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RE: Here We Go Again

 
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RE: Here We Go Again - 9/17/2021 3:43:28 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		FLASH traffic. Sitrep May 3, 1942

Surface action a-go-go. (Shows my age)

1. NW of Pearl Harbor. AI has been running in small cruiser raids picking off my ASW assets (PC, AM,etc) and looking for a fat AK or two. this is the approach to Pearl from Frisco. So AI sends in the Furutaka, 2 x CL, and 2 x DD). He got surprised. My search found him this time and I was ready. 3 x Standard BB, 1 x CA, 4 x CL (2 were Brooklyns) and 7 x DD). Furthermore every airedale at Pearl wanted a piece of this action. AI's cruiser force was wiped out. They did get a couple of Long Lances into the New Mexico. She'll be at Mare Island into 1943.

2. Port Moresby. AI sent 3 x CA and two DD into PM and found my Anzac cruisers. The surface action was not decisive but AI also sent one of his CVE mud-mover TFs. I say this because they were not as effective as KB air groups. They opened a 55 gallon drum of whoop-ass of my Anzacs. All that is left is the Achilles and Leander trying to limp into Cooktown. AI has an invasion force, but knowing AI's M.O. I doubt it has the sand to beat the well-supplied division sized force I have am PM. AI's 15 Zeros got the wrong end of my PM air force (the 8th FG - 55 x P-39). My green Airacobra drivers mangled both his carrier Zeros and his strike Vals. Good thing for AI he didn't wait a week longer. I was fixing to unload a Australian CD battalion (16 x 6" guns) into PM.

3. AI has been feinting an invasion of Cooktown. Good luck, fool. The Desert Rats are nearby.

4. AI is re-invading Canton Island. An inconveniece but nothing I can do. I'm trying to jam and infantry regiment and a battalion of CD 6" guns into Luganville. Takes a while at these primitive colonial ports.

I've noticed a balancer in this scenario. All of my ENG and BF units start at one-third to one-half strength. So I leave them in Frisco to replace up. I'm getting them built up but it takes a while.

< Message edited by Taxcutter -- 9/17/2021 3:44:43 PM >

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Post #: 31
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/19/2021 1:02:28 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		FLASH Traffic 2245 hours

May 10, 1942

CinCPAC to Adm. King cc. USA CoS, CinCSWPAC

At 0130 this morning AI attempted a diversionary attack on the northeast shore of Oahu. This diversion consisted of eighteen landing barges, two small marus and some patrol craft. No carriers, no major surface combatants. RADM Friedell sortied TF 119 (2 x BB, 4 x CL, 6 x DD) and engaged about 0300. Apparently it was a slaughter. Surface and air search found only about dozen oil slicks, some debris and roughly a hundred floating bodies. Radar and air search found no surviving vessels.

CinCSWPAC to Gen. Marshall, cc: CNO, CinCPAC
At 0500 this morning – two years to the day after the Nazi blitzkrieg befell France and the Low countries – AI launched what is thought to be an attempt to grab Port Moresby and demoralize Australia.

1. Their main effort was an amphibious landing at Port Moresby supported by two BB (thought to be Kirashima and Nagato) and five small CVE and CVL. A supporting CV formation stationed near Goodenough Island provided more air assets. Two medium sized marus unloaded a landing force but the six 6” CD guns at Port Moresby inflicted about 250 casualties and damaged both marus. The two carrier strike forces attacked Port Moresby resisted by the 8th FG (Seventy P-39D Avg EXP about 65). Confirmed kills both sides ran about high single digit but the 8th suffered some operational casualties due to the fact the runways are mushy mixture of mud and PSP. The Japanese appear to have succesfully landed about 1,100 infantry troops but almost no equipment and only about as much supply as the assault force could carry.
2. The assault force is pinned on the beach and the commander of the 4th Aus Infantry plans to counterattack in the morning to drive them into the sea. The 4th is in a good position with plenty of supply and artillery support. The 4th currently occupies Level 3 fortifications.
3. A diversionary effort was directed at the allied base at Brisbane but this force was much smaller – looking to be one or two small CVE or CVL. This force launched two strikes of about 5-7 Zeros and 10-12 Kates. These strikes were resisted by the 49th FG (full strength of eighty x P-40E but green as grass). The result was much noise but few casualties (low single digits for both sides) and the base was not scathed.
4. Another diversionary force was spotted off Cooktown but no action was taken by either side.
5. Neither the base at Cairns nor Horny Island were attacked.
6. At dusk the force once at Goodenough Island was spotted on a northeastly course. It has been active for a few days and may be shaping for Rabaul to refuel/rearm but this cannot be confirmed.
7. Australian patrols have found evidence the unit dropped at Port Moresby is the IJA 48th division. The 48th was know to have taken extensive casualties at Bataan.

