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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 1:57:11 AM

witpqs

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quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

I assume you don�t have any BBs to spare to help suppress the CD guns while unloading?

And while you were asking for questions. Any plans on a new front opening up soon?

That dastardly Admiral Wa destroyed most of the BBs at Pearl Harbor and at least one more at sea. I have 3 of them repairing on the west coast right now and another just about to refuel at Pearl before heading for the States. The only operational old BB is at Kavieng, just down to 20 sys damage. I want to get it lower and have it help with the Marianas Islands invasions.

I have 5x fast BB with the carriers, and a sixth one (Alabama, I think) is just nearing the front. I am thinking about detaching up to three of them to form a stout bombardment TF. The bombardment group on its way back to Truk is 4x CA, and another 2x CA have just refueled at Nauru to join the party. There are 3x CA repairing at Kavieng. Two are technically ready enough, but if I can do without them they will have more staying power for bombarding the Marianas. Then there are 3 more CA repairing at Pearl Harbor that will be ready within 2 weeks.

The bad news is that all the fast BBs are in want of their summer '43 upgrades. Those will have to wait until the Marianas campaign is over. Soon it will be time for most or all of the USN fleet carriers to get their October '43 upgrades, but at least those are quick to perform.

As far as fronts go, here is the run down.

1) Truk->Marianas: very active. Forces prepping for Siapan, Guam, and Tinian. Other forces prepping for Woleai, Yap, and Baeldaob.
2) Burma: stagnant and awaiting supply buildup in the south.
2A) Burma: open the northern Burma Road, very active.
3) China: when the upper Burma Road is open much supply should be pulled in from Burma. That will mipact Burma and China. Several Allied units will move into China to help repel the Imperial efforts to destroy the remaining major portion of the Chinese Army. In addition, they will try to push back the Japanese and free the large (and vastly over stacked) Chinese Army in Chungking.
4) Northern New Guinea Coast: Advancing slowly. Forces are prepping for Biak and some other bases. Vast movements of support troops and staging of combat troops into bases in this region as the infrastructure is built up to support this and the Marianas offensives.
5) Southern New Guinea Coast: pending, with many forces prepared. Awaiting carrier support for the next phase of advance. This axis will join with the northern coastal advance and proceed into the Spice Islands.
6) Sinabang, etc.: pending. Awaiting further preparation of troops. Another African division has arrived at Moulein that can support operations in this area.

Sinabang might have to wait for other support, as Victorious is due to withdraw in 37 days.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:03:04 AM

JocMeister

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Agreed on the fast BBs. They are always short in numbers but so useful. The slow BBs are quite useless besides atoll bombardments and protecting landings by being torpedo magnets.

And plans for NOPAC? What do you have preping for the Marianas?

I think btw you are in a very good position. You are in the same position a year ahead of me. Perhaps we will see a HI invasion in your game?

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:24:27 AM

witpqs

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Walter is absolutely relentless. Just look at what he has achieved in China. Before that it was Burma where the Allies bloodied the Empire and he just kept coming. There most likely will be an invasion of the Home Islands!

Here is a pic of the Aleutian bases. Just defenses in place and building to support future operations. No forces are prepping for operations.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:25:05 AM

witpqs

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Here are the forces preparing for the Marianas.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:31:54 AM

witpqs

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Tinian will mostly be handled by units now tasked with Truk.

I've been giving a lot of thought to how to carry out the invasions. My current thinking is to land a full force (up to 3 divisions plus other units) at either Guam or Saipan along with a huge overage of supply, then send the transports back to load up and land the force on the other island. I would like to also be able to land forces on Tinian in a third wave, but we'll have to see what is available with adequate preparation. A new division will arrive at San Francisco in a few days.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:33:00 AM

witpqs

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I should point out that I have to get recon of the Marianas, that plus SigInt will help me decide which island to land on first.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 7:10:04 AM

JocMeister

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I didn�t realise you had already secured NOPAC. Wow!

