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[Erkki]

April 15th


Indian Ocean: still no contacts... Can the Allies really afford to not ship stuff to Australia? First CVTF refueled today.

East Indies: Tilitjap captured! And the nice Dutch have nearly repaired the airfield for us, good. Tomorrow, we will retreat the last survivors from Batavia and completely cut off the Allied stack at Bandoeng - the only way to get out alive for those 40,000+ men is to surrender.

And everywhere else its silent.

[Hanzoku]

Is he... conceding? It seriously sounds like he's not even trying.

[gamefreak1]

He's waiting the allies get much stronger later on.

[Hanzoku]

I don't think that will do him much good if he leaves Erkki a year or more of uncontested possession of most of the Pacific. At this point, it sounds like he's letting himself be rolled back into India/Australia/United States, leaving everything else to Erkki. It'll be hellish to fight through a complete entrenchment of most of the Pacific.

[Erkki]

The Allies are already strong, very strong, but as we know the attacker needs more numbers...

If my opponent should choose to fight back now or try a counter  invasion, he will risk a complete Makassar-style defeat but in a much larger scale. The Japanese still hold some definitive advantages, and having a bigger CV fleet with better planes, ordnance and pilots is just one of them.

So far, Japan has not attacked any place vital to the Allies, and I doubt Smeulders will defend anything that is not vital seriously unless he thinks he can achieve a temporal or an attritional victory(losses less than 2:1 or 3:1 to Japan's advantage). To him, those places are likely to be Australia(except the northern cost), India, Ceylon, possibly eastern end of the Aleutians and Hawaii.

Holding any of those places would be huge advantage to Japan, but at the same time a huge risk that ties up naval and land units and is vulnerable to being later cut off. Imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to supply and fuel ships and units across half the Pacific at Hawaii or Australia. Japan is not omnipotent.


At the moment, outside of China, Japan has approximately as many troops as the Allies. Good part of those Allied troops are Indian Army, however, but they are rapidly expanding their armies and getting reinforcements.

In naval units...  Japan has CV advantage of 6 CVs(soon 7th, Junyo) vs. 5 Allied, 4 CVLs vs. 1 Allied and 2 CVEs(soon 3) vs. 1 Allied(CVE Long Island). American Yorktown and Saratoga class CVs are bigger and tougher, but Japan still holds the edge in plane numbers, strike range, pilots and fighter & torpedo plane quality. Japan also has 4 fast battleships escorting the Kido Butai.

In battleships, Japan has 2 modern (Nagato, Mutsu) 16" armed ships, 4 old WW1 era 14" armed ships(Ise, Fuso, Yamashiro, Hyuga) and 4 WW1 era modernized battlecruises(Kongo, Haruna, Hiei, Kirishima). That makes 6 useful battleships and 4 not so much, and later this year the 18" gun monsters Yamato and Musashi. By comparison, the Allied fleets in the Pacific and Indian Ocean have at least 15 battleships, of 4 should still be in the drydocks. During the war they will receive more of them, maybe 1 every 3 months, and ever more of them are brand new fast, heavily armored and armed with 16" guns.

In cruisers, Japan has 18 heavy cruisers that are as good or better than anything the Allies have. The crap thing is, thats it, no reinforcements, some of them are real killers but they are also unexpendable. I dont know how many CAs the Allies have but MANY and they will get many more... Even worse is, Japan's 24 light cruisers are mostly just large destroyers and not good capital ships at all. 5 more will be (hurriedly!) built during the war but the Oydo will have no torpedo armament and Japan's closest equivalents to Allied heavy "light cruisers", the 4 Agano class ships, are all still in the shipyards. Allies have even now 40+ CLs.


Conquest of Malaya, Burma, East Indies and Solomons/New Guinea has been very swift and 100% in schedule. The Japanese are now digging, building, moving troops, supplies and fuel, and looking for opportunities to hit the Allies. My bet is still on Burma, where Magwe's oil fields well within the strike range from British Indian bases are pumping 3,000 tons of oil to Japanese industry daily. I hope to be able to equip and transfer a unit of Ki-45s there before its too late.

[Erkki]

Looks like our CVs in the Indian Ocean werent sighted after all...