SWPAC expects more action tomorrow.


Analyst's note to all principals.

I. The diversionary action at Pearl Harbor follows a shakeup in command at Pearl Harbor. The diversionary for was noted two days earlier and inexplicably neither naval nor air assets – available in abundance - were dispatched to obliterate this nuisance. Weather was dead clear and air search had located and determined the composition of the force. This omission satisfied neither Gen. Marshall nor Adm. King. Both CinCPAC and the CO of the VII USAAF were relieved of command. Apparently their successors took the hint.
II. Gen. MacArthur hung his hat of three major and one minor airbases.
A. First was Port Moresby with the fatigued 8th FG (about fifty-five P-39D) on a somewhat degraded but well supplied base.
B. Cairns with the oversized and somewhat experienced 35th FG (one hundred P-39D) and one squadron of RNZAF fighters. (Sixteen fairly experience Hurricane IIb Trop) on a well supplied and pristine base.
C. Brisbane with a full-strength (seventy-five P-40E) with green pilots. Again the spacious and pristine base is well-supplied.
III. Long-term balance of land forces is not in question. The very expeience veteran Australian I
Corps (6th and 7th Infantry Divisions plus Corp artillery and engineers) is compactly waiting at Townsville in case AI tries a landing in mainland Australia.
IV. CinCSoPac took the opportunity to strengthen occupation of Luganville and move fuel and supply into the area.

< Message edited by Taxcutter -- 9/19/2021 1:06:22 AM >

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Post #: 32
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/20/2021 3:00:37 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Follow-up May 12, 1942.

Well it wasn't so dramatic. AI lost heart after a couple days. Both of us lost 15-25 planes and not much else. AI pulled back toward Rabaul but left a few marus to make three futile piecemeal attacks of PM. The 4th Aus became the Australian meat grinder and made fish fool of these attacks.

This AI script seems dedicated to lots of small invasions to keep me busy. Most of these raids end up badly for Japan.

AI is finding out that unless he brings out KB, he cannot bring enough forces to sustain taking more ground.

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Post #: 33
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/23/2021 3:06:25 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep June 1, 1942:

Not much to report. Mid-42 doldrums. We are deadlocked at Port Moresby. I have it but can't develop it enough to exploit. He comes and goes but can't drop enough troops to take the place. He props small assault forces and the 4th Aus kills them piecemeal. I can sneak in enough supply to hold even but until I can get the port expanded to level 4 getting a lot in is a slow process. My engineer unit keeps busy repairing bombardment damage.

My P-39 fighter groups are getting some experience. Because I'm totally defensive shot down does not always equate to a dead pilot, so the group slowly gains EXP and AIR ratings. The P-39 pool is deep enough to keep me in mediocre airframes, but I do need to get a P-40E group some experience. I am staging up the 49th FG (P-40E but green as Kermit the Frog) to get in the game.

On a positive note I've made Noumea and Midway into very tough places to attack.

More later.

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Post #: 34
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/26/2021 3:37:48 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
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Status: offline 		Sitrep June 15, 1942

Still grinding away at Port Moresby. I seem to have gained a slight edge in the the air battle. I'm keeping 65-70 fighters active plus some A-24s and A-20As trained (sorta) for naval attack. This has cost him a bunch of transports along with the fact that I have caught two big transport convoys inadequately escorted. Four Brooklyns and four DD will make a mess of twenty marus. Loss of major sealift and the fact AI insists on his campaign of small nuisance raids seems to have crimped his amphib attacks on PM/


I think AI managed to sneak a lot of infantry over the Owen Stanleys. After enjoying a numerical advantage for months, suddenly he has about 25% more AV in PM. The incessant fighting has worn my PM garrison down buy about 50%. But they are still well-supplied and in level 3 forts in excellent defensive terrain. I have the Aus 6th and 7th Inf. divisions near Cairns and I think I can smurf in these divisions a brigade at a time if the NZ pioneers can get the port upgraded to level 4. The port is currently level 3 with 70% upgrade progress. But it takes forever to offload heavy equipment at a level 3 when you don't have LSTs.

