.
https://i.ibb.co/wBRKFHx/1942-August-22-China.png

Thailand
The carrier force helped out at Tavoy, taking out a Hurricane and 2 Blenheims, we got a Rufe. Our bombers got through but the hits didn't appear to be effective. A brigade of reinforcements arrived--we may have enough to take the base now, but I'm delaying ordering the attack for a turn to try to build up supply levels.

He's moved 60 more fighters into Bangkok, so it appears both Bangkok and Port Blair are going to be major airbases. I have to wonder about the pilot quality if he's bringing in so many more from...where?

The force that sallied from Bangkok--the 5th Division--is taking casualties from my artillery bombardments but not doing much about it. I'm tempted to attack for real, but I suppose if artillery is working I should stick with it.

Timor
I noticed some naval traffic at Koepang so I sent the B-17s back. The Nicks were still there--1 B-17 down. We didn't spot any ships so we bombed the port facilities, ineffectively. I had hoped to have P-38s escorting these bombers by now, but the supply levels at Darwin have dipped too low for the transition to occur. I sent a little supply from Port Moresby to try to get over the threshold fast, but this strike burned up enough supply that that shipment won't be enough. I also have an incoming convoy from Sydney, it will do the job but it's going to take time to get there.

Japan
USS Grayling is on eternal patrol.

Reinforcements
90th BG/319th BS arrives at Eastern USA - 8/8 Liberators - and I still don't have any ships left here to take them to India.

[Molon Labe]

23 August 1942

Thailand
An enemy destroyer squadron shelled our troops attacking Tavoy, but their fire was ineffective. A heavy task force, including the Yamato, followed that up, causing over 200 casualties. So, my decision not to attack this turn was fortuitous, the devastation from that shelling probably would have caused the attack to collapse.

In the air, we found ourselves contending with help from the enemy carriers. We shot down 6 Zeroes, a Rufe, and 3 Oscars; lost a Hurricane and a Blenheim.


China
We lost a P-40 and a P-43 with no victories, but our reserve army isn't being harassed yet and our bombers are getting through to their end-around force and causing casualties.

Reinforcements and Withdrawals
The damaged transport Henry T. Allen is underway from Sydney to San Fransisco to be withdrawn from theatre. It's as badly damaged as the overdue Tasker Bliss but I got it underway with about 10 more days to make the trip.
DD Frazier arrives at San Francisco
AR Prometheus arrives at San Francisco (headed straight to Noumea to try to deal with the ship boneyard there).
SC-707 arrives at Eastern USA
16th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

24 August 1942
Aerial blockade of Rangoon announced with sinking of retiring transport group

Thailand
The heavy bombardment task force hit Tavoy again, but with only a small amount of ammo left over from yesterday, it was ineffective. The air war started to tip more in their favor, as enemy fighters got a Hurricane and 4 Blenheims in the Tavoy area; we had no victories.

I had ordered our Bangkok main force to attack the enemy that had sallied out to greet them in the mountains because more forces were observed coming out of Bangkok to reinforce them. This may have been a bad call, with the terrain and better leaders on their side, the battle favored the enemy. Casualties were 1900 to 1300 favoring us, but we had far more squads actually destroyed. If we can't defeat this force now, we can be pretty sure we can't beat it when their reinforcements get here, especially with the air campaign tipping their way.

In the Bay, a task force of three transports and a corvette that was headed back west after delivering reinforcements to Rangoon was attacked by Betties. A few Hurricanes from Rangoon attempted to defend it, but couldn't get past the 15 Zeroes escorting the bombers. All three transports were sunk, while the corvette managed to avoid the torpedoes. But, it's survival was only temporary, a follow-up raid took it out later.

A second transport convoy--this one just arriving--was attacked, but the bombers missed. Phew!

I have a convoy transporting anti-tank guns set to arrive in a few days, I'm going to have them drop off their cargo in India, reload them for an amphibious landing, and figure out someplace I can land them safely near a road that leads to Rangoon. After that, I might be done sending reinforcements there, further British troops will probably end up in Colombo or India.

Reinforcements and Refits
USS Nevada has completed an AA upgrade
DD Caldwell beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Frazier beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco (yes, right after it arrived, it arrived at the end of August without its August upgrade already done, argh!)
SS Sailfish begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor
VS-8 arrives at San Francisco (Hornet's old squadron, will be on training duty for the foreseeable future)
90th BG/400th BS arrives at Eastern USA (Liberators - headed for China)
178th USAAF Base Force arrives at March Field
4th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney
177 Wing arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

25 August 1942
Large tanker hits mine on shallow-water route, believed sunk

South China Sea
The Nissin Maru, a Tonan Whaler class tanker (13,340 tons, their largest) hit a very recently laid mine along the shallow-water route from Miri/Brunei to the Philippines. Yes, shallow water helps him depth charge my subs, but it also makes great places to leave mines, and now that I know about this route, it's a deathtrap for him. Skipping ahead a little bit, intel will report this ship sinks tomorrow, which means it was very likely already loaded with fuel/oil and the explosion set it on fire.

Japan
Two of my subs attacked unescorted cargo ships in the Kyushu-Okinawa gap. Gudgeon made a successful submerged attack, getting one detonating Mk14 hit for a likely kill. Tambor made a surface attack, getting 3 detonations with its final salvo after bouncing at least 3 duds off its hull, that's a confirmed kill.

Thailand/Burma
We offloaded that last arriving convoy safely despite a few attacks. Two Zeroes were shot down by Rangoon's CAP. Air losses at Tavoy were a Rufe, an Oscar, and a Hurricane.

Reinforcements and Refits
DD Bailey beginning refit in shipyard at San Francisco
AO Tappahanock arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

26 August 1942
Tavoy apparently reinforced amphibiously--offensive operations in Thailand are now untenable; US amphibious operations begin in CENTPAC; massive IJA army losses

Bay of Bengal
A pair of motor launches patrolling near Calcutta spotted any enemy sub and were deadly accurate with their depth charges, connecting solidly with four patterns. The damage forced the sub to surface, which was a bit scary because these two boats didn't have a gun bigger than 40mm. Fortunately the sub foundered before any gunfire was exchanged.

CENTPAC
I have invaded Canton Island with the 9th USMC Regiment, plus an artillery unit. Enemy troop levels are higher than expected and fortifications are at level 3, which is also a problem. But we managed to take a beachhead thanks to aggressive bombardment by the Warspite and Colorado plus 3 cruisers. I'm moving some B-24s from Hawaii to Pago to support this, I might also grab another regiment from Pago--but, such a 2nd wave wouldn't be a surprise anymore and the KB might already be on its way. We'll see.

We hit Johnston tomorrow.

Sulu Sea
On the Philippine end of the Borneo-Philippine shallow water route, an enemy LSD came under attack by a US sub and a Dutch sub. The Porpoise bounced a dud Mk14 off its hull, then the O21 connected with 2 torps that detonated just fine and sank the ship.

China
Our reserve army has closed the trap around the enemy end-around force. He figured out what was happening and started bombing these guys instead of my troops at Chengchow and caused some casualties, but it looks like too little too late. We attack tomorrow.

The enemy attacked Chengchow in force, knocking our forts down from level 4 to level 3, casualties 16000 to 7100 favoring us.

Thailand
The air campaign continues to tip towards them as we're both sending bombers to Tavoy, but his fighters are getting to my bombers while mine aren't getting to his. Today's losses were 2 Zeroes, 2 Oscars, 2 Hurricanes, a Hudson and a Blenheim.

But the biggest news here his just that the number of enemy troops at Tavoy being reported by recon has ballooned to over 20,000--so that's why we've been seeing carrier aircraft there for the last 2 days, they landed reinforcements by sea (including the 65th Brigade). The enemy force coming out of Bangkok has similar numbers. I can't beat either force with my current numbers--and with Rangoon effectively blockaded, these numbers are all I'm going to have. So, this frontline looks like a stalemate, or even a potential opportunity for the enemy to start advancing again. We're not going to take Bangkok and relieve Malaya, not for a long time.

The situation in Singapore is dire. There aren't any enemy troops there at the moment, but the only supplies coming in are from a few cargo planes and bombers from Palembang (and those sorties are getting less every day as those planes are destroyed by the bombing campaign there) and the transport submarine USS Argonaut. There is a small resource base supplying local factories, but the rate of production is well below what it takes to sustain the troops there. I had been looking to break out and seize enemy resources, but Johore Bahru was reinforced before that operation began, so I cancelled it, and with troop supply levels dropping off, it's now too late.

All I can think to do now is keep their troops occupied in Thailand, at least while they're there, they're not finishing off Singapore or Palembang.

Java Sea
The KXI attacked a troop convoy, scoring two hits on a cargo ship for a confirmed kill and evading enemy counter-attack.

Sumatra
Palembang endured another shock attack, casualties 6500 to 850 favoring us. Our troop levels are about equal and we have major defensive bonuses--the attack didn't come close to succeeding, I don't understand why he's doing this.

Reinforcements
CVE Copahee arrives at Tacoma (including a Wildcat and a Dauntless squadron, designated replenishment units but I'll probably use them for training so the ship can provide air cover to amphibious ops)
AMC Worcestershire arrives at Cape Town
225th Field Artillery Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor (full strength, unrestricted)
RAF 225 Group Base Force arrives at Aden
104th Infantry Division arrives at Corvallis (fully restricted, these guys will never see combat unless CONUS is invaded)

Wasp has delivered VS-5 and its own Avenger squadron to Pearl (the Wasp has lower aircraft capacity than most carriers and can't actually carry all four of its own squadrons at full strength--although I could probably reduce the squadron sizes and make them all fit, I'm also trying to KB-proof Pearl, so having torpedo bombers there doesn't hurt). I'm also transitioning one of the USMC Dauntless squadrons to Avengers since I have a lot more Avengers than Dauntlesses right now. Wasp is going to pick up its other Dauntless squadron, get some maintenance, and will start acting like a carrier instead of a ferry after that.

[Molon Labe]

27 August 1942
Johnston Island recaptured easily

Japan
USS Growler attacked an unescorted cargo ship off the coast of Kyushu at night with a submerged torpedo attack, but failed to to score any (detonating) hits. It then surfaced, firing multiple torpedo salvoes and exchanging gunfire; eventually two Mk14s detonated and sent the ship to the bottom.

CENTPAC
Starting with a bombardment mission by the Arizona and New Mexico, our amphibious operation against Johnston began and the 21st Marines came ashore. Resistance was minimal and the atoll was secured by the end of the day.

Sumatra
The daily bombing of Palembang continued, but with fewer fighters than normal today. Our CAP managed to get 3 Sallies and a Zero.

Thailand
Same situation. Losses: 3 Zeroes, 1 Oscar; 3 Hurricanes, 2 Blenheims, 1 Hudson, 2 B-25s.

New Hebrides
Very surprisingly, there were 5 Zeroes on CAP over Luganville to greet my daily raid. I had nearly 40 fighters escorting, so the bombers weren't in danger, but the Zeroes did get 3 P-39s while only losing 1 of their own. Luganville does not have an airbase and I don't see any task forces nearby, my best guess is these guys flew all the way from Guadalcanal.

China
Another attack at Chengchow. Casualties 11000 to 5500 favoring us. Madness.

It turns out I didn't actually surround and trap that end-around force because I didn't enter its hex on the same hexside it entered from. So they were allowed to retreat. I still spanked them, though, 2666 casualties to 577.

[Molon Labe]

28 August 1942
KB spotted at Shortlands, enemy destroyer squadron raids Rangoon

CENTPAC
We had destroyer-minesweepers in both the bombardment group and the amphibious landing group at Johnston--mines were detected yesterday, fortunately, before anyone had a chance to hit one. The DMSs split off and formed their own minesweeping task force and cleared everything out.

Canton's not going nearly as well. We're just trying to get our boys organized on the beach right now. The enemy has two SNLF units here, which is about equal to our regiment. We can't overcome their forts with numbers like this. Fortunately, with the KB being sighted on other business, I should be able to reinforce and support this operation.

Burma and Thailand
A group of 6 destroyers entered the Rangoon harbor area, shooting up 2 groups of small ASW boats and 2 coastal minesweepers on the way in. They shelled the airbase from the harbor and destroyed 3 planes on the ground, with dozens more damaged.

I doubt it would matter as these shellings just about always happen at night and the offending party disappears by daybreak, but one of my british bomber squadrons here has transitioned to Vengeance dive bombers. We don't have enough naval attack qualified bomber pilots to field the unit just yet, but we're getting close.

The reinforced enemy attacked at Tavoy, but our army held them off, casualties 1436 to 333 favoring us. Big mistake, but we didn't quite inflict enough casualties that I would expect a counterattack to succeed.

Across the Bay near Colombo, a Catalina bombed an enemy submarine trying to slip into our sea lanes.

Sumatra
We managed to get 3 Albacores flying and sent them to Ooshaven, where they torpedoed a cargo ship loaded with fuel. It burned nice, but the Albacores made a one-way trip as Oscars jumped on them as they came off target.

Solomons
The KB and a second task force including heavy cruisers was spotted at the Shortlands. At least they're not going to Canton Island (I'll let Halsey celebrate that fact with an airstrike). Based on the pattern that seems to be emerging here, I think this is probably another evacuation being covered, which means there's an opportunity to hit ships loading troops in port. This is too far away from Milne for dive or torpedo bombers, but I have Hudsons and Fortresses that could make the trip. Before I do that, though, I'm going to probe their defenses with the only fighters I have that can make that trip--a full squadron of 25 P-38s from Milne. If that goes well I'll let them escort the bombers the next day.

Malaya
I'm doing it. The key infantry units for the assault on Johore are only starting to feel the pinch of the supply shortage. And he's clearly desperate for troops all over. I can't confirm that there's more than one actual combat unit on the other side of the channel. And I really don't think I have that much to lose. If the attack fails, it probably alerts him to the fact that Singapore is more vulnerable than he realized, but he might not even have the troops available to exploit that fact. So, better for my men to fight now, while they still have some fight in them. Beats letting them starve and surrendering to the first guy that holds out a loaf of bread to them.

Reinforcements and refits
DM Montgomery beginning refit in shipyard at Sydney
SC PC-579 arrives at Portland
No.41 Sqn RAAF arrives at Townsville (restricted, 6/6 Catalinas)

[Molon Labe]

29 August 1942


South China Sea
A coastal minesweeper--probably Miri/Brunei's--is attending to the minefield I left in the shallows leading to the Philippines. It spotted the O20 there and briefly engaged it unsuccessfully.

Bay of Bengal
HMS Ramillies is about to arrive in Colombo after being repaired at Cape Town. It was intercepted by a submarine, but the two destroyers escorting it home spotted the sub and depth charged it for moderate damage.

Burma and Thailand
We swept Tavoy hard today, but most flights had no joy as most of the enemy fighters were in the next hex over guarding Bangkok's armies and couldn't be baited to react. Overall losses here: 2 Oscars, a Zero, 3 Hurricanes, 1 B-25.

Solomons
No joy for the P-38s, the KB was long gone.

China
We shot down 5 Zeroes while losing only 2 P-40s over Chengchow.

Reinforcements
90th BG/320th BS arrives at Eastern USA (this is the last of the 90th BG, Liberators I'm shipping to China)
G/H Battery Heavy Coastal Artillery Regiment arrives at Sydney
73rd Motorised Brigade arrives at Madras

[Molon Labe]

30 August 1942
Is it too early to have a Turkey Shoot?

Burma and Thailand
A heavy cruiser led task force shelled Moulmein, where most of my fighters are based. The damage included a Hurricane destroyed on the ground, which would be the only Allied aircraft loss caused directly by enemy action today.

We adjusted our sweeps from Tavoy to the armies in the mountain pass leading to Bangkok. We shot down 16 Zeroes with no losses.

The enemy attacked Moulmein -- we shot down 3 Zeroes and 6 (of 9) Vals with no losses. Flak got another Val. This was the first sighting of the D3A2 version of the Val, which in my opinion is a downgrade due to reduced range. It is significantly faster than the A1, though, so in theory more survivable. 8/1942 is its normal arrival date, so it does not appear Japan invested significant R&D into this.

The enemy attempted paratrooper attacks at three bases around Rangoon, two of which were unoccupied and he was able to take. The third was Moulmein, the enemy was wiped out there and 4 of the aircraft were shot down. I don't think the enemy landed in numbers significant enough to pose a problem (just a couple hundred so far, maybe more arriving tomorrow). One of the bases is completely insignificant; the other severs my supply line to the south but it's not like I can't just take it back. I think he's hoping I've committed so much to Thailand that my defenses here are poor. They're not.

CENTPAC
Halsey shelled Canton with his heavy cruisers and a few destroyers, and launched an airstrike from the Lexington; each caused heavy casualties on the ground, effectively neutralizing one of the two SNFL units guarding Canton. This more or less eliminates any immediate risk of my Marines being overrun on the beach. It doesn't get us to the point where we can win yet.

With the KB leaving Shortlands yesterday, it could be here in as little as 2 days. Consistent with that, SIGINT intercepted transmissions right on the edge of a PBY search area east of the Solomons, right where we'd expect the KB to be if it was headed east. I'm going to give Halsey one more day of playtime and then it's GTFO. The heavy task force supporting Canton has rearmed and is also heading back to shell them again, but they'll be cutting it close. I also have marine regiments available in Pago and Johnston that I can send here to put us over the top, but they'll be holding off until I can be confident they won't be sunk at sea.

I'm putting one sub on the likely direct route east if that is the KB, several more are in the area trying to act as tripwires.

South China Sea
The O20 sank the minesweeper that attacked it yesterday. I guess I'll have to put more mines here, pretty win-win if they're going to send minesweepers here to die.

Japan
USS Swordfish was bombed by an ASW aircraft in the Okinawa-Kyushu gap. This is further out than the enemy has previously had any aerial success and may signal the end of one of our most lucrative patrol areas. Swordfish is RTB for repairs.

Malaya
Tomorrow...

EDIT: Sumatra
In response to an opponent inquiry, I've calculated the time until Palembang hits 0 supplies: 49 days, October 19th. I'm just telling him "substantially less than 3 months" since 3 months is what he said would cause him to quit the campaign.

Refits, Repairs
Ramilies has been delivered safely to Colombo, the destroyers that brought it in are turning around and bringing Revenge to Cape Town, doglegging north to avoid the enemy sub presence.

SS Skipjack taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor
-----------------------

Aircraft losses:
https://i.ibb.co/T1jdPqV/1942-Aug-30-aircraft-losses.png

[Ostfriese]

5,774 lost aircraft? That's more than the Japanese historically produced in all of 1941 (5,088). Insane.

[Molon Labe]

5,774 lost aircraft? That's more than the Japanese historically produced in all of 1941 (5,088). Insane.

That daily drip, drip, drip of a few fighters a day in the major air campaigns adds up.

https://i.ibb.co/2sdzxqF/1942-Aug-30-aircraft-losses2.png

[Ostfriese]

I'm just stunned by the number. In nine months your opponent has wasted a year of aircraft production, and that was in an advantageous position. How bad will this become once your aircraft get better and far more numerous?

[Molon Labe]

I'm just stunned by the number. In nine months your opponent has wasted a year of aircraft production, and that was in an advantageous position. How bad will this become once your aircraft get better and far more numerous?

I'm trying to have a conversation with him about that--pilot training specifically. He hasn't given me a lot of numbers, but he mentioned an experience level for at least some of his squadrons in Thailand was about equal to the Canadian pilots that just got there. That's surprisingly low considering those squadrons should be veterans of the campaigns in Malaya or Luzon. But he hasn't answered me about pilot skills, which is more relevant to training (experience is more from actual combat).

I'd like to at least confirm that he has some sort of system in place for pilot training, where he's using his rear echelon squadrons to train up his pilots before sending them to the frontline. Not doing that could explain what we're seeing, and if he isn't doing that, then I'm being given a major advantage that I shouldn't have. My inexperience is coming into play here, never having played Japan against a human, I'm not entirely sure what pilot attrition rates should look like. When I played against the AI, by this part of the war I had no issues having enough qualified replacement Army pilots, while the Navy was under enough pressure that I would occasionally have under-qualified pilots in lower-priority theaters. For example, the carriers would all get first priority, any land bases actively in an air campaign would be next, but the guys in bases assigned to escort Betties in places were I'm just trying to lock down sea lanes might get pilots that I would like to have trained a bit more, but are still competent to fly the mission.

This is what pilot training should look like, per a common strategy guide. I don't follow it exactly, but I'm not far off.
https://i.ibb.co/7Xnc7R7/training.png

[Molon Labe]

31 August 1942
KB confirmed closing on Canton Island invasion, British forces at Singapore making last stand, S-19 on eternal patrol

Philippines
We had Dutch subs attacked off the southern Phillipines as well as the western approach, both in shallow waters. They escaped damage, but I'm concerned about possible attrition due to the shallow water routes.

Thailand and Burma
Another bad day for the enemy in the air. 6 Zeroes down with no losses here. In fact, no Allied aircraft would be shot down or destroyed on the field anywhere today. Except maybe over Germany.

Sumatra
No enemy fighters escorting their bombers today. We got a single Mohawk in the air and shot down a Sally with it. Flak got two more

CENTPAC
PBYs picked up the KB (technically, they reported at least 2 CVs and 2 BBs) headed east south of the Gilberts - closer than we expected. If they move at flank speed they can be on the east side of Canton Island by day's end tomorrow. Halsey bombed Canton one last time and began moving out of the area automatically, I supplemented that with manual orders. I'm a little nervous because I didn't pay close attention to my CVBG's fuel state. It's not critical but I'd like to have more if we're going to get into an extended chase.

I'm evacuating Pago Pago since it's close enough to Canton that it could potentially be the target. Not likely, but still possible.

Solomons
The S-19 was bombed near Rennel Island, sustaining catastrophic damage. The sub sank almost immediately.

Malaya
As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives.
The most capable and best equipped of the British garrison at Singapore has crossed the channel and entered Johore Baru. The good news is they weren't immediately wiped out, we secured a perimeter on the other side, and casualties were "only"1193 to 598 favoring the enemy. Also, the enemy appears to only have a single regiment of actual infantry here, consistent with prior intel, so at least before the battle started, our combat power was over four times theirs. The bad news is that the fortifications are Level 4, which should mean we need about 5-to-1 odds to overcome them outright, and our attack didn't knock any of that down at all, and the supply situation has rendered one of our brigades combat ineffective already.

I'll need a day or two to rest and reorganize before I can try again. Assuming our supplies are sufficient to allow another attempt, the next attack should be significantly stronger because I don't have the channel crossing to deal with. But the numbers just don't look good. At least the enemy regiment is probably not going to get reinforced--their most likely source of help would have been the guys that sallied out of Bangkok. They'd need to march back for a few days, and then pack for a few days, before being able to rail back to Johore.

[Molon Labe]

1 September 1942
KB has a shot at intercepting Halsey's CVBG

A fairly uneventful turn so I'll just mention a few points:

-The armies that crossed into Johore Baru aren't ready to fight again. Not looking good.
-I'm taking Port Blair a little too seriously. The airfield is too small to operate Betties out of without loadout restrictions.
-The KB blew right past Canton Island, it's clearly trying to find the CVBG that bombed Canton. Thanks to my fuel situation, I actually can't just get away--if he goes the right direction, he'll catch us. Scouts say its just 3 carriers but I don't believe them.
-We've got a ton of upgrades now available-Bofors guns for the Mahan class DDs, 20mm Oerlikons and deck guns for a lot of cargo ships, North Carolina's getting Bofors and radar upgrades.
-We're now getting two new P-40Ks every day. The K model is a substantial upgrade over the E models currently in service.
-Our first night fighters, P-70 Havocs, are in low rate production. We should be able to form a squadron next month.
-EDIT: there is also an enemy task force approaching Johnston, it's classified as smaller anti-submarine escorts (classifications are horribly unreliable in WITP). The heavy covering force for the operation here has already left to rearm--what's left is a task force delivering base forces and the original amphibious group gathering up the invading marines for other deployments. The transports are pulling out--the warships in company with the transports are going to intercept the task force to cover their retreat.

[Molon Labe]

2 September 1942
Lex and Sara's ASW patrol may have done more harm than good

Another slow turn so I'll do it by bullet points again

-We retook one of the two small bases near Rangoon that were taken by paratroopers. Further north, the one he failed to take he's landing more troops at, so that's my next defensive priority.
-In China, we moved an army to Amoy on the coast, opposite Taiwan. His forces there are small, we should be able to take it tomorrow.
-In Singapore, he's bombing our armies now too. I'm ordering another attack, but if it fails to reduce the forts significantly all hope to break out will be done for.
-The KB stayed near Canton and bombed our marines. Halsey's CVBG didn't quite make it as far as I'd hoped today. They're going to get some gas overnight from transports that were supposed to be delivering base forces to Canton, which should be enough to get the ships to their actual replenishment group during the day. But, Murphy had to show up. One of our Avengers on patrol spotted a sub, which means there's a decent chance the sub spotted the Avenger. If it did, and if he's looking at his reports closely enough, he can just send the KB to the sub and get an airstrike on me right around the time I'm hoping to be getting an UNREP.
-Intel reported the Nissin Maru, the tanker that hit a mine last week, didn't sink after all.

[Molon Labe]

3 September 1942
Lex and Sara replenished, Amoy liberated, Burma heating up?

SouthPAC
Well south of Fiji, an unescorted cargo ship was attacked by a surfaced enemy submarine, which scored two torpedo hits and sent it promptly to the bottom. I think this was probably a ship I put on a continuous resource delivery route from Fiji to New Zealand on December 8th and forgot about. It's a little weird that there is an enemy sub this far to the south here, there really isn't anything going on here.

Japan
USS Grunion made two attack attempts on an escorted resource convoy near Toyohara. It was driven off the first time, but the second time managed to hit an AKL with a detonating torpedo.

China
At Chengchow, Japan's problem with Navy pilots continued as an group of 3 Lancers took on a formation of 20 Zeroes and came away with 5 kills without losses. A 3 on 3 battle broke out later, with our P-43s coming away with 2 more kills without loss. In the afternoon, apparently better-trained Oscars showed up and took out 2 of our Lancers.

Also near Chengchow, we pursued the enemy end-around force and engaged them again. They retreated back to the east side of the river where they belong.

On the east coast, we succeeded in liberating Amoy.

An enemy army--not very large looking--is proceeding west towards a line of inland bases. We're harassing it with bombers but at this time I don't consider it a threat.

Burma and Thailand
The force that sallied from Bangkok tried to attack our army in the mountains and got absolutely spanked, 6703 to 163. I'm going to take advantage and counterattack, hopefully their disruption from this beatdown overcomes the terrain defensive bonus.

We routed yet another blocking force from the road to Raheng. They retreated to the east and I'm going after them.

Paratroopers are landing fairly far north now, all the way at Akyab, near India. I suppose I'll need to reinforce that area with troops from Madras. I'm essentially playing whack-a-mole with these landings all over. The fight at Toungoo (north along the rail line from Rangoon) is the most serious; we're both sending bombers up there to try to tip the scales. It'll be several days before reserve troops from Rangoon arrive.

https://i.ibb.co/WcFcW2k/1942-Sept-3-Burma.png

Malaya
We gave Johore our best shot but were held off, taking 850 casualties and not putting a dent in their Level 4 forts. Going to have to accept the L on this one, they're ordered to pull back. I suppose Singapore will fall pretty shortly after now that they know how bad the supply situation is. Still, falling in September instead of February is pretty good.

CENTPAC
I had some good fortune today, as it appears the enemy did not spot the Avenger yesterday and the KB stayed near Canton. Halsey's CVBG is fully refueled and leaving the area. Hopefully the replenishment group and the transports are able to clear the area as well.

I suppose, if he wanted to, he could camp out at Canton and make sure I can't reinforce or resupply my marines. I think what I might do is organize some standby relief for them and then invade Midway. If he leaves, the relief will land and finish the job. If not I still get Midway. I just have to make sure the Midway force is big enough that it basically can't lose.

Reinforcements
SS Sunfish arrives at Mare Island
3rd FG/7th FS CAF arrives at Chungking (Vanguard fighters, going to be a training squadron for now because I don't have enough reserve Chinese pilots to use them on the front line-they'd just get killed and I'd lose good aircraft)
V US Bomber Cmnd arrives at Charters Towers (Air HQ - very valuable, these guys may end up in PM or Milne)

[Molon Labe]

4 September 1942
KB headed northwest, away from Canton Island and the Lex&Sara

Burma and Thailand
Moulmein was shelled by cruisers and destroyers again, but damage was minimal. We have a coastal artillery regiment here but they didn't hit anything. Bad news: these guys keep hitting at night and disappearing before the dive bombers can fly. Good news: if he wants to do real damage, he'll probably need the big guns, and most of them are slower.

We traded 2 fighters each fighting over mountains dividing Bangkok from Tavoy.

Our counterattack against Bangkok's army was successful. We drove them out of the mountains, causing 6763 casualties vs our 511. Sadly, it looks like Bangkok's been reinforced yet again, and in any case, if we tried to follow that army without taking Tavoy first we'd just get bombed again. So I don't think I can exploit this tactical victory beyond just bombing his troops now that they're in the open.


China
The enemy's doing better all of a sudden--we lost 4 P-40s and a P-43 over Chengchow and only shot down one Zero.

Intel says the Zero squadron operating over Chengchow is the Akagi's. Intel is still reporting the Akagi sunk, which I never took seriously, but if it's air group is all the way up here it's at least very seriously damaged.

CENTPAC
The KB was spotted northwest of Canton Island, after last appearing to the southeast--so it looks like they're headed home. They bombed Canton Island on their way out with Kates--damage was minor but disruption and fatigue for my marines remains very high.

I'm relatively sure the Lex and Sara are out of danger at this point, and the replenishment group and transports have put some distance between them and the threat as well.

One of the task forces evacuating Pago Pago was attacked by a sub, but it missed. Another sub really far south. Odd. I wonder if he's actually trying to look for my carriers behind the frontlines.

Reinforcements
CM Salem arrives at Balboa
TK Miralda arrives at Abadan

[Molon Labe]

5 Sept 1942
Enemy fighters break through escorts in China, major bomber losses

Sulu Sea
The KXII spotted a convoy of light cargo ships moving along the shallow water route to/from the Philippines. It hit one of of the ships and evaded the PB escort's counterattack. Troop casualties were reported.

CENTPAC
The KB detached 2 BB and 3 CA to bombard our troops on Canton Island. Disruption is severe, it feels like it's going to be forever before we can attack again. The cruisers in particular didn't appear to be in great condition--he's been running them fast and neglecting maintenance.

The KB itself appears to have moved to the nearby Ocean Island, perhaps to rendezvous with a tender to replenish its avgas.

Luzon Strait
USS Spearfish hit an enemy cargo ship with a torpedo for a likely kill.

China
At Chengchow, the reversal of fortunes in the air yielded a victory for the enemy. His Zeroes interdicted a raid of Hudsons, shooting down 1 P-40 and getting to the bomber formation in force, taking out 8 out of 12 of them. That squadron is standing down for awhile.

That army I spotted moving inland in the southeast appears to be headed to Canton (not to be confused with Canton Island).

Bay of Bengal
The new Vengeance dive bombers flew their first ever combat mission. 10 of them got lost and never arrived on target. 2 tried to attack the battleship Hyuga--they both missed; one was shot down by flak after it pulled out, the other crashed on the way home due to damage it sustained.

Sumatra
In spite of continuous air raids, a lot of the damage at Palembang's airbase has been repaired, enough that we got a few Albacores operational and sent them after a task force near Oosthaven. There were 16 Zeroes waiting for them (reportedly the Junyo's fighter squadron). One Albacore was shot down as they retreated.

Makassar Strait
The O16 scored a pair of torpedo hits on a cargo ship moving along the coast to/from Balikpapan (I wish the combat report have me a heading).

Reinforcements
VMF-123 arrives at San Diego (due to replenishing Yorktown and Hornet's fighter squadrons at Pearl, I have no planes to spare for these guys)
177th Construction Regiment arrives at Seattle
22nd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
E/F Battery Heavy Coastal Artillery Regiment arrives at Perth

I transitioned a half-strength squadron of P-40s at Port Moresby to a full-strength P-38 squadron. We've almost fully recovered from our losses from Port Moresby all the way east to Pago Pago (sustained in the KBs raids and the battle in the Coral Sea trying to save the Enterprise).

Current fighter production rates:
P-40K: 65 per month
P-40E: 35 per month
P-39D: 25 per month
P-38F: 40 per month
USAAF subtotal: 165 per month (5.5 per day)

F4F-4: 45 per month

Hurricane IIc: 36 per month

[Molon Labe]

6 Sept 1942

Thailand and Burma
A large surface task force with 3 battleships bombarded Moulmein, damage was surprisingly light but many aircraft were disabled.

He's got about 200 fighters hanging out in Bangkok now. Which leaves little in many other places.

More paratroops landed up the coast at Cox's Bazaar, the furthest west they've gone so far. Three transports were shot down.

Sumatra
Albacores attempted another attack, with Fulmars flying escort this time. The Zeroes didn't care, they got through the Fulmars and shot down 3 Albacores. But, the group was divided into 2 parts and the Zeroes didn't spot the second until after at attacked and scored a hit on a cargo ship.

CENTPAC
The KB is hanging out between Canton and Baker islands, and bombed Canton again. I've got subs headed to that area to try to get a lucky hit.

Reinforcements and Withdrawals
The damaged Tasker Bliss finally arrived at San Fransisco to be officially withdrawn, 19 days overdue. The other ship's going to be late too, it's due in 3 days and it's only in the Canton Island area.

SC-742 arrives at Balboa
Fifth USAAF arrives at Brisbane
223rd USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco
34th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment arrives at Madras
268th Motorised Brigade arrives at Aden

The thought occurred to me that I've let the KB disrupt my logistics operations for too long. I'm going to resume troops movements to Australia, beginning immediately with a division and 2 regiments.

[Molon Labe]

7 September 1942

Burma and Thailand
The heavy enemy task force shelled Moulmein again, although this time it was pretty much limited to secondary batteries. Damage was minimal.

Army reinforcements are arriving in western Burma from India to deal with the paratroops.

I've sortied a heavy task force to shell Port Blair. It's big enough--also with 3 BB--that if it runs into the enemy heavies it should at least lead to carnage on both sides.

Sumatra
His biggest raid today was 130 medium bombers escorted by 6 Zeroes. We had 9 fighters meet those guys, so in spite of everything we actually had their fighters outnumbered. We got to the bombers, on this raid and some others which flew completely unescorted, and shot down 6 Sallies.

New Britain, the Solomons, and the Santa Cruz Islands
I attempted a P-38 escorted raid on Rabaul, it was opposed by Nicks, shooting down 4 P-38s and 1 B-17, with no victories. Damage to the base was insignificant.

