USSAmerica
Posts: 18715
Joined: 10/28/2002
From: Graham, NC, USA
Status: offline
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December 20 - 21, 1941
China
Hong Kong held out for 2 weeks, but the defenders finally gave up the ghost this turn. For the last 2 or 3 turns, any bad die roll on my part meant the end, but at least I got to tie up some Japanese ground forces for a few extra days. I don't think any significant damage was done to the industry here.
The first of the Chinese LCU's that I can buy out has crossed into Burma and is heading for the nearest railroad station to ride part of the way to India. It will be several more turns before the next one makes it to the border. All but two small fighter groups and a handful of straggler planes have also hopped their way to Ledo and then on to Delhi. That will be my central Chinese air training base.
Other LCU's are slowly making their way back to a consolidated MLR. I've managed to slip a few more units out of the south and southeast where Mike could have cut them off if he tried harder. I've also designated a few units as "irritants" to get in Mike's way a bit, force him to stop and attack in places, sitting on his rail lines behind units, etc. He's said I'm really irritating in China, so I guess it's working a bit. 
Central Pac
There are more signs that the massive sub blockade of Pearl is ending. Several more subs are making their way to the west. Many are probably Winchester from shooting at my DD's. The sunk ships list is showing 3 Jap subs sunk here for 3 of my DD's. Considering most of my DD's have very limited ASW until their first upgrades, I'll take that trade. It's a long war.
At the first signs of the Pearl blockade ending, a troop convoy left San Fran, bound for Pearl. It's carrying the two Inf Rgts to later reform the 24th and 25th Divisions at Pearl. The transports will then pick up some engineer and other units from Pearl that are bound for the South Pacific and Oz. By the time they unload and reload at Pearl a big followup convoy will have left SF for SOPAC and Oz. They will meet and have at least 1 if not all 3 CV's as escort for the trip.
South Pac
Mike's activity here has been limited so far. Several turns ago, I split the "Pensacola" convoy that starts at sea carrying lots of artillery. A couple of base forces started unloading at Suva while the Pensacola escorted several more toward Brisbane. Well, the infamous IJN AMC's that start in the area found and hit my unescorted, unloading transports at Suva. I split off Pensacola and gave chase for 4 days, but didn't manage to catch them. Very lucky timing on Mike's part, I believe, however some recon by Glens may also have tipped him off that those unloading ships were unescorted.
His forces have snatched Shortlands and Gasmata so far, as well as Kaiveng. No movement in force in this area yet.
DEI
As previously mentioned, I chose the right time to bug out with Force Z and my US/Dutch CA led forces. No less than 3 different BB TF's have made their way into the region to flex their muscles. 4 BB's bombarded Ambon Island and caught a couple of small transports there, empty fortunately. Two other BB's led a bombardment of Ternate. At least 1 BB but probably more is leading a SC TF patroling between Kuching and Palembang. There is at least one mini-KB backing up the surface TF's in the Sorong area. Almost all of my shipping has vacated the area.
Mike captured Miri this turn as well. Mouseover intel indicates 171 of 300 damage for both oil fields and refinery there. They both start at 150 "damaged" to simulate construction in progress, so about 21 points of damage were incurred to each. I'll take it.
Singapore
No signs of movement of LCU's into Singapore yet. The Japanese bombardment of the base picked up a bit this turn and my engineers were not able to repair all of the AF service damage. It's around 30%. This is a pretty clear indicator that my forts won't be increasing much from their current 3.04 level. I frankly didn't expect to make lvl 4, but I can hope. This is also a sign that my air operations from the AF at Singapore are near an end. I've left my remaining groups there for one more 2 day turn but will likely look to evacuate them after that. There are only a handful of fighters left there, as I decided not to draw any replacements here. Frankly, another 10-20 air frames here would just have been more swept from the skies in the same amount of time. The only reason I have a few still here is some didn't fly earlier. There are about 2 full squadrons of level bombers that have scored a couple of hits attacking ships at 1000 feet, and still about a dozen torpedo bombers. These guys had another successful day last turn as they hit and sank a couple of loaded troop transports off Mersing. Swim call!
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mersing at 51,81
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 1 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 4
Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Yamabuki Maru, Bomb hits 1
Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mersing at 51,81
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Hukusei Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 40 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 69 (63 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Vildebeest III launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Mk XII Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mersing at 51,81
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 6
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Nihonka Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Kotohira Maru, Torpedo hits 1
Japanese ground losses:
3027 casualties reported
Squads: 68 destroyed, 45 disabled
Non Combat: 54 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 26 (26 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Vildebeest III launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Mk XII Torpedo
Then, this one was a nice bonus:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 53,88
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 6
Hudson I x 6
Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 2 damaged
Hudson I: 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
CL Sendai
DD Ayanami
DD Uranami, Bomb hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Hudson I bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
6 x Blenheim IV bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
Burma
The first Japanese LCU has been spotted one hex from Moulmein. I gave orders for 1 Bn sized units to move into the jungle just across the river from the rail line connecting Rangoon with Mandalay. The goal here is to keep this rail line and the Burma Road open as long as possible so I want to delay Mike's ground forces forward of the line.
About 48k more supply is shipping into Rangoon, with 39k arriving next turn to start unloading. I'm hoping the bulk of this supply will get sucked into China before the line is cut.
_____________________________
Mike "Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett "They need more rum punch" - Me  Artwork by The Amazing Dixie |
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