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RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal (No Jrcar or Tony)

 
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RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/1/2011 2:10:45 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		April 5-13
My apologies, the game is moving along at a good rate, but I am struggling to keep the AAR updated due to time competition from actual real life. I know, I know....I need to get my priorities sorted. So another summary entry. Quite a lot had happened so this may be a bit long.

At Sea
His carriers have split into 3 TF's now it seems. One group spent a week off Auckland pounding the port. The already damaged BB Warspite took another 30 bomb hits and has been reduced to a complete wreck although surprisingly it is still afloat. The break away group from KB snuck out to the east of Pago Pago and struck an empty TF I had positioned there looking for an opportunity to get one of the infantry regiments off Pago Pago. I lost 3 AK's and a DMS with another DMS's badly damaged. Mini KB snuck around into the Tasman sea and intercepted a supply convoy repositioning from NZ to Sydney. Over a couple of days they pursued and ended up sinking 8 small AK's and basically wiping the convoy out. His CV's have become merchant raiders it seems.

Elsewhere IJN cruiser TF's were active. He sent a CL/DD TF into Pago Pago and smashed the PT TF I had established there, sinking 10 out of 12. A heavy cruiser TF came out of nowhere past all my subs and search aircraft to bombard Perth. Fortunately the shore battery was alert and hit 2 of them for little loss to me. Another group of CA's appeared off the Queensland coast. I feared they were headed to bombard Townsville so I evacuated my big B-17 force there to Brisbane. They cruised the coast for 3 days and managed to interdict the single AKL stream I had set up to sneak supplies into Darwin. I only lost 1 to the CA's but the rest have fled (for the moment). They have bought Port Moresby some time though so will have to start again there.

I got one hit in myself. I sent a light cruiser and some DD"s deep into his rear around Marcus Island. They got lucky and found a small troop convoy north of Saipan sinking 2 fully loaded AK's and a PB. They are headed further west to see what they can find. I also managed to get the convoys that had been chased by his carriers around the southern map edge into NZ. Some fighters and more infantry are unloading, but the infantry regiments are a sad and sorry picture with low morale and heavy losses. They will take months to recover from the ordeal.

On the sub/ASW front honours were shared. I got an AKE off Noumea and a troop laden AK off Rangoon. He got a TK off Colombo and I-23 managed to sink 2 AKL's from the Darwin flotilla. I managed to lose a sub that was caught by aircraft refueling in Darwin.

In the air
Daily attacks on Darwin continue and there is plenty of harassing air activity in China. My campaign against Port Moresby is interrupted the the cruisers, but on the other side of the map we open up a campaign against Akyab. With Chittagong repaired, I have moved 60 fighters in and on April 7 they start sweeping. We encounter Oscars only on day 1 of the attack and kill 4 for the loss of 2. The next day the bombers start up with B-17's and Blenheims from Calcutta attacking the airfield. Day 2 we kill another 3 Oscars but lose 4 ourselves - mainly Blenheims as they go in unescorted before the sweeps. Day 3 is better, killing 5 Oscars for 3 losses and the campaign continues for the next few days witha another 8 Oscars destroyed for only 1 friendly loss. At the end of the 6 days we have likely destroyed 20~25 Oscars for about 15 friendly combat and ops losses and Akyab is closed down. Now there is at least air parity in this front I can consider my next steps. A move on Akyab is the most sensible but is a bit predictable.

On the ground
In India/Burma, Port Blair falls to a divisional level attack on April 5th, It was a good diversion, but cost us an Indian brigade destroyed.
In the south Pacific, the Japanese land on Vava'u and capture it pretty much immediately. I fear Pago Pago is next. He has the troop strength to take it and I would dearly love to get some of my guys out to save them. KB's interdiction is making that look unlikely :(
In the DEI he has moved up on Soerabaja but his first attack failed. Looks like he is waiting for follow up troops for the second assault.
In China, the ballet continues. In the south he seems to be bringing up fresh troops so I have diverted 3 corps from the central front down there. He tried to attack Nanning but looks like it was a mistaken mouse click as I easily threw him back with some just arrived reinforcements from a few hexes away. He tried to surround me north of Wuchow but I brought in reinforcements and stabilised the position there. In the centre My attack towards Wuchang looks like it has failed so I am pulling back into the forests and freeing troops up to reinforce the Kukong and Wuchow front. Around Sian, things are stable although I am still isolated in the forests south of Angkang. I am chasing his marauding armoured car unit down and now have it surrounded in Kungchang just south of Lanchow. Next turn the troops will arrive to kill it. His northern thrust has arrived to within a hex of Lanchow but reinforcemnets are flowing in. He may get into Lanchow yet but I have enough tropps heading there now to surround him if he does. I reacted too late to this threat and it will be a bigger nuisance than I should have allowed it to become.

Overall - The USA and USMC infantry losses are my most serious issue right now. I have lost 4 regiments worth of infantry and marines and another 2 infantry regiments are on Pago Pago facing a gloomy future. Thats about 6 months worth of replacements and another 3 months of training before these units will be back in the fight. My CV's CA's and DD's are all installing radar safe in the knowledge that KB is in the South Pacific. I now have several fighter groups trained up to 70 skill in air to air and fitted out fully with P-40's and Aircobra's. Over the next month things should start to turn around, but I need to free up ground troops if I am going to counter attack anytime soon.

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 151
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/8/2011 8:33:51 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		April 14 - 27
In the week since my last update, we have rocketed through 13 turns. Leaves me with very little time to do this AAR so will have to try and keep up with weekly summary style updates while we continue on at this blistering pace.

At Sea

SOPAC
The big action has been on the Fiji front. After my attempted evacuation of Pago Pago was stopped by KB, I basically resigned myself to the painful fact that I would lose those troops and the best thing I could do was make the best fight possible. I have 2 infantry regiments and numerous support troops there so their loss, together with what I lost at Fiji, will take my US land losses up to almost 2 divisions. Painful, but with the ability to buy destroyed units back and replacements of 60 USA infantry squads arriving a month (rising to 80 from July) and also 54 USMC squads a month, I decided that it was better to replace those losses over 6~9 months rather than risk losing my carriers trying to fight an evacuation force in. Instead, using the knowledge that his CV's were all down south I decided to raid Wake and occupy it if the opportunity arose. More on that later.