My strategic subs are doing better in Japanese Home waters and I really cannot complain as to how well my S-boats have supported the PM defensive.

Grind, grind, grind.

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Post #: 35
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/26/2021 6:18:56 AM   
BBfanboy


Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline 		Not sure when you get them, but one of those Company-sized commando units is Para Capable. It can be combined with another unit that comes later to make a Battalion-sized para unit with good experience. IIRC, look at 2-6th Commando. Anyway, if AV becomes critical at PM before you can get a brigade there by ship, you could paradrop a those commandos to help hold the line until you bring in the ships.

The other thing, of course, is to keep sinking the Japanese supply ships approaching Buna so their troops at PM will always be short of supply.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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RE: Here We Go Again - 9/28/2021 6:24:35 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep June 23, 1942

Answering about the AV problem first. I have two battalion-sized units in Cairns - an Australian "Machine-gun" battalion and the 2nd USMC Raiders.
60 AV between them and both are airmobile. I have a few C-47s (never enough but that's 1942), so I've been airlifting them into Port Moresby. The MG battalion helped and the bigger Raider unit will help even more.

I finally got the port to level 4 so unloading a brigade of the Aus 6th won't take til Christmas now. I have a transport convoy escorted by US CAs heading for PM. If I get them in I may have the corner turned.

AI-san continues his program of harrassment raids. Attu, Kiska, he's trying Dutch Harbor. Bora Bora and Tahiti. No doubt trying to accumulate VP on the cheap but he never garrisons the islands, but I follow him around with a Raider battalion and scoop the ungarrisoned islands back up denying him a lot of VP. AI-san tried Midway and found out if you want Midway, you better bring KB, the Yamato, and a couple of divisions you can unload quickly, or don't bother. He also found out New Caledonia is strongly garrisoned. He sent out a couple of his coral-cruncher CVL/CVEs but now they are on the way back to Truk with no strike planes. P-400s with experienced pilots are fine Val-killers.

Getting to be about time to withdraw the AVG, but the British are obviously up to their eyeballs with Rommel. IIRC this is about the time Rommel grabbed the air base at Mersuh Matruh, so the air line will be thinly held until the 23rd and 51st FGs arrive and get some experience.

Chiang is about to spring the trap on a division and a half northwest of Canton.


Supply, supply, supply. Fuel, fuel, fuel.


My strategic subs are doing better, but this scenario is still tougher than the basic stock scenario #1.

< Message edited by Taxcutter -- 9/28/2021 6:27:58 PM >

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Post #: 37
RE: Here We Go Again - 9/30/2021 8:03:06 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep July 1, 1942

Well the AI crossed me up. After a weak feint at New Caledonia, he comes back with a massive CVE strike force at Noumea and wrecked my base and ships there. Fifty Zeros brushed aside my fighters and almost 200 Kates and Vals worked over my shipping and the base. Base damage is no big deal - I have three big USACoE engineer regiments and beaucoups supply so they fixed to runway holes overnight. But he sank three CAs, 4 DDs, and two nice APs. Ouch! Worse yet, he scattered my SoPac operations west of Pago Pago. Guadalcanal plans are on hold for a while.

He did try a demonstration at Midway, but I was serious ready for that. A hundred twenty-five P-40B and P-40E fighters smashed his air strike and weak escort. His attempt at naval bombardment lacked BBs, so my horde of CD 6 inchers wrecked transports and escorts. Midway is as tough now as two fleet CVs and two Brooklyn cruisers.

My airlifted battalions have balanced land AV at PM and I now have a brigade of the 6th Aus which will begin unloading tomorrow. Once the 6th is ashore, I'll put the two battalions on his LOC/LOR and I get get ready to exterminate him.

China and Burma/India remain comatose.

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RE: Here We Go Again - 9/30/2021 8:30:55 PM   
Warofthe2ndWorld

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 3/30/2021
Status: offline 		What were the names of the 3 CAs and 4 DDs you lost?

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Post #: 39
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/1/2021 2:02:44 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		I forget. The CAs were 1920s Treaty cruisers. I'll miss their 466 flak rating.

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Post #: 40
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/1/2021 2:04:21 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		For those of you who lack the time, etc to do PBEM or other games against real humans, I'd recommend Scenario 2. It is very competitive.