Looking at your forces prepping for the Marianas it does look a bit on the light side. But of course that depends on what your opponent has in place. But a division on each with some hodgepodge of troops and you might not have enough.

Erik had very light defenses in place and I still struggled a bit. Especially the US divisions took a beating. The USMC divisions did a lot better and the tanks (Shermans) were absolutely essential.

This was the first attack on Saipan.

quote:

Ground combat at Saipan (108,93)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 42453 troops, 893 guns, 913 vehicles, Assault Value = 1887

Defending force 32888 troops, 412 guns, 363 vehicles, Assault Value = 758

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Allied adjusted assault: 3129

Japanese adjusted defense: 4203

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 5)

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

Japanese ground losses:
2367 casualties reported
Squads: 28 destroyed, 155 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 39 disabled
Guns lost 59 (12 destroyed, 47 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (4 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2884 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 369 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 40 disabled
Guns lost 42 (2 destroyed, 40 disabled)

Assaulting units:
81st Infantry Division
3rd Marine Division
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
33rd Infantry Division
194th Tank Battalion
98th Infantry Division
766th Tank Battalion
4th USMC Tank Battalion
3rd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
V US Amphib Corps
3rd Eng Amph Bde
Pacific Ocean Areas
8th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
Eighth US Army
198th Field Artillery Battalion
12th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
4th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
11th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
97th Coast AA Regiment
4th Eng Amph Bde

Defending units:
9th Ind.Mixed Regiment
42nd Recon Regiment
10th Ind.Mixed Regiment
50th Ind.Mixed Brigade
53rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
17th Ind.Mixed Regiment
18th Army
11th JAAF Base Force
45th Field AA Battalion
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
32nd Air Defense AA Battalion
Saipan Naval Fortress
4th JNAF AF Unit
4th JAAF Base Force
5th Air Division
31st Army
13th RF Gun (Pack) Battalion
19th RF Gun Battalion
55th Field AA Battalion
33rd JNAF AF Unit
47th JNAF AF Unit /1

And this was with a fully prepped Command HQ/Corp HQ. The units Erik had in place was mostly the weaker late arriving RGTs with low firepower and crappy EXP. But look at the adjusted AV nonetheless! Have sigint provided some clues on what he has in place?

I think especially at Saipan you will want to land everything at the first go. The CD fire where nasty and I had something like 6 old BBs embedded in the TFs. That was essential.

< Message edited by JocMeister -- 10/16/2013 7:11:28 AM >

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 7:36:03 AM

witpqs

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I haven't pieced together the Intel yet. That is a nasty defense you're showing there! I will get the four divisions from Truk, 3 of them USMC.

Looking at the Truk battle, the rotation of units has helped, but the real key has been recovering troops long enough between battles. I'm pretty sure that's been the biggest key to the better attacks. And Truk, even if it falls very soon, will have taken the better part of a month. I don't want to do that with each of the big three Marianas in turn, so I'm thinking about that approach of getting two or three islands invested. Then I will only have to deal with any rotations and such at sea. It will also allow me to grab whatever island is weak.

The CD guns will definitely influence the order of invasion. I want to go against the greatest CD gun opposition last. Tinian might be the exception, as mentioned earlier, since combat forces are not yet really preparing for it.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 11:01:49 AM

JocMeister

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Yeah, A 4000 adjusted AV is pretty mean!

And thats using pretty poor troops. Some of the RGT/BDEs are of the late arriving kind with a light TOE and low EXP. Had there been 2 real IDs in place that would have made it really nasty!

That being said you go in a lot earlier than I did. And if your opponent have neglected fort buildings and defenses it might be a lot easier for you. What does intel monkey say? I knew pretty well what I was going to get up against thanks to it.

I think doing 2 instead of all three is wise. Better to grab two "easy" than all three "hard" or not at all.

And bring loads of arty. That way you can have the arty suppressing the troops while your infantry recovers between the attacks. No rest for the enemy!

