Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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12/29/41 to 12/31/41 Midway: No action at Midway. I think I'm glad. John just wasn't acting like he was oblivious or careless. He was acting like he knew (or had surmised much of) what was going on. My carriers moved a day closer to Midway. Patrols sighted two enemy subs right on the lane of travel. The Mini KB moved to the SW side of Midway. Then, on the next day, I moved my carrier NE, towards French Frigate (a "let me see what's going on first before I go further" move). The enemy carriers then retired, probably to the SW. The Pearl KB was last seen two days ago moving north from vicinity of Ndeni, so John might be trying to effect a consolidation before he comes back. In the meantime, Saratoga will rendezvous with Ent and Lex in two days. Yorktown made her move out of San Diego without any trouble and is trailing Sara by about three days. So, I'll have four carriers present before a (possibly) combined KB can arrive, but I'll have to be very careful. NoPac: Quiet. SoPac: Quiet. SWPac: The enemy took Rabaul perhaps a week ago and has since taken Lae. DEI: Lautem and Koepang have fallen. Japan has small armies on the prowl in eastern Sumatra and western Java. So far nothing's coming for Singapore. Balikpan, Kendari and Makassar are still in Allied hands. I'm beginning to move my short-legged fighters and torp bombers out of the theater (via Padang, Sabang, etc.) since it will be hard to get them out the other way with Timor in enemy hands. I've lost track of the DEI KB, but think it's within shouting distance of Diego or Ceylon. Force Z is just east of Cocos. China: The Chinese have pretty much established "the usual" MLR. At this point, there are no worrisome pressure points. In particular, the Chinese have stopped the Japanese short of Changsha. The "woods line" to the east and north of Sian also looks secure, though there are a few problems I need to attend to. End of 1941: John did a fine job in rounding up and killing the ships fleeing Manila and vicinty. Then, with an assist from me, he also squashed a bunch of ships (small stuff) fleeing Java. His to best scores are BC Repulse and the UK brigade that was about to land at Cocos. He's been hyper aggressive, which has paid off for him several times. The Allies best moves thus far have been slowing Japan in the Solomons region and defeating an invasion of Midway. I hope that the defenses of Cocos, Diego and Port Blair will pay dividends, but that's still to be determined.
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