I'm putting together an op to encroach on the Solomons from two directions to take advantage of the lack of Betties and fighter coverage here. I believe Rabaul and Guadalcanal to be mostly paper tigers--I should be able to take some closer bases with enough fighter protection to prevent losses. I'll build up those new bases to enable a more aggressive air campaign to really shut down Guadalcanal, then either take it or bypass it in a way that cuts its supply off.


China
My coastal army has liberated another base on its way north--Tsinkiang is ours again. Both bases this army has taken have had almost no supplies in them--a bad sign about the state of Japanese supply in China. Well, good for us.

Reinforcements
SC-744 arrives at Eastern USA
SS Gurnard arrives at Balboa
AP Arthur Middleton arrives at Balboa
No.261 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (0/16 Hurricanes, no replacements available for them)

Wasp is back underway after getting some maintenance, and its bringing two fast battleships to Pearl with it. CVE Copahee is going to join my transport task force with the 1 2/3 divisions--getting the CVE forward deployed will help provide cover to future offensive operations.

[Molon Labe]

8 September 1942
Marines on Canton Island surrender

CENTPAC
Another detachment of ships from the KB -- cruisers and destroyers this time -- shelled Canton Island. The KB hit it with yet another airstrike during the day, and this time, their ground forces followed that with their own attack. Our Marines were so beaten down by several days of bombardment that they didn't have any fight left in them. So that's the end of this operation.

I'm not sure if the lesson from this needs to be that I need to show up with overwhelming force to ensure it's over before the KB get there, or just that I need local sea control before attempting amphibious operations, period.

Espiritu Santo Islands
A pair of cargo ships docked at Luganville. We tried to hit them with A-29s and B-26s but they all missed. I had P-39s assigned to attack at low level but they didn't fly for whatever reason, which is a shame because these guys would have made perfect targets for them. Tomorrow I'll hit them with a fast-reaction force of cruisers and destroyers, hopefully they won't be gone by then.

Sumatra
Our fighters broke through into the bomber formation hitting Palembang, we shot down 8 Sallies and a Zero with no losses.

South China Sea
USS Spearfish torpedoed and sank an enemy cargo ship off the west coast of Luzon.

Bay of Bengal
I'm aborting the Port Blair mission. We got picked up by scoutplanes, and when I checked everything this time I realize I forgot to consider one of the nearby enemy bases when determining whether this is feasible. We're passing way too close to an airbase in northwestern Sumatra, which I know from SIGINT has an AirHQ there--I'm sure it's there for a reason.

Reinforcements
DD O'Bannon arrives at Balboa
SC-638 arrives at Los Angeles
VMSB-144 arrives at San Diego (2/16 dauntlesses--it may be awhile before I have enough planes to activate this squadron)
21st USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
13th Construction Regiment arrives at Chengchow

[Molon Labe]

9 September 1942

Espiritu Santo Islands
Our quick-reaction cruiser-destroyer force arrived in time and sank both enemy cargo ships in port. They were reported to be UN-loading, not loading, so this was reinforcement rather than evacuation. Gun and vehicle losses were reported from the sinkings. My guess: AA unit to deal with me bombing these guys daily. We didn't have any B-17s or B-26s damaged in their raids later in the day so it doesn't look like they've made a difference yet.

New Britain
We raided Rabaul again, losses were even with 2 Nicks and 2 P-38s shot down. This time, bomb damage to the base was pretty good, we cratered up the runways and did a little bit of damage to other facilities.

India
The enemy paratroops enjoyed a little success, overrunning our small garrison in Cox's Bazaar, India. Reinforcements will be arriving by rail at a base a little further west down the coast, so this will be short-lived.

Reinforcements
CA Hawkins arrives at Cape Town
AV Albemarle arrives at Balboa
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
17th NZ AA Bde arrives at Dunedin
117th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

10 September 42

Philippine Sea
We hit pay dirt in a suspected outlet of a shallow water route through the Philippines, terminating at Legaspi. The O23 torpedoed a cargo ship moving through here, following up its initial hit with a 2nd salvo that added 2 more hits and finished it off.

Malaya
The army the attempted to break the siege has made it back to Singapore. The enemy didn't cancel their bomber raids on them and ended up losing at least 3 planes to flak.

New Britain
3rd raid on Rabaul in this series, this one didn't go so well. We lost 2 P-38s to 1 Nick and inflicted minimal damage. There were also 11 Oscars defending the base this time. The poor service rating of the P-38s is having an impact. Yesterday it was 15 P-38s vs 10 Nicks, today it was 11 P-38s vs 19 Nicks (plus the Oscars), so even though yesterday's losses were even, he's outnumbering me due to quicker maintenance.

China
Foochow, another base opposite Taiwan, has been liberated.

Reinforcements
AD Markab arrives at Balboa
VMF-124 arrives at San Diego (2/18 Wildcats, going to be awhile before I can equip them)
19th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
32nd Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney

[Ostfriese]

Merry Christmas to all of you, and once again a big thank @Molon Labe for these reports. They are a great read and very enjoyable, please don't stop writing them.

[mapuc]

^ As he said Keep on posting these AAR.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

11 September 1942

Ceram Sea
Yesterday we noticed a task force including at least one tanker pulling into Boela. B-17s from Darwin took a run at them but missed. Today, the KVIII entered the harbor to try to get the tanker(s), but it was blocked by a PB. It sank the PB then had to evade a 2nd PB. It looks like the tanker(s) left by the end of the day, so we've probably missed our chance here.

Sumatra
A heavy cruiser and a few destroyers shelled Palembang overnight, doing more damage than I'd expect one major surface combattant to do. Raids resulted in the loss of 4 Oscars, 2 Sallies, and a New Zealand P-40. The enemy army made a shock attack, which we held back. Casualties were 3582 to 1934 favoring us, forts are holding at a paltry Level 1.

Thailand
That hornet's nest of enemy fighters building up in Bangkok let it's presence be known, opposing my raid on Tavoy with over 100 Oscars. We had only 9 Hurricanes escorting the bombers. Looks like pilot training is still a problem: we shot down 7 of the Oscars (probably 2 by our bombers). They had no fighter kills and only shot down 3 Blenheims and 1 B-25. The raid was ineffective, though, perhaps because they were being harassed by the fighters over the target.

Reinforcements
SC-740 arrives at Eastern USA
13th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (Skytrain transports, unrestricted)
3rd USMC Tank Battalion arrives at San Diego (full strength, unrestricted)
26th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

Merry Christmas to all of you, and once again a big thank @Molon Labe for these reports. They are a great read and very enjoyable, please don't stop writing them.

^ As he said Keep on posting these AAR.

Thanks for the support guys, I'll keep going all the way until my opponent ragequits on me.

[Molon Labe]

12 September 1942

A very uneventful day.

-There was a relatively large series of air battles over Palembang, leaving 1 Hurricane lost in exchange for 1 Zero, 2 Betties, 1 Helen, and 4 Sallies.
-My army moving north up the Chinese coast has arrived at its next target, Foochow. There is an enemy army moving through the mountains to reinforce, but it won't get there in time. I might even try to encircle this army and eliminate it.
-A cargo ship was spotted entering the shallow water route through the Philippines at Legaspi, the sub that spotted it missed its torpedo shot.
-Palembang's Beaufighters flew a sortie, 3 of them strafed a transport ship at Oosthaven. The damage did not appear serious and no troop casualties were reported.
-Most of the pieces are in place for my operation to encroach on the Solomons. I should be able to move in a day or two after some recon flights. I'm looking to do something similar in the Ceram Sea as forces become available.
-I think I'm going to put a Midway operation together as well, but it's going to depend on a reliable KB sighting far enough away. It's just too--in the middle.

Reinforcements:
DD Gansevoort arrives at San Francisco
SC-636 arrives at Los Angeles
SC-739 arrives at Eastern USA
SC-743 arrives at Eastern USA
143rd USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

13 September 1942

--He bombed Palembang at 5000 feet today, resulting in at least 5 Sallies shot down by flak.
--Palembang's Beaufighters made another low level attack on a cargo ship near Oosthaven; this time they connected with bombs instead of cannon and caused severe damage--we believe the ship sank a few hours later. No troop casualties reported.
--I was wrong to think that tanker was gone from Boela already. It's a very large tanker that that's a pretty small port, it's not going to load quickly. I'm sending more subs. B-17s took another shot today again and missed.

Reinforcements
AM Bundaberg arrives at Darwin
3rd FG/8th FS CAF arrives at Chungking (Vanguard fighters, training unit)
55th FG/338th FS arrives at Portland (10/25 P-38)
3rd Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego (full strength, unrestricted)

------
14 September 1942

-A heavy cruiser and 3 destroyers shelled Palembang, causing heavy casualties to our defending forces.
-Our fighters performed well over Palembang, shooting down 3 Zeroes and 5 Sallies with no losses.
-Beaufighters attempted another strike but were turned away by Zeroes with 1 loss.
-Foochow, China has been liberated. That's the last base in this little coastal chain, I'm going to pause here to deal with the armies that are advancing here and assess whether I can or should try to take back any more territory. Taking bases is nice, but my main goal in China is to get him to burn supply, so him moving armies over here is more important than taking the bases.

Refits, and withdrawals
CL Leander has completed a substantial AA upgrade
VMF-222, embarked on the USS Long Island, had to be withdrawn. Long Island is part of an amphibious task force that had dropped troops off on Canton Island and was making a 2nd run when the KB showed up, it's been hanging out well south ever since. Now clear to return to Pago, the CVE will go to Peal next to pick up a new squadron.

[Molon Labe]

15 September 1942
Major enemy naval activity in Bay of Bengal

Sumatra
Palembang got shelled by 2 cruisers and 5 destroyers, causing light damage and casualties, but starting some major fires in the city.

CENTPAC
I'm retaking Lihue, Hawaii. We've confirmed there are no minefields. Marines hit the beach this morning, Arizona and New Mexico supporting.

Bay of Bengal
Yesterday I spotted a large task force near Moulmein and started clearing aircraft out of there to avoid taking heavy losses on the ground. They only ended up hitting it with 2 light cruisers and failed to do any damage. Most of the task force kept heading west, up the coast towards India. My Vengeance dive bomber squadron made an attempt on them, but it was again disorganized. They flew in 2 groups, one with 12 bombers and 8 escorting Hurricanes, the other with 3 bombers and and 13 Hurricanes. They each ran into CAPs of 30-40 planes over the target, presumably flying very long range out of Bangkok, but I can't rule out carriers. The first wave shot down 1 Zero, but lost 2 Hurricanes and 3 Vengeances to the Zeroes. One more was lost to flak over the target--the Hyuga. The second wave shot down 6 Zeroes while losing 3 Hurricanes and a Vengeance--the other 2 bombers aborted and ran.

I was going to convert another squadron of British bombers to Vengeances, but these losses will postpone that at least a week.

My best guess is these guys were encouraged by the paratroopers not all getting wiped out right away, so they're going to try to land troops in real numbers up here. Which isn't a good idea because I've got at least 2 divisions of restricted troops sitting in Calcutta that can get into the action without spending PP if the enemy lands in India. And lots more elsewhere in the country that can be sent in by rail in a few days. But if they have a better purpose, I can't think of it.

I'm evacuating a transport task force from Calcutta in case they want to shell the port. They'd delivered anti-tank guns to Calcutta after being diverted from their original destination of Rangoon due to developments there; I was hoping to switch them to phibs and drop them off in western Burma. If the enemy forces includes carriers, though, these guys will probably get killed at sea.

Burma
The enemy paratroops have been routed from Bassein, Burma (a base near Rangoon of little importance).

Reinforcements
AM Swallow arrives at Eastern USA
SC-741 arrives at Balboa
SS Blackfish arrives at Balboa
SS Runner arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

16 September 1942
Lihue liberated, carriers confirmed in Bay of Bengal task force, Solomons operation underway

Sumatra
He's moved fighters back here, presumably from Bangkok, so the high number of aerial victories we've been enjoying is going away. 79 Zeroes escorted the first wave of bombers. We shot down one Zero and later got 2 unescorted Anns.
Airbase damage has accumulated to the point that I'm not going to draw replacements.

Bay of Bengal
We've got a better idea what we're up against here--two task forces, one that includes at least one carrier and two battleships, and a lighter task force of cruisers and destroyers. I've sortied the British fleet from Colombo. I'd rather not get into a surface battle but I think I can match them in fighters, and if I ever get the dive bombers back online they'll be a big help.

Burma and Thailand
We've eliminated the paratroopers at Tuongoo. We caught up with the army that had been blocking the road to Raheng and routed them again.

CentPAC
Our marines have liberated Lihue, Hawaii. Enemy forces remain on the island but they no longer control the base.

Solomons
I have task forces approaching targets on two flanks simultaneously, with P-38s patroling overhead to provide some protection in case Betties show up. This isn't a major push but if successful I'll be able to build bases that will get medium bombers and P-38 sweeps over the main islands.

Reinforcements
DD Meade arrives at Balboa
25th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
-I'm moving recon Wildcat variants to Pearl with the intention to load them on Wasp.
-A squadron of the 35th Fighter group--one of the first I moved towards Australia in the early days of the war--has been reconstituted and built back up at Pearl enough that I'm willing to send it back out, it's headed to Pago.
-The transport squadron I got a few turns ago is on its way to Noumea.

[Molon Labe]

17 September 1942
Stalemate broken: Palembang captured in troop surge, massive enemy casualties at Chengchow

South China Sea
I feel like we haven't been getting too much good news from our subs lately. Well, after four consecutive reports of failed attack from US boats this morning, the KXVI had some good news- it hit the Type-N TL class tanker Akebono Maru (10,000 tons) in the shallow water route from Miri/Brunei to the Philippines. The tanker burst into flames and is believed to have sunk later in the day.

Philippine Sea
Not a good day overall for the Dutch, though. The O23 was caught patrolling the exit of the shallow water route near Legaspi and was severely damaged in a depth charge attack by a subchaser. It's headed for Darwin for emergency repairs before going to Brisbane--I expect the sub will make it but it may be awhile before she's ready for combat again.

Luzon Strait
USS Spearfish attacked an unescorted Aden-class cargo ship on the surface, scoring 2 torpedo hits for a confirmed kill.

Sumatra
It's a different war now. The naval activity that was provoking my Beaufighters into strafing runs was apparently landing reinforcements in large numbers at Oosthaven. That paid off today--the enemy attacked and we were immediately overwhelmed. Enemy bomber raids also ticked up significantly to assist this, and our ground forces did sustain a malus for disruption thanks to that--I think it did make the difference. Because we failed to hold off the surge for even one day of combat, I missed any opportunity I might have had to evacuate pilots--so we have a great deal of dead/MIA British and New Zealand aces now. I did, however, draw down those squadrons weeks ago, sending several highly experienced pilots elsewhere while bringing in fresh blood, so this wasn't quite the decapitation it could have been. We had about 21,000 troops killed or captured, while inflicting 3083 casualties on the enemy before we were overrun. The enemy had the equivalent of 4 divisions present.

I'm expecting the victorious armies will head to Singapore, then Thailand.

I'm a bit disappointed I only managed to get 1 B-24 squadron into China before this happened. I was really hoping I'd get to wreck tankers in port that were standing by for Palembang to open up, but those guys are probably already beginning their runs.

Burma
One of the enemy task forces bombarded Akyab and began landing troops. This task force includes the Hyuga, 2 CAs, and 2 CLs, which are all sending fire ashore--which means my appetite for a surface battle here is increasing; I'd love to catch these guys with depleted ammunition. I've split my British task force into two, a CVBG and a heavy surface group, this way the heavies will try to engage instead of just helping the carriers stay at arm's length. We're still 2 days off from any potential battle as this is a relatively slow task force and I'm swinging pretty far north to avoid bombers from Port Blair (which is now big enough to fully support them).

Solomons
My phibs haven't been spotted. I hit Guadalcanal with 15 B-17s to try to suppress the airbase a bit, we caused light damage to the base--no fighters intercepted us.

China
We held off a massive attack at Chengchow, 123,000 troops strong. Forts held at Level 4 while we dished out 27,000 casualties to our 8,000. Takes some of the sting out of losing 21,000 Dutch/UK/Australian soldiers at Palembang.

CentPAC
I started to get a bad feeling about how many ships were concentrated at Pearl. Lex and Sara are going to lay low for a bit. Wasp will rendezvous with its incoming recon assets...somewhere else.

Intel
Intel reports the Ise has sunk (the battleship that was unescorted when hit multiple times by a Dutch sub)

[Molon Labe]

18 September 1942
Akyab captured--but how will he supply his troops there?

Ceram Sea
There are at least 2 tankers in Boela right now, B-17s made another attempt on them and missed completely. I've got 2 subs there and a 3rd arriving but they haven't been able to get an attack in.

Burma and India
The troops the task force landed at Akyab put the paratroopers there over the top, the garrison surrendered and the base is theirs. But so what? I just don't get what this does for them. The main strategic value of this area is the Burma road providing supplies to China, and it's a long way across rivers and over mountains to get to the Road from Akyab. It's a bit of a pain in the ass for me because they're not quite in India so I can't use Indian troops without spending political points. Most of my Burmese/unrestricted troops are further east fighting on the Thailand front. But I can probably just let these guys sit here and starve, use them as target practice for my bomber pilots, and take them with relatively small forces at my leisure.

Speaking of Indian units, the first of the Indian troops responding to the paratroopers are now arriving in Cox's Bazaar.

A Hudson bomber bombed an enemy submarine lurking outside Rangoon.

Solomons
We'll hit the beaches on our two targets tomorrow. Resistance expected in the east but not in the west. I'll be shelling the eastern target (Ndeni) with cruisers and hitting them with B-17s to soften them up.

Reinforcements
SS Barb arrives at Balboa
No.27 Sqn RAF arrives at Howrah - Beaufighters, right next to Calcutta! They're in crates, though, so I need a day to move them to Calcutta airbase and then several days to bring them online--the task forces might be long gone by then.
331st Construction Regiment arrives at Seattle
23rd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

19 September 1942
HMS Indomitable and Hermes vs IJN Kaga, Hiyo, and Junyo - another point for the Brits

Solomons
My encroachment op is proceeding according to plan, including shellings and bombings against Ndeni as my troops came ashore. The enemy moved some Nicks to Guadalcanal to deal with the B-17s there, resulting in two shootdowns by the Nicks and a third to flak--and two more crashing on the way home. We had actually received a report of 3 subs in port at Guadalcanal, so the B-17s were going after them instead of the airbase, but it looks like we just bombed an empty port. But, the Nicks stayed away from my phibs, which is what matters.

Philippines
USS Gato was badly damaged near Siargao attempting an attack on an escorted convoy and is RTB for repairs.

CENTPAC
We hit Canton Island with a cruiser-destroyer group, causing over 100 casualties and damaging some Mavis scoutplanes. An enemy sub attempted an attack on the way in but was driven off by an escorting destroyer.

I've started landing troops on Kona, Hawaii to remove the enemy presence there. I'm also sending a minesweeper to Lahaina, mostly to see if it takes fire from ashore if it tries to clear mines.

Taiwan Strait
A group of 9 destroyers--many of them modern and highly-capable--bombarded the recently captured coastal base of Amoy, causing a great deal of airbase and port facility damage. But I'm not using those facilities.

This is more confusing information. Many of these destroyers have the deep-reaching depth charges that makes them ideal for convoy escort duty, if not escorting major surface combattants. And I'm still finding unescorted merchants quite frequently. Why are there so many destroyers available for a low-priority bombardment mission when there are unescorted convoys? A thought occurred that these might be the KB's escorts if the KB is finally getting its July upgrades, but without any cruisers I don't think so, and I checked the ship list with the list of ships from when my subs penetrated the formation and hit Akagi--no ships on both lists. Can't rule it out, but probably not.

Bay of Bengal
It's starting to feel like the HMS Indomitable is forming a bit of a relationship/rivalry with the Hiyo and Junyo. The fleets (including Hermes on my side and Kaga on theirs) came into contact today and traded airstrikes, which worked out much in my favor.

The enemy tried to strike first with a wave of 29 unescorted Kates. I asked about the lack of escort and he told me he range-restricted his fighters, so this looks like I've benefited from an error here. I made a similar error back in the fight for Balikpapan, though, when I thought my Hurricanes had the range to escort my torpedo bombers when they didn't, so I guess we evened that score up. Anyway, we had 20 Hurricanes and 11 Martlets on CAP and spotted the raid on radar 82 miles out. The Kates didn't have a chance. All were shot down with no fighter losses, and the Brits even had an Ace-in-a-day with 6 kills to his credit.

Our raid was much smaller, just 13 Albacore torpedo bombers escorted by 8 Martlets. But radar made a huge difference. We were spotted just 16 miles out, and most of the enemy fighters--36 in total--didn't arrive until after we had already attacked the targets. It looks like the fight started with just 6 Zeroes present. 5 of our Martlets were shot down by the Zeroes but they fought well enough for 8 of the 13 Albacores to attempt attacks on the enemy, resulting in 1 torpedo hit on the Kaga and another on the Yamato. The Junyo was also attacked, but missed. Only 2 Albacores made it back to the Indomitable in total 9 kills were by Zeroes and 2 by flak.

Once again, we don't have any overt indications that damage to either warship was severe, and I have to assume both are operational. That the battleship held in reserve from the shore bombardments is the Yamato is concerning--I'd rather not have my old battleships fight the Yamato like this. And those 13 Albacores--now 2--was all the offensive punch I had on both carriers. Also, I'm surrounded by something like 7 subs and the Kaga probably has Vals it can send after me. So I'm not going to stick around for a surface fight; the task force is headed west towards Calcutta to avoid the subs and get some extra fighter cover, then southwest back to Colombo. Most of the Vengeance dive bomber squadron is operational again, so I'm moving them west from Rangoon to take advantage of a hopefully weakened task force.

It seems pretty likely to me that the Kaga would not have taken this hit had it received its scheduled 7/1942 upgrade. And I don't even think it would have been that inconvenient for the Kaga (and Akagi) in particular, because it already needed probably weeks worth of repairs from the damage it sustained in late June 1942

https://i.ibb.co/LvM5kMB/1942-Sept-20-Burma.png

China
After letting our fighters rest for a bit around Chengchow, we put a CAP back up. It looks like more enemy troops are headed here, so I have to be ready for bomber attacks. We got 4 Zeroes and 2 Oscars with no losses.

Refits and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on BB North Carolina at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade completed--on its way to Pearl)
BB Washington taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor (same AA upgrade NC just completed)
CL Dauntless beginning refit in shipyard at Bombay (AA upgrade)
CL Caradoc beginning refit in shipyard at Bombay (AA upgrade)

AM Rockhampton arrives at Melbourne
SC-637 arrives at San Diego
SC-641 arrives at San Francisco
SS Shad arrives at Balboa
TK Alcides arrives at Abadan
No.159 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (14/16 Liberators -- headed straight to India)
341st BG/491st BS arrives at Karachi (B-25s, I forget how many but probably about half-strength. Headed to Calcutta by raid)
374th TCG/6th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (transport squadron)

[Molon Labe]

Where are the Carriers?

Doing this for my own benefit, really. This thread has become one of the most convenient ways for me to check on past events to try to inform current decisions:

Fleet Carriers

Akagi: Torpedoed by S-29 on 23 June 1942. Damage did not appear serious at the time. Intel reported sunk 6/24/42, then reported still in service 9/20/42. Fighter squadron seen operating in Chengchow, China on 4 Sept 42, but appears absent on 20 Sept 42--airwing likely returned to ship after repairs completed. Likely received 7/1942 upgrade while under repair.

Kaga: Last seen 19 September 1942, torpedoed by Albacore in Bay of Bengal operating with Junyo (and probably Hiyo). Continued fight operations after torpedo hit. Confirmed to have NOT yet received 7/1942 upgrade. Prior damage from CVW-8 Devastator on 16 June 42 in Coral Sea, causing aviation gas explosion.

Soryu: Sunk by CVW-2 14 Feb 1942

Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku: Operational, believed to be operating with Kido Butai. KB last seen near Canton Island 8 Sept 1942. Not believed to have received 7/1942 upgrades prior to 8 Sept 42.

Junyo: Confirmed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942. Previous deployment as part of the KB, 21 July 1942, supporting the evacuation of ground forces from Lahaina, Hawaii.

Hiyo: Believed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942 (fighter squadron reported present). Present for battle of Port Blair 20 August 1942. Hit by 2 torpedoes from Albacores on 31 July 1942. Intel reports sunk 8/25/42.

Light and Escort Carriers:

CVL Ryujo - hit by two heavyweight torpedoes on 1/17, definitely disabled, likely sunk. Intel reports sunk 1/31/42.
CVL Shoho - damaged by heavyweight torpedo hit 2/3/42. Damaged by CVW-8 Helldiver 16 June 42 in the Coral Sea.
CVL Zuiho - likely sunk 2/14/42 (4 bomb hits, 1 air-dropped torpedo hit). Intel reports sunk same day.
CVE Hosho - sunk by 2 heavyweight torpedo hits 1/19/42
CVE Taiyo - sunk 2/14/42 (6 bomb hits)
CVE Unyo: Hit by torpedo from Albacore 20 August 1942 off Port Blair, damage did not appear severe. Intel reports sank same day.

CS Chitose: sunk in surface action in Celebes Sea as part of an amphibious task force (USS Marblehead leading formation), 10 December 1941
CS Chiyoda, CS Nisshin, CS Mizuho: Rufe float fighters have been spotted with the Kido Butai as well as the CVBG operating in the Bay of Bengal, indicating these ships are operating with the fleet carriers.


Unfinished:
CVE Chuho: 11/22/42
CVL Ryuho: 11/24/42
CV Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)
CV Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
CV Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
CV Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
CV Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)
CVE Kaiyo: 12/3/43
CVE Shinyo: 12/19/43
CVE Yamashira Maru: 2/4/45
CVE Shimane Maru: 2/8/45
CVL Ibuki: 4/26/45
CVE Chigusa Maru: 6/22/45
CV Ikoma: 6/20/45
CV Aso: 6/24/45
(cost-adjusted arrival dates represent previously-calculated acceleration)

[mapuc]

When reading your lastest post I started to wonder
How many Carrier of different type did IJN have during WWII ?

In total they had 30

Fleet carriers 13
Escort carriers 10
Light carriers 7

Markus

[Molon Labe]

When reading your lastest post I started to wonder
How many Carrier of different type did IJN have during WWII ?

In total they had 30

Fleet carriers 13
Escort carriers 10
Light carriers 7

Markus

Good call, I have a bunch missing. Adding them....
...and the Chuho and Ryuho are close enough that they're probably already in service!

[Ostfriese]

When reading your lastest post I started to wonder
How many Carrier of different type did IJN have during WWII ?

In total they had 30

Fleet carriers 13
Escort carriers 10
Light carriers 7

Markus


Many of the carriers were unique ships or classes made up of two ships, like all pre-war carriers. Only during the war Japan started to build larger classes of carriers (and ultimately failed). Molon Lobe's list is pretty complete, missing only Ikoma, Chiyoda and Chitose.


IJN Fleet Carriers:
Akagi (battlecruiser conversion)
Kaga (battleship conversion)
Soryu
Hiryu (different enough from Soryu to be labelled as a class of its own)
Shokaku and Zuikaku
Hiyo (ocean liner conversion)
Jun'yo (ocean liner conversion)
Taiho
Unryu class: Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi completed and commissioned; Kasagi and Aso launched, but cancelled during late building stages.
Ikoma class (modified Unryu class): Ikoma launched, but cancelled after having been built up to the flight deck, one further ship cancelled very early during the construction, possibly even before building had begun (sources aren't clear about that).
Shinano

Total: 13 finished + 3 cancelled in late building stages + (possibly) 1 cancelled in early building stage.

Ikoma is missing in Molon Lobe's list, but even if she had been completed she would not have been commissioned before 1946.


IJN Light Carriers:
Hosho
Ryujo
Zuiho and Shoho (converted submarine tenders)
Ryuho (converted submarine tender)
Chitose and Chiyoda (converted seaplane carriers)
Ibuki (cruiser conversion), cancelled during the very late building stages

Total: 7 finished + 1 cancelled

Chitose and Chiyoda are missing in Molon Lobe's list, probably because they are currently around as seaplane tenders and need to be upgraded to a CVL rather than being in the building queue.


IJN Escort Carriers:
Taiyo class (converted cargo ships): Taiyo, Un'yo and Chuyo
Kaiyo (converted ocean liner)
Shin'yo (converted German ocean liner)
Shimane Maru class (oconverted oil tankers, basically they were the Japanese version of the MAC ships): Shimane Maru completed and commissioned; Otakisan Maru, Daiju Maru and Taisha Maru never completed.

Total: 6 finished + 3 cancelled

Chuyo is on Molon Lobe's list as Chuho. The three missing Shimane Marus would never have been finished before the end of 1945.


IJA Carriers:
Akitsu Maru and Nigitsu Maru (converted passenger liners). Although these can be counted as CVEs they actually were landing ships with a small flight deck and no hangar.
Yamashira Maru and Chigusa Maru (converted oil tankers): barely fulfilling the CVE classification.
Kumano Maru (converted cargo ship), barely fulfilling the CVE classification, its was actually an aircraft ferry which could launch its stored aircraft rather than unload them.

Total: 5 finished

Only the two Yamashira Marus are on Molon Lobe's list. The others are missing, very likely due to the fact that all these Army ships were just barely capable of operating aircraft. The Yamashira Marus were planned to be used as convoy escorts (they were even armed with depth charges and launchers for them), so I can see why they have been included in the game despite only carrying eight aircraft, but the other three have been left out for good reasons IMO.

[Molon Labe]

Oh, fine, I'll add the seaplane carriers!
Also, I managed to miss the Ikoma, so I'll add it too. Thanks!

[Molon Labe]

20 September 1942
Large losses for British dive bombers, Zeroes in China

Okinawa
USS Haddock got into a night surface action with a light cargo ship near Amami Oshima, getting close enough to rake it with .50 and .30 caliber machine guns. The enemy ship took enough damage to cause a small fire, while the Haddock was also hit. I've ordered it home for repairs.

Luzon Strait
USS Tuna torpedoed a cargo ship twice, one of which detonated. We believe the ship sank later in the day.

China
Between sweeps of Chengchow and an attempt at intercepting some of our bombers we're sending after enemy troops trying to get west of Chengchow's river, we shot down 10 Zeroes and an Oscar with no losses. One US pilot claimed 5 kills in these engagements (his #11-15), making this the first ace-in-a-day achievement scored against enemy fighters instead of bombers.

CENTPAC
No mines detected at Lahaina! Let's give the sweeper another day to be sure. Also, not taking artillery fire from shore, so that's good.

Bay of Bengal
The British Vengeance dive bomber squadron (9 operational) attempted an attack on the Junyo with 11 US P-40s escorting. The Zeroes shot down 2 P-40s with one loss. They shot down 6 bombers before they attacked, and the other 3 afterwards. The three that attacked all missed. The CAP was 60 planes, indicating that the Kaga is still operational.

Intel
Previous report of sinking of CV Akagi incorrect. Intelligence reports ship is still in service

Reinforcements
AO Suamico arrives at Balboa
AO Olwen arrives at Abadan
9 RAAF Base Force arrives at Sydney

[Ostfriese]

Oh, fine, I'll add the seaplane carriers!
Also, I managed to miss the Ikoma, so I'll add it too. Thanks!


Can you actually upgrade Chitose (if it hadn't been sunk) and Chiyoda to light carriers?


And based on what you wrote earlier I guess that the Japanese carriers arriving in 1945 won't play a major role anyway, because the game should long be decided by then.

[Molon Labe]

Can you actually upgrade Chitose (if it hadn't been sunk) and Chiyoda to light carriers?


And based on what you wrote earlier I guess that the Japanese carriers arriving in 1945 won't play a major role anyway, because the game should long be decided by then.

Yes, the CS to CVL conversion becomes available in 11/1942.

[Molon Labe]

21 September 1942
Air war: 18 to 2, Japan's pilot quality in crisis

Bay of Bengal
The entire Bay is lousy with enemy submarines, and they tried to interdict my CVBG as it pulled back to Colombo. We ended up in a 3-part engagement with the I-9, as our escorts pursued it relentlessly after it was spotted. It was damaged slightly the first time, evaded us the second, but we hit it hard with multiple patterns in the 3rd. I think she's gone.

A second sub that tried to attack the battle group was also driven off with light damage.

Japan
USS Tautog sank a light cargo ship off Naha in a night surface torpedo attack.

Burma
Most enemy airpower is supporting bombing raids on my armies in Tavoy--those fighters shot down one of my Hurricanes. They also swept Rangoon with 24 Oscars. 10 of them didn't make it back--and they shot down absolutely nothing (our CAP was 22 Hurricanes).

Solomons
The Ndeni op isn't going too great, we still haven't overcome the garrison, and today our marines were bombed by a few Kates being escorted by Nicks--only one P-38 responded, which is a really bad sign that this base is just too far away even for the P-38s.

Malaya
Bombing Singapore is a thing again. Remember the Repulse? Its wreck is still in port there. She took another 19 non-penetrating bomb hits.

China
At Chengchow, we had a coorindation foulup that allowed some Zeroes to get to A-29 bombers, so we lost one of them. But we met the enemy sweeps and took down 8 Zeroes with no losses.

So, we went 18 to 2 in the air with them today, with their only kills being a badly outnumbered CAP fighter and a bomber with no escort. Our kills were all fighter-on-fighter. Especially after shooting down 10 Zeroes without loss yesterday, it's hard for me not to conclude that enemy pilot attrition has hollowed out the enemy air forces.

I also moved some Lysander light bombers to my recently acquired airbase at Amoy. Their job is going to be to patrol the Taiwan Strait and try to get a little recon on the enemy bases at Pescadores and Takao. Hopefully any ships at sea they detect we can refer to submarines, and if there are ships in port we can get them with the heavy and medium bombers that are moving into the region.

Refits and Reinforcements
SS Pickerel begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
AM Pursuit arrives at Seattle
166 Wing arrives at Aden (aviation support-already loading up for Colombo)

[Molon Labe]

22 September 1942
Enemy counterattack, auxiliary losses in Bay of Bengal and Solomons

Ceram Sea
The KXII attacked a convoy of cargo ships passing between islands, scoring two hits on one of them for a confirmed kill. There would be many ships sunk today--but this will be the only one that's Japanese.

