December 21st-28th Weekly Roundup:
Malaysia: Singapore remains, Percival doesn’t as I removed him. No more airforce at Singapore, and as such, the daily bombing raids have commenced. All I can do now is wait with 800 AV behind 3 forts (almost to 4)
DEI: On the 28th – a large invasion force accompanied by the Mini-KB came to Palembang. We’ll see how long it lasts. North coast of Borneo is in Japan’s hands, but everything else (Balikapapan, Java, Ambon, etc.) are still mine.
Philippines: Fortress Manila is as ready as it’s going to be. Japs control the rest of this island, but have not moved on the large southern island with Davao.
China – It’s a typical mess. Other than the usual base-grabs, no indications of any major push in any particular direction.
Burma – A division of Japanese troops have showed up at Moulmein. Rangoon is at 3 forts (almost 4). I’m debating if I should try and sneak in the Brit 18th Division to make this a tougher nut to crack, but probably won’t and will try to make my stand around Imphal/Kohima.
Pacific – no major moves anywhere in the Aleuts, Marshalls, Gilberts, Pago Pago, Suva, or Solomon Islands. The Line Islands are being reinforced and built up.
New Guinea - An invasion force landed at Rabaul and pushed out my defenders in 1 turn. Drat I was hoping they’d hold out a couple of turns at least. In good news, I sent in my ABDA force of the CA Australia, 6 Dutch CL’s, and 8 Dutch DD’s. They encountered a supply tf consisting of 1 CL, 1 APD, and 7-8 transports and sank all of them. I had one DD take a .50cal shell. This is the second action the CA Australia has participated in, and she’s earning her war badge for sure! This, and the action last week where I sank a CA should give my opponent pause on “unescorted land-grab invasions” and slow his expansion a bit.
West Coast – All my future transports that become APA’s are on their way to the East Coast to sit and collect dust for a year or so. Upgrades to many ships begin soon.
Biggest Issue – This is the first match that I’ve played that Pearl wasn’t hit. I have some many ships I’m not used to having, that I’m not sure what to do with them all. I’m sensing that OZ is going to be a focal point of this war, so some support ships have been sent by “long route” to get there. I’m going to build up some backwater bases from Pearl to OZ, but to do this, first I need get bits and pieces of Av Support on some islands and get good search coverage over the whole region. I expect this to be done in 2 months. Once I have good coverage, I can begin building up bases to support my future invasions. The KB hasn’t been sighted in over a week, so who knows where it will pop up next. No SigINt of it so no idea.
War Diary
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: War Diary
December 29th, 1941:
Heard a report that the Lex is back in Pearl. That’s good news. Not that our Carriers are doing anything.
Today, the weather was complete muck. Fog down to the deck, no flights. So we headed up to a listening station on top of this islands volcano. The army boys manning the station were happy to take a break and let us listen. The atmosphere was just right, as we heard some reports that the Australian Navy sank a large convoy of troops in Rabaul Bay. We searched all over a map and found the harbor. Our hearts sank a little as that is Allied territory, but no longer.
President Rosy came over the radio and declared a “Germany First” strategy. Great. That means we’re going to get all the left over junk and have to use that to fight Japan. At least our maintenance crews (which are finally fully here) are doing a bang-up job of keeping our planes flying. Outside of the one problem we had last week, all our machines are in tip-top shape.
Later we caught watched a talkie in a tent. It was the movie “Gone With the Wind” which came out a couple years ago. Everyone was hooting and hollering at Scarlett’s luscious bosom. As we had all seen the movie, after about 30 minutes we turned down the volume and narrated ourselves. The language and words were not very gentlemanly, to say the least.
We did catch a newsie before the movie, the first we’ve seen. It spoke of a grand victory by the British navy in Malaysia, in which 2 Battleships and some assorted Cruisers sank a Japanese BB, 2 Cruisers, 1 Light Cruiser, and 3 destroyers but sacrificed a destroyer to do so… This is at odds with what we’re hearing in that the Japanese have cut the peninsula in half and have the Brits penned in at Singapore.
Heard a report that the Lex is back in Pearl. That’s good news. Not that our Carriers are doing anything.
Today, the weather was complete muck. Fog down to the deck, no flights. So we headed up to a listening station on top of this islands volcano. The army boys manning the station were happy to take a break and let us listen. The atmosphere was just right, as we heard some reports that the Australian Navy sank a large convoy of troops in Rabaul Bay. We searched all over a map and found the harbor. Our hearts sank a little as that is Allied territory, but no longer.
President Rosy came over the radio and declared a “Germany First” strategy. Great. That means we’re going to get all the left over junk and have to use that to fight Japan. At least our maintenance crews (which are finally fully here) are doing a bang-up job of keeping our planes flying. Outside of the one problem we had last week, all our machines are in tip-top shape.
Later we caught watched a talkie in a tent. It was the movie “Gone With the Wind” which came out a couple years ago. Everyone was hooting and hollering at Scarlett’s luscious bosom. As we had all seen the movie, after about 30 minutes we turned down the volume and narrated ourselves. The language and words were not very gentlemanly, to say the least.
We did catch a newsie before the movie, the first we’ve seen. It spoke of a grand victory by the British navy in Malaysia, in which 2 Battleships and some assorted Cruisers sank a Japanese BB, 2 Cruisers, 1 Light Cruiser, and 3 destroyers but sacrificed a destroyer to do so… This is at odds with what we’re hearing in that the Japanese have cut the peninsula in half and have the Brits penned in at Singapore.
RE: War Diary
Dec 30th: Another glorious day of war in paradise. The patrols with no signs of enemy have become routine. At least we are flying a lot, and that’s makes up for all the other inconveniences we’ve encountered at this ragtag strip. We could be living in a tent in a jungle 1000 miles from civilization, and it wouldn’t bother us as long as we can fly.
