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Old 08-17-21, 10:06 PM   #151
Molon Labe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ostfriese View Post
Is invading Oahu a reasonable move in WiTP? Historically it would have been an extreme gamble with an awfully high chance of total defeat for Japan, as there was a strong garrison even on December 7th, 1941.
It's a high reward move if it succeeds, no doubt about that, but how likely is this to succeed, especially against a human opponent?

A defeat in this invasion will have wasted Japanese manpower and materiel your opponent should be unable to replace (or at least very unlikely to replace).



In general it sounds as if your opponent is playing a very aggressive campaign, even compared to the historical campaign undertaken by Imperial Japan. Historically seen this was something Japan could never have sustained for much more than a few months - does something similar eventually happen in WiTP (unless the Allied player surrenders, that is)?
It's a huge commitment of troops that could be doing something else. Singapore still being in my hands is a rather large failure that you can connect to that. He's also being invaded from Burma instead of invading Burma. As far as chance of success goes, it could go either way right now. He's established a beachhead with superior numbers but he has to overcome fortifications.

As for sustainability, the scale of his logistic operation was absolutely enormous, that he was able to keep his battleships constantly rearmed proved that. I don't know how long he can keep it up. Not capturing the southern resource area should be putting a strain on his fuel supply. At least for now, the OpTempo of his naval forces is quite high around Pearl and in the Java Sea, so he apparently has fuel for now.
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Old 08-17-21, 10:24 PM   #152
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9 March 1942

Hawaii
The enemy ground forces made a major push and got nowhere, apparently too disorganized from their landings. Casualties were 1661 to 32, and critically, our fortifications held.


Makassar Strait
S-36 tried to attack a major troop convoy but ended up having to settle for sinking an escorting Kaibokan.


Java Sea
One of my transports and a minelayer evacuating Surabaya were intercepted by an enemy surface detachment and sunk.

An enemy destroyer hit a mine near their beachhead at Tjepoe. HMS Trusty and a US sub have been hard at work there. USS Pike was detected here and depth charged for moderate damage.

Air raids targeted Surabaya and ships at sea near there. Losses were 6 Zeroes, 3 Nells vs 1 P-39 and a Hurricane. Fleet damage was bad as they worked over the survivors from yesterday:
CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Walke
CL Tromp, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CL Capetown, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CL Durban, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Vampire
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Mauritius, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Nizam
DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Boise, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Barker, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Edsall

We also attempted a raid on Tjepoe that did not go well, 4 Dutch medium bombers went down with nothing to show for it.


Eastern Australlia
The Lexington CVBG was spotted by a sub outside of Sydney. We depth charged the sub and caused minor damage before it got away, but now he knows exactly where the Lex is.

New Hebrides
The timing of the spotting of the Lex was especially bad, because I also revealed the location of Enterprise's group so its USMC Wildcats could harass ships landing at Uputa (sinking 2 landing barges and damaging a PB). The SBDs would have gone if there was anything bigger there. But now he knows where they all are.
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Old 08-17-21, 10:37 PM   #153
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10 March 1942

New Hebridies
I detached a destroyer from the Enterprise CVGB to get the remaining barges at Utupua, but came up empty.

Japan
USS Tarpon torpedoed and sank an AKL near Torishima island, about 280 miles southeast of the mainland.

Java
Our fighters started getting on the board in Surabaya as our CAPs are less spread out trying to cover ships at sea, but at a cost. We took out 4 Zeroes, 4 Oscars, 3 Betties, 8 Nells, 7 Kates, and 3 Vals with the cost of 3 P-40s, 7 P-39s, 2 Hurricanes, and a Hawk. Damage to the ships in port:
CL Durban, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CL Caledon, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS KXVII, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AD Black Hawk, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AVP Pollux, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Bennevis, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Van Diemen, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAP Siberg, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Capetown, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AMc Merbabo, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Rochussen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Operation Kinky Boots
He has Nates defending Bangkok now, which the AVG tore into. 8 were shot down with no losses.

