Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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Aircraft pools would be one reason to proceed with the operation rather than to stand down. At the moment, I think the Allies have gotten the best of Japan in the air. Maybe only temporarily, but its John that's stood down much of his airforce in Burma, allowing Allied bases to fully recover and damaged aircraft to come back online. But it was a tight thing and my pools are low, which means a new front - where the Allies could bring new squadrons - including the Australians - to bear would be advantageous. Right now John can concentrate in Burma, but an air war in New Guinea would divide his attention and needs. But I am evaluating what to do now. The Allies have 2,200 PP in the bank. There are three potential uses - buy the restricted AnZac units that will permit a major invasion of New Caledonia (in tandem with the New Guinea operation or as the main show); to buy a new USA Div. at San Francisco that is prepping for Kusai (other troops at Pearl and Seattle are prepping for other islands in that area); or to buy out more Indian units to feed into Burma. The latter carries the least risk and certainly much reward. The Japanese have suffered a long series of defeats in Burma. John's army is probably stretched pretty thin and so might be vulnerable. But even if he feeds more units into the meat grinder, that serves a big purpose. Each of these options, in turns, requires other thoughts - do I move reinforcements and carriers from Oz to Bay of Bengal? If so, do I feed the units into Burma or do I invade Port Blair or even Sabang? Is it worth invading Cocos Island (probably not)? Should I hold tight in Oz/New Guinea, "standing down" for a month or two, allowing the trail to "grow cold" so that John might then focus elsewhere, only to then have the Allies proceed? Would a major invasion of the Marshalls or vicinity be worthwhile now (probably not). At the moment, I feel like the uncertainty and the force moving is probably more productive than counterproductive. I think John is on edge and kind of jumping around even more than I am. He doesn't know where my carriers are, so that's got to have him looking just about everywhere. And while all this is going on in the Pacific, things continue to go very hot and favorable in Bay of Bengal and Burma. So I like the situation as it stands now and don't see any need to risk a carrier battle under unfavorable circumstances.
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