RE: War Diary
Dec 31st: New Years Eve! A day before my 22nd birthday. As a present, the army figured out that having an airstrip completely undefended was a bad idea… so I watched today as a pair of 37mm AA guns were setup. They should do well knocking down a squadron of the airplanes. I also watched a pair of .50’s being setup. It was interesting watching them furiously digging their gun pits, setting up the units, test firing, listening to the fresh-faced LT in charge scream and yell to redo everything. Suddenly our commander and some of his chicken-poo tendencies doesn’t seem so bad.
RE: War Diary
January 1st, 1942 Happy Birthday to me. I was surprised today by our ground crew as they had painted an inappropriate picture on “my” airplane, lovingly called “Hulu-Bell”. Lets just say this scantily clad image was a source of great amusement to all of my mates, and we had a good laugh discussing her many “virtues”. Even our squad leader “pretended” to not see what was painted. We all needed this morale booster, given our doldrums of no enemies to kill, but only reports of the Japanese making quick work of everything they’ve encountered. Alas, the war doesn’t stop for birthdays, so I had a pleasant afternoon flight. I caught a glimpse of a large convoy headed south out of Pearl, to destination unknown (to us anyways). In good news, that came through, I heard we smashed a Japanese invasion fleet at some place called “Rabaul”. No one has any idea where that is, and no one has an encyclopedia.
RE: War Diary
January 2nd, 1942: Got surprised today by a visit from a med team flown over from Pearl in a PBY. All of us went through thorough physicals, including checks for crabs and lice. It wasn’t so much a big deal, except we hadn’t seen a decent female in a couple weeks, the nurse was really cute, and we struggled to act normal, while completely naked in front of her. No one had crabs but we were told to shower twice a day with this special shampoo to prevent a lice breakout. Later as we got to talking, we wondered about what they physical portended as they are typically done right before a relocation. The sunset was surprisingly vivid as we finished off the last bottle I had from Pearl. Layers of reds, purples, yellows, I hadn’t seen before. But all I could think of during the sunset was of the Jap flag that had the meatball with red rays on it, and, visual display notwithstanding, the sunset turned from a thing of beauty to a thing of hatred.
RE: War Diary
I tried to keep up daily, but lack of time and real life duties conflicted, something had to give, and the least important thing in my life was trying to keep up an AAR. I’ll try and keep to more of a summary style, following our air group.
We are approaching March 1st, 1942. My PP has been built to where I can almost purchase two divisions. This is great, because I know exactly where they should go  and I need them.
To do a roundup:
China – it’s the typical land-slog. I’ve been using my Chinese units “behind” the main line to cut-off supply routes and make minor strikes against bases. Been using my AVG to try and catch unguarded bombers from time to time. Been using my Chinese bombers to strike at Jap troops in open hexes and dump supply to cut-off troops. All in all, not much going on that’s out of the ordinary. No moves towards Changsha, nothing towards Kweilien. Main line of attack seems to be slowly heading towards Sian, but the IJA has mainly been trying to mop up units and bases behind his “main” line.
India – Rangoon is surrounded, but no enemy troops are in the base. Daily IJA sweeps are occurring, and in numbers much too large for me to contest. But I have plans.
DEI – Palemburg fell in the middle of January. For all the work I did trying to make a fortress out of it – those efforts caused the base to last about 4-5 days. Samindara (base by Balikpapan) fell to an amphib assault, but in good news, my MTB’s interdicted the invasion and killed a couple-three transports and around 500-1000 troops. The assault on Java has begun, Batavia is about surrounded. I have no Dutch a/f left. All of the allied bases South of Bornea (Kendari, Ambon, Boela, etc) are still in Allied hands.
Philippines – Fortress Manila has been under repeated bombing and suffers a Deliberate attack every three-four days. All of the Southern Philippines are in my hands still, which has allowed me to create an air-bridge of supplies to try and stave off the inevitable. Two turns ago, he delib attacked and I saw one of his five divisions leading the assault go “poof”. So he's down to 4 divisions and assorted brigades (approx 1700 unadjusted AV total). Last turn was another delib attack, but the adjusted AV was 401 Jap, 731 US and it was crushed. Good. He’ll have to rest for another week, and the longer I hold out here the better for me - but I can see the end in sight. My supplies, despite my air-bridge, are slowly dwindling due to repeated air and ground bombardments. He did send in BB's, once, to bombard, but I had mined the hex and I heard a couple of hits. I think this has kept him from sending in bombardment tf's again.
SoPac – I hold Port Moresby and Lae, and have been busy reinforcing PM with supplies. Forts are building. The KB raided along the eastern OZ coast and sunk a few Dutch DD’s and couple of CL’s, but not much more than that as I had dispersed my fleet along many of the bases in OZ.
SE Pac – No IJ moves beyond taking the Marshalls and Gilberts. I’ve been busy building forts on as many bases as I can, for when my 2 divisions come free and I can get them in place in forts that exist. Then I’ll switch over to AF and Port building.
NoPac – nothing going on at all up here. Might be a chance to push forward in the coming months and have a springboard to the Kuriles.
My Carriers – where are they? The world wonders.
My pilot’s Air Group, 18th PG 44th PS – transferred from Lihue to PH, then took a boat to Christmas Island, then flew to Palymra and is CAPping the base. I’ll update them to P40E’s shortly. These line Islands are built up pretty good. Any invasion attempt by the IJ to take these island will be tough.
IJ Subs stationed around the WEst Coast continue to be a pain, so I've taken measures to avoid them, but they still seem to snag a ship or two every 3rd turn or so.
What can I say, this is a boring time for war for the Allies - as you can only watch yourself get pushed around the map without enough forces to do much more than poke them in the eye from time to time.