Meanwhile mini KB and parts of KB proper continued to raid up and down the NZ coast. My luck finally run out avoiding his CV raids and he caught a tanker force trying to sneak fuel into Auckland. Over 2 days I lost 6 tankers and some DMS's which were escorting them. He then also raided Wellington and sank 2 AP's and hit 2 heavy cruisers damaging them. While that happened though I snuck another TF into Christchurch loaded with P-40's and Aircobras. I was sweating bullets until they were ashore I tell you. When he came in to attack all the shipping that was hiding in Wellington harbour again I was able to put up 30 fighters which nailed 20~30 of his carrier aircraft for no loss. He came in again the next day with more escorts but I was able to get 50 fighters up and shot down another 20~30 for the loss of 3 this time. To be strictly accurate my pilots claimed a total of 80 kills but I suspect it was more like 50 or so. Anyway it was enough to send him packing and allow me to lick my wounds.

Over on the Fiji front. the predictable the assault came. Firstly they landed at Savaii NW of Pago Pago on April 20, with 2 infantry regiments, a tank regiment and an engineer regiment. My little airforce at Pago Pago gave him some stick, sinking 2 or 3 AP's and hammering the BB Fuso for the loss of about 20 aircraft. However my defence was a marine defence battalion, an infantry battalion and some engineers so once he was ashore it was over pretty quickly. By April 22 my garrison succumbed.

On April 26 the main assault came on Pago Pago. My garrison is pretty strong - 2 USA inf regiments, 2 marine defence units, 3 bases forces, an HQ and 2 AA regiments dug in to level 3.8. He arrived with the full suite of weaponry - KB raiding, BB's bombarding and 3 full infantry divisions landing. Air command Pago Pago was overwhelmed and eventually the remnants evacuated north. The CD guns in the marine defence units hit back hard hitting 4 AP's probably sinking 2 or 3 of them. He is now ashore though so it will be interesting to see how long we hold.

CENPAC
While his navy was pounding me senseless in the south I put together a force to raid Wake Island. My sub recon showed only 1 defender so I thought the 3 marine raiding battalions might be able to seize the place. At PH I gathered 18 APD's with a CA and a CL to escort and loaded the marine raiders. Supporting them were a bombardment force of 4 BB's with 6 DD's escorting, and covering the lot were 3 CV TF's with a single CV and escorts each. Follow up was a replen TF, an amphib TF with a base unit in case I was able to occupy the place. We arrived off Wake on April 24, bombarded and went straight in. Unfortunately for me, my recon was faulty. He had an SNLF, a coastal gun battalion and a JNAF force. Too strong for my raiders. We got ashore but ended up with heavy losses (mainly disabled rather than dead) and high disruption levels. It was obvious we wouldn't be able to capture the place without a bigger commitment so I quickly made the decision to pull them back before they took serious losses. The TF's are all on the way back to PH now.

Elsewhere
The NORPAC area has been quiet thus far. I have been too hard pressed in the south to send anything north. During the period we moved the 87th Mnt Reg to Dutch Harbour and a marine defence unit to Adak to protect those bases and give us the option to expand up there later as forces become available. Nothing much going on off India. Supplies moving and subs are stalking the Burma coast. Sub activity everywhere has been uneventful over the period

On the Ground

India/Burma
We have gathered a decent level of forces in India now and I know he can't have too much facing us due to the amount he has committed in SOPAC. With SOPAC being captured the opportunity, to get in close with air and ground forces are limited, so Burma is a good candidate to get to grips with the Japs. I am moving some US air units over to help fight the air war and some US engineer units as well. As a result have decided to mount a corps level attack on Akyab based around the 7th Aust Div. This will let me kill a regiment or even two of Japanese infantry and share the losses between the Australians, Indians and British. If we can capture the place it establishes a base for future offensive air operations and may be further advance down the coast. He probably expects this attack and is preparing, certainly reinforcements are moving in to Akyab, but we need to take the fight to him somewhere, so will see how we go. The troops moved out of Chittagong, initially for Cox's Bazar, then on to Akyab. I picked up intel he was planning a para raid on Ledo, so have moved an infantry brigade there as a safe guard.

China
He has started pulling back in the north. We finally committed the forces required to rebuff him in the far north at Lanchow (about 5 Corps) and squashed that armoured car unit that was in our rear. He is pulling back now. Around Sian he has also started pulling back from his flanking position to the west of Sian. I don't want to get a bloody nose so we are just following along behind. In the south however, activity is building and I suspect he is shifting forces south now to try and catch me before I can react. Made one big rookie error and left Tsuyung unoccupied (its on the road from Kunming to the Burma border). Anyway he dropped a para unit in and captured the place together with a whole bunch of supplies. Very annoying. I have moved fighters to Kunming and am LRCAP'ing it now so he can't reinforce but it will take a few weeks to get the forces in place to recapture the town. I have also started setting up an air supply bridge from Ledo to Kunming. I have 50 transport aircraft available so its getting to the stage where it is viable.

DEI
Soerabaja fell on April 19th. Malang in the hills and Bandoeng are out last mountain fortresses on Java.

Overall
I think Pago Pago may be his high water mark. I can feel the tide is starting to turn. My major unit naval losses are not too bad but I have lost too many escort vessels and my merchant losses are building too (see below). My land losses are the worst thing so far and that will set me back some time while I rebuild those units. My biggest challenge is working out where I can bring him to battle using my land based air. Burma is clearly one front, but I have to find another. Ranges in Centpac are too great, so northern Australia into New Guinea is the most likely candidate. My supply line to Australia are so long though it is going to be painful.

Regards
Andrew

PS : Naval losses to date (excl Dutch)
2 BB (USN)
1 BC (RN)
6 CA (4 USN, 2 RAN)
7 CL (1 USN. 4 RN, 1 RAN, 1 RNZN)
22 DD (16 USN, 5 RN, 1 RAN)
2 KV (RN)
7 PG (4USN, 3 RN)
4 SS (USN)

Merchant losses
18 TK
90 xAK
34 xAP
3 AP

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 152
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/14/2011 2:16:06 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		April 28 to May 8
Time for what has become the weekly round up of the action. The story by theatre

SOPAC
We left our story dear readers with the evil empire invading Pago Pago and our doomed garrison grimly hanging on. The good news is it held and held and only finally succumbed on May 7th after 3 major Japanese attacks and about 10,000 Japanese "casualties". The bad news is my guys all died, 2 infantry regiments, 2 marine defence units, an HQ and 3 good base units. Most can be bought back but it will take time to rebuild the units. KB was involved raiding Pago Pago several times and feinting towards Canton Island when he detected a small convoy of mine headed there. I managed to get away probably due to storms. I am also seeing a fair bit of shipping moving around Fiji , so I suspect he may be pulling some of the 8 divisions he deployed there back to either the DEI or Burma. Gives me a short window of opportunity in Burma that will close in a month or so.

