RE: Not the best of days....

RE: Not the best of days.... (Full Version)

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Not the best of days.... (8/7/2010 6:39:14 PM)
quote: Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 10,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Kongo, Shell hits 8, on fire CA Chokai, Shell hits 4, heavy fires CL Sendai CL Kinu, Shell hits 1 DD Shiranui DD Nowaki, Shell hits 4, and is sunk DD Hagikaze DD Shiratsuyu DD Sagiri DD Kamikaze, Shell hits 2 Allied Ships BB Colorado, Shell hits 17, on fire BB California, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2 DD Russell DD Walke DD Tucker, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk I managed to sneak another BB TF into his operational depth without him even noticing it... The results weren't amazing as California will be out of the war for some time and Colorado will probably need a month's repairs. Notwithstanding this though the Kongo took a couple of 14 inch shells which penetrated her belt armour and the Chokai is damaged. Neither of these two ships will be available to counter any invasion of Malaysia in a month's time.... Mission accomplished. If you'll forgive the Monday-morning quarterback, your surface force doesn't seem to have had much "depth". A few more destroyers and some British/Aussie/Dutch CL's to keep the IJN DD's from targeting your battlewagons might have been useful. (At this stage of the war, CA's are almost as much Long Lance magnets as BB's.)

Nemo121 -> RE: Not the best of days.... (8/7/2010 6:56:42 PM)
Harlock, Feel free. The force was task-organised. I wanted to hit two IJN capital ships ( I expected 2 BBs but a BB and CA was acceptable ) and put them in repair yards through the end of the month. In order to achieve that no additional CAs etc were required.... Those fast raiders are accompanying the PoW/Repulse down in the Southern DEI where they are much more needed. Referencing Hartwig's post I will say that as the commander of the inferior force I don't have enough to achieve all of my goals and, as such, sometimes I have to settle for achieving the minimum task instead of achieving force annihilation. It would have been nice to thicken the force as you suggest but I only have 1 CA in theatre and about 4 CLs and those fast raiders will be more use in the Southern DEI/Mindanao/Badeldoab region which I'm currently targetting. AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 04, 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Peleliu at 89,98 Japanese Ships CA Mogami DD Yamakaze Allied Ships SS O21 This is the IJN SC TF returning to Badeldoab for refuelling. SS O21 launches 4 torpedoes at CA Mogami O21 diving deep .... DD Yamakaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamakaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamakaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamakaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamakaze fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115 Japanese Ships SSX Ha-21 Allied Ships DMS Perry DMS Zane DMS Elliot DMS Wasmuth DMS Chandler DMS Long SSX Ha-21 is sighted by escort DMS Elliot fails to find sub, continues to search... DMS Wasmuth fails to find sub, continues to search... DMS Chandler fails to find sub, continues to search... DMS Long fails to find sub and abandons search DMS Elliot fails to find sub and abandons search DMS Wasmuth fails to find sub and abandons search DMS Chandler fails to find sub, continues to search... DMS Chandler fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84 Japanese Ships CM Kamome ACM Muro Maru ACM Chiyo Maru Allied Ships SS Shark, hits 1 SS Shark launches 4 torpedoes at CM Kamome ACM Muro Maru fails to find sub and abandons search ACM Chiyo Maru fails to find sub, continues to search... ACM Chiyo Maru fails to find sub, continues to search... ACM Chiyo Maru fails to find sub, continues to search... ACM Chiyo Maru attacking submerged sub .... ACM Chiyo Maru fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 41 G4M1 Betty x 4 Ki-21-Ic Sally x 34 Ki-21-IIa Sally x 42 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 18 Ki-48-Ib Lily x 25 This is his biggest air raid since the 1st week in December ( minus those from KB )> He co-ordinated it from 3 separate bases and managed to get 59 fighters escorting. Good work Mike !!!! He has obviously read LoBaron's co-ordination handbook [8D] My fighters are only just being repaired as I had too few aviation support squads until this morning so too few were in the air to do much good. Allied aircraft Martlet II x 5 Hurricane IIb Trop x 4 P-39D Airacobra x 7 P-40E Warhawk x 10 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Ki-21-Ic Sally: 4 damaged Ki-21-IIa Sally: 7 damaged Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed Ki-48-Ib Lily: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Allied aircraft losses Martlet II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Martlet II: 1 destroyed on ground Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged P-39D Airacobra: 4 destroyed on ground P-40E Warhawk: 10 damaged P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed on ground 139WH-3: 1 destroyed on ground B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed on ground Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed on ground I lost 14 planes