December 1941 ended with Manila still in Allied hands (since quick recovery from bombardment allowed the North Luzon Corps to intercept the 48 Division in the mountains, and the 16th Division broke under air attack). It is now January 1942. Allied Strat Intelligence is 2. Allied CP assignments are 10 points for Manila, 30 Singapore, 20 ABDA. 1 hit each on De Ruyter and on Boise is repaired. The Japanese break down their divisions for more flexibility on the attack: 48,5,G Div (TQ 7) each produces 1 Infantry Bn. 55Div and 18 Div (TQ 6), each produce 1 Inf Reg. Both sides absorb what replacements they can. In the first operation, the Japanese decide to use the troops on Davao for a landing on the eastern coast of Borneo, land small units from Saigon on the western coast and continue ground operations in Malaya. A major fleet (24 points including carrier support) will be launched from Saigon to (hopefully) establish a division in an initial bridgehead on Java. Some supporting air units bring the overall bid to 75 points. In the second operation, the Japanese will continue the campaign on Luzon and retrieve the transports which returned to Formosa the previous month so they can deactivate at Manila whose fall is expected as a result of the operation. The Intelligence Condition is Surprise Attack. However, on the third increment, the TF bound for Brunei and the BB TF from Saigon are detected by planes based at Singapore. The Allies activate 5 subs, the US Asiatic Fleet (4 ships), and one fighter at Manila. The first battle cycle is January 1. It is Night (DR 1) and Japanese Initiative is automatic. Due to being detected early, the Japanese are not ready for landing and their task forces continue towards their goals. The Guard division moves to 4207 to attack the 9th Indian division. The Allies bombard the 65 Brigade in the Manila hex. In ground combat, the Guard division attacks the 9I division in hex 4207, but the Indians hold [7/14:2/5, DR7, 2:3]. In 4208, the 5th Division, despite rolling a 9, eliminates the broken remains of the 11Indian Division, opening the road to Kuala Lumpur [7/10:2B/1, DR9->7, 1:2]. At Kuantan, the 18th Division vaporizes the Singapore Brigade [6/9:1B/7, DR0, 0:7MR]. In the Joint Activation/Deactivation phase, the Allies activate 2 subs and 6 ships at Singapore, as well as two minor units, the Aus SF Bn and 28I Brigade. The latter will be sent forward as speed bumps into the maw of the Japanese advance (how's that for mixed metaphors). On January 3 (Day AM), the Japanese landings take place. The 11Mar Bn lands on Jolo, the 228 Inf Reg at Brunei, the 146Inf Reg at Tarakan. The only opposed landing of the three is at Tarakan. In Malaya, the 18 Div moves to Singapore, and the 5Div to Gemas. In the advantage air phase, 180 fighters and 165 bombers attack Manila and achieve surprise. 60 fighters are destroyed on the airfield and the SL Corps breaks. The Japanese lose 15 planes. At Panay, 60 fighters and 90 bombers attack, destroying 15 fighters and 30 B-17s on the ground. All US air units in the Philippines are now destroyed. Further attacks (bombing and naval) on Tarakan and Singapore (a 270 plane raid) have no effect. In the Ground Combat phase, the amphibious assault at Tarakan is resolved. Much to their own surprise, the Dutch defend effectively [3A/3:3/2, DR 7, MR2:0]. The Japanese are even more surprised, so much they fail their TQ check and, suffering double losses, are eliminated in the attempt to return to their ships. The ABDA fleet sorties from Singapore into the South China Sea. On January 5 (Dusk, Allied Initiative), it fails to detect the Japanese and moves SE-wards out of range. The Japanese bombard Tarakan again. In the Disadvantage Movement Phase, they start moving two battalions of Marines to Tarakan. The TF at Brunei moves to Miri. The large BB force moves to Natuna Island. On January 7 (Night, switched to Day AM at Op player's choice, Japanese Initiative), the 11 Marines are reloaded at Jolo. The Japanese player is in an interesting quandary. He still has the 5 Marines available, but another bad dieroll could wipe both Marine battalions out and they will only have one more assault in this operation. It is actually preferable to land them separately. The 228Inf Regiment moves overland to Miri from Brunei. In the advantage air phase, Manila, the Rs Corps at San Miguel Bay, Tarakan, Miri, and Singapore are bombarded. The Dutch at Tarakan break under a 180-plane raid, but shoot down 15 planes. The Punjabis at Miri also break. At Singapore, some planes are destroyed and one division fails its TQC but since Singapore is chock full of different units, that will not really matter. Naval bombardment of Tarakan and Miri by destroyers has no effect. At