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Post #: 41
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/1/2021 4:39:10 AM   
RangerJoe


Posts: 13450
Joined: 11/16/2015
From: My Mother, although my Father had some small part.
Status: offline 		I usually crush the Japanese in scenario 2.

_____________________________

Seek peace but keep your gun handy.

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
― Julia Child


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Post #: 42
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/1/2021 10:55:34 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		That's why you are MLoM.

I will eventually. This is my first try on it. I keep running across surprises.

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Post #: 43
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/1/2021 11:24:11 PM   
RangerJoe


Posts: 13450
Joined: 11/16/2015
From: My Mother, although my Father had some small part.
Status: offline 		I crush the Japanese in 1942 . . .

_____________________________

Seek peace but keep your gun handy.

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
― Julia Child


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Post #: 44
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/2/2021 2:19:53 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Good for you.

I'm still getting a handle on just how this scenario varies from others.

Lots more CVEs. Their air wings are not up to KB standards but are still formidable.

Land warfare far less aggressive in CBI, but persistent in WesPac. It gives me a lot of scope to crush him in detail.

Allied air assets less than Scen #1. Very weak RAF.

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Post #: 45
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/5/2021 12:37:00 AM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep July 19, 1942

Situation fairly stagnant. AI-San patrols PM with surface combatants for a while and runs out of fuel and has to run back to Rabaul to gas up. While the cat is away the Allies run some supply out to PM. I almost have his ground pounders isolated. AI-San is aware of that little minefield I laid at PM (he "encountered" it) and now is cautious about entering the PM hex with anything substantial, so surface bombardment - while not completely gone - and less often and less grandiose. His ground-pounders are withering albeit too slowly for my tastes.

I have rationalized a few things. I sent all my Dutch remnant other than subs to Ceylon. The remnant of the ANZAC cruiser force now minds the store at Perth. With CBI nearly comatose orders phases go quickly now.

I did get Luganville firmly under control, and AI-San hasn't revisited Midway.

Problem is that Scenario 2 nerfed the hell out of my aircraft pools. Since I am merely a doddering old fool, and not a WiTP-AE potentate like RJ I have to settle for a classic war of attrition.

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Post #: 46
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/8/2021 4:45:55 PM   
Taxcutter

 

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Status: offline 		Sitrep August 5, 1942

Making a little progress around PM. AI-San had to return to Rabaul because his tankers ran out of fuel and his CVE strike squadrons got a bit thin. I was ready and have already ran 4500 tons of supply into PM and have another brigade of the 6th Aus ready to dash in. My cargo ships are hiding under a 125 fighter umbrella courtesy of the II Fighter Command.

Airedale recce shows the Japanese have a 55,000 man garrison on Guadalcanal with a level 6 airfield.

I've repaired a lot of the damage done to surface combatants earlier in July. I am also preparing to move my carriers to Pearl shortly. I'm still training pilots but I think a raid on the Marshalls will garner my pilots some experience.

Combat along the Imphal ridge is truly half-hearted. Neither side has enough to do anything in the tough terrain. The minelayer Abdiel had an interesting mission. I sent her out to mine Akyab and damn if there wasn't two Kongo class BB and three CLs there. Needless to say the Abdiel ran like hell and her running like hell is spectacular. 38 knots sustained. Nothing fouls up your gunnery like a 38 knot target. The Abdiel got away with nothing but some saltwater on her weather deck. Gotta get more recce airedales to Chittagong before I try that again.

AI-San seems not the least interested in Darwin so far. I have that place well-supplied and now I'm moving fuel in for a larger submarine campaign in the DEI and South China Sea. I have Dutch and USN Asiatic fleet boats with tenders and repair ships at Darwin under a fair fighter umbrella.

Chiang surprised two divisions in the Pearl River valley and thanks to exterminating those Chiang has the Canton-Hong Kong pocket fairly well penned in. Chiang is also massing for a offensive from Changsha to Wuhan. Gotta go slow as my Hump operation is held up by a shortage of C-47s.

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RE: Here We Go Again - 10/14/2021 5:38:40 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		I'm still awake.