including 11 on the ground. Airbase hits 8 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 38 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 45 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 3 Ki-48-Ib Lily x 11 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 1 Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 2 P-40E Warhawk x 4 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-48-Ib Lily: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 8 Ki-21-IIa Sally x 12 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 1 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged Some stragglers didn't co-ordinate but my pilots were so fatigued by this stage they couldn't get many kills. Runway hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 15 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 3 B-18A Bolo x 3 P-400 Airacobra x 15 Allied aircraft losses A-20A Havoc: 1 damaged Japanese Ships SS I-175, Bomb hits 1 SSX Ha-13, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage SSX Ha-26, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk One proper I class sub and two midgets. Seriously, how is he getting so many midget subs here? Does anyone have any idea? What are the requirements for spawning them? Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97 Weather in hex: Overcast And here he comes with a very experienced bunch of IJNAF pilots for my ships at Talaud. MY fighters and the Zeroes traded pretty much 1 for 1 and then the Bettys all went down. Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 24 G4M1 Betty x 5 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 9 F4F-3A Wildcat x 6 F4F-3 Wildcat x 21 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed A6M losses here were closer to 6 or 7 than 1 but the CR is often very inaccurate. Allied aircraft losses F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 3315 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1324 Defending force 38417 troops, 153 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1369 Japanese ground losses: 11 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Allied ground losses: 27 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 59th Infantry Brigade 14th RGC Temp. Division 8th Ind.Mixed Brigade 17th RGC Temp. Division 6th NCPC Infantry Brigade 41st Division 138th Infantry Regiment 32nd/C Division NCPC Army 45th Const Co 46th Const Co 23rd JNAF AF Unit 39th JAAF AF Bn Defending units: 90th Chinese Corps 39th Chinese Corps 92nd Chinese Corps 59th Chinese Corps 7th New Chinese Corps 5th War Area 22nd Group Army 33rd Group Army -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 1016 troops, 14 guns, 72 vehicles, Assault Value = 49 Defending force 333 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15 Allied adjusted assault: 25 Japanese adjusted defense: 3 Allied assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 0) Allied forces CAPTURE Talaud-eilanden !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-) Attacker: shock(+), fatigue(-), morale(-) By tomorrow army P-40Es will be basing out of Talaud providing local CAP and the IJNAF will again be whittled down by the USAAF while the USN gathers strength and gets its house in order in order to begin upgrading the F4F-4s. Japanese ground losses: 36 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 10 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Assaulting units: 2/10th Armoured Regiment 3rd Motor Brigade Defending units: 1st Indpt SNLF Coy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Hankow (85,50) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 82538 troops, 468 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2651 Defending force 29274 troops, 302 guns, 129 vehicles, Assault Value = 859 Assaulting units: 68th Chinese Corps 87th Chinese Corps 94th Chinese Corps 18th Chinese Corps 53rd Chinese Corps 75th Chinese Corps 2nd Chinese Corps 8th Chinese Corps 67th Chinese Corps 45th Chinese/C Corps 6th War Area 20th Group Army 26th Group Army Defending units: 57th Infantry Brigade 42nd Naval Guard Unit 1st Ind.Mixed Brigade 44th Naval Guard Unit 47th Naval Guard Unit 43rd Naval Guard Unit 23rd Division 48th Naval Guard Unit Hankow Special Base Force 16th JAAF Base Force 67th JAAF AF Coy

Nemo121 -> RE: Not the best of days.... (8/7/2010 9:47:40 PM)
Now that Talaud has fallen I thought I'd show a rough idea of what I'm thinking is now doable.... Basically it is a short right hook through the southern DEI to Mindanao and the Palawan Islands ( which will give me bomber bases ranging against his tanker routes ) whilst the short left hook lands in Malaysia and clears that peninsula before beginning to crawl along the Thai and Vietnamese regions towards China. With land bases on land in Indo-China and the Palawan Islands any hope of getting oil out of Borneo will have to be abandoned and it'll just be a matter of time before Japan collapses. Phasing is Yellow then Green then Red, [image]local://upfiles/10809/9578876E69FF40E69271AED142F029AB.jpg[/image]

