9th Jan 42
Quite quiet again. Lots of battles in the Philippines which achieve nothing. Even the last, lightly held bases in north west Borneo are holding in the face of repeated attacks and bombings.
Malaya
The 22nd Indian Brigade are east of Kuala Lumpar and has just closed down the rail link to the south. Hopefully this will slow the Japanese advace, although he has a couple of advanced units not far from Singapore.
Sub Wars
Many of my subs are returning to their home ports for replenishments and command changes. I start getting more boats from the states over the next couple of weeks, beginning with Gato tomorrow.
A Japanese sub was spotted in the waters off Sydney for the first time, but most of his sizable submarine fleet has been conspicuous by it's absence.
Long Distance Flight
Half a dozen B-17 squadrons left a couple of days ago on the first stage of an epic flight that will take them to Sydney. Their route is Pearl -Christmas - Suva - Sydney. They are at Suva just now and will make the final leg in a day or two.
Signal Intelligence
For the Allied player SigInt is of real importance. It can let you know if there are troops prepping for targets, where various units are located and in what strength. Sometimes you can even get lucky and find out the location of a carrier or battleship.
reports of heavy radio traffic is often greeted by me with a slight burts of nervous excitement. It can often mean the location of a big task force or convoy, or lots of units preparing for something. today I got word of heavy radio traffic at co-ords 109, 98 which puts it south east of Guam and, sure enough, it appears to be a task force of some description. Heading and composition remains a mystery. Wait and see is the order of the day.
India
I have three divisions worth of troops plus a number of other units on the Burmese border now. What I need are two things: Aviation support groups and engineers.
Supply Issues
Although there are quite a few convoys moving around now I am running low of things in various locations. Australia is down to less than 100,000 tonnes of fuel. It's partly my fault; I hit the button that ordered all shipping at Sydney to be refueled. That drained a lot. Never mind, these things happen.
|