We are approaching March 1st, 1942. My PP has been built to where I can almost purchase two divisions. This is great, because I know exactly where they should go  and I need them.
To do a roundup:
China – it’s the typical land-slog. I’ve been using my Chinese units “behind” the main line to cut-off supply routes and make minor strikes against bases. Been using my AVG to try and catch unguarded bombers from time to time. Been using my Chinese bombers to strike at Jap troops in open hexes and dump supply to cut-off troops. All in all, not much going on that’s out of the ordinary. No moves towards Changsha, nothing towards Kweilien. Main line of attack seems to be slowly heading towards Sian, but the IJA has mainly been trying to mop up units and bases behind his “main” line.
India – Rangoon is surrounded, but no enemy troops are in the base. Daily IJA sweeps are occurring, and in numbers much too large for me to contest. But I have plans.
DEI – Palemburg fell in the middle of January. For all the work I did trying to make a fortress out of it – those efforts caused the base to last about 4-5 days. Samindara (base by Balikpapan) fell to an amphib assault, but in good news, my MTB’s interdicted the invasion and killed a couple-three transports and around 500-1000 troops. The assault on Java has begun, Batavia is about surrounded. I have no Dutch a/f left. All of the allied bases South of Bornea (Kendari, Ambon, Boela, etc) are still in Allied hands.
Philippines – Fortress Manila has been under repeated bombing and suffers a Deliberate attack every three-four days. All of the Southern Philippines are in my hands still, which has allowed me to create an air-bridge of supplies to try and stave off the inevitable. Two turns ago, he delib attacked and I saw one of his five divisions leading the assault go “poof”. So he's down to 4 divisions and assorted brigades (approx 1700 unadjusted AV total). Last turn was another delib attack, but the adjusted AV was 401 Jap, 731 US and it was crushed. Good. He’ll have to rest for another week, and the longer I hold out here the better for me - but I can see the end in sight. My supplies, despite my air-bridge, are slowly dwindling due to repeated air and ground bombardments. He did send in BB's, once, to bombard, but I had mined the hex and I heard a couple of hits. I think this has kept him from sending in bombardment tf's again.
SoPac – I hold Port Moresby and Lae, and have been busy reinforcing PM with supplies. Forts are building. The KB raided along the eastern OZ coast and sunk a few Dutch DD’s and couple of CL’s, but not much more than that as I had dispersed my fleet along many of the bases in OZ.
SE Pac – No IJ moves beyond taking the Marshalls and Gilberts. I’ve been busy building forts on as many bases as I can, for when my 2 divisions come free and I can get them in place in forts that exist. Then I’ll switch over to AF and Port building.
NoPac – nothing going on at all up here. Might be a chance to push forward in the coming months and have a springboard to the Kuriles.
My Carriers – where are they? The world wonders.
My pilot’s Air Group, 18th PG 44th PS – transferred from Lihue to PH, then took a boat to Christmas Island, then flew to Palymra and is CAPping the base. I’ll update them to P40E’s shortly. These line Islands are built up pretty good. Any invasion attempt by the IJ to take these island will be tough.
IJ Subs stationed around the WEst Coast continue to be a pain, so I've taken measures to avoid them, but they still seem to snag a ship or two every 3rd turn or so.
What can I say, this is a boring time for war for the Allies - as you can only watch yourself get pushed around the map without enough forces to do much more than poke them in the eye from time to time.
RE: War Diary
Glad you are still at it - miss the stories but completely understand RL issues.
Have you made any progress at attrition of the IJN?
Have you made any progress at attrition of the IJN?
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
RE: War Diary
Haven't been able to - my naval reaction forces missed interdicting the Samarinda invasion force by a day which sucks because I could have done a lot of damage. I had 4 CA's, 4CL's, and around 8-10 DD's. His blocking force was much weaker. But he pulled out and I retired before being spotted and come under air attack. Also, I had placed about 10 subs in the straights to the east of Samarinda, and not a single one of these boats engaged. Oh well. I'm not very happy with my Dutch subs to date, I usually get a lot more hits than I have in this game.
When he invaded Java in a 2-pronged invasion (at the hex to the east/SE of Batavia, and Merak), I sent my force to get his "advance" invasion on the hex east/SE, but he was gone by the next day. I was going to go after the invasion at Merak, but luckily, the turn before I was going to arrive, my search planes spotted a couple of BB's and I withdrew. I still came under long-range air attack from Mini-KB and had a couple of CL's damaged, but they'll be fine.
Other than that, he has not been sending out his ships in a manner I can interdict with relative safety. I.e. I could probably hit a couple of fleets, maybe sink a couple-three ships, but then I'd lose my whole fleet due to air. Also, other than an initial invasion of Tarawa and Tulagi, and the KB raid, he has not ventured anywhere else.
He may be slightly afraid of my carriers, as he did say that in his game as allies, he was able to sink 2-3 KB CV's with his Allied CV's in January '42, and while that's a one in a million type success, he may be wary of it. I don't plan on keeping my CV's "Sir Robined" at this time, but I'm not going to throw them away. I will strike when the right opportunity presents itself.
I am going to try small 2-4 ship DD forces around the DEI. I had great success avoiding air strikes with these ships in a Downfall AAR, I'll see if I can't recreate this success.
When he invaded Java in a 2-pronged invasion (at the hex to the east/SE of Batavia, and Merak), I sent my force to get his "advance" invasion on the hex east/SE, but he was gone by the next day. I was going to go after the invasion at Merak, but luckily, the turn before I was going to arrive, my search planes spotted a couple of BB's and I withdrew. I still came under long-range air attack from Mini-KB and had a couple of CL's damaged, but they'll be fine.