Sitrep Sept. 1 1942

Well I finally got a couple of small (7,000 ton) resupply/reinforcement convoys into Port Moresby. It's been a struggle. AI-San has been mostly sitting on that possibility for a while. When he can't maintain CVEs out there he uses big (Nagato/Mutsu) BBs to discourage my CA-escorted convoys. We had a fair big dust-up in the middle of the Coral Sea. For some reason my clouds of search planes didn't notice a combined BB/amphib TF headed for Cooktown just as I was running a reinforcement convoy to PM. My convoy got away but my cruisers took a beating. I lost a Treaty cruiser and four more will be enjoying a vacation in major shipyards. However, I did hit Nagato 46 times (probably all unarmored stuff - having six Brooklyns will mess up unarmored systems.) To add insult to injury I has 54 USN Dauntlesses trained for naval bombing and when they were done, Nagato and Furutaka were burning cheerily and limping off toward Rabaul. He had a small CVE with a dozen Zeros but the Wildcats I had escorting the Dauntlesses got them through. In addition to the Nagato and the cruiser, the CVE was seriously on fire last I saw of it. At any rate Is tripped off the damaged CAs and sent the convoy - escorted by CLs on to PM.

My reinforcements to PM included a CD unit (sixteen 6" guns) - firepower roughly equivalent to a Brooklyn and unsinkable. This will slow down his amphib resupply efforts. I have his PM force cut off from land-based supply. Maybe I can start whittling him down some.

As soon as the Washington reaches San Diego I'm relocating the fleet (CVs, BBs, and lots of DDs) to Pearl. I'm looking to sneak up on his CVEs with my main body of CVs and sink a couple or three. I have five refueling bases and lots of AOs to deal with the fuel hogs. I have the entire Colorado class plus the Warspite working together.

Otherwise things have been quiet. Scenario #2 nerfs the allied pools so I have to be less than fangs-out aggressive.

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Post #: 48
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/15/2021 9:36:53 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Minor action report.
Sitrep Sept 7, 1942

Couple of minor actions to titillate the masses.

The British noticed a lot of marus but no surface combatants at Akyab. Nobody much fears the IJAAF Sallies and Sonias. So Palliser took a half-dozen old 1916 vintage CLs to Akyab and enjoyed a maru-massacre. Having emptied his magazines sinking a dozen marus and - submariners rejoice - five PB and E escorts. Then Palliser gagged his safeties and hauled butt for Columbo. If AI-San is this negligent again not only will I send CLs to kill marus but some old "R" class scows to roto-till his base.

AI-San sent a single CVE to raid Midway. His CVE is going home with no strike planes as he ran into a 140 plane BARCAP. Inexplicably my Dauntlesses did not a counterstrike. Moral of the story for AI-San: If you wanna mess with Midway, send KB.

Also, the more observant citizens of San Diego got up this morning and noticed the naval roadstead was nearly empty.

< Message edited by Taxcutter -- 10/15/2021 9:38:55 PM >

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Post #: 49
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/17/2021 2:41:39 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
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Status: offline 		Incident report Sept 9, 1942

Cogniscienti in Honolulu notice roughly 200 planes flying due east from the Honolulu area.

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Post #: 50
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/17/2021 10:55:27 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep Sept 15, 1942

Suddenly it was completely obvious. Naval yard patrols and Coast Guard vessels shepherded the big warships to their berths. The bar owners and pimps along King street and Sand Island were overjoyed.

The fleet had returned to Pearl Harbor. Battle ships both the Standards that had been savaged in December and sleek-looking new "fast" battleships, seven fleet carriers and even a whole lot of destroyers and minelayers had returned.

With them thousands of sailors and officers. There was money to be made. Even the Royal Hawaiian looked for increased revenues. While they had done OK with sub officers the fleet brought more senior officers who had bigger per diems than the Lieutenants and Lieutenant Commanders who had had the run of the place.

The Corps of Engineers contractors were furiously putting up temporary shelter at Fort DeRussy and in Pearl city.

The pimps had planned for this. All the Japanese-looking girls were stashed away in the cane brakes and the oldest profession would have to make do with Polynesian-looking girls.

Down in New Guinea the Navy had gotten a 6,000 ton convoy through unscathed. A bigger one was forming.

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Post #: 51
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/20/2021 5:35:16 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
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Status: offline 		Sitrep Oct. 1, 1942

After a somewhat desperate month, I feel like I'm turning the corner at Port Moresby. AI-San was starving me out until I threw another whole fighter group into the fray. After two bloodbath raids from his KB B-team planes, AI-San seem to have lost interest for the moment. In the meantime I jammed in the rest of the 6th Australian and about 20,000 tons of supply.