Solomons
The western "encroachment force was engaged at night be a single enemy destroyer, which I am a bit embarrassed to say I was unprepared for. This task force is under the protection of bombers from Milne, but that doesn't do them any good overnight. So, that one destroyer took on my landing force: 2 minesweepers (ASW escorts), 3 transports, and one cargo ship, and pretty much wiped the fleet out.
Japanese Ships
DD Natsushio
Allied Ships
AM Katoomba, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nightingale, Shell hits 6, on fire
AM Kiwi, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
xAP Malaita, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Taroona, Shell hits 5, on fire
xAP Nairana, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk

The two damaged survivors are trying to make it to Townsville. The Natsushio managed not to be detected by scoutplanes in the day, so a retaliatory airstrike never came. This task force has already accomplished its mission, so this doesn't affect my operation beyond that I need my follow-up forces delivering base forces to pause to get a more robust escort.

On the southeast flank of the Solomons, our covering force shelled Ndeni again, and that along with the bomber strikes put our troops over the top. Ndeni is ours, granted there are still enemy troops on the island. That came at a price, though, as Kates started harassing the ships, 26 total with 11 Nick escorts. P-38s splashed 2 Nicks and 4 Kates, and 3 more Kates were lost to flak. Two of the Kates scored bomb hits on the heavy cruiser Australia--nothing it can't handle.

In spite of his flights against Ndeni, he still had 24 Nicks greeting my B-17s attacking Guadalcanal. I lost 2 of the bombers and damage from the strike was minimal.

Bay of Bengal
Madras, India came under attack by the enemy CVBG as well as land-based air from Port Blair. This port does not currently have fighter protection, and is home to a small cargo fleet used to keep Colombo supplied. It's also where the transport task force that recently evacuated Calcutta ran to.

The first wave was 21 Betties, one of which put a bomb into a cargo ship in the harbor. Next was 12 Kates and 13 Vals (48 Zeroes escorting):
AMc Agra
xAK Bandra, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AM Poole, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Barpeta, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Honolulan, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Washingtonian, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
and a second wave from the carriers:
Allied Ships
xAKL Chaksang, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Agra, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk

Losing the minesweepers hurts, we don't have enough ASW escorts in this region. Aside from that, these are all low-value ships.

China
We held off another land attack at Chengchow, this time the assault dropped our forts to Level 3. Casualties 11706 to 5283. Both sides lost a fighter overhead.

Burma and India
We attempted an attack on Tavoy now that more reserves had arrived. It failed, casualties 1389 to 379 favoring the enemy. This loss means I have to accept that my reserve forces aren't enough to get the job done. I'm going to pull my main force out from near Bangkok and send the whole thing here. Then I'll leave enough at Tavoy to hold it while bringing the bulk of the main force back to Bangkok.

We've retaken Cox's Bazaar, India. Going to hold off on buying out any of these guys to send them south, for now.

Reinforcements
AM Inverell arrives at Rockhampton
167 Wing arrives at Aden

[mapuc]

Thought it could be interesting to compare this version of war in the pacific and the real timeline.

Found this page war in the pacific day by day(in general)

https://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm

Markus

[Ostfriese]

Thought it could be interesting to compare this version of war in the pacific and the real timeline.

Found this page war in the pacific day by day(in general)

https://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm

Markus


Very nice overview, bookmarked. Thank you.

[mapuc]

How many Carrier did USA have in dec. 1941 ?

From following page
https://bluejacket.com/ww2_12-07-41_carriers.html

"On 7 December 1941, the U.S. Navy had seven aircraft carriers (CVs) and one aircraft escort vessel (AVG) in commission. The CVs were considered warships and the AVG was considered an auxiliary vessel. In addition to these eight ships, the keels of five other CVs had been laid."

If I remember correctly five of these was in the pacific or on route to the pacific.

How many was build during WWII ? According to wiki 151 aircraft carriers were built in the U.S. during World War II; 122 of them were Escort Carriers.

Molon must soon get a few of these carrier/escort carrier.

Markus

[Ostfriese]

American pre-war carriers:

Langley (converted into a seaplane tender in 1937)
Lexington Class (converted battlecruisers): Lexington and Saratoga
Ranger: the first American ship designed as a carrier from the beginning
Yorktown Class: Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet
Wasp
Long Island: Escort carrier, often overlooked, transferred her air group to Guadalcanal in August 1942, the first aircraft to reach Henderson Field.

American fleet carriers built during the war:
Essex Class: 24 Ships built, 1 commissioned in 1942, 6 commissioned in 1943, 7 commisioned in 1944, 5 commissioned in 1945 (3 of them before the end of the war), the remaining ships between 1946 and 1950.
Midway Class: 3 ships, 2 commissioned in late 1945, the third commissioned in 1947.

American light carriers built during the war:
Independence Class: 9 ships, all commissioned in 1943
Saipan Class: 2 ships, 1 commissioned in 1946, one in 1947

American escort carriers built during the war:
Bogue Class: 47 ships, of which 11 were used by the US Navy. 6 commissioned in 1942, 5 commissioned in 1943.
Sangamon Class (converted from oilers): 4 ships, all commissioned in August/September 1942
Casablanca Class: 50 ships, 25 commissioned in 1943, 25 in 1944
Commencement Bay Class: 19 ships, 2 commissioned late in 1944, 13 commissioned in 1945 (8 before the end of the war, 5 after the end of the war), 2 commissioned in 1946, 2 never commissioned.


As the Allies cannot rush anything in the game the carriers should arrive on their historical arrival dates, which means that right now Molon Lobe should have some of the Bogues and the Sangamons (probably not all of them, as they were also used in the Atlantic historically).
The biggest addition will be USS Essex in December 1942, and during the first half of 1943 there should be a surge of CVL and CVE arriving along with a couple of Essexes, so by July 1st, 1943 Molon Lobe should easily outnumber anything the Japanese can muster even if they don't lose any of their carriers until then.

[mapuc]

You're right thank you.
As you wrote
The carriers should arrive on their historical arrival dates

Markus

[Molon Labe]

Here's my current carrier OOB and two screens worth of future arrivals:

https://i.ibb.co/MZKvK6D/1942-Sept-CV-OOB.png



As the Allies cannot rush anything in the game the carriers should arrive on their historical arrival dates, which means that right now Molon Lobe should have some of the Bogues and the Sangamons (probably not all of them, as they were also used in the Atlantic historically).
The biggest addition will be USS Essex in December 1942, and during the first half of 1943 there should be a surge of CVL and CVE arriving along with a couple of Essexes, so by July 1st, 1943 Molon Lobe should easily outnumber anything the Japanese can muster even if they don't lose any of their carriers until then.
I need to mention that we are playing with variable arrival dates, so arrivals might be +/- 30 days from their actual historical arrivals. This helps prevent the opposing player from knowing exactly when something is going to show up.

It's going to be a bit rough until mid-1943 thanks to losing all of the Yorktown class. And all 3 of my active US fleet carriers are due for lengthy refits in October, so I'm going to have to rotate those 3 out of service for that. Probably one at a time, but I might see if I can get away with a twofer. Wasp vs Japan!

[Molon Labe]

23 September 1942
Parrying

Solomons and Espiritu Santo Islands
With a little help from the CL Leander and a few destroyers, the Marines on Ndeni finished off the enemy garrison.

Meanwhile, the last two damaged ships from the western amphibious task force succumbed to the damage they took yesterday, and a B-17 was lost to flak over Guadalcanal.

I've cleared my base forces to land on Roussel--this task force has a DMS and a DM in addition to the pair of AMs that proved inadequate yesterday. Not exactly robust, but enough to turn away their ace destroyer if it comes back.

Partly because Ndeni seems to have been a bit too far for the P-38s to patrol efficiently, I'm going to head back to Luganville, and quickly. The engineers and base forces intended to land on Ndeni immediately after the Marine's success are being unloaded instead of transported. Those ships are going to load up more Marines... and tanks. Lots of tanks. Hopefully between better air support, better recon, and the results of several months of near-continuous bombing, the result will be better than our first attempt. The Kates are going to have a much tougher time getting through my fighters around Luganville than they did around Ndeni.

Also, the squadron of A-20s based in Efate has upgraded to the A-20A1. These aircraft are armed with 4 forward firing 50-cals and are considered "attack bombers". They're coded to aggressively strafe and skip bomb at low altitude--I'm actually assigning fighter pilots to fly them since bomber pilots don't train the strafing skill. This should be the most effective low-altitude unit on the board, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do.

Burma
The enemy attacked our armies at Tavoy with Betties, we shot down 4 Zeroes and lost 1 Hurricane trying to get to them. I've converted a 2nd squadron of Rangoon's Blenheims to Vengeances--but we don't have qualified pilots for them yet. Both dive bomber squadrons will be sitting in the rear getting replenished and trained, for now.

Bay of Bengal
The enemy swept Trincomalee with Zeroes then followed up with a Val raid; Colombo's Martlets were there to greet them. We got 2 Zeroes and lost a Martlet--the Vals sank the port's minesweeper. They also sent some Kates after a pair of destroyers that had just returned to Colombo after escorting a pair of cruisers to Bombay for upgrades. We traded 2 Marlets for 2 Zeroes here, and the Kates all missed.

China
Another shock attack at Chengchow--probably triggered by reinforcements arriving while crossing the river. Our forts are now down to Level 2, which is concerning. Casualties were 14875 to 7819 favoring us. Even though I might ultimately lose here, I really think this ongoing battle is to my benefit. He's taking such heavy losses, and his troops are much more valuable and also needed elsewhere. On my end, if there's one thing I have in abundant supply, it's Chinese soldiers, so I really don't mind losing them if they're taking enemies with them. He's also burning a ton of supply, and I can tell his supply needs in China are going unmet because of how low the stockpiles were at the coastal bases I seized.

Reinforcements
One of the B-24 squadrons that departed from the east coast has arrived in Capetown, South Africa. Next step for them will be slow boats to India.

AM Vireo taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor

[mapuc]

So far we have been discussing material and when it will arrive
What about the Men Here I'm thinking Soldiers for offensive operations such as Marines, Green Barets etc

If I have been following your AAR correctly you have mostly received men for defencing measure of your airport and harbour.

Sorry if I should be wrong.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

So far we have been discussing material and when it will arrive
What about the Men Here I'm thinking Soldiers for offensive operations such as Marines, Green Barets etc

If I have been following your AAR correctly you have mostly received men for defencing measure of your airport and harbour.

Sorry if I should be wrong.

Markus
I was shipping a lot of troops out to Australia and my southern island bases (Noumea, Fiji, Pago Pago) early in the war, then I got a bit distracted when I started retaking Hawaii. I'm actually in the middle of a troop surge right now, to try to make sure I have enough offensive power in an around Australia to enable future offensive operations. Here's a rough breakdown of the major U.S. infantry units on the board right now:

Port Moresby: 8th Marine reg
Noumea: 6th Marine reg, 24th Army reg, 58th Army reg
Pago: 148th Army reg, 161 Army reg, 7th Marine reg
Hawaii: 5th Marine reg, 21st Marine reg, Americal Inf Division, 147th Army Reg, 19th Army reg, 21 Army reg, 27th army reg, 35th army reg

In transit to Australia: 1st Marine reg, 5th Marine reg, 32nd army Division, 145th army regiment, 129th army reg

Unrestricted units on West Coast awaiting transport: 22nd Marine reg, 3rd Marine Reg

----
Looking at my reinforcement schedule, I'm not going to get another unrestricted regiment-sized or larger US infantry until until January. Looks like I'm going to have to make do with this for awhile.

[Ostfriese]

Your pictures of arrivals answer another question I had planned to ask. You don't get ships when they are commissioned, but only once they have done their shakedown cruises, transfers and whatever other time they need to get ready.

[Molon Labe]

24 September 1942
The Great Ceylon Turkey Shoot

https://i.ibb.co/80cbH0t/1942-Sept-24-air-losses.png

Bay of Bengal
An outright shocking defeat for the IJN air forces today.

The morning began with a detachment of heavies hitting Madras, led by the battleship Hiei. They managed to destroy 3 aircraft on the ground there and damage 2 cargo ships in port. Shore batteries scored a hit on an enemy heavy cruiser.

The carriers sprinted from their position near Madras to the western side of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), taking position off Colombo, the main British naval base in theatre. At daybreak, our CVBG was just about to arrive at Colombo, and the enemy launched airstrikes at close range.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 53
B5N2 Kate x 23
D3A2 Val x 27

Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 20
Martlet II x 16

So I'm outnumbered rather badly here. We shot down 17 Zeroes, 4 Kates, and 4 Vals. No losses. 53 Zeroes couldn't even shoot down one of my fighters. Lots of bombers got through, though, but that didn't lead to any serious damage. Flak took down 7 of the Vals. Of the Kates, only 8 were armed with torpedoes, the others dropped bombs from 12,000ft, which is really too high to be effective, although I think the Kates did get one hit. In total, the Royal Sovereign took 1 bomb hit, and the Ramillies took 2. These are relatively small 250kg bombs hitting heavily armored targets. The bombs didn't penetrate the armor and caused only minor damage. They really needed torpedoes. But these are mostly second-rate carriers--and remember when we shot down 29 Kates a few days ago? Looks like most of their torpedo stores went down with those planes.

I'm completely shocked by this result. Even mediocre Zero pilots should be able to shoot down a few planes when they outnumber us like this. And the Martlet is simply an inferior plane to the Zero. There's no sign that there was any sort of major tactical advantage for my forces. I have to conclude that these pilots were completely incompetent--total rookies with little to no training. And that includes pilots from the Kaga, who should be part of the elite.

Burma
Across the Bay, we engaged a raid on our armies at Tavoy, shooting down another 3 Zeroes and 5 Betties with no losses.

Bismark Sea
A convoy of small tankers was spotted approaching Rabaul; Hudson bombers from Port Moresby took a run at them and hit one of them. It was loaded with fuel and burst into flames. We believe it sank later in the day.

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Flusser beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Cassin taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Hull beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Nicholas arrives at Eastern USA
SS Gunnel arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

25 September 1942
HMS Repulse finally goes down; Japan's experienced pilots show the rookies how it's done

Bay of Bengal
The submarine I-5 entered Colombo's hex and attempted an attack against a pair of destroyers. It missed, and then ran into a minefield. It didn't make it out.

The carrier force launched an attack on Colombo's port with 21 Zeroes and 16 Kates. Our carriers did not participate in the defense, so it was just 17 Martlets from the base itself on defense. It was quite a change from yesterday... we got only 1 Zero, while losing 5 Martlets. The Kates were savaged by anti-aircraft fire, costing 8 aircraft. They scored a hit on the AO Trinity, which was loaded at the time and is presently on fire (edit: No, it's not. Fires out, it's going to survive)

Burma
Our raids on Tavoy were intercepted by Oscars. Again, a very different result from yesterday--5 Hurricanes, 2 Blenheims, and a B-25 fell to them, while we only shot down 1 Oscar.

The last of the enemy paratroopers in the Rangoon area have been eliminated. That leaves the troops and marines near the Indian border.

South China Sea
The KXI found an unescorted cargo ship near Borneo and Sumatra (for my reference: 58,84) and made a successful torpedo attack, we're fairly confident this was a kill.

Philippine Sea
The KXIV attacked an escorted cargo ship convoy near Leyte. It scored a hit on one of the cargo ships. The convoy abandoned the wounded ship, allowing a second sub, the KXV, to finish off the ship from the surface.

Malaya
Lots of bombers hitting Singapore again, which is insignificant so I don't mention it most days. If he puts his troops in there, it will fall if they breathe hard on it. But one of today's bombs--an 800kg AP bomb carried by a Betty instead of a 250kg GP/SAP from a Sally--actually penetrated Repulse's armor and exploded inside, and that made all the difference. After sitting in drydock since probably the first or second week of the war, she's finally gone.

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Drayton taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Preston taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
SC-640 arrives at San Diego
SC PC-580 arrives at Portland

[Molon Labe]

26 September 1942
Hawaii nearly mopped up

CENTPAC
We started landing the Americal Infantry Division on Lahaina. Resistance is light.

Our Marines have finished off the last enemy troops on Lihue, and we are now in contact with the enemy troops at Hilo (Kona Island).

Malaya
Betty raids on Singapore sank a pair of ASW patrol craft, which were the last ships/boats remaining at Singapore.

China
We lost a P-40 and 2 SB-III bombers over Chengchow (1 SB-III to flak); no victories.

The enemy army made another shock attack, bringing our forts down to Level 1, casualties 13000 to 6500 favoring us. The next attack could overrun us. The bombers operating near the coast are retasking to here, and I'm even going to use the B-24s that I had been keeping a secret. There's a force of troops I used to intercept an enemy unit coming around our flanks to the southeast--they've routed that enemy unit, so I'll have them reinforce Chengchow to try to hold on a bit longer. Unfortunately, I have a ton of disabled fighters here that I'd like to evacuate, but can't. The sustained enemy attacks have overtaxed our supplies, which is impacting the repair rate.

Burma
We raided Tavoy; shooting down 9 Oscars and losing only 1 Hurricane and inflicting moderate casualties on the ground.

Bay of Bengal
Land-based air forces from Colombo decided to finally try to attack the enemy CVBG, but didn't coordinate with our carriers or even their own Martlet fighters. 2 Swordfish went in alone and got splashed easily. Then 12 Fulmars attempted a low-altitude attack; 6 were shot down by the CAP while we took 1 Zero down with them. Only 2 aircraft reached the enemy fleet, they got cold feet and did not actually attack any of the enemy ships.

Makassar Strait
The O16 was spotted by an ASW patrol near Balikpapan and was depth charged, causing serious damage. It's headed to Darwin for emergency repairs.

SouthPAC
A Wirraway bomber from Noumea bombed an enemy sub lurking between Noumea and Efate.

We've landed a base force on Rousel Island without being raided by a lone destroyer, or anything else.

Reinforcements
SC-738 arrives at Balboa
112th RN Base Force arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

27 September 1942
Player error leads to sinking of CL Natori

China
Our raids on Chengchow got us 5 Oscars at the cost of a pair of P-40s. We got one plane repaired and pulled out. Enemy casualties were relatively light, but the B-24s did okay.

Bay of Bengal
My opponent pulled his task forces out from the Colombo area, but accidentally left a replenishment group behind. My CVBG hit it with 2 waves of Albacores, hitting the light cruiser Natori with 3 torpedoes for a confirmed kill. My opponent has asked for safe passage for this group, and I've agreed not to pursue for 1 turn. Chasing them would be crazy anyway, I'd just be walking into their land-based air range. The raid cost us 2 Albacores; one to flak and another pushed over the side due to unrepairable damage.

CentPAC
We've begun our assault at Hilo, the enemy had level 3 forts that we took down to 2, they don't have enough troops here--less than 1000--to capitalize on the forts regardless.

Reinforcements
DD Gillespie arrives at San Francisco
347th FG/339th FS arrives at Noumea
111th Chindit Brigade arrives at Madras
--------
As I'm bringing more fighter squadrons online, I'm reviewing my aircraft deployments from Australia all the way back to Pearl and I'm not happy with how disorganized it is. It started off pretty well when I first moved them, but I've moved so much around in response to KB raids on Pago and Noumea that it's just an ad hoc mess right now. So I've taken some time to reorganize my forces on paper, and over the next month or so I'll be moving squadrons and AirHQs around so that I end up with a well-balanced group of fighters, bombers and patrol aircraft at each base, all under the same local command and hopefully able to coordinate well.

[mapuc]

Edit
I have withdrawn my question. It was about your planes.
End edit

Markus

[Molon Labe]

28 September 1942
A calm day

CENTPAC
USS Kingfish torpedoed and sank an enemy cargo ship near Marcus Island. It took 5 hits to get a single Mk14 to detonate.

Enemy forts at Hilo are down to Level 1.

China
We lost a P-40 over Chengchow with no victories. Our bombers still hit the enemy troops without losses. We got 3 fighters out of Chengchow.

SouthPAC
Noumea's Wirraways bombed another sub.

There's a lot of naval activity around Guadalcanal. Going to send some recon planes to check it out. And I'll bomb the port with B-17s and B-24s for good measure.

Ships are being loaded at Noumea for another attempt on Luganville. Wasp is nearby to support, and I'll have a CVE for this operation for air cover too. Enemy Kates are keeping a close eye on things from Ndeni to Efate.

Intel
Intel now reports the battleship Ise didn't sink after all.

Refits, Repairs, Reinforcements
HMS Revenge has begun repairs at Capetown. It's going to take 3 months.
343rd FG/344th FS arrives at Anchorage (2/25 P-40s - training for now, Alaska's not a high priority)
131st Combat Engineer Regiment arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted)

[Molon Labe]

29 September 1942
USS Gato lost, Guadalcanal air force buildup

Luzon Strait
An enemy cargo ship hit a sub-laid mine at Bataan Island.

Solomons Area
USS Gato was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine near Roussel Island.

Recon flights over Guadalcanal detected over 100 fighters, 40 bombers and 3 submarines at base there. The port attack was scrubbed due to weather.

They flexed their muscles a little bit, sending 11 Netties and 18 Kates to Ndeni with 26 Zeroes and causing a few troop casualties.

We lost a Hudson bomber to flak trying to attack a heavy cruiser at the Shortlands.

I'm holding off on the Luganville op for at least a day to get my aircraft and ships some maintenance and to confirm the enemy numbers on Guadalcanal. 100 fighters will be enough to get bombers through to just about any task force I might operate here.

China
We lost a P-40 and got an SB-III shot up badly enough that it crashed on the way home. Intel says we got 2 Oscars today but I'm not sure where. We've evacuated enough fighters from Chengchow that if we got overrun it won't be so bad anymore.

CENTPAC
Lahania's forts are down to Level 2. The enemy is resisting enough to cause light casualties, unlike at Hilo, where we're just slowly killing them with impunity. The base at Hilo has been captured, but enemy troops remain in the area.

[Molon Labe]

30 September 1942
Luganville operation underway, a plan to take Hainan Island

China
2 P-40s down over Chengchow with one Oscar shot down. One Wellington bomber lost to flak. Forts are back to Level 2-enough that I might move fighters back.

Reinforcements arriving in Madras, India included a regiment-strength paratrooper unit, and there was one already there. I see an opportunity here. There are two bases on Heinan Island, one of which is completely undefended and actually reverted to my control due to proximity to my garrisons on the mainland. The other base is a major naval base, mostly used for merchant ships. Having a large number of paratroops available should mean I can ferry troops into the base I control undetected--then it's just a short march to the other side of the island to take the naval base.

Solomons, Espiritu Santo Islands, New Hebrides
A raid on the Shortlands amounted to nothing, just a few hits on an empty port. Recon flights have spotted 4 subs at Guadalcanal and 1 sub at Rabaul--but they say Rabaul only has 4 fighters compared to the ~100 at Guadalcanal. So Rabaul is getting bombed hard tomorrow.

I have two task forces headed to Luganville, phibs and a heavy cover/bombardment group. I've got another group of phibs standing by to drop seabees off once the Marines succeed. The primary phib group includes a CVE with 28 Wildcats providing cover. We'll also have cover from fighters from Efate and the USS Wasp if need be.

Meanwhile, raids on Ndeni continue and I'm unable to get a CAP that far north right now. All the more reason to take Luganville quickly. I kind of hope this task force gets their attention so we can splash some of them. I suppose I should be careful what I wish for.

USS Seawolf was depth charged for moderate damage near Ontong Java (the atoll north of the Solomons where we've previously seen tanker traffic).

A bit to the south, Noumea's Wirraways hit another sub. Would be nice if my surface forces would finish off one of these wounded boats.

Burma
The isolation of Rangoon is starting to have an impact in China, as I've noticed decreasing supply amounts in key areas. I think I may have to attempt to get a convoy in. I have a large, building force of medium and heavy bombers in India and Burma, so maybe what I can do is start a bombing campaign against Port Blair, and if I can bomb them into ineffectiveness, I'll slip a convoy through.

Some destroyers are patrolling the Tavoy coast--I'm activating my partially-trained Vengeances for this. Maybe they'll have a nice confidence-building success.

The enemy armies guarding the road to Bangkok decided to pursue my withdrawing main force, so I just had them turn around and go after the enemy. We engage tomorrow. Our units moving south from Raheng met an army large enough to hold them up, so our bombers are helping them break that stalemate--so far no interference from enemy fighters.

CENTPAC
Lahaina forts are down to Level 1.

Intel
The intel weenies can't make of their mind about Ise. They're reporting it sank again--today--not far from Manila. Which would have been a reasonable place to go for repairs if they thought they could get it seaworthy enough to leave the harbor it was torpedoed near.

Reinforcements and Refits
VT-8 has been reformed at San Fransciso. I immediately transitioned them to Avengers, they'll head to Pear tomorrow.
I'm going to upgrade the Sara and Lex together. They start tomorrow. They'll be getting both radars upgraded, the Chicago Pianos replaced with 40mm Bofors, and in the case of the Lex, she's getting her 5" guns upgraded from Mk10s to Mk12s and the last of her .50cals replaced with 20mms since we skipped her June 1942 upgrade.
374th TCG/33rd TCS arrives at Eastern USA
77th Chindit Brigade arrives at Madras
11th Construction Regiment arrives at Kukong

[Molon Labe]

1 October 1942
Bay of Bengal airstrikes preempted by coastal airbase shelling

Bay of Bengal and Burma
The destroyers off the coast turned out to be a task force of 3 CLs and 4 DDs, which shelled our troops at Tavoy--mostly ineffectively. But another task force of 1 CA 3 CL 9DD also shelled our airbase at Moulmein, disabling most of the aircraft there and destroying two. Thanks to that, the airbase did not launch the two squadrons of dive bombers and the task forces got away.

In the mountains between Tavoy and Bangkok, we fought the enemy army pursuing our main force and routed it, 3129 casualties to 298.

China
We got two Oscars trying to get to our bombers hitting Chengchow. It looks like the enemy armies are withdrawing, so for now I'm retasking our Liberators and Wellingtons to interdicting the armies approaching our newly-acquired coastal bases.

Solomons, etc.
Our heavy bomber raid on Rabaul didn't amount to anything. 12 Oscars defended the base but failed to take any bombers down. And we scored some base hits but didn't get the submarine we though was there, or anything else.

We bombed another sub off Noumea. Apparently they're not getting the message. The departing task forces avoided contact with the subs.

CENTPAC
The enemy base on Lahaina has been captured. We're still hunting down the enemy troops.

Reinforcements and Refits
CA Portland beginning refit in shipyard at Alameda
CA Chester beginning refit in shipyard at Alameda
CA San Francisco beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
--The CA upgrades are mostly Chicago Pianos being replaced with Bofors 40mms.
DD Lang beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Conyngham taken out of commission to begin refit at Alameda
DD Shaw taken out of commission to begin refit at Alameda
DD Perkins taken out of commission to begin refit at Alameda
DD Downes taken out of commission to begin refit at Alameda
APD Stringham taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
AGP Niagara taken out of commission to begin refit at Milne Bay
SS S-45 begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
VMF-441 arrives at Pago Pago (2/18 F4F-3 - going to see if I can transition them to -4s to save the -3s for carriers, but either way I can bring these guys up to full strength soon)
23rd Indian Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras (full strength, restricted)

[Ostfriese]

Sounds as if the Battle for Hawaii is about to end, and while it has been a pain in the behind for you while it lasted it's a terrible disaster for your opponent in the end. He lost insane amounts of troops, ships, planes and supplies, and in the end has nothing to show for, because he couldn't capitalize on you not being able to fully utilize Pearl Harbor.

[Molon Labe]

Sounds as if the Battle for Hawaii is about to end, and while it has been a pain in the behind for you while it lasted it's a terrible disaster for your opponent in the end. He lost insane amounts of troops, ships, planes and supplies, and in the end has nothing to show for, because he couldn't capitalize on you not being able to fully utilize Pearl Harbor.

Yep. I'm thinking we'll be done mopping it up in 3 days. The only major benefit he got from occupying Hawaii was depleting the US Army Air Corps fighter reserves and the Navy's SBD reserves, along with sinking a few high-value tenders. I'm still working on getting replacement aircraft to all those empty squadrons. Logistically, it was a pain in the ass, but I was still able to get fuel, troops, and supplies to the south Pacific and Australia, and we didn't have enough naval battles that not being able to use Pearl's shipyards ever became a major factor. Most of my submarine operations are based out of the Aleutians or Australia, so losing Pearl as a sub base didn't even hurt at all. Midway actually hurt more on that front.

His losses of 3 battleships hurt, although I think he lost those late enough in the war that their value was decreasing rapidly (he's not doing a lot of amphibious operations anymore). Losing probably 2 divisions worth of troops hurt him very badly, though. And I suspect this has a lot to do with his pilot attrition problem--the KB took significant losses in the early days of the war sweeping Pearl, and got so depleted during the evacuation that I actually tried to attack them with my carriers, I just missed by a day or two. And of course, time--he'd have taken Sumatra months ago if the troops went there instead, and Singapore never would have held out. He'd probably be on the offensive in Burma instead of on defense in Thailand, too--and that would probably be making a big difference in China.

In hindsight, the Naval Battle of Oahu looks like this war's Midway. It seems like our victory there convinced my opponent that the occupation of Oahu could not succeed, and if not for that he probably would have taken Oahu and then used those troops to take Sumatra and Singapore months ago.

[mapuc]

Are you aiming at Air superiority ?

I know it will be a while before this can be archieved

Markus

[Molon Labe]

October 2 1942
Luganville D-day -1, surprise lost to submarine picket, 3 enemy submarines severely damaged, 1-2 believed sunk

Burma
The light cruiser task force continues to bombard Tavoy--and our squadrons at Moulmein haven't recovered enough to do anything about it.

We're bombing the enemy army south of Raheng quite hard, I don't normally report routine bombing missions but this resulted in 123 enemy casualties, and they're in contact with my armies, so this sort of loss could help our troops beat them.


Luganville Operation/Solomons
The heavy covering force for the invasion fleet was nearly attacked by an enemy sub as it headed north past Efate, but was spotted before it was able to fire. Three destroyers (Nizam, Stuart, Reid) split off the prosecute it, with Stuart and Reid taking turns attacking, and their accuracy was solid. The sub was forced to surface after sustaining severe damage and was gunned down.

Destroyers escorting the amphibious group spotted a sub and engaged before it could present a threat. It managed to dive and evade the destroyers for a bit, but eventually one of my older tin cans--USS Ward of minor Pearl Harbor fame--reacquired it, but wasn't able to score any hits. The Wickes class only has 2 aft depth charge launchers, compared to 4 launchers (Mahan class) and 5 launchers (Admiralty-leader class) on the 2 destroyers that attacked the first sub. So I think pattern size is making a big difference.

After that sub gave us the slip, it spotted the covering force and took a shot at the destroyer Stuart, missing it. The same 3 destroyers from before broke off and prosecuted this sub, this time Nizam connecting solidly. The enemy sub got away, but was badly damaged.

Yet another sub was badly damaged near Noumea, as once again our Wirraways successfully bombed a surfaced sub--getting two hits this time. Intel reported an enemy sub was scuttled near Efate, it doesn't appear to have been either of these two subs that were damaged, but maybe another one that was recently bombed went down. I'm impressed with the accuracy of this Wirraway squadron, and I really think I need to get these guys better planes with something bigger than 100lb bombs so that the subs they're hitting start going down more. So, I'm transitioning a Port Moresby Hudson squadron to Mitchells. Once things around Noumea calm down, they'll inherit the Hudsons. So we'll get more range, radar, and a bombload of 4x250lb instead of 2x100lb.

A B-26 was lost to flak over Luganville. Not a good sign--logistically, they're probably ready for us.

On the other end of the Solomons, a few P-38s strafed a subchaser at the Shortlands, causing minor damage.


China
We had a coordination SNAFU and the Hudson bombers ended up over Chenchow unescorted. One was lost to Oscars.

To the east, near Foochow, the Liberator and Wellington bombers interdicting the approaching army ran into 8 Zeroes on CAP, but there were no losses on either side. I'm going to reassign some commands down here to try to make sure we get some fighter escorts tomorrow. Regardless, the bombers did great--over 240 enemy casualties reported on the ground.

I might have mentioned this before, but in case I didn't--when I moved the Lysanders into Amoy, I noticed that these seemingly useless bombers are equipped with recon cameras. And I know I've mentioned more than once that I wish I had more recon in China. So I've moved another squadron into the central region, and I've made training recon a new priority for British bomber training.

Reinforcements and logistics
TK William Strachan arrives at Abadan - 12 knot slowpoke, will be assigned to Colombo route when the convoy returns
165 Wing arrives at Aden - full strength aviation support--headed to India once escort available

The F4F-4 is now capable of carrying drop tanks.
The P-38G is now in production--only 20 per month, though. Clearly a better model than the E or Fs currently in service--Es have too high a service rating (lots of maintenance needed) and the Fs have less range.

I've noticed that I have an abundance of cargo ships and a shortage of troop transports as I'm surging troops from the west coast, so I'm converting a few cargo ships to transports at Alemeda, CA.

Capetown, South Africa is ceasing to be a reliable source of off-map fuel, as the reserves don't seem to be getting replenished by the automatic supply convoys. Fuel shipments from Captetown to Australia have stopped, and I may rebase the tankers here to Colombo or Abadan. At this time, the fuel situation in Australia is fine so this is not an immediate problem. He can cut off Colombo/Abadan shipments to Perth pretty much any time he wants, though. US shipments to Sydney may have to resume--but all my escorts are busy with the troop surge for the moment.

[Molon Labe]

Are you aiming at Air superiority ?

I know it will be a while before this can be archieved

Markus

I need to try to get local air superiority anywhere I'm trying to take territory. My Canton Island op failed because the KB was able to park there and stay there, preventing reinforcements and supplies from arriving while also bombing the hell out of my Marines and killing their morale. I'm hoping Luganville will be different because I'm going to have a wall of fighters--2 P-38 squadrons, 1 P-40E squadron, 28 F4F-4s from a CVE, and probably an extra 10-15 fighters from Wasp. That should give me the cover I need to get the marines and tanks ashore without being blown away by Betties/Nells from Guadalcanal, plus, if the KB decides to take up residence here, the airspace will be contested instead of just plain owned by him.

Unfortunately, until I deal with the KB, local air superiority is always potentially temporary.

[Ostfriese]

Unfortunately, until I deal with the KB, local air superiority is always potentially temporary.


On the other hand the KB is basically the only offensive tool he has left. Once he loses the KB (even if only temporary) he should never again be able to go on the offensive.

[Molon Labe]

3 October 1942
Massive air battle over Luganville - 40 enemy planes shot down, USS Colorado, Copahee hit by torpedoes

Luganville Invasion
USS Ward got another chance to get a sub but missed. There are at least 2 subs prowling close by Luganville.

We faced 5 waves of air attack. Our fighters were dominant in the kill column, but the enemy fighters mostly succeeded in keeping our fighters away from the bombers, so damage was done:

Wave 1: 20 Zeroes, 30 Oscars, 7 Nells, 8 Betties; CAP: 17 P-38, 5 P-40, 32 F4F.
Losses: 8 Oscars, 6 Zeroes, 1 Betty -- 3 F4F
BB Colorado: hit twice
CVE Copahee: hit once. Air ops knocked out, airborne F4Fs land at Efate.

