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[Hyo]

Ouch, losing experienced units are always a pain, especially pilots, whom Japan can't afford to replace.


In any case, why not attack Rangoon? It's just beside you and it's a major port / airbase... Don't see why not to.

[Sheb]

Because the Brits go massive, entrenched defense there I guess.

[Erkki]

Nice to see some movements in Burma. I cannot wait to see how it'll turn out.

P.S. Did the Brits hold Chiang Mai in the war? I cannot remember that...

Yup they did early in the war, I didnt quite expect it. We're going to take it back now.

Ouch, losing experienced units are always a pain, especially pilots, whom Japan can't afford to replace.


In any case, why not attack Rangoon? It's just beside you and it's a major port / airbase... Don't see why not to.

2 good and 3 crap pilots doesnt hurt as much as losing a complete Group of fighters and half of pilots! 

Cant land at Rangoon directly, preparing would take 2 to 3 months, its up a river (so heavy support is out of question), has probably 20,000+ garrison and is urban area(favors defender as much as forest). Besides we'd either need to rail units to Singapore first,  or load them aboard ships at the coast which would take weeks.


June 13th

Quiet day again!

US submarines have been active in the Celebes Sea lately, and we lose an empty transport... They have managed to sink about ship/week or better for some time now, but our escorts and especially the special aerial ASW G3M2 squadron at Rabaul manage to hit the submarines as much as they hit us. Good trade in my opinion. A week back one US submarine tested Yokohama's harbor entrance and hit a mine, btw. 

Japanese SNLF forces invade Jolo island in southern Philippines, and another force lands at Bolo in Indonesia. Jolo seems to have a seaplane base(!!!!! this is why their Celebes Sea submarines have been so effective? There have been a couple of aircraft sighting during the last few weeks, but they are nowhere near daily. I have presumed them to be fog of war or planes from Ambon), but Bolo and its oil wells seem to be undefended.

[Zrk2]

So, is that our next target?

[Erkki]

So, is that our next target?

Was.

June 14th

Boela and Jolo fall, Duch troops in full retreat at Java and Timor.

Air war: Allied bombers visit Rabaul: 44 B-17s and 14 B-24s. They bomb the port at pretty low altitude(8000ft) and sink 3 transports, damaging 7 more. The massive Zero-CAP shoots down 3 B-17s and 2 B-24s as confirmed kills - we lose 7 Zeros and 3 pilots(no aces this time), and PO2 Nishiura scores his 5th kill. The attackers probably lost way more, as they flew from Port Moresby over 550 nautical miles away, and at least 30(!!) were damaged. I'd estimate 6 or 7 B-17s and 2 or 3 B-24s. In a way its a good ratio, 7 cheap fighters and 3 pilots for 7+ heavy bombers and their aircrew, but I'd expect all the AAA I've massed at Rabaul and the 150 fighters to have achieved more than that. If those bombers face 3 times their own number of cannon armed fighters flown by elite pilots, then nice numbers of both heavy and light AAA(they flew at low enough altitude for 25mm AAA guns), that if they lost just 8 out of 58 --> 14% losses...

Australia: G4M1's sighted some Allied shipping arrive from West to Derby. Tomorrow, if weather permits, all the G4Ms are going to hit the port. I'm expecting no fighter opposition, but some Zeroes are tasked to escort them, taking no changes here.

The Imperial Battleship Fleet commanded by Admiral Yamamoto himself is given orders to sail to Koepang and Waingapoe - I'm not striking Darwin yet, but if reported bomber numbers start rising, I'm going to NUKE that place. 6 battleships and their escorts at close range enough? 

[Zrk2]

Just make sure you have air support in case he sends some bombers at them.

[Erkki]

Just make sure you have air support in case he sends some bombers at them.

I dont think he has nothing half the Kido Butai couldnt handle, especially if its supported by 60 land based bombers and 90 land based fighters... 

EDIT: was thinking about a cross-the-channel dash in and out. They wont be attacking if they're dead, and battleships are nearly immune to bombs any way. He needs torpedoes, and those I dont he has there.

