After the Battle of Agana Bay, my naval strategic situation improved dramatically. While the Americans still have a number of ships, they are increasingly unable to throw major fleet groups at me. The British navy, likewise, has largely left Singapore. I don’t, technically speaking, know where they are, but it seems most likely they’ve redeployed to the Mediterranean or the English Channel. Either way, out of sight, out of mind.
Resuming the Offensive at Singapore
With my return to naval supremacy in the Singapore area, I restart my plan of allowing the British army to cross over to Johore, and then counterattacking when my navy closes the escape hatch. On September 5th we complete another of these maneuvers; we lose 2,500 killed in the fighting, kill 5,800 of their troops, and capture the remaining 19,000. On the 15th we repeat the process, losing another 2,000, and inflicting 3,000 killed and 7,000 captured. This fighting is hard on my troops, however, and we stand down for awhile to recover.
In October the Brits send a few ships to Singapore to attempt to discourage my operations there. This time, mercifully, they send only two fleets. Consequently, they are more likely to be victims than any sort of deterrent. I deploy 2 and 10 Kaigun to the area, and begin port strikes on the 18th. The Brits attempt a breakout two days later, and lose a light cruiser. They flee back to port; air strikes continue until the end of the month, eventually claiming the battleship Ramillies and the carrier Courageous. This is accompanied by the capture of another four divisions allowed to cross over to the mainland.
In November the British again send a fleet to Singapore. 10 Kaigun had returned to Tokyo for repairs; but 2 Kaigun remained on hand and took up the challenge. The battle was rather small and inconclusive, with one light cruiser sunk on our side and a heavy cruiser being sunk on their side. 2 Kaigun returns to Tokyo for repairs, and the Brits, equally smarting, return to Scapa Flow. With my fleets occupied elsewhere, the Singapore area remains quiet for the rest of the year.
The Reboot of the Invasion of Mainland Australia
The invasion of Australia had been called off a month earlier due to the insufficient range of our escort fleet. Despite clearing the ports of the remnants of the Australian navy, I was still not comfortable sending fully loaded troop transports out without protection. Therefore, I ended up waiting until mid September before a suitable fleet had recovered from the Battle of Agana Bay and became available for the operation.
The invasion is kicked off with I Gun landing on the 16th. It quickly becomes clear that we may have over-prepared. 4 and 5 Shidan occupy Sydney with no resistance on the 20th; Canberra is defended, but only by a single division, and falls on the 21st. Newcastle falls shortly thereafter. II Gun is landed farther north, and meets no resistance occupying Brisbane or forming the now irrelevant supply corridor. On the 30th troops from LXII Gun overrun Guadalcanal, dealing the last blow to the Australian war effort. The government formally surrenders on October 1st.
While the actual combat portion of the invasion was anti-climactic, this conquest is the most significant thus far of the war. In particular, huge amounts of desperately needed metals start flowing in, and I am able to return my industry to full production after several months of fits and starts. Between the Australian stockpiles and the continued metals production, we are able to keep running at full efficiency for years to come.
Playing Whack-A-Mole in the Pacific
With the American fleet severally hobbled, they adopt a new strategy to delay my progress at sea. They simply wait until I leave an island unoccupied, and then recapture it, quickly leaving before my fleets can intercept their transports. I lack the ground troops to occupy and defend the numerous islands, so the Americans successfully slow me down with these tactics for remainder of the year, and well into 1941. Thus, my campaign in the Pacific over the next several months is nothing but an unending list of unimportant islands being captured and recaptured as I try to eliminate the Allied supply network and replace it with my own. I won’t bother to detail every minor landing, but suffice it to say that my Rikusentai and troop transports are in almost constant action.
The most significant combat takes place in September. After the Battle of Agana Bay, I decide that American occupation of Guam has become enough of a concern that the islands capture becomes priority number one. LXII Gun, now reunited, is pulled up from the Coral Sea area to take the island. They begin the invasion on the 11th, and the fighting lasts a full week. The final toll for the battle is 1,493 KIA for us, while the Americans lose 2,170 killed and 22,822 captured.
While this is fighting is going on, the Americans attempt a recapture of Eniwetok. 4 Kaigun, originally escorting LXII Gun’s transports, draws off to intercept, and sinks a destroyer and four transports on the 14th.