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 11:49:25 AM

obvert

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quote:

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

The units Erik had in place was mostly the weaker late arriving RGTs with low firepower and crappy EXP. But look at the adjusted AV nonetheless! Have sigint provided some clues on what he has in place?

I think especially at Saipan you will want to land everything at the first go. The CD fire where nasty and I had something like 6 old BBs embedded in the TFs. That was essential.

Just for the general knowledge, the experience may not always be so low and crappy as it looks from checking out the organic unit. Most of these units were fully-prepped and in the 53-55 range of experience by the time of attack. Not high, but not terrible.

Several Anti-tank gun units were added, and there were two HQs on island for this particular one, which definitely adds to the troop effectiveness. The timing was just a bit too fast for the defenses as another arty unit and some other surprises were destined to be placed out here. Don't forget that brigades are not always only brigades. The Japanese have a lot that can combine into divisions, a lot of other strange combinations that also can combine and make larger units. A smart Japanese player might be able to use this to fool sigint a bit by placing the smaller units onto the islands, wait until an attack is imminent, and then combine the units into several divisions. This was the plan for several other islands out here, but the second half of the divisions hadn't yet made it due to PP constraints and my inexperience, really.

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Looking at the Truk battle, the rotation of units has helped, but the real key has been recovering troops long enough between battles. I'm pretty sure that's been the biggest key to the better attacks. And Truk, even if it falls very soon, will have taken the better part of a month. I don't want to do that with each of the big three Marianas in turn, so I'm thinking about that approach of getting two or three islands invested. Then I will only have to deal with any rotations and such at sea. It will also allow me to grab whatever island is weak.

The CD guns will definitely influence the order of invasion. I want to go against the greatest CD gun opposition last. Tinian might be the exception, as mentioned earlier, since combat forces are not yet really preparing for it.

The big three might be a big four. I had Rota as well or better defended than the others. Each of the three Jocke invaded did take 3-4 weeks to break down, so even with the defense not yet where I was hoping to get it, the time taken to get them all was still acceptable and it seemed the Allied troops were pretty worn out in most cases. Jocke did add in some troops after initial invasions as well to make sure on a few of these, so I was pleased that those extras had to be used there rather than somewhere else.

I would definitely think of investing several in quick succession rather than waiting for one to finish before trying the next.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 12:59:08 PM

JocMeister

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quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert
Just for the general knowledge, the experience may not always be so low and crappy as it looks from checking out the organic unit. Most of these units were fully-prepped and in the 53-55 range of experience by the time of attack. Not high, but not terrible.

Several Anti-tank gun units were added, and there were two HQs on island for this particular one, which definitely adds to the troop effectiveness. The timing was just a bit too fast for the defenses as another arty unit and some other surprises were destined to be placed out here. Don't forget that brigades are not always only brigades. The Japanese have a lot that can combine into divisions, a lot of other strange combinations that also can combine and make larger units. A smart Japanese player might be able to use this to fool sigint a bit by placing the smaller units onto the islands, wait until an attack is imminent, and then combine the units into several divisions. This was the plan for several other islands out here, but the second half of the divisions hadn't yet made it due to PP constraints and my inexperience, really.

Ah, good to know. I saw they arrived with just 45 EXP and I didn�t think they would have had time to get any EXP raise. Their TOE looked really light though with just a few guns. So not much firepower unless the recieved a TOE upgrade?

Nonetheless it took several weeks as you say to wear them down and especially the US divisions took a beating. The combination of terrain and forts make it a formidable obstacle. I think the USMC divisions and especially the tanks were absolutely crucial. As you say, add some more guns and it would have taken longer. Throw in an ID and it could have taken months. I guess it comes down to if witpsqs opponent have prepared the Marianas or not!

quote:

ORIGINAL: obvert
The big three might be a big four. I had Rota as well or better defended than the others. Each of the three Jocke invaded did take 3-4 weeks to break down, so even with the defense not yet where I was hoping to get it, the time taken to get them all was still acceptable and it seemed the Allied troops were pretty worn out in most cases. Jocke did add in some troops after initial invasions as well to make sure on a few of these, so I was pleased that those extras had to be used there rather than somewhere else.