Tarakan, the Marines attack and cause losses to the Dutch, but are eliminated in the attack [4A/1:2B/2, DR6, 1:1]. At Singapore, the 18 Division fails to establish a bridgehead on the island as the Australian SF unit stops their landing in the Mangrove swamps at the price of being eliminated [6/9:4/9, DR2, 2:3]. Elsewhere in Malaya, at Gemas, the 5 Division attacks the 28th Indian Brigade which reels back to Kuala Lumpur with heavy losses [7/9:3/3,DR2->1, 1:1MR, TQC 7, fail]. In hex 4207, the Guards Division eliminates the remains of the 11I division [7/12:2/2, DR1->0, 1:2MR]. At Miri, the 228Infantry overruns the Punjabi brigade [6/3:2B/1, DR1->0, 0:1MR]. So, overall, in Malaya the inexorable advance continues. Tarakan, whose port is urgently needed to prepare the next month's grab for Borneo and the Moluccas, has become a major trouble spot with the second failed attack. In addition a sizable dent has now been created in the Japanese forces allotted to that part of the theatre. However, a second task force is still moving towards Balikpapan and the Marines from Jolo are available for a last try at Tarakan. On January 7, the US Asiatic Fleet moves eastwards from Manila, the ABDA fleet, harried by submarines, retires southwards. Ironically, this denies the Japanese carriers a chance at attack. The Japanese activate the 28 Inf Reg at Kuantan to renew the push on Singapore. On 9 January [Day PM, Allied Initiative], the Allied subs catch up with the Japanese force in the South China Sea. The transports are screened successfully and the BBs evade all attacks, but one Takao class cruisers suffers 2 hits and another one is hit as well. 2 DDs are sunk. 1 hit on the other, 2 hits on DD8 (Asashio), ASW DR8. The Japanese, with their escorts reduced, more Allied submarines in the way, and time running short due to previous maneuvering around the ABDA fleet, decide to abort the run on Java and the TFs move back towards Brunei. The carriers, after fruitlessly searching for the ABDA fleet for several turns, return to Saigon. In Malay, the 28 Regiment moves to Singapore, and another Marine unit is landed at Tarakan. Air attacks target Balikpapan (where the Dutch break), San Miguel Bay, Manila (where 30 bombers are shot down by AA fire), and various locations on Sumatra. On 11 January [Dusk], the Japanese land their last Marine battalion at Balikpapan. Balikpapan is bombarded by the escorting warships, but since the Dutch only have one step and are already broken that does not matter. In Ground Combat, the attacks on the east coast of Borneo effectively amount to a last ditch effort. A failure here and the eastern Japanese pincer will be damaged beyond repair, not in the least because the Japanese will be desperately short of units to attack the multitude of enemy garrisons that remain. Fortunately, the Japanese Marines finally live up to their troop quality. At Tarakan [4A/1:2B/1, DR4, 0:1MR] and Balikpapan [4A/1:2B/1, DR1, 0:1MR], the Dutch are eliminated. At Singapore, the 28Inf's attack hits the defenders hard, but they remain unfazed and hold [6/3:2B/6, DR0, 1:2MR, TQC0]. (I have yet to see Singapore fall by a surrender result instead of the defenders fighting on to the last man.) With the fall of Tarakan, the US Asiatic Fleet must move to Soerabaja or Kendari as the newest port, both only possible with penalty activation. The ABDA fleet reaches Batavia. On January 13, with naval operations all but wound down, the Japanese move the 5 Div to Singapore, and the Guards to Kuala Lumpur in pursuit of the newly rallied 28I Brigade. In the Disadvantage Movement Phase, the Asiatic Fleet moves to Balikpapan, where both sides' ships are detected. (Note: this is the turn the operation ends! If the Japanese had planes in Balikpapan, the Allied ships would be Isolated and lost because they are in a hex with enemy ships. However, the Allied player knows the Japanese cannot have flown planes in because Balikpapan fell on the previous Battle Cycle after the Japanese air mission phase, and so the move makes sense.) The Op ends. The Japanese deactivate everything, the Allies must pay for TF02 and Langley (which moves out of danger this month). Until they are deactivated too, the Battle Cycles continue, but only the first cycle will see the calendar moving. On 15 Jan [Day AM], the fleets clash near Balikpapan. Combat starts at medium range. 