In Australia we continue to hammer Port Moresby while he hammers Darwin. He tried to LRCAP Moresby but his Oscars and Rufes haven't had much effect on the B-17s so far. Maintenance is a bigger enemy. My land units have finally positioned themselves around his troops on the north west Australian frontier and hopefully that little incursion will be cleaned up over the next few weeks. On May 1st he had the temerity to bombard my home town Brisbane, not once but twice. A few holes in the runway were all that resulted but we managed to get a few hits on two of his cruisers and must have hit one of his destroyers pretty hard. I had moved most of my coastal arty to Townsville to protect the B-17 base. Hope he tries to hit me up there. It would be interesting to say the least.

CENPAC
The Wake raid force made it back to PH unmolested and total losses were only about 10 raider squads. The troops are resting and recovering. Land strength in PH has improved now to almost 3 division equivalents after I stripped the 2 divisions from the garrison to send to Fiji/Pago Pago and ultimately New Zealand. Those divisions are now both at about 40% strength after all the losses sustained and are slowly rebuilding in NZ. I now have 3 fighter groups at around 70 air training level so am moving more squadrons to the NZ/Oz theatre by very circuitous routing. I should ultimately get a dozen well trained US Ftr squadrons deployed by next month.

DEI
After one a costly rebuff at Bandoeng (3,200 casualties vs 180) he has gone quiet. He seems to have settled in to a long siege and may be waiting for reinforcements from Fiji to finish the Dutch off.

Burma/India
I have managed to organise a decent attack force to deploy against Akyab. I figure I have a month before the troops from Fiji can deploy in theatre so have sent 7th Aust Div, 7th Ind Div and the brigades of 70th Brit Div together with 2 armoured brigades arty and engineers on their way. He will be dug in by now and probably has 2 or maybe even 3 regiments there so I will have to assess his strength and make a call on whether I can take the place quickly or not. I don't want to be caught with all my good units forward and he lands in my rear with those Fiji divisions.

He certainly knows I am coming and is harassing me at every opportunity. He bombarded and mined Cox's Bazar on May 2nd so I moved a cruiser TF into Chittagong to contest. We had a daytime surface action off Cox's Bazar which he followed up with a major Nell strike on my survivors. I sent some Beauforts in as well but ended up coming off the worst for it. I lost another RN CL and DD and the rest of the fleet (a CA, a CL and 3 DD's) was damaged to various degrees. If I can get them all back to Colombo they will all fight again. He probably had a DD badly damaged and got away with light damage elsewhere, so it was a Japanese victory and a blow to Royal Navy pride. I am fast running out of British light cruisers. We should be in position by May 15th for our first attack on Akyab.

For the longer term in Burma I am sending considerable USA air reinforcements - 6 bomber and 2 fighter squadrons are already on their way, a P-40 group arrives at Aden over the next few weeks and I have another fighter group at New York ear marked for this theatre as airframes become available. As PP's allow I may also move a US infantry division over to help share the loss burden. The British infantry replacement rate is so low they basically don't come back once lost. The Indians, Australians and US army all need to take the lions share of the fight if we are to be aggressive.

China
In China he is pulling back. Initially he fell back from the salient he drove to the southwest of Sian and from the attack on Lanchow, but now he is also pulling back from what appeared initially to be a major attack in the south from Vietnam. A local Japanese assault on the edge of the Sian salient was rebuffed. I am short of supplies everywhere so am not in a position to do much but follow up, dig in and build. I now have an airbridge set up from Ledo to Kunming and have 60 transports operating daily. The air landing at Tsuyung hasn't been crushed yet but, LRCAP by fighters at Kunming have prevented him from reinforcing and the first land troops will be there in a few days. I am properly garrisoning my rear area bases now. No Chinese offensives just yet.

Other action at Sea
Sub action has been pretty hot. I got a torp into the CA Aoba at Pago Pago, sank at least 1 and maybe upto 3 tankers off Tarakan and got a torp into a fully laden AK off Rabaul. In return he put 2 into the CL HMS Emerald off Calcutta laying her up for several months, I lost 2 AKL's off the Australian coast trying to sneak supplies into Darwin and the Dutch sub O19 was sunk in the Tarakan battles. We both had another couple of subs damaged each. If my dud rate wasn't so high it would have been a much mor successful period for the US sub arm. I am now starting to get significant numbers of radar equipped subs deployed and have some operating around the home islands. I am trying to map out his convoy patterns but haven't had too much luck yet. I think he is hugging coast lines so I need to experiment with sub placement a little.

Strategy Comment
My position is consolidating and although he hurt me at Fiji and Pago Pago I have managed to avoid any fatal damage. I get the sense he is almost done with his initial offensive so if that is true, the challenge now is to take the fight to him and start to attrit his air and naval arm while my land forces lick their wounds. I am in the midst of planning some limited offensive options and plan to be in a position to execute by July. More on that next week maybe.....

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 153
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/22/2011 12:16:04 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		May 9th to May 19th
Its been a busy 7 days with 10 turns played. The state of play is as follows.

SOPAC
After the fall of Pago Pago, activity levels in this theatre have fallen right back. My subs and sigint have detected significant shipping movement around Fiji, so I suspect he is re-deploying forces back to the DEI or Burma where I am putting him under pressure. I have started to move forces to Australia in preparation for a counter attack in a few months time but they are being forced to take the long route via Tahiti and south of New Zealand. In NZ the survivors of Fiji and Pago Pago are steadily rebuilding. One USMC regiment is rapidly approaching full strength again and the infantry replacements are now flowing to the two damaged infantry divisions. These troops are also starting to move across to Australia to position for a possible attack. Rebuilding is the name of the game here.

CENPAC
A quiet week. I am moving a USA Base force to Canton Island under cover of the CV's out of Pearl. He detected it and it looks like he sortied KB from Fiji to intercept. I didn't want to fight all of KB so the force withdrew north, refueled and have gone in again. Second time round he didn't react and they are currently discharging. If I hold Canton I can shuttle heavy bombers from Hawaii to NZ and Oz through the airfield. Fighters and Medium bombers have to go the long way by boat. Midway is building nicely now (A/F 3, Forts 4, Port 2 and building) so I should be able to deploy support ships there and turn it into a sub base soon.

