Supplement to Zuluhours To young to die..

[Skygge]

This AAR is meant to be a view from the other side of the hill to supplement Zuluhours AAR : To Young to Die, To Old to Rock and Roll

It is not meant to stand alone. I fear it will make little sense unless you follow Zuluhours as there will be little description of details of operations. I will provide only my general views on operations, and only go into any kind of operational detail where I think it has had a significant influence on the overall outcome. There will be very little here that add color to my narrative.

As I do not read zuluhours AAR there will be no coordination of the 2 AARs, so feel free to ask me to explain various aspects that may arise.

Updates will not be very frequent, so when they come they will tend to be rather long, as they will cover months of battle.

[Skygge]

War strategy:
Limit objectives to historical expansion with PM + Nth. Australia added. No overextension intended.
It is expected - and hoped for – to be a long game that will see the allied in full strength and hopefully a resilient Japan. With no PH attack, Force Z sure to survive December 7th, PP to buy out units from the Kwantung army and no plans for spectacular (risky) all-or-nothing advances, then Auto victory is less likely.
After securing initial objectives it will be raid type invasions to keep allied of balance as soon long as possible. Possible targets: Ceylon and the New Hebrides. Leave only small to tiny garrisons here and see how much time they can buy.
Dig in and wait for the unexpected. Strike back hard when key areas are under threat.

Strategy Phase 1:
Quickly seizes Malaya & DEI and move on to secure Nth. Australia.
Main thrusts are down Malaya to Singapore, over Celebes and on to Timor and finally over Rabul to Port Moresby.
Bypass garrisons to wither on the wine and to be mopped up later.

Grand Tactics:
Quick deep penetration invasions. Setup of advance airbases to dominate surrounding areas. Quickly attrite any air opposition – do not spare the Japanese Air force the planes and the pilots lives belong to the emperor and the cause.
Use overwhelming force to keep up momentum. No bog down of main thrusts.
Only 2 Divisions earmarked for Luzon to take either Clark Field or Manila. Both can not be success fully defended,
38th ID will be strategic reserve after the fall of Hong Kong to be deployed where most needed.

China:
Slowly push the Chinese back. Use maneuver as much as possible instead of WWI type of warfare.
Priority try size Sian – Try to maneuver the Chinese out of initial objectives in the north & trap and destroy Chinese units south of Nanyang.
Look out for any weak points and if any strike here. Do not go into long slugging matches in difficult terrain.
Really not a war I this time around want to fight, but I can not afford not to. Fast advances can not be expected, but only a slow push back as I buy out reinforcements from Manchuria.

Logistic:
By and large I intend to let ships come of the line according to schedule. In mid 1942 I will revise if I want to stop later production.
A turn over of production to only few types of aircraft in production and research is planned. I like (try) keeping my air force simple and homogeneous.
Research and advanced production will be directed to only a few selected aircraft of each branch i.e. Army and Navy. These will be the main stay of any engagement. Priority to be on single engine aircrafts, but for army aircraft I can not go around the Helen and the Nick.

Sub warfare:
This is one of the aspects of the game that I like giving a lot of attention - both the defensive and the offensive side
I will put in a lot of air resources to try keeping enemy submarines under water - this will include army bombers, almost all 2E naval bombers and even the otherwise not so useful floatplanes.
ASW escort groups with supporting auxiliary will be stationed around "bottlenecks" to escort convoys though the areas.
Most convoys will be small and lightly escorted - their key weapon will be their routing
Larger convoys with the most valuable ships will be given escort priority, and their routing even more carefully planned.

Offensively Japan has only a fairly short "Golden period". From Mid 1942 Japanese submarines can not operate successfully for any length of time close to a major allied base.
The allied advancements in Radar and ASW factors gives low survivability if you try keep a sub marine on station close to an allied hub.

But the first months can indeed be golden. The Japanese has the advantage here to with some certainty to predict allied naval lanes, so here you will find me setting up wolf packs.

And most important: Be an opportunist.
Get a feel of your opponent.
Reinforce your success not your failures. Plans are nothing, planning is every thing.

