apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002 Status: offline
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25 May 42 Indian Ocean Lots and lots of task forces are seen during the night phase leaving Tavoy and the base south of Tavoy. Everything is headed north. Absolutely none are seen during the daylight, but detection levels of my many subs show that they are west of Rangoon and heading north. Sub Trusty is run over by BB Hyuga, CA Ashigara, CS Chiyoda, and a bunch of DD's. Sub Stingray shoots at a task force with 3 AO's, a CL, 6 DD's, and 2 TB's. (Odd combination) Torpedoes miss a TB. I spent a few hours pondering the situation. On the ground, I'm threatening a move to attack Diamond Harbour from the east. I now see enemy ground movement out of Calcutta, back to Diamond Harbour. There hasn't been any enemy fleet activity here for a long time, so no big evacuation. Enemy air transports could be extricating men, though. I did a recon of Magwe and found 12 ground units there, and most planes were auxilary planes. Regardless, significant forces are still at Diamond Harbour and Calcutta. My opponent sees my intentions on the ground. This seems to have triggered this huge exodus of ships that had been hiding at Tavoy. There are a few possibilites: 1. This is a big evacuation attempt. I think that this is most likely. Calcutta is not going to fall, period. One smart idea would be to save the troops. 2. This is a new invasion, most probably headed to Chittagong. Possible. It's obvious that my 2 big Brit infantry divisions that were rushed to Chittagong when the enemy approached last time are no longer there. I'm moving a few things back there now, but I won't have an overwhelming defense this time. The enemy does have a couple of units popping out of the jungle into India from Burma. Doesn't look like a big effort so far, and I think I have the bases covered good enough. 3. This is just a huge reaction to spotting the Brit Navy at Madras and Viz. I moved a couple of battleships, a couple of cruisers, and some destroyers there to be ready to bombard Diamond Harbour and help the air and ground attack there. I'm preparing for all eventualities, to some degree. On this turn, I'm sweeping Diamond Harbour with everything I have. Last recon showed over 90 fighters there. Last time I tried this, there were over 60 fighters, and it was very painful. Each of my sweeps, of course, came in one by one, against the entire CAP. The first couple of missions were wiped out to the last plane for no gain. By the end, though, the enemy was worn out and I got some measure of revenge. I have to whittle down the fighters to have any chance of getting the bombers in to hit the airfield and, more importantly, hit shipping there when it shows up. I'm moving lots of air units this turn to get in position for this. So what of the Brit Navy? It's all running back to Columbo at full speed. The enemy knows exactly what I moved into the area, and they are coming. If they bring any carriers, I run the risk of getting trapped up by Madras. I am sending in a very fast mine-laying ship to drop some mines just outside of Diamond Harbour. It's just a shallow hex, but it's too dangerous to go into the base itself.
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