Wave 2: 6 Zeroes, 6 Nells -- CAP: 6 P-38, 1 P-40, 13 F4F
Losses: 3 Zeroes, 1 Nell, 1 F4F

Wave 3: 4 Betties -- CAP: 5 P-38s, 1 P-40, 9 F4F
Losses: 2 Betties (1 to flak) - these guys mostly snuck in.
BB Colorado: hit once

Wave 4: 7 Zeroes, 7 Oscars, 8 Nells, 3 Betties -- CAP: 16 P-38, 4 P-40, 4 F4F
Losses: 5 Zeroes, 5 Oscars, 6 Nells -- 1 F4F
(7 bombers attacked Copahee and missed)

Wave 5: 6 Oscars, 3 Nells, 6 Betties -- CAP: 10 P-38, 1 P-40
Losses: 2 Oscars, 1 Nell (flak)
(8 bombers attacking Warspite, Colorado, and Copahee; all missed)

Total losses: 15 Oscars, 14 Zeroes, 3 Betties, 8 Nells, 5 F4F

We also lost a Hudson near the Shortlands that was trying to attack a PB and got bounced by Oscars.

In spite of this resistance, our amphibious boats hit the beach and started unloading--that will continue overnight. Bombers from Efate and Noumea hit the enemy troops to support the landings--no enemy fighters intervened in that. Copeahee and Colorado are retiring due to the damage. Copahee isn't hit that badly, but Colorado's flooding is critical and she has enough engine damage that she's almost dead in the water. Breaking them off is breaking up our destroyers, which makes me a little nervous due to the number of enemy subs around.

Thailand
40 Oscars swept the battlefield south of Raheng, driving off 5 fighters we had there. The next sweep was 87 planes, fortunately no one was there to see that. But after that we sent in our raid, 12 medium bombers escorted by 6 P-40s, and a second wave of 8 Hurricanes and 12 B-25s. Losses were pretty bad, 2 P-40s, 3 B-25s and 6 Blenheims; we got 2 Oscars.

China
In spite of reassigning nearby fighters to the same command as the bombers, the bombers flying near Foochow did not receive escorts. 1 Wellington was shot down by Zeroes.

CENTPAC
The last enemy troops at Hilo have been eliminated. A few thousand at Lahaina to go and Hawaii will be clear.

Reinforcements
7th BG/9th BS arrives at Aden - 12/12 B-24s, headed to India, then Burma

https://i.ibb.co/LPksPV2/1942-Oct-3-airlosses.png

[Molon Labe]

4 October 1942
USS Colorado finished off, tanks still unloading at Luganville

Luzon Strait
An enemy destroyer hit a mine at Batan Island. Intel believes the ship went down on the way to Manila. The minesweepers the destroyer was with managed to clear the rest of my mines out of here.

Also at Batan, the USS Sunfish was caught by an ASW group comprised of PBs and subchasers. The Sunfish was eventually forced to surface and got into a running battle with the rather slow enemy ships, shooting torpedoes to try to get away. The sub went under again, involuntarily---but the damage control teams saved the boat, for now. I don't think its odds of making it back to base are great.

Luganville Invasion
There are at least 5 enemy submarines trying to attack my phibs. One tried to attack a destroyer and missed, we managed only managed light damage to the sub before it got away. A second was spotted by a destroyer and driven off. The other contacts are all being reported via floatplanes and have been kept at a distance for now.

Guadalcanal managed 4 waves today trying to stop the invasion:

Wave 1: 36 Zeroes, 3 Nells, 4 Mavis -- 27 P-38, 4 P-40, 13 F4F
Losses: 17 Zeroes, 1 Nell
All 7 bombers went after HMS Warspite and missed. Really disappointed that we tore through the Zeroes like this but couldn't hurt the bombers.

Wave 2: 7 Zeroes, 3 Betties -- 4 P-40, 4 F4F
Attacking the Colorado as it retired instead of the main force
Losses: none, we barely got to these guys. The bombers got one hit on Colorado, finishing it off.

Wave 3: 6 Zero, 3 Mavis -- 18 P-38, 1 P-40, 6 F4F
Losses: 5 Zeroes, 2 Mavis (and the third turned around without attacking)

Wave 4: 12 Zeroes, 8 Betties -- 16 P-38, 1 P-40, 5 F4F
Losses: 1 P-40; again, we mostly missed these guys.
HMS Warspite took a torpedo hit

Total losses: 22 Zeroes, 2 Mavis, 1 Nell, 1 P-40, 1 F4F (at some point in the battle, an F4F headed home with damage was picked off)

I also tried to slow Guadalcanal down a little bit with a heavy bomber raid--12 B-17s and 11 B-24s. We ended up losing four of each to the Nicks on CAP, and that includes aircraft lost to damage on the way back and/or written off at base. We caused only light facility damage, destroyed 2 aircraft on the ground, and shot down and/or caused the writeoff of 4 Nicks. Not worth it.

Another enemy sub tried to attack after the airstrikes, HMAS Nizam ran itself out of depth charges trying to kill it, managing only moderate damage.

After two days of unloading, we appear to outnumber the enemy but not necessarily enough to overcome fortifications. We still have a lot of tanks on the ships. Unfortunately, none of these ships are true amphibious assault ships, and all but two of them aren't even military transports, they're just civilian ships pressed into service with a few guns bolted on. So they're not good at this. I organized this fleet before he moved 100 fighters into Guadalcanal, so before that changed, this fleet would have been fine. But it's going to need a 3rd day to get enough ashore to do the job. Another day of airstrikes.

Warspite is retiring and its taking the 2 military transports with it, since they're already done unloading.



Thailand
53 Oscars swept the skies over the battlefield south of Raheng. We had only 10 fighters protecting the troops; we lost 2, they lost 1. I meant to cancel all my bombing here, but I left the orders on a B-25 squadron. Fortunately, they slipped in, hit the target, and slipped out without being engaged. Our armies attacked and routed the enemy, casualties 1293 to 188. We're turning around now, we're too close to Bangkok and the next engagement will end up being a much more powerful force.

Our armies at Tavoy have had their supplies cut off by splinters from the main garrison at Tavoy, but they don't have a supply route behind my lines either so that's probably a wash. I'm going to have my Tavoy attackers back up a bit to clear the road.

China
If my fighters won't coordinate with my bombers, I'll order them to sweep. It worked. 12 former AVG P-40s flown by Chinese Air Force pilots swept over the armies advancing on Foochow and shot down 2 Zeroes, routing the rest. The bombers had clear skies when they arrived to hit the troops.

I'm feeling evil. I'm building up a few airbases that would but the B-24 within easy range of Nagasaki. And when I looked at that, I noticed I already have a base in northeastern China close enough to hit Port Arthur, Korea--home to a major refinery and a fuel and resource shipping hub. I'm thinking if 3 squadrons of Liberators suddenly appear over that port, he won't be ready for it. The third squadron is coming online in India right now, so we'll need a few days.

Reinforcements and logistics
9th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at Eastern USA (full strength, unrestricted. Future pacific island garrison)
9 RAAF Aviation Rgt arrives at Sydney (full strength, unrestricted)
Port Blair RN Det arrives at Aden (hollow unit, unrestricted. Probably being reformed after being lost when Port Blair was invaded)
14th Indian Light AA Regiment arrives at Aden (full strength, unrestricted. Will send to Colombo when escorts are available)

I'm sending a major tanker convoy from LA to Sydney to make sure there's no fuel supply interruption due to Capetown drying up. I'm also transferring a pair of large, fast tankers from LA to Abadan along with a destroyer escort, to help keep the route from there viable.

[Molon Labe]

5 October 1942
Still unloading at Luganville - Japan rests their pilots; Hawaii cleared of all enemy troops

Luganville Invasion
We now hold 12 submarine contacts around Luganville--and some of them look like they're after the Wasp. Two subs made attack attempts, both were spotted by escorts and driven off--one with some depth charge damage.

There were no enemy airstrikes today. They probably don't have all that many operational aircraft, so taking a day off gives them time to get damaged airframes back in service, pull some replacements from the pool, and rest their pilots. Pilot fatigue is a very large factor when they have to fly long distances, and that's the case for both of us. Since I'm still flying my long-range CAPs, my pilots didn't rest today. So that's very bad if he attacks tomorrow. I'm assigning extra pilots to my fighter squadrons and putting my most fatigued pilots on reserve to mitigate this somewhat.

We're not done unloading, but I'm pulling the ships back for now. We might already have enough, and I think my best option right now is to unload these ships someplace safe and transfer what didn't get dropped on Luganville to military transports, including the two that already finished unloading and pulled out (giggity).

Thailand
Enemy sweeps over the army south of Raheng resulted in 1 Oscar downed and 1 Hurricane. The only other aircraft shot down anywhere in theatre were recon aircraft.

China
Some of the armies advancing on Foochow turned around. The P-40s followed the retreating ones and did not encounter any Zeroes. Then the Wellingtons went after the advancing ones and ran into 9 Zeroes. Fortunately we got away with just a few shot up planes.

The paratroopers for the Hainan Island op have arrived in Calcutta by rail and are now being flown in hops toward southern China. First stop, central Burma. One more day until the 3rd B-24 squadron is ready to move to China. We have 2 more B-24 squadrons probably 10-14 days away from arriving in India. I'm also making a move on Sinyang, a bit south of Chengchow.

Banda Sea
I have an encroachment operation similar to the one in the Solomons about to kick off here, the ships are moving and will probably be ready to land in 4-5 days. Recon indicates the target islands are clear of enemy troops, so it's just aircraft we need to worry about. We have P-38s ready to cover the landings. Once these islands are taken and built up, the enemy oil ports in the eastern DEI will be in range of Beaufighters and P-38s, which will be far more effective than the B-17s that have been trying to interdict tankers. We'll also be able to get P-38s over all of Timor, and Ambon airbase to the north.

https://i.ibb.co/Q9xr7ZH/1942-Oct-5-Banda-Sea.png

CentPAC
The last IJN troops in Hawaii made their last stand. It's finally over.


Reinforcements
AD Prairie arrives at Cristobal
AM Token arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

6 October 1942
US Marines advance on enemy in Luganville, enjoy superior firepower

CENTPAC
We shelled Canton Island with 2 CA and 3 DD, causing about 50 enemy casualties and wrecking the small airfield and port facilities there.

Japan
USS Gar torpedoed and sank a subchaser that was trying to clear my subs out of the gap east of Okinawa. One of its partners attempted a depth charge attack but missed. These subchasers have the deep-reaching depth charges, so that's good news and bad news--that was a pretty valuable SC, but eventually this area might get too hot to keep subs in.

Malaya
Haven't checked in here in awhile. They've been bombing Singapore continuously. Today I counted 242 bomber sorties here (mostly Sallies). No joke. Imagine if he took some of his troops up around Bangkok and put them in Singapore, and took some of these bombers to Bangkok (along with the 100+ fighters already up there) and bombed my troops with them. Such a huge allocation of airpower that isn't accomplishing anything.

Thailand and Burma
10 Oscars swept over our armies south of Raheng against 7 of our fighters, and ended up with 5 Oscars lost with just 1 P-40 shot down (plus one damaged Mohawk that didn't make it back). I may have inaccurately stated the numbers of enemy planes in prior reports here. It looks like there is a swarm of enemy aircraft on CAP (about 40 planes this turn) nearby ready to respond to my raids, but a smaller group that's actually attacking, trying to get rid of my CAP. So this isn't as lopsided here as it looked.

I just noticed that repairs at Moulmein are painfully slow, and it's because the aviation support unit there has airplane mechanics but not construction engineers, so we don't have the right personnel there to repair the base. Sending engineers from Rangoon to deal with this.

Luganville Invasion
No air-to-air combat today, the invasion task force has safely withdrawn to Efate. Our marines began their assault on the enemy fortifications, we're currently well short of what we need to overrun their position, but the massive amount of firepower we brought (2 partially-delivered tank battalions) caused 491 enemy casualties vs our 75--that's 17% of their force. Usually the attacker takes disproportionately high casualties, so this is a GREAT result. I'd give it 4 days--without having to finish landing the intended amount of forces.

Refits and Reinforcements
BB Arizona beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor (major overhaul-4 months to complete)
SS S-47 taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
AM Pirie arrives at Brisbane
VMO-155 arrives at Pago Pago (2/18 Helldivers - Helldivers are out of production, we're only building SBD-3s now, and it might be awhile before I have enough to transition and fill this unit)
27th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
119th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

7 October 1942
Everyone takes a day off

Pretty much nothing happened today. We flew our usual bomber sortie against the armies advancing towards Foochow. We did a recon-in-force bombing of Sinyang--looks like the enemy has more than we expected there but they're retreating instead of reinforcing. Lost a Hudson to flak there. We bombed the paratroopers and marines still behind our lines in western Burma. And of course, we bombed the enemy marines in Luganville and Canton Island.

I don't think the enemy flew any bomber sorties. They tried to sweep Roussel Island, but we didn't have any fighters there for them to play with. That will change tomorrow, since we now have some phibs dropping off engineers there to build up the fledgling airstrip into an air base.

No land combat at all today - our Marines in Luganville have high fatigue so I didn't order an attack.

Recon of Guadalcanal says they're back up to 100 fighters, so he's assigning replacement aircraft there in large numbers. There are also a bunch of landing barges sailing from the Solomons towards Luganville--not sure of those are reinforcements or intended for an evacuation. Either way, I've assigned a portion of a P-38 squadron to strafing missions.

USS Washington has completed its upgrade at Pearl, I'll have it switch places with the South Dakota in the Wasp's battle group. As the Wasp heads back to Pearl it will pick up a few recon Wildcat variants, and after the battleship swap we're going to snoop Midway with the recon planes.

I've changed my mind about upgrading Noumea's Wirraway squadron to Hudsons. They're probably going to get Beauforts instead, which lack the range and radar of the long-range Hudson variants. This is because an Australian squadron that arrived at Aden has been moved to Calcutta and can make its way into China. If I give these guys the Hudsons, I can have them take over for the Lysanders patroling the Taiwan Strait--and they'll make it all the way across the Luzon Strait, too. I have yet to find any tanker traffic to or from Palembang, so this should be a big help. Anything they spot will be a contact report for the US subs patrolling below.

Reinforcements
9th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco (empty command)
25th Indian Division arrives at Madras (~70%, restricted)
168 Wing arrives at Aden (full strength, unrestricted, headed to India)

USS Cuttlefish has been withdrawn from theatre. It had a mostly uneventful career, with one successful attack against a troop-carrying cargo ship, which is believed to have survived the torpedo hit.

[Molon Labe]

8 October 1942
Two airbases in Burma trashed, Tooth-to-tail problems in Burma and Luganville, Guadalcanal reinforced

Burma
Our airbases at Moulmein and Rangoon itself were shelled by battleships and heavy cruisers, respectively. I didn't think he could get heavy cruisers up the channel into Rangoon and that I was protecting my assets by splitting them between the two bases. So much for that. Facility damage is severe at both bases, effectively knocking them both out of action. And because I was sending a construction unit from Rangoon to Moulmein, it's between bases now and can't repair either. This is exposing some logistical unpreparedness on my part. A lot of my base forces are forward with my stalled offensive forces, intended to build and operate new airbases. And that's left my rear echelon bases with insufficient engineer support. And with Port Blair in enemy hands, there's no good way to move more in. I'll settle for a bad way--I've got an engineer unit traveling by rail to the Burma-India border, they'll drive though the wilderness a few hexes to get back to the rail system, and then finally to Rangoon. Going to take weeks.

I'd like to move some of these planes off the coastal hexes, but that requires building more inland bases--so, same problem, not enough engineers.

China
The enemy armies made another shock attack on Chengchow. They weren't significantly stronger than they were at the beginning of the last push, and my forts are rebuilt to level 3. So, same result; attack held off, casualties 12947 to 5981 favoring me. Plus an angry email about how it's unrealistic that the Chinese can hold off the Japanese army.

Luganville Invasion
All bad news here today. My marines still have high fatigue--and it's because I cut the unloading short. We landed the infantry first, support units last--and for a lot of them, not at all. The support units would be helping the troops recover from fatigue and re-activate disabled squads and devices.

Those landing barges weren't hit--looks like weather interfered with a strike. And I don't think they're headed for Luganville, but for Ndeni. The garrison there is small and vulnerable. So, I'm going to try to get another airstrike on these guys, but I'm also sending my fastest 4 destroyers from Efate to Ndeni with orders to shell Ndeni (on the assumption they've landed) and on a course that should intercept them, either on the beach or right next to it. No guarantee they arrive in time. The destroyers will draw some air cover, but probably not enough to defeat enemy air raids if they push hard. At least they're small, fast, and hard to hit.

Speaking of air raids, the enemy airbase is now reportedly up to 120 fighters and 70 bombers. Given how successful they were with only about 30 bombers a few days ago, that's disturbing.

I'm moving an armed merchant cruiser from Noumea to Efate which is going to be the last of 3 ships I'll need to hopefully finish off the delivery of troops to Luganville. But I'm not looking forward to the airstrike they're going to face on the beach in 2 days or so.

Intel
The Akagi is back on the killed list. They say it went down in Toyko harbor now. Yeah, right.

Reinforcements
SS Pogy arrives at Balboa
43rd Infantry Division arrives at San Francisco (restricted)
35th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted)

[mapuc]

"Plus an angry email about how it's unrealistic that the Chinese can hold off the Japanese army."

Shouldn't he address this to those who developed this game ?

Markus

[Molon Labe]

"Plus an angry email about how it's unrealistic that the Chinese can hold off the Japanese army."

Shouldn't he address this to those who developed this game ?

Markus

Yes, but they're not going to listen, either. He's throwing large waves of men across a river against a fortified position. Whether they're crossing on pontoons or small boats or using actual bridges, they're doing it under fire. That I'm holding out and he's taking large casualties is "functioning as intended."

[Ostfriese]

Yes, but they're not going to listen, either. He's throwing large waves of men across a river against a fortified position. Whether they're crossing on pontoons or small boats or using actual bridges, they're doing it under fire. That I'm holding out and he's taking large casualties is "functioning as intended."


Well, I don't see a problem here, river crossings always heavily favor the one who does not have to cross, and even a comparatively small army with inferior weapons can hold against that.

[Molon Labe]

9 October 1942
Destroyer group destroys Japan's Ndeni invasion flotilla

Luganville Invasion/New Hebrides/Espiritu Santo
The destroyers that sortied from Efate succeeded in intercepting the enemy landing barges before they reached Ndeni. Many of the barges appeared to be in poor condition--maybe they ran out of fuel? The barges' (12 total) only escort was a coastal minesweeper, my 4 destroyers tore through them without any significant resistance. 680 enemy troop casualties were reported. The destroyers were never spotted by anyone other than their victims, so there was no attempted airstrike on them.

My troops on Luganville have recovered enough that I'm willing to order an attack this turn. The AMC arrived at Efate and is loading. The 3 military transports are a little short of what I need to bring the remaining fragments to Luganville, but it will be most of it. I'll probably order the re-invasion tomorrow, to take place overnight. While they load, the light cruisers assigned to escort them are running up to Luganville to shell the enemy troops. I have a heavy cruiser as well, but the port at Efate wasn't big enough to rearm it, so it's headed to Noumea for ammo so it can hopefully participate in the landings.

The enemy bombed Luganville with a few Betties; we had a few P-38s on station that tried to intervene, but there were no losses on either side. The bombings were ineffective.

We spotted a task force of 4 light cruisers between the Solomons and Ndeni, headed east towards the Gilberts. I suppose if I start moving into the Gilberts or Marshalls I should expect a surface threat.

Burma
Our Tavoy invasion force succeeded in clearing the enemy blocking force off the road and was immediately resupplied. Casualties 1282 to 63.

Reinforcements
No.11 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (0/16 Blenheims)
110th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden (hollow unrestricted unit)
13th Armoured Division arrives at San Luis Obispo (full strength, restricted)

[Molon Labe]

10 October 1942
USS Sims pounds enemy subs off Efate

Luganville invasion
Sending the light cruisers to bombard Luganville kicked up a hornet's nest of enemy sub activity. The task force faced two attempted attacks on the way out and one on the way back. The first enemy sub was engaged by USS Sims, which connected solidly with multiple depth charge patterns, causing severe damage to the enemy sub. I doubt it survives. The second enemy sub was also engaged by the Sims for light damage. A pair of enemy subs was spotted by subchasers patrolling near Efate, but they failed to hit them.

The bombardment of Luganville caused about 40 enemy troop casualties.

Our marines attacked the enemy forts at Luganville, causing 341 enemy casualties while taking 73.

China
I'm moving all three Liberator squadrons currently in-country to the northern airbase to prepare for the attack on Port Arthur. Due to poor supply lines up there, this will probably be a single attack, I doubt we can sustain operations for any length of time. But a single, large attack might be devastating, especially if there are ships in harbor. I have at least 2 more B-24 squadrons on their way, but I think I'm going to leave them in India for now. It makes more sense to me to focus on Port Blair to try to reopen the supply route to Rangoon than to try to run them in China when my supplies are dwindling.

[Molon Labe]

11 October 1942
IJN airstrike massacred over Luganville: 65 to 0!

Luganville Invasion
My invasion task force (4 CL, 7 DD, 3 transports) made it to Luganville without meeting any resistance, subs or otherwise. 1 CA and 1 DD joined them at the beach. As the troops unloaded, a sub tried to enter the area and ended up being moderately-heavily damaged by the USS Reid. Then the airstrikes came, the results of which were shocking:

Wave 1: 29 Zeroes, 30 Betties vs. 20 P-38s, 8 P-40, 11 F4F
Losses: 18 Zeroes, 10 Betties (1 to flak)
23 Betties in total made it to the targets, 4 of which were not armed with torpedoes and bombed from 20k feet. They went after the cruisers and destroyers, and they all missed.

Wave 2: 6 Betties vs 6 P-38, 4 P-40, 2 F4F
Losses: 6 Betties

Wave 3: 3 Zeroes, 4 Betties vs. 6 P-38, 1 P-40, 2 F4F
Losses: 1 Zero, 1 Betty (flak)
Mostly a failed intercept. 3 Betties attacked our AMC and missed.

Wave 4: 9 Zeroes, 6 Betties vs. 6 P-38
Losses: 3 Zeroes
The Betties attacked the cruiser Adelaide and a destroyer, all missed.

Wave 5: 12 Zeroes, 18 Betties vs 18 P-38, 8 P-40, 8 F4F
Losses: 8 Zeroes, 18 Betties
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!

Totals: 30 Zeroes, 35 Betties
No Allied aircraft shot down (ops/damaged losses still possible)
No Allied ships hit.

That enemy cruiser force wasn't headed to the Gilberts after all. It turned south, approached Ndeni, and drew an airstrike from me of 6 B-26s, which missed.

China
We've liberated Sinyang, there were only 500 troops defending it against our 11,000.

[Ostfriese]

So either your opponent had a very bad day or he is in serious trouble. I doubt he can afford to take such disproportionate losses.

[Molon Labe]

So either your opponent had a very bad day or he is in serious trouble. I doubt he can afford to take such disproportionate losses.

I'm trying to have a conversation about this. Right now his position is that he's training his pilots properly, but attrition has been a problem, and the game just makes the Allies ridiculously good. But from my campaigns against the AI playing either side, I never saw such lopsided results. I'm watching two sets of AAR videos on youtube, and I don't see such lopsided results there, granted they're not in this phase of the war yet. But still. I don't think this should be happening, not in Oct 1942 anyway.

[Molon Labe]

I convinced him to share some information this time around. It's even worse than I thought. He's been training all his pilots with "general training", which means they train a little bit of every skill. So instead of say, pilots in fighters who are really good at air-to-air combat, he has pilots in fighters that are so-so at air-to-air, so-so at bombing, so-so at ASW, so-so at flying cargo planes full of rubber dog **** out of Hong Kong, etc.

So once he started taking losses among his elite pilots, these jacks-of-all trades started replacing them, which has been leading to even worse losses, and more of these unprepared replacements....

And that's how you get Turkey Shoots in 1942.

[Ostfriese]

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Basically he now has the kind of pilots Japan would send into war in late 1944, and even if he changes his training system now it will take months before he sees any positive effect.
Well, I think he fully deserves the results of this decision. This won't hand you victory on a silver plate, but should make the road to victory easier.

Btw: did you tell him how collossal this mistake was or are you leaving it for after the end of the game?

[Molon Labe]

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Basically he now has the kind of pilots Japan would send into war in late 1944, and even if he changes his training system now it will take months before he sees any positive effect.
Well, I think he fully deserves the results of this decision. This won't hand you victory on a silver plate, but should make the road to victory easier.

Btw: did you tell him how collossal this mistake was or are you leaving it for after the end of the game?

I'm helping him set up a better training program.

[Ostfriese]

I'm helping him set up a better training program.


A decent move :Kaleun_Salute::Kaleun_Applaud:

[mapuc]

I'm helping him set up a better training program.

Way to go :Kaleun_Salute:

Markus

[Molon Labe]

12 October 1942

Luganville Invasion
We tried to raid the cruiser group near Ndeni with 12 B-26s and 14 P-38Fs--and these P-38s are acting as bombers, not fighter escorts. There were 10 fighters on CAP over the cruisers, which was good enough to shoot down 1 P-38. We got 2 of the Oscars. Another P-38 was lost to flak over the target, and we didn't get any hits. It looks like the P-38s didn't even drop any bombs. So checking the database now, and yes, the drop tanks use the same hardpoints as the bombs, so by giving them the drop tanks they needed to reach the target I precluded them from having a bombload. And apparently they didn't feel like strafing. Now I know.

Reinforcements
7th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at San Francisco
272/273rd Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment arrives at Aden

------------
13 October 1942

Japan
Off the coast of Kyushu, the USS Growler made me with this game had a tactical layer like Falcon4 that would let me jump into the sub and take over. It encountered a light cargo ship escorted by a PB, and put a torpedo into the PB. Great! But instead of waiting for the PB to go down and then killing the now-unproptected AKL, it just scittered off. BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!

China
The enemy sent 3 Sonia light bombers to hit the troops that just took Sinyang from them. They went unescorted. Well, we had 6 P-40s there, they shot all 3 bombers down. Unfortunately, probably because they were chasing that group down, they missed a second group of 6 planes. Their 50kg bombs did nothing to our troops, protected in the base and by terrain.

Luganville invasion
I meant to turn these raids off, but forgot. The B-26s tried to hit the cruisers again. We lost 4. No hits.

Our marines attacked and brought down the forts to Level 1, 205 enemy casualties to our 48. It's almost over.

Malaya
Looks like its finally the end for Singapore. Two tank regiments crossed the channel. The enemy took heavy casualties, but my troops have very little fight in them, and there will be more troops right behind them.

Burma
Our reserve forces have finally caught up with one of the last paratrooper units in western Burma. We've probed them and found them to be vastly inferior in number to our forces. Shock attack tomorrow.

Reinforcements and Refits
SS Nautilus beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane
SC-646 arrives at Los Angeles
No.62 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
42nd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
6th Australian Division arrives at Sydney
25th Australian Brigade arrives at Sydney
--The Aussie army units will be great some day, but they're empty commands being reformed and I have very few troops available to assign to them to rebuild the units.

[Molon Labe]

14 October 1942
Submarine service terrorizes

Luzon Strait
USS Thresher may have just set a new record for number of duds in a single fight. It scored 12 hits on an unescorted cargo ship in a night surface attack. Hits number 10 and 12 were the only ones that exploded.

One hex to the east, USS Spearfish also engaged an unescorted cargo ship on the surface--this sub mostly just missed. Might have been a few dud hits in there, but it ran itself completely out of torpedoes and took a hit from the enemy ship's guns. It's headed home in shame.

Since these were both night attacks this wasn't a factor, but the British Hudsons with naval search radars are now operational and patrolling the Taiwain and Luzon straits. My subs are going to be much more effective here now.

Japan
Near Shikoku Island, the USS Whale made a gun attack on an AKL, getting close enough to use even its .30cal machine guns. It took some light damage from the AKL in return. The AKL was damaged badly enough by the Whale's main gun that it should sink.

Luganville Invasion
An enemy submarine decided to try to get into my staging area at Efate and hit 3 defensive mines. No way it survives that.

Ceram Sea
The O24 torpedoed an escorted cargo ship off Ternate. Vehicle losses were reported.

Burma
We wiped out the paratrooper unit fragment we probed yesterday. I think there are at most 2 more. One of them is adjacent to the unit that just destroyed this one, and is actually moving toward us. I'm happy to wait for them.

Reinforcements
DD Fletcher arrives at Eastern USA
AM Strahan arrives at Newcastle
SC-630 arrives at San Francisco
223 Group RAF arrives at Aden
503rd Parachute Regiment arrives at San Francisco
RAF 221 Group Base Force arrives at Aden
--The British reinforcements in Aden are empty commands, but I expect I can bring base forces and such to full strength pretty quickly. It's infantry I'm short on.

[Molon Labe]

15 October 1942
Luganville captured

Philippine Sea
USS Grunion spotted a cargo ship near Chichi-jima while it was in transit to its patrol area. It made a night gun&torpedo attack, with 2 successful Mk14 detonations for a confirmed kill. Intel reported high operational losses for Sonia bombers today--I think it was either 6 or 8--much higher than you'd expect to see on a day where Sonias weren't in major battles. So that's probably what was on this ship.

Burma
Moulmein suffered another shelling. Nothing bigger than light cruisers, so it's not much damage, but we're also not repairing it. Repairs in Rangoon are progressing slowly but steadily, I'll send a CB here when they're done in Rangoon. One enemy cruiser took a single hit from a shore battery.

CENTPAC
A 2-CA bombardment of Canton Island resulted in over 200 enemy troop casualties.

Malaya
Over 100,000 troops attacked Singapore. Forts are down to Level 3--I think they were 6. Casualties were 9000 to 2000 favoring us, but that's actually horrendously bad for a bastion being shock attacked over a channel/river. I think the next attack takes it.

Luganville Invasion
We attacked at Luganville again, and pushed the enemy troops out of their base. Luganville is finally ours. There are still about 2000 dead-enders left on the island that are going to make us kill them instead of surrendering. Which is good, I want to kill them after they wiped out so many of my troops in the early months of the war. Payback time.

Now we just need to land the base forces and construction engineers without getting my boats blown up. Recon flights are reporting the bombers have all left Guadalcanal, but that they have 160 fighters. I'll still need to be prepared.

Reinforcements
SS Haddo arrives at Balboa
SC PC-581 arrives at Portland
37th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

16 October 1942

Luganville Invasion
The enemy tried to attack some subchasers operating off Luganville, with Mavis floatplanes. Our P-40s on CAP shot 3 down, the rest ran.

For the first time, I let the USMC Helldivers on Efate participate in the bombing of Luganville. Figured I can get them some experience with a very low risk of flak losses now that the enemy forces probably lost all their flak guns when they retreated from the base.

East China Sea
Our Hudsons spotted a tanker docked in northern Taiwan--there's a small oil site there. The port is big enough to be protected from subs, so I've moved two subs to greet them when they depart for Japan.

China
I'm at a point where I probably have enough B-24s gathered for the strike (3 squadrons, probably 30-35 aircraft) There are still several aircraft down for maintenance, but that's how it goes with B-24s and their high service rating. I'm watching the weather now, when we expect clear skies over Korea, we'll flatten Port Arthur.

Reinforcements
DD Barton arrives at Balboa
SC-647 arrives at San Francisco
7th BG/492nd BS arrives at Karachi (2/12 B-24s--we're going to have so many B-24s in Burma and/or China!)

[Molon Labe]

17 October 1942
An unfavorable situation in Burma

Burma
Rangoon got shelled again overnight. That's really bad news; I appears he can just keep doing this and stop me from ever repairing my airbase, and sucking my supply in the process.

It's Port Blair that's giving him the sea control to do this, so to change the status quo I'm going to have to do something about Port Blair. My best option for now is probably to build up Raheng. It's inland so it can't get shelled and it's already at a size 4; size 5 should be enough for the B-24s.

I also managed to sneak an AKL from Calcutta to Rangoon, so he may not be searching the seas all that robustly. I'm going to try to get more engineers in by sea and then start sending small supply runs.

Sumatra
The O19--a minelaying specialist sub--set up a minefield just outside Palembang in the narrow channels that connect the harbor to the Java sea. I don't report here every time a sub drops some mines, but this is a big one. And also... spoilers...I already watched the turn after this.

Reinforcements
SS Sawfish arrives at Balboa
SS Tunny arrives at Mare Island
7th BG/492nd BS arrives at Calcutta (2/12 B-24)
34th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted)
48th Light AA Regiment arrives at Aden (empty command, will take time to equip)
6th Armoured Division arrives at San Luis Obispo (restricted)

[Molon Labe]

18 October 1942
Large transport convoy sails through minefield, carnage ensues; subchaser squadron eliminated by blitzing cruisers

Taiwan Strait
USS Gudgeon got into a gunfight with a cargo ship, dealing fairly serious damage before breaking off.

Espiritu Santo Islands
The cruiser force that's been hanging out near Ndeni sprinted south to Luganville at night, locating the group of 3 subchasers we've been using to try to clear our the subs there. We now have an accurate classification of this group: 1 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD. But the subchasers were no match for them, all were sunk without doing any damage to the enemy. The cruisers escaped before sunrise could bring an airstrike--which is actually good, because we had phibs on the way to deliver engineers and base forces. We dodged a huge bullet there. I think I had 1 CA, 1 CL, and 4-5 DD escorting, so it would be an even fight, but I'd rather not have an even fight with loaded transports in close proximity.

One sub tried to attack the phibs but was spotted and driven off with light damage.

Celebes Sea
The KXIII made two separate attacks on an unescorted AO near Manado, hitting it with a torpedo in each salvo. The AO was carrying fuel, so it burned violently and quickly sank.

Sumatra
There are some subchasers operating off Palembang that started spotting mines and clearing a few. But apparently they did not get the word out in time. A large transport convoy moved through the mined channel--10 of them hit mines, including 3 minelayers that were acting as escorts. Live by the mine, die by the mine I guess. I'd expect about half of these to sink. No troop casualties were reported, so they were probably empty.

CentPAC
Wasp arrived safely at Pearl, exchanged fast battleships and dropped off a light cruiser for an upgrade, and is now headed for a drive-by recon of Midway.

Reinforcements
CVE Prince William arrives at Tacoma
AM Requisite arrives at Seattle
SC-631 arrives at Los Angeles
36th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted)
85th British AT Gun Regiment arrives at Aden (empty unit, another one that's going to take time to outfit)

[mapuc]

Just seen a part of Greatness and decline: turning points of World War II In this part they were concentrating on Burma.