April 16th


Indian Ocean:

Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 9
      B5N2 Kate x 22
      D3A1 Val x 22
 
Allied Ships
      xAK Michael Goulandris, Bomb hits 2,  heavy fires
      xAK Manoeran, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
      xAK Boero, Bomb hits 1,  heavy fires
      xAK Siantar, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
      xAK Tjikandi, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
      xAK City of Manchester, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
      xAK Tjikarang, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      xAK Troilus, Bomb hits 4,  heavy fires,  heavy damage

They were unescorted and in full fuel load... After this attack the TF just disappeared from the map.  Every each of them was a Dominion L class, 6100 tons a ship.

There is another 8-ship TF in the adjacent hex with xAKs and TKs reported - we will try to catch them tomorrow! Ryujo will steam South at full speed, CS Mizuho is detached and Kaga will sail SW. Both sightings reported the heading of this TF to be West, while the one that was attacked was heading East, at Adelaine's latitude!

East Indies: The Marine battalion fails to retreat the Dutch so there is still a retreat path for Bandoeng's defenders.

Other than that, silent turn.

[Anvilfolk]

Hah, silent! There can't be silence anywhere with the sound of a entire transport task force exploding and sinking!

Also, what IS happening in China? Do the Allies have command of Chinese troops, and are you trying to get more territory from there? I know there's some "Silent china" campaigns?

[Hanzoku]

I think Erkki mentioned that he and his opponent struck a ceasefire in Japan, since neither particularly liked the theater.  Part of the ceasefire is no massive redeployments of troops stationed in-theater.

[Erkki]

Hah, silent! There can't be silence anywhere with the sound of a entire transport task force exploding and sinking!

We arent done yet! Theres a convoy of similar size and possibly similar composition(no escorts sighted) very close. Depending on what orders they are given tomorrow and the weather, they will most likely get either all sunk or if they all run to different directions some might make it away. CVL Ryujo is ordered to sail SE at max speed to block one of the 3 retreat routes.

Also, what IS happening in China? Do the Allies have command of Chinese troops, and are you trying to get more territory from there? I know there's some "Silent china" campaigns?

I think Erkki mentioned that he and his opponent struck a ceasefire in Japan, since neither particularly liked the theater.  Part of the ceasefire is no massive redeployments of troops stationed in-theater.

I agreed with my opponent to limit operations in China to small scale stuff... Neither of us is a big fan of that theater and felt that it should stay close to how it was IRL - mostly passive with both sides overstretched and Chinese having C&C issues with all the hundreds of local warlords, lack of supply etc.

We have cleared the coastal road from Indochina to Shanghai, but parts of it are just dirt road so resources, fuel and oil move slowly from Burma and Malaya... However it is very safe now, just moved more troops to guard it. Japanese forces are still sieging Wenchow, it'll probably fall within 2 months.

[Sheb]

That sure pay him back for all those xAK his subs sunk. 

[Erkki]

That sure pay him back for all those xAK his subs sunk. 

And more payback:


April 17th


Indian Ocean:

The Allied convoy continued to West, but was split in 2 4-ship convoys. They probably hoped at least the half could be saved. The other headed SW and the other NW.

Unfortunately for them, by daybreak, CV Kaga found itself right between these 2 convoys, well within strike range. D3As attacked the southern convoy twice with 22 planes, sinking 2 and heavily damaging 1 transport, last one remaining sighted but unattacked and un-ID'd. 22 B5N2s attacked the other convoy only once, sinking all 4 transports with 15 torpedo hits... Nice! edit: these were all empty or carrying supplies.. no oil/fuel or troops at least. Probably empty convoy heading back to Cape Town or Mombasa. This raid now has 14 confirmed kills and 1 damaged that will probably sink tomorrow. Surprise is now lost so raiders are heading home, but Ryujo will take a turn near the damaged xAK to make sure its gone. The intact one is likely to escape...

East Indies: Bandoeng attack achieves 1:1 odds with considerably heavier losses to the Dutch. Their end is near...

[Erkki]

Also CVE Unyo now completed trials and available to Combined Fleet at Nagasaki. She will wait for her to-be partner CV Junyo there for the next month, after which they will probably be posted at or near Truk with all or most of the CV fleet.

[Sheb]

Great. It must be merely a drop in the sea of his shipping, but still great. What about the Timor invasion? It feels like we've got no news from Timor for a while.

