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those CAS are deadly, especially 16 squadrons together.

i just watched Valkyrie and as all WW2 movies do, it made me play one last Germany 36 game before i get the new one.
 
LuXun, Sokraates, zdlugasz, thatguy, midget_roxx, harezmi - More terrifying is the fact that CAS IV are the old type. CAS V are the upgraded ones and only two were upgraded during the last update. The increased damage is purely down to all sixteen squadrons attacking the same target instead of the more usual eight.

Maj. von Mauser - South Africa is unlikely to be given enough time to recover it's defences :)

Velko - Correct it gives 20% bonus to artillery brigades but I am researching it for improved HQ and possible events.

gooy - Time will tell how far the Allies will get. Nuclear Submarines are as dangerous as my Submarines have been, practically useless :)

Beppo - Thank you very much. Much like in Finland I will have to just let the Allies invade wherever they want to and react afterwards. I have little confidence in the AI mounting a significant invasion anywhere at this stage as it does not have enough Transport ships left.

Nathan Madien - The capture of South Africa is going to cost a lot of Allied small ships their lives if I manage to do it. Patrolling the narrow waters south of Africa is easy to do and I have plenty of bombers to do it.

EnglandWarrior - South Africa could well have meddled in Japanese affairs for the last time :)

Swede_Islander, harezmi - Thanks for the link harezmi but it says that the link is dead according to White Daimon :(

Baneslave - Indeed it is :)

Update to follow ...
 
Operation Influx

17





1700 January 15th 1949.
The Skies Above Vinnitsa.

Allied troops continued to advance towards Kiev under constant air attack from the two Japanese Dive bomber groups most of which were still using older aircraft types.​

jan15491700gr1.jpg

The firepower of the two groups was still more than sufficient to decimate the enemy forces caught in the deep Winter snow. Additional Allied troops had moved into Zhitomir to the north of Vinnitsa as Nakajima led the bombers on another bombing run to destroy the remaining two divisions in the province. It would require a miracle to save the Allied troops and none would be forthcoming.​





1700 January 15th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, In Transit.

Ozawa had not received any information at all on the movements of Admiral King and his Carrier Task Force for some time and he was beginning to fear a possible strike against his invading forces around South Africa. Admiral Toyoda was quick to report the sighting of King and his fleet.​

jan15491700gr2.jpg

King had headed towards the Persian Gulf where he ran straight into Toyoda's CA Division 3 which was protecting the Gulf of Oman. Toyoda had no chance of inflicting much damage on the much more powerful enemy fleet, leaving him with no choice but to try and withdraw as soon as possible with as much of his fleet as he could keep afloat.​

jan15491900gr1.jpg

Fortune would smile on the Japanese Admiral as the battle was conducted at night. The American Carriers performed much better under such conditions now than in the past but night was still the preferred time for any Japanese gun fleet to engage enemy Carriers.

Toyoda managed to close with King to allow his Heavy Cruiser, IJN Myoko, to engage the enemy ships. In turn King's ships targetted the Heavy Cruiser. Despite a valiant effort IJN Myoko would be sunk by aircraft from the USS Constellation. Toyoda would manage to withdraw without further losses.

Ozawa responded with his usual forces but these would be further supported by Itabana's Tactical bomber group from the Middle East. Six bomber wings began to hunt for King and his Carriers the following morning.​

jan16490800gr1.jpg

Lt. General Itou would be the first to find King at 0800 hours on January 16th. King had moved to Gwatar Bay as he tried to make good his own escape knowing full well that his position was now known. Itou targetted the USS Constellation and the Light Cruiser USS St Louis.​

jan17491300gr1.jpg

The hunt continued into January 17th with Lt. General Sakai, part of Itabana's group, making contact at dawn over the West Arabian Basin. By 1300 hours his aircraft had sunk the USS St Louis and inflicted some minor damage to other vessels. King was fortunate to only be attacked by one bomber wing with so many hunting for him. He continued to head south west where Onishi found him in the East Somali Basin on January 18th.

Poor weather would save his fleet from any significant damage and would also allow him to mask his movements for several days. Tropical thunderstorms were plaguing the entire area making any air operations almost impossible and giving King time to make good his escape. Ozawa ordered all of his fleets to head for port with the exception of Carrier Group D which was supporting operations in South Africa. He had no wish to allow King to sneak up on any more of his battlefleets.​





0100 January 18th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.

Soviet partisans were beginning to become an increasing problem and they were getting more daring as time progressed. A revolt in Elton to the east of Stalingrad had quickly been put down by Kanin's troops but Hata would have his own rebellion to contend with.​

jan18490100gr1.jpg

Kherson was lost to the uprising as Hata's local forces were not conducting anti-partisan patrols. Yokoyama Isa was ordered to crush the rebels, which he duly accomplished, but Japanese troops would be required to retake Kherson as it was an important province directly behind the Japanese front line. To the north the Japanese Dive bombers had destroyed both divisions in Vinnitsa and had also cleared three more from Zhitomir, including an American Armoured division. Massive Allied forces were still mostly static along the Romanian border.​