Off very strategic importance but a county no one wants to fight a war in. No infrastructure almost no nothing.

In the South Japan has pushed England further south In the North USA Is pressing on to gain land so they can open the road. This was important since 36 Chinese division was in need of supply.

This was in 1942.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

Just seen a part of Greatness and decline: turning points of World War II In this part they were concentrating on Burma.

Off very strategic importance but a county no one wants to fight a war in. No infrastructure almost no nothing.

In the South Japan has pushed England further south In the North USA Is pressing on to gain land so they can open the road. This was important since 36 Chinese division was in need of supply.

This was in 1942.

Markus
I have to agree, I don't like fighting there. The crappy roads are hindering my movement, and as I've said, the lack of available engineers has pulled the rug out from under my air campaign. Part of this is a flaw in my own preparedness; I could have moved more engineers here and built up different airbases with them.
-------------------------

19 October 1942
Singapore falls, enemy armies advance in northern and eastern China

China
Another enemy force has made a flanking manuever to the south of Chengchow, crossing the river before we could cut them off. Our blocking force has arrived and will probe the enemy next turn to estimate their strength. This is now my priority target for the Wellington bombers that had been bombing the army advancing on Foochow along the Strait coastline. Might even sic my B-24s on them if it turns out there's a lot of them.

On the south side of mine line of coastal bases, an enemy army is advancing from Chaochow towards Amoy (where my patrol bombers are based). I'm pulling some armies from Foochow to cover this. I'm also bringing in some troops from further inland--my guess is that if he's bringing enough to take Amoy from me, then he doesn't have enough left in Chaochow to hold it. The enemy army is in open territory, so I'm assigning the Lysanders and a few SB-IIIs to hit it.

The weather over Port Arthur is expected to be stormy tomorrow, so the B-24s are still resting.

Malaya
The enemy attacked Singapore in full force, and as expected, the starved troops folded like a cheap table. That's 34,000 Brits, Indians, and Aussies headed to the POW camps.

On paper, the enemy strength should have been around 7-8 divisions, but their actual assault strength in this attack was only around 4.5., indicating that these units are beaten down rather badly. That's still a lot of troops, though. I think the most sensible next step for him is to bring the strongest units to Burma to turn the tide there, while resting and rebuilding the weaker ones so that they're ready to resist my offensives. Clearly he can already see a Solomons campaign is in the opening phases.

Banda Sea
Speaking of offensives, my amphibious group here arrived at Babar undetected and will offload a garrison, a base force, and construction engineers overnight. We should have a functioning airbase in about a week, until then, P-38s from Darwin will provide CAP.

Espiritu Santu Islands
Scoutplanes reported an enemy task force of 10 ships, mostly PGs, very close to Luganville. We haven't quite finished delivering the base force, but just in case this is the cruiser task force (possibly reinforced with more ships), I'm having the phibs back off. I still need to deliver construction engineers anyway, and they're loading up on other ships at Efate now, so this delay will be minimal--they'll just sortie again with the engineers. I'm hoping that I'll get a riposte out of this; he comes south looking for my ships, doesn't find them, and then gets hit with an airstrike. To try to capitalize on that possibility, I've moved the last of the B-26s out of Efate (bombing their marines is a much lower priority mission than it was a few days ago) and replaced them with A-20s. So he's potentially facing a two-pronged attack of dive bombers and skip bombers if we catch him.

Reinforcements
SC-642 arrives at San Francisco
SC-643 arrives at Seattle
AM Daring arrives at Portland
822/828 Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco (full strength unrestiected)
2nd Indian Heavy AA Regiment arrives at Madras (half strength, restricted. Headed to Calcutta--we may actually need to defend against airstrikes there in a month or so)

[Molon Labe]

20 October 1942
Amphibious group barely escapes heavy surface task force at Luganville

Espiritu Santo Islands
Good thing I ordered them to stop unloading and leave. The enemy task force that approached wasn't the same cruiser group that's been hanging around, this was 1 BB (Kirishima), 5 CA, 1 CL, 7 DD. We were already underway when they arrived. Rain hampered visibility to 6,000 yards and we tracked them on radar. They got within 7,000 yards of us without seeing us before we were able to start opening range and escape.

Edit: There were two Mogami-class heavy cruisers there, which have upgrades that include Type 21 radar available in July 1942. I'm not sure if the upgrade hasn't been performed yet or if the Type 21 sucks in rain. Edit 2: My opponent replied that I'm wrong about the upgrade and that it's just AA. I was looking at the database as the time, so I'm not wrong--so it looks like he didn't get the upgrade.

Java Sea
The KXI was transiting the Java Sea on the way back to base, spotted a subchaser, and decided to attack. It missed, and received some depth charge damage in return. Good thing it's already headed home.

Philippine Sea
USS Grunion managed to get a Mk14 to detonate on the side of a cargo ship east of Taiwan. They're claiming a kill on this.

Taiwan Strait
USS Sunfish is back underway after stopping to make repairs in Amoy. We don't have any workers at the port there, but it still provided someplace safe for the crew to patch a few holes and dewater as much of the boat as they could. An unplanned benefit of retaking this coastal base. It's headed back to the Aleutians, and if it survives that, Seattle.

China
The Lysanders interdicting the southern force approaching Amoy report it's over 8000 troops. I don't have enough to hold out. I'm ordering more reinforcements from the north side of the line. I'm also ordering the Wellingtons to attack here now.

In the Chengchow area, the enemy flanking force also looks bigger than my blocking force, but I already have more on the way and these enemy troops look really beaten up. With the Wellingtons assigned to the eastern problem, I moved a group of Lysanders up here to bomb them tomorrow. The B-24s are still idling due to rain over their target--I'll probably only give them one more day to wait, if we don't hit Port Arthur they're probably needed to support Chengchow or Amoy.

Notes
Another Mulligan on this turn as my opponent forgot to do something in the south Pacific. As far as I know, the original turn was never run, which is a good thing. But, in my second set of orders I forgot I wanted to order another ground attack at Luganville, so that will wait for tomorrow.

Reinforcements and Refits
BB South Dakota beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Mustin begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
CVE Altamaha arrives at Tacoma (complete with aircraft)
No.17 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Christchurch (2/12 P-40s; enough aircraft in reserve to fill out. Restricted)
225 Group RAF arrives at Aden (empty AirHQ. There's another one already being filled out, this one will have to wait)
4th Marine Raider Battalion arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, full strength)
24th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted, 2/3 strength)

[Molon Labe]

21 October 1942
MPA-submarine coordination kills a tanker in the East China Sea; under pressure in China

East China Sea
Yesterday the Husdsons patroling the area spotted a task force that appeared to be transiting along a line of islands to avoid deep water as much as possible, then at Miyako-Jima headed towards Okinawa. I had a sub on patrol that looked like it could intercept it before Okinawa, so I adjusted its patrol to make that happen--and it worked. USS Trigger found a convoy of 4 small tankers and 2 PBs and managed to hit and sink one of the tankers.

Japan
USS Salmon made an ill-advised attack on an ASW group as it transited past Aogashima while en route to its patrol area. But it worked, she sank an old clunker of a subchaser and got away with it.

China
My coastal line of bases now has enemy forces approaching both sides of the line. Before it looked like he'd given up on the northern end, but once we started moving our troops to meet the southern prong, they started marching again. I doubt I have enough to stop both attacks. In my favor, though, the aerial situation has reversed from the early days of the war, when he bombed everywhere any of my troops might come into contact with his. I'm bombing both these guys, and it's been awhile since fighters tried to stop me. Also, on the northern end, the enemy is crossing over roadless, rough terrain, which means they'll arrive with high fatigue and probably low supplies too.

In the north, the enemy flanking force is still apparently superior to my blocking force, even with reinforcements. I'm ordering some extra troops north from Sinyang, but I doubt they'll arrive on time. And with my Wellington bombers needed for a mission on the east coast, I reluctantly ordered a B-24 squadron to participate here--the British one. That leaves 2 US squadrons still standing by for clear weather over Port Arthur (rainy again for tomorrow).

Burma
A second thing I forgot thanks to the Mulligan yesterday, I had originally ordered a large base force to sail from Colombo to Burma. So I put that task force together again today. The test-run light cargo ship made it there and is heading back without having been detected, so that's a good sign. So, this means I now have 3 groups of base forces/engineers approaching to reinforce Burma, one overland and two by sea. The sea approach is risky, but the unfortunate reality here is that the status quo doesn't lead to victory, I need to change the equation. I need to prepare for an onslaught of new troops coming up from Singapore, and that is going to be much harder to pull off if Rangoon is still isolated by Port Blair and I can't bring in supplies.

Some good news here--I noticed I moved a base force and a construction unit from Raheng to Pisanouke. Probably to build up the forts to resist a counterattack that never came. They're headed back to Raheng to build up the base a bit. It doesn't solve the problem, but it makes it a little less bad. It's already close to being big enough to operate B-24s, and if I keep going who knows I might even be able to operate multiple squadrons and have fighters there to keep them from getting blasted on the ground.

We've moved our Tavoy armies back onto the enemy base, now reinforced by armor and with more infantry just a few days away. We shelled them with artillery for moderate casualties. I'm tempted to attack now, it might work. But no, better to wait for the extra infantry, I can just keep shelling them while I wait.

Banda Sea
Babar is officially in our hands and we're building forts and an airfield. The phibs should be done tomorrow, they need to hurry because the one P-38 squadron providing cover has nearly half its planes down for maintenance thanks to the Optemo.

Espiritu Santo Islands
I'm going right back to Luganville today. Yes, that heavy task force is still out there. But I'm betting he doesn't expect me to go right back after just a day. I expect I'll have 80% of what I need ashore tomorrow and can evacuate again if I need to. As long as he doesn't anticipate my move, I'm inside his OODA loop on this. A bit risky, but the operation fails if I don't have enough engineers to build up the island. I'm limiting my risk exposure a little bit by not including a lot of surface forces this time. The skimmers are staying in a task force at Efate, hopefully by keeping them in an active task force they will retreat automatically if a superior enemy force approaches Efate. Sure would be nice if I hadn't lost the Yorktown class.

Reinforcements, Refits, Withdrawals
-VMF-212 had to withdraw today. They'll be back in a few months. These guys were one of the squadrons reactivated at Pearl when we got supplies in and played a key part in whittling down the KB's air wing during the Lahaina evacuation.
-Another major troop convoy is loading at LA bound for Pearl. Includes a USMC regiment, marine island garrison forces, and base forces.
AR Ajax arrives at San Francisco
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

22 Oct 1942

Espiritu Santo Islands
The phibs returned and got to unloading again. I'm not happy with their pace, I'd hoped they'd finish today but they're going to need to stick around.

The destroyer-minesweeper assigned to the group detected a mine and cleared it. I've ordered it to break off from the amphibious group and get to work on the minefield. Another DMS is en route from Efate to help it.

At this time we don't hold any threatening-looking surface contacts, although there is a contact near the Solomons that's reportedly 3-4 ships. I never trust these reports to be accurate, so maybe that's a heavy combat task force. I just don't know. I've ordered some subs that were patrolling Ndeni to act as tripwires between the Solomons and Luganville so maybe we get advance notice if someone sprints from over there.

China
The enemy army at the north end of our coastal line has entered my base's hex; they appear to be 10,000 strong. We have a lot less troops there, but we're behind forts, and so far we're the only side getting air support. I'm adding one of the US B-24 squadrons to those interdicting enemy troop concentrations to make sure all 3 threatening enemy armies are getting plenty of aerial love. The Port Arthur mission was postponed again with overcast skies predicted for tomorrow. Which reminds me, intel reported an AA unit there, and I checked the history and we've had quite a few intel reports about AA there. So, looking those units up...Holy crap, I'm glad I was delayed by weather. In addition to the forts that start there, they've brought in 44 75mm guns, 16 88mms, and 4 100mms. That looks like a lot, and I'd need to bomb at 25,000 just to get away from the 75mms. BUT, three of the extra 5 units are reportedly planning for Singapore. So this might not be a robust defense so much as a transport hub.

Keijo, Korea, would be about the same distance and intel isn't reporting any extra AAA there. It's likely to be a resource transport hub, but no refinery there. Same story with Shanghai, China. Tough call.

But for now, the three armies present an immediate threat, and they're in mostly open territory that makes them ideal bombing targets.

Refits and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on CA Portland at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on CA Chester at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on CA San Francisco at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service
^--These 3 were AA and radar upgrades
No.212 Sqn RAF arrives at Karachi (6 Catalinas, headed for Calcutta)
54th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (full strength transport squadron, headed to Capetown, then India)
100th RN Base Force arrives at Aden (empty unit, may take awhile to build up)

[Molon Labe]

23 October 1942
"Vengeance" finally strikes in the Bay of Bengal, and we get our revenge in Luganville

Burma/Bay of Bengal
A task force of 3 Katori-class light cruisers and 3 destroyers shelled Moulmein. We saw these slowpokes (Katrori's top speed is 18 knots) coming and moved most of the flyable airplanes out. Damage was minimal. The cruiser Kashii took a hit from coastal artillery.

Probably thanks to their slow speed (but perhaps an errant "remain on station" setting), the enemy task force was still nearby at daybreak. The Vengeance bombers, now based inland at Raheng, finally flew a mission in defense of our coastal bases. Two, actually, 13 planes each time. The enemy had no CAP to resist us, but we did have 10 Hurricanes escorting both strikes. Each plane carried 2x 500lb SAP and 2x 250lb SAP. The 500s should hit hard enough to hurt a CL pretty good.
https://i.ibb.co/Z8PzS4Q/1942-Oct-23-Moulmein.png
Strike 1:
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Kashii, Bomb hits 3
Strike 2:
CL Katori, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Kashii, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 1, on fire

We think the Kashii went down.

Espiritu Santo Islands and New Britain
Betties are bombing our troops on Ndeni. The Luganville airbase can't get build quick enough. Speaking of which, the phibs still aren't done. But I'm not holding any threatening contacts either. 1 more day...

Our DMS was interrupted by an enemy sub, which it depth charged for moderate damage after evading 2 torpedoes.

Our marines wiped out the last enemy troops on Luganville, avenging the deaths of our soldiers and marines lost here early in the war.

On the opposite side of the Solomons, we detected some small ships pulling into Rabaul, and sent some P-38s, B-25s, and B-26s after them. The level bombers didn't hit anything, but the P-38s strafed a PB and a subchaser. Neither was severely damaged--most of the hits were by the .50cals instead of the 20mm cannon.

Midway
Wasp has been detected by enemy aircraft near Midway. Our recon Wildcats have not collected any intel of value.

Refits and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on CV Saratoga at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on CV Lexington at Alameda, ship returned to service
^----major upgrades completed
DD Chevalier arrives at Eastern USA
DD Waller arrives at Eastern USA
AM Heed arrives at Alameda

[Molon Labe]

24 October 1942
Scratch two tankers in the Celebes Sea, and at least one sub off Luganville

Celebes Sea
The KXVI and Sturgeon attacked a tanker convoy headed east along the Mindanao coast trying to make the open sea from the Celebes. Both attacks were successful, striking Manzyu class medium tankers (7150 tons). We're fairly confident the Dutch sub's victim sank right away. The US boat's victim is on fire, including its oil cargo. Smart money isn't on the damage control team.

Espiritu Santo Islands
At least 2 enemy subs attempted to sneak past our destroyers to get to our offloading phibs. One was spotted by the Sims and shot 4 torpedoes at her, which it evaded. Sims drove that one off. Another was spotted by the Reid, which was as accurate as it was in the early phases of the invasion. After several damaging near misses and at least two solid pattern hits, the sub was forced to surface and was greeted by 5" and 40mm gunfire. She's gone. Then the Sims' dance partner came back and was also spotted by Reid. Reid hit her hard but she slipped away, only for the Fanning to pick her up again and hit her some more. We can't confirm that sub's status, but it's not good.

The phibs are down to just supplies to offload--which isn't worth the risk to high-value ships. I'm ordering them to return; future supply deliveries can be by expendable light cargo ships or by aircraft once the runways are built.

Banda Sea
25 Betties raided our new base at Babar. We had only 3 P-38s to greet them, but that was enough to shoot down 5. Their bombing was ineffective, either due to the jungle terrain or quite possibly inadequate ground bombing skills.

China
I'm bombing all three threat armies with no resistance from enemy fighters. No attacks by any of the enemy armies I'm in contact with. If they're not going to attack, why did they expose themselves to my bombers?

Burma and Thailand
I got away with a B-25 raid at a small enemy army working its way up the road from Bangkok to Rangoon. There were Zeroes on CAP that diverted to respond--probably patrolling Tavoy--but they got there too late. The bombers did moderate casualties to the enemy army below, but it wouldn't matter as these guys were surprisingly weak. Our main force crushed them, 953 casualties to 172, one enemy battalion and a 1/3 fragment of another finished off.

Raheng is reinforced with construction engineers and an extra base force and they've already extended the runways enough to accommodate B-24s. Awesome. I'm bringing a pair of US squadrons in Calcutta up to full strength, and one there is already at full strength, so soon I'll have 3 to move down here and see what I can do to Port Blair. The crews will mostly be veterans of the daily raids on Lahaina that we did after re-activating Pearl/Hickam, so I have very high expectations about what they should be able to do here. We'll need a few days to get those new planes online and transfer them.

Reinforcments and Withdrawals
We had to withdraw the last B-17 squadron from Australia today. I have more on the way by boat... maybe I should have just flown them, island hopping day-to-day. Well, no operational losses this way.

CVE Nassau arrives at Tacoma
179th USAAF Base Force arrives at March Field - unrestricted, 2/3 strength

Intel
2 enemy floatplanes were reported destroyed "on the ground". This would seem to confirm one of the CLs was sunk yesterday.

[Molon Labe]

25 October 1942
Two DMSs lost at Luganville to enemy heavy surface task force

Espiritu Santo Islands
That heavy task force showed up again--I had pulled the amphibious task force out but left the DMSs behind to work on the minefield. Figured it was safe enough because my scouts didn't see any threats. Well, they were around somewhere. Our DMSs managed to run for a bit at night but they got caught in the daytime and were sunk easily.

The chase resulted in the enemy still being present near Luganville at daybreak, and that allowed for airstrikes. First was 17 USMC Helldivers from Efate. We lost 3 to flak; 16 of the bombers made their attacks, targeting the BB Kirishima, CA Suzuya, and CA Mogami, but all of them missed.

Next up were 10 A-20A1 Havocs - the combat debut of the "attack bomber" in this war. They attacked in pairs, with one strafing to suppress flak while the other attempted skip-bombing. This would probably have been devastating against a weaker task force, but these guys have a lot of flak to throw and a lot of armor to resist our guns and bombs. 2 cruisers and a destroyer got strafed a little, and we got 2 bomb hits on the Kirishima and another on the CA Furutaka. None of the damage appears serious.


Burma
4 CLs and 3 DD shelled Rangoon. We lost 2 planes on the ground and most of the rest were damaged. And we didn't get an airstrike on these guys.


Banda Sea
Zero and Oscar sweeps cleared our P-38s out of Babar. We're badly outnumbered. No shootdowns, just damaged planes on both sides.


China
It now seems that the enemy forces on both sides of our coastal line our inferior to our garrisons. I also have reinforcements inbound on both ends of the lines which are approaching from behind the enemy. I intend to encircle and eliminate both forces entirely.

In the north he's still not attacking. Numerically he's got the superior force here, and with heavier artillery, but I doubt they'd fight too well with the amount of bombing they're suffering.

I'm more or less letting the Port Arthur operation go for now. Between the weather delays, the AA threat, and the current enemy offensive I need to deal with, it just doesn't make sense right now.

Refits, Reinforcements
SS S-31 begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
SS S-35 begins refit while under repair at Suva

CM Terror arrives at Balboa
VS-2D12 arrives at Eureka (2/16 floatplanes, restricted - will send to LA, fill up, and use for training)
4th PG/17th PRS arrives at Eastern USA (Recon Lightnings, unrestricted)
1st Indian Coastal Artillery Regiment arrives at Karachi (restricted)

[Molon Labe]

26 October 1942
Construction engineers arrive in Rangoon

Espiritu Santo Islands
The enemy heavy task force, apparently frustrated with only sinking a pair of DMSs, shelled Luganville. Damage was rather light. Both bomb-damaged ships participated in the bombardment. I had retreated most of my ships in Efate to Noumea in case this task force pressed further south, but that didn't happen. For the next turn, I've moved additional USMC Helldivers from Suva to Efate to try to deal with these ships.

Luganville suffered enemy fighter sweeps as well, resulting in one downed Oscar, one P-40, and 1 Wildcat. The Betties hit Ndeni again, without causing serious damage.

CENTPAC
Wasp has returned from it's drive-by of Midway without having gained any actionable intel on enemy troop levels. I guess we're doing this the hard way then. I've got an amphibious group ready to take a nearby atoll, I'll build a small airbase there and use land-based recon assets.

Caroline Islands
About 120 miles west of Truk, USS Grayback attacked a convoy of 3 medium tankers escorted by a PB and hit one of the tankers, setting its fuel cargo on fire. We can't confirm the ship went down, but it was severely damaged with major fires, so the chance of survival is very small, even this close to a large naval base.

Burma
Major enemy raid on our armies at Tavoy - 98 Sallies escorted by 72 Oscars. We didn't have a CAP up and maybe that's a good thing. We took only 23 casualties on the ground; this is very rugged terrain and bombers just haven't had a lot of success here, for either side.

A small transport convoy with a construction unit arrived in Rangoon, undetected. I've got another one another day or two behind it, I was going to have them land on a beach, but now that I've had a test boat and a convoy arrrive not just safely, but undetected, I'm going to let them go straight to Rangoon too. I'm going to be a bit critical here--this is a major screwup by my opponent. The lack of construction assets here was allowing him to keep my airbases at Rangoon and Moulmein disabled, that's about to change. His control of Port Blair should have made seaborne deliveries to Rangoon impossible. I'll have to ask him about this someday, maybe after I flatten Port Blair with Liberators.

China
We finally have good weather predicted over Korea, so if I was going to hit Port Arthur, tomorrow would be the day. But as I said, right now using my bombers for interdiction/CAS makes more sense.

Near Chusien, a turn or two ago I noticed the enemy troops blocking the road east to Shanghai looked very weak, possibly due to them sending troops south in response to my coastal advances. I had sallied troops out of Chusien as a recon-in-force, discovering this blocking force was now just a mortar battalion without any infantry support. So today, our troops attacked and easily destroyed the unit.

Reinforcements
YMS-127 arrives at Tacoma
5th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Darwin
RAF 224 Group Base Force arrives at Aden
3rd Construction Regiment arrives at Chungking

[Molon Labe]

27 October 1942
A return to air-to-air parity?


Solomons Area
21 Oscars swept Roussel Island. We have P-40Ks based there now, all 25 got into the fight. We lost 5 while shooting down 7 of the Oscars. I note that as air-to-air combat starts making a slow comeback, the results are much more even now. So he's probably concentrating the competent pilots he has in a small number of units and trying to keep everyone else out of combat.

I had B-25s and B-26s from Port Morseby try to hit enemy patrol ships near Rabaul. We lost 5 B-25s and 1 B-26 to the Nicks on CAP and didn't hit anything. I've revised the orders of these squadrons to shorten the range at which they'll attack naval targets to exclude Rabaul. And I'm going to sweep Rabaul with P-38s tomorrow to see how they match up against the Nicks.

Banda Sea
24 Sallies hit Babar, we only had 3 P-38s defending; we shot down 3.

Burma
Another huge air raid on our forces camped outside of Tavoy, over 100 bombers and 100 escorts. Still quite ineffective.

China
We had a bit of a scare when a pair of Oscars tried to intercept Lysanders at Amoy, but were too late. I'll start sending Chinese P-40s here to clear them out.

Otherwise, all three threat armies still remain on station and all took significant damage from our bombers.

Reinforcements
No.149 Sqn RCAF arrives at Victoria (fully restricted, partial strength Beaufort torpedo bombers -- a curious arrival because it looks like it's going to be the only Canadian torpedo bomber squadron I'll ever get, unless we count the Shark floatplanes. As a fully restricted unit it will only ever be a training squadron--but training to be assigned to what unit?)

[Molon Labe]

28 October 1942
Tavoy on the ropes

Banda Sea
Oscar sweeps at Babar got a P-38. 19 Sallies bombed the island causing light casualties.

South of Celebes, the S-37 torpedoed a tanker in a convoy including PB escorts. The tanker was severely damaged with major fires--it's doomed.

Solomons Area
The sweep at Rabaul went well, 7 Nicks down with no losses to our P-38s.

The enemy's sweep of Roussel did not go so well for them, 4 Oscars down with just one P-40 claimed. Did I speak too quickly about parity?

Burma
Another 100+ bomber sorties outside Tavoy causing very light casualties. My army below now has all the reinforcements that I split off from the "main" anti-Bangkok force.

Scoffing at the bombers, my troops attacked Tavoy, bringing the forts down to nothing. Casualties were 1900 to 1000 in my favor. We might get it tomorrow.

I don't want to overspend my allotment of strategic criticism, but I think it's a safe call that the deployment of over 100 fighters and 100 bombers trying to stop my army here is a gross misapplication of airpower. They're not making a difference here, but if these guys were in, say, China right now, he'd be causing unacceptable losses to my heavy bombers and hitting my troops badly enough to give his a chance to advance.

Reinforcements
AM Gympie arrives at Derby
17th Construction Regiment arrives at Changteh

[Molon Labe]

29 October 1942
Tavoy Liberated (again)

Bay of Bengal/Burma
A soon-to-withdraw minelayer was on orders to mine Rangoon to try to protect it from being shelled, but I was careless and left it on flank speed to long. It ran out of fuel near Rangoon. I sent an AKL out from Rangoon to transfer some fuel to it--and it hit an enemy mine in the channel between the port and the open sea, and sank. Sending minesweepers from Calcutta.

Our reinforced Tavoy assault army got the job done today, casualties 2600 to 600 favoring us. I"m pretty sure Tavoy holds the distinction of the base that has changed hands the most now, he's taken it twice, and I've taken it back twice. I'm not inclined to start immediately moving aircraft here--the base is out of supplies and the enemy bombers that couldn't kill our troops in the mountains can probably still hit the runways, tarmacs, and hangars just fine.


Java Sea
USS Herring was transiting on the way to its patrol area when it got spotted by an ASW group and attacked in shallow water. The boat was badly damaged and is returning to base.

Solomons Area
We swept Rabaul with P-38s for a 2nd day. They added some Oscars to the CAP. We got 5 Oscars and 2 Nicks, 1 P-38 was shot down.

China
We're surrounding both enemy armies in the coastal area. The Amoy (southern) army is weak, we should have no problem killing them. The Foochow army is going to be more difficult, but our bombers will stop them from taking our base, and once the first army is down, I can move those troops back north. Defeated in detail. This is going to be great.

We lost 2 Chinese P-40s at Amoy, but the bombers got through.

The enemy main force at Chengchow made another shock attack, and no, it wasn't any better than the last one a few weeks ago. Forts held at Level 4, casualties 19,000 to 7,000. The flanking force that we're bombing also attacked. Our blocking force, now reinforced from Sinyang, is stronger than them, plus the bombing caused severe disruption. Casualties 4500 to 200.

And they attacked at Foochow too. Numbers wise this was a better attack but these troops are beaten down from being bombed, tired from crossing rough terrain, and out of supply from being away from roads. Nominally, this is a 4-division force, but their assault value was less than 3 divisions worth. Forts reduced from Level 3 to 2, casualties 6000 to 2400 favoring me.

Reinforcements
SC PC-582 arrives at Portland

[Molon Labe]

30 October 1942
Enemy amphibious landing near Rangoon, CVBG strikes port & transport task forces

Burma and Bay of Bengal
Major enemy operation underway. The day started routinely enough with an Oscar sweep of Rangoon. We took down 5 of them without loss--but between planes being down for repairs, refueling, rearming, etc. they succeeded in getting my CAP out of the way for what was to follow.

They swept and raided Tavoy next, but we had no planes in the air for the Oscars to play with and we kept the airbase empty, so the 189-Sally raid didn't amount to much.

Then we had to deal with an airstrike from an enemy CVBG that we never saw coming. Thanks to the earlier sweeps (and the damage to Rangoon's service facilities that still hasn't been repaired) we had few Hurricanes on patrol to stop them. We got 2 Zeroes and a Kate, while losing a Hurricane.

The total raid size, including all waves, was 84 Zeroes, 75 Kates, and 65 Vals.
The damage done:
DD John D. Edwards, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Langkoeas, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Caradoc, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAK Empire Peregrine, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Jupiter, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Nora Moller, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
PG Indus, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Poelau Telo, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Elmdale, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
PG Hindustan, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Empire Grenfell, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Alphard, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

All of these ships had already unloaded their troops and were offloading supplies or standing by for the minefield to be cleared before they left. I have little hope of saving any of these ships, aside from a pair of destroyers and cargo ships that are healthy enough to make a run for it. Through the minefield.

Enemy troops then came ashore at Pegu, adjacent to Rangoon. At this time I can only confirm 2000 troops from a fragment of the 18th Division. If that's all it is, I think we're OK. But there's probably more coming.

https://i.ibb.co/FnxXTRM/1942-Oct-30-Burma.png

The timing of this is interesting because of how fluid the balance of forces was right before this happened. We have successfully delivered a construction unit and a large base force to Rangoon--at the cost of the ships that delivered them--which should allow Rangoon to repair its airbase. But it's not repaired yet, hence the token resistance we put up today. So we may find ourselves in a damage/repair race against Bangkok's Sallies and the supporting heavy warships.

Between the number of fighters the carriers have and support from Bangkok's Oscars, we don't have much chance to strike back at the task forces. If they loiter, maybe we'll get lucky. The Vengenaces are based on Raheng and have 1 Hurricane squadron assigned to escort them. I have another Hurricane squadron and a P-40 squadron there too, assigned to sweep over Pegu. This way they potentially support the Vengenaces, but also other bomber sorties.

Defending Rangoon is the priority now. The landing bypassed the bulk of our regional forces that are south, threatening Bangkok. It also bypassed our defensive line at Moulmein. For now, I'm ordering our main force back to Rangoon, but they're weeks away. The enemy army is just a couple days away. So they may be needed to re-take Rangoon, if it comes to that. I'm pulling some of the reserves from Moulmein back towards Rangoon, but I need to be careful or I might just invite him to defeat them and the Rangoon garrison one at a time. I've also got part of one of the paratrooper units I was transporting to southern China still in Burma. I'll be reconsolidating that unit to try to make it available for this.

I need to get what I can out of Bangkok, but they don't really have anywhere to go. Few of the other airbases in Burma are large enough to support offensive missions, and the ones we have are rather far away. For now, Rangoon's B-25s are going to stay where they are and attack the landing area. The CAP will stand their ground as good as they can.

Further west ("up" on the map) are the 3 B-24 squadrons I've been prepping for a raid on Port Blair. They are in range of the landing area, so the enemy troops are in for a rude greeting. We have 2 B-25 squadrons there too but I'm unable to find someplace in range to put them other than Rangoon itself. Finally, a partial-strength Wellington squadron is available, and I do have a base near the border that puts them in range. So, our counterattack will hopefully amount to 40-50 heavy and medium bombers, 20 dive bombers, and at 30 or so fighters trying to clear out any enemy fighters that might oppose those raids, plus however many fighters Rangoon can get serviced and in the air in time.

I'm not sure who wins this. He might just be able to land enough trooops to outright take Rangoon in a few days. If he can't, though, he just landed behind my lines and is going to have a very hard time supplying these troops.

Solomons area
We finally got a minesweeper back at Luganville. Hopefully the job doesn't take too long, it's still pretty hot here.

CENTPAC
We've taken Laysan Island (near Midway). No resistance, but we are being monitored by scoutplanes.

I'm reorganizing my US fleet at Pearl. Lex and Sara are getting a new battlegroup, including the fast battleship Washington and a dozen Porter and Bristol class destroyers that are absolutely bristling with AA guns. They're retaining the 2 CLAAs and CA they already had.

Wasp is putting in for her upgrade. When she's done, she'll have a fast battleship ready for her, along with with the cruisers she already had, and her destroyer screen will include Fletchers.

I'm splitting my replenishment group in half, each will be 3 AO, 1 AE, and 3 DD. Been wanting to do this for awhile but I was rotating the AOs through upgrades 2 at a time. That's finished now. It would have really sucked to lose these all at once, now that's mitigated.

China
The losses and damage to the Chinese P-40 unit rendered it unready for combat today. The P-66 Vanguard made its combat debut in its place as I assigned a training squadron to Amoy and filled it with freshly-certified qualified pilots. They lost one plane and didn't get any kills, but they kept the Oscars away from the bombers at Amoy and flew an uneventful CAP over Foochow (where my bombers are needed to hold off the stronger enemy army).

I now have both enemy armies along the coast surrounded.

Refits and Reinforcements
CV Wasp beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
SS S-32 begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
AM Dash arrives at Portland
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment arrives at Delhi

[Molon Labe]

31 October 1942
Battle of Rangoon - day 2


Battle of Rangoon
In hindsight, putting the evacuating DDs in a task force with 2 AKs was a bad call because it slowed the DDs down. One hit a mine, so the escapees ended up being 1 DD and 2 AKs. They met up with the out-of-fuel CM (and 2 DDs traveling with it) and tried to transfer some fuel and depart as a group. The refueling op had to be halted when 2 enemy PCs approached. The PCs were no match for the destroyers and were both sunk. But by daybreak, my task force would be caught, the thirsty ships still drifting, when the airstrikes came.

2 CLs and 2 DDs shelled Tavoy, causing moderate facility damage to the empty airbase.

My sweeps of Pegu did OK. 5 Rufes and 8 Zeroes shot down for the cost of 5 Hurricanes and 2 P-40s. They accomplished their main mission: no enemy fighters successfully intercepted any of my level bombers attacking their ground forces. 38 B-24s hit the landing area, causing 201 enemy casualties. Eh, not that great. Weather might have been a factor, rain over the target. As for enemy force levels, the B-24s only reported the 1/3 division we knew was there and an airbase construction unit, so that's good news. Recon flights report a total of 4 enemy units.

The bulk of his Sallies are still attacking Tavoy.

Next up were the enemy airstrikes. The first wave of 12 Kates and 4 Vals targeted the escapees and hit one of the drifting destroyers twice. Then 8 Zeroes and 13 Vals attacked Rangoon's port. We had 10 Hurricanes up for this, and shot down a Zero and 10 Vals. The 3 Vals that attacked hit a cargo ship twice. Next was a larger raid on the adrift task force:
D Arunta, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Jupiter, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Van Galen
CM Abdiel, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Empire Curlew, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Jupiter is the lone combattant that is fueled, so her taking two hits basically means these guys are done for.
Jupiter and Arunta both sank after the strikes.