The War Department in its infinite wisdom upsized the 18th Fighter group up to six 25-plane squadrons. So I pulled it out of Midway and moved back to Pearl, replacing the 18th with the four-squadron 15th. Plenty of defense for Midway. I re-equipped part of the group. Now it has three squadrons of P-40Bs with very well-trained pilots. Excellent defense but no legs for offense. The other three I re-equipped with P-38Fs with somewhat less train pilots. But the long legs of the P-38 give men a capability of sweeping/escorting for bombers. I'm building up Cooktown to escort supply convoys to PM without carriers and to bomb his bases on New Guinea to goo.

I did not leave the fleet united at Pearl very long. I have my main carrier force (which I will not let out from under land-based fighters any more than I have to) and I intend to try to catch his CVE KB out and put 250 strike planes over them. I also sent out a BB division (all the Colorado class plus the Warspite in case he comes out with the Mutsu and Nagato.

AI-San is throttling down on my fuel deliveries to Darwin so sub ops in the DEI and South china Sea are curtailed. I have CVE loaded with fighters to get some fuel through from Perth.

India/Burma are quiet. Neither AI-San nor I want to tangle with a hundred miles of terrific defensive terrain. AI-San tried an amphib action against my right flank at Cox's Brassiere, but I have a level 5 fort with two well supplied Indian divisions there, so his boys are now food for the salt-water crocs.

Chiang Kai-shek's success in the Pearl River Valley stung Chairman Mao into action in the north. Mao rounded up the whole Red Army and drove AI-San out of Loyang, Chenchow, and Kaifeng. AI-San didn't take this well and he has rounded up a 90,000 man army to drive Mao back. Should gbe interesting. I'm not in bad shape for late 1942.

Pools are filling up and I now have enough Liberty ships for long-distance hub-to-hub runs.

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Post #: 52
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/25/2021 2:21:14 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep Oct. 15, 1942

I'm continuing to get an advantage at Port Moresby. I have a 45,000 ton supply convoy about to dock at PM. I have lost a Benham-class DD to air strikes but I can keep enough LRCAP over them to get close and next turn the convoy will be docked and under a 150 fighter umbrella. Now, I'm getting the 7th Aus and the rest of the Aus I Corps ready to ferry over. Scenario 2 has denied me the USA 41st Div so I'll have to make the Americans bit players in SWPac. I have the 32nd planning to invade Milne Bay.

AI-San has built Guadalcanal up to a huge level so I'll just island hop it. I have the 1st Marines prepping for Munda. My Colorado-class BBs are in Noumea (under strong fighter cover and my CVs are due in a few days. I moved both in by a circuituitous route to stay beyond Betty air search range. My 18th FG convoy (3 squadron of P-40B and 3 squadrons of P-38F for long range sweep/escort. I have a convoy leaving Frisco with 10 squadrons of B-26s well-trained at ground bombing. If I can get them deployed safely they should pulverize Buna (AI-San re-took it as I only had a single battalion holding it), Salamauae, Lae, and Finschhaven. The B-26s are an interim solution. Their pools are shallow but they'll do til I get some 4E bombers in.

Chairman Mao's forces can't stand up in cultivated terrain. AI-San drove him back across the Yellow River. Chiang Kai-Shek can't drive AI-San out of Hankow/Wuhan - not enough supply - but at least AI-San is no longer on the offensive in China. In India/Burma AI-San and I continue air sparring but neither of us wants to take on the Imphal ridge line.

I have a CVE moving toward Perth to escort tankers to Darwin. Sub ops into the DEI/South China Sea are minimal due to short fuel. AI-San is waging a limited (1 squadron of Betties and 1 squadron of Zeros against Darwin but I have two squadrons of Kittyhawk with the cream of Aussie pilots fighting totally defensive there. I'll stay totally defensive for at least six months but Spitfire Vs are beginning to show up and the Aussies won't be at such an equipment disadvantage.

Liberty ships are beginning to appear and their mega-endurance allows me to use them to stock up supply hubs at Noumea, Brisbane, Sydney and even Perth without the need for escorts.

< Message edited by Taxcutter -- 10/25/2021 2:23:12 PM >

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 53
RE: Here We Go Again - 10/25/2021 10:53:21 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		FLASH Traffic Oct 17, 1942

Kiss my butt! How did that happen?

I was moving my carrier fleet from Pearl to Noumea when one of AI-San's subs put four torpedoes into the Enterprise and sank her. Now she's on the bottom waiting forty years for a visit from Bob Ballard. Took a good air wing down with her. At least they didn't get Adm. Halsey.

