John 3rd
Posts: 17178
Joined: 9/8/2005 From: La Salle, Colorado Status: offline
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Combat Report April 14-18, 1942 I've sat on these turns for a few days hoping that Lew and I could get a few more in, however, he is now on his Anniversary hiatus so I gave up and decided to catch everyone up on the state of action. Everyday right now sees a major and/or minor city within Australia fall. It is pretty crazy to watch. There is so little resistance that I have broken up 3 Japanese Inf Div into their -A, -B, -C components to speed the process up. North Pacific No activity. Engineers are digging and expanding bases but nothing to report. Central Pacific My CV TF arrives at Jaliut and refuels. The Jaliut Striking Force departs for Christmas Isle. Junyo and NIsshin will trail it by 4-5 hexes and provide LR CAP. I offload the Vals on Junyo and add a Daitai of Zeros which serves to bring up my Fighter complement nearly 60 Zeros. SHOULD be enough to protect the CVs as well as place a light defense over the STF. This is a Recon Mission in force. I want to recon all of the Line Islands to try and get some form of idea as to what is present here. Reinforcements continue to load in Toyko and fan out to various Central and Southern Pacific bases to buttress defenses and prepare for the Line Islands Campaign. South Pacific There is a BUNCH of Allied aircraft and units at Suva. Got to keep an eye on this. I now have fairly strong garrisons at Luganville, Efate and Noumea. Australia NW Australia My 3 TK Reg and 65th Brigade are now driving south. The 2nd Aust ID continues to be pummeled everyday but nearly 100 bombers. Lew is using some 2EB and Liberators to try to slow me down. Stage a major ambush on the 17th over my TK Reg with 40+ Zero/Oscars and shot down 4-6 B-25/B-26 and damage nearly everything else. That sting slows things down a little. Western Australia My Paras continue to invest Albany and Esperance. Take hex 50,146 near Perth on the 15th. Perth FALLS on the 18th! My Inf Div has a 8-1 attack and grabs the intact base on its first attack. How about that??!! Now it is time to drive on Albany, Esperance, and Kalgoorlie. Southern Australia CRAZY! Bases taken: 4-14 Geelong FALLS in a 10-1 attack. 4-15 Adelaide FALLS to a 11-1 assault. 4-17 Ballarat FALLS to a 36-1 assault. The Two Inf Div at or near Adelaide drive east to crush the units there. Hex 84,167 is taken on the 17th and 76,162 goes on the 18th. Broken Hill holds off a TK Reg on the 16th bringing about a 1-2 attack. Eastern Australia Rockhampton is invested by the 1st Aust ID, 2 Brig, and 5 other units. Don't know why they are simply sitting there but I have 75+ IJA Bombers hitting them everyday and have 3 BB Bombardments hit the location over these days. BRISBANE FALLS on the 17th! The Bowen Invasion Force lands the 14th Inf Div on the 17th. A fairly strong Allied counterattack develops and the Japanese Fighters do great work protecting the TF. The Lexington SBD Squadron is destroyed yet once again, P-40s, Hudsons, A-29, and Wirraways attempt to get through the LR CAP and many are shot down. Those that do get through don't do much damage at all and things look pretty good. The ID will attack Bowen on the 19th and then drive North towards Townsville... KB ATTACKS! After spotting that TF of APs NE of New Zealand several days earlier, I order two CVs to leave Sydney and try for an intercept in New Zealand. The CVs find the TF unloading at Wellington on the 18th and they truly deliver a masterful punch! In two large Strikes, the large APs Mariposa, Harris, Wharton, and Maui are sunk. The Lurline is probably sunk as well. A DD and 3 AKs get smacked also during the attacks. Only bad news is an unescorted raid of Kates attacks CL Concord and gets jumped by 5 Fighters. Lose 8 Kates and five pilots for no hits. The CVs retire back towards Sydeny proving that I just MIGHT BE interested in New Zealand... DEI CVL Zuiho is back in action and I spend two days resizing a Val and Kate unit from 9 or 12 to 27. Have got 3 more to do. Soryu shall be completed tomorrow and will sail down to Manila and link-up with Zuiho. PROGRESS at getting the damaged chicks repaired. Have detailed two Naval Guard units in Tokyo to finish capturing the small bases behind the lines that I haven't taken yet. The units will be in 4 small AKL each and I will then divide them by 2 so I have 4 separate TF grabbing up bases and dots. Have 2 CA TF making their runs into Cocos tomorrow and we'll see if they bag anything. They are set for Bombardment runs. Burma A new TK Reg is unloaded at Rangoon and it begins the march towards Akyab. On the way it smacks a refugee unit at hex 54,51. My Inf Div and 2 TK units arrive at Katha and attack. The 17th sees a 1-1 attack that drops the Forts to 1. Will attack on the 19th and finish Katha at that point. Guess it is on to Myitkyina at that point... China Numerous attacks driving the Chinese units from behind my lines OUT. Take hexes 86,44 (near Nanyang), 84,54, 85,46, and 83,51. SS Ops Lose I-4 to damage incurred NE of Christmas Isle. Too bad. It had nearly made it to Jaliut. 4-17 sees I-154 sink AKL De Hoan near Cocos with 2 TT. Reinforcements 4-14 DD Takinami arrives at Pt. Arthur. 4-14 Numerous Air Reinforcements arrive at Takao, Sapporo, Tokyo, and Ominato. Engineering: 4-14 Port Blair AF-2 4-14 Exmouth AF-4 Those are the developments. Australia is moving FAST!
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< Message edited by John 3rd -- 6/19/2012 8:01:57 PM >
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