[Skygge]

7 Weeks into the War :
Malaya and Singapore are secured with light casualties only to the imperial forces.
Advance was done at motorized speed as allied withdrew en masse to Singapore.
All 5 IDs are now fully operational after a few days of rest.
Flak took its toll though, the deployed Bomber forces that had to go 16.000-18.000 feet after a few days.
Dutch SS have hit 2 CLs – both are now secure in harbors and Dutch SS also sunk a few AKs and small crafts. Nothing
serious though.

Celebes and Timor secured and air HQs set up.
Little air resistance and only light surface forces encountered some transports and small crafts lost.

1 HQ + 1 ID + 2 Regiments + various base forces are on Java in 2 bridgeheads with substantial forces on its way.
Island cut in half.
Only light air resistance and very little in form of fighting ships.
The Dutch have retreated to the mountains and Batavia. Only light resistance is expected in Surabaya.

The Philippines:
Both Clark Field and Manila were lightly defended; the bulk of allied troops had withdrawn to Bataan.
38th ID was deployed to help quickly clear Clark Field and then in turn Manila.
The Allied now buttoned up on Bataan invested by 1 ID with supporting artillery.
It will be a long siege.

Burma:
All off 55th ID is now in Burma. Rangoon surrounded, Mandalay and Oil fields in Japanese hands,
Clearing rest will be police work. 33rd ID will go from Singapore to help clear Rangoon.

Rabul, Port Moresby, Horn Island, the Solomon’s and Luganville secured.
The Coast defense guns at Horn Island came as a surprise, but no ships were sunk and none badly damaged. Poor intelligence work from my side.

Northern Pacific:
Agattu, Attu and Adak secured.
Light surface fleet encountered and 4 AKs and small crafts lost, but not before they had unloaded invasion forces.

China:
Here progress is beyond expectations.

Southern China:
A lot of maneuvering with relative light forces, some Chinese units cut off and risk being badly mauled if not destroyed, but in its self not a serious threat to the Chinese main line of defense here.

Northern China:
Sian taken and the bulk of the Northern Chinese army destroyed or surrounded. Japanese forces advancing on
Lanchow in hot pursuit of what is left of Chinese forces. It can now be a race to take the mountain hexes that guard access to Chinese plains around Chungking.

Initially intend was only to try to cut off and destroy Chinese forces south of Nanyang and then slowly try to push the Chinese back.
In general the Chinese did the right thing to start with.

They withdrew to the rugged and wooded areas South of Sian to set up their defenses. What looked like two equal strength forces were set up to guard the southern approaches to Sian. One took up position on the dirt road from Chengchow 2 hexes from Sian and the other on the paved road from Nanyang 3 hexes from Sian.

Japanese forces from the south advanced and took Nanyang. To test defenses I send in 3 IDs, and they could not budge the force on the paved road. No Japanese forces advances up the dirt road. There were only weak Japanese forces around Chengchow.

I expected the Chinese force on the dirt road to reinforce the other, but both seemed static, and had clearly not
Identified the main Japanese thrust coming from Nanyang, but were content with having stopped the first attack.

As the Chinese evacuated Chengchow, I now had a free railhead 2 hexes away with a paved road from Nanyang,
so I started train in Divisions and had them leg over to Nanyang. Here they stayed not moving into contact with the Chinese force on the paved road, so as not to give the game away, while bought out Armor from the Kwantung Army kept the road open and helped keeping Chinese Forces south of Nanyang trapped and away from the build up.

When 5 or 6 IDs had arrived at Nanyang they advanced into contact, and from here the battle was lost to the Chinese,
Their forces too divided to quickly support each other were no match for the Japanese Juggernaut massively support
by their Army Air force and a relentless pursuit ensued.


Over all Assement:

Progress is satisfactory, in China it is excellent.
Losses have been light so far,

The China gain comes at a price though. All buyout so far has gone to the Chinese Theater. Vital air assets are for now
tied up in China. I am close to getting sucked into this all-out war that I really did not want to fight, but somehow can not stop doing.
A supply convoy has been shipped from Japan Wuhan to ensure the advance does not grind to a halt.
There is a danger that my planning and operational focus stray away from other areas, and the war as such can not be won in China alone.