We were able to get an airstrike on the enemy naval forces, but we only managed to get 10 Vengeance bombers in the air for it, plus 14 Hurricanes escorting. The enemy CAP was light thanks to the earlier sweeps, but still 19 Zeroes and 1 Rufe. They got 2 Hurricanes and 8 of the Vengeances, we got only 1 Zero. Another dive bomber was lost to flak. Only 3 managed to attack targets--two went for Yamato, one for Kaga. We hit the Yamato once with a non-penetrating hit. Might as well be a mosquito bite. I wish I could order these guys to prioritize the transports. This strike confirmed the presence of the Hiyo.


Philippine Sea
USS Amberjack torpedoed and sank a cargo ship in an escorted convoy near Iwo Jima.

Solomons Area
3 CA and 3 DD shelled Rousel Island, and disappeared before daybreak and avoided an airstrike. 1 P-40 was destroyed on the ground, most of the rest were damaged. The base facilities look pretty bad too. So that's 2 heavy surface task forces operating in this area...and it means I have to deal with them before my new airbases are going to do me any good.

The ASW squadron at Noumea that recently upgraded from Wirraways to Beaforts bombed two enemy subs (or possibly the same sub twice) today. I'm hoping he surged a bunch to this area thinking the little bombs for the Wirraways weren't a big deal and that these 500lb bombs cost him a few boats.

Banda Sea, Ceram Sea
USS Sargo had been pulled off its patrol area to perform a barrier south of Celebes because of an Intel hit a few days ago mentioning troops being brought to Kendari from Java. We didn't hit the troop ships, but we did find the CS Mizuho and hit it with a torpedo. It's apparently carrying fuel, because the fuel cargo ignited. I won't call that a kill but it's not in a good place.

I replaced withdrawing B-17s at Darwin with planes from Port Moresby and immediately put them on naval attack due to multiple task forces spotted at Ambon. We didn't get a strike on Ambon, but they went after tankers instead, one pair a bit north of Timor and another at Manokwari (Northwestern Papua-New Guinea).

China
I'm now attacking the enemy force that had meant to attack Amoy. Casualties 867 to 209 on my side. Doesn't look like they'll last long. Most of the bombers that were attacking this force are now working on the Foochow army, as they're stronger than my defensive line there and I need to keep them disrupted until the Amoy army is defeated and I can move those troops back to Foochow.






----------------------
Where are the Carriers?

Updating this to reflect CS and CV sightings.

Fleet Carriers - Pacific Fleet

Akagi: Torpedoed by S-29 on 23 June 1942. Damage did not appear serious at the time. Intel reported sunk 6/24/42, then reported still in service 9/20/42. Fighter squadron seen operating in Chengchow, China on 4 Sept 42, but appears absent on 20 Sept 42--airwing likely returned to ship after repairs completed. Likely received 7/1942 upgrade while under repair.

Soryu: Sunk by CVW-2 14 Feb 1942

Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku: Operational, believed to be operating with Kido Butai. KB last seen near Canton Island 8 Sept 1942. Not believed to have received 7/1942 upgrades prior to 8 Sept 42.
--Multiple carrier fleet deployment to Solomons 1-8 November 1942; likely included Hiryu and Shokaku, retired towards Marshalls
--Unconfirmed carrier sighting approaching Solomons from Marshalls/Gilberts 12 November 1942.
--The KB may have split into two divisions (Hiryu, Shokaku ; Akagi, Zuikaku) to allow for upgrades, appears to be focused on Marshalls and Solomons.

Fleet Carriers - Indian Ocean Fleet
Kaga: Last seen 31 October - 1 November 1942 supporting Rangoon landings. 19 September 1942, torpedoed by Albacore in Bay of Bengal operating with Junyo (and probably Hiyo). Continued fight operations after torpedo hit. Confirmed to have NOT yet received 7/1942 upgrade as of 19 September 1942, does not appear to have it as of 31 October 42 either. Prior damage from CVW-8 Devastator on 16 June 42 in Coral Sea, causing aviation gas explosion.

Junyo: Believed present for Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942.Confirmed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942. Previous deployment as part of the KB, 21 July 1942, supporting the evacuation of ground forces from Lahaina, Hawaii.

Hiyo: Confirmed present supporting Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Believed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942 (fighter squadron reported present). Present for battle of Port Blair 20 August 1942. Hit by 2 torpedoes from Albacores on 31 July 1942. Intel reports sunk 8/25/42, report stricken upon sighting near Rangoon.

Light and Escort Carriers:

CVL Ryujo - hit by two heavyweight torpedoes on 1/17, definitely disabled, likely sunk. Intel reports sunk 1/31/42.
CVL Shoho - May have been present in Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Damaged by heavyweight torpedo hit 2/3/42. Damaged by CVW-8 Helldiver 16 June 42 in the Coral Sea.
CVL Zuiho - likely sunk 2/14/42 (4 bomb hits, 1 air-dropped torpedo hit). Intel reports sunk same day.
CVE Hosho - sunk by 2 heavyweight torpedo hits 1/19/42
CVE Taiyo - sunk 2/14/42 (6 bomb hits)
CVE Unyo: Hit by torpedo from Albacore 20 August 1942 off Port Blair, damage did not appear severe. Intel reports sank same day.


CS Chiyoda: Coastwatcher report 11/13/42 in port at Guadalcanal. May be operating with KB (or a division thereof).
CS Nisshin:
Rufe float fighters have been spotted with the Kido Butai as well as the CVBG operating in the Bay of Bengal, indicating these ships are operating with the fleet carriers.
CS Chitose: sunk in surface action in Celebes Sea as part of an amphibious task force (USS Marblehead leading formation), 10 December 1941
CS Mizuho: Torpedoed by USS Sargo south of Celebes 10/31/42 with major fires breaking out. Believed to have sunk on 11/3/42 due to intel reports of destroyed floatplanes.


Unfinished:
CVE Chuho: 11/22/42
CVL Ryuho: 11/24/42
CV Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)
CV Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
CV Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
CV Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
CV Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)
CVE Kaiyo: 12/3/43
CVE Shinyo: 12/19/43
CVE Yamashira Maru: 2/4/45
CVE Shimane Maru: 2/8/45
CVL Ibuki: 4/26/45
CVE Chigusa Maru: 6/22/45
CV Ikoma: 6/20/45
CV Aso: 6/24/45
(cost-adjusted arrival dates represent previously-calculated acceleration)

[Molon Labe]

1 November 1942
Battle of Rangoon Day 3 - 10,000 troops ashore at Pegu

Battle of Rangoon
An enemy sub came up the channel to Rangoon and finished off the mine-damaged destroyer Nepal with 2 torpedoes. Two heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers caught up with the damaged minelayer off the coast and gunned it down, plus a torpedo coup de grace.

Two light cruisers and 3 destroyers entered Rangoon harbor, shelling the port and airbase. The CL Cardoc, being repaired in port, was hit, and the airbase sustained heavy damage.

Our sweeps of Pegu resulted in 4 Hurricanes and 1 P-40 downed, with 11 Zeroes, 5 Oscars, and a Rufe joining them.

In western Burma, somehow the enemy had managed to get an airbase up and running. Apparently they dropped off aviation support that one time they complimented their random paratroopers with a small amphibious landing. So Hurricanes based in India swept over here, shooting down 5 Oscars with no losses.

One again, the Sallies all bombed Tavoy. The airbase is a total wreck.

38 B-24s hit the beachhead, inflicting 266 troop casualties. Zeroes shot one down, and the B-24s shot one Zero down. Between any recon performed by the bombers and dedicated Hurricane-PR recon flights, it now appears the enemy force exceeds 10,000 troops. We can confirm it includes 2/3rd of the 18th Division and an aviation engineer unit.

We only got 3 Vengeances in the air to attack the task forces. I fired the CO of the squadron that didn't fly and replaced him with someone with a much higher Aggression rating. The 3 bombers flew with 10 escorting Hurricanes; we shot down only 1 Zero while losing 4 Hurricanes and 1 of the Vengeances; the other 2 aborted and ran.

I'd been hesitant to spend political points on any more Indian units to move to the Burma/Thailand front, but now that he's making a play on Rangoon I don't think I have to worry about them landing in Calcutta or something like that. So the units that cleared a few paratroopers out but stopped at the border I will pay the PP to purchase. They'll take down the enemy airbase in western Burma and then head towards Rangoon--to either reinforce it or participate in retaking it.

South China Sea
USS Greenling encountered an unescorted cargo ship. 12 torpedoes later, it managed to get 2 fish to both hit and detonate, sending the AK to the bottom.

Solomons Area
Near Ontong Java, the S-44 found a tanker convoy and picked off one of them, evading counterattack by an escorting PB.

The Seawolf was in the same area but wasn't nearly as lucky. It was spotted by "carrier aircraft" (per their report) and soon found themselves swarmed by destroyers, with the battleship Kongo in company. It fired at a destroyer, missing, and then evaded the attacks, sustaining light depth charge damage.

Scoutplanes reported 2 carriers in this same task force. Probably the KB. That's a shame, I was looking forward to siccing Halsey on those heavy surface task forces.

At Efate, one of my USMC Helldiver squadrons is now due to withdraw. To hell with that, not with the KB around. I'll be paying political points to keep them.

China
We lost a Vanguard over Amoy to an attempted attack by Oscars. The Vanguards had no kills, but the Oscars jettisoned their bombs and ran off.

Our land forces attacked the surrounded enemy army at Amoy, causing 1467 enemy casualties to 94 of ours. The enemy is so weak I'm temped to order a shock attack, but I'm thinking that's a bad idea when the enemy has nowhere to retreat to. Sticking to deliberate attacks.

Our land forces counterattacked the now-withdrawing flanking force near Chengchow, turning their orderly withdrawal into a rout. Casualties 6000 to 400.

Refits and Reinforcements
The North Carolina class has an "upgrade" available, but it's just stripping the .50cals off with no noted improvements. So I'll wait for the next one. There are very few new upgrades available this month, just a few DD upgrades really. But the American DDs have been upgraded so much that there's now little difference between the Bristols and Fletchers and everyone else (except for the really old ones).

DD Mustin taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
39th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

Big Picture
If he's sending a lot to Burma (and it's really too soon to say) I'd be looking for Java to be a bit of a soft underbelly. I've moved quite a bit from the west coast to Pearl since last month, and I've also reinforced Australia a bit. I'm going to start moving more troops west to enable advances in the Solomons and DEI. I'm also trying to keep pressure on in multiple places to try to force him to split the KB. I've got 2 CVs availabe now, with the Wasp in upgrades for the next 2 weeks or so, so 3 CVs after that. I won't mind taking them on at about 1-to-1 odds, especially with their struggling pilot quality and our enormous AA capability backing us up.

[Molon Labe]

2 November 1942
Battle of Rangoon day 4 - Flak batteries set up at Pagu; enemy carriers approaching Luganville

Battle of Rangoon
Day 4 began with pre-dawn bombardments of Moulmein, first by two cruisers and then 2 battleships, the Heie and Hyuga. Yamato is holding onto its ammo for now.

The morning air raids began with Zeroes sweeping Rangoon. Or trying to anyway. Our CAP shot 7 of them down with no losses. This was a very high altitude battle--the Zero's usual maneuvering advantage was negated against the Hurricane because of this.

We swept Akyab, near the Indian border, shooting down 5 Oscars at the cost of 1 Hurricane. Bleinheim bombers based in India followed that up with an attack on the airbase, causing moderate facility damage.

Somewhat concerning, he swept Pisanuloke - right next to Raheng, with about 20 Oscars. Pisanuloke is too small to matter right now, but Raheng is overstacked and understaffed, if he's done playing with Tavoy those Sallies can hurt us. Speaking of which, the Salies hit Tavoy again today, not that it's doing anything.

The sweep of Pegu netted 3 Zeroes and an Oscar, with 1 Hurricane and 2 P-40s lost. Our bombing raid was 37 B-24s and 6 Wellingtons. The sweeps weren't as successful this time around and we had several bombers get damaged by fighters--and they shot down an Oscar in self-defense. The Wellingtons got to the landing ships, hitting a pair of AMCs and an LSD. The damage didn't appear too serious. Overall 229 enemy casualties were reported--and we confirmed the presence of the 38th Division, so that's 1 2/3rs divisions for sure. There was also a lot of heavy flak--enough to shoot down 2 B-24s. A third crashed on the way home and another was scrapped at base. I'll be increasing my attack altitude tomorrow to try to mitigate this a bit. It also looks like bombing effectiveness is down, which probably means forts are going up. He's already expanded the airbase from size 1 to size 2 so his engineers are clearly busy. I'll have some B-24s target the airbase to try to eat up the engineeers' time and supply.

Some of Bangkok's Sallies hit our Bangkok assault army that's currently trying to get back to Rangoon. Casualties were minimal but it is forcing my units out of "Move" mode and into "Combat" mode, slowing my pace.

At least on the logistical side, this operation looks very well planned. It's going to be difficult to hold this army off as my air raids become less effective and I suffer attrition. The supply situation could turn to his advantage if he can consistently land supplies at his beachhead--Port Blair is going to help with that.

China
The Oscars came back to try to support their doomed troops at Amoy, our Vanguards got into a furball with them with no losses on either side, 1 Oscar made it to the troops and was shot down by flak. Our land forces continued to press on the surrounded enemy (the 51st Division), inflicting 1140 casualties to 80. I really wish surrender was an option for these guys

At Foochow, I think I set a campaign record for most casualties in an airstrike (not including troops on sinking ships) with 313, courtesy of 15 Wellingtons and 14 B-24s.


Solomons Area
https://i.ibb.co/GkMcLwR/1942-November-2-Solomons.png
That task force I suspect is the KB is moving south. Right now I still only have 2 CVs being reported by the Catalinas. Just to be safe, I'm evacuating Noumea. I'm also moving in more aircraft to Efate and Noumea from our southern island chain. Lex and Sara are on the way but they're not close yet.

Refits
DD Nicholas taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD O'Bannon taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Grayson beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Monssen beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Anderson taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD O'Brien taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Craven taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
--This is nearly all of the eligible DDs this month, and I've got plenty to spare despite all these guys going in at once.
AO TAN 2 taken out of commission to begin refit at Townsville

[Molon Labe]

3 November 1942
Battle of Rangoon tipping in favor of Japanese

Battle of Rangoon
The enemy shelled Rangoon with 3 APDs overnight, which was enough to damage a Hurricane. This was pretty minor, but overall they're winning the damage race here. The runways are half-bombed out and the service facilities are in bad shape. Most of my airplanes are grounded and it's going to stay that way until the bombardments stop. If I had just been 2 days quicker with that minelayer...

Over the enemy beachhead at Pegu, the numbers of aircraft we have sweeping are declining vs their CAP. The first of the sweeps was 9 P-40s with 72 Zeroes responding, just as an example. Overall, losses over Pegu today: 12 Zeroes, 4 P-40s, 3 Hurricanes, 4 Wellingtons (squadron no longer ready for combat), and 1 B-24. A few Hudsons took off from Rangoon to try to participate in this, but they took one look at the wall of Zeroes waiting for them--then 55--and turned around. The bombers that did get through (mostly B-24s) inflicted only 176 casualties this turn, effectiveness dropping due to higher altitude, AAA fire, fighter interference, and possibly forts being built.

The enemy moved the 1/3 fragment of the 18th Division to intercept my tanks entering the area from Moulmein. They had to make a river crossing to do this so they had to perform a shock attack. Already severely disrupted from several days of being carpet bombed, the enemy took over 500 casualties without returning fire effectively. For tomorrow, I'm shifting my bombing target to these guys so that my significantly weaker army can try to get away with a counterattack, exploiting the enemy's disorganization. It's a gamble, but the situation is getting worse so I could use a win. Also, with the situation around Chengchow, China, calming down, I've recalled the B-24s operating there to Calcutta to participate in the Rangoon conflict.

To the west at Akyab, I let my Blenhiems go unescorted to try to let the Hurricanes up here escort a Beaufighter attack that didn't happen (there is a surface combat task force sitting off the coast, apparently trying to intercept any further evacuees from Rangoon headed to Calcutta. Port Blair bombers would take care of anyone that goes southwest towards Colombo instead.) That decision cost me a Blenheim to the 4 Oscars that got airborne. But between these guys and the B-25s that followed up we took an Oscar out on the ground and did moderate damage to the base itself. We have a unit of tanks that crossed the border and is nearly here to take the base and destroy any planes on the ground he can't evacuate.

Edit: Speaking of needing a win and the task force sitting off Burma to get ships he doesn't trust Port Blair to get--I'm putting the British fleet to sea. I'd ruled it out in previous days because I worried that the "KB-West" would pursue it, we'd probably end up cornered because we're in a Bay. But now I think the KB-West is just too vital to their operation for them to get pulled away. So, even though I've only got a dozen attack aircraft to throw at them, I'll do it.

Solomons Area
A small amphibious group landed troops on Ndeni. It's not a large force, but neither is my garrison. So, the purpose for the carriers being here is to support this landing and cut off my attempts to reinforce/supply. Sort of like Canton Island all over again, except this time I've risked a much smaller unit, and I have bases close enough to provide air support. Tomorrow, that carrier force will get swept by P-38s at high altitude. Also, the B-17s that had been moving west from Pearl to replace the squadrons I moved to Darwin (due to 2 squadrons withdrawing) are going to stop at Efate now. I hope to carpet bomb the hell out of that small unit that landed to give my Marines a better chance than those at Canton.

With all the attention being paid on the southest side of the Solomons, my new airbase at Roussel Island to the southwest continues. They'll be ready to support medium bombers in a few more days. I hope to be able to sweep Guadalcanal with P-38s until their CAP is meager, and then use medium and heavy bombers to disable the airbase.

Intel
There were about 20 floatplanes reported "destroyed on ground" this turn. Which means the CS we torpedoed a few days ago sank.

Reinforcements
SS Scorpion arrives at Balboa - to Darwin

[Molon Labe]

4 November 1942
Allied air forces defending Rangoon breaking

Battle of Rangoon
Two heavy cruisers entered Rangoon's hex and shelled our base, damaging about two dozen aircraft and keeping the base facilities in a poor state of repair.

The enemy turned their attention from Tavoy itself to my ground forces that had taken it and are now pursuing the enemy south. Dozens of Sallies and even a few Vals tried to bomb them, without much success in the thick jungle. Wasn't enough, we were still able to attack and we routed the enemy, inflicting 500 vs our 50 casualties in the process.

The largest group of Sallies (over 100), though, went to hit my forces that were adjacent to their landing area. This eliminated any chance of my attack succeeding--my forces were as badly disrupted as theirs. There were also more enemy soldiers than there were yesterday as a third of the 12th Division joined the party. We took 394 casualties in the failed attack without doing any damage to the enemy. Would have been a lot worse if not for the B-24s...

We managed 31 B-24s striking the enemy here, not bad considering the amount of aircraft disabled by flak and fighters last turn, but we were contending with severe storms which affected our accuracy. Enemy casualties were light.

There weren't a whole lot of aircraft lost today, mostly because we didn't get many fighters in the air. Raheng can't keep pace with repairs/maintenance, and now its supplies have dropped so low they can't use drop tanks anymore. That's OK for the P-40s, but the Hurricanes are now considered at "extended range" to fly to the Pegu beachhead. Anyway, total losses in Burma theatre today: 3 Hurricanes, 6 Vengeances (we attempted a raid on the task forces that went nowhere), 2 Zeroes, 1 Oscar,



Celebes Sea
The KXVIII spotted a tanker convoy near Tarakan, in an unavoidable hex of deep water along a suspected coastal shallow-water route from Borneo to the Philippines. It hit a Tonan Whaler-class tanker (13,340 tons) - a very high-value target. The convoy appeared to also have 3 medium tankers and 1 light tanker, with only 1 PB escorting them. The convoy left the burning Tonan behind, and the Dutch sub put two more fish into it to finish it off.

Banda Sea
More success for USS Sargo. She got 2 hits on a cargo ship south of Celebes, one of them even detonated. Very likely a kill.

Solomons Area
Kates bombed Ndeni in support of their counter-invasion. My airbase at Luganville is now up to Size 2, enough for offensive air operations. I moved the Wildcats (formerly from CVE Copahee) to Luganville and ordered a sweep for tomorrow. Speaking of which, today's P-38 sweep didn't happen, probably scrubbed by weather. So tomorrow hopefully both squadrons. On the other end of the Solomons, I'm sweeping Rabaul again tomorrow.

He's got a LOT on Guadalcanal, but not a whole lot at Rabaul. I think the best way to take out the Solomons is going to be to take Rabaul and possibly the Shortlands first, cutting off a lot of potential support from the northwest. It shouldn't be too hard to cut into the Gilberts a little bit or use subs to block supply from the northeast.

To the southeast, at Noumea, our crack ASW squadron reported bombing 2 subs.

The aircraft strength estimates were getting from the carrier are consistently lower than I'd expect for the KB. I still have to treat it like a potential death star, but... well, the sweeps should tell me something if they fly tomorrow.

CENTPAC
My Midway encroachment operation is looking like a bust. Progress on building the airstrip is only at 3% after what feels like a week. But they're also not getting bombed, so maybe I can just try the recon mission again with a CVE.

A bunch of convoys left Pearl today, mostly headed for Sydney, loaded with troops and engineers to use in the Solomons area.

Repairs and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on CVE Copahee at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service (torpedo damage from Luganville operation repaired)
257th USAAF Base Force arrives at Santa Ana
40th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
41st USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

5 November 1942
50,000+ enemy troops now in Burma

Celebes Sea
One of the medium tankers from the convoy attacked yesterday hit a min,e and in all likelihood, sank. Finding this route has clearly paid dividends--it's even better than a chokepoint because it's a very predictable path when I know he's maximizing his time in shallow water to try to sink or avoid my subs.

Solomons Area
3 heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers shelled Roussel Island and got away before we could airstrike them, causing significant troop casualties and damaging half the P-40s based there. This is a problem. For now, I'm sending a minelayer here to leave a treat for the next bombardment run. I might also use my carriers to try to get these guys when they finally get here--but that might not be any more successful than land-based air. I think the real solution here is to start flying at night. The long-range variants of the Hudsons have radar. I don't think I'll be able to attack at night, but if we spot them at night we might be able to respond more quickly at first light.

The P-38 sweep of Rabaul performed poorly. 5 fighters lost, no kills.

Kates hit Ndeni again, 33 of them with 28 Zeroes escorting.

We hit the enemy troops on Ndeni with 14 B-17s, but there were 53 Zeroes on patrol that harrassed the bombers to the point they were completely ineffective. 2 B-17s and 1 Zero were shot down. The P-38 sweep arrived after that, shooting down 8 Zeroes with just 1 loss.

I'm fairly sure the CVBG includes CARDIV3 and the Hiryu. Not sure if Akagi is there yet. All the numbers so far would be consistent with a total force of 3 carriers, with 4 being absolutely possible if he's holding back more fighters than he needs to.

Noumea's Beauforts reported another submarine hit. I wonder how many of these reports are just pilots being optimistic.

Banda Sea
Babar was shelled by a heavy cruiser and 5 destroyers. We haven't quite moved fighters in here yet but it's coming. Same issue, though. I was already going to send more aviation support here from Sydney, I'll escort those transports with destroyer-minelayers so I can leave a present for the enemy here too.

Battle of Rangoon
Less action here today as severe storms hampered most air operations. The enemy swept to the West at Magwe, where we're trying to get a Beaufighter strike into the mix. Traded a Hurricane for an Oscar there. A few Hudsons got off the ground in Rangoon and tried to attack the enemy beachhead, but we didn't get any fighters to support them so they retreated after one was shot down. Fighters did battle for control over the area afterward, with a loss of 2 P-40s, a Hurricane, and 4 Zeroes.

Our advance force from Moulmein was attacked and routed with a loss of 1300 men to the enemy's 471. More enemy forces are on the move from the beachhead, headed northwest, apparently intending to cut Rangoon off from all supply lines.

Recon confirmed an empty base behind Rangoon is in fact empty, so one of the special forces paratrooper units I had been trying to get to Hainan Island will be headed here to reinforce Rangoon. I'd send them directly, but I'd probably lose planes trying to land on the cratered runways. (No, I don't think they'd parachute into a friendly hex with a nominally functioning airbase.)

Total enemy force present is now 4 Divisions+ near Rangoon with at least 1 additional division (the 5th) still in Bangkok or following our main force back towards Rangoon.

China
The production model of the Tojo (they started with a squadron of prototypes) got its combat debut over Amoy today, with 10 of them sweeping our base. They shot down a P-66 without loss. A few Sally bombers came in after and bombed the base without resistance, cratering the runways a bit. In response, I'm moving my Hudsons back a bit and moving the nearby P-40 squadron up. I lose a little bit of MPA coverage over the Luzon Strait, but I need to deal with these attacks for now. There was also a shelling of the base by a destroyer but it wasn't very effective.

The enemy army at Amoy is sufficiently de-fanged that I'm sending the reinforcing unit back to Foochow.

All enemy armies have withdrawn from Chenchow. It appears the battle for this front is over (unless I want to try to counterattack).

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Allen beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
No.160 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (11/16 B-24s, headed to India)
11th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at Eastern USA (full strength, unrestricted)

[Molon Labe]

6 November 1942
Rangoon situation grim in spite of heavy enemy bomber losses

Sulu Sea
The O21 detected the same tanker convoy that suffered losses over the last two days, about to enter the channels in the Philippines. Its escorts spotted the O21 first and drove it off. But we have a more accurate composition of this convoy now--it has 2 PB escorts, not one, and the original number of tankers was 7, not 5. I'll be looking for these guys again on the other side.

CENTPAC
I wanted to do another bombardment of Canton Island but my Catalinas kept seeing subs patrolling the coast, and I'd rather not give him a shot at a cruiser. Solution: just bombard with destroyers instead. They arrived today and the enemy sub took the bait. Our DDs avoided the torpedoes and hit the enemy sub back pretty hard. Enough for the captain to claim a kill, which I doubt, but it'll be down for repairs for awhile. The DDs shelled the enemy base afterward but it didn't do much.

Solomons Area
At Noumea, an enemy sub entered the base's hex and encountered my surface combat task force, which is standing by to potentially evacuate. This task force has at least 7 destroyers; the sub was spotted and depth charged relentlessly. It was forced to surface, and in spite of it getting a few torpedo shots off while on the surface, it was gunned down and confirmed sunk.

Our B-17s hit the enemy troops on Ndeni but didn't do much--40 Zeroes shooting at them the whole time didn't help. They shot down 3 of the Zeroes though. P-38 sweeps arrived after, getting 4 more Zeroes. None of this stopped the enemy troops from taking back Ndeni, though. Our small garrison has surrendered. It looks like the enemy used a third of a division for this. I guess they really want this island.

I wonder if the KB (fragment?) will leave now that its apparent mission is accomplished. In hindsight, I probably should have ordered that surface task force at Noumea to evacuate just in case the next thing to do with it is go after a target of opportunity. At least if the enemy does press south I'm almost guaranteed to get significant airstrikes against them.

Battle of Rangoon
East of the main frontline, enemy carrier aircraft attacked my army that was pursuing the enemy's former Tavoy garrison. They didn't do much damage to us in the thick jungle, but our AA gunners got 4 Vals.

The enemy Sallies targeted Rangoon this turn, and flew unescorted. We were able to get plenty of CAP aircraft up to meet them--we shot down 30. The total number of sorties was well over 100 though. Damage to our base was light--they're bombing from 20,000 feet again. They did hit the light cruiser Caradoc, previously damaged by the CVBG airstrikes. I just don't think these bombers are doing much good here, so their loss isn't a big deal either.

More concerning to me, our B-24s flew uncoordinated strikes before our fighter sweeps arrived. The CVBG's Zeroes were so worn down trying to stop the bombers that our sweeps had no joy when they showed up afterward. We had 7 B-24s shot down by Zeroes, with another 4 lost to flak. Absolutely unsustainable. And we only inflicted a few dozen casualties. Our bombers shot down 4 Zeroes.

To the west, at Akyab, the B-25s that had been bombing the base switched to an attempted attack on an APD in the port. It missed, but this is interesting--he's either reinforcing or evacuating the base. I'm really disappointed in my Beaufighters for not doing this instead, APDs and whatever transports it might be with would make ideal targets for them, but they refuse to fly missions. Our tanks arrived at the base and tried to seize it, but the enemy garrison is too strong for this unit by themselves. Infantry support is still a few days off. In the meantime, those B-25s are off naval attack duty, they'll support the tanks. As for the ships, my British fleet has arrived and they even did it undetected. I'm going to try to be a little sneaky, instead of the Indomitable hitting them with torpedo bombers, I'm breaking off 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers to attack the enemy directly. With a little luck, he'll badly underestimate the forces I have here and make a bad decision. Best case, that cruiser task force that's been hanging out here comes back.

If it turns out the KB-West comes after me, that's bad news, but the lack of Zeroes over the beachhead at Pegu should mean my bombers can do much more damage, perhaps even flattening the new airbase they're building there and taking out a ton of Oscars on the ground.

China
Got a 6 more Sallies over Amoy in an unescorted raid.

[Molon Labe]

7 November 1942
High-altitude fights compromise Zero/Oscar effectiveness, Moulmein assaulted

Solomons Area
Another enemy sub ventured into the shallow coastal water at Noumea, and once again our surface combat task force spotted it and engaged. This sub got away, but it was badly damaged. Wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it back to base. Beauforts reported another successful bomb hit on a sub.

Very surprisingly, 21 Betties from Guadalcanal raided Port Moresby. Unescorted. I just figured it out--these guys were on Ground Attack orders to hit Ndeni. Now that there aren't any of my troops on Ndeni to bomb, the AI picked another target for them. Welp, they ran into a CAP of 8 P-39s, which shot down 9 of them. Flak got another 3. They failed to cause any casualties on the ground.

The enemy carriers are still at Ndeni. So, it appears they are going to remove the troops they dropped there, which makes sense because there were so many. This is a very similar situation to the Lahaina evacuation. The fighter wings of these carriers have been worn down significantly by the P-38 sweeps. We've got pretty constant PBY surveillance on these guys, too. I really think it's just 2 fleet carriers, maybe with CVL/CVE support. If it's just Shokaku and Hiryu, maybe that means Akagi and Shokaku's imouto are finally getting their upgrades.

Battle of Rangoon
We had Oscars and Zeroes sweeping Rangoon, trying to gain air superiority--which they eventually did, just because my planes had to land to refuel and get serviced, and my base's service facilities are shot, so my turnaround time is horrible. But tactically, we owned them--5 Zeroes and 3 Oscars shot down to just 1 Hurricane. Here's why:
https://i.ibb.co/s2gH7jf/1942-November-7-comparisson.png
The Zeroes came in at 32,000 feet and the Oscars at 38,000 feet. I'm patrolling at about 31,000 feet. So, because they start with an altitude advantage, they get a "dive bonus", more or less they get to attack first. Which could be devastating if I wasn't training up my pilots defensive skills. But of course, I'm making defensive training a priority. Once that first attack is evaded, the fight's on--and as you can see in the chart, the manueverability advantage that the Zero has at most altitudes does not apply at 32,000 feet. The Hurricane is actually more manueverable than the Zero up here. And it has better guns, more durability, and armor. Similar story with the Oscar--it still has a maneuverability advantage up here, but it's a lot smaller than it would be if we were lower.

The small task force we detached from our CVBG had no joy. Our scoutplanes reacquired the APD task force heading southeast towards Port Blair. Our assets at Akyab still report 4 enemy units present, so I think he's reinforcing, not evacuating.

Enemy carrier aircraft made another ineffective attack on my Tavoy ground forces. 4 more Vals were lost to flak. The Sallies bombed these forces too and didn't do much better. My troops are taking cover and slowing down but they aren't getting many squads destroyed or disabled.

I'm resting my B-24s to make repairs. I have more planes down than I do that are flyable. Thunderstorms predicted tomorrow, so they'll be resting/repairing tomorrow too.

The 38th Division made a shock attack on Moulmein, bringing the forts down from level 4 to level 2. Casualties were 702 to 34 favoring us, but they established their position on the other side of the river and they outnumber us, about 13,000 to 4,000. They'll win, and they'll win soon.

CENTPAC
Finally, we have solid recon on Midway. 2,400 troops estimated with minimal artillery support. We also spotted 4-5 small ASW ships there--with classification being suspect, it might be a small transport task force pulling what's left out. The bad news, the CVE that flew the recon mission was also detected, so for all I know there are Betties headed to Midway's airbase to fly a mission against me tomorrow. So, the CVE is pulling out. Three of her escorting destroyers are going to shell the base, hopefully encountering and sinking the small task force there, and hitting the airbase in case anyone moved in. I'm also sending a pair of cruisers from Pearl to do the same thing. It'll take them a day, so if the DDs damage any Betties I should be able to turn the cruisers around before they get blown up. Doubtful they have an AirHQ present, though, so maybe I'm overstating the Betty threat, they're pretty weak if they don't have torpedoes.

Reinforcements
46th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

2 B-17 squadrons were delivered to Sydney today. I'm also moving a USMC Avenger squadron out of Los Angeles to the SouthPAC area.

[Molon Labe]

8 November 1942
Enemy carriers depart Ndeni

Solomons Area
The S-44 was approaching Noumea to replenish when it encountered the crippled I-6 (damaged by destroyers at Noumea yesterday), limping on the surface. She hit it with a Mk10 and finished it off. A Beaufort from Noumea also reported yet another successful bombing of a sub.

Rossel Island endured enemy sweeps by Oscars and Zeroes; 3 Zeroes and 2 P-40s lost. I'm going to supplement the CAP here with P-38s for awhile.

We swept Ndeni with Wildcats from Luganville, but had no joy--apparently the carriers have left. There are still at least 3 task forces in the area, which seem to be without air cover. I've moved a USMC Dauntless squadron from Suva to Luganville to try to take advantage of that. The 2 Helldiver squadrons in Efate don't have the range, even if I moved them to Luganville.

CENTPAC
The 3 destroyers I sent to Midway encountered the ASW group, and as it turned out the recon boys gave an accurate classification, 2 PBs and 2 SCs. The destroyers sank all 4 without problem and then bombarded the airbase, causing light damage. No aircraft present.

Battle of Rangoon
All that really happened were fights for control of the airspace over and around Rangoon. Total losses: 5 Zeroes, 1 Oscar, 4 Hurricanes, 2 P-40s.

Banda Sea
The enemy raided Babar island, 25 Sallies escorted by 9 Oscars. We had 6 P-39s and 3 P-38s, which mostly managed to avoid the Oscars and focus on the Sallies. 11 Sallies were shot down. The airbase took a hit to its supply stores but nothing else.