Other than that, he has not been sending out his ships in a manner I can interdict with relative safety. I.e. I could probably hit a couple of fleets, maybe sink a couple-three ships, but then I'd lose my whole fleet due to air. Also, other than an initial invasion of Tarawa and Tulagi, and the KB raid, he has not ventured anywhere else.
He may be slightly afraid of my carriers, as he did say that in his game as allies, he was able to sink 2-3 KB CV's with his Allied CV's in January '42, and while that's a one in a million type success, he may be wary of it. I don't plan on keeping my CV's "Sir Robined" at this time, but I'm not going to throw them away. I will strike when the right opportunity presents itself.
I am going to try small 2-4 ship DD forces around the DEI. I had great success avoiding air strikes with these ships in a Downfall AAR, I'll see if I can't recreate this success.
RE: War Diary
I’ve got 4 Ops in the works, two will most likely be uneventful, 2 of them if they do go through will lead to enemy contact.
Hodor – The plan is to heavily reinforce some islands and bring forts up quickly to make a counterinvasion by the IJN costly and time-consuming. These islands will provide security for a large swath of the Pacific. Ships depart the West Coast in about 7-10 days. Expected arrival in 1 month. In short, the goal of this op is to “hold the door” to the backroom of the Pacific.
Footprint– I plan to use some small, but strong, units to act as a tripwire to one axis of potential invasion sights. This op will be done on a shoestring budget of ships, men, supplies… If the IJN does invade along this route, I hope the these forces, simply by their presence, will keep the IJN out of more bases “down the road”. This op’s goal is to establish a small footprint in a region that has seen little action.
Operation Bootstrap – should the opportunity present itself, I plan on landing the British 18th, a couple Aussie units, and some assorted support units in a spot that will force the IJ to deal with them. In effect, I hope to tie down the IJ from further conquests by the sacrifice of these troops. This op may involve some carriers. Bootstrap only goes through if a number of factors still exist (namely, location of the KB, strength of the IJ in the region, commitment of IJ Naval forces to the region, and IJ airpower in the region). There’s a phrase “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” that equates to “man-up” and if Bootstrap through, my Brit and Oz forces are going to have to “man up”.
Operation Lego– I’m going to use some 2-4 ship DD tf’s to dance around and inside the IJ LBA, see if I can’t strike some weakly defended tf’s, and depart before the hammer strikes. Ever step on a lego with your bare foot? If so, then you know why I chose this name.
Hodor – The plan is to heavily reinforce some islands and bring forts up quickly to make a counterinvasion by the IJN costly and time-consuming. These islands will provide security for a large swath of the Pacific. Ships depart the West Coast in about 7-10 days. Expected arrival in 1 month. In short, the goal of this op is to “hold the door” to the backroom of the Pacific.
Footprint– I plan to use some small, but strong, units to act as a tripwire to one axis of potential invasion sights. This op will be done on a shoestring budget of ships, men, supplies… If the IJN does invade along this route, I hope the these forces, simply by their presence, will keep the IJN out of more bases “down the road”. This op’s goal is to establish a small footprint in a region that has seen little action.
Operation Bootstrap – should the opportunity present itself, I plan on landing the British 18th, a couple Aussie units, and some assorted support units in a spot that will force the IJ to deal with them. In effect, I hope to tie down the IJ from further conquests by the sacrifice of these troops. This op may involve some carriers. Bootstrap only goes through if a number of factors still exist (namely, location of the KB, strength of the IJ in the region, commitment of IJ Naval forces to the region, and IJ airpower in the region). There’s a phrase “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” that equates to “man-up” and if Bootstrap through, my Brit and Oz forces are going to have to “man up”.
Operation Lego– I’m going to use some 2-4 ship DD tf’s to dance around and inside the IJ LBA, see if I can’t strike some weakly defended tf’s, and depart before the hammer strikes. Ever step on a lego with your bare foot? If so, then you know why I chose this name.
RE: War Diary
Hodor - another G of T fan surfaces! Good stuff!
I am old enough to be quite familiar with the bootstrap expression and the pain of Lego bricks.
I am old enough to be quite familiar with the bootstrap expression and the pain of Lego bricks.
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
RE: War Diary
Glad you have the time for updates now as i have started a game as the Allies and find your posts helpful and full of ideas.
RE: War Diary
Feb 21st, '42:
Rangoon – Usual sweeps by around 75 Oscars/Zeros meet nothing. 18 Sally’s chimed in to reduce supplies. I may choose to contest the air over Rangoon for a couple of days with assorted Brit fighter squadrons and see what happens
Batavia – Almost surrounded by the Japanese, but not yet. I was able to extract 3 Dutch Eng construction units and an AA unit. All together, these will cost me 100 PP… so I’ll see if I can’t find some use for them elsewhere.
Manila – Approximately 80 Netties and 20 Sonia/Mary/Lily continue their daily pounding of this base. Supplies are at 10k and steadily being reduced. I expect another deliberate attack in a week, when the IJ recovers their incredible disruption from the previous attack. I’m not sure if this base will stand another assault, (approx. 600 AV), but I am flying in troops from around the PI to help. Manila and Iba are the last holdouts on Luzon. No moves have been made against any bases in the lower PI.
Operation Hodor: 2 AVD’s departed parts unknown to land at dot bases. They are followed by a few xAKL’s with supplies. When the AVD’s arrive, I’ll fly in fragments of PBY squadrons for some air search. All those 4-stacker DD’s that can be converted to APD’s have been done so and are now in the area. These units have been dispatched to pickup some construction regiments, to begin building forts.
Operation Lego: A few DD’s have been detatched from my ABDA TF and have entered the DEI. They will hunt for targets of opportunity and see if I can’t at least give the impression of stronger naval forces.