DEI
Nil activity on this front. Bandoeng is being raided by bombers but he hasn't attacked at all. I got sigint saying the Imperial Guards Div are moving to Rangoon. They had led the attack at Bandoeng, so I suspect he is now just screening the Dutch to get reinforcements to Burma.

Burma / India
All the action was here this week. We arrived at Akyab but discovered 3 full IJA regiments dug in there. I was not very optimistic about the chances of success and was worried about the Guards and others from Fiji arriving to counter invade my rear. With so much of strength forward at Akyab, this would be a real problem. The first attack went in on schedule on May 15th and low and behold the result was as follows :

Ground combat at Akyab (54,45)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 39947 troops, 822 guns, 824 vehicles, Assault Value = 1491
Defending force 9796 troops, 105 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 358
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Allied adjusted assault: 1064
Japanese adjusted defense: 915
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2325 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 72 disabled
Engineers: 22 destroyed, 38 disabled

Allied ground losses:
446 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 52 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 146 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Vehicles lost 77 (8 destroyed, 69 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Hussars Regiment
6th Australian Division
70th British Division
2nd Royal Tank Regiment
14th British Brigade
7th Indian Division
16th British Brigade
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
23rd British Brigade
48th Gurkha Brigade
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/13th Field Regiment
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
78th Infantry Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
33rd/B Division
32nd Field AA Battalion
5th Field AF Construction Battalion

It looked like my tanks were tipping the balance in my favour so over the next week I kept the pressure up and on May 18th, the 3rd attack succeeded and the base fell. I had a blocking force behind so no-one escaped overland although it looks like he evacuated unit fragments from each regiment by fast transport so the units were not destroyed completely. Still 3 whole regiments were virtually wiped out for minimal Allied losses, so it was the first serious reversal for him. Huzzah!! The air battles were also intense. My Hurricanes sweeping and capping from Chittagong managed to really grind his Oscars down and we also nailed unescorted Betties and Nells on two occasions. My guys claimed around 60 kills over the week, friendly losses were about a dozen. I lost 3 minelayers in a misguide belief he had mined Akyab and I needed to clear it so my battleships could bombard him in support of my attacks. Ended up being no mines and no need to bombard, but the poor old AM's took the brunt of his fury. Small price to pay.

China
His withdrawal continues. I am only following up hesitantly. I want to stay in favourable terrain till I have built up. On May 14th my reaction forces arrived at Tsuyung. He had deployed Oscars over Kunming and forced my fighters to the ground allowing him to reinforce with more air lifted troops from 33rd division. It didn't help......

Ground combat at Tsuyung (68,46)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 12567 troops, 78 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 922
Defending force 2047 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 64
Allied adjusted assault: 402
Japanese adjusted defense: 112
Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Tsuyung !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
831 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 20 (20 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
39th New Chinese Division
71st Chinese Corps
38th New Chinese Division
54th Chinese/C Corps

Defending units:
33rd/A Div /1
2nd Raiding Rgt /1

That concluded an embarrassing and costly (in terms of lost supply) incident I would rather forget.

Other action
There was a fair bit of sub action during the period. I claimed an AK near Japan and another near Truk. One IJN sub hit a mine at Perth and 2 more were damaged by depth charge attacks. I lost 3 more AKL's in the vain attempt to sneak supplies into Darwin and had 2 subs damaged to Japanese ASW attacks. I am struggling to map out his convoy routes at the moment.

Overall
I think he has finished his initial offensive. KB hasn't come hunting and it is still around Fiji, so I suspect it may be covering the withdrawal of his divisions there. Where to I don't know. An invasion of Australia is a possibility but unlikely. Poor enemy commsec revealed a plan to deceive me into thinking they would go after Brisbane. It is either an elaborate double bluff or they want me to worry about that while they send forces to tidy up the DEI and maybe attack in India. That would also line up with the withdrawal in China to free up troops for an Indian offensive. The fall of Akyab will force him to reinforce Burma and I can see a nasty fight developing there. I have to be wary of deploying forward and exposing myself to a counter invasion. The pressure is on me now though. I need to keep the fight going and not let him rest too much.

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 154
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/22/2011 4:07:57 PM   
Alfred

 

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
Status: offline 		That you suspect the KB reamins in the vicinity of Fiji to cover the withdrawal of the recently victorious enemy troops, brings two things to my attention.

1. A quick counter invasion of the recently lost Pacific islands could have a significant psychological impact.
2. I wouldn't be so quick to assume the released enemy troops are going to India. I would be more inclined to think Australia is the target for these reasons.

(a) you haven't explained why you view the previous commsec regarding Brisbane to be poor intel. If that intel came via intercepted radio transmissions, then some effort to plan for a Brisbane operation must have been instituted.

(b) it is now the second half of May. The troops from Fiji would not arrive at the Indian invasion beaches until well into June. That is quite late to be launching an Indian sea invasion particularly when the Australian east coast, to wit Brisbane, is so much closer. Furthermore, if a second wave of Indian beach landings were to be necessary, they would have to be executed after the end of the bonus amphibious landing period.

(c) removing troops from Bandoeng to send them against India does not make much sense. I can understand that your victory at Akyab might have created a minor crisis and the closest unit which could have been sent in the short term to plug any hole created as a result of the Akyab victory, might come from the Bandoeng besiegers. Nevertheless, the most efficacious outcome for Japan is to destroy the remaining Dutch defenders at Bandoeng and thereby release all of the Japanese units.

(d) any thinning out of the Japanese line in China is more likely in order to release units for land operations rather than as part of a naval operation. The more likely scenarios are that they are earmarked for Burma, or elsewhere in China taking advantage of the interior lines.

(e) invading Fiji and Samoa is not a very efficient strategy if the overall idea was to always go for a sea invasion of India. Although it really isn't necessary, capturing both Fiji and Samoa does make a bit more sense if the true objective is Australia.

Alfred

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 155
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/23/2011 12:41:48 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Alfred

Hi. Thanks for the thoughts. Two things lead me to believe they are shifting to Burma/India.