Immediately objectives are to clear Java and the remaining oil centers on Borneo, clear Northern Australia
and keeping pushing in Northern China, then go search for his main line of defense and decide from there.

The enemy has shown great skill in air handling. His fighter´s have caused me all sorts of grief, including a bunch of bombers at the very start. His bombers elude my defense by shifting airbases and targets. Coming in at different heights – it took me 3 turns to figure out why his Chinese Hudson could keep bombing me until I noticed that they came in at only 3.000 feet.

His handling of light surface forces has been brilliant. I lost a small troop convoy at Kendari that was coved by 2 surface task forces and a small carrier task force. I sat back and cursed and admired how they slipped behind my
covering forces, annihilated the small convoy and got away on the other side. It was the last thing that made it brilliant in my eyes. Not only did they come with an attack plan and a purpose, but also with a get away plan.

The allied fleet is intact, and additional air and ground forces have not been thrown into indefensible positions, so are also out there waiting. My subs now gets very few sightings and even fewer attacks in. Either he does not ship much on map or he is very good at it.

Conclusion is that the fight has yet to begin.

[Pilsator]

ORIGINAL: Skygge

Conclusion is that the fight has yet to begin.

I have a deja-vu;)

[Skygge]

[:)] Deja-vu Again?

Yes, in our game the reel fight is still to come. just here it is getting closer [:D]

[Skygge]

Mid April 1942

DEI and the Philippines:
Allied now left only on Bataan, Ambon and on Mindanao where they hold Davao and Malaybalay.
1 IJA ID on way to clear first Ambon then in turn Mindanao with support of all the small units already there.
All bases in Northern Australia now flag the Rising sun. All bases here had been evacuated but for Darwin, which fell to an attack coming in from Wyndham.

Two IJN marine units are grinding down the small French garrison on Noumea, but these French do fight. They have so far withstood 3 attacks, Casualties are remarkably light on both sides in this small unit battle, but as losses are equal on both sides, the math is on the Japanese side.

1 Elite IJA ID + HQ + 1 Arm. Reg + 1 Art + 2 Eng. Reg are grinding down 2 New Zealanders Brigades + various base units on Suva, while the Mother Dragon In the shape of the KB covers the approaches. Experience 90+ does wonders against conscripts.

1 IJA ID is kept as floating reserve north of Rabaul to move forward if needed either place. So are all the slow BB´s.

Small units were landed in North Western Australia, as bases here were deserted but my bluff was called and counter attacks supported by B-17´s have wiped them out. They only thing that hurt here was that I was silly enough to land a JAAF unit at Cooktown together with 3.000 supplies.- all lost.

The allied strategy seems to have been not to contest anything that is in an exposed position, thus trading space for time. The few counter stokes that have been carried out, have been hit and run bombardments or fast cruiser runs.
They have been well executed but have been mere pinpricks that have not stopped or delayed any operation.

This strategy has certainly saved allied men and materiel, but it has also given me a free reign to act feely with few concerns as to the safety of men and materiel expect at the very front line. I am in favor of this allied retreat strategy, but maybe not to the extend that is seen here ..and reading AAR´s also in other games.
I would sacrifice / risk more light surfaces forces and have some forward land defense to slow down the Japanese advance.
I know it would hurt to trade units in a 1 to 3 ratio, but I think it must be tried. Yes, you also risk throwing away some units for nothing, but the Japanese, strong though they are, are not equally strong everywhere.

………

China the allied Achilles heel.

Situation for the allied has here gone from bad to critical.

The Japanese have pushed through the mountains and forests in the north, and by threatening to surround Kienko forced the Chinese to withdraw from here. Pushing on to Chengtu, this base fell 2 turns ago – with a 99% intact industry.- a true windfall for the supply situation.

Large pockets of Chinese exists all along the advance route, but the Japanese are in control of all the hexes, so supply is flowing through, a bit slow but it is coming through. – assisted by every TR that can fly supply into Kienko.