Operation BootStrap: Transports left Aden carrying the Aussie troops, and nn appropriate amount of transports have been directed to pickup the Brit 18th from its present location at Deigo Garcia. Combat ships will escort these transports when the time draws near.
Operation FootPrint: I’ve been doing behind the scenes sexy-work to find and collate the troops for this op. Expected departure from their port of origin is in 1-2 months.
Rangoon – Usual sweeps by around 75 Oscars/Zeros meet nothing. 18 Sally’s chimed in to reduce supplies. I may choose to contest the air over Rangoon for a couple of days with assorted Brit fighter squadrons and see what happens
Batavia – Almost surrounded by the Japanese, but not yet. I was able to extract 3 Dutch Eng construction units and an AA unit. All together, these will cost me 100 PP… so I’ll see if I can’t find some use for them elsewhere.
Manila – Approximately 80 Netties and 20 Sonia/Mary/Lily continue their daily pounding of this base. Supplies are at 10k and steadily being reduced. I expect another deliberate attack in a week, when the IJ recovers their incredible disruption from the previous attack. I’m not sure if this base will stand another assault, (approx. 600 AV), but I am flying in troops from around the PI to help. Manila and Iba are the last holdouts on Luzon. No moves have been made against any bases in the lower PI.
Operation Hodor: 2 AVD’s departed parts unknown to land at dot bases. They are followed by a few xAKL’s with supplies. When the AVD’s arrive, I’ll fly in fragments of PBY squadrons for some air search. All those 4-stacker DD’s that can be converted to APD’s have been done so and are now in the area. These units have been dispatched to pickup some construction regiments, to begin building forts.
Operation Lego: A few DD’s have been detatched from my ABDA TF and have entered the DEI. They will hunt for targets of opportunity and see if I can’t at least give the impression of stronger naval forces.
Operation BootStrap: Transports left Aden carrying the Aussie troops, and nn appropriate amount of transports have been directed to pickup the Brit 18th from its present location at Deigo Garcia. Combat ships will escort these transports when the time draws near.
Operation FootPrint: I’ve been doing behind the scenes sexy-work to find and collate the troops for this op. Expected departure from their port of origin is in 1-2 months.
RE: War Diary
Feb 22nd:
Rangoon – 75 Oscars/Zeros meet nothing. 20ish Sally’s chimed in to reduce supplies.
Batavia – No move by the IJA/IJN to invade yet.
Manila – Usual 80 Netties / 20 Sonia/Mary/Lily bombardments.
Operation Hodor: 1 AVD has arrived at base. A fragment of a PBY flown in and will provide nav search. My APD tf didn't get all of the ENG detatchment, no biggie this buildup is a slow burn for now.
Operation Lego: Of the 4 DD's that are in the DEI, I decided to pull out the French DD Le Triomphant. That sucker has 137AA value and it's worth more to me in that regard. I dispatched a 2 DD tf between Singapore and Borneo - lets see what happens.
Continuing Operation Sexy-Work: My opponent's getting a new PC, which gives me a few days to run around and check all units. In doing so, I made sure all my training squads were filled with pilots. Downgraded training squadrons to free up good planes, upgraded front line squads with planes. Since Dec 7th, I've managed to free up 38 P-38's. I haven't put them into air groups yet, but I'll create a super-squadron of my best pilots with these P-38's for a continuing hot-spot of action (maybe Port Moresby?)
Rangoon – 75 Oscars/Zeros meet nothing. 20ish Sally’s chimed in to reduce supplies.
Batavia – No move by the IJA/IJN to invade yet.
Manila – Usual 80 Netties / 20 Sonia/Mary/Lily bombardments.
Operation Hodor: 1 AVD has arrived at base. A fragment of a PBY flown in and will provide nav search. My APD tf didn't get all of the ENG detatchment, no biggie this buildup is a slow burn for now.
Operation Lego: Of the 4 DD's that are in the DEI, I decided to pull out the French DD Le Triomphant. That sucker has 137AA value and it's worth more to me in that regard. I dispatched a 2 DD tf between Singapore and Borneo - lets see what happens.
Continuing Operation Sexy-Work: My opponent's getting a new PC, which gives me a few days to run around and check all units. In doing so, I made sure all my training squads were filled with pilots. Downgraded training squadrons to free up good planes, upgraded front line squads with planes. Since Dec 7th, I've managed to free up 38 P-38's. I haven't put them into air groups yet, but I'll create a super-squadron of my best pilots with these P-38's for a continuing hot-spot of action (maybe Port Moresby?)
RE: War Diary
18PG/44th PS has been on CAP duty at Christmas Island for about a month. My "pilot" is up to 64exp from 55 at the start of the war.
RE: War Diary
Feb 23rd, 1942:
Rangoon – Usual Zero/Oscar Sweeps, with 18 Sally. I'm going to throw up some CAP in about 5-6 days and shoot for the moon. The IJ unit at Prome has disappeared and Ramree changed to IJA hands thanks to the Imperial Japanese crocodile navy platoon. I think the unit from Prome is headed up the coast to Akyab, which is undefended.
Manila – Usual bombing raids by approximately 100 Betty/Nell/Sally/Lily/Sonia/ etc. Supplies at 8,500. Judging by the IJ AV from the land bombardment, I expect another deliberate attack in a day or two. I’m not sure I’ll Manila will survive this one.
Batavia – 11 TM boats in 3 tf’s engage at Kidjilatipiajksnetsistan (the base 2 hexes SE of Batavia). No losses on either side, but this is the 3rd day the IJ DD’s have expended ammo on my motor torpedo boats. There are 4 IJ DD’s and approximately 12-16 transports. Operation Lego is a go, and I’m sending in 2 DD’s to interdict and see if they can score some hits. Hopefully the IJ ammo is depleted enough to where I only get my paint scratched, and I sink a couple xports.