China
We've finished eliminating the 51st Division at Amoy. Before sending my victorious units elsewhere, I'm reconning a few nearby bases to see if anything was left open so that the 51st could make this push.

The remaining threat army is at Foochow, comprised of:
15th Division
58th Division
60th Division
70th Division
32nd JNAF AF Unit
Clearly not at full strength with only 30,700 troops between all of them and an assault value of about 800--so equivalent to a little under 2 full strength divisions. We hit them with over 30 B-24s today for over 200 casualties, and the unit I moved from here to Amoy is already on the way back. Once it arrives I'll start working on these guys with my land forces. Won't that be awesome, though--5 divisions to be eliminated here.

Reinforcements
SC-751 arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

9 November 1942
A threat to Raheng's supply lines

Japan/Philippine Sea
We spotted 2 tanker convoys today. One was off Torishima, a small atoll between Tokyo and Iwo Jima. The USS Saury hit one of them, a Type N large tanker (10,000 tons), setting its oil cargo on fire. Neither the damage nor fire is severe, so it has a decent chance of making it to Tokyo. The other convoy was spotted by a retiring USS Seal in the open ocean east of Luzon and south of Okinawa. The Seal hit one of the tankers but the Mk14 did not detonate.

It appears that the enemy thinks the Luzon Strait is too hot to send tankers through, so he's shifting his routes east. I'm going to have to keep a very close on on the eastern exit of the Celebes Sea as well as try to establish a barrier across the Philippine Sea east of Luzon.

Solomons Area
Rossel was swept by 28 Oscars, we shot down 2 while losing a P-38. The minefield here will be set up tomorrow, and we now have 6 radar-equipped Beauforts flying night naval surveillance between here and the Solomons.

We reacquired the enemy CVBG well northeast of Ndeni--looks like a direct course for Roi-Namur in the Marshalls. So that's probably his central staging area for the KB. As it turns out, we have a sub parked off Roi-Naumur and even though it's close to the base, it isn't reporting any patrol aircraft activity. This looks like a very likely intercept in the next 1-2 days.

The Dauntlesses we moved to Luganville flew a mission against an enemy ASW task force near Ndeni, sinking one PB and damaging another badly enough that it probably sank too. They flew at extended range, carrying only 1 500lb bomb each instead of the usual 1000lb SAP.

China
Another Oscar down over Amoy. They only sent 3. They just don't seem willing to put the effort in here.


Banda Sea
Oscars sweeping Babar ended up with one loss and no victories against the defending P-38s and P-39s. I'm sending a little bit of fuel out here to support some PT boats, I wouldn't be surprised if they send marines here soon.

Battle of Rangoon
The situation continues to deteriorate...
https://i.ibb.co/cTbL4HF/1942-November-9-Burma.png
The most noteworthy thing is the simultaneous appearance of enemy forces advancing toward Raheng and Pisanaoulke and paratroopers dropping on Tuong Gyi. It appears their objective is the supply route that runs from Tuong Gyi to Raheng, which if it's severed pretty much all my forces southeast of Moulmein are cut off. I'm probably going to kill the paras off without much difficulty, but without having a strength estimate on the Raheng-area group, I don't really know if I can stop them. I've moved a few recon Hurricanes down to Raheng to try to snoop these guys. In the meantime I'm also assigning them as a secondary target for the Vengeance bombers, if they decide they want to fly again. Oscars swept Raheng today; all my fighters here are either on escort duty to on offensive sweeps, so there was no one to play with. But I think that's going to invite a strike tomorrow, so I'm cancelling the sweeps and putting a modest CAP up.

The B-24s are going to rest another day with most of my planes still being repaired and another day of bad weather being predicted. The enemy airbase at Pegu is now up to a Level 3 (still too small for medium bombers without penalty) and they've moved most of the area's Oscars here--seriously, over 100. As crowded as the airbase is, that's an invitation for a bombing. But not tomorrow, yet.

Rangoon's kinda waiting for the hammer at this point. It looks like enemy forces are on the move from Pegu. Just a matter of time. On the bright side, the runways are fully repaired and the service facilities are improving. 3 Zeroes, an Oscar, and a P-40 were shot down over Rangoon and/or Pegu.

To the south, we've overrun the enemy at Mergui, a small base south of Tavoy, which I only did to make sure the armies here were forced far enough away that they don't have access to the road back towards Rangoon. That taken care off, these guys are all headed back north. I'll leave a small unit behind to garrison Tavoy but the rest are going to rendevous with our retreating anti-Bangkok force, and combined we can hopefully take a meaningful fight to the enemy near Rangoon.

Northwest of Rangoon, our infantry has caught up with our tanks at Akyab. I am hopefull we'll have the base tomorrow, and after making sure the enemy is no threat, these units can try to contribute to the primary front.

Refits and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on CL Nashville at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on CA Pensacola at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on CA Vincennes at Pearl Harbor, ship returned to service
^---- 3 cruisers completing upgrades. The cruisers on the way to Midway will be next, once they return.

SC-645 arrives at San Francisco
VS-7D14 arrives at Alameda (floatplane training squadron)
329th FG/337th FS arrives at Eastern USA (fully restricted, 10/25 P-38s. I'm getting annoyed that the P-38s are arriving in squadrons like this. They're in too high of demand to be used in training squadrons, and to free them up I need to give the squadron a full batch of something else. Right now even giving these guys 25 P-40Es seems like a waste. I may have to disband a few training squadrons, consolidate those aircraft and move them in here.)

[Molon Labe]

10 November 1942
More paratroops in Burma, Akyab retaken, supply run to Roussel intercepted and sunk

Solomons Area
A pair of cargo ships and their minesweeper ASW escorts were sunk by an enemy task force on a bombardment run against Roussel Island. Our minelayers arrived right after that, so maybe the next time this happens it costs them something. It doesn't appear our night patrols are doing any good. Oscar sweeps shot down 1 P-38 without loss.

The the carriers apparently pulling out, I took the opportunity to sweep the last of the mines out of Luganville.

But, when we swept Ndeni, the Zeroes that greeted us were reportedly from the Hiryu--we got 11 of them with no losses. We do not hold any carrier contacts.

Banda Sea
Oscar sweep at Babar; 2 Oscars down to 1 P-39.

Battle of Rangoon
A raid on Raheng netted 3 of our P-40s without enemy loss; the Sallies bombed from too high to hurt the airbase though. Paratroops seized Meiktilla, an empty base adjacent to Tuang Gyi (where they landed yesterday). I think the local forces can handle it.

An enemy task force of 2 CLs and 3 DDs nearly made it all the way to Akyab without getting spotted, but they were referred to the B-25s operating out of eastern India. 31 of them attacked--good enough for one 500 lb bomb hit on a CL. Probably not serious damage. I guess my CVBG wasn't close enough to join in. Going to detach some cruisers and try to intercept the group, but they'll probably be gone in time. Our ground forces took Akyab after this, so the enemy task force probably will not have any reason to come back.

The Beaufighers finally flew a mission, they attacked a task force of 2 CAs and 3 DDs about to shell Moulmein. They missed with their bombs, only connecting with the 20mm cannons against a DD for light damage. The shelling of the base caused only minor casualties, and one of the CAs was hit by a shore battery.

Refits and reinforcements
DD Gwin beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Hughes taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor

343rd FG/11th FS arrives at San Francisco (0/25 P-40s, unrestricted)
44th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
Fiji Brigade arrives at Nadi (full strength, unrestricted)
163rd Light AA Regiment arrives at Aden (~80% strength, unrestricted)
170 Wing arrives at Aden (full strength, unrestricted--headed to Karachi, India)

[Molon Labe]

11 November 1942
Enemy amphibious convoy ravaged by Beaufighters near Babar; APD task force destroyed off Akyab

Banda Sea
The KXI made a failed attack on a large convoy south of Ambon. The convoy included cruisers, plenty of destroyers, and transports--I could tell right away they'd be headed for Babar.

Babar was then swept by Oscars, resulting in 1 Oscar shot down.

Then our scoutplanes reacquired the convoy approaching Babar and Darwin's Beaufighters got the call. They flew two sorties against them and struck without hitting any air cover. We lost one to the heavy cruiser, but the planes were highly effective against the transports:
xAK Ishikari Maru
xAK Momokawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Nozima Maru
xAK Yamabiko Maru
xAK Yamazuki Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Yokohama Maru
xAK Yodogawa Maru, Shell hits 6
xAK Natisan Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Ginyo Maru, Shell hits 18, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage

Good odds they'll abort the landing. If they don't, I'll be trying to hit them with subs, B-17s, Hudsons, and PT boats tomorrow, along with the Beaufighters.

Battle of Rangoon
A bit of a missed connection here - our cruiser detachment arrived in Akyab, found nothing, and turned around. Then right after they left 4 APDs arrived and started dropping off more troops. Our task force got the contact report, turned around, and sank all 4 easily--HMS Brimingham sustained a non-penetrating shell hit that started a small fire. Unfortunately the enemy had completely unloaded by the time we got to them, so our troops will have to deal with them the hard way.

Raheng was swept by Oscars and Nicks, no losses on either side. The enemy force headed here is at least 10,000 strong. I had ordered Force Peter to withdraw to Moulmein, but it turns out they're needed where they were. They're turning around to defend the supply line. Also, with the Vengeances not interested in naval strikes, I'm ordering them to hit these troops and putting some of their escorts on CAP duty.

Rangoon suffered a raid from the carriers (A6M2 Zero x 33, B5N1 Kate x 4, B5N2 Kate x 23, D3A1 Val x 28). All damage at Rangoon's airbase is repaired now, and it shows, we had 25 Hurricanes fighting this raid. 13 Zeroes and a Kate were splashed by the CAP, with flak adding a Val. We lost 2 Hurricanes in that exchange. The bombers targeted the port from high altitude and managed a few hits:
CL Caradoc, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Poelau Telo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Empire Grenfell, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Empire Peregrine, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

The carriers also raided Moulmein and our forces that just defeated Tavoy's former garrison at Mergui. The Moulmein raid was followed by over 125 Sallies, which caused few casualties but the disruption is bad enough that our troops there are just going to be a speedbump. The enemy land forces attacked, taking 900 casualties to our 200 and knocking the forts down to level zero. We'll probably be overrun tomorrow. But, the "main" Bangkok force is nearly back. The challenge is going to be keeping them supplied and not completely bombed out by the Sallies until we've got a force strong enough to take these guys on directly.

We got our B-24s back into it by trying to hit the enemy airbase at Pegu. They hit severe storms and their accuracy was horrible--little to no damage to the base. We did shoot down 4 Zeroes and 3 Oscars. The raid cost us 7 B-24s, though, most of which crashed on the return trip.

An unknown number of enemy troops have entered Rangoon's hex. This is messing with my plans to reinforce Rangoon with the special forces paras, because if that enemy force is more than 3x my existing garrison, if the paras walked in from the adjacent base it would trigger a shock attack. So once I finish flying what's left of the unit to Rangoon, the troops that were landed adjacent will be flown to Rangoon. Tedious and slow, but a shock attack would probably devastate me.

Paratroopers assaulted Mandalay and were immediately wiped out by our garrison forces.

Solomons Area
3 Oscars down over Rousell, no Allied losses.

Reinforcements
TK Stanvac Manila arrives at Cristobal - Will be given to Colombo
511th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Los Angeles - full strength, restricted

[Molon Labe]

12 November 1942
Japan appears "all in" for Rangoon - commitment of 6 divisions; another CVBG spotted near the Solomons

Banda Sea
Two destroyers detached from the amphibious group and ran down an AKL and minesweeper that were on a supply run to Babar. They had aborted their mission and were trying to get back to Darwin, fueling up some PTs on the way. Well that didn't happen, the AKL was sunk, the AM damaged and aborting the rendevoux. The PTs made it to Babar but were driven off by the amphibious groups escorts, with 3 boats being lost. They're now lurking just outside the base with very low fuel.

To my surprise, the convoy didn't turn around despite the damage it took. Perhaps partly because the convoy is huge--12 cargo ships currently there, none of them burning or otherwise overly damaged. 3 ships that were hit yesterday weren't there anymore, so sunk or aborted. They dropped off nominally a third of the 18th Division and a third of the 12th Division, but the actual number of troops on the island is only about 4000 and their current strength is about equivalent to 1/3 of a division. The rest of these units are in or around Rangoon right now (or in the damaged ships that aborted the mission).

We shot down 1 Oscar that was trying to provide cover to the landings. But our attacks didn't amount to much. B-17s and Hudson bombers all missed. The Beaufighters got some strafing hits on one AK and a bomb hit on another, but no casualties were reported so they'd probably already finished unloading troops and were only dropping supplies.

Battle of Rangoon
2 CLs and 2 DDs made their way to Rangoon harbor to shell our base. Fortunately no CAs, damage was minimal.

The enemy land unit in Rangoon is none other than the Imperial Guards Division, which is a new unit detected in this area. By my count we're up to 6 divisions now. More on that at the end... We started hitting this enemy force with Blenheim and B-24 bombers, coming in at 10k or lower to increase our accuracy, expecting (correctly) that most of the AA had stayed behind to protect the airbase. We probably managed around 350 casualties altogether.

The enemy CVBG launched a major strike on Rangoon again, this one cost them 5 Zeroes, 7 Kates, and 4 Vals, and us a Hurricane. They came in lower this time and were more successful:
DD John D. Edwards, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Hindustan, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Empire Grenfell, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Elmdale, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Poelau Telo, Bomb hits 1
Over Moulmein, they lost 2 Oscars and us a P-40.
Moulmein was captured, we took 411 casualties to their 390. It looks like most of the victorious troops are headed back to participate in the attack on Rangoon itself.

To the east, the enemy has already reached Pisanuloke so I probably can't protect it. The Vengence bombers kicked their asses pretty good though, about 140 casualties and they look like they're in bad shape for fighting.

In the northwest, we eliminated the additional enemy troops that landed in Akyab via the now-sunk APDs.

Solomons Area
Nicks raided Rossel with Oscar escorts and we owned them, 7 Nicks shot down by the CAP with just 1 P-38 lost. 4 more Nicks shot down by AA, minimal damage to the base.

Another CVBG is approaching the area from the Gilberts/Marshalls (or maybe the same one coming back).

China
We began our assault on the surrounded enemy at Foochow. They've still got some fight left in them, we only had a slight edge in casualty numbers, about 1300 to 1400. But between the bombings and supplies being cut off, these guys are going to break soon.

Big Picture
It looks like all of the victorious units from Singapore and Palembang went to Burma. The major units not in Burma I believe are:
48th Division - still in Sumatra
33rd Division - last spotted in Babeldoab (Palaus)
21st Division - Marshalls
4th Division - mostly defeated at Lahaina, what's left went to the Marshalls, some in Manilla
56th Division - Java
2nd Division - Truk

So it's looking to me like it's not going to be hard to find that "soft underbelly", because it's pretty much everywhere except the Marshalls and Guadalcanal. If I could get to, say, Java or Sumatra with 3 Divisions before his armies in Burma return, I'd probably win that battle. I don't think Burma is worth a 6-division offensive. It's main value is getting supply into China, the blockade needed to accomplish that can be done just by fully utilizing his base at Port Blair, backed up by bases near Rangoon such as Moulmein, which he just took. If he's able to eliminate my forces between Rangoon and Bangkok (which he keeps bragging to be via email that he's going to), that's going to suck, but what that really means is that the Brits won't be able to take Burma back anytime soon, and may even suffer an incursion into India. Meanwhile the southern resource areas are probably vulnerable to the US.

I don't have everything in place to make another major move to take advantage right now, but transports are making their way west. Until then, I'm going to see what I can do to eliminate the substantial troop commitment he's made to Ndeni and Babar, and hopefully get some warships while I'm at it. In Burma, the most important thing is to keep my troops alive, because his troops aren't going to be able to leave as long as I have a large army there as well.

Reinforcements
CA Wichita arrives at Balboa
CL Columbia arrives at Balboa
^--these guys will relieve the cruisers at Pago so they can get their October upgrades.
38th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Ostfriese]

This probably is more of a general question: for quite some time I have wondered about the x in the classification of auxilliary ships, like in xAK or xAP. What does the 'x' stand for?

[Molon Labe]

This probably is more of a general question: for quite some time I have wondered about the x in the classification of auxilliary ships, like in xAK or xAP. What does the 'x' stand for?

It indicates that it's a civilian ship that's just being used in military service out of necessity. I'm pretty sure an "xAP" is just a passenger liner with a few guns bolted onto the decks. The AKs and APs without the "x" are true military auxiliary ships. In game terms, the ships without the "x" have better amphibious load/unload rates (the "x"s are 42% slower) and better damage control.

EDIT: after checking the manual, I think what the "x" actually stands for is the lack of a military commission.

[Molon Labe]

13 November 1942
Babar holds on as PT boats hit enemy amphibious group on their 2nd attempt

Bay of Bengal
An enemy sub was spotted lurking off Colombo by an ML, which managed to hit it with a depth charge before it disappeared.

Banda Sea
Our PT squadron put the last of their fuel to good use with a second attack attempt on the enemy invasion force. This time, the attack was at night, and that made all the difference. Their approach was detected, but they pressed into torpedo range and got several hits:
xAK Tamon Maru, Torpedo hits 1
xAK Yodogawa Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Manko Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Ishikari Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

28 troop casualties were reported, so I was wrong about them being done offloading yesterday. We lost 1 PT boat to one of the escorting destroyers. This squadron is going to shelter at a nearby empty base as they're out of fuel. I'm going to try to get some fuel for them and bring them back to rearm.

We flew several Hudson and B-17 sorties against the troops that had landed. 1 Oscar was shot down trying to stop this. The bombings weren't that effective, at least 12 casualties but not much more than that.

The enemy troops attempted a shock attack, which failed rather badly, though I'm not sure if that was a result of the bombings, troop losses from hits on the transports, or just defensible terrain. Casualties 242 to 142 favoring us, and it looks like they don't have enough there to do the job unless they're able to rest. And as I learned the hard way in Luganville, that rest doesn't come easily if you weren't able to land your support units, so even if I didn't get a lot of front line troops on the transports that sank or aborted, getting those ships will still pay off now that the tip of the spear proved not to be sharp enough.

Battle of Rangoon
Rangoon took a serious bombardment by 4 CAs, a CL, and 2 DDs. Lots of damaged planes, moderate facility damage, and our damaged CL took a few hits in port. And 120 troop casualties.

In spite of this we still managed to get a decent CAP up of 10 planes, enough to shoot down 2 Oscars when the sweeps came. 1 Hurricane was shot down. Our B-24s hit the enemy without much interference, causing 200+ troop casualties, no bomber losses.

The Sallies focused on Tavoy again. Not the best use of them, but it will burn up my dwindling supplies.

The Beaufighters flew a mission, but with terrible target selection: the BB Hiei. One was shot down by Zeroes, and we had no hits, not that we would have penetrated its armor if we had.

The enemy carriers appear to have left. Probably headed to an airfield large enough to take replacements from. We've managed to get some aviation support into Raheng that was previously in Moulmein (where it was wasted due to the lack of construction engineers to repair the base). Raheng should be able to get a lot more planes in the air going forward. I'd start evacuating planes from Rangoon, but the base is already overstacked. Which may mean a lot of planes will be destroyed on the ground if Rangoon falls, but there isn't much I can do to stop that if the heavy cruiser bombardments continue. Speaking of which, a US sub arrived in Rangoon to take on mines, only to be told it couldn't load there. Probably because supply levels are already too low. Off to Calcutta, although even after consulting the manual I'm not sure if they'll be able to load there either.

Solomons Area
An enemy submarine tried to park of Rossel and hit three of the freshly laid mines. Going to call that a kill. Another Nick & Oscar raid didn't work out, with 4 Nicks and 2 Oscars shot down vs just 1 P-38; flak added another Nick.

No sign of the carrier(s) I spotted yesterday. Except for radio transmissions detected near the extreme end of a Catalina patrol area--enough to make me worry a little that it might be headed to raid Pago. In an abundance of caution, I've cancelled a troop loading evolution there, as a one-day delay isn't going to hurt me, but if they hit those ships after they load it would be catastrophic. Coastwatchers reported CS Chiyoda in harbor at Guadalcanal, so I think it's likely that's where the new carrier(s) went.

Reinforcements, Repairs
HMS Warspite arrived in Pearl for repairs of its torpedo damage taken in the Luganville operation. Will take 3 months.

DD DeHaven arrives at Eastern USA (Fletcher class)
No.42 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (12/12 Beaufort torpedo bombers - headed to India, will probably end up in Colombo to help defend that base from carrier raids. As much as I'd like them in Burma, they won't be practical given the supply and base infrastructure situation.)

[mapuc]

The last few days I have been wondering about the military personal build-up in the Pacific.

Made a search and found this page

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-us-military-numbers

A Majority of those who came after dec. 41 was send to Europe.

The number of military personal who fought in the pacific

"At the time of Pearl Harbor, General MacArthur's ground forces consisted of the Philippine Army of 10 divisions and supporting troops, with a total strength of about 100,000, and a U.S. Regular Army contingent of more than 25,000."

Markus

[Molon Labe]

14 November 1942
Rangoon airbase disabled; Pisanuloke captured; more troops coming ashore on Babar

Battle of Rangoon
Today started with an overnight bombardment of Rangoon by a bunch of destroyers that was surprisingly effective. Runway damage is so severe that we had 0 planes on CAP today despite having about 15 fighters in working condition. The absence of those fighters in the air probably contributed to significant losses of transport aircraft flying in the reinforcing special forces unit--16 transports shot down by enemy fighters.

Rangoon was swept by 53 Oscars and 9 Zeroes (are the carriers back? I still don't see them), but no joy due to my runways being disabled. The Sallies (over 100) worked on our troops at Rangoon, causing serious disruption even if casualties were light.

We lost a Beaufighter trying to attack the Hyuga. I wish I could order them only to attack unarmored ships. The B-24 raids included 6 recently arrived British aircraft this time. We had 2 B-24s shot down while the gunners got 3 Oscars and a Nick.

Enemy land forces including the Imperial Guards and 3 tank regiments attacked Rangoon, but fortunately they aren't attacking effectively. Forts are holding at Level 4, casualties 600 to 300 favoring us.

In spite of heavy bombing of the enemy force, Pisanuloke was overrun today, with the total loss of the 2nd Burma Battalion. Now we get to see if they go for Raheng directly or try to sever the supply lines. I believe that I'll eventually have the stronger forces in this immediate area and will be able to counterattack effectively.

All enemy paratroopers around Mandalay have been eliminated. The only enemy units behind the frontlines now are those that retreated from Akyab.

Banda Sea
The enemy continues to unload elements of the two partial divisions on Babar. We're going to get seriously outnumbered very quickly. For now, our air raids are keeping the enemy pinned down.

We shot down 6 Oscars while escorting our bombers to intervene in the landings. 2 Hudsons were shot down by flak attempting to bomb enemy ships. Beaufighters had the only hits, one bomb on a cargo ship that was unloading troops, plus a bomb hit + cannon rounds hitting a destroyer and setting it on fire.

The enemy attempted a shock attack, costing them 102 casualties to our 157. We're holding but the numbers are concerning.

I'm flying in more B-17s to Darwin, along with a B-26 squadron (EDIT: make that two; pulling some Hudsons out to make room) that is very well-trained in naval attack missions that I hope might be able to make effective level bombing attacks against the transports. I'm also sending a 2nd PT squadron to attack, but to make sure they hit at night, I'm going to try to delay their arrival until the day after tomorrow.

Solomons Area
The S-44 scored 2 torpedo hits on a PB near Ontong Java, sinking it. It was depth charged by a SC in retaliation, but not very accurately; no damage sustained and the SC used up all its depth charges.

At Rossel, we shot down 3 Oscars and lost a P-40. The P-38s took the day off for rest and repairs.

Japan
USS Runner sank an AKL near Kyushu in a daytime submerged torpedo attack.

Refits and Reinforcements
VMF-222 arrives at San Diego (restricted, 2/18 F4Fs. Likely going to be purchased with PP and deployed at some point. Corsairs start rolling out in 1/1943 so the USMC fighter squadrons are about to go up in value in a big way)
45th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme
BB Warspite begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
DD Russell taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Morris taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Sterett beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

15 November 1942
Enemy forces trying to do too much at once in Burma, possible to turn the tide

Banda Sea
Overnight, the O20 spotted two damaged merchant retiring from Babar, but a destroyers spotted it before it could attack. It lost the destroyer, no shots fired.

The B-26 raids on the enemy ship were completely ineffective. That was 22 aircraft dropping 6 bombs each. I'll be switching one of them over to land attack. I'm also going to try the Aussie Hudsons' hands at low level attack since many Aussie pilots have been training for it. As we've come to expect, the Beaufighters did well:
xAK Yamagiri Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Yamabiko Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
Yamagiri almost certainly sank. No troop casualties reported, though, which is concerning.

PT attacks tomorrow.

Battle of Rangoon
https://i.ibb.co/fSnsk76/1942-Nov-15-Burma.png
The Yamato, Hiei, and Hyuga shelled Tavoy overnight. The base is a wreck, but at least for now I'm not using it. After the bombardment, my "Tavoy" army arrived, coming back after pursuing the enemy's former garrison here well into the jungle. I've detached one unit from this group, the rest will continue its trip up the road towards Rangoon.

The former "anti-Bangkok main force" is now back in the vicinity of Moulmein. It appears to be more powerful than the enemy forces currently holding Moulmein. I'd like to consolidate them with the surviving Moulmein garrison, but I'm going to keep a close eye on the supply situation as it's possible that their daily expenditures will outpace what our lines can provide.

Enemy troops are currently advancing to the north from Pegu, and have seized the first base on the road, Toungoo. The likely objective of this group is to try to sever supply lines in the north, but they currently lack the numbers to do the job. I should be able to stop them around Mandalay. The enemy force that took Pisanouke is headed straight to Raheng, opting for a contested river crossing instead of a race into a currently empty hex. Based on what I saw when these guys were in Pisanouke, I have enough to stop them here, too. Especially with the benefit of the river crossing and the highly effective bombings of the Vengeance dive bombers stationed here.

We swept Pegu with fighters from Raheng, but surprisingly had no joy as the enemy fighters apparently all went straight to Bangkok after taking off. So that's an opportunity then-tomorrow a portion of my B-24s will hit the airbase instead of the enemy troops in Rangoon. It also appears there are far less fighters here than there used to be--the carriers appear to be gone and it looks like Oscars have deployed elsewhere. Another opportunity there--I'm going to let the Vengeances do naval attacks for at least a turn before putting them back on the enemy ground forces threatening Raheng.

At Rangoon itself, the destroyer John Edwards and an Indian PG succumbed to damage sustained in various air raids and naval bombardments. I evacuated several flyable aircraft, so between that and the base conditions we had no CAP to greet the enemy sweeps/CAP. That proved to be a bit of a problem for the B-24 raids, which suffered one loss to fighters and another to flak, but then 3 more damaged planes crashed on the way home and 2 were scrapped at base. We also lost 3 Wellingtons that arrived without the B-24s and were just outgunned. One Zero was shot down by the bombers.

We also seized Chaing Mai with paratroopers. This is just to prevent an unseen enemy from severing the supply line through the mountains.

Solomons Area
1 Oscar and 1 P-40 down over Rossel. Strangely quiet here otherwise. I've transitioned one of Efate's P-38F squadrons to the P-38G.

Refits and reinforcements
CA Indianapolis beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Fletcher begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
DD Chevalier taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Waller taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor

2nd USMC Air Wing Base Force arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, full strength)

[Ostfriese]

Burma should be one hell of a black hole for your oppnent's supplies, and this campaign is another must-win-situation for him, otherwise it's going to be another disaster like his Hawaiian operation.

[Molon Labe]

Burma should be one hell of a black hole for your oppnent's supplies, and this campaign is another must-win-situation for him, otherwise it's going to be another disaster like his Hawaiian operation.

Supply wise, he's got an advantage because he controls the adjacent sea and can deliver supplies that way. That'll improve if he takes Rangoon because it has factories producing supply. Right now my supplies are coming by plane from India (slow and inefficient) and backwards through the Burma road from China (Burma should be supplying China, not the other way around).

Moulmein is going to be a critical signpost for me. If I can retake it, and hopefully steal some supply from him at the same time, I might be able to keep pressing. But if that fails, or even if it succeeds but it burns all the supply left that I have, I'm going to have to start looking for places to move my armies away from Rangoon to, because I'm not beating him with starving troops with no ammo. Maybe to China through the mountains, I'd even consider turning them around and trying to invade bases that might have supply in Indochina, work my way towards Hanoi. The trick is going to be to keep my armies threatening to his so that he can't leave, and I have to do it without starving these troops out and letting them get eliminated en masse.

[Ostfriese]

OK, I see the point, thanks.


Still, it's amazing that you managed to hold Rangoon and the Burma Road that long. Historically Rangoon fell at the end of Februrary 1942.


Edit: I have to correct myself: the British evacuated Rangoon in early March 1942.

[Molon Labe]

16 November 1942
Supply route through Raheng isn't severed, but it's not enough

Battle of Rangoon
The army poised to take back Moulmien has less supplies today than it did yesterday, which means whatever supplies are working their way from northern Burma and China, through the mountain trails, through Raheng and finally to my combat units isn't enough to keep pace with daily non-combat expenditures. Which means it's go-time. No waiting to consolidate. But good news: even more enemy units have left Moulmein. Looks like we'll get it pretty quickly.

The ordered sweeps of Rangoon from Raheng didn't happen. Not sure why, maybe my pilots don't want to get into a fight with a numerically superior enemy at extended range without drop tanks? Also no strikes by the Vengeances, if this keeps up I'm not even going to give them the option of naval strikes, we need to hit the enemy army approaching the bridges to Raheng. The enemy is starting to sweep Raheng, though. 1 Oscar and 1 Hurricane down today.

The B-24s seem to be getting the job done but losses are mounting. We lost 4 more today; 3 to fighters 1 to flak. They took 1 Zero down with them. The enemy is only using bombardment attacks on Rangoon which is probably because they're too disrupted from the bombing for a real attack.


Banda Sea
The PT raid on Babar was spotted and intercepted by a surface combat task force of 1 CL and 9 DDs. Two PTs were sunk before they were able to abort and break off. Would be nice if I had more strike aircraft that could reach these boats.

I made a really dumb mistake here--I hadn't checked my Beaufighter pilots before picking this fight. They're only partly trained. And they're the only ones getting results! I have a second Beaufighter squadron that's been training while these guys were on the frontlines, and I had meant to swap their pilots when the trainees graduated. Well, now I've done that. Let's see if it makes a difference tomorrow.

We got 4 Oscars without losing any of our own fighters. Weather caused disruptions to our Beaufighters, they got split up and only 2 arrived at the target, not hitting anything. The Aussie Hudsons did their low-level attack and also missed. So they're back to land attack tomorrow.

Solomons Area
Lost a P-40 to Oscar sweeps at Rossel. Time to stop resting the P-38s. Other than that it's just supply and troop movements here. Luganvile now has 2 SBD squadrons and the local AirHQ is being airlifted there to support the growing numbers, and to supply torpedoes to the Avengers that are in transit. It's been awhile since surface ships visited Rossel--looks like my minefield is having a deterrent effect.

China
I finally attacked the surrounded enemy in Foochow again. Casualties were nominally worse for me at 1500 to 1000, but we had few squads destroyed instead of disabled, while his squads were split 50-50 between destroyed and disabled. It may be awhile before I can finish these guys off--supply has become a major problem throughout China thanks to the lack of deliveries at Rangoon since Port Blair was taken. The enemy offensives that we fought off in the preceding weeks have pretty much burned through what we stored up before then.

Reinforcements
258th USAAF Base Force arrives at Tillamook
43rd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

17 November 1942
Training is still King. Allied air raids sink enemy transports near Ndeni & Bandar; Rangoon standing by to be overrun


Battle of Rangoon
Raheng suffered a little bit of night bombing from Vals and a few Sallies. No serious damage. Rangoon was shelled by a few destroyers, also not serious. It helps that most of our planes are out. Day sweeps by Osars over Raheng resulted only in damaged aircraft on both sides.

The Vengeance bombers actually attempted a naval attack, and I probably should have been careful what I wished for. The enemy fighters are back in large numbers, including brand new Tojos. So that's why they left, to transition to new airplanes at a bigger base. It ended up being 10 P-40s vs 17 Zeros and 11 Tojos, we got no one, they shot down 4 P-40s and all 14 Vengeances that flew the mission. They're going to be sticking to land attack for the foreseeable future.

Sally and Helen bombers hit Rangoon unopposed, while our bombers rested for repairs. The enemy land forces attacked and took our forts all the way from level 4 down to level 1. Casualties 1182 to 1503 favoring them, remarkable considering that happened while I had the forts. It's because they have a ton of firepower here, artillery and tanks. That's pretty much it, folks. Even if I can get my B-24s back into the mix tomorrow, we can't stop them.


Solomons Area
An enemy submarine attacked a surface combat task force I sent to patrol near Rossel. Twice. It missed both times, the second time we got a few depth charge hits on it. No serious damage to it.

An enemy fast transport task force, APDs and DDs, appeared at Ndeni, probably trying to evacuate his troops there. B-17s from Efate took the first crack at them, but they all missed. Shot down an Oscar, though.

Next were the Marines on Luganville, flying SBD-3s. There were 2 Oscars left on CAP, which the 19 Wildcat escorts (formerly from the Copahee before it got torpedoed nearby) brushed aside easily with one enemy fighter shot down.
APD Yugao, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Wakaba, Bomb hits 1, on fire

B-17s made a second flight, in time to see the Yugao sink and the Wakaba's fires burning out of control. Of course they missed again.


Banda Sea
The enemy is increasing the stakes here. Today's raids included 18 Betties and 42 Sallies. Our CAP took out all 18 Betties (but only about half before they bombed our troops on Babar) and 11 Sallies. But the bombings took a toll on our troops. When the enemy land forces attacked they brought our forts down from level 2 to nothing (our engineers quickly restored level 1), and it feels like this garrison is now hanging by a thread. If not for the B-17s, B-26s, and Hudsons constantly hitting the enemy troops on the beach, we wouldn't stand a chance.

It also appears that he's bringing in more troops, although it's possible it might actually be a partial evacuation. In any case, there were no enemy ships at Babar today, but a task force of transports and destroyers was at Timor, and there are more task forces operating to the north between Babar and Ambon. The Beaufighters, now with properly-trained crews, took the western target. What a difference training makes. Compare this to the raids when this started:

Wave 1, 15 planes;
xAK Momokawa Maru, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kikuzuki, Shell hits 11
Japanese ground losses: 293 casualties reported

Wave 2, 14 planes:
DD Kikuzuki, Shell hits 10, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Ushio, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses: 152 casualties reported.