In October, 12 Kaigun is sent to the South Pacific for some reconnaissance-in-force. Off Noumea, we encounter a British task force, and we try to take advantage of the chance to shrink the British navy a bit. In the open sea battle on the 15th, we sink a light cruiser and the battleship Barham. The Brits flee to Tarawa; however, if there is one lesson to be learned from this entire play-through, it’s that ports without anti-aircraft cover are traps, not refuges. 12 Kaigun quickly takes up port strikes, sinking another light cruiser on the 17th and finishing off the carrier Furious on the 19th, before returning sated to Tokyo.
With the American attack against Eniwetok driven off (or rather, sunk), they decide to mount a larger attack against Ponape in mid October. 4 Kaigun, still on station in Guam, is sent to intercept. They learned from the Eniwetok failure, however, and this fleet is much larger: one carrier, three escort carriers, four light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 16 transports. 4 Kaigun has no chance to damage them, and retreats, allowing the island to fall.
11 Kaigun is then sent to try its hand. This was a bad idea on my part; the American airpower outnumbers us five groups to three, and my fleet is driven off unceremoniously. I then send in 13 Kaigun; having been humbled twice, I avoid a direct fight and instead try to intercept convoys. This works relatively well, and the American fleet leaves Ponape; unfortunately, they head to Rabul, which they occupy in November.
It seems likely that the bulk of the remaining American naval strength is in that fleet group, now stationed in Rabul. The logical thing to do, then, is to attempt a repeat of the Battle of Agana Bay. I send three carrier fleets to New Guinea, and begin port strikes on December 1st. However, it quickly becomes clear this will not be a repeat of that battle. The Battle of Agana Bay was initiated by failed port strikes against Saipan, which depleted the American flight crews. Here, I had no such advantage; first one of my carrier fleets, then the second, then the third launch port strikes against Rabul, but are successively driven off. The only appreciable damage is the hull strength reduction of a few escort ships down to around 30%. The carriers are largely undamaged. After three fleets have shot their bolt, with little gain, the strikes are called off. Instead, I deploy 1 and 11 Kaigun in the open sea surrounding Rabul, and attempt to intercept convoys and escape attempts. This is a slow process of wearing down the fleet by cutting off their supplies. On Christmas, we see the first major dividends, as a pair of transports tries to slink out of port. They are intercepted by 1 Kaigun, and promptly sunk; this is not a major gain by itself, but is noteworthy due to the loss of the commander, Admiral Nimitz. He is arguably the best naval commander in the game, and his loss is a significant blow to the American navy.
Dealing with New Zealand
After the fall of Australia, there are only three ports capable of supplying a large fleet group for any length of time: Singapore, Hawaii, and New Zealand. Singapore is currently beyond my ability to take, and Hawaii is outside my range. New Zealand, however, is ripe for the picking.
By November, I can put together enough troop transports for the operation. I, II, and V Gun have spent the last month in Australia, consuming the stockpiles of Australian supplies (beer and kangaroo burgers, I suppose). My plan is to send II Gun to Wellington, V Gun to Auckland, and I Gun to Dunedin and Christchurch. Following in my now well-established pattern of bad judgment calls this season, I begin with a frontal assault directly against Wellington. The fighting continues for a week, inconclusively, before I finally give up and land the troops north of the city instead and proceed by land. Pinning the Kiwis in the city, they make short work of them in a conventional land battle, and take the city by the middle of the month. Auckland is undefended, and V Gun occupies it easily (although here I also deploy nearby and launch the occupation by land). I Gun occupies Christchurch with no resistance, but Dunedin is defended and poses a challenge. There is only one division here, however (unlike the three in Wellington), and they eventually succumb on the 21st. With their four major cities occupied, the New Zealand government officially surrenders the next day and goes into exile.
Minor Events in Europe
Europe has been fairly quiet since the fall of France. Even the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia was quick and rather uneventful. However, a few events occur in the second half of the year which are worth mentioning. On July 28th Finland joined the Axis. This is a largely predestined event, as an alliance with Germany is the only likely way of avoiding continuous warfare with the Soviets. On September 1st the Bulgarians decide to take their chunk out of the perpetually dwindling Romania; they (the Bulgarians) join the Axis a month later. These new additions to the alliance nominally declare war on the Allies shortly after joining. Realistically, they will never fire a shot in anger against the Brits or Americans, but are instead ramping up their militaries for the inevitable big event – the war against the Soviets, which is coming closer every day.
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