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IJNAF elite A6M2 Zero unit Chitose Ku S-1 or its detachments or division(s)

3 (42.9%)

a IJAAF Ki-43 unit in Indochina, to be used in China/East Indies(mostly)

1 (14.3%)

a IJAAF Ki-43 unit in Burma(at least initially)

3 (42.9%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Voting closed: May 04, 2014, 08:49:03 am

[Erkki]

A quick question: how do you not forget to give orders to all the things you're supposed to give orders to?

I like how you justify a big invasion with "DO WANT" It shows fighting spirit! Yamato damashii!

Luckily theres a Tracker program that helps compiling and sorting a lot of the info(basically it has everything one can access from within the game, just in an easier to comprehend form) and it alerts for example when a ground unit finishes movement, or unloads from strategic mode, when air group has a new pilot etc.

And still I dont remember everything. Yet again I've neglected many aspects of the war such as mines... Oh why didnt I give more of my subs mines(at the cost of some torps) when they visited ports? Why didnt I check their captains and swap them for better ones if needed? Why have I done so little raiding, it only needs 2 destroyers and some luck to inflict massive damage etc. the list is endless. 

I have easily the most confidence with air units and running the economy. When it comes to naval war I pretty much just stick to a handful of good rules and use excessive force where success is important. Its too easy to just cruise around the ocean and quickly burn massive amounts of fuel without achieving anything.

Part of the game's trickiness is in air, naval and ground units all having very different operational tempos. Slow for ground, operations and battles take weeks or even months. Fairly fast for naval, battles are quick but sailing there and back and logistics take time. In the air things can change daily though and air units can also hurt naval units and have tactical or strategic effect over a number of missions or even during a single day's attacks. I can handle the air war just fine and I understand what happens on the ground but I'm still lost with the ships. 

[Erkki]

January 10-12

Not much to report from these days. Chitose Kokutai's Zeros have been flying the boring CAP duty over Rabaul while the few Ki-15s, H8Ks and E13A floatplanes have been searching the nearby waters for enemy ships and submarines as well as taken photographs of Port Moresby.

On the 12th Japanese armed merchant cruisers raided Luganville far in the South on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu Islands. They find a French... well something, its reportedly an "armed merchant cruiser" itself but dunno. It was probably used as a light cargo ship or a transport.

[Erkki]

At the same time, theres a lot about to happen:

[Anvilfolk]

So why go for Port Moresby rather than the more accessible ones near Lae? Or are you simply attacking from both east AND south?

You seem to be on your way to having the entirety of the Solomons and New Britain! Sweet!

Still, careful with the Coral Sea! Remember what happened in real life

[Erkki]

So why go for Port Moresby rather than the more accessible ones near Lae? Or are you simply attacking from both east AND south?

You seem to be on your way to having the entirety of the Solomons and New Britain! Sweet!

Still, careful with the Coral Sea! Remember what happened in real life

Port Moresby is actually built up already - no need to waste weeks constructing air fields and ports.

Also taking it will cut off the rest of New Guinea as well as prevents the evacuation of all Australian units in the area, including those in Port Moresby itself.

In Coral Sea the ones needing to be careful now are the Allies... CL Achilles got torpedoed yesterday near Brisbane. 

[Erkki]

And heres what is happening in the Netherlands East Indies at the same time.

For some reason imgur decided to compress the picture(unlike the first one) so there are artifacts and it looks like #####. 



edit: Fixed the screenshot.

edit2: the ground unit in Tarakan is of course 144th Infantry Regiment and not a division

[Erkki]

January 13 and 14, 1942

At Rabaul, it rains all day. Just one Ki-15 flies its daily reconnaissance mission to Port Moresby.

Elsewhere, things are getting hot as the 2nd wave of amphibious operations is underway. Chitose Kokutai is effectively in the reserve.

[Erkki]

On the 14th, PO1 Nagaishi, W arrives. The unit now has 22 aircraft and 24 pilots. The first and last chance to claim him is now, before the unit sees action again. 

[Erkki]

January 15, 1942

On this date, the Imperial Japanese have executed an amphibious operation on Port Moresby and landed a full division of Army troops on the Southern coast of New Guinea! Imperial Japanese Navy's carriers and battleships roam the Coral Sea in support.

The engineers working on the runway and airfield facilities finally managed to extend the runway enough to fully support bomber aircraft. The Bihoro Kokutai flying 31 Type 1 land attack aircraft Mitsubishi G4M1 long-range medium bomber arrive at Rabaul after a very long and exhausting flight all the way from Formosa, over 2500 miles away. The short flight has taken its toll: 2 planes are missing.

Aircrew of the Bihoro and Chitose Kokutais greet each other and exchange news. The Bihoro Kokutai has seen action over the Philippines with over 20 attack sorties. They were part of the first day surprise attack on the USN submarine fleet at Manila. They had lost over 10 planes to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire, but had sinze been reinforced with new planes and fresh crews. At Rabaul, the Bihoro Kokutai's initial mission would be to fly ground attack sorties in support of the invasion. No enemy fighters have been seen in the area yet, so the Chitose Kokutai does not need to escort the bombers.

