SqzMyLemon
Posts: 4239
Joined: 10/30/2009 From: Alberta, Canada Status: offline
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I'll have things sorted out tonight and will get the next turn off to Erik. I thought about taking a few days off, but believe it's more therapeutic for me to dive right back in. Erik does not go for the jugular to try and sink more capital ships, but concentrates on destroying all the trapped transports at Darwin. It was painful to watch, but I made the decision to keep them in place and unload supply. Darwin has 34k now. Tomorrow will be another painful day, as I try to run the gauntlet with a number of APA's and AKA's disbanded in port. I expect them all to be sunk. Other than the CVE losses, the only other carrier sunk is CV Essex. I have a large number of ships stranded at Normanton, so the immediate priority is to save them. If the Japanese carriers withdraw to replenish, I'll make a dash to Horn Island and then Port Moresby. I'm in the process of getting as much LBA together as possible to cover the base. Thoughts: Mental breakdown aside, what now? The three damaged CV's from the first eight hex strike will be repaired in 30 days. Providing I can get CV Lexington out from Normanton safely, I will have 10 CV's in total on the map. I learned my lesson to never mount an operation again with less than my entire carrier force, since there is no way Erik will risk splitting his. I will spend the next month repairing damage from the recent full speed runs and getting my naval air groups sorted out. In the meantime, I will continue to build up my position in New Guinea, particularly airbase expansion. Erik is reinforcing both Hollandia and Sarmi, so I will bypass both. There are however, a lot of Japanese surface ships based now at both bases. I will seek battle against these forces. Air operations will resume against Hollandia, and the navy will support with bombardments and surface actions. The goal is not territory as this stage, but the destruction of Japanese forces. The plan is to keep Japanese forces engaged in New Guinea and the DEI. In Burma, I've already started the process of getting the U.S. Divisions out of the theatre and replacing them with Indian divisions. The numbers will look the same to Erik, so I hope to prevent him redeploying any units to the Pacific. The U.S. divisions will deploy to the Pacific though and are prepping for their new targets. I may withdraw the three Australian divisions as well. British and Indian troops will mount an offensive in Burma in an effort to keep Japanese troops pinned down. I need to see how the British and Indian troops perform and if I can keep them supplied. Taung Gyi is a threat to my rear, but without supply I can't touch it. The jungle hex between Prome and Toungoo seems the best place to try first. I'll initiate a CAP for Ramree Island which will draw a response from Erik. Being his aggressive self, he'll launch massive sweeps. I want his pilots captured or killed over my own territory for a change. I'll be trying to use Erik's aggressiveness against him, hopefully opening up some opportunities to hit his aircraft in rear bases. Lots of Japanese forces to destroy. Time to get started. First up will be 40+ Fletcher Class destroyers clearing out Japanese naval surface forces at Hollandia and Sarmi. I just need a few days to get the ships in place, fueled up and ready to go.
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Luck is the residue of design - John Milton Don't mistake lack of talent for genius - Peter Steele (Type O Negative)
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