Nemo121 -> IJN life expectancy at Singapore falls.... (8/9/2010 11:18:42 AM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 06, 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 10,000 Yards I was bringing a CL and about 21 DDs to Soerabaja in order to upgrade them to the April 1942 refits in order to be better night fighters ( installation of radar and better AAA suites ) but thought I'd run them into Soerabaja in order to keep the pressure on Mike and to continue thinning out the ships which could comprise SC TFs mustered to counter an invasion of Malaysia. This tends to cost me more than it costs him but by fighting them now I greatly lessen the risk of having his SC TFs getting in amongst my transports on the crucial first two nights of the invasion. That is worth a slightly less favourable exchange ratio. Japanese Ships DMS W-19, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk PB Aso Maru #3, Shell hits 33, and is sunk PB Kamitsu Maru, Shell hits 26, and is sunk The PBs aren't a big deal but sinking the DMS most assuredly is. Any time I sink a DMS I'm happy as those are some of the few ships which can actually allow surface fleets to conduct raiding operations into the enemy's operational depth with relative impunity from mines.... And on that note the first delivery of 60 mines to Talaud ( another place I expect to become a hotspot for SC TF clashes ) has been ordered today. Allied Ships CL Marblehead DD Dunlap DD Fanning DD Barker, Shell hits 1 DD Bulmer DD Edsall DD John D. Edwards DD Paul Jones DD Parrott DD Whipple DD Stewart One reason I used the non-radar equipped DDs with poor AAA suites is that since they are going to upgrade and be out of combat for 3 weeks anyway I didn't mind taking any damage, or even some losses, to this group. Their guns and AAA are mostly pretty poor even after the upgrade. Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 67% moonlight: 10,000 yards Range closes to 10,000 yards... CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 10,000 yards English, Robert H. crosses the 'T' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,88, Range 9,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Asashio DD Namikaze DD Tatsuyuke, Shell hits 1 I also sent some DDs into Singkawang. The IJN DDs were massively outnumbered but they are far better night fighters than my DDs and they showed it tonight. Allied Ships DD Mahan DD Cummings DD Drayton DD Lamson DD Case DD Conyngham DD Shaw, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Cushing DD Perkins DD Preston DD Reid, Shell hits 1 DD Flusser Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 67% moonlight: 11,000 yards CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 9,000 yards CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 9,000 yards Conolly, Richard L. crosses the 'T' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,88, Range 20,000 Yards Unfortunately, despite orders to the contrary, the DD TF decided to stick around at Singkawang till morning. I had based it at Palembang which was well within range to dash into Singkawang and be back under air cover at Palembang by morning. Unfortunately they stayed around and paid the inevitable toll to Netties. Japanese Ships DD Asashio DD Namikaze, Shell hits 4, on fire DD Tatsuyuke, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships DD Mahan, Shell hits 1 DD Cummings, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Drayton DD Lamson DD Case DD Conyngham, Shell hits 1 DD Shaw DD Cushing DD Perkins DD Preston, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Reid, Shell hits 1 DD Flusser -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 55,89, Range 14,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Asashio DD Namikaze, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Tatsuyuke, Shell hits 1, on fire Allied Ships DD Mahan DD Cummings, on fire DD Drayton DD Lamson DD Case, Shell hits 2 DD Conyngham DD Shaw, Shell hits 1 DD Cushing, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Perkins DD Preston, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Reid, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Flusser -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Singkawang at 55,87 Japanese Ships DD Tatsuyuke, on fire DD Namikaze, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Asashio Allied Ships SS Pike Pike attacked them as these DDs attempted to make Singapore in order to deliver Namikaze to the docks there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 50,86 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 47 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 22 These Betties used torpedoes which are relatively ineffective against DDs. When I realised they were launching torps I pretty much gave up on my CL but, amazingly, it survived despite 8 Betties singling it out for attention. Allied aircraft Martlet II x 2 Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 8 damaged Allied Ships CL Marblehead DD Stewart DD Edsall DD Fanning Aircraft Attacking: 22 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 55,89 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M2 Nell x 18 No Japanese losses Allied Ships DD Perkins DD Cushing, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk DD Cummings, heavy fires -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Light rain Mike tells me these sweeps were inadvertent. Due to incorrectly set orders. I think they may gave him ideas of bombing Palembang so I'll stop the LRCAPing for a couple of days and just CAP the airfield. Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 8 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 8 Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 24 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 17 No Japanese losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 47 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-IIa Sally x 25 Ki-30 Ann x 27 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged Allied ground losses: 16 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Runway hits 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 8 Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 1 No Japanese losses No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 50,86 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 28 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 18 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 2 Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged 1 Hurricane got a total of 3 A2A kills. Those multiple 0.303s really chew through Betties. Allied Ships DD Paul Jones DD John D. Edwards DD Fanning CL Marblehead -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 55,89 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M2 Nell x 18 Japanese aircraft losses G3M2 Nell: 1 damaged Allied Ships DD Perkins, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk DD Shaw, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk DD Cummings, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk DD Reid, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk OUCH!!! Two of these ships were damaged before and would have been easy targets but two others were quite mobile. For 18 planes to get a total of 6 torpedo hits against manoeuvring DDs is pretty good luck. Ah well, sometimes it happens. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 28 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-Ic Sally x 18 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 20 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-Ic Sally: 1 damaged Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 11 Ki-21-IIa Sally x 9 Ki-48-Ib Lily x 17 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged Airbase hits 2 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 1061 troops, 16 guns, 75 vehicles, Assault Value = 51 Defending force 310 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 13 Allied adjusted assault: 33 Japanese adjusted defense: 5 Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 13 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 14 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 2/10th Armoured Regiment 3rd Motor Brigade Defending units: 1st Indpt SNLF Coy I'm just attacking to build up experience in these Australian units. Their experience is only in the low 30s. In the meantime I am hustling to bring significant engineer assets, aviation support assets and at least a Brigade of infantry + CD guns into Talaud in order to: a) build up the airbase and b) dissuade counter-invasions. In other news Mike and I were chatting about China and he said something about me having 4:1 superiority in numbers. I said I thought we were pretty much even in terms of AV... So we checked. It turns out Mike has some 17,000+ AV with some 5,000 used up in garrisoning cities etc while I have some 21,000 AV with about 2,000 used up in garrisoning cities. Of course his troops are, on average, twice as experienced as mine although that gap is closing somewhat and they don't have the same problems with supply that I do. Still, it was interesting to do that count. I think Mike was surprised by how little I outnumber him ( perhaps 50% ) which, given the disparity in experience is an advantage that is almost certainly wiped out. I think we're probably even in China except that I have the benefit of somewhat interior lines but much of that benefit is lost through the lack of lateral lines from the northern front in China to the southern. One of the biggest goals of this offensive was to secure such lines but it looks like that objective won't be reached. On the other hand I'm still on track to trap 5,000 AV of IJA troops at Changsha so that's a more than equitable objective in return. A CA TF is guarding Talaud and the PoW and Repulse are available at Kendari as counter-counter-invasion reaction forces. Yeah, the double-think is getting a bit complex here [:D]

LTC -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/9/2010 5:35:17 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Nemo121 Thirdly, anyone playing me who gambles that they can choose the time and place of an action without that action actually being something I've guided them into and is secretly something happening on MY terms is, I think, taking one risk too far. This has been a facinating read for me, thank you. Your style of play reminds me of a friend i had who played in a very similar way, very difficult to play against as even when something went wrong he had already planned for it. If you always plan that you will roll a one on the dice you can't ever be beaten by it mentality. I doubt however he would have ever thought about the various models of military or behavioural patterns that have been mentioned here, that was, for him, simply the natural way his mind worked as far as he would have been concerned. I quoted the above line as it made me laugh. The last person i can remember talking in a similar way took a swan dive into a reactor core.

