Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Hanzoku]

PO1 Hanamoto, K. please. =)

[MonkeyHead]

I want a pilot please, anyone will do.

[Erkki]

Would you like to claim some particular pilot, MonkeyHead?

[MonkeyHead]

Kawato I. (PO2) would be good for me...

[Erkki]

My opponent has been busy so during the last 7 days we've only managed to play 2 turns.


July 18, July 19


Burma: JAAF keeps bombing Chittacong. No resistance. No Allied movements detected. Japanese reinforcements, in the form of several infantry divisions as well as artillery and armored units, start arriving at Rangoon from tomorrow.

DEI: Japan invades Manado and reinforces Ambon invasion forces. Both places should fall shortly - Manado apparently has no supplies and Ambon defenders face 4:1 odds and just lost their last fortification level.

(Also, Battleships Ise, Fuso and Nagato leave Soerebaja heavily escorted)

Kido Butai: is happily together again as Shokaku and Zuikaku rejoin it. They have the radars installed now, those should help a lot should KB become under aerial attack.

Industry: Ha-45 enters production and 2 first engines of the type are built today. Factories should turn out approximately 120 of them a month.

I'll write something on our heroes tomorrow or the day after. 

[Erkki]

July 20


Solomons: Hero of the day is the crew of xAK Yuri Maru. Returning towards Rabaul from its supply cargo mission, it got attacked by an Allied submarine near Munda. The sub attacked on the surface, but in the ensuing duel the Yuri Maru managed to score 2 120mm gun hits on the submarine. An internal explosion and heavy damage was observed. The submarine itself failed to score a single gun or torpedo hit on the Yuri Maru. Yuri Maru's crew experience went from 16 to 61... Banzai!

Timor Sea:



CV Junyo: After refueling near Soerebaja today, the Timor Sea CV Strike Force is now 100nm South of Bandjoewangi, the Eastern end of Java, heading South.

[Erkki]

July 21


Submarines:

xAK Yuri Maru isnt that lucky today. It gets attacked by another submarine that procees to fire about 20 torpedoes... And one of them isnt a dud. Yuri Maru is 40nm from Rabaul now but will likely sunk as fires and damage are high.

Near Karachi in India, Japanese I-11 attacks a Royal Navy destroyer squadron and scores a hit on DD Griffin - but its a dud! I-11 is hit by 5 near misses and will have to retire with moderate but probably non lethal damage.


Burma: Japanese bombers hit Chittacong yet again. Yesterday they scored just 1 runway hit but do much better today with 3 base, 2 supply and I think 12 runway hits (54 bombers at 14kft, partly cloudy).


DEI: Ambon falls.


Timor Sea: detection levels of some of the task forces has risen to 1/0, but there have been no sightings of Allied aircraft or submarines here for months. Tomorrow is the landing day, targets are Broome, Derby and Port Hedland. The purpose of this operation is to make Bart react and attrit the Allies, deny the Allies some bases in the area as well as threaten, and if plausible, cut off and take Darwin by land. Providing the troops air cover will be a problem, but there are no big airfields anywhere nearby other than Darwin, so Allied bombers will most probably not be problem for at least a month. Allied armored units might become an issue, but as the Australian bases have not been built up at all, Bart more likely than not already has trouble keeping his units supplied. Northern Australia seems to only has the garrisons that begin the war there.

[Erkki]

July 22


Submarines: xAK Yuri Maru sinks at sea...


Timor Sea: Port Hedland invaded! Broome invaded! Derby invaded! All these places should fall easily tomorrow. Then we'll land the support units.


Economy:

Heavy Industry pool hit 500,000 today. Its rising by almost 5,000 units a day.

Home Islands have more fuel, supply and resources than ever before today. Oil is still dropping but there isnt much I can do about it. I need to ship in more of it, and fuel of course...

Been thinking about doing this for some time, and finally did it today. CV Aso project is halted for now. I cant afford to keep her accelerated until her completion, instead she could only be advanced by about 180 days - which would bring her completion date to somewhere in December 1944. Once the CV Hiyo is completed in 10 days, the Aso will be continued in something like 2 days on 1 day off pattern until the hull is laid, and then built normally.

[Erkki]

July 23


Australia: Derby, Broome and Port Hedland fall! Interestingly, aerial reconnaissance reports no activity whatsoever elsewhere in the AUS. Maybe they'll react when the crack 88 experience 33rd Infantry Division lands at Darwin, supported by battleships, in about 30 days? Wave 2 task forces will now drop some support units (including armor). Targets are Nookabah and then Katherine. Allied forces in the area are minimal and so poorly supplied that the xAKs of the Derby landing force actually wiped out the whole garrison in less than 24 hours!

Pearl Harbor: intelligence reports the harbor to have 146 ships, including at least 1 CV and an unholy number of destroyers and cruisers... I believe that at least all the USN CVs are there.

KB: Main body of the KB is in the Central Pacific, now equipped with Shokaku and Zuikaku's radars...

[Sheb]

30 days before you invade Darwin? That'll let him have ungodly amount of time to bring in reinforcement!

[Erkki]

30 days before you invade Darwin? That'll let him have ungodly amount of time to bring in reinforcement!

Well, he doesnt know that. And 30 days is pretty much the minimum it takes to load troops on a train in Sydney, rail them up, unload at Alice Springs and march half a thousand miles up the road... Reinforcing by sea is not an option - Darwin is well in range of our strike aircraft and is reconnoitered multiple times a day.

Now its a matter of seeing how quickly the Allied can build up Alice Springs, Normanton and Cluncurry airfields from scratch to be able to support heavy bombers(that can reach Japanese troops far in the North). And if they decide to commit naval forces or not, and whether they'll pull out or not. I dont think a month is enough. I have some scenarios thought out for this campaign, lets see which one of them will play out!

[Erkki]

July 24



Burma: yet another day of bombing Chittacong. Dacca hit AF size 5 today and I'm expecting to see enemy air units there soon. I cant escort bombers that far but at least it goes both ways, plus its pretty far to LRCAP Chittacong.


DEI: Mataram fell today. The unit that took it will be loaded on transports immediately to secure Waingapoe(100% preparation).


Australia: unloading troops as planned, no Allied intervention. The leading division advances first 15 miles. No enemy troop movements spotted in Darwin or anywhere else.


Submarines: an Allied submarine is attacked near Timor by a G3M3 that is flying 45 degrees outside of assigned search arc... And a Japanese submarine spots a convoy of 4 ships (unknown types) off Moulmein, New Caledonia, heading North.


Industry: CV Hiyo and CVE Chuyo available in 8 days. Ki-61-Ia and Ki-44-IIb advance a month each to 10/42 and 11/42. Ki-61-Ia R&D factories are moved to Ki-61-Ib. Ki-43-IIa and A6M3a are available from the beginning of next month!

[Erkki]

July 25


Burma: another day of bombing. AAA shoots down a Ki-21. There are multiple task forces unloading troops at Rangoon: infantry, aviation support, anti-aircraft artillery, armor, headquarters...

DEI: Mataram & Saumlaki invaded in 4 days.

Australia: all quiet, units unloading. A single Allied submarine is sighted off Exmouth, heading East.

[Erkki]

Early tomorrow morning I will leave to spend a hopefully happy 11 days in Bavaria and Austria. The weatherman is promising day temperatures of 32C to 37C for next weekend and the following week in Vienna, which suits me fine after the last rainy week.

This AAR will (hopefully) be continued 12th or 13th of July.

[Sheb]

Enjoy your rest!