I would definitely think of investing several in quick succession rather than waiting for one to finish before trying the next.

+1

I would do two to begin with. Once secured and LBA is establish the rest can be secured under LBA. I did only 1 to begin with. But there were special reasons and circumstances for that!

< Message edited by JocMeister -- 10/16/2013 1:43:16 PM >

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 5:13:13 PM

witpqs

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Part of my strategy is to get in there before he can prepare them too much. BTW we do have optional stacking limits, so both the troops that I can put there (over stacked to a point) and those he can put there (not so much over stacked) are limited by the supply penalty.

BTW those are 1x DD + 4x AK at Almalgan. Maybe my strategy so far in this game of grabbing bases to isolate others is bearing some fruit, causing him to spread out his defenses a bit??

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by witpqs -- 10/16/2013 5:15:01 PM >

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 5:15:22 PM

JocMeister

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Certainly looks like he has neglected the base building! Heh, what if they are almost empty?

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:06:36 PM

witpqs

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You asked...

Guam

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:07:03 PM

witpqs

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Rota

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:08:01 PM

witpqs

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Tinian

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:08:26 PM

witpqs

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Saipan

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:19:10 PM

JocMeister

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Thats going to be tough. But not certainly possible!

Tinian looks lighter but I bet he has a division there too. Guess he has been building forts instead of of airfields...

PS. I love intelmonkey!

< Message edited by JocMeister -- 10/16/2013 6:20:00 PM >

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/16/2013 6:23:09 PM

witpqs

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Recon will influence this, but I'm thinking Guam first.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/17/2013 1:56:30 AM

princep01

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With all those construction units on Guam and Tinian, it looks like hWa is not neglecting the fortification of these island. I suspect that Siapan, while showing little in the way of construction units, has already been built up. Admiral Wa may be a little behind on the islands showing all those construction units. Rota, probably not built up at all. Thought: while your main landing goes in at Guam or Tinian, I'd get Rota too and land many Seabees there to build a fast airbase.

Taking the Mariannas wasn't easy in real life and it won't be easy in your game, but it is certainly doable. Get Truk behind you ASAP and saddle up for the big event. Taking Truk was a good idea as it will be a fine base from which to operate. I had doubts about the advisability of going for Truk, but it appears you were way ahead of me on that one.

It will be very interesting to watch the Marianna event.

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RE: 1943 September 06 - 10/17/2013 3:41:05 AM

witpqs

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The dates on the sightings vary and maybe some units haven't given up SigInt yet, so I'm sure the information isn't 100%. I do need scrounge up some unit(s) to prep for Rota.

I'm planning to put Pacific Ocean Areas and South Pacific HQs on Truk so they are close enough to lend a hand. Maybe one of them will need to go to Rota or something? Not sure.

I have high hopes for the current attack at Truk, basically thinking if I get another good 1 to 1 and knock down a bunch of squads then the end could be soon.

< Message edited by witpqs -- 10/17/2013 3:42:01 AM >

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1943 September 08 - 10/18/2013 6:51:58 AM

witpqs

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1943 September 08

The Empire captured:

The Allies captured:
Terapo

There were Imperial amphibious operations at:

There were Allied amphibious operations at:

Another grinding attack east of Kunming.

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 70,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3138 troops, 0 guns, 645 vehicles, Assault Value = 502

Defending force 88527 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1389

Japanese adjusted assault: 149

Allied adjusted defense: 154

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 166 (3 destroyed, 163 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2992 casualties reported
Squads: 172 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 37 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
51st Infantry Brigade
12th Tank Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
15th Tank Regiment
5th Tank Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
17th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
3rd Chinese Corps
31st Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
91st Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
24th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
120th Red Chinese Division
97th Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
54th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
20th Group Army
9th War Area
Lusu War Area
16th Group Army
4th War Area
21st Group Army
19th Group Army
56th Chinese Corps
52nd Chinese Corps
49th Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
3rd War Area
9th Group Army
62nd Chinese Corps
35th Group Army

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 3 days the supply route into China will be opened.