Nemo121 -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/9/2010 7:00:26 PM)
LTC, Well, the question that occurs to me is whether or not the swan dive was by his choice. If it wasn't then it was a sad accident. If it was by his choice then my take would be that at least he had control over his way out... which sounds like it may have been important to him. P.s. Glad you found the thread interesting.

modrow -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/9/2010 10:59:57 PM)
Nemo, just a short thanks for your detailed response to my post, which I just managed to read. As always, an interesting read (though I am not sure whether Clausewitz actually uses the term, but I may be wrong there). The interesting part of this is that in my opinion what you describe explicitly is the orient rather than the observe part, the ability to put disparate pieces of information together simultaneously to form a whole picture. I agree that the decision making is a different process. IF you equate the use of gut feeling to intuition, I think there are some studies that would claim that people acting on intuitive decisions are usually unable to identify the rationale behind their actions, what you are usually able to do. Speaking of intuition - do you mean to say whereas junior doctors still make good use of intuition and feeling, the senior ones are reduced to sensation and thinking ? Do you think this is caused by a learning process ? Is Jung just for the young ones (pun intented, check your German-English dictionary) ? But I digress... Anyway, back to the roots - interesting reaction to my post. Thanks a lot. Hartwig edited to add bold printed words

Nemo121 -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 12:58:25 AM)
Hmm, I must have been unclear.... Clausewitz would have called fingerspitzengefuehl by the term "coup d'oeuil" which, in the late 18th and early 19th Century in European warfare had connotations of being able to create a mental image of the terrain from maps and populate that mental image of the terrain ( presumably a faux-3d mental image ) with units in their appropriate relative positions. By so doing commanders were able to position their units advantageously taking into account the delays required for messengers to get their messages to the various units ( which was last properly attempted in that Napoleonic game which walked away from Battlefront a few months ago... they look like they were right to let it go as it appears to not have been close to a stable release ) and the times taken for units to move in order to ensure units got to the right places at the right time ( which I believe they would have referred to as fingerspitzengefuehl). Over time the terminology has developed so it is always a bit muddy to try to describe things in one era using terminology which didn't develop till later. I think coup d'oeuil and fingerspitzengefuehl have elements of both Observe and Orient and depending on one's approach they can be a bit more Observe or a bit more Orient. I, for example, may view attritionist battles as fitting into a manoeuvrist doctrine and argue that while the specific battle had an attritionist goal it wasn't fitting into an attritionist strategy and so shouldn't be considered as attritionists. Attritionists would argue that if the battle was attritionist than at least a component of the strategy is attritionist. I think that "on the ground" both things result in the same battle. It is just in the mind of the commander that they are perceived differently. I know that this is still a bit unclear but I think that the whole issue of gut feeling and where subconscious cues and post-hoc rationalisation start and end is such a grey area that it is pretty much useless to try and draw a clear delineation, especially when so much relies on the subjective interpretation and internal biases of the commander - whereby two commanders can describe the same operation in starkly different ways. Re: Intuition... Agreed. Most of the time if the "intuition" is really just the gestalt of the subconscious awarenesses then it can be very difficult for people who aren't trained to be aware of their subconscious processes to understand the rationale behind their decisions. Re: Your Jung joke. Let me riposte by pointing out we should be careful not to stereotype those who may be under Jungian influence [:D]. (I'm quite proud of that little wordplay, it's not often you get to make Jungian stereotypes the punchline of a joke. ) I think that young doctors in general ( including psychiatrists ) tend to behave like most of the population in that they often make decisions on the basis of subconscious thought processes, beliefs, projections and transferences without ever being consciously aware of what is happening. More senior psychiatrists who are fully trained are trained to always look at their internal thought processes and external actions in order to recognise what is driving their decision-making. More than that they are trained that if something which isn't evidence-based medicine is driving a decision then they need to scrap that decision and look at it again in a purely evidence-based manner. In the end the goal is the same as the Prussian General Staff.... whose aim was that irrespective of personality and life experience a General Staff officer would react to a given situation in pretty much the same manner as all his other General Staff trained colleagues ( it is a bit of an oversimplification but sufficient for the needs of a net forum discussion ). In an era before instant communications etc this was the best way to ensure that the