Mike Solli
Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku
Status: offline
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8 Dec 41
Subs
Well, my intel was already proved to be faulty. Yesterday, I saw the Repulse and PoW showing up as sunk. They had taken 6 and 3 aerial torpedoes respectively. Right off the bat, The PoW was spotted by the I-155, who was headed south to her assigned station. She launched a spread of 6 torpedoes and had the satisfaction of seeing 3 of them hit. Now I’m certain the PoW is gone for good.
Further to the east, the I-124 had dropped a load of mines at Bataan on 7 Dec and then remained there just to see what would flee. She was not to be disappointed. Out came the AS Holland. I-124 successfully put a torpedo into her side. I doubt that she sank, but it’ll definitely slow her down for IJN air or naval power to seek out. Immediately after this successful attack, the I-124 had the satisfaction of seeing the Langley hit one of her newly laid mines and reported seeing her go down.
There was another sub attack but I’ll discuss it below because it needs to be chronological.
Overall, subs are looking pretty good, and 90% of them aren’t at their assigned area yet.
Malaya
I’ll start with the most critical area first. I had 4 amphibious TFs and the CA TF together four hexes away from Mersing with another 3-4 TFs on their way a day or two out. Kaga was about 8 or so hexes to the east. My initial thought was to move the 4 TFs 2 hexes due east and have everyone else congregate there then go in en masse. Then I realized that Ted moved the Aussie Bde out of Mersing. I took a risk and formed an amphib TF with the 4 CAs and several ground units to get a bridgehead. Everyone else will move 2 hexes east to congregate. They will have LRCAP from Kaga’s Zeros (18 planes) and the Yamada daitai (16 Zeros) who replaced Kaga’s Vals. The Yamada det was upgraded to 9 Zeros as well this turn so soon they will be available to fly off of Kaga to boost fighter strength even more.
The RAF came out to play again today, but was much less effective. They ended up spending most of their energy on the CAs. Mogami was hit by a 500 lb bomb which destroyed an AA gun but only caused 5 sys damage. Then, Kumano was hit by 2x 500 lb bombs but they were FOW. No damage at all. Banzai!
Today, Kaga’s and Yamada’s Zeros were tasked with LRCAP over the Amphibs but it didn’t work as planned again as described below.
After the PoW was dispatched, the Brit DD Express found one of the amphib TFs. She took three 5” shells and hit 3 of the escorts and one xAK , primarily with 2 pounders. No major damage there. Two of my xAKs collided causing most of the damage incurred and then that TF bolted, heading several hexes east. Of course, that was the convoy that the Zeros all decided to LRCAP. Later, 3 Hudsons arrived over that convoy and all were shot down. If Ted reviews the combat replay closely, he’ll see that Kaga’s Zeros participated in the battle. Otherwise, he still will not have a clue that Kaga is there.
Immediately after that minor skirmish, the I-156, transiting the area south to its designated patrol zone, came across the Express and put a torpedo into her. If she didn’t go down, she’s in bad shape.
Overall, for the cost of 1 Sally, fighters and flak destroyed an estimated 7 planes, all bombers, and the only damage they caused were the bomb “hits” on the CAs. Ted is pulling out of Kuantan, Alor Star and Mersing, but staying put elsewhere. Pretty odd. There is the possibility that I just don’t see the units moving. Not sure but time will tell.
Also, he pulled his air power out of Alor Star and Kuantan. There are still some Buffalos in Georgetown and a few other airfields out of range of my air power. He’s in a nice position to attack my soon to be bridgehead at Mersing while his airfields are out of range of my air force.
Tomorrow I’m going to see if there is a small infantry unit handy to grab Kuantan. Then I can ship in some air support and get that airfield going with some fighters and 1E bombers. Time for those bombers to get into the war!
An infantry regiment, construction unit and some air support finished landing at the base just east of Victoria Point. They’re headed to Victoria Point to take it. That will be my staging area (as it was last game) for my paradrop on Pt. Blair. I’m staging the Yokosuka 3 SNLF (paratroopers) and transports to Bangkok and will stage the whole lot to Victoria Point once it’s liberated. I’ll go in with the paratroopers and then follow it up with the construction troops and air support. Eventually, I’ll withdraw the paratroopers and replace them with the 91 NG as a garrison. The 22 Air Flotilla HQ, along with most of the 22 Air Flotilla air units, will be stationed there along with some more substantial ground forces and a few AA units.
Burma
The 15 Army forces in French Indo China are moving by rail north.
China
The Hong Kong force has reached Hong Kong and will deliberate assault (DA) next turn.
Elsewhere in that theater, the normal garrison shuffle continues.
Just off the coast of China, the 3 Brit DDs are still causing problems. Two of them, Scout and the damaged Thanet, ran across the 4 Tomozurus. We put a shell into the Scout and sank the Thanet in return for minor damage to the Hatsukari. Ted reinforced the air complement at Hong Kong (I think). 5x Walrus and 3x of the dreaded Vildebeest attacked the Tomozurus and put a 500 lb bomb into the damaged Hatsukari. Her damage is more severe and she has ~40 fires. I’m concerned for her survival. She’s headed to Formosa in an attempt to save her. The only consolation is that one of the Vildebeests was destroyed.