First I was mistakenly copied in on the following email between the two Japanese commanders

Quote
Mate here you go.
not much to do...
I started preping the Div's for Brisbane as deception.
Unquote

That combined with some other comments they have made in the back and forth reparte lead me to the conclusion they want me to think they are going to Australia but actually are not. Then again it could be a gigantic double bluff. jrcar is an ex army intel officer who did some psyche warfare training so a double bluff is certainly not out of the question.

Second is "in game" sigint and what my subs are seeing. I have had sigint reports of the Imperial Guards and also one of the divisions out of Fiji (forget which one right now) headed on ships for Rangoon. My subs are also seeing shipping moving out of Rabaul to the west.

I don't totally discount a move on Australia. I am moving forces there now to both protect Brisbane if I am wrong and also prepare for a July/August counter attack up through the top of Queensland to the southern New Guinea coast. Have earmarked 10 fighter squadrons, 6 medium bomber squadrons and 12 B-17/Liberator squadrons from the US, plus the 2 reduced US infantry divisions and 2 USMC regiments from Fiji/Pago Pago. Have also spent a bunch of PP's to create the 1 Aust Corps under SWPAC which gives me another 3 division equivalents of Australian troops including the 7th Division (it was the 6th Div in Akyab actually).

At the moment I am favouring a thrust into New Guinea over a counter invasion of the islands as it allows me to leverage my land based air power better out of Cairns, Cooktown, Portland Roads and Horn island. An attack on the Pacific islands has to rely on CV's mainly and I am not at all confident I will win a confrontation with KB plus mini KB if they all turn up. Be very interested if you have a view to the contrary though.

Cheers
Andrew

(in reply to Alfred)
Post #: 156
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/23/2011 6:00:43 AM   
Alfred

 

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
Status: offline 		aoffen,

Hmm, am not totally convinced but can't totally dismiss your concerns. This is my take.

1. That was quite an oopsie for your opponents to misdirect the email. I can't see how your name would get onto the same distribution list and therefore it wasn't just a case of a single misclick but of several misclicks plus error of judgement to deliberately choose your address as a valid and relevant address for the email's contents.

2. In the email the past tense was used to describe the Brisbane prepping. Furthermore the date of the email was not provided. It is possible that units were initially prepped as part of a maskirovka operation but the current strategic situation is quite different from what applied back then.

3. You have made several references to intel disclosing ships heading for Rangoon, but no reference to LCUs actually prepping for India. As part of a maskirovka operation, it is very easy to set ships to have Rangoon as their destination, travel part of the way to Rangoon and then at the last moment change direction to their true destination.

4. The amphibious landing bonus is a significant force multiplier. A Japanese player who lacks both (a) LCUs prepped for the target, and (b) the amphibious landing bonus, will find any sea borne invasion a much harder job to pull off. The more ambitious the operation is, the greater the difficulty is in the absence of both these elements.

5. Bearing in mind the preceding two points, keeping the KB to cover the evacuating Fiji convoys is a somewhat extravagant use of that valuable strategic asset. If you are correct regarding the KB's current mission, it would be much more logical for its next mission to be to spearhead an Australian east coast invasion rather than India.

6. I would draw your attention to the comments made in post #203 of the Rob Brennan/LoBaron AAR regarding maskirovka operations. Not only is jrcar an ex-intel officer, Nemo's name often appears as the latest poster in your opponent's AAR. Both jrcar and Nemo would be adept at misdirecting you and deliberate misdirection via email has been a regular tool employed by at least one of those gentlemen.

7. What kind of ships are moving west from Rabaul. If cargo ships, they could have delivered supplies to Rabaul as part of building up a pre invasion stockpile, then moved west to pick up resources from the DEI for the return leg back to Japan rather than heading straight back from Rabaul empty handed. That would be a much more efficient use of merchantmen. Alternatively they could be reinforcing the Bandoeng position, weakened by the removal of the IGD and the continued Dutch spoiling position.

Regarding your projected Australian operations, I think your thinking is sound. I certainly would not derail them just to recapture the lost islands. What I had in mind is that I suspect only token Japanese forces will be left behind on the islands and that you would have sufficient spare forces in Hawaii/West Coast to retake them on the cheap before they have an opportunity to dig in and whilst the KB is off on it's new mission.

Alfred

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 157
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/23/2011 7:34:06 AM   
CaptBeefheart


Posts: 2301
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline 		Alfred: Good points on the maskirovka. Either way, Jrcar is doing well to sow doubt and confustion using the tools available. An "accidental" e-mail is a good one.

Cheers,
CC

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to Alfred)
Post #: 158
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/30/2011 3:32:41 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		May 20th to 30th
Weekly update time again.

SOPAC/Australia
Very quiet over the past few days. In Australia I am positioning forces for the north thrust. 5 fighter squadrons have landed now and a couple of aviation support units. I don't think I will be ready until August as it will take another 6~8 weeks to get all the remaining forces deployed from the US. On the NW coast I retook Derby but my troops have literally no supplies. I have an Australian cav brigade on the way to help push on Broome but I don't think I am going to be able to keep anyone in supply. Not sure how to solve the problem. The supplies don't seem to be coming overland and as I can't get into Darwin at this point. I may have to let sleeping dogs lie until I have the combat power to re-open sea supplies to Darwin.

CENPAC
I was bested in this theatre this week. After my Canton Island reinforcement convoy withdrew and refuelled after spotting KB, they ran in again after watching the Japanese ships withdrawing south. The convoy got to Canton, discharged and was about to retire when KB and mini KB suddenly appeared from the west outside of my search arcs. The tricky bastard had retired south and swung around to the north west and run in again. When I realized he had his entire CV force there my carriers turned and ran escaping with only minimal air losses. The convoy however was decimated, although thankfully it was empty. I lost the BB Prince of Wales, CL Hobart, 3 DD's and 2 good AP's. The only survivors were 2 DD's which managed to flee south east. Very disappointing but I have to give them credit for working out how to get around my search arcs and surprising me like that. Interestingly the casualties were mainly Royal Navy and Australian again so the the RN and RAN is really carrying the major part of the war at the moment. At least the dieing part anyway.