Now road is open to taken Chungking which seems more lightly defended than Chengtu was (units here retreated into the mountains, as Japanese units have entered the base from all but the northern hexsides.

At the same time 5 ID´s + armor and artillery have entered the mountain hexes towards Paoshan from Burma, and in a short battle smashed the 3 Chinese units covering the border. Paoshan is now doomed and maybe also Tayun and ultimately Kunming, though I am uncertain of the defenses here.

It can be consider ill use of unrestricted units, but as I do not need them elsewhere for now, China is punch drunk,and I will not operate valuable ships and units without air cover, It seems the right thing to do in game terms.

If I can eliminate China as a cohesive fighting force in the summer of 1942, I will be able to consider where to deploy the massive forces then released. We do play with PP to cross borders, so most units will remain restricted for long,but can then be deployed to mob up the scattered Chinese armies, but still it will be strong forces that will be available.

In the south of China my bluff was also called and a couple of companies were wiped out by Chinese forces sallying forth, but some Chinese advance too far or retreat too slow. 2 corps were trapped and annihilated, a Cav Corps mauled and 4 others units
have advances into Japanese held cities, where I have closed their only exit by entering same hex sides afterwards with fast moving units. Now the main thrust in the south will advance in the west up North towards Chungking.

The advances in China have been greatly assisted by a massive deployment of both Army and also Navy bombers with Zeros to sweep the skies clear - I had no need for these navy planes elsewhere, as threat level against my seaborne advances has been low.


…

I thing this game is way better and more complex than anything else… by miles. – but I can not help thinking that there possible Is a flaw in the Chinese theater of operation, i.e. the Chinese being just a bit too fragile.

As Chinese you risk doom if you make ANY mistake early in the game. My opponent made the mistake in not identifying the main thrust of advance in the north, and as soon as the first attack retreated the Chinese blocking force, there has been very little if nothing he could do to halt the Japanese advance all way to the gates of Chungking. The Japanese are simply too strong in all aspects in comparison.

I all other aspects of the game – air and naval handling he has gotten the better of me with the few resources he has had a hand, but still I feel the overall situation looks bright to the Japanese, because of the possible collapse of China during summer 1942. ..and I can not help feel this being a bit unfair somehow.

I might be counting my chickens before they are hatched, and I can be in for a rude awaking. It might be, that the strong(er) position in terms of available land forces, will do me little good, as soon as the allied forces start their advances.

[Yaab]

If you want to see a stronger Allied China, play RHS mod. Makes Japs want to throw the towel on turn 1.

[Skygge]

Thank you for advise Yaab, is something to consider.

Update Mid July 1942.

Action only happening in 3 places : China, Burma and the Aleuts.

China : China is close to being down for the count.

Some 300.000 Chinese ~ 3.800 AV holding Chungking with fort level 2
Some 5000+ AV IJA are converging on the city with lots of heavy guns, tanks and engineers.
- close to 1.000 IJ planes are daily pounding the hapless Chinese. I think the City will fall after 2 or 3 assaults.
They will be costly and some rest will be needed between assaults, but I think it will fall.

[Skygge]

Burma :
The allies are pushing for the jungle village of Bhamo NE of Lhasio. Some 1.100 allied AV are facing close to 400 japanese AV.
Good allied units; aussie brigades and armour against all regiments of the 55 IJA Div. but for the cavalry regiment.
Why they commit so much here I do not fully comprehend. They pose little threat there to anything vital, even if they cut the road into China I can live with that. 2 IJA Divs are heading down the mountain road from China already and more will follow after the fall of Chungking.
One IJA Div is in reserve near Mandalay, but I find little point in sending it to Bhamo.
I would like to knife fight the allies in the jungle as soon as I get more force into the theather.

[Skygge]

The Aleuts.

First allied counter offensive taking place. 12.000 allied have invaded Adak which is defended by 3.500 Japanese incl. 1 Naval guard unit. Forts down to level 2.