There were 4x SSX engaged and likely sunk at Truk today. Two of them attacked our inbound bombardment force but did not score any hits. The bombardment was delayed until daylight but was carried out.

The ground attack at Truk went well enough but not as well as last time. I think I need to keep up constant naval bombardments, at least to the degree possible. None of the CVE bombers flew strikes, severe storms at Truk might have been to blame. Many CVE fighters did fly escort for 4EB and 2EB. Looking at the troops on the ground, they will require either 2 or 3 days rest. CA Pensacola got roughed up during today's bombardment so she will put in to Kavieng for some body work.

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Truk (112,108)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24742 troops, 397 guns, 517 vehicles, Assault Value = 811

Defending force 18313 troops, 226 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 421

Allied adjusted assault: 1285

Japanese adjusted defense: 1585

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
471 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 19 (5 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
276 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Vehicles lost 45 (9 destroyed, 36 disabled)

Assaulting units:
762nd Tank Battalion
3rd Marine Division
763rd Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
Otago (Mtd) Rifles Regiment
1st AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
3rd Pioneer Battalion
3rd NZ Division

Defending units:
42nd Naval Guard Unit
46th Naval Guard Unit
48th Naval Guard Unit
Sasebo 5th SNLF
Guards Mixed Brigade
30th Infantry Regiment
41st Infantry Rgt /2
4th Base Force
Truk Naval Fortress
4th Port Unit

The 86th Naval Guard Units gave up SigInt at Rota today. The fleet carriers are moving to Satawal for a couple of days to cover unloading of supplies there by an AK, but will be back at Truk in time for the next ground assault. Here is a spotting of at least one Imperial carrier.

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RE: 1943 September 08 - 10/18/2013 6:53:14 AM

witpqs

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Here are the troops at Truk.

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RE: 1943 September 08 - 10/18/2013 9:10:04 PM

witpqs

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I think I made some comment recently that Truk has taken the better part of a month so far. I just looked it up and the invasion was August 1st while the pending turn is September 9th! Let's hope that I can wrap it up before 2 months pass!

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RE: 1943 September 08 - 10/19/2013 1:14:55 AM

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I am going to use some blunt rhetoric herein, and I apologize in advance for any injury caused, but this needs to be said.

Your strategic concept of attacking Truk has proven to be a good one and I have complimented you on that heretofore. However, your tactical handling of the battle has been agonizingly slow and much too casual. You have had practically total command of the sea and air the entire month + long battle, but there he stands and is not much diminished from what he was when you started. Your concern for your soldiers is commendable General McClellan, but let's get the job done or withdraw and go on to something else.

I urge you to ATTACK RELENTLESSLY and stop lollygagging around with divisional rotations and other "rest" nonsense. Bombard him relentlessly by land and sea (every turn, without exception) to keep his ability to recover disabled squads at minimum. Attack with artillery every turn (maybe not every unit) and launch frequent and even shock attacks on him. Stop halting land ops for multi turn breathers. You are letting the guy with the base breath too, you know. Remember, his disables are worse than yours and his fatigue is likely worse too. Bombard from land, air and sea for a couple of turns and then attack in a series of consequtive attacks and you will have the base and he will die in short order.

The Truk operation is sapping your momentum and setting you up for a Stalingrad, Admiral. You have spent five weeks lying on the beach building sand castles at the Truk surf line. We see Marines building surfboards out of coconut tree trunks brought down by JAPANESE artillery fire. We see guys eatting smores roasted on the burning hulks of Allied cargo ships beached by JAPANESE coastal artillery. The delay is allowing him to pour construction and troop assets into the Mariannas while your whiling away the days stuck on Truk. Grab him by the nose and kick the daylights out of those LYBs and be quick about it. Go hard, go soon and keep going and the Truk base will be yours at the end of another week.

Consider the above a critical news editiorial in the New York Times.