She was in a two CV TF with Saratoga, a BB, eight DDs, and an Atlanta. ASW =40. In order to keep them from being spotted I was running FOUR hexes south of a route I normally use for unescorted 12 knot merchants. I've literally run thousands of merchies through there and never seen a sub. I had an ASW patrol out and was running at mission speed.

Well, that takes the aggression out of my CV ops. I will be six months before Essex shows up with her green-as grass air wing.

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 54
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/1/2021 10:57:59 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep Nov. 19, 1942

Things moving slowly.

By concentrating resource I can now pretty much get supplies and reinforcements to Port Moresby and AI-San cannot. I have a big fighter presence now led by the 35th FG equipped with P-40Ks and staffed by mostly veteran pilots. By using some xAKLs as bait I did lure AI-San into sending his B-team carriers for easy pickings. Not so easy. 220 fighters make for tough sledding, even if most of my planes are P-39s and P-40Es. His raids get weaker and weaker and are down to maybe twice a week.

I have one more brigade of the 7th Aus to get in, and that will fill out the I Aus Corps. (9th Aus not due for a couple months.) I have mountains of supply and all my Australian units are at near full strength. Maybe I can kill all AI-San's infantry off in a couple of months.

AI-San is in for more bad news. I have USMC Wildcats and Dauntlesses ready to move into PM, so I can scour all his scurvy ships out of the eastern New Guinea area. Scenario 2 does not give MacArthur more than a single division of US troops, but I have them prepping for Milne Bay and SoPac is prepping the 1st Marine Div for islands on the edge of the Coral Sea.

AI-San is waging war on the cheap around Darwin and it is mostly making a lot of Aussie aces. Apparently Darwin is out of Zero range and Kittyhawks shoot down Betties quite nicely. I am trying to sneak a tanker into Darwin escorted by a CVE loaded with Wildcats. I have minimal fuel at Darwin (but OK supplies) and have had to cut back sub operations in the DEI/South China Sea. If this single CVE scheme blows up in my face I have four more CVEs stashed at Pearl to up the ante.

The whole CBI theater is a massive sitzkrieg. Both sides do little beyond lobbing grenades and mortar shells at each other. Chairman Mao's offensive came to grief. AI-San scratched up some reserves and chased Mao back across the Yellow River.

An observation: Just maintaining colonial occupation in India is a job by itself. Indian Army divisions are poorly equipped (although better than Chinese or Japanese divisions and the forbidding terrain just paralyzes both sides.

As for the rest of my operations, cue up Rogers & Hammerstein's Guadalcanal March although my pools are not as deep is in other scenarios.
Odd thing about scenario 2: I am hip-deep in SeaBees - way more than other scenarios. I should be able to fashion follow-up SeaBee TFs to come in on the second wave of invasions and get air strips ready to go quickly.

Sometimes I feel like a NFL General Manager. I manage the pools and the war of attrition gains its own momentum.

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 55
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/10/2021 11:28:55 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Sitrep Dec. 5, 1942

The struggle for New Guinea enters a new phase.

I finally got most of the Aus I Corps at Port Moresby. The 9th won't come into theater til spring. That pesky Rommel rascal, ah reckon. All the same I have the 6th and 7th in place an reunited plus all the engineers and artillery for the Corps. Mostly an Australian show on the ground. I have two weenie 75mm field gun battalions and a battalion of Marine Raiders. AI-San's force is cut off from overland supply and I pretty much have his amphibious shenanigans beaten down. Two battalions of 6 inch coastal defense guns made his latest attempt at amphib reinforcement an adventure in creation of artificial reefs. AI-San's force is getting low on supply. My first deliberate attack killed 10% of his force. Of course, this could take a while.

I finally have rock-solid air dominance over PM and now I'm beginning to expand that dominance. I've gotten off a couple of big strikes (100+ B-26s) on Buna and Milne Bay. AI-san committed a sentai of pretty good Nick drivers but I see less and less of them after each raid. His KB frags have disappeared for now.

I managed to squeeze in 9,000 tons of fuel into Darwin and now I can run some US subs into the South China Sea and Dutch subs into the Makassar Strait. The sub war ain't much. Between Mk. 14 torpedoes and the short range of the Dutch subs, I'm not getting much done and my DE hunter killer groups are discouraging AI-San from the usual Japanese hunting grounds.