- but the IJN is convering on the place. Yamato and friends find the next wave allied at anchor. The Japanese admiral decides to gang up on small DD Benham in real school bully style. With blazing guns Benham goes down,... and Yamato is repaid by one of Benhams sisters.

While Benham is being beaten up in a corner the rest of the allied slip away in the night, and the japanese admiral apparently happy with what he considers a good nights work sets sail for home.

[Skygge]

But all is not over for the Alllied.
The KB lurks to the south and launches .. a few planes






So for the prize of almost nothing I have send the best part of the IJN north leaving the South Pacific exposed.
..and it was against by own better judgement.The silly things we do.

[Skygge]

South Pacific

Fiji is well defended and fortified. New Caledonina no so - here only 3 naval guard units and base forces resides.
I do however have lots landbased Kates, Vals and Zeros in the area + the mini KB

Now it remains to be seen if the allied can muster an effective counter offensive before the KB is back in its southern den

All in all i consider it a mistake to have send the KB to icy waters. and now I may have to pay the price

[Skygge]

Date : November 1st 1942

China :

Things have gone very favorable here, but with an all-out Japanese offensive the cards were very much stacked in my favor - though it has come at a price.

China has been a major drain on Japanese supply. To keep up this all-out offensive, I have had to ship in convoy after convoy of supplies to China.It has truly put a brake to carrying out other major offensive actions.

Only defensible position left to the Chinese is Changsha with little supply judging from the absence of AAA fire.
Other small pockets are also down on supply and can be mobbed up at will

[Skygge]

Burma ;

I have had to pull back from Northern Burma. Partly because of lack of supplies, but mostly because of massive allied pressure.
Strong presence of P-38´s, B-25´s, B-17´s and lots of armor made me run for cover under the canopy.
Now my position is strong, as I have heavily reinforced the forces here. I am now up to 10 ID + lots of AAA and Art.
120.000 supplies are now just a few days away from being unloaded, so those nasty exclamation marks should go away.
With the commitment in China now dramatically reduced, I can concentrate my resources on other theaters of operation.

I have about 400+ fighters and 200+ bombers ready to be committed when needed.

Rangoon alone is defended by some 200+ fighters.
Here I have had some success in countering high altitude sweeps by P-38´s. The P38´s do now and again get good kill ratios, but then again I am sure they have the best pilots and commanders available,
and the P-38 is a very good plane, also I think my opponent make sure they are well rested and moral is up before a next sweep, so they should get good kill ratios.
I think it must be hard for the allies to keep up the sweeps as my layered CAP takes a reasonable toll on every visit, and the P38 I think not so plentiful. If kill ratio is 1:2 I consider it a Japanese success.
The 4E´s bomb runs on Rangoon have effectively been countered by the CAP – or at least I think so. Last time the P-38´s came in long after the bomber stream to the dismay of the bomber crews.

I consider going on the offensive in Burma, now that supplies are coming in, but I am a bit wary of meeting the allied tanks on the open ground in the valley though I have lots of Art. at my disposal.
How effective can the allied maintain an army in Northern Burma, with the only supply path going though the Jungle + what he can fly in?
I suspect answer is “sufficient”.
If the allied is fully supplied I think it folly to tango with Lee´s; Matilda´s and Valentin´s in the middle of the dance floor. They are too hard to handle.

Also I have no idea where a lot of the US units are. I still need “find” his Marines, some ID´s, most of the US armor and artillery. I have to take into account that they could show up here.
- Especially in lieu of developments elsewhere.

[Skygge]

Australia :

I have evacuated Northern Australia as allied armor slowly came up from Alice Spring and 4E´s stated dropping 500 lb.’s
Rising Sun Flags in the desert seems to make excellent aiming points.
Perhaps a bit like Pandas sitting in the Jungle looking like Jolly Roger´s – not the best survival strategy.

I have had neither the men nor the supplies to make a serious effort in Australia. Now that both are available, I am more worried about the Burma front.
And given a choice I will rather defend where the allied need cross water to get at me.

[Skygge]

South Pacific

There has been a lot of action here.