Manchuoko
Air support and engineer forces are moving to Jehol. They will prepare the airfield for 3x Sally and 1x Lily Sentai to be used for operations against Chinese forces within their range. (Ted doesn’t mind me using them for that purpose.) I suspect he’ll try to ambush them, so I’ll need to find a way to escort them. I’ll look at ranges between targets and the Chinese airfields to see if it’s needed.
Philippines
I took Vigen today. I stationed 2x Zero and one IJN Babs chutai there. The main invasion force will begin landing at San Fernando tomorrow. One Zero chutai is providing LRCAP over San Fernando and the other is providing general CAP.
I noticed that the Allied forces in Manila are heading for Clark Field. I guess he’s going to make a stand there.
In the air war, my sweep of Clark Field was opposed by USAAF fighters. For the loss of 1 Zero I shot down a P-26 and 9 P-40Es.
The paradrop at Cabanatuan received some supplies today. Tomorrow, it’s scheduled to get more (hopefully all) of the SNLF and then will receive some air support the day after that so I can station a fighter chutai there. It’s pretty weak with only 17 SNLF squads plus a handful of other squads. My fear is that Ted will send 1 or both of his tank battalions to oust the unit. If I see anything headed that way, I won’t send in the fighters.
I haven’t seen any PT boats or had any Allied bombers rear their ugly heads in this area yet. Hmm…
Mindinao
I changed plans here. I originally had planned for a major invasion of Surigao and a small invasion of Davao. I changed the destination of everyone today to Davao. I know that Boise starts somewhere in the vicinity of Surigao and I haven’t seen any ships move out of that area. I fear that the Boise is hiding out waiting to ambush someone. It’s not worth the risk. Anyway, the force that just landed at Davao will DA it tomorrow.
Borneo
The Miri invasion force is one day out and consists of an infantry battalion and some air support and engineers. I like to take this base early to get started on repairing the oil. That will take a minimum of 5 months. Once it is liberated, I’ll station a chutai of Nates there for support. There is a TF of 50k supply enroute from Japan. That’s the start of a minimum of 150k supply (assuming no additional damage to the facility) needed for repairs.
4 Fleet
KB, the Aobas and the invasion fleet will all arrive at Wake in 3 days. I expect it to be a short battle.
I took Makin and am loading the Tarawa Invasion force. Nothing else to report.
5 Fleet
The Adak invasion force is about a week out. Keeping fingers crossed here.
Japan
Shipping is beginning to arrive at its destination for resource/oil hauling and some of those TFs are beginning to form.
Odds & Ends
I finally took a look at ship production. There are 9 points in the naval pool. The only thing I did was to shut off Shinano. I’ll see how points accumulate over the next 2 turns and then start accelerating some ships. My intent is to accelerate CVs and DDs.
As far as the merchant shipping is concerned, I will do the same thing I did last game. I will not accelerate anything and will accumulate the merchant points for later in the war when they are needed. I will convert all Std-A, B and C to TKs. I still haven’t decided whether or not to convert any of the Std-D, E or F. Not sure if the Std-F can be converted.
Ryujo (30 Zeros & 18 Kates) is NW of the Philippines and headed to Cam Ranh Bay to top off before catching up with Kaga. Hosho (14 Zeros & 6 Kates) and Zuiho (18 Claudes and 12 Kates) are near Okinawa. They will top of at Takao and then catch up with the Kaga and Ryujo. Once they are together, they will have 78 Zeros, 18 Claudes and 84 Kates with Kaga’s 27 Vals on the beach. Once I get an airfield in Malaya, I’ll most likely move the Yamada daitai off Kaga and onto that airfield and move the Vals back onto Kaga. Hopefully by then I’ll have enough Zeros in the pool to upgrade the Zuiho’s air group. I’m forming a replenishment group at Saigon (currently 3x 8k AOs) to keep these guys in fuel.
The Tatsuta and Tenryu are currently with the Wake Invasion TF. After that mission is complete, they will work their way back to Truk and then eventually to the Home Islands where they will be converted to CLAAs and become a part of KB.
I have an AV working its way to Saipan to resize the float planes there. It’ll then head out to Truk to do the same there. Its final mission in this area will be to haul one of the floatplane units at Truk to Wake for additional naval search out there.
The Taiyo is headed to the Pescadores to resize the training Val unit there from 3 to 27 planes. It’ll then move to Shanghai to do the same with the China Fleet TB training unit. It’ll eventually work its way back to Japan and resize any IJN training units that have the ability to transfer from a restricted HQ.
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RE: Once Again into the Breech - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A) - 
If he doesn't come out to play, fine, your back door is closed with a guard dog on patrol. 
) Empire of the Rising Sun player. 
I'm working the turn and will give the details after I get it back off to Ted.
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