[thobal]

Hori R. of Bako NGD Det T-1 requests transfer to the front!

[Hyo]

I say go for it. From what I've seen, I doubt that he's got anything that can stand against you in any big decisive battle.

[Sheb]

Yeah, you need to pursue your advantage. Just nuke him, hit him hard and hit him good. The only limiting factor should be the amount of bombs your factories churn out.

[Erkki]

Hori R. of Bako NGD Det T-1 requests transfer to the front!

The Jolo invasion task force will pick up Hori's D3A group and a tank battalion from Cagayan tomorrow, and transport them to Singapore. I'm moving the tanks to the Burma front and Bako NGD Det T-1 to CVE Unyo to fly aerial ASW cover for the Carrier Divisions II and III. When needed the unit of course will also fly naval attack missions with the others. Theres no time to give them the carrier training, though. 
 
I'm not going to sail the battleships in if there are no B-17s guaranteed. Just isnt worth all the fuel(the BBs are horrible fuel hogs, just Yamato carries 6300 tons of fuel it can burn in days. 35,000kg/hour, anyone? At least the refineries are close. I'm not going to sit my battleships but I'll wait him to move in more before the BBs nuke Darwin.

[Sheb]

So how much gear would he need to pump into Darwin for it to be a viable target?

[Erkki]

So how much gear would he need to pump into Darwin for it to be a viable target?

B-17s. "Netties" and Kido Butai can deal away with ships, but there are so many troops and presumably AAA units that I dont want to bomb the airfield with my fragile bombers, and especially not with the well trained carrier and G4M pilots. If, and when, B-17 presence is confirmed, the BBs will dash in, IMHO killing "even" 15-20 of them would be worth the burned fuel, bonus points for hitting the port, any shipping, troops and killing fighters and other bombers on the ground or by Zeros in the air.

USAAF modern bomber losses are now (including FOW but the numbers should be close) 8 x A-20, 68 x B-17, 28 x B-25, 90 x B-26 and 3 x B-24.

I did some research, and by the end of the month he should have had available a grand total of approx 225 B-17 D and E models. That means theres 157 still out there, and 2 months from July 1st he will have received 48 B-17Fs and somewhere around 40 more with fresh units. He should also have approximately 40 LB-30s (early B-24) and another 40 B-24Ds from July to December. To stop their numbers from rising, we need to(or thats what I try to achieve) kill 2/3 of the 225+90+40+40 = 395/3*2 = 263 bombers. We have now killed 71.

Many of those heavy bomber units are restricted to West Coast only but he should be able to free most of the planes to actual front line use... Approximately 50 of them sit at Port Moresby, so he doesnt/shouldnt have more than 150-ish elsewhere, most probably at least 30 of those sit along the West Coast doing nothing.

[Erkki]

June 15th

Another quiet day...

Burma: 5th day in streak when bad weather grounds the recon planes... So we still dont know what the enemy has at Chiang Mai. No worries yet, we still have 2 days...

Air war: 66 x G4Ms strike Derby: 2 mine layers and a small cargo ship each get hit by 250kg bombs, heavy damage observed in all vessels.

Submarines: Dutch submarines have been camping out of Miri since we captured it.. Today, our sub chasers finally find and sink one. Or well, its not a confirmed kill, but 2 confirmed direct DC hits, and that sub's home port is far, even if it survived the attack...

In other news, as you know I'm getting increasingly annoyed by the Allied heavy bombers operating from Port Moresby. I'm going to move some more air defense units to the area. But this time, 100mm T14 guns from Korea. 2 units are ordered to rail to Fusan(South Korea) where they will be picked up by a heavily escorted convoy bound to Rabaul. Those 8 100m T14, 16 88mm T99 and 66(!!) 75mm T88 guns together with the 24 88mm T88 already at Rabaul should be able to kill more than 1 B-17 a month... Comparing the statistics, each T14 should be worth 3 T99s, and they also shoot to a higher altitude. T99 is approximately worth 2 T88s...

[Sheb]

Well, fortifying Port Moresby wasn't such a bad idea for him after all.