A G4M bomber:

[Erkki]

January 16-20 1942


The days went by slowly and without even CAP duty to fly, the bridge decks were put back into play. The G4M bomber group flew to attack Port Moresby on the 17th, 18th and 19th suffering loss of 4 aircraft with their crews to enemy anti-aircraft fire. Photoreconnaissance sorties revealed that the enemy airfield remained damaged and troops' fortifications broken. The Imperial Japanese Army now controls the shore as well as the inland sides of the town.

On the afternoon of 20th, the Kokutai's pilots were summoned to the briefing hut. Maps of the area as well as identification pictures and technical specifications of various enemy aircraft were on the wall, and wooden aircraft models were suspended from the roof. The place was starting to look a bit more like the Kokutai's home Chitose Airbase on Hokkaido. Most pilots still had to sleep in tents though, and mosquitoes an hourly problem. They only left when it rained hard.

Admiral Toda held the briefing himself. Waving his swagger stick anxiously, marched in front of the men and hit Port Moresby on a map hard.

"At ease! A short and simple mission, gentlemen. Today, the 53rd Infantry Division is finally at Port Moresby in full strength. The enemy has not been able to reinforce or evacuate, and our bombers have kept their troops in check. The infantry is now ready for the final assault and expects the enemy to surrender within days. Today's aerial reconnaissance mission found enemy fighters on one of the airfields in the area. The enemy must be expecting more bomber attacks with no escorts. We will have to disappoint them tomorrow: bombers will rest while all of your Zeros will fly to Port Moresby and encounter the enemy fighters there should they take off. You will take off at dawn, 0530 hours.

Weather forecast promises fine for tomorrow. You'll be going in at 20,000 ft to get the upper hand on them right away. They expect bombers so they are likely to fly much lower. Any questions? Humm... Very well then, group dismissed!"

Petty Officer Shiga didnt know what to think. This time the enemy wouldn't be nearly helpless strike aircraft or bombers, but fighters, with the best men the enemy had flying them, trained to kill. Port Moresby would be 440 miles away. It would be a long way home with no airstrips to divert to. He walked to the airfield to enjoy a relaxing moment of solitude and enjoy the colors of the sunset. The sun set behind the hills across the bay, where some 70 ships were anchored. Mostly cargo ships and transports, but there were some light cruisers as well. Shiga recognized the shapes of the two torpedo cruisers, Kitakami and Oi. Mechanics were already lining up the Zeros for take off, and would work over the night to make the last checks.

[Erkki]

Heres the map, 2 days old.



On Malayan peninsula, Advancing Imperial Army managed some weeks ago to overrun and cut off 3 sizeable British forces. About 2½ divisions' worth, plus some engineers, aviation support and even an artillery regiment. The first of these forces surrendered today: a infantry bridage, an anti-aircraft regiment and a base force(regiment size). At Temuloh(green dot on the map still) there are 2 bridages, 3 battalions and an artillery brigade cut off. A slightly smaller force has been cut off near Alor Star, and they've been out of supplies for long. I the lack of these units means that Singapore's defenses will be weakened.

[Anvilfolk]

Holy crap, so much red! It'd be nice to have screenshots of this map every week of the war and at the end make an animation out of it

The map is all skewed, so I find it hard to really understand where the borders of the different countries are

[Erkki]

January 21, 1942


30 minutes to the dawn, all of the pilots have gathered near the planes, waiting for the order to board the planes. Most of them anxiously walk back and forth, some smoking the last cigarettes and chatting silently. Most of them are already wearing the full flight gear.

An assistant in an olive-green jungle uniform walks in and greets Igarashi

"Sir! Forgive me. Seaman Second Class Inoue. I bring message from the Air Flotilla. Army cable from Port Moresby reports thunder storm. Air Flotilla has canceled the mission."

The waiting begun again.


January 22, 1942

The order to attack Port Moresby's fighters remained in effect, and the group flew. Navigation was easy in good weather, and they first headed to the Japanese-controlled Buna, where engineers were building an airfield. Turning South and a short flight over the Owen Stanley Range, smoke rising from the battle on the ground was visible dozens of miles away.

The 2 short fields near the town were quickly found, but no planes were sighted. Enemy anti-aircraft artillery battery opened fire, but the smoke puffs of exploding grenades appeared thousands of feet too low and off-course. From the altitude, the front lines were clear to naked eye and Shiga made note that the Army troops controlling both the inland and the shore had connected their fronts in the East. The troops that had crossed the mountains must have received fresh food and supplies from the invasion force by now. The disappointed formation soon had to turn back, and made it back to Rabaul early in the afternoon.

Climbing out of his cockpit, Shiga threw his leather helmet to the ground in frustration: "These mosquitoes will suck as dry before we will even get to see an enemy! Why dont they fight back? What kind of warriors are they?!?"

[Erkki]

Hello again!

The game is currently 9 days ahead (January 30) but there hasn't been anything worth reporting regarding our fighter group. As a reminder you can follow the more actual AAR, comment and ask questions and so forth there(opens page 4):

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3590172&mpage=4

[Anvilfolk]

Have been super busy, but basically he knew the position of your carriers a while back because of that intercept. Is the intel always 100% once you engage in a surface action like that?

Either way, with 3 carriers identified he can hardly believe there isn't at least one.

How dangerous is that, in the grand scheme of things? Those things can move pretty fast, so I guess you can just move it around a bunch?