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Cathartes -> RE: The Plunder, the Blunder, and the Agony (12/8/2007 10:31:37 PM)
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Breezing over the last 6 months:
Pearl Harbor strike: The classic opening fails to sink any allied BBs. Major destruction of airfields and aircraft, but no fish dropped. The US Navy gets beat up badly but lives to fight another day!
Central Pacific: There are a few notable events: (1) Tarawa and Saipan have been taken by the Japanese, all other major CenPac islands remain untouched through June ‘42. (2) A clandestine US carrier raid west-northwest of Marcus Island caught a Japanese transport convoy by surprise back in early Feb ‘42. (3) Several forays by KB have thus far caught a few US destroyers and AKs. The USS Mississippi narrowly escapes being sunk by KB (Chimaera didn’t know how close he came!) after She took two fish and then KB darted into the vicinity. The sharks would remain hungry.
Papau New Guinea and SW Pac: Rabaul and Port Moresby are quickly taken early in the war. There was no chance to defend Port Moresby, and KB escorted an invasion force inside the Louisiade archipelago, and up toward Moresby. Rabaul is already an 8/8 base, and Moresby is a level 5 AF. Australian troops in New Guinea were successfully evacuated by sub transport. Having captured the key strategic bases in PNG, my opponent is now mopping up allied bases at his leisure. To the south, Koumac and Noumea have just fallen, giving the Japanese free reign over New Caledonia and surrounding water. Nonetheless it took the effort of the entire KB, dozens of IJA bombers, the 52nd Div, and three IJN LCUs over a 10-day siege to secure Noumea.
Australia: Wallabies wander hither and yon. One notable event was KB sweeping by to the north of Darwin early in the war, assisting with the landings in Timor. As KB skirted by, a mass of my Hudson bombers, which I had forgotten were on naval attack, sortied out and were met by 130 Zeros. Not one Hudson made it through, and all their crews (those that survived to bail out) became bait for wandering Leopard Sharks. We hate leopard sharks, they are the most feared sharks across the warm-water Pacific. While we will not shoot dolphins (unlike the evil Japanese Empire) we will happily strafe leopard sharks.
DEI: One word describes it: Firestorm. Only minor base remains in NW Borneo along with Bali and Manado (as of mid-June ’42). Everything else has fallen. Palembang was captured with all its resources intact—so much for moving extra engineer units into it ($#%$&!). Japanese losses were light overall. IJA divisions did all the gruntwork in the DEI. They were supported by powerful surface TFs and elements of KB. A huge force of CAs and BBs with their collection of naval search aircraft covered all the major invasions. They were impenetrable by air and by sea. Allied subs were spotted instantly and everywhere when in range of large numbers of Japanese patrol planes. KB’s massive, impenetrable CAP moved where the invasion forces moved. Only after they passed could I hope to achieve a few hits with the Dutch AF—a few AKs and APs succumbed to hit and run tactics. Java was entirely over by early March, easily overrun by many IJA divisions and supporting elements.
Malaysia: Also easily swept up (with one of the wide, thick-bristled industrial brooms, like you use on driveways), though Singapore held out through the 3rd week of February. Sumatra waits for its mopping.
Phillipines: This was the neglected child at the expense of the DEI. Chimaera completely ignored Luzon unit the beginning of April. Early on he took a base or two in the southern PI and used it as a covering air base to catch fleeing allied ships and his ventures toward Borneo and beyond. A lot of my transports managed to escape by mid-December ’41—due east across the Central Pacific to the US west coast. Several DDs and the USS Houston and USS Langley were sunk by light Japanese carriers. Joining baby KB was at least one large Japanese carrier (think it was Akagi) that did not join the others in the Pearl Harbor strike. Chimaera has only now moved into Luzon in May/June. Previously PTs have been playing a cat and mouse game all over Luzon and Mindinao. They managed to make a few surprise attacks on transport convoys sending a few escorting MSWs, PCs and a APDs to the bottom. My PTs were a small thorn in the side of my opponent, but he pursued them to death with surface TFs and by air. Up until now, my troops have been lazy in Luzon, drinking heavily, sleeping in every morning, and doing a lot of nothing. Even McArthur has been seen boozing it up at the local Manilla watering holes. Once in a while the AVG paid a visit to our local airfield and surprised a few IJA bombers over the neighborhood. We used to wander Luzon at leisure, hunting, visiting old friends, and soaking up the Malaria-infested air. But now… we are getting regularly bombarded by over 5,000 AV worth of IJN troops, with more coming from Naga. The first deliberate attack just took place on June 17, 1942.
South Pacific: Crickets are chirping from palm frond rafts afloat the moonlit ocean. KB wanders.
New Zealand: Sheep grazing on steep hillsides.
Alaska/Aleutians: An Orca pod is sighted off Kodiak and my Bolo pilots gain one experience point.
China: Overall quiet until April ’42 when Chinese elements sneak up on Swatow (just east of Canton) and take it from the Japanese. Only a base unit was defending it. Also, an IJA division was moved out of Canton for the war abroad, and smelling opportunity, a mass of Chinese units descended on the city and are now lodged within (about 3000 AV worth). The Chnese attacked once and bled horribly. Blunder. Currently they are target practice for Japanese LBA. The Japanese have since retaken Swatow after I abandoned it and sent the troops to Canton. Otherwise China remains a relative backwater to the war where my opponent transfers more and more troops from.
Burma: All hell breaks loose in March. Chimaera finished wiping up in Singapore and DEI and then sailed his troops up to invade Moulmein via the Makassar straights. I could see his little plan coming a long ways off and I tried to maneuver most of the British Navy into striking position. I couldn’t believe my opponent was going for this with only one airbase —Bangkok— providing search and cover. He had Tavoy, but no one was home in the runway. Making a long story short, I lunged too quickly and gave away my little plan. Tavoy quickly filled with Bettys and Nells, and I managed to lose a lot of CLs and a couple DDs. If I had only waited a little longer, until he committed to the invasion, I may have done better. I bungled an epic opportunity that may have stemmed the tide in Burma for months to come. Instead, Chimaera’s seemingly poor risk turned into a golden capitalization, and he is now knocking on the gates of Mandalay Palace, although the knocking has been going on for almost 6 weeks now. Mandaly has become a fetid cesspool of sinking morale, disease, death, and disintegration (5 points for alliteration here).
Below is a broad look at the extent of Japanese expansion and plunder. Key bases are shown in ownership at the margins, red for Japanese and white for Allies. JUNE 1942:
[image]local://upfiles/2187/7C17145F772B4A85AF601F0C2D32E895.jpg[/image]
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