[Erkki]

Great. It must be merely a drop in the sea of his shipping, but still great. What about the Timor invasion? It feels like we've got no news from Timor for a while.

Yep just a drop in the sea but these were also 14 plus tomorrow 1 or 2 more of some of the Allies' largest merchantmen and if those 8 Dominion Ls were in full load they lost over 51,000 tons of fuel too that was on its way to Australia. I would have preferred to hit tankers(as even the Allies dont have never ending numbers of big tankers) but kills are always kills...

Koepang was secured on D-day +1, surviving defenders were driven in the rain forest. We're now expanding the airfield, have multiple engineering, base forces and HQs on their way and planning to load up the troops and land at the other end of the island. Koepang and Makassar in Japanese hands mean we now have complete air superiority over the whole East Indies and can now "backfill" and capture all the islands still in Allies' hands without the need of CV support.

[Erkki]

OK, here are all the people we are following, with stuff mentioned so far and where they are today:

Spoiler: wall of text (click to show/hide)

timferius

PO1 Abe, K. in Chitose Ku S-1/C, A6M2 unit

April 17th: still at Tulagi, and things are quiet. Across the strait on Guadalcanal, Lunga's airfield is soon large enough for 2-engine long range bombers to operate normally, and the unit will be transferred there to be able to better escort any naval attacks. He now has 26 combat sorties under his belt - all CAP over Tulagi.


Burnt Pies:

PO2 Nishiura, P. in Kanoya Ku K-1, G4M1 unit.

March 17th 1942: has flown 3 missions already. 2 to Lae and 1 to Finschhafen today. The unit has suffered no losses, and there has been no resistance yet whatsoever.

April 8th: With a supporting Air HQ now at Buna, the Kanoya Ku K-1 is transferred to Port Moresby! 2 planes crash at landing but they can be repaired, and nobody got hurt. The unit's task is to patrol the Coral Sea and Australian coast as long as to Cairns, and to attack shipping sighted. For any offensive sortie they will be escorted by the crack Zero unit 3rd Ku S-1 also stationed at Port Moresby.

April 17th: Kanoya Ku K-1's G4Ms are flying ever more naval search over the Coral Sea, monitoring the Australian coast. He has flown only 3 sorties during the last month, as he and his crew arent particularly experienced in naval search...

BishopX:

Submarine I-27, Commander Yoshimura, Iwao.

March 17th 1942: I-27 now refueled and refit at Palembang. A second pilot is taken aboard as well as 2 unassembled E14Y floatplanes storaged on the deck outside the hull. The I-27 now sets sail to its assigned patrol area near Perth, Australia. The patrol is likely to last up to 5 months, or until the submarine runs out of torpedoes and has to head home. I-27's route takes her across the Java Sea, sailing from Java Sea to the Indian Ocean East of Java. Next time she sees land will be at the NW coast of Australia which she follows for 4 days until turning to her patrol position some 120 nautical miles West of Perth, where 3 submarines are already at station, including another E14Y equipped sub, I-29.

March 25th: reached its station near Perth.

April 17th: near Perth, Australia. I-27's E14Y floatplane flies a patrol sortie twice a day whenever weather permits, often near Perth.


Anvilfolk:

PO1 Minobe, J. in Chitose Ku S-1/B, A6M2 unit.

March 17th 1942: flies his first combat mission. Today they escort Kanoya Ku K-1's  G4M1s to Finschhafen some 280 nautical miles to the West. There is no AAA fire no enemy aircraft, as expected, but these missions are good practice. Japanese troops just landed there and will occupy the place tomorrow, so this will also probably be the last non-CAP mission for some time.

March 31st: Chitose Ku S-1/B transferred from Rabaul to the just completed jungle strip at Buna. Across the Owen Stanleys to the SW is Rabaul. The unit is relieved from escorting bombers unless they will fly to a nearby target, but will simply patrol over their own base, protecting the 23rd Air Flotilla HQ, unloading transports and the ongoing constructions. Buna's airbase will be built larger to support Port Moresby - cant hurt to have more fields in the area...

April 18th: At Buna, the airfield is being expanded and the 5th Air Division HQ is planning to move in more units. PO1 Minobe now has whole 3 sorties flown - all CAP.