It appears 20,000 troops have left Singapore, so we may have had the desired effect. It should take them at least 4 days to pack up and head back north by rail.
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Old 08-17-21, 10:52 PM   #154
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11 March 1942

Hawaii
Another attack by ground forces rebuffed, casualties 4363 to 1123, forts holding. Starting to look pretty bad for him.

Java
HMS Trusty was lightly damaged in a depth charge attack as it mined Tjepoe again. As far as I can tell they still don't have proper minesweepers there and are relying on destroyers and PBs to do the job.

The air battle tilted our way for the day. At Surabaya, for just one P-40 shot down, we managed 2 Zeroes, 7 Nells, 9 Betties, and 8 Sallies. But they made up for it a bit at Batavia shooting down 6 Fulmars, a P-400 (what's a P-400? A P-40 with a Zero on its tail! Or maybe just the export version of the P-39), a Buffalo (fortunately nearly completely phased out by arriving Hurricanes and P-40s) and got just 1 Val and 1 Kate. Still, the bombers got the job done. There's not much left to sink at Surabaya anymore.

At Batavia, they hit a transport group that was fortunately already disembarked. But they did find a transport loading on the south side of Java (relocated there after Batavia got too hot last week), the damage inflicted on that ship included 300 troop casualties.


Timor
A fleet of AKLs evacuating Surabaya was slowly massacred. One was picked off by a sub coming through the straits of the Java Sea. Another hit a mine at Koepang. Then a lurking sub wolfpack went to work on them. Had to be at least 6 ships, none survived.
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Old 08-18-21, 10:50 AM   #155
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12 March 1942

Hawaii
USS Sealion took some hits trying to intercept battleships on their way to bombard Oahu.

Japan
USS Sturgeon torpedoed a cargo ship in the East China Sea.

Java
One of our coastal minesweepers was obliterated by a Japanese sub at Oosthaven. These little guys really have no success as ASW substitutes. In the air, Japan did a poor job protecting its bombers today. At Surabaya we shot down 15 Sallies, 5 Betties, and 4 Zeroes with no losses. At Oosthaven, for the price of 3 fighters we got 7 Vals and 5 Kates. About those...the KB is focusing on interdicting reinforcements right now. Last turn served as a warning to clear them out, but we still had some left at Oosthaven (Sumatra):
AMC Manoora, Bomb hits 4, on fire
xAP Poelau Bras, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Catrine, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Lawoe, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc MMS A
xAK Michael Livanos, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAP Chilka, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Indora, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
KV Nigella
xAK Anatina, Bomb hits 1, on fire.
Which were mostly empty, but we did lose some vehicles that were still aboard.

The IJA has captured Madioen, effectively cutting the island in half.

Timor
I've put a coastal minesweeper back to work here to deal with the minefield that took out an AKL yesterday. They had been sheltering due to the air threat. It swept a few mines and was then promptly sunk by a lurking enemy sub.

South of here, I'm trying to move the Hermes and Royal Sovereign off to the west, but a sub spotted the task force and fired 4 torps at the Hermes (missing). I wonder if the KB comes over here now.

Makassar Strait
S-36 attacked a convoy of a small number of cargo ships escorted by a ton of cruisers and destroyers, I have to assume this was once the Java invasion force. It missed and suffered depth charge damage for its trouble.
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Old 08-18-21, 11:21 AM   #156
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13 March 1942

Java
A lone heavy cruiser bombarded Surabaya, but it was enough to disable 22 planes at the crowded airfield.

After his heavy losses yesterday, the bombers took a break and he focused on dealing with my fighters. The change in tactics was effective, especially in combination with the main airfield being shelled; at Surabaya he got 7 fighters for 2 Zeroes; and at Koepang (Timor) he got 6 with no losses (2 of which were Fulmars from the nearby Hermes, which tried to help).

We got a little lucky as one of his task forces ran out of fuel in the Java sea, my torpedo bombers scored a hit on the drifting cruiser Yubari (which was carrying troops) and probably sank it. In isolation, I wouldn't read too much into this, but it's possible that he's supporting ops in this area from fuel from Balikpapan and Tarakan, which aren't especially big. I'm fairly sure the production of these bases is insufficient to maintain the level of naval activity here, especially with the KB around, but I'm not sure about the stockpile status or how much fuel is being shipped in.

A third of an enemy battalion outpaced the rest of its force and attacked a far superior force in Semarang; we wiped it out.

Luzon Strait
USS Snapper sank a cargo ship in a surface attack. I'm surprised unescorted merchants still pass through here.

Malaya
It appearing that troops are abandoning the siege of Singapore to relieve Bangkok, I ordered my Singapore bombers to attack at Johore...it didn't go well, we lost at least 2 bombers to flak and didn't do much damage.
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Old 08-18-21, 11:46 AM   #157
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14 March 1942
Stunning losses for AVG-1 in Thailand

Hawaii
It looks like they're done landing troops and the 4 BB have gone back to daily bombardments. Fortunately damage was very light today. If they're going to pull this off, it will probably be these 4 ships as the difference-makers.

Java
The battleships Kirishima and Hiei made and appearance bombarding Surabaya:
P-39D Airacobra: 7 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 6 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 23 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 2 damaged
PBY-4 Catalina: 7 damaged
Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 damaged
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged
L-212: 2 damaged
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 damaged
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed on ground

...which probably incapacitates the airfield for the next day or two. On the bright side, that limited the amount of damage his fighters could do because I had so few in the air to shoot down. (2 P-40s at Surabaya).

Operation Kinky Boots
Apparently he's realized that what's going on here is a problem. Major air forces--Oscars, probably piloted by veterans of the Phillipines/Malaya campaigns have reinforced Bangkok and were not only waiting for me, but they swept Tavoy airbase. We lost 5 AVG P-40s at Tavoy with no enemies shot down. At Bangkok we lost 4 AVG P-40s and a Hurricane, leaving our Hudson bombers vulnerable--we lost all 5 we sent. We only got 5 Nates in exchange, the Oscars seemed untouchable. The good news is there is no enemy bomber activity, so the adjustment is simple. My bombers stay north in the Raheng area. To the south, my fighters regroup and focus on defense. I'm calling in another Hurricane squadron from Columbo.

At Raheng, our river crossing was a smashing success. The enemy was suppressed by my bombers, the troops got across, and the enemy base was overwhelmed. Casualties were 1388 to 318 favoring me, a great result considering it was a river crossing.

Malaya
It looks like the enemy presence in Singapore is down to 6,000 from a previous high of probably 40,000. Kinky Boots is working. They'll probably save Bangkok, though, which is fine by me.

China
The massive offensive army I moved from Ichang to the central area has reached its objective of Nanchang. He apparently spotted me, as a large army that had been threatening my base at Changsha was spotted moving back to Nanchang on a major highway. They became my priority bomber target yesterday, hoping that by forcing them to scramble for cover they'd slow down. They're not here yet. We attack tomorrow, hopefully that army will be too late.
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Old 08-19-21, 11:57 AM   #158
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15 March 1942
Oahu fortifications degraded, 2 divisions land in western Java

Hawaii
Major push by enemy land forces. The battleships are making a huge difference, my troops are badly disrupted and not fighting all that effectively. We're down to level 2 fortifications, which is pretty bad for a base this size. Casualties were 400 to 7000 favoring me but that's going to tip as the fortifications fail.

To the south, I've set up a temporary PBY case with seaplane tenders on a vacant atoll. They snooped Palmyra and Christmas Island, and it appears that they have only token forces remaining there, no aircraft. I wish I had though of this 2 weeks ago. I can take these back, and doing so would compel him to send carriers or his surface fleet to deal with me. I don't think Pearl will last long enough for this to work to pull the BBs away.

Java
The air battles went better today. At Batavia we traded 2 Fulmars for 3 Oscars (all our kills by P-400s). At Surabaya, 2 P-39s for 2 Zeroes and 8 Sallies. But there's always bad news it seems... 2 divisions (Imperial Guards and the 16th, previously in the Philippines) landed at Kalidjati, near Batavia on the west side of the island. That's probably more than what I can handle on the west side. So, the first landing of 2 regiments was meant to cut off reinforcements to the west, this is the main force. For now, I'm going to try to defeat the eastern forces in detail and see if I can establish something solid after that.

Thailand
He's now attacking Tavoy with naval bombers. Interesting choice, aren't those needed around Singapore and the Java Sea? We're still struggling to deal with the elite Oscars. We lost 2 Hurricanes and 2 P-40s while taking down 4 Oscars and 6 Nells. As has been a frequent pattern, the Nells bombed from too high to do significant damage to the Tavoy airbase.

China
Some of those armies did arrive in time to save Nanchang, at least for today. We knocked forts down from level 3 to 2, and casualties were 2000 to 10,000 favoring them, but we still have them outnumbered. I think we'll get it.


New Hebrides
I sent a small surface task force to Utupua to clear out any remaining landing barges, we found a PB and sank it with a torpedo.
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Old 08-22-21, 02:25 PM   #159
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16 March 1942

Makassar Strait
He lost a PB on minesweeper duty off Balikpapan to one of the mines it was trying to clear. Kinda sucks that he sacrificed so many real minesweepers at Pearl.

New Hebrides
I sent the heavy cruiser Australia to Luganville to bombard them and sink any supply ships/barges. They found nothing and dealt some light port facility damage. It looks to me like there is only a token force here, based on PBY recon sweeps. It may be time to take it.

Thailand
Oscar sweeps at Tavoy weren't so bad this time, 1 Oscar shot down, no losses even though we were outnumbered 16 to 9. They made up for it at Raheng, shooting down 3 Hurricanes with no losses. My bombers are all getting through to the routed enemy troops from Raheng, though, and they're really effective.

Java
Oscar sweeps at Batavia got a P-40 and a Fulmar with no losses.
At Surabaya, the bombers returned and our forces did well, losing just one Hawk fighter and downing 2 Zeroes and 9 Sallies. The bombers blew up a P-40 on the ground and damaged 2 cruisers under repair.

We attempted an airstrike of our own on the 2nd enemy beachhead at Kalidjati with a force of 14 shiny new B-25s, 6 139WH-3s, and 3 DB-7B (the A-20 Havoc in Dutch service). The training in anti-surface warfare these pilots have been getting since the war started finally paid off, a little, with this group scoring one hit each on two transports. That had already disembarked their troops. Oh well. The air battle resulted in one downed Oscar and one 193WH.

Kalidjati was captured.

Sumatra
Enemy paratroops are landing on Banka, the large island adjacent to Palembang. The land here is suitable for airfield construction, so that might be his goal. I don't think he needs it, though, especially if he's able to take Batavia. Palembang is hard to reach with large-ish ships, maybe he wants to base a flotilla of landing barges here?

Malaya
We counterattacked the remaining enemy forces in Singapore and drove them out. Casualties 2400 to 700 favoring us.

China
We attacked Nanchang again, casualties 1200 to 5000 favoring them, fortifications held. We outnumber them more than 2 to 1, I think we can still get them. I'll keep working them over with bombers, regroup, and attack again when my troops are ready.

Further south, at Chusien, we expelled a smaller Japanese force from the small base there. Casualties 140 to 1300 favoring us.
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Old 08-22-21, 02:43 PM   #160
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17 March 1942

Java
Raids at Surabaya cost him a lot of bombers today as my airbase is recovering from the earlier bombardments and we're getting more fighters up--we managed 24 fighters up at our peak. 1 P-39 lost vs 15 Sallies.

Our bombers returned to Kalidjati to bomb land forces, now that we know their ships are already empty. He reinforced his CAP so this was a tougher fight than yesterday. We lost 5 P-40s and 1 P-400 without shooting down any enemy fighters, but the bombers got through and hit their troops pretty hard.

That's really all that happened today, weather was bad over Thailand so no flights flew, all the ground "battles" were just artillery exchanges, subs fired at cargo ships and missed, etc.

18 March 1942

Java
A pair of our destroyers found 2 subs near Batavia and lightly damaged one with depth charges.

Day 3 of our strike at Kalidjati resulted in 2 P-40s, a P-400, and 3 139Ws shot down. But once again, we hurt their troops pretty badly.

Our 2 surviving Swordfish torpedo bombers flew a rare sortie and hit a cargo ship on the Borneo side of the Java Sea.

Timor
I've got a pair of minesweepers working on the minefield at Koepang. I'd rather have them on ASW duty but I have reinforcements to land and I'd rather not lose a portion of them to mines.

To the south, at Darwin, a pair of seaplane-tender-destroyers on ASW where those minesweepers would otherwise be found a sub and caused some light damage with depth charges.

Thailand
Strikes resumed on the retreating 7th Royal Thai Army and we caused significant troops casualties. Enemy fighter resistance was stiffer this time as they shot down 3 Hurricanes and 1 Blenhiem bomber at the cost of 1 Oscar.
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Old 08-22-21, 03:15 PM   #161
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19 March 1942
Not much hope left for Oahu, failure of reconnaissance at Luganville

Java
With the KB apparently gone and few air strikes targeting ships, this seemed like a good time to evacuate some ships from Batavia. Specifically, 3 minelayers and a sub tender. I gave the tender a minesweeper as an ASW escort, and one of the CMs had ASW capability, so that was their escort. The same sub attacked both task forces, sinking the sub tender and one of the minelayers. It evaded ASW counterattack both times. It even made a 2rd attack on the stricken minelayer just to make sure it went down, and once again, slipped away.

Two light cruisers bombarded Batavia, causing moderate facility damage, destroying a P-400, and disabling at least 25 more planes.

At Surabaya, they switched back to sweeps instead of bomber raids. We held our ground, 2 P-40s down vs 4 Zeroes, and we actually outnumbered them 28 to 26. Signs they're getting stretched thin?

Our Surabaya-based bombers tried to hit their first landing force at the central base of Soerakarta. Thanks to the constant bombing of the base, we only managed to get 3 139Ws and 2 B-17s in the air for this. 2 Oscars went down trying to get to them. The terrain and our numbers hampered our effectiveness though, it doesn't appear our bombs did any real damage.

Celebes Sea
It's been awhile since my subs did anything, so I was happy that a Dutch sub scored a hit on a cargo ship here today. But it wasn't that badly damaged, the ship slipped away and will be repaired some day.

Thailand
Another ****ty day for AVG-1 with 3 P-40s shot down by Oscars over Tavoy and no kills by the Adam&Eves. Hurricanes retaliated and got 5 Oscars with just 1 Hurricane shot down. Come on, Pappy, show the boys how it's done before it's your ass shot down!

Near Rahang, 4 Oscars got themselves shot down to get 1 Blenheim. And once again, we hit their disorganized, retreating troops hard.
Our northern group of troops has captured Uttaradit, a small base adjacent to Raheng, through which their supply line to the northwest runs. This will cut off any supply to their westernmost base Chaing Mai, which is not being targeted by this operation. It's also going to cut off supply to any armies he might have advancing into Burma that I don't know about yet, which at this point is pretty unlikely but I never stopped worrying about it.

New Hebrides
We started landing troops at Luganville, and found 2 enemy marine groups waiting for us. So much for a token force. So even though I picked this fight, it looks like we're significantly outnumbered. As some consolation, these enemy marines are not at full strength, they're probably low on supply, and I've been bombing them daily for at least a week so their morale probably sucks. New rules: don't rely on PBY pilots that aren't trained in recon to give accurate reports, and always land with at least a regiment even if it doesn't look like there's a lot there. Not like I'm going to be doing a lot of amphibious ops this early anyway.

Hawaii
Enemy troops on Oahu made another push, dropping our fortifications down to level 1. That basically means we have a few sandbag-protected machine gun nests, the combat engineers have brought down anything bigger. This fight looks hopeless, they could overrun the base with one more push. Casualties were 3700 to 770 favoring us, but again, those numbers will get worse with each decrease in fortifications. And an overrun will mean a mass surrender.
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Old 08-24-21, 08:12 AM   #162
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20 March 1942

Hawaii
The four battleships are back and pounding my troops again. I wish I could tell how many Betties they're holding in reserve in case ships approach.

Java
Zeroes swept Surabaya, shooting down 3 P-40s with no losses.

The Imperial Guards Division has moved against my local stronghold at Bandoeng. This makes me happy as the terrain is favorable and it's better fortified than Batavia. My bombers are now trying to hit them here instead of the beachhead. And their bombers are trying to get to my troops here too. An Oscar, a P-39, a Fulmar, and 2 139W bombers were lost in our competing raids. We caused only light casualties; our raids are back up to 15 planes but not as strong as before Batavia's airbase got shelled.

In the east, our forces began to clash in Soerakarta, a small base that had actually already fallen to the enemy, we're trying to retake it to degrade their local forces before they can reorganize. We lost 2 139WH bombers and a P-39 trying to support our troops here, without causing significant damage on the ground. Our troops attacked and demolished the enemy fortifications, so we'll probably get them soon.

Thailand
Oscars swept Tavoy airbase but only got four of their own shot down. The AVG only managed to get 1 plane up, that's how bad their losses have been.

Oscars also tried to intercept the bombers of the northern force, but ended up just getting one shot down as we continued to wear down the Thai armies.

Malaya
My lack of attention allowed my bombers to end up on AI-discretion for targeting, and they went all the way north to Kota Bahru. Fortunately there were no fighters there. I lost one Hudson to flak. But, that was helpful as a recon flight. It really looks like except for Johore Bahru, the whole peninsula has been vacated. I may have options to start retaking it.

Philippines
Cebu was captured today, this was the US's largest base in the central islands. It had been mostly evacuated. All that's left is the southernmost island now, we have a troop concentration at Cagayan, but they're already out of supplies and I have no hope of reaching them.

China
We attacked at Nanchang again, reducing the enemy fortifications to level 1, casualties 5600 to 1500 favoring them. We still outnumber them better than 2-to-1. We're going to take this base, and it's going to hurt them.
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Old 08-24-21, 08:37 AM   #163
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21 March 1941
Oahu turns away a shock attack


Hawaii
4 BB bombarding again. He attempted a shock attack but we held on, casualties 5300 to 650 favoring us. Our numbers looked even this turn, 40k on each side. That can't be right, is he holding troops in reserve?

Java
He bombarded Batavia again, but it cost him this time. A destroyer hit a mine and the heavy cruiser Atago hit two. A battleship and two heavy cruisers proceeded, causing major facility damage and disabling at least 60 planes. I really need to look into other places for these planes for awhile.

Back at his main force's beachhead, a destroyer hit another mine.

With Batavia airbase essentially disabled, the strikes on Bandoeng were all his. We did manage to get 5 fighters up on CAP, losing 1 P-40 and shooting down 2 Lillies. Their strike was ineffective.

On the eastern side, our bombers continued to hit their ground forces but met stiff resistance by Zeroes. We took heavy losses, 1 P-40, 2 L212 bombers, and 5 139WH-3 bombers. We only got 1 Zero (by a B-17s defensive guns) and failed to do significant damage on the ground.

New Hebrides
His marines tried to counterattack my underwhelming force ashore at Luganville, but failed to push them off the beach. They had the numbers to do it, these troops must be really worn down.
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Old 08-24-21, 07:37 PM   #164
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22 March 1942
Eastern group of IJA forces in Java defeated

Java
He took advantage of Batavia being disabled again and hit Bandoeng. I managed to get 2 Lillies but that left 22 getting through to bomb my troops. Fortunately the terrain is unfavorable to bombing and casualties were light. His troops attacked but were repulsed, casualties 120 to 350 favoring us.

At Soerakarta, we launched a shock attack on the 148th regiment and drove it out, casualties 750 to 270 favoring us. This effectively marks the defeat of their eastern group. I'm going to try to secure this half of the island and see if I can relieve the western half. As long as he's stalled in Bandoeng I have a chance.
---
Not much else to say about this turn. My bombers flew unopposed over Luganville and in northern Thailand. A sub spotted a tanker convoy in the Celebes sea but missed its torpedo shot.


23 March 1942
Nanchang liberated

Java
A task force of 2 cruisers and 12 destroyers intercepted a 2-DD ASW task force of mine near Batavia and sank both.

We attempted an attack on enemy task forces using light bombers and torpedo bombers. There were Oscars protecting their ships.. We lost 2 Vildebeests and 4 P-40s. We got only one Oscar. A few planes got through but no one got any hits.

Thailand
An enemy force met my southern team. It includes the 5th Division, last known to be in Singapore. They attacked and we held them off, suffering 550 casualties to their 950. But they're clearly the superior force here. I'm going to pull back to the mountains and switch my bombing target to these guys. I might not be able to take Bangkok from the 5th Division, but they can't take Singapore while they're busy up here, which was always the most important strategic objective.

-----
We also lost a B-17 near Surabaya attacking a small detatchment, and three 139WH bombers and a Hurricane at Johore Barhu, while attempting strikes.

Borneo
The enemy lost a TB to a mine at Tarakan. So sad he doesn't have enough minesweepers to keep up.

New Hebrides
We had a close call as 4 Betties from (I assume) Guadalcanal attacked my landing forces. But just 4. And they missed. Lesson learned, these ships will have a long-range CAP from Efate starting tomorrow. Our land forces are now equal strength as my reinforcements are landing. I'll order an attack for tomorrow.

China
Nanchang is ours! The enemy is down 10,800 troops. Sadly we were hurt rather badly to with 6100 casualties. But this is a big get for us. After mopping up some stray enemy units I might have to use this force to tip the balance further east at Chusein, where we both have thousands up troops locked up in a stalemate. At the very least, I should be able to move fighters in and splash the bombers have have been beating the hell out of my troops there.
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Old 08-27-21, 10:15 AM   #165
Molon Labe
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24 March 1942


Western Australia
For the first time since the war began, Japanese submarines are prowling the Indian Ocean shipping lanes. We lost a cargo ship to a sub attack near Perth. I've moved ASW aircraft to Perth and will be consolidating convoys in response.

South China Sea
USS Sailfish may be the unluckiest sub in the fleet. It pressed a surface attack against a light cargo ship, firing and reloading torpedoes over and over. It scored a total of 7 hits against it. All duds. The sub managed to set the ship on fire with its deck gun before it disengaged.

Java
Surabaya suffered another naval bombardment by two heavy cruisers, disabling at least 12 planes. We attempted an airstrike on part of their eastern prong, costing a P-40 and causing light enemy casualties on the ground.

In the west, an enemy air raid on Bandoeng resulted in 9 Lillies shot down with a loss of 1 Hurricane and 1 P-40. We also swept their beachhead with Hurricanes, finding a swarm of 50 enemy fighters there. We shot down 6 Zeroes at the cost of 3 Hurricanes. Unfortunately, the enemy forces at Bandoeng were able to break through my lines, and with it my best hope for turning this campaign into a quagmire for him. My troops retreated to Tilapjap.

I'm going to order my reinforcements landing in Koepang to pack up again and put them in eastern Java. With any luck I'll be able to consolidate them with my Surabaya forces before the enemy finishes the western half and turns east.

Solomons and New Hebrides
S-23 damaged a cargo ship with a torpedo hit in the eastern Solomons. 9 Betties attempted an attack on my naval forces near Luganville, P-39s tried to intercept but only shot 2 down. The Betties missed. My marines attacked the enemy land forces but were turned away. It looks like even with the supporting regiment I'm not going to have enough here, or at least, it's going to be air and naval supporting fires that earns my troops a breakthrough. At the moment I have a squadron of B-26s and Havoc bombers hitting them daily. I'll try to add some B-17s to that soon.

Thailand
Nates tried to sweep Tavoy. Nates! He must be getting stretched thin on Oscars. We shot down 1. Our bombers hit the 5th division hard, causing nearly 200 casualties on the ground; we lost 1 Hudson to flak. Maybe it make a difference: the 5th Division attacked our southern group, but failed to achieve a breakthrough despite having superior numbers. Casualties were 1150 to 640 favoring us.

Celebes Sea
The Dutch sub O-21 scored two hits on a cargo ship, almost certainly sinking it.
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