12 Japanese DDs (2 units) attack 6 US DDs (one unit), the CLs Boise and Marblehead (one CL counter), and the CA Houston. The two CLs are sunk by the initial torpedo attack, whereupone the US side withdraws in the second round. (In the campaign, the Allies would probably bid for short range since the loss of a few Japanese DDs would be worth it in the long run. Here, the goal is to fight again when the Japanese DDs may be carrying troops.) The Japanese sink 3 of the withdrawing DDs, but do not damage Houston. The US ships move to Soerabaja and deactivate. The second Operation of the month begins on Jan 17. The Japanese bid 27 points, the Allies bid 20 with the Malaya HQ. The Japanese activate two 7TQ battalions in Malaya (split off the divisions there at the beginning of the month), two divisions and battalions on Luzon, plus the transports and their DD escorts who moved back to Formosa in December (and will be needed in Manila at the end of this month for the Moluccas operations in February - assuming that Manila falls, otherwise, the Japanese schedule is again wrecked), and the Marines at Kuching. Operational Intelligence is Intercept. Naval movement is interrupted by the Reaction player at the earliest opportunity. The Reaction Player activates the 28I Brigade in Kuala Lumpur, the 1 Dutch Reg., the remaining 2-step DD unit in Manila, and the air units in Singapore. The DD moves towards Kendari. (This might be a suboptimal move, as it could be merged with DD1 in Soerabaja, but it would have to pass the Jap. subs on the way. In Kendari it has a slight chance of delaying an amphibious invasion by that one critical turn.) The first Battle Cycle of the new operation is January 18 [Day PM], and the Japanese get initiative. 16 Division moves to Manila, in Malaya one Infantry Bn moves to Singapore, one to Gemas. In Ground Combat, the 48 Division again tries to break through the mountains blocked by the Rs corps between San Miguel Bay and Manila, but the attack fails dismally, only the good quality of the Japanese troops avoids turning the repulse into a rout [7/9:5/3, DR9->8, 3MR:1, TQC2]. On the outskirts of Manila, 16 Division clashes with the SL Corps [5/7:3/11, DR8, 3:3]. At Singapore, one infantry battalion manages to sneak through the mangrove swamps (only defended by a couple of thousand men any more). It is mauled in the attack but the losses it causes are irreplaceable whereas the Japanese still have troops on the way [7/1:2B/2, DR6, 1:1]. This seals the fall of Singapore. The CW Air units flee from Singapore to Batavia in the Disadvantage Air Phase. On 20 Jan [Dusk], the Allies gain initiative. Their subs intercept the TF moving to Luzon sinking a CL (2 hits on the CL6 counter). On 22 Jan [Night], they attack again and despite 2 attacks being screened, damage a CL as well as sinking 2 transports (2 hits on the AA). One AA is split off to sail to Saigon, the rest of the TF reaches Manila where it bombards the Allied troops, breaking the newly reconstituted M Div. With one week of combat remaining, the Japanese activate the 7 Marines, their last reserve in Northern Luzon. On 26 Jan [Day PM], the first day of the new week, Manila is again bombarded, breaking the SL Corps. In the second week, the 48 Div fares better at San Miguel Bay but still cannot break the attritional deadlock [7/6:5/2, DR4->3, 1:1]. However, this becomes irrelevant as the 16 Division finally gets its act together and Manila falls [5/4:2B/8, DR6, 1:2MR, TQC8, US retreat, losses->3 because of retreat]. The SL Corps(6 hits) retreats to SL, the M Div and NL Corps to Bataan. In Malaya, the Japanese move the second activated Infantry Battalion to Singapore. It is eliminated in the ensuing combat round on the 28th [7/1:2B/1, DR6, 1:1], but the presence of other Japanese units in the hex means the city falls into Japanese hands with the removal of the last defending step. Disadvantage move: 7Mar moves to Manila. AA1 reaches Saigon. The 48 Div deactivates towards Lingayen Gulf, suffering 1 hit to get away from the clutches of the Rs Corps. As the month ends, all Allied subs (about 30 of them) end up in Batavia, the 2 Japanese ones in Singapore. This month, the Japanese lost 75 planes to AA, most of them L2. The Allies lost 135 planes (all by bombing/strafing). The Allied AA DR avg was 4.9(16 attacks). The only dierolling worse than the average Japanese sub attack (5.8 in 6 attacks) was the Japanese ASW at 7.5 in 4 tries. The Allies had an average attack roll of 4.7 with no less than 21 sub attacks (reflected in the ferocious losses caused), and an ASW roll of 4.5 in the two cases where they defended. The Japanese ground combat dieroll was an average of 4.3 in 18 attacks. The Allies suffered 18 TQCs with an average of 4.8 (the Japanese only two with an average roll of 4.5). Allied ground losses: 21000 in Malaya (21 steps), 16000 on Luzon (8 steps), 4000 on Borneo (4), 41000 total this month. Japanese ground losses: 10000 in Malaya(10), 9000 on Luzon (9), 4000 at Tarakan (4), 23000 total this month. Ships: Allies lost 7 steps in naval combat, Japanese 10 steps to subs.