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John 3rd -> Troop Choices (2/7/2009 6:36:36 AM)
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In regards to the questions regarding troops left to pullout and what I chose to grab, this is a pretty serious topic.
When Dan split my defense in two about March 1944 I thought that the battle was over. My front became independent and I could no longer improvise a continous defense. My immediate decision was to pull out troops that were badly damaged and rebuild them. Had the Allies chosen to attack and keep up the pressure, I would have stood a very real probability of losing nearly 1,000,000 men. Allied LBA would have cost me DOZENS of ships and thousands of troops lost at sea.
Seeing the endless number of Allied troops expanding I realized there was no chance of holding these positions with my beat-up forces (Saigon, Bangkok, Cam Rahn Bay in the east and Georgetown to Singapore in the west) against any form of determined attack. I was faced with the option of pulling troops out a unit at a time while TRYING to LOOK like I intended to duke it out. Considering that six months passed before the hammer blows fell I think this plan succeeded.
Instead of losing 1,000,000 troops, I will lose about 125,000. While a large number I have to caution that even now I am evacuating--by air--fragments of these units. Singapore has been operating 2 groups of Transports for the last 3 weeks flying units into the town north of Palembang. The Saigon situation is even better in that Dan forgot to take Soc Trang PRIOR to his assault on Saigon. With the AF bombed out for the last month I couldn't pull any gragments out of Saigon. With the option of retreating to Soc Trang, the Allies have ignored the AF there and I have had 4 Transport Groups flying from Brunei and Jesselton grabbing troops. Have accomplished the same thing in the Central Pacific with planes from Marcus pulling troops from Wake.
As these units are pulled they then get picked up and dropped off somewhere where they can rebuild. For the most part that has meant Soerabaja due to it keeping supplies over 20-25,000 constantly. Units have built back up pretty quickly. Am example would be the 1st and 3rd Tank Divisions. When I pulled them out of Saigon about 2 months ago they were at 20-25% strength. Now they are back to full strength and ready for action. Have done the same with at least 3 Inf Div as well. With there being no chance of holding these doomed locations the Japanese have managed to pull out most of the major units, rebuilt many, and will be able to use them again.
There comes a time with every Japanese player as when to begin the fallback and create the Inner/Outer Defense Perimeter. For me in this game that began the moment I realized I could not finish off Australia. Troops from the Aleutians to the Society Islands were lifted off and drawn back into a stronger line.
For good effect this worked out pretty well; however, the Iwo Jima invasion REALLY screwed up my planning. I was prepared for a landing in the Philippines and that is where Dan WAS going. Once he got cold feet he shifted to Iwo and took nearly 2 weeks to wrest it from a mere Brigade there. If I had had even an Inf Div defending it then I would not have lost it and strategic bombardment would not have come early. THAT is the telling point of this campaign.
I had guessed right to start with but hadn't bargained on my opponent getting cold feet and shifting his target in mid-movement!
Additionally think about the mistakes made with the economy. For a period of nearly a year late-42 to late-43 my economy basically staggered from one month to the next. If not for the help of mainly Michael and Damian my economy would have totally collapsed at the start of 1944. So many readers have helped with excellent suggestions and thoughts that I have truly been touched. You guys have taught me so much about the game I never knew! Thanks.
This sort of rambles but I hope it makes sense...
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