DEI
No activity at all

Burma/India
Lots of action. After Akyab fell I was pulling back the naval forces I had moved into position to support the attack, when on May 23rd he again suddenly appeared off the SE coast of Ceylon with a carrier TF. Luckily for me, he missed my battleship TF and ran into my carrier TF with 3 CV's (Illustrious, Formidable and Hermes). We exchanged strikes - I took a torp hit on the Hermes which did very little damage and put 1 into the Hiyo and another into the Junyo, but the real damage was in the air groups. I lost most of my Albacores after I mistakenly sent my fighters to a max range of 1 and the bombers went in unescorted. The fighters did a good job guarding my fleet however, and we knocked down 24 Vals and Kates and another 6 zeroes for the loss of 6 fighters. He withdrew south and I withdraw to Colombo to re stock my air groups. My forces are all repaired and back in action again now, including the Hermes.

Over at Akyab he seems to have started a major air and naval campaign to close the place down. Sweeps of 40+ Oscars are coming over as well as medium size bomber raids. It took me a few days to get a base force into Akyab but I have now moved fighters in and am contesting. Over 2 days of air fighting I lost 9 fighters but claimed 15. Last night however a BB TF hit the airport and closed it down. The bombers then arrived and plastered it and it looks like I have lost 15 aircraft on the ground. That tips the balance his way for the moment. I need to get supplies in as well. An AKL tried to sneak in but was hit by a sub. 2 DD's then took care of the sub getting 9 hits, but one was hit by Nells for its trouble. Action is pretty intense at the moment and am not sure if I can keep the airstrip open at this stage. Most of my land force is moving back to Chittagong leaving an Indian division and some armour behind. I am starting to think he may be planning on making this front a major area of action so my USA air reinforcements will be needed here. They are still a couple of weeks away from getting into action.

China
Quiet. He has pulled back and i suspect is repositioning. Not much I can do at this point. Will try and create a reserve on a rail line to move to the action point when it is obvious where he will attack.

Other action
There was quite a bit of sub action. I lost a PB, an AK and an AKL off the coast of India and 2 AK's off Melbourne but badly damaged or sank 2 of his subs. He lost a TK, an AK an AMC and a PB. My dud rate seem to be at 99% at the moment. Nothing much goes off despite numerous hits.

Overall
The action is moving to Burma it seems while we both pause for breath in the Pacific and China. KB is still in the Fiji-Rabaul area. I don't know where his land units out of Fiji/Pago Pago have gone. By the end of June I will have all 6 US CV's and the Indomitable over in the Pacific with some significant land based air in support and a reasonable ground force so I can start to push back. Until then we are building, probing and waiting.

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 159
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 5/31/2011 7:42:20 AM   
CaptBeefheart


Posts: 2301
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline 		I probably don't do things right, but I can't keep Darwin and those other north shore bases supplied by land. I treat them as I do island bases when it comes to supplying them and retaking them (if necessary). In other words, if I can't keep the sealanes open to Darwin, then I don't keep much stationed there.

Cheers,
CC

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 160
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 6/11/2011 8:00:43 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		May 31st to June 9th
Firstly humblest apologies for missing a week. Things have been hectic and the game pace suffered a little as a result. Only 10 turns over 2 weeks. So....around the grounds we go.

CENPAC
All quiet after the Canton Island battle. I finally tweaked to the fact that he was reconning PH with sub based Glen float planes and sent some ASW TF's to chase his subs away. PH detection levels are now zero again. Lots of ship upgrades going on now. Wasp is PH bound with the Lexington and Saratoga 3 weeks away from operational status. I lose the Indomintable to withdrawal about the same time but will have 6 US CV's ready to go early July. I also finally got the USA 41st Div released from West Coast command and it is also PH bound with a bunch of various support units.

SOPAC/Australia
All quiet. No shipping activity has been detected around Fiji for a while so I suspect those who are going have gone. Am pulling my subs back to Brisbane and refitting them for the forthcoming battle. Should be able to set Townsville up as a sub base before long so that will really help me flood the area from the north Queensland coast to Rabaul with subs. I am unable to sustain my combat forces around Derby in NW Aust. The supplies just don't flow so have decided to pull back until I am in a position to re-open Darwin. That will come once I have the airpower and naval power in Australia for an attack north.

DEI
Constant Japanese air raids on Bandoeng but no land attacks. My force is still holding but supply levels have been steadily eroded. .

Burma India
The hornets nest at Akyab continues. Continued 100 strong air raids plus regular naval bombardments have reduced the base to a mess and stopped my aircraft flying. Overland supply seems to be non existant so everything is damaged on the ground and the base repairs very slowly. Have tried 3 approaches to fix this. First got some CD guns in to the hex (they were all damaged in a bombardment for some reason and are repairing), second started to mine the harbour using MkII mines on Brit subs (unfortunately only laying 40 at a time so will take some time to build up a decent field and no hits so far) and thirdly I tried to fight some supplies in on ship from Calcutta. That got nasty. I used 4 AKL's amphib loaded and covered them with 4 RN BB's in a surface TF in the hex (just in case he turned up with a naval force), my RN CV force one hex back and long range CAP from Chittagong. The force got to Akyab but were subjected to overwhelming air attacks by his Betty's and Oscars. My LR CAP couldn't match his numbers and I ended up losing all 4 AKL's and the BB Ramilies was crippled. A night naval bombardment force finished off the Ramilies the next day after the rest of the force had withdrawn so the mission was a complete failure. I knocked down about 20 aircraft for the the loss of 6 or 7 but I am still stuck with a base I can't supply (yet anyway). My fall back now is air supply from Chittagong but ultimately I need to get ships in. That means I need to build up Cox's Bazar to give me better fighter support so it has turned in to a long term strategy.

China
All quiet here too. Pursued his para raiders from Tsuyung and got another crack at them killing another 23 squads for no loss. The are running back over the mountains with me in pursuit. Will keep harrying them as some revenge for the loss of supplies.

Other action
Over the period I sank a Japanese PB and damaged or sank 2 subs, 1 off Perth and the other off Calcutta. I lost a PB at Perth, an AM off Melbourne and a TK off Colombo to his subs and had 1 of my subs damaged off Rabaul and another hit by air off Taiwan.

Overall
We seem to have entered a consolidation phase. I am prepping for an attack up through New Guinea but it will take time to get the assest into place. I also don't have enough air assets in Burma yet. More US air and naval support needs to head that way. Supplies are a bigger issue in Burma than I had anticipated so I need to rethink the strategy as a thrust from Akyab won't work until I can supply it by sea and that won't happen for a while.

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 161
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 6/11/2011 3:24:30 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Oops I forgot two important events.