An Allied invasion of New Caledonia thwarted and invaders now on way to POW camps. I would think 1/3 of Americal Div. + supporting Art.& tanks.
– a small force ended up on the Island south of Nouméa, - by accident I think as the invasion force retreated from my BB´s. and in sudden spur of inspiration stated unloading again.

Luck was on my side here, as landed based air in their first attack neutralized Yorktown, and with allied air cover gone, the Japanese bombers could here after fly at will, and my surface forces closed in for night battles.
All in all that was a muddled affair from my side with half a dozen naval engagements all around New Caledonia – North and South and East and West of the Island.
Japanese night training (and numbers) carrying the “night” and with daybreak the Japanese Navy was in command of the area.

Day break brought air attacks on the retreating allied, and POW took 6 torpedoes. Normally that would sink her, but I did not witness her sink and I have no confirmation of her being sunk.

My opponents comment to the whole affair was typical laconic “That went not quite as planned”.


Shortly there after we got embroiled in a carrier vs carrier battle around Norfolk island. The Japanese coming out on top, though I am not sure what was sunk on the allied side.
I can only guess at an Aircraft carrier and numerous cruisers and destroyers, but at least 4 US CV´s were witnessed taking a pounding worst hit seemed Lexington and Saratoga.
Japanese losses were 190 airplanes + 2 DD´s sunk with only two Japanese carriers scratched by a bomb each – both carriers staying fully operational.


Norfolk Island, now being the pivot of the campaign, was subsequently invaded and sized by the imperial forces.

Next BC Repulse closed in on a convoy picking up some Japanese at Norfolk, but a sub put a lucky torpedo in her and caused engine damage. She was subsequently hunted down by Japanese BB´s and sunk in a night battle.

I left only a small Para (Raiding) regiment to guard the Island, as it is impracticable to keep larger forces there, because of its closeness to the airbases in New Zealand.
- The allied can bomb and bombard the place at will .. as can the Japanese.


Latest development was a fast raid /invasion of Norfolk by the allies. It was bombarded by cruisers and destroyers under cover of a TF build around a lone CV Wasp.

Luckily (from a biased perspective admittingly) I had the entire KB lurking near Suva, as I expected an allied move on this because of lots of radio traffic coming from Christmas Island followed a few days later by same volume
coming form Pago Pago. A quick dash brought most carriers inside striking distance of Norfolk, and a one side battle followed. CV Wasp taking 16+ bombs and BB North Carolina needing new paint from 20+ bomb hits.
They were just outside torpedo range, so only Zeros & Kates flew on them; lot of bad weather covered the area in general so only a few Val´s flew all together, even though the invasion fleet and covering cruisers were only a few hexes away.
- But it did hurt the allies.

I pursued the next day too close to Auckland and a Japanese BB + CA each got a torpedo from Vildebeest´s – why I did not have any Zero´s on Cap over them I can only ponder at.
Both are OK but will need go back to japan for repairs. – I did get DD Le Triomphant for the effort.


With an intact Japanese carrier force, I am overall in a good position to cover the positions in the South Pacific into start 1943. I have no real idea on how many US Carriers have been sunk, but I am fairly sure not many are operational.
- If no actual sighting of a sinking takes place then Japanese intelligence on sunk ships is awful.

I now expect the allies to put pressure on other fronts, maybe with some push against DEI as soon as rest of Northern Australia has been liberated.
I think any allied operation inside the next 3 months that needs sustained air cover must be inside range of allied land bases.

A raid on Northern Japan could be a possibility, but will as for now have little chance of successful outcome, as is the case for an invasion of Sumatra or Java. I have too much air ready in both places.


I can tell that I am up against an experienced player, I need all the time look at where I can be hurt if hit, and the allied forces are getting stronger each month.
…and my opponent has player stamina and good dose of humor, which has been needed to counter the luck I so far have brought to the table, that little uncertainty on battle outcome
swinging my way when important. I have played this game for years now, and it is truly in this game I suddenly realize how much have eluded me before.


Ohh yes I have screwed up the Japanese production like I usually do. That has not helped on my overall supply situation, though situation is slowly becoming more stable.

