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Canoerebel -> And now, back to the actual war.... (3/13/2009 7:31:49 PM)
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11/9/44
India on Land: The Japs took the interior city 120 miles north of Trivandrum and are on the move up several roads. I expect John to use paratroops over the next day or two (and all interior cities and a few coastal cities are vacant, so they'll do the job for him). I still expect John to gobble up most of interior India along with some of the coastal towns like Madras, Pangim, Bangalore, and Viz. The more I look at this, however, the more it appears to be what I said earlier - like marbles rolling around in an empty metal bucket making alot of noise. John has a pretty long way to go before he gets anywhere, Allied troops are already arriving in NE India, John doesn't have enough to really take anything the Allies defend, and how is he going to garrison what he does take? He'll either be spread awfully thin or he'll have just one or two powerful spearheads. He's going to be in big trouble.
India in the Air: Allied bombers did a good day's work. Today, Trivandrum had clear weather, so naval strike missions flew and most of the damage came in that form rather than from naval search missions. John had 20-30 transports hit and BB Hiei took two more hits, though I doubt they did much. The Allies have had total air supremacy from the get-go and it will just get worse for the Japs.
India at Sea: Allied subs made their presence known, damaging or sinking a few AKs and an AO. I have about ten operation out of Colombo now, and a big congregation waiting between Sabang and the map edge to greet John's ships when they retire. Three Allied carrier TFs met at Singapore, refueled, and will head to Sabang before receiving further orders. This group includes American carriers Bennington and Ticonderago, four or five British fleet carriers and CVL Hermes, and three RN CVEs. They wil not stick there nose out too far unless I an opportunity arises. The American fleet carriers are nearing Aparri and will steam through the narrow channel tomorrow (if John fills it with mines we'll see what happens; I've decided to chance this passage unscouted - except by subs - in the name of haste). A few Jap LBA Judys sortied and these carriers put up 360 Hellcats. Their strike planes finished off CA Aoba at San Fernando, PI.
China: D-Day at Pescadores found a very week garrison. The Allies landed 100 AV and will shock attack tomorrow. D-Day at Foochow was yesterday, but it was just a small Indian unit scouting the terrain. Then an American armored unit rolled overland into the area. The combined units withstood a very weak Jap attack (most of John's units at Foochow are exhausted from recent defeats). More units are on the march from Amoy but it will take four more days. Meanwhile, transports are loading with troops to hit the beaches at Woochow. D-Day is no more than five days away. The Japanese position in China is in utter disaray.
Operation Neptune: The American CVEs are turning back for Iwo Jima. The reinforcement convoys from Midway are nearing the halfway point to Iwo. The Formosa invasion forces will begin loading in three or four days; embarkation should be in a week; D-Day should be in two weeks.
SWPac: Fiji Brigade landed at unoccupied Nandi, took the base, and is heading overland to Suva.
Jap Trap/Diversion?: I have given much more thought to what John is doing in India. He didn't bring enough to really accomplish anything lasting; just enough to create a heck of alot of noise for awhile. I am concerned about him mining channels, but that is a manageable risk. I think the trap is that he want incite a big carrier battle in the open ocean and that he's swapped out all of his dive bombers for torpedo bombers. He has mentioned this before in various threads in the forums, and he's certainly had time to orchestrate such a lineup. So I probably won't give him the satisfaction of meeting in the open sea; I'll tinker around under cover of LBA, which ought to drive him nuts. (But I will move in if his carriers remain scattered as they are now).
Points: (A) 80,405 (J) 57,609; Ratio: 1.39 to 1.
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