During the past week I got a P-38 squadron in action from Cooktown and made two high level sweeps of Port Moresby. He came up to play with fighters and we claimed 20 Rufes and Zeroes for no loss over the 2 missions. If I had been a lessor man I would have leapt to my feet punched the air and shouted take that you f#%&$@rs, but I kept my dignity intact. He then ran a large convoy covered by carriers and cruisers Into Port Moresby which I did not contest, but knowing how likely he was to come and bombard Cooktown I moved the Lightnings to Townsville for safety. Sure enough as predicted in he came and bombarded away. I lost a P-40 and that was it, so no harm done but plenty of troops got in to Moresby I suspect.

Over in the Centpac I sent another light cruiser raiding force into his rear to see if they could stumble over anything. They did but it was not what I expected - they seem to have blundered in to KB west of Marcus Island. They are now running north trying to get away with KB in pursuit. Valuable intel if they survive. Valuable even if they don't. Is KB returning to Japan for repair and refit or re-positioning for a thrust north. At least I know where they are and where of course they are not.

Was wondering if people find this format of AAR interesting. Seem to be getting 50 or 60 hits per report so someone is reading it. Is the style ok?

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 162
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 6/11/2011 3:35:57 PM   
witpqs


Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline 		Sure, it's cool.

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 163
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 6/15/2011 6:31:13 AM   
CaptBeefheart


Posts: 2301
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline 		Doing summaries by theater is a great AAR style. I'm not a huge fan of endless combat reports--your excerpts of key battles are about right. The odd map picture helps as well and could probably be done more often if you have the time (haven't seen a SOPAC pic in a while, for instance).

Cheers,
CC

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to witpqs)
Post #: 164
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:08:49 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Were Back!!

Well its been a looooong time between drinks. To be honest I found the pressure of keeping up the turn pace and doing an AAR too much and so gradually let the AAR slide away completely. I have however resolved to kick it off again and try and keep it going with a couple of updates a week. To be honest I have been inspired by GreyJoy's entertaining AAR and the amount of great help and advice he got from the veterans on this forum. Frankly I am in need of a little help and so I have an ulterior motive for re invigorating the blog. So here we go........

I left you in June 42. We are now up to Jan 43 so I have to bring everyone up to speed with over 6 months of action in one post. I will hit the highlights then go with a series of maps and comments theatre by theatre.

The big news is I committed the ultimate newbie error and got my arse well and truly kicked in a very ill advised CV battle. In early September thinking I could have a go at Port Moresby, I committed my fleet to cover the landing forces. I managed to telegraph my intentions and eventually stuck my head into a well prepared CV and Nettie trap east of Horn Island. Things went from bad to worse as my single CV TF's reacted individually to spread out my cap, then my strikes hit bad weather and picked on his surface TF's instead of his carriers. All up it was disaster of epic proportions and over the course of 3 days I managed to lose 4 carriers and an old BB in exchange for a handful of IJN cruisers. Boy was I pissed at myself for that. Not a good couple of days for the USN. That really caused me some serious self evaluation and of necessity I have pulled my head in since then. After that battle both Darwin and Horn Island were taken.

His CV supremacy has allowed him to set up small fast CVL TF's which have been sweeping the seas looking for my convoys. I have tried to sneak fuel into Australia via both of the map edges but have probably been found out more times than I have succeeded. All up 6 convoys were intercepted and savaged. 2 were xAK convoys loaded with fuel from Capetown to Adelaide, another 2 were xAK convoys also with fuel in the deep south Pacific going from Pearl Harbour to NZ via Tahiti. In these 4 battles plus a strike on Perth and another raid into the Indian Ocean I lost about 50 xAK's in total. However the most painful losses were 2 large tanker convoys also intercepted in the south Pacific which saw 18 large tankers sunk. I am still feeling that pain. I have managed to keep Australia fuelled with what has snuck through but its tough.

On the bright side, in October I managed to retake Noumea in a surprise attack. KB turned up late and I took some minor losses but my LBA fighters at Noumea fought him off causing some serious fighter losses on his carriers. Securing New Caledonia has allowed me to protect the Australian sea board and secure a base for future ops. I tried a small land offensive in Burma marching overland to Wazarup (north of Myitkyna). Again his early reading of my plans allowed him to react and reinforce the threatened zone. I withdrew rather than risk an uneven fight. I have now put 2 USA divisions into Burma and a new big offensive is kicking off from Imphal and Ledo simultaneously.

In China things were pretty stable until last month. He committed a big armoured force in the south and took Nanning and Liuchow. That opened the road/rail north to Tuyun and ultimately Chungking. A small panzer armee (2-3 armoured Divisions) charged up that road, overan the defenders and took Tuyun, Kweiyang and advanced to the gates of Chungking. At the same time he advanced from Lashio in Burma and is besieging Paoshan at the moment. My counter attack is just going into his right rear and we have defeated 3 armoured regiments that were screening his flank. We are now advancing on Kweiyang. We may be able to cut him off and isolate the spearhead.

Major naval Losses to date are as follows
Allies (excl Dutch
4 xCV, 6xBB, 9xCA, 13xCL(none USN), 38xDD, 9xSS
IJN
1 x BB, 3~4 CA, 3~4 CL, 6xDD, 15~20 SS (intel shows 26 but prob too hi)

Air Losses
Allies 5100
Jpn 6100

VP's
Allies 15,300
Jpn 36,500

So without getting too wordy lets go around the grounds in pictures now and look at the current situation in each theatre.

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)
Post #: 165
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:13:54 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Sorry having some teething issues loading maps

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< Message edited by aoffen -- 12/6/2011 6:17:32 AM >

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 166
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:16:09 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Lets try that again

Lets kick off with Australia
Scene of the Carrier defeat is marked
We are trying to push on Darwin with the 7th Div and about another Div worth of armour and brigades
Supplies are a killer. Tenant Creek is built up to level AF7 and we have 2 army HQ's supporting but it is still a real struggle to pull enough supply through. His air and now naval bombardments in Darwin are making it look like we will not prevail for the moment. Another USA Div is on the way from Alice Springs but I really need to get Katherine open for fighters and enough supply in to support them. Not 100% sure how to achieve this outcome.