Operation Hodor – the 2nd AVD has arrived and docked. A second PBY fragment is flown in and now
providing search. No signs of IJN activity. The 10th Port Maint Btn is 3 days out from landing, but the Eng vehicles of the port maint btn won’t load on APD’s, so they are following by slow-boat and are a week out. Shortly thereafter comes the construction btn, then the infantry.
China – IJ troops have wandered into the hex SE of Sian on that dirt trail, and have encountered 2 Chinese units dug in behind 3 forts. We’ll see how long it takes for these to be dislodged.
Rangoon – Usual Zero/Oscar Sweeps, with 18 Sally. I'm going to throw up some CAP in about 5-6 days and shoot for the moon. The IJ unit at Prome has disappeared and Ramree changed to IJA hands thanks to the Imperial Japanese crocodile navy platoon. I think the unit from Prome is headed up the coast to Akyab, which is undefended.
Manila – Usual bombing raids by approximately 100 Betty/Nell/Sally/Lily/Sonia/ etc. Supplies at 8,500. Judging by the IJ AV from the land bombardment, I expect another deliberate attack in a day or two. I’m not sure I’ll Manila will survive this one.
Batavia – 11 TM boats in 3 tf’s engage at Kidjilatipiajksnetsistan (the base 2 hexes SE of Batavia). No losses on either side, but this is the 3rd day the IJ DD’s have expended ammo on my motor torpedo boats. There are 4 IJ DD’s and approximately 12-16 transports. Operation Lego is a go, and I’m sending in 2 DD’s to interdict and see if they can score some hits. Hopefully the IJ ammo is depleted enough to where I only get my paint scratched, and I sink a couple xports.
Operation Hodor – the 2nd AVD has arrived and docked. A second PBY fragment is flown in and now
providing search. No signs of IJN activity. The 10th Port Maint Btn is 3 days out from landing, but the Eng vehicles of the port maint btn won’t load on APD’s, so they are following by slow-boat and are a week out. Shortly thereafter comes the construction btn, then the infantry.
China – IJ troops have wandered into the hex SE of Sian on that dirt trail, and have encountered 2 Chinese units dug in behind 3 forts. We’ll see how long it takes for these to be dislodged.
RE: War Diary
Feb 24th, 1942:
Rangoon: Skies quiet over Rangoon today. I set a recon squadron to snoop the hex SE of Ramree Isle and see if that’s where the lone, Prome, IJA unit went.
Manila: Usual 100 plane visit from the Jappo air force. My troops are steadily recovering disablements from the last delib attack, but the ground bombardment shows that my opponent is also recovering disablements, and faster. My air-bridge to Manila is working hard to keep supplies in Manila, but it may be time to wind this operation down as I think my troops will be defeated before I’m out of supplies. I’ll use the floats to pull a fragment of the 4th Marine Regiment. Colonel Shofner ftw! Some US remnants in Iba finally surrender.
Batavia: My TM boat squadrons sortied again, but failed to engage the IJN at kiljistipanjkistanikan. Instead, on the way back, they encountered a 2BB, 2 CL, 6DD force. One TM took at 14” shell and was promptly obliterated. In the daytime phase, Zero’s from the Mini-KB – stationed between Borneo and Sumarta, sortied and shot up the boats with .50cals. Most of my TM boats ended up with 20-30 sys damage.
Operation Lego: Failure. 2 DD’s tried to intercept the IJ at Batavia, but instead hit the Jap BB tf referenced above. 1 DD was blasted into oblivion, the other escaped with no damage. I guess they aren’t ready for prime-time, yet. This will most likely end Operation Lego in the Celebes Sea.
Rangoon: Skies quiet over Rangoon today. I set a recon squadron to snoop the hex SE of Ramree Isle and see if that’s where the lone, Prome, IJA unit went.
Manila: Usual 100 plane visit from the Jappo air force. My troops are steadily recovering disablements from the last delib attack, but the ground bombardment shows that my opponent is also recovering disablements, and faster. My air-bridge to Manila is working hard to keep supplies in Manila, but it may be time to wind this operation down as I think my troops will be defeated before I’m out of supplies. I’ll use the floats to pull a fragment of the 4th Marine Regiment. Colonel Shofner ftw! Some US remnants in Iba finally surrender.
Batavia: My TM boat squadrons sortied again, but failed to engage the IJN at kiljistipanjkistanikan. Instead, on the way back, they encountered a 2BB, 2 CL, 6DD force. One TM took at 14” shell and was promptly obliterated. In the daytime phase, Zero’s from the Mini-KB – stationed between Borneo and Sumarta, sortied and shot up the boats with .50cals. Most of my TM boats ended up with 20-30 sys damage.
Operation Lego: Failure. 2 DD’s tried to intercept the IJ at Batavia, but instead hit the Jap BB tf referenced above. 1 DD was blasted into oblivion, the other escaped with no damage. I guess they aren’t ready for prime-time, yet. This will most likely end Operation Lego in the Celebes Sea.
RE: War Diary
Feb 25th, 1942 (we're almost to April 1st in the game - so this is a month delayed)
Operation Hodor: Unveiled. The plan is to reinforce Tabiteau and a couple other Gilbert Islands. This would protect my South Pacific bases such as Pago Pago, Tahiti, Canton/Baker, and the line islands. As noted, a couple of AVD's are en-route to support some search float planes.
Operation Lego: Ended... however, while departing the area, DD Scout depth charges a sub (reported as the I-10) and an internal explosion is noted.
Operation FootPrint: Still secret location, but transports and combat ships have been dispatched to appropriate locals to pick up troops and supplies.
In action:
Port Moresby is visited by 27 Zero's, 36 Oscars, and 20 Nells.
Rangoon is visited by 36 Oscars and 16 Sallies.