(in reply to witpqs)

Post #: 1345

1943 September 09 - 10/19/2013 7:24:39 AM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline

1943 September 09

The Empire captured:

The Allies captured:

There were Imperial amphibious operations at:

There were Allied amphibious operations at:

Some retreating units in the mountains of China were (again) caught and routed by Imperial forces. The hyper-aggressive Maj Shaw again took the 459th far outside of his assigned range (Tsuyung). In fact, he did it three times today! The first time was the most productive, as the group shot down 12x Judy dive bombers. Two days until the supply route into China opens.

Running into supply trouble at Ledo, due to a combination of flying supply out to China, operating numerous bombers and fighters, and a daily supply cap of 1,400 (airfield size 9, fortifications level 5).

At Buna our forces made another - this time well supplied - attack. They are in great shape and will attack tomorrow.

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Buna (99,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2524 troops, 38 guns, 22 vehicles, Assault Value = 88

Defending force 1924 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 20

Allied adjusted assault: 55

Japanese adjusted defense: 19

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
NG Vol Rifles Battalion
49th Australian Battalion

Defending units:
62nd Naval Guard Unit
3rd JNAF AF Unit

There is frantic shipping activity in the Marianas; Truk would be well finished soon.

The fleet carriers are on station just west of Satawal and 8 hexes away are 4x enemy escort carriers. There were no raids launched. I wondered if this (8 hexes) is what DAW HQ was angling for. Quite possibly, although nothing came of it. The Imperial force to the west of the escort carriers is less well scouted and could easily be a larger force of Imperial carriers. the carriers will move back, as will the AK (which did not get to Satawal). The turn after next is an assault at Truk for which the carriers will be on site, so the supply of Satawal will wait.

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Intel Monkey: https://sites.google.com/view/staffmonkeys/home

(in reply to princep01)

Post #: 1346

RE: 1943 September 09 - 10/19/2013 7:25:24 AM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline

Here are the Troops at Truk.

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Intel Monkey: https://sites.google.com/view/staffmonkeys/home

(in reply to witpqs)

Post #: 1347

RE: 1943 September 08 - 10/19/2013 7:59:23 AM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: princep01

I am going to use some blunt rhetoric herein, and I apologize in advance for any injury caused, but this needs to be said.

Your strategic�concept of attacking Truk has proven to be a good one and I have complimented you on that heretofore.� However, your tactical handling of the battle has been agonizingly slow and much too casual.� You have had practically total command of the sea and air the entire month + long�battle, but there he stands and is�not much diminished from what he was when you started.� Your concern for your soldiers is commendable General McClellan, but let's get the job done or withdraw and�go on to something else.

I urge you to ATTACK� RELENTLESSLY and stop lollygagging around with divisional rotations and other "rest"�nonsense.� Bombard him relentlessly by land and sea (every turn, without exception) to keep his ability to recover disabled squads at minimum.� Attack with artillery every turn (maybe not every unit) and launch frequent and even shock attacks on him.� Stop�halting land ops�for multi turn breathers.� You are letting the guy with the base breath too, you know.� Remember, his disables are worse than yours and his fatigue is likely worse too.� Bombard from land, air�and sea for a couple of turns and then attack in a series of consequtive attacks and you will have the base and he will die in short order.

The Truk operation is sapping your momentum and setting you up for a Stalingrad, Admiral.� You have spent five weeks�lying on the�beach building sand castles�at the Truk surf line.� We see Marines building surfboards out of coconut tree trunks brought down by JAPANESE artillery fire.� We see guys eatting smores roasted on the burning hulks of Allied�cargo ships beached by JAPANESE coastal artillery.��The delay�is allowing him to pour construction and troop assets into the Mariannas while your whiling away the days stuck on Truk.� Grab him by the nose and kick the daylights out of those LYBs and be quick about it.� Go hard, go soon and keep going and the Truk base will be yours at the end of another week.

Consider the above�a critical�news editiorial in the New York Times.

I'm a little unclear as to your meaning?