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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 167
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:16:53 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		ignore this too

< Message edited by aoffen -- 12/6/2011 6:17:59 AM >

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 168
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:22:11 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		BREAKING NEWS

Over to South Pac where we have breaking news. We have intercepted the damn CV's that killed another convoy. Some payback at last.
USS Washington ate 2 torps and haven't seen the damage yet but its still worth it.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Raoul Island at 135,180

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 40
SBD-3 Dauntless x 54
TBF-1 Avenger x 17


Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires
DD Asagumo
CS Nisshin, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Arare
CL Jintsu, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Minegumo, Bomb hits 1, on fire





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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 169
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:25:26 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		The situation around Noumea
KB threw itself at Noumea in late December but was fought to a draw and withdrew.
We landed on Efate with a commando unit but got kicked off.




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< Message edited by aoffen -- 12/6/2011 6:28:56 AM >

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 170
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:27:26 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		North Pac
Not much to report here. Adak is being built up for future use as a sub base but this has been a backwater
A 3 CL surface raider force caught a convoy with some AA units on it and destroyed it last turn. 6 small AK's and 3 AA units lost




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< Message edited by aoffen -- 12/6/2011 6:29:13 AM >

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 171
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:39:21 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Now to Burma

With the loss of our carriers we have diverted considerable air and ground strength to Burma. It seemed one of the few places we could take offensive action before mid/late '43. The 6th Aus Div, 2 USA Divisions and numerous engineers are in theatre and we have started a major attack out of the Imphal area. The objective is limited
1) to cut the rail line to Myitkyna
2) to take pressure off the Chinese by forcing him to divert troops to Burma to stop us
3) to force his air force to fight over neutral territory
Forces committed are 6 division equivalents (2 USA, 2 Ind, 1 Oz, 1 Brit) plus supporting armour, arty and engineers. A diversionary thrust of 2 Div equiavalents towards Wazarup is coming out of Ledo being mainly strengthened Chinese units with arty support. 2 Chindit Brigades and a Para brigade are available in Ledo to support the main thrust or the diversionary thrus as things develop.

In reserve we have the 9th Aust Div, 2 British and 3 or 4 Indian Divisions.





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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 172
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:47:54 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		China

China has been a problem. Everytime we think we have him stopped, he comes at us from another angle. Its like whack-a-mole.
The latest thrust has been the most dangerous. Massed armour cut through our defenses in the far SW and then maneuvered into our rear up the road from Liuchow. I think we are getting the situation under control now. A large force from Changsha area has arrived and is driving into his rear around Tuyun and Kweiyang(?) We managed to snot 3 tank regiments last turn with 1700 AV so hopefully that force can now cut him off from his supplies. Its serious but there is hope we can pull our chestnuts out of the fire here.




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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 173
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 6:53:15 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Finally the subs

We launched a major sub offensive this month to co-incide with the improvement in our torpedoes. Deployed 30 up-to-date subs around Japan and have so far had some success hitting a dozen or so ships in 2 weeks. Probably half are sunk. He has started using shallow water as much as possible to route his convoys and I don't want to expose my subs in those dangerous waters until we at least have torps that will explode, so success will probably be limited for a while.

Here are our patrol zones around Japan.




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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 174
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 7:01:42 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		So there we are.
I am struggling to come up with a strategic theme at the moment. I still feel like I am in a hole. Things are slowly improving but I am probably a good 6 months behind now due to my carrier losses and Japan's success. I am still in the rebuild and consolidate phase.

At the moment my objective for the first half of 43 is to
1) Apply pressure in Burma and attrit his airpower there
2) Reinforce Australia from PH with aircraft, fuel, engineers and more fuel (a couple of large heavily escorted convoys will be required)
3) Recapture Darwin and open up the northern route of supply
4) Prepare a limited offensive in the second half of 43 either into the DEI from Darwin or into New Guinea from Townsville.

This baby seal feels alone and exposed on the ice. Any suggestions / advice from the great brains trust out there would be very much appreciated.

Regards
Andrew

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 175
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 7:56:38 AM   
CaptBeefheart


Posts: 2301
Joined: 7/4/2003
From: Seoul, Korea
Status: offline 		It's good to see you posting again here. Well done on hitting that KB Lite raid--that may stop the convoy busting. I don't know about the "great brain" part, but I'll offer a couple of observations.

I've always had trouble supplying Darwin by land, so you may have the same issues with your LCUs heading in that direction. Against the AI it is possible to send single xAKs in Amphib mode to Broome from Geraldton--possibly a supply vector from that direction on the road could help you. Likewise, overland supply to Burma seems to have been severely reduced in one of the beta patches. I've gotten around that by unloading supplies at Akyab, then Ramree down the coast, then Rangoon and so on as I move my army. Of course, it helps to have local air and surface superiority near each port to do that.

The Ironman AI does plenty of Indian Ocean shenanigans, so I've set up fuel convoys from Abadan to Karachi (with fuel stockpiling there), Karachi to Cape Town, and then Cape Town to Esperance (near Perth). You can route the Esperance convoys pretty far south using waypoints and hopefully out of the way of wandering CVLs. To me that's the safest way to get fuel to Oz.

Also, I don't know what you control in SoPac, but it's possible to set up a chain of airfields from Hawaii to Johnston to Palmyra to Canton Is. (or Penhryn [sp?]) to Pago Pago to Suva. Sending fighters that way might be safer than by xAK or AKV in your current environment.

Just to get a better idea, how about an air losses screen shot, a tracker shot showing ship losses vs. total number of ships of each type and a strategic map shot showing base control? It would be good to get a better breakdown of your surviving APs, AKs and others.

EDIT: If you're not already doing this, you might want to sprinkle a few cheap pickets along your supply routes in order to detect his CVL raids. You'd keep your actual convoys back far enough to hopefully react in time.

Good luck.

Cheers,
CC

< Message edited by Commander Cody -- 12/6/2011 8:00:43 AM >

_____________________________

Beer, because barley makes lousy bread.

(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 176
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 8:16:08 AM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Just heading out for dinner. Will stick that stuff up when I get back in a few hours.
Cheers
Andrew

(in reply to CaptBeefheart)
Post #: 177
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 12:25:06 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		OK, here are a series of screen shots.
First the strat mao showing bases




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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 178
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 12:26:01 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		Now Air losses
Sorted by numbers lost pages 1 and 2





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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 179
RE: Aussies v Aussies - Being clubbed like a baby seal ... - 12/6/2011 12:26:36 PM   
aoffen

 

Posts: 494
Joined: 6/7/2002
From: Brisvegas, Australia
Status: offline 		page 2




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(in reply to aoffen)
Post #: 180
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