Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
|
11/18/42 Japanese Invasion: The full KB is in a sea hex between Singapore and Singkep - narrow, shallow waters. Allied strike aircraft - mainly TBFs, Swordfish, and Beuforts, sortied ineffecitvely. Escorts were too light and too eneffective, even though Allied 4EB did mix it up with the CAP. On the day, the Allies lost 58 aircraft to a-2-a. Japan lost zilch. No Japanese ships are left at Muntok. Neither Japanese amphibiuos force attacked (I think the force at Singkep is too weak and I think the force at Muntok is badly disrupted and low on supply - to answer princep's question, the latter did lose alot of troops when their transports were sunk). The Allies have shifted sub patrol routes in hopes of getting a lucky shot vs. the KB. As for the two islands, it appears to me that Japan should be able to take Singkep, but not Muntok. CL Dauntless took a TT, but made it to Oosthaven in good shape. A bunch of damaged and out-of-ammo combat vessels will depart Oost tonight to make for Colombo. Meanwhile, reinforcements including CA Pensacola, CLAA Atlanta and CL Detroit should reach Oost in about three or four days. (The Allies still have three combat TFs in theater - two at Oost and one at Billiton Island.) Allied Countermoves: The Allies have three transports TFs at sea ready to rush troops to Pontianak in order to move expeditiously on the undergarrisoned IJ base at Singkawang. This is, to me, the deciding move of this entire battle. If the Alllies take Singkawang, everything else is icing on the cake. I don't think the Allies have to fear interdiction by enemy combat vessels now, but the threat of strike aircraft from the KB is high. So I'll overload Pontianak's level two airfield with short-range righters while P-38s provide LRCAP from Billiton and/or Ketapang. In three or four days I think the Allies will begin the move from Pontianak to Singkawang with whatever troops are on hand. At a minimum that will be 350 AV. At max it might be 800 AV. Japan has four units, 6k strong. Burma: The Allies are going to sniff around Prome and Pegu to see if there are any weaknesses to exploit. NoPac: 100k+ supply at Paramushiro, with base- and fort building progressing nicely. As soon as the Allies buy the final Indian division at Cochin, India (1300 AV needed, 1200 on hand), the next priority is troops to reinforce Para and Onne. (In part, this is because this is a high prioirty, in part it's because the DEI, which is even higher, has already stripped India - there's nothing left to buy there now).
|