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Q-Ball -> RE: Strategic Vision (1/19/2009 5:03:36 PM)
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Excellent Posts gentlemen! Great ideas here. I think Nemo and Canoerebel are both right. We have to have clear objectives, though the Allies are probably looking to defend key points like Pago Pago, and will be content in the short-term if they can do that.
January 1st through 4th in the SRA
This period has been fairly uneventful, thus the infrequent update, but it will get hot in a few days! Overall, some of our offensives are running out of gas, but others are moving forward nicely.
Phillipines
We are attacking Clark tommorow with over 1400 AV, plus tanks and artillery. Despite all that, I am not optimistic. We may have a decision to make in the Phillipines, because we don't want 4 divisions tied down to a long siege of Clark. We should know more tommorow. We do have an NLF landing at Lamon Bay to cut that escape route.
Malaya
The initial "skinny" assault on Johore Bharu was repulsed; we tried a quick attack without bringing everyone up. We should be attacking in 2 days with full forces; 3 full divisions, plus 2/3 of the 16th division, and artillery. 2 Bdes of the enemy were caught north of the crossroads, and have pulled back to Kuantan, where they will be bottled up by 1/3 of the 16th Div.
Still hope to take Singapore by Jan 10th, everything hinges on the next attack at Johore.
DEI
Banjarmisan should fall tommorow. Troops are ashore at Bali, and an invasion force has sailed to secure Brunei and Miri. We will pray to the die roll gods on those Oil centers!
The Java Invasion Fleet sailed from Saigon on the 2nd; I estimate Jan 7th to be D-Day for Java. They have already spotted this large armada, so there won't be a great deal of surprise. Once the fleet clears Singkawang, they will be able to tell if it's heading to Merak or Kragen. I have paras at Kuching ready to secure the base the day before a landing, if the KNIL doesn't move into the hex. I expect an opposed landing though, because there are clusters of troops at Batavia and Madioen; no doubt they intend to fight on the beach. We should have enough to punch through though, Kragen is a clear hex with no forts, particularly if the Batavia forces don't have enough time to move south (and I don't think they will)
China
I hate China. Nevertheless, we have to fight here, so John and I have split it into two operations.
In the South, John is going to invest Wenchow. This is a smaller base, but needs to be cleaned up. It is nearly surrounded, and should be easy to starve out or conquer.
In the North, I am going to invest Yenan. I will provide an OOB at some point, but it's alot of troops. Probably not enough, though, to take it by brute force. We intend to surround and starve the base, and tanks and Cav are moving into position around it. If this is successful, we will do the same thing to the Commies in Paotow; they are immobile, and can only throw rocks at us as we cut their supplies.
If I am successful in both, we will destroy most of the Chinese Communist formations, unless Nationalist Forces intervene from the south. Of course, the idea of Nationalist Troops launching attacks to save the Communists is absurd, but hey, what can you do.
Subs
We are going to start moving those subs from the PH/San Fran corridor out to those key bases. We have only gotten one kill out there, though we have been in position a few times with no attacks. It's a waste of time until we can get some new commanders. We made our point, I want them to have to escort all their convoys out there.
The sub war has been disappointing after that first week. Other than picking off a damaged Dutch DD a couple days ago, attacks and kills have been few and far between. Then again, Allied shipping has disappeared completely from the DEI. Haven't seen anything.
Looking Ahead
After we take Java and Singapore, the rest of the SRA will be cleanup. We have taken all bases south of Java, so we will need to secure Sumatra, as well as the central Phillipines Islands. Sumatra is first because of oil. No hurry in the PI, those bases can't hurt us, and will provide good target practice.
I have been reading Castor Troy's AAR, and I think he is right in that Northern Australia is the most dangerous place for Japan; an attack from here, and the Solomons and anything else is irrelevant.
There are only 2 territorial objectives for the Allies, really: 1. Get a platform to bomb Japan (and be able to supply it), and
2. Interdict and/or destroy Oil shipments from the DEI to Japan. Everything else is really just VP grabs or supporting objectives.
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