I'd say all 3 of those ships are goners.

[Overall, 29 sorties generated 16 bomb hits and 33 shell hits (cannon bursts). On 11 November, we had 15 bomb hits and 20 shell hits in a similar number of sorties.... so... it's actually not that much better. 50% better strafing, and it was the strafing skill in particular that the pilots were lacking, so that makes sense. This felt like a much better performance because it was concentrated on fewer ships.]

Tomorrow, it will be my turn to raise the stakes.


Reinforcements
SC-750 arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

18 November 1942
Rangoon falls; Kido Butai (or just a division?) approaching Rossel Island; Lexington, Saratoga and Washington save Babar, for now

Battle of Rangoon
Overnight Val/Sally raids on Raheng damaged 3 Vengeance bombers. I hope I don't have to start taking these seriously. A heavy-cruiser led bombardment group shelled Rangoon damaging three ships under repair, including the light cruiser Caradoc. Daylight sweeps over Raheng cost the enemy 6 Oscars with no victories. The remaining Vengeance bombers resumed their interdiction mission, causing 46 enemy casualties in Pisanuloke.

The relatively small enemy unit moving north up the road from Rangoon towards Mandalay was hit by 33 B-25s based in India, causing 113 casualties. These guys might become really important as we fight to keep the supply route through the mountains open.

As expected, the enemy forces at Rangoon attacked again and overran our positions. We took over 8000 casualties as our forces retreated to Bassein. We managed to evacuate all but 3 planes before this happened, 2 Blenheims and a Catalina, no big loss. But 3 ships had to be scuttled to prevent capture, including the Caradoc. One xAP was able to get underway but I don't expect it to get far. An enemy tank unit was kept in reserve to pursue our retreating forces, so we're still in contact with the enemy. The pursuing tank unit will be the B-24s target tomorrow.

My "main force" is already in Moulmein and will attack tomorrow, I expect an easy win here at it appears the enemy has mostly just support troops here. But after that.... I had hoped I could keep Rangoon long enough to get these guys across the river into central Burma, he'd have to divide his army to stop me and I could possibly defeat them in detail. Doing that now would probably just mean I face the full force of his army, minus the few guys headed north, which is a fight I probably lose even if my Tavoy forces arrive.

For now, my best bet is to hold Moulmein until my Tavoy forces arrive, doing otherwise would allow him to cut them off and eliminate them. After that depends on whether he makes a real effort to shut the mountain supply line down. For now, my supplies are OK, the bad situation from the last few days seems to be getting back under control.

Banda Sea
Awhile ago, I had ordered an amphibious task force with an aviation support unit and destroyer-minelayer escorts to Babar. They arrived in the area a few days ago but had to stand off because of the enemy warship presence at Babar. At this point, landing aviation support might just be throwing away a good unit, possibly a good squadron too since the purpose of more support is more planes. But I do have the heavy cruiser Australia in this group. So they shelled the enemy positions, and I'll have them lay their mines tomorrow.

Also, the Lexington and Saratoga are here--their objective is to sink an enemy surface combat task force to try to change the balance of power here. It may be too late for that, as there's no one left near Babar and I'm not sure they want to come back after yesterday's asskicking. They detached the battleship Washington and the heavy cruiser Portland, which also shelled the enemy on Babar. And the task force launched an airstrike, too, which was disappointingly uncoordinated, aircraft arriving a few at a time. But with no enemy fighter presence it didn't matter too much. Along with the now-daily raids by B-17s, B-26s, and Hudsons from Darwin, the naval bombardments, the raids caused the enemy's attempted attack this turn to completely collapse, casualties 319 to 32.

Due to the sheer number of enemy troops landed, I can't win this fight unless I add troops of my own. I'm airlifting Australian light infantry and sending machinegun units by boat. I also ordered a supply convoy making a return trip to make an unscheduled stop at Port Moresby to pick up troops there to add to the mix. It's not so much that I can't afford to lose what I've invested here, it's that 2/3rd of an unrestricted enemy division is too good of a target to pass up.

Lex and Sara are going to carefully proceed north towards Ambon to get a raid in before they clear out, staying outside of Zero range from Koepang (I don't mind Betties if they don't have fighters protecting them, especially with Butch O'Hare flying CAP). I might let them leave their heavy cruisers here to continue to suppress the enemy troops. I'd include the Washington in that, but Darwin can't rearm her main batteries efficiently. But there's another consideration here...


Solomons Area
The KB sortied from Guadalcanal and is approaching Rossel Island. I normally don't believe scoutplanes' classifications, but this is being reported quite reasonably as 4 CV, 1 BB, multiple CAs and DDs. I'm hoping this is just a division of the KB based on recent sightings that suggested just 2 fleet carriers. They left before the enemy knew Lex and Sara were near Darwin, so their objective appears to be the surface combat task force that their sub attacked yesterday. I am having that task force head all the way to Darwin now, both to protect it from the carriers and to potentially face off with enemy surface forces near Babar.

If the enemy decides to go any further west, they'll be dealing with CVW-6 on Milne, which I reinforced with the two USMC SBD squadrons that just got a taste of combat at Ndeni. All the area's level bombers are assigned to scout duty to back up the Catalinas to make really sure we know where the enemy is. Except for an Australian B-25 unit at Port Moresby; we have recon showing no enemy fighters at Rabaul, just scoutplanes, so they're going to hit Rabaul to try to take some of the enemy's eyes away.

If that's the full KB, we really need to at least knock out one carrier if it tries to go west. The last thing I need is the Lex&Sara stuck between 4 carriers to the east and a potential death star of Betties & Zeroes in Koepang to the west.


Japan
USS Runner sank an AKL in a gun&torpedo surface attack between Okinawa and Kyushu.


China
It took awhile, but I have a full unit of special forces on Hainan Island now, currently on the base we control. They appear to be undetected. They're marching on the enemy naval base on the other side of the island.

[Molon Labe]

19 November 1942
Carrier forces playing it safe; Moulmein recaptured

Banda Sea
Now he's doing night raids here. 36 Sallies hit Babar overnight, destroying a P-39 on the ground and dealing a small amount of facility damage. Still 2 months before I get my first night fighter squadron, despite having about 20 P-70s in inventory.

The raid on Ambon I wanted didn't happen, the carriers didn't get in range in time. And he's quite possibly evacuated most ships from Ambon. But as far as I can tell, the Lex and Sara are still undetected, so I'm still going to try to hit Ambon tomorrow. After that the carriers need to get out of here, I've more or less rung the dinner bell.

Japan
USS Kingfish sank an AKL off Kyushu, night surface attack.
Which reminds me, the USS Sunfish, damaged off the Japanese coast weeks ago, made it safely to Adak in the Aluetians. The crew actually did well enough with repairs that there isn't much the repair ships can do there, so she'll be headed for a real shipyard soon, either Seattle or Pearl.

Burma and Thailand
Sweeps over Raheng resulted in 6 Oscars downed, at the cost of 2 P-40s and a Hurricane.

Sallies harassed our retreating forces at Bassein, while we hit the pursuing tanks with B-24s. The B-24s got 2 Zeroes but didn't seem to do much damage below.

Vengeance bombers hit the enemy advancing on Raheng, causing about 100 casualties. The troops appear badly disrupted. The enemy may be reinforcing this group by rail from Bangkok. At this time it looks like mostly support units and that the balance of forces here hasn't tilted.

A task force of destroyers shelled Moulmein, but their little popguns didn't change anything--we still took Moulmein back. Now if we can just get the Tavoy force through this intersection before the Yamato follows that up.... Casualties 3000 to 1000 favoring us, but squad destruction was even more lopsided at 111 to 7.

Solomons Area
The 10x B-25 raid on Rabaul met no resistance, as expected. They did a pretty good job cratering the runways, but we didn't destroy any aircraft.

The suspected KB did not advance into range but instead moved to the Shortlands. I can't tell what he's up to here. Best bet, it gives him an immediate strike option if (when) I move more units into Rossel. But so does Rabaul. It also might be another attempt at the 2-directional attack that took down Enterprise and Hornet last time our carriers ventured into the Darwin area, he's just staging here waiting for the other carrier division to get close to Ambon. But Shortlands isn't necessarily any better to stage from than Guadalcanal. I suppose a third possibility might be that he's trying to bait me.

Shortlands is just barely out of range of CVW-6s aircraft in Milne. But they'd be in range from Rossel. So one thing that's going to happen, aviation support is going to start making its way from Milne to Rossel as I continue to build up that base. The carriers might be gone by then, but at least I'll be encroaching on him further. For tomorrow, I'll have P-38 recon variants checking in on them and a P-38 sweep over the base. Between those flights I'll hopefully have a really good idea which carriers are actually there. The carriers in the Banda Sea either already have, or soon will, drive their potential targets out of the area, so they'll need something else to do... like engage these carriers if it's just a fragment of the KB. I'm also sending an invasion force to Midway--but that operation is premised on the whole KB being in or near the Solomons. If that turns out to be wrong, I should probably either turn that task force around, or back them up with enough CVE support that they could turn away an attack from a KB fragment.

[Molon Labe]

20 November 1942
Lexington and Saratoga bomb an empty port; weather foils strike on suspected amphibious group approaching Rossel

Makassar Strait
The enemy cleared out a sub-laid minefield near Balikpapan, but it cost them a PB.

Japan
Near Kyushu, USS Kingfish raked an AKL with machinegun fire and a few deck gun hits, leaving it to burn and likely sink.


Banda Sea
Night raids took out another 3 P-39s on the ground. They're getting better. I may have to just divide my squadron and put a third up at night. But if they aren't going to attack my troops this is all for nothing.

We bombarded the enemy positions with 3 heavy cruisers from two task forces.

Lex and Sara didn't have any surface contacts (their priority target), so they flew their secondary mission, a port strike on Ambon. Turned out to be a waste, there were a few cargo ships in port--we damaged two--but the port was mostly empty. These guys will hit the enemy on Babar one more time as they withdraw back towards Port Moresby.


Burma and Thailand
Our retreating forces (from Rangoon) took over 200 casualties from Sally and Helen bombers, then another 240 from the tanks chasing them. Sweeps at Raheng resulted in 2 Oscars and 1 P-40 downed. Vengeance raids caused over 200 enemy casualties at Pisanoulke. A third of a Royal Thai Army division tried to cross the brides from Pisanoulke to Raheng and were wiped out to the last man-1312 men--by our defending forces that were waiting for them.

Another enemy division, the 33rd, has landed just north of Moulmein.


Solomon Sea
The P-38 sweep at Shortlands had no joy; the enemy CVBG moved on. We don't know where to--weather was apparently awful in the area. The strikes on Rabaul were scrubbed (probably a good thing, reports are there are now 40 fighters there). We also detected an enemy task force approaching Rossel Island, and one of the SBD squadrons went after it, but failed to find the target. Classification of this group is 4 DDs or APDs, so it looks like a fast transport group or a bombardment group. Rossel is more prepared for this than Babar was; the garrison is a little better, they have a minefield, and they have 2 squadrons of PT boats. I'm hoping between the minefield and PTs, even if its a bombardment group, they get too tangled up to vacate the area before the morning and we get a 2nd chance at an airstrike.

Reinforcements
No.5 Sqn RAAF arrives at Cairns
224th USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

21 November 1942
Heavy losses at Raheng; enemy fleets pull a disappearing act

Solomon Sea
The task force approaching Rossel was just 4 destroyers. They encountered a PT squadron in the rain and exchanged fire with them. No one was hit. We never reacquired this task force. Right now the only surface contacts are some tankers docked at Rabaul.


Burma and Thailand
Moulmein was shelled by cruisers and destroyers. The base took lot of damage, but our troops did not, so that's fine.

Raheng suffered several sweeps, which is bad news if it means that he's going to focus his fighters here going forward. We lost 2 P-40s but shot down 2 Oscars and 2 Zeroes. Then we attempted a dive bomber raid on Pisanoulke, which led to 18 dive bombers being shot down by the CAP. That happened in two waves; it was 4 P-40s vs 41 Zeroes in the first, and 3 P-40s vs 22 Zeroes in the second. This after probably 2 weeks of no CAP here. I might end up evacuating the dive bomber units from here if they can reach anywhere; I just don't see us ever wearing the enemy CAP down if this area is a priority now.

Bangkok's retreating forces were ejected from Basein, with over 2500 casualties during the rout.

CENTPAC
I'm putting Midway on hold due to the disappearance of the suspected KB.

Reinforcements and Refits
CA Frobisher arrives at Cape Town
CM Weehawken arrives at Balboa
SC-632 arrives at San Francisco

USS Wasp has completed its upgrade.

[Molon Labe]

22 November 1942
48th Infantry Div and 2nd Tank Div land in Burma, Tavoy changes hands again

-Aside from the same repetitive bombing raids that happen every day, that's all that happened.

23 November 1942
Betties sink a troop transport at Babar; heavy enemy bomber losses in Thailand & Burma


Indian Ocean
For the first time in the war, an enemy submarine appeared off Karachi. We had a corvette spot it and depth charge it for light damage. This area has been so far from enemy patrol areas that some of my convoys here are unescorted. Guess that might have to change.

Burma and Thailand
Sweeps over Raheng cost the enemy 4 Oscars, with no enemy victories. Sally/Helen raids on Moulmein were inadequately escorted due to coorindation problems. We lost 3 Hurricanes there but got 2 Zeroes and 20 Sallies. The bombing doesn't appear to have done serious damage to the troops.

With all units between Moulmien and Tavoy headed north back to Tavoy, the enemy is moving right back in. Tavoy and Mergui have both been retaken by amphibious landing. I now estimate the enemy presence in Burma/Thailand to be in excess of 8 Divisions.

The supply situation continues to worsen. I'm almost certainly not going to try to hold Moulmein longer than I have to. Retreating through the mountain path to northern Burma looks like the best bet, and if they achieve a breakthrough to cut that off, as a backup plan I can trek through the mountains to China.

We hit Rangoon with our B-24s because recon said they had fighters there even though the base is mostly unoperational. We had 1 B-24 go down on the way home, but we got 9 enemy fighters on the ground and cratered up the runways some more to hopefully cause more losses when the CAP landed.

Banda Sea
We suffered two Betty raids today, the first was 15 Betties with 15 Zeroes escorting, taking on 13 P-39s and 7 P-38s. As frequently happens with naval raids, the Zeroes kept the bombers safe in spite of heavy losses. We shot down 9 Zeroes, but no air-to-air kills on the bombers. Flak shot down 1 Betty before it could drop its torpedo. The first raid went after the the cruisers Honolulu, Leander, and a transport; they all missed. The second raid was 30 Betties with 16 Zeroes and 31 Oscars, it got through unmolested by my CAP. They went after the heavy cruisers Canberra and Australia as well as a minesweeper and 3 transports. Flak took down 1, but they got 2 hits on the transport Koolinda, sinking it. It had been transporting a machine gun unit, but all that were left on board at the time were supply trucks, so that could have been worse.

Between the light infantry being airlifted, the addition of a heavy cruiser to maintain bombardments, and the mostly safe arrival of the machinegunners, I feel comfortable adding more aircraft and aviation support to Banda. So there are now 16 Australian P-40s operating from Banda in addition to the US P-39 unit (plus the P-38s flying from Darwin). In light of the number of attackers, though, I'm going to have my CVBG provide air cover to the light infantry batallion arriving in the area from Port Morseby instead of getting them out right away.

Strategic Picture
Just looking at large infantry units, here is what I think he has and where:

Burma: 1st Div, 48th Div, 16th Div, 38th Div, 33rd Div, Imp Guards Div, 18th Div, 5th Div (Bangkok), 4th Div

Java: 12 Div (but, reported moving to Sabang, his staging area for ampibious operations into Burma).

Manila: 2nd Div

Malaya: 8th Div

Sumatra: 90th Infantry Regiment, 56th Division

SIGINT is giving me enough hints to discern a pattern of a Naval Guard units being present in any of the various moderately important bases throughout the DEI. Small enough to handle with 2 regiments or a regiment + tank support. So, every time I see another division show up in Burma, it's telling me just how little resistance I'll probably see in the DEI. Java in particular looks really juicy right now. My troop surge to Australia hasn't finished yet, but it's getting there. I'll probably have 3 divisions available in a week. I'll be looking to push my way into Celebes with regimental-sized units first, but after that (establishing an air presence over nearby sea lanes, including getting recon to confirm enemy troop levels), I think it's time to head back to Surabaya. But I'll have opened the door to the southern Philippines and Borneo too, in case those areas look more vulnerable.

Reinforcements
SS Hake arrives at Eastern USA
SS Scamp arrives at Eastern USA
AO Tallulah arrives at Cristobal
AO Cache arrives at Balboa
VS-8D14 arrives at Alameda (Kingfisher training unit)

Yesterday:
No.3 PRU RAF T-Flt arrives at Aden (Spitfire recon, headed for Australia)
48th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

24 November 1942
Cruiser torpedoed off Babar, but troop levels starting to even up

Burma and Thailand
Enemy battleships and cruisers bombarded Moulmein, causing moderate troop casualties. This is becoming concerning as it takes supply to re-activate disabled squads and devices, and the supply situation is bad. The rearmost group has 80+ miles to go before our planned time to pull out. 3 Oscars and a Hurricane went down over Raheng; 1 Zero and 2 B-24s over Rangoon (4 aircraft destroyed on the ground).

The enemy troops moving north have moved into an area of open terrain, the last hex before they arrive at the first of my bases in the region. We should have a few turns to cause absolutely massive casualties on them here.

The tanks pursuing our retreating Rangoon forces caused another 1100 casualties.


Banda Sea
Betty raids opposed our reinforcing of Babar, resulting in losses of 1 P-40 on our side, with 3 Oscars, 9 Zeroes, and 7 Betties shot down. But once again, the enemy fighters succeeded in keeping most of ours away from their bombers until they arrived on target. All the Betty losses occurred in the 2nd wave, which arrived unescorted, possibly due to heavy enemy fighter losses in the first wave. Enemy accuracy was poor overall (22 total dropping torpedoes, 18 dropping bombs) but they got a torpedo hit on HMNZS Achilles. She'll survive, but I'm having her withdraw along with some cargo ships that have already unloaded.

The enemy troops on the island attempted a shock attack, which completely collapsed due to the severe disruption caused by constant air and naval bombardment. Casualties 785 to 8. Even though the enemy force is nominally 2x 1/3 division fragments (should I just call them regiments?), their numerical strength is down to about 4,000 troops (same as mine) and their assault strength is only equivalent to about .2 of a division (also about equal to mine).

China
The Heinan Island operation is about to come to its conclusion, but it doesn't look like it's going to yield much. The special forces unit is close enough to the enemy port to have been noticed, so I hit the port with B-24s and Wellingtons, hoping to disable a few ships to prevent their escape--but the port appears to have been empty. One B-24 was shot down by flak. The bombers gave us some recon and it appears that, as expected, the only ground units present are a base force and possibly some small support units.

Australia
2 Infantry regiments arrived in Sydney today. 2 USMC regiments with construction engineers and a CVE arrive tomorrow. And more after that.

[Molon Labe]

25 November 1942
Two more transport hits by torpedoes at Babar


Banda and Arafura Seas
With Babar looking a lot safer thanks to yesterday's failed enemy land attack, I'm relocating a detachment of Dutch patrol aircraft from the southern coast of Papua New Guinea to Babar, including moving a pair of aircraft tenders. An enemy sub spotted the tenders and hit one of them twice, sinking it.

Yesterday I decided that the Gull battalion, currently being transported to Babar, isn't worth the potential risk of the Lexington and Saratoga if the enemy shows up with 4 carriers here, so they're headed out of the area. It looks like we got away with it so far as the enemy attacks didn't target this transport group today, and by tomorrow they'll be under the air protection of Babar's fighters.

Of course, that protection is no guarantee, as the enemy demonstrated again today. Raids on Babar cost them 9 Zeroes and 5 Betties, but enough bombers got through to put torpedoes into two troop transports, causing serious damage to one and critical damage to the other. The transports had already unloaded their troops, so at least we got away with that much.

Burma and Thailand
We tried to sweep Pisanouke but had no joy. Fine by me, I'll restart the dive bomber flights.

Our medium bombers had a field day with the enemy units in the open (near Magwe). We flew 58 sorties and managed 451 casualties.


Reinforcements
AM Herald arrives at Alameda
No.42 Sqn RAF arrives at Madras

[Molon Labe]

26 November 1942
Betties take the day off, submarines pick up the slack. Samah (Heianan Islan) captured

Sulu Sea
The O21 caught a troop-carrying cargo ship either leaving or entering the central Philippines and hit it with a torpedo. The ship is on fire and heavily damaged; I don't think it makes port. USS Porpoise encountered the damaged ship shortly after and hit it with a Mk14--a dud of course.


Banda and Arafura Seas
A minelayer I was rebasing from Sydney to Darwin (to be ready to deploy defensive minefields at any new territory I take) was picked off by an enemy sub. It only hit it once on the first attempt, but came back for more and hit it 4 more times (one of which was a dud), so that CM is really, really, really dead. Both times, the minesweeper escort failed to acquire the enemy sub.

No Betty raids today. More light infantry reinforcements are unloading. With the troop numbers up, the airfield being built up, forts built up, planes being moved in... I don't want to jinx it, but this is looking like a success.


China
The special forces unit took Samah, Heinan with minimal resistance. One small boon; although any in service ships and planes were out of that base long before I got there, there was a tanker under construction there that we were able to destroy.


CENTPAC
Due to the KB disappearing, I've scrubbed the Midway operation. They'll be ready to go if we reacquire the enemy carriers. Maybe Canton too.


Burma and Thailand
Dive bomber flights resumed at Raheng with no issues. Enemy airpower is focusing on interdicting my retreating armies from Tavoy. The terrain is protecting the troops from casualties, but the bombing is still slowing them down, which might be worse, since I have a concentration of forces at Moulmein that's waiting on them.


Reinforcements
SC-634 arrives at Los Angeles
VP-54 arrives at Pearl Harbor (2/12 Catalinas, unrestricted - I have enough in reserve to fill it out. Good timing since I"m beginning to expand)

[Molon Labe]

27 November 1942
Targets of opportunity in China and Solomons?

Northern Australian Coast
An enemy submarine tried to transit the straits around Horn Island, where I had a minesweeper on patrol. We scored several damaging near-misses before it got away.

At Babar, I'm a little concerned that the enemy troops are recovering faster than we're hurting them. Nevertheless our additional light infantry unit is nearly fully disembarked and our supply levels are increasing. There's also no sign of naval intervention and we've now gone two days without a Betty raid. That's... both good and bad. I like that our operation is proceeding, but sometimes a lack of activity precedes a surge.

Burma, Thailand, and Indochina
Enemy airpower continues to focus on our former Rangoon base forces. It appears enemy troops are going to try to hit Raheng again head-on rather than cut off their supply. I'm pulling a few units back to blunt that blow, while the Vengeance bombers continue to interdict them. I expect the total force to be about a division, and that my local forces can handle them.

The overall picture here is still rather poor, as whatever supplies are coming in through the mountains aren't even keeping pace with Raheng's needs, much less the major army at Moulmein. I still can't decide the army at Moulmein is going to fall back to northern Burma through that same mountain path, or if they'd be better off trying to go through Indochina. I've moved some recon aircraft to the China-Indochina border to investigate enemy force levels there. Along with way, I had them snoop Canton, and it looks really weak--just about 6,000 troops there. These estimates have been off before, so I won't act based on this just yet, but that's a possible operation for when I finally finish off the 4 surrounded divisions in Foochow.

Solomons
Recon flights over Guadalcanal didn't report the massive air presence we've become used to seeing there. Once again, I don't want to leap into action based on one uncorroborated report. I'll confirm that with another recon mission tomorrow---with a P-38 sweep for extra confirmation. If it still looks weak, there are a lot of ships in harbor there that are looking really inviting.


Refits and Reinforcements
CL Phoenix beginning refit in shipyard at Sydney
BB Indiana arrives at Balboa
12th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at San Diego (full strength, unrestricted)

[Molon Labe]

28 November 1942
Enemy heavy surface task force spotted near Ambon; raid on Guadalcanal ordered

Banda Sea
The KX spotted a large task force overnight and made a contact report before it was chased away by escorts: 2 BB, 3 CA, 9 DD, right next to Ambon. My scoutplanes failed to acquire this task force in daylight, which is concerning. I've suspended all amphibious operations at Banda and ordered those task forces to withdraw--even my cruiser-heavy covering forces can't handle a pair of battleships. It's a bit of a shame I don't have the Lex and Sara still here--but then again, for all we know, this task force is being backed up by the KB. (I would.)

Yesterday I said a surge might be coming--this might be it.


Burma and Thailand
https://i.ibb.co/1QDSTfP/1942-Nov-28-Burma.png

Prome has been captured as enemy armor continues to pursue our retreating Bangkok base forces. We lost 5 Blenheims and 1 Hudson thanks to poor coordination with fighters in the Mandalay area, with Oscars now trying to protect the troops in the open there. We still hit them hard, mostly with American B-25s, in spite of the coverage.

Raheng's CAP helped out over Moulmain when an Oscar sweep arrived there--6 Oscars and 3 P-40s down in that exchange.


Solomons
A VT-3 Avenger bombed an enemy sub near Rossel Island.

Today's recon and sweeps over Guadalcanal confirmed what was reported yesterday--the 100+ fighters that were there are gone, only about a dozen left behind. The P-38s reduced that by 5.

He's clearly up to something, and with planes being moved out of here and major surface forces showing up near Ambon, I'd say the move is going to be there rather than here. So, I'm greenlighting a raid on Guadalcanal. The P-38s will fly the sweep again, with that to be followed by a B-17 raid on the airbase, and Lexington & Saratoga to hit the port and any nearby ships after that. Recon is reporting plenty of ships here--mostly small stuff but they did report at least one cruiser. Maybe I'll get lucky and get some loaded transports.


Reinforcements
LST-446 arrives at Portland
VD-1 arrives at San Diego (8/8 recon Wildcats, can transition to Liberator MPAs)
44th Indian Brigade arrives at Karachi (reformed unit, empty)
AM Glenelg arrives at Burnie

[Molon Labe]

29 November 1942
No sign of the heavies in near Ambon; enemy army advancing on Moulmein

Banda Sea
One of the torpedo-damaged transports was trying to get to Darwin before the enemy heavy task force arrived to blow anything at Babar away. Unfortunately, there was a sub waiting for it, which finished it off. The minesweeper escorting the transport wasn't able to damage the sub before it escaped.

The heavies never showed up and our scouts can't find them. I suppose no news is good news. I'll wait a turn and then probably resume operations.


Burma and Thailand
The enemy cancelled their cross-river assault on Raheng, but ordered one against Moulmein. Which means the evacuation Burma is now an opposed operation, and we'll be doing it under fire for real from this point forward (the rather ineffective bombing raids didn't count for much). The units at Moulmien that I can't supply will move towards Raheng first, while the combat-ready units hold the bridges. The Tavoy base forces haven't arrived yet, they're close but they're running out of time.

Further north, the enemy in the open is making a move on my weakest base on that front. Tuang Gyi. It's still stronger than he probably expects; Chinese reinforcements just arrived by rail. I'm not sure what the balance of forces is at the moment, but I have no doubt that he can push through here if he makes it a priority.

The enemy put a pretty strong CAP up over its army at Pisanoulke, and with our Hurricanes escorting the Vengeance bombers at only 15,000ft, the Oscar's maneuverability advantage carried the day, with us losing 5 Hurricanes and 7 Vengeances with no kills.

With the enemy attack on Raheng cancelled, I'm actually going to advance on them. But from their flank overland rather than over the bridges. I think I have the superior forces locally, still, and the air raids have been beating them down. With a little luck I might even get a haul of supplies--there appear to be a lot of support units at Pisanoulke, which implies construction or aviation, which requires supply flow.

Solomons
The Lex and Sara didn't get in range in time to join the party. The P-38 sweep managed another 4 dead Oscars, and the B-17s hit the airbase as planned causing light facility damage. I forgot to increase their altitude from their previous assignment (hitting the marooned regiment on Ndeni), so I lost a plane to flak with several more damaged. I'm getting conflicting reports about naval activity around Guadalcanal; the coastwatchers are saying the port cleared out while our recon flights say there's probably about a dozen ships, mostly support, transport, and ASW. Scoutplanes are still reporting multiple task forces in the area of varied composition, including cruisers. It's possible VT-3s attack on a submarine yesterday prompted an evacuation today. If not, we should have some carnage tomorrow. Even though the carriers are pretty close to the Solomons, they aren't reporting any enemy scout flights, so we're probably undetected except for the sub attack.

Reinforcements and refits
-DD Kalk arrives at San Francisco (Bristol class)
-Several cruisers and destroyers have arrived at Pago Pago to replace the ships there that need upgrades--two CAs and 3 DDs are now on their way to shell Canton Islandas a parting gift, and from there they'll retire to Pearl to receive their upgrades.
-Starting next month, the US sub fleet will begin another round of upgrades, going from SJ to SJa/PPI surface search radars. Some boats will also be swapping .50cals for 20mm AA, upgrading from Mk10 to Mk12 mines, or getting an improved air search radar.
-Also starting next month, the 125-footer patrol craft will be getting Mk20 Mousetrap ASW launchers.

[Molon Labe]

30 November 1942
Most enemy ships escape Guadalcanal in time; a second surface combat task force appears in Banda Sea

Burma and Thailand
Moulmain suffered a bombardment by 2 battleships and 3 cruisers, plus the bulk of the medium bombers in the area. Casualties were moderate considering the volume of explosives lobbed at them. I'm concerned about the amount of disruption is might cause with the enemy army about to make its way over the bridges. Our CAP from Raheng lent a hand, shooting down 5 Zeroes and 2 Sallies without loss--but there might have been a hundred bombers, shooting down 2 is meaningless. I'm offsetting this, though--my B-24s are hitting their advancing army, and even if our numbers are fewer, our bombloads are much bigger.

Near Mandalay (north of Rangoon) we lost a Hurricane and a Blenheim trying to bomb the enemy troops advancing on our line of bases. The B-25s are getting most of the work done, inflicting at least 300 enemy casualties this turn.


Banda Sea
We spotted a surface task force in the area--not the one with the battleships--and sent the Beaufightes after them. We lost one to flak and three to Zeroes on CAP, but shot down 2 Zeroes and badly damaged one enemy destroyer by strafing. All our bombs missed. This task force is very close to Babar and we're keeping our ships away, although it looks small enough--led by 2 heavy cruisers--that we might be able to take it on. But there are also a lot of unseen potential threats--Betties, carriers, and the other surface task force. I'm reorganizing my fleets a safe distance away to give myself better options.


China
The enemy put a CAP on Foochow, which cost us a B-24. I'll be sweeping this area going forward.


Solomons
No enemy fighters attempted to stop any of our flights against Guadalcanal. So we had an uneventful P-38 sweep, B-17s hitting the mostly empty airbase, followed by CVW-2 and -3 hitting the port, which was unfortunately mostly empty:
AD Shintoku Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Asaka Maru #3, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AS Heian Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

These support ships are pretty valuable, though. A large enemy task force was seen north of the Solomons heading towards the Gilberts--they evacuated in time.

Reinforcements
TK British Zeal arrives at Cape Town
No.6 Sqn IAF arrives at Tanjore (2/12 Hurricane fighter-bomber/recon variants)

[Molon Labe]

1 December 1942
Enemy assault on Raheng fizzles


China
A small amphibious task force landed at Foochow to deliver supplies to the surrounded troops. If the ships can reach them, why not evacuate them instead?


Banda Sea
The 2nd enemy task force approached Babar, and was opposed by our PTs there. Unfortunately this was a daylight battle and our PTs never had a chance to get close. We lost 5 of 6 and did not damage the enemy.

Enemy fighters tried to intervene in our regular bombings of their troops on Babar. They got one B-26 at the cost of 2 Oscars and 2 Zeroes. I'm sure they were actually assigned to protect the ships that attacked earlier. Our P-38s also made a low-level attack on the enemy task force, filling in for the Beaufighters (which are mostly down for repairs from flak/fighter damage). Their strafing was mostly ineffective, but they did get a 500lb bomb hit on a destroyer. We got a Zero and an Oscar that tried to stop the raid, while losing a P-39 and a P-38, one more P-38 was shot down by flak.

After the raid, the enemy task force bombarded Babar, disabling a lot of the fighters there--including many of the P-38s from the raid that had landed by then. That's a problem. The lucky jerks managed not to hit any of the mines. We also took about a hundred casualties in the raid.

Just as concerning, we're seeing the enemy forces strength gradually coming up. Without the heavy cruiser bombardments, our bombers aren't adequately suppressing them on their own.

Burma and Thailand
The enemy bomber focus continues to be Moulmein, with another 100+ sorties flown. Our fighters from Raheng got an Oscar and a Zero, but couldn't get to the bombers in force. Our B-24s again hit the opposing army on the other side of the bridges, this time facing some resistance from Zeroes, but not enough to shoot down any bombers. Fighters sweeping from Raheng shot down 6 of the Zeroes, though.

Raheng's squadrons lost a fighter over nearby Cheng Mai, a base along the supply route in the mountains. They followed that up with an airborne assault on the base, destroying my paratrooper unit fragment there and seizing the base. This force only needs to march 1 hex to cut off my supplies.

At my defensive line of bases in the north, we traded 2 Oscars for a Hurricane. Our bombers continue to get through and inflict heavy losses to the advancing enemy armies.

A rather weak enemy force made it to the bridges to Rahang--led by an Royal Thai Army "division", the total force equal to about a regular regiment. I guess I was wrong that he cancelled the attack... But it looks like player error--they have a lot more than this there, and sending these guys across was sending them to slaughter. Casualties 1525 to 8.

Now for the bad news--the supply situation in Raheng is completely untenable. I'm evacuating my flyable Vengence bombers to India, as well as one of the Canadian fighter squadrons. I suspect the aircraft that aren't airworthy now will never be again. The other fighter squadrons will follow eventually, but for now they have really important work to do near Moulmein, as the our entire evacuation plan could collapse if the enemy breaks through Moulmein too soon.


Solomons
I had B-17s follow up the CVBG port attack, scoring a hit on a surviving sub tender and likely finishing it off. 1 B-17 was lost to flak.


Indian Ocean
A Lysander bomber bombed an enemy sub off Karachi, India.


Reinforcements and Refits
SS Pike begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
SS Permit begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
SS Seal begins refit while under repair at Pearl Harbor
SS Sturgeon taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane
SS Trout begins refit while under repair at Adak Island
SS Silversides taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
SS Runner taken out of commission to begin refit at Adak Island
PC Vigilant taken out of commission to begin refit at Pago Pago
PC Morris taken out of commission to begin refit at Pago Pago
PC Crawford taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor
PC Jackson taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor