Alikchi2
Posts: 1785
Joined: 5/14/2004 Status: offline
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I'm skipping the 19th! Nothing much happened. Here's the 20th, which was quite fun. 12/20/41 India/Burma: Nates aren't crap anywhere! He has a group on CAP over his advancing 55th division. They've been tearing up my Buffaloes and Blenheims pretty badly - morale is in the 30s. I'm putting the Blenheims off ground attack and after all their planes are repaired, pulling them back to Mandalay. Then a group of the AVG will move in. Let's see how his Nateys do then. China: I ordered a sweep by an AVG squadron for tomorrow. I don't remember which base they're stationed at or what they're attacking, but hey! Sweep! Malaya: I have about 250 assault points in Kuala Lumpur and around 150 in Kuantan right now, with reserves farther south in Johore Bahru, Mersing, and Singapore itself. I'm sure he'll arrive at Kuantan soon. All in all, though, no action today, except for a raid by Hudsons on Cruft's cruiser force north of Kuching. No bomb hits, of course. :P The Philippines: More bombardments at Naga on the ground.. no combat in northern Luzon today. Davao, though, was the scene of a lot of action.. Force Z arrived at night to run straight into Cruft's cover/bombardment force of cruisers (Myoko, Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka, and 4 DDs). For being a night battle versus the IJN, I came out of it very well! Myoko is smashed under the water by 14in fire from Prince of Wales, and Repulse gets several heavy shells into Kinugasa, heavily damaging (possibly sinking?) her. Aoba is also damaged, Furutaka is untouched, and it looks like 2 IJN DDs are in danger of sinking, as well. It's a long trip to Palau.. maybe Kinugasa will sink as well. That would be excellent. Force Z gets in among the transports but their escort (CL Nagara + 4 DDs) performs brilliantly, hurting me more than the 4 cruisers did. We do essentially zero damage to the transports and their cargo, the 56th Brigade, unloads successfully. However, Cruft informs me that they've been landed with almost no supplies.. Not my fault, but still good. Davao's ground troops (101st Reserve Division) won't last any longer than 56th Brigade is ineffective. Anyways, CL Tromp, DD Electra, and DD Van Ghent are destroyed by Japanese gunfire, in exchange for sinking CA Myoko, damaging 2 other CAs and a CL, and sinking 2 DDs. Pretty fair, I think. Of course, Ryujo was nearby and launched two waves of Kates, Zeroes, and Claudes. (Too many AC for one CVL.. maybe another carrier has joined him? What does he have around there in December, Hosho? Zuiho?) The first wave sends DD Van Ghent (already heavily damaged) to the bottom. The second wave gets pretty beaten up by Force Z's flak but puts 2 torpedos into Repulse. Ouch. Repulse has about 40 float damage and can make 15 knots. She -might- be able to make it to Tarakan, maybe. I have Brewsters from Tarakan on LRCAP over her, too, so maybe that will slow him down at least (assuming he launches). It looks like Ryujo and friends are heading northeast to try and finish Repulse off, which they very likely will do. Everyone is fleeing for Tarakan, where we will rest. Then the damaged ships go to Soerabaja and the rest head for Kendari. My P-40Es on LRCAP were rained out today, or else they might have saved Repulse from getting hit. C'est la vie - I have them set on naval attack next turn. Maybe we can hit some of the transports. Overall, though, a successful day - maybe, with a little luck, I can even save Repulse. It's off to Colombo for her if I can. DEI: He bombarded Singkawang with 5 CAs + 4 DDs to little effect. Base is still fine. :) Other than that, no action. I haven't spotted any subs in a few days.. pulling back some ASW groups. Oh yes. It looks like his covering force has left Kuching. 4 American DDs are going to bombard Kuching and get out for the hell of it. Hopefully his Nells don't notice me.. Other Theatres: No action. I'm afraid to send anything else out of the West Coast with the KB still at large.. I have lots of aircraft that need to go, though. Hrmph. Picture: Night Battle at Davao: Force Z versus IJN, December 20th, 1941
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