rattovolante
Posts: 188
Joined: 8/30/2009
From: Italy
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Burma, Jan 1942
Imperial Guards was spotted by a coastal bombardment while on its way to Pegu. The defense stiffened, and we basically stalled. Axis forces are under more or less constant harassment by air and sea, but there is not much I can do :(
The plan to move IGD was based on the release version of the game, when it was a pretty good strategy for the British to evacuate Burma and let the resistance destroy the industry there. Anyway, Hartwig had not evacuated Rangoon, so all IGD could do was to cut off the supply route to China quite early.
Pegu was captured on Jan 7. Toungoo captured Jan 13.
Malaya, Jan 1942
Air combat for the whole month, sporadic in the beginning, then escalating to more organized raids
Combat at Temuloh begins on Jan 5, will last for an entire month. Japanese air strikes on it intensified in the second half of the month, as more axis units arrived – at first I had a single LCU there, just to keep the defenders committed. More Japanese units only arrived from Jan 23, after the plan to cut off central Malaya by landing at Mersing failed.
On Jan 7 I unleash Betties. The result is that 13 Betties engage HDML Pahalwan. Actually, the very first group of planes score a torpedo hit, obliterating the unlucky boat, so the others just fly above the area, failing to find the target (well, duh...). Seemed a little overkill...
Kuala Lumpur falls on 9 January
I land at Mersing on January 10, apparently catching Hartwig off-guard! The base was secured the next day. This seriously threatened to cut off the units in Malacca, so the Allies started to bomb Mersing from the air quite heavily (those Vildebeests carry a quite large load!).
The battle escalates on January 14, when my surface combat TF defending Mersing is engaged by an Allied TF:
quote:
Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 3
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 5, on fire
CL Tama, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Hagikaze
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 2
DMS W-2, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
DMS W-3, Shell hits 3, on fire
DMS W-5, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DMS W-6, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
CA Australia, Shell hits 3
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 6, on fire
CL Boise, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Pope, Shell hits 1, on fire
IJNAF tries to strike the allied TF which in the meantime has reached Singapore. The results sort of confirm my idea that Palembang can't really be defended until Singapore and Batavia are neutralized.
In the morning 18 Zeroes, 36 Nells and 26 Betties only manage to score 1 torpedo hit on Boise (with no “heavy damage” or “on fire” report) and to shoot down 1 Buffalo, moreover losing 1 Zero in the process. Marblehead is anyway reported as “heavy fires, heavy damage” (from the surface action, I suppose).
In the afternoon 15 Zeroes, 22 Betties and 36 Nells shoot down 1 Buffalo and sink a KV, a xAK (loaded with troops!) and a TK.
Note that this is the second time in this game that LBA engage a retreating raiding cruiser TF without being able to stop or at least hinder it (it had happened with the Ambon raid, earlier). So, in short, a Netty umbrella does not seem to me to be an effective deterrent for surface raids - I wonder if I'm the only one to think so, because the consensus appears to be the opposite.
On the same day, the annoying SS Swordfish engages twice the survivors of the battle without results, and a quite largish airstrike (31 bombers) hit Mersing to little effect.
On Jan 15 more harassment by Allied submarines at Mersing, without results.
Jan 16: a torpedo strike by Swordfishes on my two CA defending Mersing fails. Hurricanes show up, though! A IJNAF strike over Malacca fragments and the Betties arriving without escort take heavy losses.
The landing at Mersing was supposed to “scare away” the defenders at Malacca, and in fact this worked. Unfortunately, I messed up with the orders of units pursuing from Malacca and Kuala Lumpur, to the effect that the units at Mersing ended up having to cut off the retreat on their own... which didn't work out. By the time Malacca fell on Jan 22, the allied troops had already withdrawn in the next hex, and the Mersing units were unable to stop them:
quote:
Ground combat at 50,82
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 4657 troops, 30 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 165
Defending force 9761 troops, 119 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 400
Japanese adjusted assault: 68
Allied adjusted defense: 455
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 6
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
347 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 5 (0 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
186 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Assaulting units:
55th Infantry Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
Defending units:
15th Indian Brigade
3rd SSVF Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
22nd Australian Brigade
6th Indian Brigade
2nd Argylls Battalion
112th RAF Base Force
137/155th Field Regiment
In the next few days, the retreating units were able to reach Johore Bahru :(
Betties raided Rangoon harbor on Jan 20 trying to catch the ships that had been bombarding IGD at Pegu, but only sunk some transports. Anyway, the british cruisers seem to have moved away from the area since then.
< Message edited by rattovolante -- 8/30/2010 12:05:08 AM >
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