Manila receives approx 120 bombers. A deliberate attack by the IJ ground forces comes off at IJ 1257 AV to 757 US AV, and the forts are reduced to zero.
Soerajabe: The Mini-KB makes an appearance and 47 Zeros strafe the AF, 41 Kates bomb the port. I have nothing there as my Dutchie AF is dead and gone, except for the search aircraft and they are located elsewhere.
Toungoo auto-flips to Japanese control
Operation Hodor: Unveiled. The plan is to reinforce Tabiteau and a couple other Gilbert Islands. This would protect my South Pacific bases such as Pago Pago, Tahiti, Canton/Baker, and the line islands. As noted, a couple of AVD's are en-route to support some search float planes.
Operation Lego: Ended... however, while departing the area, DD Scout depth charges a sub (reported as the I-10) and an internal explosion is noted.
Operation FootPrint: Still secret location, but transports and combat ships have been dispatched to appropriate locals to pick up troops and supplies.
In action:
Port Moresby is visited by 27 Zero's, 36 Oscars, and 20 Nells.
Rangoon is visited by 36 Oscars and 16 Sallies.
Manila receives approx 120 bombers. A deliberate attack by the IJ ground forces comes off at IJ 1257 AV to 757 US AV, and the forts are reduced to zero.
Soerajabe: The Mini-KB makes an appearance and 47 Zeros strafe the AF, 41 Kates bomb the port. I have nothing there as my Dutchie AF is dead and gone, except for the search aircraft and they are located elsewhere.
Toungoo auto-flips to Japanese control
RE: War Diary
Feb 26th:
At night: 4 Dutch MTB operating out of Kalidjati (2 Hexes SE of Batavia) encounter a TF of 2 DD and 15xAK. Report shows that the xAK Aobasan Maru collides with Kamo Maru. Sinking sounds are heard. No combat occurs. Later, 2 more Dutch MTB's encounter same TF but to no avail. Then, the SS Searaven puts two torps (with hits!) into the Kamo Maru and it explodes. Batavia has been cut off on all sides by IJ ground forces. It currently has about 500 AV.
Manila is visited by approximately 120 assorted IJ bombers, and later bombarded by the IJ ground troops.
36 Zero's attack the 4 Dutch MTB's at alt 100ft but do no damage.
Rangoon is visited by 37 Oscars
Port Moresby is visited by 63 Zero/Oscar and 19 Nells
A supply TF at Suva is snooped by a float plane (probably a Glen)
At night: 4 Dutch MTB operating out of Kalidjati (2 Hexes SE of Batavia) encounter a TF of 2 DD and 15xAK. Report shows that the xAK Aobasan Maru collides with Kamo Maru. Sinking sounds are heard. No combat occurs. Later, 2 more Dutch MTB's encounter same TF but to no avail. Then, the SS Searaven puts two torps (with hits!) into the Kamo Maru and it explodes. Batavia has been cut off on all sides by IJ ground forces. It currently has about 500 AV.
Manila is visited by approximately 120 assorted IJ bombers, and later bombarded by the IJ ground troops.
36 Zero's attack the 4 Dutch MTB's at alt 100ft but do no damage.
Rangoon is visited by 37 Oscars
Port Moresby is visited by 63 Zero/Oscar and 19 Nells
A supply TF at Suva is snooped by a float plane (probably a Glen)
RE: War Diary
Return of the Diary: Jan 3rd – Feb 26th:
It’s been a while since I was able to pen some thoughts down… needless to say, I’ve been extremely busy. The doldrums of life at a Hawaiian outpost didn’t change throughout January. Same routine day in day out – consistent combat patrols daily, sometimes twice a day. All for naught, as the Japanese have stayed very far from our precious little bastion in the Pacific. Our planes were starting to wear out from the constant use, and saltwater spray coming off the ocean, so we were sent back to Pearl in late January and a newer, fresher squadron moved in to relieve us.
This was good as it gave us a chance to rework a number of our airplanes. I had noticed the engine on my usual bird was running a little rough at idle, so it was good to get it checked out lest it fail in combat, which of course hasn’t happened yet.
Naturally, as soon as our planes were up to snuff, we got a couple of days “R&R” (not that we needed it, for the only things that made our daily routine less-than-heaven was the lack of ladies to have fun with, and oh yeah, a war going on far far away… after all, we’re pilots and we want to fly!)… but in classic military tradition, as soon as our fun-in-the-sun-was-done, we got news – “we’re shipping off to parts unknown”.
Hmm, a long overseas flight I thought? This would put our navigational skills to use. Nope. We couldn’t be so lucky. We got marched down to the harbor and put on a slow, stinking, former trash hauling tub and sent into the seas with 10 other tubs and a couple of destroyers for escort. I can’t even remember the name of the “shoot me now” target we were on – but it definitely wasn’t built to carry troops. We had to string hammocks across steam pipes, eat nasty food (whoever said the navy had the best food certainly wasn’t on OUR ship), share 1 toilet and 1 shower with the rest of our pilots and ground crew. The seas were rough and while the pilots did ok fighting sea-sickness, our ground pounders were puking all over the place. So of course, anyone not affected by the heavy seas was on continuous clean-up duty, and yeah, that was the pilots. Here I am, a highly trained fighter pilot, scrubbing puke off of floors with a mop on a ship that could barely push 12 knots, in a squadron of 30 pilots that could all be killed by a single sub-fired torpedo. We all had big laughs at the term “military intelligence”.
But it wasn’t all bad – we noticed the rear cargo hold had some large crates in it… and pilots being pilots, we figured “no way we’re letting all that stuff be crated without knowing what’s in it”. A number of folks (of course, I wasn’t involved, wink wink) decided to “liberate” some “treasures” from the crates. What could they hold? Toilet Paper, peaches, cigarettes, mana from heaven? When we opened up a crate, our we couldn’t imagine the view that beheld us. We hung there slack-jawed for a good 30 seconds before recovering…. In the crates were brand-new, no paint chips, guns still packed with cosmoline, P-40E fighter planes. We couldn’t wait to get our hands on them.
