EUBanana
Posts: 4552
Joined: 9/30/2003 From: Little England Status: offline
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25/4/1942 A quiet few days. No invasions, no nothing. BURMA/INDIA Very quiet here, I pulled out of Rangoon again to Calcutta to R&R. Port Blair has dipped into the low 1000s in supply and so another RN naval operation has begun to resupply it, fortunately the RN has a lot of cruisers. CVL Hermes' battlegroup was attacked by a Jap submarine NW of Port Blair, HMS Exeter was hit and lightly damaged all things considered (19 sys), she made it back to Colombo and is being fixed. I seriously considered an Allied push from Burma into Japanese territory today, given that every signal suggests he's giving Australia and SOPAC his all. unfortunately Rangoon is the only Allied port able to supply such an operation, Rangoon is very much closed due to Japanese air activity, the Allied air force in this region appears to be totally outclassed, and the infrastructure in the area in question (Tavoy, Victoria Point) is terrible. So this would appear unfeasible, at least atm. In a couple of months 4E bombers start arriving in much larger numbers, and the Allied airforce will thus expand in power drastically. Assuming Burma has not been attacked and crushed in the meantime, that may enable pressure to be applied. CHINA Pretty quiet here too, due to weather mainly as I've been trying to wield the AVG in Yenen. They seem to be doing passably, at least until he concentrates Zeroes on them. They get a respectable kill ratio of around 3 to 1 on average when they go up against the Japs. Australia All quiet around Perth/Exmouth. I am, however, convinced that he is putting Australia under blockade, with CVs between Perth and India, and CVs between Brisbane and Noumea. His CVs at Perth and last seen in the Coral Sea have disappeared, but an Allied coastwatcher spotted a heavy battlegroup - included reported CVs - near Lunga, headed west, presumably to reinforce the 2-3 CVs known to be operating there already . I would suggest that that is the Shokaku + 1 possible other, which he has apparently had based in the Marshalls all along so far, and who crashed my little party at Nukufetau the other day. The presence of AOs known to be operating near Perth and near the Coral Sea reinforce my suspicions that a long term blockade is planned, just like he did to Java earlier. Given that I feel quite lucky that I have landed 3 NZ Bdes and the US tanks when I did. Recon in the form of lone sacrificial AKs and submarines is headed out to test my blockade theory. On land he has paused outside Tennant Creek. My bombers are trashing as best they can. Troops (2 NZ Bde) have been dispatched to Whyalla, a second base force is in Cloncurry which can host a huge force of P38s and B-17s/Hudsons now if need be, and LB-30s have been spread out along the east coast for naval search duties, as they are the only a/c I have that can theoretically reach out and pretty much touch the arc of the Catalinas at Noumea. 3 S-boats are now by Darwin, they've not seen targets though but I'm happy that the place is now pretty firmly interdicted. I expect them to find plenty of custom there. SOPAC Noumea has been reinforced by the Americal Division, putting its AV up to 500. Its fort level is only 1, I am concentrating on fortification now. I'm trying to get more fighter aircraft down here stat, currently the air defence consists of 24 P40Es and 24 Airacobras, woefully inadequate. Another 20 P40Bs is close by, island hopping to Noumea, and 24 USMC Wildcats left Pearl loaded onto CVE Long Island a few days ago. When everything is in position then Noumea will have almost 100 fighter aircraft, and pretty much 100 bombers as well - enough to make a Japanese carrier raid a somewhat risky proposition at least. My evac of Nukufetau is continuing nicely, taking a while due to it being an airlift. USN is very much in a state of refit, theres barely a modern US destroyer in state to act anywhere on the map. A SOPAC US Army division left the West Coast a few days ago, headed for Noumea.
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