Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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7/3/42 and 7/4/42 Spent Saturday canoeing Talking Rock Creek with my youngest son; then, yesterday, the whole family gathered in Chattanooga, including my daughter who drove down from Knoxville. A festive time that left me with little opportunity to flip turns and none to post here, but now I have returned. NoPac: Enemy carrier TF sighted in the Gulf of Alaska on the 3rd - perhaps the other Half KB that was last seen in the Gilberts a week ago. Cursor overview doesn't indicate an overwhelming force and I have decent fighter protection (96 aircraft including two Canadian Kittyhawk squadrons that have done some feasting), so I leave most of my shipping in port at Kodiak (a CL being the biggest prize). I figure the enemy is raiding my shipping lanes (four xAK and a DD are out there), but to my surprise they hit Kodiak on the 4th. The result is ugly for Japan - roughly 50 Kates downed with no hits scored. John is probably lamenting the dice rolls, but what's he doing going up against an established (level five) airfield? I'm getting SigInt of troops prepping for Cold Bay, so it looks like John has big plans for my islands in the upper Aleutians. Meantime, I am continued with my plans to invade the western Aluetians sometime in September - still no indication of Japanese attention to those bases. CenPac: The other Half KB probed nearly as far south of Pago Pago and Fiji but is now moving back. SoPac/SWPac: More bombardments of Luganville plus enemy landings at various dot hexes in the Carpathian (spelling?) Sea and at Portland Roads. Lots of activity on the west coast. Bay of Bengal: No enemy attention here whatsoever, which is the most telling aspect of what's going on. John's expending all of his effort in the relatively worthless vastness of the middle Pacific while he's doing nothing to hinder the Allies at Ramree and Burma. He is sending 18th Div. to Rangoon (per SigInt), but it suits me to have four to six enemy divisions in Burma, because they don't have the high ground. Mainly, though, John's failure to contest the sea lanes is critical. He's going to have to come eventually, but far too late. Those carriers in the Gulf of Alaska and touring Funafuti? Pfft. I wonder if, when he finally reacts in the Bay of Bengal, he ends up leaving NoPac without adequate carrier coverage. That's my fondest hope right now. China: Looks good. Second enemy deliberate attack at Chengte easily repulsed, though forts drop to two.
< Message edited by Canoerebel -- 4/9/2013 2:00:17 PM >
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