Jerick:

DD Makigumo(Yugumo 12/42 class, exp 66/69(very good!)) is commanded by Commander Fujita, Isamu (leadership 62, inspiration 66, naval 70, admin 47, aggression 71 - this bloke is a pretty good one.

March 17th 1942: on station near Tulagi.

April 17th: on station at Lunga, across the strait from Tulagi. A coastal defense unit with 15 and 20 cm guns is being unloaded to defend the vital airfield and the island of Guadalcanal, Makigumo on guard.


Zrk2:

Commander Morioka, R of DD Yugumo. Ultra-aggressive very skilled naval commander with lacking leadership skills, not liked by his crew but hes efficient.

March 17th 1942: on station near Makassar, CL Sendai TF the Yugumo is part of acts as a cover for the carriers as well as the unloading transports.

April 7th: CL Sendai TF and a powerful heavy squadron of 3 CAs and their escorts will sail ahead to cover the bombardment squadron's retirement from Kendari. The famous "blue-stripers", Tainan Ku S-1's Zeros, will provide LRCAP protection from Makassar. G4M1s are ordered to increase aerial naval search sorties.

April 8th: CL Sendai TF and the heavy cruiser squadron were in the Celebian archipelago near Kendari, 9 Zeros patrolling above them. The Zero pilots knew the Allied bombers at Kendari, Timor or Ambon might fly, and were ready for tthe 9 Dutch 139WHs. Yugumo's crew got to admire the Zero pilots breaking the formation and one by one shooting down the bombers, but one of them, already damaged and smoking, got through. In the distance they could see it dive towards CA Suzya, release its bombs, take a couple of hits more from Suzya's 25mm AA guns and then dive in the rising sun, back towards its base at Kendari while Suzya sailed through a huge water splash one of the bombs had just created.

April 17th: DD Yugumo is back at Makassar where its waiting for the fuel to arrive from Balikpapan. CL Sendai TF has no mission but is available for short operations, and is ready to react to any incoming Allied force.


Inteuniso:

Captain Izawa, Ishinosuke of CVL Shoho.

April 17th: Shoho has recently been merged into Carrier Division I and its position is now classified. Crew morale high.


Hanzoku:

PO2 Yamazaki, I. EXP 77, AIR 79, DEFN 73 in Genzan Ku S-1, A6M2 unit

April 4th: unit transferred from Tokyo to Pagan, Marianas. One of the rookie pilots of the squad crashes his plane at landing, but is unhurt. 2 planes require maintenance before they can fly again, and as soon as they are ready to go(probably tomorrow) the unit will transfer to Truk.

April 6th: transferred to Truk - unit trains and flies CAP over the IJN's extremely important central pacific base.

April 17th: at Truk. Yamazaki now has 16 missions flown, all CAP. Commander Fuchida makes a note he is actually the only Yamazaki in both IJNAF and IJAAF...


Fishbreath:

CA Atago, Captain Ijuin, Matsuji: leadership 66, insp 68, naval 64, aggr 50.

March 22nd: tasked to escort CarDivIII CVEs with CA Chikuma

early April: escorting CVEs in Indian Ocean

April 11th: CA Atago & CA Chikuma SQDN: were ordered to make a sweep near Darwin, sail West and after daybreak head North back towards the Japanese carriers. This sweep didnt miss but found the damaged Witte de With trying to escape to the West. At relative point-blank range of 2,000 yards, the only ship to engage was CA Atago. Expending a Type 93 torpedo, 18 200mm shells and 1 120mm shell the Atago scored 7 hits on the Dutch destroyer which immediately capsized and sunk. Not a big or particularly good warship destroyed, but a kill is a kill! CL Sendai TF with DD Yugumo(Zrk2) was also nearby but missed this action.

April 17th: CAs Atago and Chikuma at Makassar, fully combat ready.


Kicior:

Submarine RO-61, Captain, Commander E. Muto, leader 68, naval 68, aggr 76 is a very good submarine captain.

April 1st: reached station near Suva, Fiji

April 17th: at station near Fiji. Still no contacts...

I might be able to take one more guy to follow, preferably a fighter pilot.  I'll try to follow our heroes more closely in the future, perhaps even write some short stories... Any support for that idea? So far just Zrk2 and Fishbreath's characters have seen action of any kind. Fishbreath's Captain Mutsuji leads our kill tally with 1, DD Witte de With, near Darwin.