jan18490700gr1.jpg

Further north Obata's Tactical bomber wing had managed to remove the American forces from Finland and was now attacking Grodno protected by Fukudome's Interceptor group. The arrival of a Greek Interceptor wing over Kiev was quickly spotted resulting in the rebasing of all sixteen Japanese Dive bomber squadrons to Gomel until they could be dealt with. Tanaka and Fukui were tasked with destroying the Greeks as they scrambled from their airbase in Odessa.​

jan18491300gr1.jpg

Six hours later, at 1300 hours, the Greek Interceptor wing attacked both Japanese wings over Vinnitsa. The first hour would be decisive as two of the Greek squadrons were rendered useless during the dogfight with only one Tanaka's squadrons suffering casualties. The Japanese pilots were much more experienced than their counterparts and they were also flying more modern aircraft. Such advantages would be telling as the Greek squadrons began to suffer ever increasing losses until darkness arrived to save some of the remaining aircraft. Only one Greek squadron would escape the carnage.​

jan19490000gr1.jpg

The remaining Japanese Dive bomber squadrons completed their upgrades on January 19th. The Improved Turbojet CAS air wings would be testing their new aircraft over Vinnitsa as another enemy division made the mistake of advancing.​

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At 0600 hours on January 20th Obata was once again over Grodno where his Tactical bombers were also destroying the infrastructure of the province as more Allied troops arrived. In the south Nakajima led more attacks against four more enemy divisions that had entered Vinnitsa. He was escorted by Interceptors for the time being as other enemy Interceptors had been spotted moving around the front line. The Allies had also captured Mogilev Podolski.​

jan20491000gr1.jpg

Mj. General Wakamatsu had been making good progress towards Oulu to capture the final American landing zone in Finland when his advance was abruptly halted by the arrival of two more American divisions. Clearly the Allies wished to remain in Finland for the time being. Obata made his way back to Leningrad to conduct ground attack missions against the newly arrived enemy troops. Nakajima moved north to Minsk to continue bombing attacks in the north leaving Shimoyama's Dive bomber group operating from Kiev.​





0600 January 20th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, Durban.

Ozawa had moved his fleet to the nearest friendly port, which was Durban for the time being. He still had to support one more attack in South Africa and had left Carrier Group D to conduct this mission as it was the only fleet at his disposal that had the range.​

jan20490600gr2.jpg

General Sakai led five divisions against the two South African divisions defending Cape Town. No air support was available this far south which made the presence of Carrier Group D vital to the success of the battle. Mj. General Thompson was forced to retreat at 1600 hours after ten hours of hopeless defence.​

jan20491600gr1.jpg

Carrier Group D sailed east towards the safety of Port Elisabeth until King's fleet was spotted and neutralised. Ozawa had his two main Battlefleets and Carrier Group C further up the coast in Durban. Ozawa's move to protect his fleets from a possible ambush proved to be correct as King was finally spotted at 1600 hours on January 20th. He was much closer than Ozawa had thought.​

jan20491600gr2.jpg

Itou had been the one to find King and his Carrier Task Force as he conducted a search of Inhambane Bay. He had almost missed the enemy fleet in the heavy rain but he was able to provide a heading to Ozawa as he tried to inflict at least some damage on the Carriers. King was sailing directly for Delagoa Bay off the coast of Durban.

Ozawa had some choices available to him at this stage but he was always reluctant to engage American Carriers with his fleets, much preferring to destroy such ships with bombers when he could. The local weather report provided him with another dilemma. Thunderstorms would prevent any of his bombers flying over Delagoa Bay the following day which could allow King with the time he needed to either escape or launch a port strike.

Ozawa liked thunderstorms and ordered BB Division 1 and BC Division 1 to sea. They would enter Delagoa Bay shortly after dusk in the middle of a thunderstorm and hopefully find an enemy Carrier Task Force nearby. Should Ozawa's Battlefleets fail to make significant headway against King's Carriers under ideal conditions for them then Carriers would rule the Oceans as he would no longer be able to contemplate such interceptions.​
 
Geez, those US carriers just keep popping up. Keep up the bombings and they'll sloooowly go away. Will we get to see an epic naval battle in stormy seas?
 
If I'm seeing enough info in the screenies, it's looking like the overall Allied ground forces facing you in Europe are starting to thin out, despite the concentration in Romania. If true, there will be some unhappy campers in the Allied camp by fall.
 
Zhitomir and Vinnitsa will always be known in this timeline as "Death Alley" for the Allied troops.

In five days, 80,000 allied troops perished or surrendered, in the snow, to falling Japanese bombs. Whoever the allied commander is, they failed to learn the lesson from Napoleon and Hitler's armies about trying to push an offensive through massively open terrain in the dead of winter.
 
Nice update! If King's force can't be caught by your BCs and BBs, it will have marked a very successful voyage for King, forcing all the Japanese fleets to port and tying up a good percentage of your air assets. I enjoy the naval aspects of the AAR very much.

It appears to me that the Allies are starting to look brittle in the north of the Soviet Union. I believe that your tactic of falling back and letting your air support whittle down the Allies is working spectacularly, even more than what you've been reporting. If you can actually start moving forward through Europe in the spring, you will really start hurting the Allies' ability to fight by reducing their industrial capacity.

Great job!

-- Beppo