Trying to Regain the Initiative - Late Spring, 1940

    The return of the British fleet in April put me into panic mode.  My operations in the Pacific were called off, and all of my fleets returned to port for repairs and to prepare for a possible major offensive from the British navy.  As the month dragged on, nothing substantial developed, and I decided I needed to take the initiative.  The British had a formidable fleet group in Singapore, and the Americans had a somewhat smaller fleet group in Marcus Island.  One or the other needed to be dealt with, and quickly.  The Americans, with fewer major ships, seem to be a more appealing option.

The center of operations - June 1940

Strike at Marcus Island

    It has been my experience that there is really no such thing as overkill in Hearts of Iron.  Accordingly, in early May I sail towards Marcus with two gunship fleets (1 and 4 Kaigun) and both of my carrier fleets (10 and 11 Kaigun).  We also have six full strength unattached CAGs available for use in the operation.  The carrier fleets arrive east of the island on the 7^th, and 10 Kaigun leads off the port strike campaign.  The strikes last a full three weeks, and eventually each of our CAGs participate.  We end up sinking the escort carrier Independence, the battleship Colorado, seven destroyers, and six submarines.  Our gunship fleets intercept a small fleet attempting to enter the port, and sink a destroyer and a transport.  The fleet’s commander, the solid Admiral Kalbfus, is reported as a casualty.  Even though only two of ships sunk are capital ships, any operation that can claim 15 enemy ships sunk with no loss to us is a success.

The British Plan, Apparently

    On May 31^st I get a glimpse of what the British are intending to do with their fleet.  In order to circumvent LXI Gun in Johore Bahru, they launch an …interesting… operation.  They land one division to the north of Johore, in Bandar Penggram.  Then, in order to fix our troops in Johore, they attack with the remainder of their force across the strait from Singapore.  I’m not sure what they are hoping to accomplish with only a single division on the whole peninsula.  In any event, the result is a minor disaster for them.  I have only four divisions in Johore, with the fifth in a neighboring Eundau.  This reserve division then attacks the isolated landing force, capturing them en masse by June 3^rd.  Meanwhile, our troops in Johore have no trouble fighting off the attack from Singapore, which is finally called off on the 5^th, at a loss of 500 killed to us and 3700 casualties to the British.  Inexplicably, they repeat the process a month later, with an even worse result.  We lose a total of 1200 casualties, while they lose 8600 dead and an equal number captured.  Oddly, this may be quicker and less costly than my original plan of trapping them in Johore with my fleet.

The Australian Theatre

    With the Americans bloodied around Marcus Island, and the British busy launching suicide missions near Singapore, my attention shifts to Australia.  IV Gun lands unopposed near Cairns in May, and it quickly becomes apparent that the local ports are insufficient to support even this small force.  We send our two air transport squadrons to Port Moresby and start supplying the mainland by air drops.  We also step up our plans to invade the lesser islands around New Guinea.

    The operations go awry in early June, however.  3 Kaigun, which is escorting our troop transports, is hit by a large American fleet group.  This group is made of three full aircraft carriers, two escort carriers, a heavy cruiser and numerous escorts.  Fortunately, it lacks the surface firepower needed to sink any of our ships, and we are able to sink the heavy cruiser before retreating.  3 Kaigun is badly knocked around by the air strikes, and returns to Tokyo, while our transports return to Hollandia.

    The American fleet group pursues 3 Kaigun, and intercepts them again on June 4^th.  We sink another heavy cruiser (I’m not sure where it came from), while we lose a light cruiser.  Farther north, we began an invasion of Guam on the 1^st, supported by the Marcus Island fleet group.  However, with the large American group now heading towards us and 3 Kaigun in peril, we call off the invasion and set out to strike the Americans.  3 Kaigun heads west while 1 & 4 Kaigun head south, and we find the Americans east on the 6^th in the open sea southeast of Guam.  The Americans have added another gunship fleet to the group, and our gunships engage their fleet directly while our carriers stand off and provide air support from a distance.  The carrier groups effectively cancel each out, although I suspect we may have completely destroyed one of their CAGs.  The gunships trade heavy blows, and we are able to sink the battleship West Virginia which is the third ship they’ve designated as the pride of the fleet.  With both fleet groups heavily damaged, we retire to our respective ports for repairs, and the rest of the month passes quietly.

    With 3 Kaigun driven off, the Americans become bold and launch an operation to retake Port Moresby.  They capture it on the 5^th, sending our air transport groups off to Darwin for safety.  This puts a severe kink in my supply network, and the offensive in Australia, if you could call it that, grinds to a halt.  We manage a counter-invasion later in the month and retake the port, but the interruption of our supply network causes weeks of stagnation in Australia.

    As June comes to a close, we see the deployment of the first capital ships since, well, before I started playing.  The fifth generation aircraft carrier Junyo is deployed on 16^th, followed shortly thereafter by its five sister ships: Amagi, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku.  This brings us up to ten carriers total, enough for much more aggressive port strike missions, and hopefully enough to carry us through the war.  With the new additions to our carrier fleets, and the losses suffered by our gunship fleets, my navy looks quite a bit different than it did a year ago:

1. Kaigun	2. Kaigun	3. Kaigun	4. Kaigun	5. Kaigun
Admiral Ozawa	Admiral Mikawa	Admiral Nagano	Rear Admiral Godo	Admiral Fukudome
BB-I Yamashiro	BB-III Nagato	BB-I Hyuga	BB-I Ise	CA-III Chokai
BB-I Fuso	BC-II Kongo	BC-II Hiei	BC-II Haruna	CA-II Kinugasa
CA-III Atago	CA-III Haguro	CA-III Myoko	CA-II Aoba	CL-V Katori
CA-III Ashigara	CA-III Nachi	CA-I Asama	CA-II Kako	CL-II Abukama
CL-III Suzuya	CL-IV Mikuma	CL-II Isuzu	CL-V Kashima	CL-II Kuma
CL-II Yuru	CL-III Kumano	CL-II Kinu	CL-II Kiso	CL-I Yahagi
CL-II Yubari	CL-II Jintsu	CL-II Nagara	CL-II Tama
	CL-I Hirado		CL-I Tatsuta
10. Kaigun	11. Kaigun	12. Kaigun	13. Kaigun	14. Kaigun
Admiral Yamamoto, I.	Admiral Koga	Rear Admiral Nagumo	Rear Admiral Nishimura	Rear Admiral Shimada
CV-III Akagi	CV-III Ryujo	CV-V Junyo	CV-V Soryu	CV-V Shokaku
5. Carrier Wing	10. Carrier Wing	2. Carrier Wing	6. Carrier Wing	1. Carrier Wing
Lt General Ukagi	Maj General Kawabe M	Lt General Ichimaru	Maj General Itou	Air General Ozawa
CV-III Kaga	CVL-II Zuiho	CV-V Amagi	CV-V Hiryu	CV-V Zuikaku
7. Carrier Wing	4. Carrier Wing	3. Carrier Wing	9. Carrier Wing	8. Carrier Wing
Lt General Shima	Lt General Kondo	Lt General Kusaka	Maj General Tsukahara	Lt General Yasuda
DD-101	DD-202	DD-401	DD-207	DD-106
DD-102	DD-203	DD-402	DD-208	DD-107
DD-103	DD-204	DD-403	DD-209	DD-108
DD-104	DD-205	DD-404	DD-210	DD-109
DD-105	DD-206	DD-405	DD-211	DD-110
DD-201