Japan - the centre of the storm

 The Axis easily win Initiative this Turn - for the second Turn in a row. The Weather is rainy in the Northern Hemisphere but Fine everywhere else including the Mediterranean. Japan completes its fortification on Midway making the crucial island a tough nut for the US to crack.

Mussolini chooses a no-cost combined impulse. His naval aircraft do well in the Western Mediterranean - they send the Beaufighter back to base, damage a convoy and send two light cruisers back to base. The Nazgul flies to the East Mediterranean but waits there to intercept any transports carrying the troops in the East Mediterranean. Subs in the Cape Vincent get caught by Beauforts and damaged.  Japan chooses a Naval impulse. Escorts are sent out. Subs are sent to guard against the Pacific Fleet moving out of port in Samoa. Minisubs are sent against Pearl Harbour but have little effect. Yamamoto HQ moves nearer to Australia to Rabaul. The  Kido Butai main fleet, fighter and 3 subs move to Polynesia and . The Kido Butai ominously move into position to port strike the US Pacific Fleet next Impulse daring the US Pacific Fleet to come out and fight it and the 3 subs and Japanese fighter. The Japanese have given up the chance of using offensive points to get a reroll. They dont attack the convoy as its presence gives them a +1 to spot the Yankees. Transports and amphibious landers move to the Indian coast. Perhaps the Japanese intend to transfer forces to fight the Soviets if they attack? Stalin is feeling nervous about his promise. Hitler chooses a no-cost combined and sends u-boats to the Faroes Gap (and a Milchow sub to the Caribbean). The u-boats and German naval aircraft fail to find any convoys. Rumanian units move slowly in the rain back towards their homeland. 

The US chooses a Naval - 4 transports head to the US east coast ready to pick up units next Turn. MacArthur moves via transport to the Caribbean. A Marine corps and paratrooper and motorised infantry divisions on Royal Navy cruisers towards the South Pacific ready to move to Australia during the Return to Base phase. Two subs move to outside Samoa to support the Pacific fleet as it moves out. A sub moves to outside Netherlands East Indies and gets chased away but manages to damage a Japanese cruiser and sends three oil tanker points back to base in Netherlands East Indies. American convoys start to fan out over the South Pacific and to the Norwegian sea. The big clash between the US Pacific Fleet and the Kido Butai results in two American carrier fighters being shot down, the Lexington carrier damaged, a cruiser sunk and the Enterprise and a cruiser sent back to Samoa. The rest of the Pacific Fleet breaks through to Adelaide. Subs in the Marshalls sea zone dodge Japanese naval aircraft and send the convoy point and light cruiser back to port but are forced back to Pearl Harbour themselves. The Commonwealth chooses a Naval and moves escorts over the globe.  It tries to intercept the Italian Nazgul in the East Med but fails. Churchill risks transporting HQ, two infantry corps and an AA division across the Med to land in Bombay. The Nazgul tries to find them but fails. Transports also move fighter and medium bomber units to Bombay from Mozambique Channel.  Hirohito curses as Commonwealth massive reinforcements have landed in the East Coast of India. The Gort HQ is transported to Boulogne. The Queens fast transports along with two cruisers runs the gauntlet of a Japanese cruiser  in the Bay of Bengal- the Allies burn their intelligence points to save the Queens from being found and the cruisers and Queens speed round Australia ready to head for Panama in the Return to Base phase. France takes a Naval impulse and moves escorts round and transports Senegalese territorials to land in Diego Suarez major naval base.  French subs from Diego Garcia fail to find convoys in the Bay of Bengal but Surcuf in the South China Seas in two outstanding rounds sinks a light cruiser, damages two cruisers and sends 3 convoys and two tankers back to port before being sent back to port themselves. Legion d'Honneurs all round for the crew! De Gaulle sends a telegram to Admiral Donitz the u-boats chief saying Surcuf is a better sub than anything they have. Stalin chooses a Land action and rail moves a garrison corps towards a city in Siberia to help in case the Japanese try and cut the Siberian railway line. Newly produced fighter aircraft move towards the front. Some forces cautiously cross the Dnepr and the 4 Ukrainian resources are returned to the bosom of the Motherland. Land units move towards the front line in Poland. Churchill wonders when the attack on Japan will start. China moves artillery to be adjacent to the Japanese tank corps otherwise little happens there.

Weather is bad in Europe - snow and storm as well as in Southern Monsoon. The Japanese choose a no-cost combined. Yamashita uses offensive points to maximise an assault on Calcutta with Yamamoto and other battleships in support. With Calcutta being in swamp terrain doubling the defenders and with Mountbatten supporting them and the Hurricanes as ground support planes its a long shot. The end result is a unit lost on both sides and the attackers and Mountbatten HQ being disorganised. The Japanese spend more offensive points to reorganise the Yamashita HQ. Italy chooses a land impulse and rebases aircraft to Southern France. German armoured forces in Ukraine move towards Lvov to form a threat to the Soviets in South Poland whilst a mix of infantry with v Leeb HQ form a shield agains Soviet forces advancing from Kiev. Manstein takes some panzers into Rumania. Hungarians move into the mountains to protect northwest Hungary whilst some move into Prague. German forces cross the Meuse back into France as Hitler decides on another counter offensive perhaps through the Ardennes. And then the Turn ends which frustrates the Allies as they never got a chance to make land moves and Stalin perhaps relieved did not declare war on Japan. Japan pushed hard this Turn - it landed blows on the US Pacific Fleet and failed to take Calcutta. Japan did take some blows - its convoys and tankers scattered and Commonwealth reinforcements landed in India. 

A partisan arrives in China and is placed in the deserts in the north. The Kido Butai evades American subs and returns to Rabaul. Two Royal Navy carriers and a battleship join Force H at Aden whilst a transport takes some old Hurricanes to Bombay. The Queens fast transport and two cruisrs move to America. On e US marine corps sails into Auckland. In Production Japan despite disruption to its convoys manages to produce at just over 75% of full potential and continues its construction of a very heavy carrier and 4 light carriers, rebuilding 2 infantry corps and a host of Territorial troops. China completes an artillery division slowly in its long term plan to build up slowly whilst Japan turns elsewhere. Stalin rush completes two mechanised corps and finishes off two fighters and begins two medium bombers as well as some infantry corps.  The Commonwealth continues its mixed building programme of ships, planes and land units with two battleships being completed. Hitler faced with shrinking access to resources commits to boys not toys. Production focuses on producing 4 infantry corps ready for next Turn and he aims to repeat this for two further Turns - along with the 4 garrison corps that came out this Turn. Hitler hopes that a barricade of excellent German troops will keep the Allies at bay. The French follow their lead with 3 infantry and a militia corps due to deployed in January 43. The US continue to roughly spend equal on the European & Pacific theatres with carrier planes starting to be built for the new carriers as well as some replacements for those lost already. Japanese spies manage to get one whole intelligence point. Japan doesn't do well on drawing its marker and only draws chit with 1 value so for a total of 2 with its other chit. The Soviets draw a 3 chit and flips its defence chit over to offence side for a total of 11. The Soviets have double the number of units so can easily declare war but they have several problems as Stalin explains to a testy Churchill. The Soviets have mostly poor quality units with a combat value of 2, the Japanese can cut the rail line between Siberia and the rest of the USSR by the ZOCs of a garrison corps. The terrain is very difficult in the area and will mean any progress will be slow allowing the Japanese time to reinforce the area. Finally, if the Japanese pull their marines, HQ and infantry out of India they can land on the coast of Siberia and grab the resources there and maybe even the factory.