ADavidB
Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001 From: Toronto, Canada Status: offline
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December 26, 1941 Boxing Day saw the "Dutch Blasters" box around a Japanese APD invasion TF: Night Time Surface Combat, near Jambi at 20, 53 Japanese Ships APD APD-1, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage APD APD-2 APD APD-33, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage APD APD-35 APD APD-36, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage APD APD-39 Allied Ships PT TM-4, Shell hits 1 PT TM-5 PT TM-6 PT TM-8 PT TM-9, Shell hits 1, and is sunk Japanese ground losses: 73 casualties reported Unfortunately, as has been the case in the early battles, even when the Allied forces get good hits on Japanese ships, the Japanese are damaged, while the Allies are sunk. In a later daylight rematch the Japanese APDs sank two more of the Dutch PT boats without sustaining any more damage themselves. And while the Dutch and British LBA did find the range on the APDs several times, again the ships were only damaged and not sunk. Hopefully some of the Allied subs in the district will get opportunities to finish off the job. Another Japanese invasion was going on simultaneously at Mersing, with this one including a naval bombardment. I had nothing in the neighborhood to use to interfere with the invasion, so the Japanese troops got ashore, albeit with landing casualties. There was also a report of Japanese troops landing at Sinkep, but when I looked afterwards I didn't see any there. Did they land and immediately leave? The other new area of action was Amboina which suffered a naval bombardment. Afterwards a Japanese AV was spotted to the west, was attacked by Dutch bombers and was damaged. I considered sending raiders off to hunt for the AV, but I noticed a Japanese CV forces to the northeast of Amboina, so I decided to wait and see what happens. Escort-less Nells attacked Batavia and Soerabaja again this turn. This afforded my Dutch fighters plenty of opportunities to improve their skills. I suppose that sooner or later Treespider will send escorts along and the "fun" will end, but for now the Dutch pilots feel like heroes. In the land war, Boac was occupied automatically and Moulmein was captured against no opposition. My pullback in Burma is occurring at "full deliberate speed" right now. Japanese Deliberate attacks at Rabaul and Alor Star failed, but a big Deliberate attack on the troops on the crossroads south of Wuchow finally succeeded in driving them out. I presume that Wuchow is the next target of that large Japanese land force. Meanwhile, the situation has stabilized at Changsha, and more troops are showing up in the neighborhood of Ichang. Finally, some troops are showing up around Yenen, but not enough to worry about yet. BTW - those Japanese paratroops finally showed up on a river hex. They are working their way overland back to their base. I'm still sending Chinese troops up the road so that they cancel out the "Js" that are currently affecting the roadway. And in important long-term-planning news, the port at Alkyb was raised to a level "1" today. In past games I've abandoned Alkyb then spent a lot of time going back to it. This time I'm going to hang on to it and let the Japanese fight their way in if they like. Dave Baranyi
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