No apology necessary. The biggest mistake I made is in pulling back carriers for a few turns, thus allowing him to get in significant AV, albeit without additional heavy equipment. Without that, the battle would be over already.

I am, though, totally unconvinced by your argument in favor of shock attacks. The one on Truk so far went very badly. In fact, even as deliberate attacks, the worst have been with the troops poorly rested, the best with the troops well rested.

_____________________________

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(in reply to princep01)

Post #: 1348

RE: 1943 September 08 - 10/19/2013 8:31:22 AM

JocMeister

Posts: 8262
Joined: 7/29/2009
From: Sweden
Status: offline

I kind of agrees with both of you. Princep has the execution right. You have to keep up the pressure by bombarding every turn. With troops, planes and from the ground. I don�t know how effective it is but I make sure every big landing has some arty units with it that can keep bombarding while the infantry rest. Consider you have been at Truk for 30 days. If you had disabled just 2 squads per turn via artillery bombardments that 60 squads. Then consider the adjusted AV of those squads...big deal!

But I totally agree on the shock attacks. They are a good way to wreck your own troops. Slow and steady does it right now I think. You are beyond a quick grab and now its an endurance race.

But make sure you don�t come to a standstill waiting for Truk. Its so hard to keep up momentum but I feel its more a psychological thing then with the game. I try really hard to get rid of that bad habit. And if you are dependent on a single base for future operations make sure you "overdo" it. Don�t bring "enough". Bring "dead sure I�ll get this base in days not matter what" number of troops!

You are still in a fantastic position but time runs quickly and before you know it you are in 44. And then 45...

(in reply to witpqs)

Post #: 1349

1943 September 10 - 10/21/2013 3:31:13 AM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline

1943 September 10

The Empire captured:

The Allies captured:
Buna

There were Imperial amphibious operations at:

There were Allied amphibious operations at:

Kingfish got a tanker southwest of Japan, but Tinosa scored better.

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Yap at 95,97

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Kinu
DD Onami
DD Murakumo
DD Shirayuki

Allied Ships
SS Tinosa

SS Tinosa launches 4 torpedoes at CA Kumano
Tinosa diving deep ....
DD Murakumo fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Shirayuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shirayuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shirayuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shirayuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shirayuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Empire, seeing supply about to start flowing into China, took a chance and won the die roll.

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 70,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 15650 troops, 75 guns, 646 vehicles, Assault Value = 668

Defending force 85416 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1265

Japanese adjusted assault: 447

Allied adjusted defense: 193

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
767 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 197 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 149 (39 destroyed, 110 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
23150 casualties reported
Squads: 767 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 1243 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 33

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
5th Tank Regiment
51st Infantry Brigade
17th Tank Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
15th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
64th Infantry Brigade
11th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
74th Chinese Corps
31st Chinese Corps
97th Chinese Corps
24th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
91st Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
54th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
16th Group Army
3rd War Area
21st Group Army
9th Group Army
49th Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
19th Group Army
52nd Chinese Corps
4th War Area
70th Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
20th Group Army
62nd Chinese Corps
9th War Area
120th Red Chinese Division
56th Chinese Corps
Lusu War Area
35th Group Army

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This makes the defense of Kunming uncertain. The 52nd Chinese Corps, with only Support squads remaining 39 (92), did not retreat and buys us another day.

Buna is now ours, and as the defenders have no where to retreat to, the attackers will continue to assault until they are eliminated in place. Ground assault at Truk tomorrow.

A few Betty and Nell raids were savaged over Truk, netting 10 and 2 of the attackers, respectively. An AO was lost near Palmyra to unknown causes. According to Tracker she was scuttled, so this might be a bug, although the operations report does say "Fires out of control, ship can not be saved." I'll check yesterday's reports to see if there is any mention of her that I missed at the time. She was in convoy with 4 other AO of similar speed escorted by 2x SC. The only other AO lost to date was in 1941. CVL Cowpens has refueled at Palmyra and is moving on.

Here is the Intel screen.