FDRLincoln
Posts: 744
Joined: 11/22/2004 From: Lawrence, KS Status: offline
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My opponent has agreed to stay out of this AAR. While I don't have the time for a full-fledged classic AAR, I will keep this up-to-date with major happenings and my strategic plans, with a focus on the undersea war. It is Scenario 2, PDU on, December 7 surprise, non-historical first turn, US torpedoes are BAD, Allied damage control is good. For the most part, I left things historical for the initial attacks. The Pearl Harbor strike resulted in the sinking of Arizona and Tennessee, plus substantial damage to four other battleships although my opponent says they will all survive. A great deal of his air force was destroyed on the ground and first day losses for Japan were very small, so I stuck around for a second day. Alas, this didn't go well at all: Kaga's attack flew, but the other carriers failed to launch their planes on the second day. I think weather may have been involved. He got 20 P-40s up, and while my A6Ms shot five of them down, I ended up losing 12 Vals without doing any damage. I left after that. KB moved up north, refuelled from the AO group, and is now swinging back down towards Truk to provide air cover for subsequent offensives and to see if I can trap his carriers somewhere. The current day is December 12th. Vigan, Appari, and Legaspi have fallen, and San Fernando should fall tomorrow. He has been aggressive about defending the Phillipines and has by my count about 40 P-40Bs and Es present. My A6M sweeps are giving me air superiority but not air supremacy at this point. I'm bombing his airfields, switching between Clark and Manila to try and keep him guessing, since he's using both bases. My land combat units have faced little opposition so far, as he is pulling everything back towards the central core as quickly as possible. I don't know yet if he will make his stand at Bataan or Manila. His land forces seem evenly divided so far between those locations and Clark. Davao will be invaded as soon as the cruiser squadron to cover the landing has been refueled. I intend to make China a major theatre of operations since the whole point of the war is to conquer China! Hong Kong is under seige. Once Hong Kong falls I will get more aggressive here, but I want that port first. I've conducted small scale bombing attacks in various locations, and have begun paying the PP to pull some of the forces facing the Soviet Union down south. I won't go past the Soviet activition limit of course. In the DEI, Miri has fallen, and Brunei will be hit tomorrow. I don't know where Force Z is, but Bettys and Nells have sunk some shipping escaping the Phillipines, including AV Langley. I have strong surface combat units prowling this area and covering convoys in case he tries to sneak a strike in. One of my cruiser squadrons fell in with a convoy of Phillipine shipping and sank four AKs. I would really rather neutralize Force Z before going further south than Miri, but if I don't find them soon I will get things moving. I have been studying the map closely and have my invasions of Java and Sumatra planned out, with the allocated units planning. I hope to seize them in early January. Malaya is going slowly so far as my amphibious forces are busy unloading at the usual places. He seems to be conducting a defense in depth and isn't withdrawing everything towards Singapore as far as I can tell. I've been conducting daily bombing raids and sweeps here. Nates and Oscars...very good dogfighters, but the lack of firepower is telling. I get a lot of damaged Buffalos in these combats, but not a lot of shootdowns. Snipping the Burma Road is one of my major goals and forces led by the Imperial Guard and associated armor are moving towards the border. He had AVG at Tavoy and this resulted in a big dogfight with some A6M units. I got the better of it. So far, my worst losses are an AK torpedoed by a Dutch sub on the way to Malaya, and a destroyer (I don't have the name at my fingertips) that was knocked out by the USS Louisville attempting to intervene at Tarawa. As mentioned earlier, he also has Lexington in the vicinity. I have various invasions on the way to locations in the Solomons, but he is being very aggressive with cruiser and carrier strikes to keep me off balance. I am reluctant to push too far until KB is in the area. I also have my main BB line heading towards Truk to help support operations as needed. This can swing south if I think his surface forces are going to interfere in the Solomons, or it can swing west to help support the invasions planned for the Celebes and eastern Borneo.
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Fear God and Dread Nought
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