wobbly
Posts: 1095
Joined: 10/16/2002 From: Christchurch, New Zealand Status: offline
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JAVA INVASION FOUND!!! Indain plug forces spanked back towards Ahlamabad. Boy oh Boy it is all go. Gentlemen - the debating starts again... I'll be writing a large amount at the end of this combat replay. I missed a turn in which the forces in the East tried to hold at the juncture between Ahlamabad and Delhi. The Oz Division has been savaged it has only 200 of about 340 infantry squads remaining! AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/22/42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack at 68,100 Japanese Ships SS I-7 Allied Ships APD Colhoun, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage APD McKean APD Little APD Gregory APD Manley My ASW attempt on a sub up by Lunga backfires and I loose the Colhoun. Woops. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 12 Allied aircraft B-17E Fortress x 86 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 22 destroyed, 16 damaged G3M Nell: 16 destroyed, 4 damaged G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses B-17E Fortress: 9 destroyed, 22 damaged Japanese ground losses: 176 casualties reported Guns lost 1 Airbase hits 8 Airbase supply hits 4 Runway hits 43 At last - I had the B-17s at Darwin aimed Kendari - he had masses of planes on the ground there but weather and trepidation on the part of my Pilots means they didn't fly. Well they did today and for the loss of 5 B-17s I savage the planes on the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77 Allied aircraft Hudson I x 15 B-25C Mitchell x 15 No Allied losses Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 4 the continuation of suppression of Koepang. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF, near Lae at 54,87 Allied aircraft Beaufort V-IX x 9 Allied aircraft losses Beaufort V-IX: 3 damaged Japanese Ships ML Aotaka ML Wakatake, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Aircraft Attacking: 2 x Beaufort V-IX launching torpedoes at 200 feet 3 x Beaufort V-IX launching torpedoes at 200 feet 4 x Beaufort V-IX launching torpedoes at 200 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 17,70 Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 3 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 22 Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged Hullo - what's this out in the ocean PzB. Unknown but it has F4F-4s flying above it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 16,69 Japanese aircraft G3M Nell x 12 Allied aircraft Fulmar x 15 F4F-4 Wildcat x 60 Japanese aircraft losses G3M Nell: 27 destroyed, 3 damaged Better send a few more unescorted naval bombers to check - yup, there does appear to be a carrier there - in fact more than one. More Nells go swimming -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 16,69 Japanese aircraft G3M Nell x 3 G4M1 Betty x 16 Allied aircraft Fulmar x 15 F4F-4 Wildcat x 60 Japanese aircraft losses G3M Nell: 6 destroyed, 2 damaged G4M1 Betty: 38 destroyed, 4 damaged Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 damaged Allied Ships BB Maryland Now the Betties have a crack and they even manage a run against the Maryland. The pay heavily for the privalege. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Taung Gyi Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 2175 troops, 9 guns, 93 vehicles Defending force 640 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles Japanese assault odds: 99 to 1 (fort level 3) Japanese forces CAPTURE Taung Gyi base !!! Allied aircraft no flights No Allied losses Allied ground losses: 16 casualties reported My base force below Mandalay has no chance against the encroaching japanese infantry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 22,11 Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 116641 troops, 1181 guns, 25 vehicles Defending force 11921 troops, 113 guns, 0 vehicles Japanese assault odds: 26 to 1 Japanese ground losses: 68 casualties reported Guns lost 5 Allied ground losses: 806 casualties reported Guns lost 23 Defeated Allied Units Retreating! Here is the Oz Division getting savaged. It has halted the advancement of his forces for another day. this is the problem with having this unit constantly set to level 9 forts. They don't retreat with the rest of the army. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Bombay Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 36220 troops, 222 guns, 5 vehicles Defending force 2150 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3 Japanese assault odds: 20 to 1 (fort level 3) Japanese forces CAPTURE Bombay base !!! Japanese ground losses: 57 casualties reported Guns lost 2 Vehicles lost 1 Allied ground losses: 2303 casualties reported Guns lost 14 bombay falls and with it he gets a mountain of Fuel and supplies. The question will be - now that he knows I am after java - well at least that I have an invasion force heading North - will he continue with BB bombardments up north - will all the carriers head south? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Makin Allied Shock attack Attacking force 196 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0) Allied forces CAPTURE Makin base !!! Just to add some worries to his brow I also take Makin, N of Tarawa. All these islands in this group (don't remember the name) are now allied. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A good day for the Allies despite the savaging of the Oz forces and the loss of Bombay. My invasion forces are now 2 days sailing from Tjilijap. This is the initial landing site, In this time I imagine a massive increase in enemy airforces moving to halt or at least hurt my invaision. I know there is some worry about the number of bases that there are in Java but I am reasonably happy that not all of them are populated with enemy base forces. These will be 4 or so tentative days while the troops are landed. I want to make a second landing as well at Malang so even more time in the firing line. During this time I am going to be heavily dependent on the Wildcats and Fulmars of my carriers - zeros will be coming with the bombers from now on so the one way traffic of today will not continue. However, I lost 5 ACs today - the B-17s, to his 75. Many of those were Betties and Nells so this was a nice chunk of culling. A third landing is also in the wings on one of the islands in the chain of the lower Indonesian Islands. I need this as a stepping stone for the shorter legged fighters. All in all I have to hunker down and take the pounding that is most definately going to come my way. The biggest unknown is "where are his carriers"? If they returned to Indian waters to replenish I have a window for the invasion. If they went to Singapore or worse Java, then this could all be over very quickly. India is a lost cause I think. Unfortunately what no-one appears to have listed is the VPs he is going to get from capturing about 120K allied troops! This of course will not be counting the shorter legged ACs that can't make it to Columbo - a very temporary refuge I would think. I think I have to relinquish Dehli. That does depend a little on how he moves now - if everything goes for Ahlamabad then he leaves Delhi and the road from Lucknow open. This means the trickle of troops returning to the pocket will continue. This is the best move he can make as there is a window available to quickly take Ahlamabad. The answer to your question Andy - about forts at Ahlamabad is they are level 2 - that's right - with 8 Engineers there they appear to be crawling up in size. I may be level 4 by the time they get there but I don't know. I am however, more inclined to agree that he may split his assault and move on Delhi to block more reinforcements. This is also bad as it will do just that. However, I may be able to hold out longer in this case. Delhi has size 4 forts - nearly 5. I need size 9 forts and just don't have them. One small glimmer is that if I make it to size 4 and he sends the whole force he attacked my plug units with then he may just struggle to get the odds straight away - he got odds of 5 to one against teh units in teh open - this is against more units and in a city. Added to this is all the base units that will be helping with defense - they have not been included in any defense so far. He does have a quandary now though - how much does he pull back against java? What air support will his ground forces have? I am going to be pounding his advancing forces from a very close proximity. I will be running the risk of loosing every bomber and fighter that are located in the hexes they are based unfortunately - but we are down to it aren't we. Added to this I think he is trying an end run on my with forces from lower India - in other words an invasion straight into Karachi. I have 1 Brigade waiting in the base below karachi for this and the Chindit unit will look to add it's weight to this as well. Any units that need a rest will be pulled out of the line back to this base. So can also move back to Karachi if required. Will he or wont he retire the BBs back to the Java effort? Just to round things off Lucknow is about to feel the first assaults I would imagine. Only the UK 2nd reside here and they are tired. But the Ind III HQ have managed to get onto the rail line BEHIND the jap forces. They can now move up to the hex that the japs are in and block supplies! I can replace them with another unit and get them moving back to the rear - but I may not loose them after all! Way back in San Fran the BB North Carolina and the newly repaired and now AAA upgraded Oklahoma put to sea with a small escort bound for Pearl.
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