Mostly I'm stockpiling supply/fuel at Sydney, Brisbane, Noumea, Perth and my refueling bases at Pago Pago and Christmas Islands.
CBI is completely comatose. AI-San and I mostly lob hand grenades and small mortar shells and run pointless night air raids.

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 56
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/12/2021 4:11:43 PM   
BBfanboy


Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline 		What is happening in the Gilberts/Marshalls chain? Has the AI tried to move into India or the Aleutians?

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 57
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/12/2021 9:06:06 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		Yeah, an overview is overdue as this marks the first year of the war.

Sitrep: Dec 7, 1942
By and large I have met the historical mission set early on. I have stopped Japanese expansion cold, but I had to give ground to do so.
AI-San took the PI in their entirety.
AI-San took Malaya in its entirety.
AI-San took the DEI in their entirety.
AI-San took Burma in its entirety.
Outside of Port Blair AI-San has not taken a square foot of India and I doubt - even if he abandoned China and Manchuria - he has enough boots on the ground to breach the Imphal ridge line.
The India Army does not have the firepower at this time to root him out of any of Burma. I bomb Magwe from time to time.
I am dug in deep on Ceylon and have plenty of very mobile Indian troops to drive off an amphib assault into India.
The China theater is comatose. AI-San and I lob hand grenades and small caliber mortar fire at each other.
I don't see much scope for movement in any part of CBI for a minimum of a year.
Other than some nuisance amphib raids, AI-San has not taken a square foot of Australia or New Zealand proper.
I have Dutch Harbor strongly garrisoned with infantry, CD guns and mines. A couple Omaha cruisers kill off any marus that come by for amphib raids. The Aleutians/Kuriles are nothing but a cul-de-sac.
Not much action in the Marshalls/Gilberts. A few bombing raids and sub patrols.

As in the historical war, most of the action is in New Guinea and the Solomons. More the former than the latter but that is changing.
My Aussies have AI-San's force at Port Moresby in a mini-Stalingrad. I have the base and the logistics and outnumber him by 4:1.

I am coiling up for an attack on Milne Bay. Scenario 2 does not include more than a division of US Army troops but AI-San is thin at Milne. I expect to take Milne Bay by coup-de main in the first quarter of 1943. I have scads of SeaBees and think I can build a good base there in three weeks.

Sub warfare sucks. AI-San must have an air force the size of the Luftwaffe patrolling the Home Islands. I cannot come within five hexes without being detected. AI-San simply does not traverse Makassar Strait as far as I can see. The Strait is crawling with short-legged Dutch subs and they rarely report being detected.

At least the hemorrhage of ships has abated, but I sure miss Enterprise.














(in reply to BBfanboy)
Post #: 58
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/14/2021 3:49:53 PM   
BBfanboy


Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline 		Thanks for the update. I am surprised about the Japanese Air ASW strength. But with a limited expansion the places their ships have to support are known so your subs should be able to find the routes and patrol beyond Air ASW range.

Looks like AI-San continues to break itself on PM. I think the script targeting PM runs out in early 1943 so things may go quiet there and the IJ forces will threaten elsewhere or dig in where they are.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

(in reply to Taxcutter)
Post #: 59
RE: Here We Go Again - 11/14/2021 11:23:51 PM   
Taxcutter

 

Posts: 389
Joined: 4/4/2016
Status: offline 		FLASH TRAFFIC: Dec. 14, 1942

The last of AI-San's ground-pounders at Port Moresby were liquidated. I already hold the Kokoda Trail over the Owen Stanley passes, so I'll rest the 6th and 7th for a few days and begin marching for Buna. It looks lightly garrisoned - no match for the experience Aussies. Also the 9th Australian is due in theater in a month or two.

I am gathering forces at Brisbane to make an American effort at Milne Bay. It does not appear to be heavily held. I think the 32nd Infantry and some tanks can take the joint. I have enough shipping that I can land SeaBees and base forces quickly and build up the base.

If I can nab Milne Bay and Rossel Island in the next couple months I'll have the Solomons outflanked. If I can get bases built and populated with P-38s (and later Corsairs) I won't need to risk my carriers against KB for quite a while.

Yeah, I have flared my subs away from the Japanese coast to stay undetected. I don't get the dozens of contacts, but I can keep my subs on station and occasionally get Mk. 14s to explode.

I am starting to get enough fuel & supply into Darwin to begin heavier action in the South China Sea. That appears to be his oil route.

(in reply to BBfanboy)
Post #: 60
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