[Skygge]

1943

War will now take a new turn. Japan will switch from the Strategic offensive to the Strategic defensive – with limited offensives and counter strikes to keep the enemy at bay and off his footing.

With the Allied rebuffed in the South Pacific for now and Allied advance in Burma turned back by well supplied and dug-in Imperial troops fighting in favorable terrain, I expect the Allied to change approach strategy away from head-on attacks trying to blunt their way through with armor to instead going for weak spots and flanking movement. Pressure will probably now be applied on many fronts at the same time to find weak spots.

In a few months time the Allied need not necessary flee from Japanese Carriers - if in an otherwise favorable position close to their own airbases.
On the contrary a carrier attrition is now generally favorable to the allied even if done at 2 : 1.

The Allied can soon conduct invasions in force of exposed positions. A Marine Division once landed will be very hard to expel if not quickly isolated.

On the positive side the Japanese is now unshackled from weighing every operation on a fine scale so as to reduce own losses – i.e.no more looking out for an AV possibility. Now operations can be carried out with the only purpose of hurting the allied and put a break on their advance.
Much higher losses can now easily be accepted as long as it hurt the Allied just a bit more than it hurt the Japanese.
The one exception is Japanese Carriers. They alone can deter a rapid allied island hopping advance in second half of 1943, so they must be used wisely.

Several surface task forces have already set sail for the open seas to try intercept shipping to Oceania. A chain of submarines has been in place since December to scout possible sea lanes.

I have moved most subs away from being close to major allied bases and naval hubs. Allied ASW is now getting too formidable.
I am experimenting with having “Wolf packs” of 4-6 submarines behind the screen ready to move to intercept identified targets - So far not with much luck.

In the air I will most likely seek attrition battles – especially defensive attrition battles where fewer pilots are lost.
I can better replace aircraft in 1943 than my opponent can.

Extensive training has gone on for months now of both Army and Navy aircrew in Naval attack of all sorts and altitudes.
In 1943 the Japanese can still keep up with the allied in this most important of arms.

The next generation of fighters is close – and will come in quantities.
I am putting high hopes into the IJN fighter George. It will go into mass production in March. It looks to be rugged, fast and having a hefty punch. I have never seen this aircraft in action before.
They and IJA fighters will defend forward bases, and the bombers and reserve fighters (Zekes) will be to the rear and ready to go forward when a threat is discovered.

Allied 4E bombers is the one weapon I find the hardest to tackle and is almost impossible to neutralize. My opponent seems to swear to a bomber doctrine; so far nothing has happened without bombers coming in first
– than again on reflection that could also possible be because the Allied has few effective tools to wield in 1942. Bombers being one of the few.

The allied 4E´s can take out any airbase in range. They can not be stopped. Unsustainable losses can be inflicted on them – for a while in 1943 anyway,
but if the allied want any given airbase to be taken out they can do so,So for a Japanese air defense to be effective there need to be supporting bases in reach.

As it is impossible to garrison every island sufficiently to make an impregnable barrier,some sort of active defense must be build up.

Airfields on selected bases are already now under expansion. These bases are in depth and as mutually supporting as possible.
Japanese Carrier Forces will be supported by land based air from these bases in the Pacific.
In DEI defenses will be build around land based air.

4 IJA Divisions are held as reserves at various bases inside the defense perimeter - all with they own transports already at these locations, and ready to react to any major Allied advance.

Now the tricky part will be to anticipate where the allied will hit next.

War goal for now is to reach 1944 with a defense perimeter of : Southern Burma, Sumatra, Java, Timor, the Northern coast of New Guinea, The Carolines, The Marianas, The Bonins and the Kuriles.
After that we will see. I have never seen 1943 before as the Japanese, so it is new territory for me.

[Skygge]

An Example of a Wolf pack that goes wrong.
January 13 a Convoy is spotted off the West Coast Heading for Hawaii

[Skygge]

The Wolfpack gathers - I estimate it will pass South of Hawaii

[Skygge]

I miss the intercept - now it looks like it will head for Pearl Harbour