Well after about 5-10 days at sea, we ended up at a place called “Christmas Island” in a chain known as the Line Islands. None of us cared – we just wanted off of swabbie duty to check out those new planes. But of course they were in pieces… so we spent about a week turning wrenches with our ground crew putting those things together.
After a couple of days of working on the planes, we actually pulled our eyes away from our work and looked around. We were doing a massive buildup on this island. Construction was occurring everywhere – at the airfield, the port, air-raid shelters, facilities… we noticed a couple of regiments of marines (and later a division of Army boys showed up), ack-ack guns were being entrenched, big shiny remf staff officers walked around with nary a speck of dirt on their uniforms.
We got the planes all fixed up and got back into our routine. We like them, they have much more punch thanks to more .50cals! That’ll smoke anything for sure. They have longer range to boot – so hopefully no more time in a nasty cargo ship.
Just a couple of days ago, a construction unit and a port battalion was combat loaded onto a bunch of modified destroyers and sent west. No word on their destination, but we know we have another base being built up about 1000 miles west of here. We capped those ships for as long as our planes could (significantly farther than our old worn out P40B) and then did a wing-waggle as we let them go. No word on their destination… but it’s nice to be back in the air, flying again. These new fighters and remote location has forced us to increase our skills in dead reckoning. No more 14,000 foot tall volcanos to guide us anymore… just a compass and a watch.
Well that’s all for now… more next time.
It’s been a while since I was able to pen some thoughts down… needless to say, I’ve been extremely busy. The doldrums of life at a Hawaiian outpost didn’t change throughout January. Same routine day in day out – consistent combat patrols daily, sometimes twice a day. All for naught, as the Japanese have stayed very far from our precious little bastion in the Pacific. Our planes were starting to wear out from the constant use, and saltwater spray coming off the ocean, so we were sent back to Pearl in late January and a newer, fresher squadron moved in to relieve us.
This was good as it gave us a chance to rework a number of our airplanes. I had noticed the engine on my usual bird was running a little rough at idle, so it was good to get it checked out lest it fail in combat, which of course hasn’t happened yet.
Naturally, as soon as our planes were up to snuff, we got a couple of days “R&R” (not that we needed it, for the only things that made our daily routine less-than-heaven was the lack of ladies to have fun with, and oh yeah, a war going on far far away… after all, we’re pilots and we want to fly!)… but in classic military tradition, as soon as our fun-in-the-sun-was-done, we got news – “we’re shipping off to parts unknown”.
Hmm, a long overseas flight I thought? This would put our navigational skills to use. Nope. We couldn’t be so lucky. We got marched down to the harbor and put on a slow, stinking, former trash hauling tub and sent into the seas with 10 other tubs and a couple of destroyers for escort. I can’t even remember the name of the “shoot me now” target we were on – but it definitely wasn’t built to carry troops. We had to string hammocks across steam pipes, eat nasty food (whoever said the navy had the best food certainly wasn’t on OUR ship), share 1 toilet and 1 shower with the rest of our pilots and ground crew. The seas were rough and while the pilots did ok fighting sea-sickness, our ground pounders were puking all over the place. So of course, anyone not affected by the heavy seas was on continuous clean-up duty, and yeah, that was the pilots. Here I am, a highly trained fighter pilot, scrubbing puke off of floors with a mop on a ship that could barely push 12 knots, in a squadron of 30 pilots that could all be killed by a single sub-fired torpedo. We all had big laughs at the term “military intelligence”.
But it wasn’t all bad – we noticed the rear cargo hold had some large crates in it… and pilots being pilots, we figured “no way we’re letting all that stuff be crated without knowing what’s in it”. A number of folks (of course, I wasn’t involved, wink wink) decided to “liberate” some “treasures” from the crates. What could they hold? Toilet Paper, peaches, cigarettes, mana from heaven? When we opened up a crate, our we couldn’t imagine the view that beheld us. We hung there slack-jawed for a good 30 seconds before recovering…. In the crates were brand-new, no paint chips, guns still packed with cosmoline, P-40E fighter planes. We couldn’t wait to get our hands on them.
Well after about 5-10 days at sea, we ended up at a place called “Christmas Island” in a chain known as the Line Islands. None of us cared – we just wanted off of swabbie duty to check out those new planes. But of course they were in pieces… so we spent about a week turning wrenches with our ground crew putting those things together.
After a couple of days of working on the planes, we actually pulled our eyes away from our work and looked around. We were doing a massive buildup on this island. Construction was occurring everywhere – at the airfield, the port, air-raid shelters, facilities… we noticed a couple of regiments of marines (and later a division of Army boys showed up), ack-ack guns were being entrenched, big shiny remf staff officers walked around with nary a speck of dirt on their uniforms.
We got the planes all fixed up and got back into our routine. We like them, they have much more punch thanks to more .50cals! That’ll smoke anything for sure. They have longer range to boot – so hopefully no more time in a nasty cargo ship.
Just a couple of days ago, a construction unit and a port battalion was combat loaded onto a bunch of modified destroyers and sent west. No word on their destination, but we know we have another base being built up about 1000 miles west of here. We capped those ships for as long as our planes could (significantly farther than our old worn out P40B) and then did a wing-waggle as we let them go. No word on their destination… but it’s nice to be back in the air, flying again. These new fighters and remote location has forced us to increase our skills in dead reckoning. No more 14,000 foot tall volcanos to guide us anymore… just a compass and a watch.
Well that’s all for now… more next time.