various commands ( often headed by a titular and incompetent member of the Royal Family ) would behave in mutually supportive manners even if they were having to arrive at their decisions relatively independently. It ensured co-ordination in the absence of communication. Ideally a senior psychiatrist should make the same diagnosis and prescribe the same medication, psychological treatment etc as another senior psychiatrist 100 miles away ( or, ideally in a different country although that is less certain as they have different "doctrines" in different countries ). Overall though that's why I have such confidence in analyses I conduct of PBEM opponents ( mostly justified, sometimes not as I do get things wrong frequently - but when I make an error I just make a new hypothesis and test that and over time I hone my hypothesis until it is a closer and closer approximation to how their mind works... never a perfect one but usually pretty good. ) I read all their messages on the forum ( even if that's 1,000 messages ) before I play them and from those messages I don't seek to gleam information about whether they "always go for India" or "always split KB". I look at how they talk, how they respond to others and what they espouse. I also particularly look for the justifications they give for their viewpoints and arguments. The surface data of what they actually suggest should be done is not the important thing really. What matters is the reasoning they present ( or don't present ) * See Aside 1 at this stage.... That, when checked against their AARs and what they are advising tells me the following: 1. What their inner motivations and thought processes are. 2. How they justify certain strategies to themselves.... While the strategies they adopt may change in response to different circumstances the underlying biases, projections and personal needs which drive their thought processes one way or another don't. 3. Just how aware they are of the impact of their inner, often subconscious, motivations. 4. If they are aware of them do they have the ability to over-rule them. Anyone who isn't aware of 3 and 4 to some extent ( it doesn't have to be huge, just a basic awareness will suffice ) is pretty much guidable wherever you want them to go once you learn their triggers. If you look at past AARs I often have been able to predict when a base will be hit or when it won't be, shifted numerically inferior forces around "just in time" arriving the day the base was to be hit etc. Most of that is basically learning triggers that the other person doesn't know they have, presenting them the information they require to activate those triggers and then watching them arrive at the decisions ( which arises internally within them ) I wanted them to arrive at to commit the forces where I wanted when I wanted. It isn't perfect, of course and I'm no telepath but, generally speaking, it works. It works in this game and it works in betting games vs people. Once when I was much younger ( before I qualified as a psychiatrist ) I went to France for two weeks with a whole bunch of guys. We played poker incessantly, drank too much, partied too much, the usual. At the end of my time in France I came back with double the money I'd left with, even after paying for living expenses and travel for the two weeks. Why? This stuff all works perfectly well in poker too. There are a huge number of quasi-psychological books written about "poker tells" which are, as I understand it, physical manifestations of the player's inner psychological state and beliefs. All I'm talking about is seeing a layer deeper to their internal psychological triggers and tells which, just as with the physical tells, they don't realise they have. The main difference, as I see it, is that physical tells in an opponent lock one into a largely reactive posture. You can only react to the information the tell gives you. Knowledge of their subconsious triggers and conscious mental workings ( not perfect knowledge but hypotheses formed over time and trial and error ) allows you to not only be reactive but also proactive, shaping their perception and ensuring they do what you would like them to do. Aside 1: A while back someone posted something about how one would play mindgames or seek to lead on an opponent who refused to engage in email conversation. I meant to reply to them but never got around to it. Here's my reply now as I think it may be of some use to some people ( yeah, I'm bored again, no turn in my inbox today and I've been reading about texturing for FAR too long today for a non-technical soul like myself to be comfortable with. It is all in a desperate attempt to avoid having to do some statistics work for an article I'm writing. ). Not engaging in email replies is an engagement in and of itself. There's a wealth of hypotheses one can form which can be tested for in-game to help shape a profile of the opponent. First question is WHY? Possible answers: 1. They're taciturn and never include any replies to anything in their emails to anyone. This is unlikely. 2. They have taken a conscious decision to avoid mind-games when playing you. More likely. 3. Other stuff which is less likely and I won't go into here. If the answer is 2 then you have to ask WHY again. Do they fear mind-games and think they will be overmatched so they decide not to engage in them? Do they think that by not engaging they're playing mind-games with you and unsettling you? Does this show that they've studied your AARs and postings and made a psych profile of you? If so from your reading of their posts do you think they have the insight to be right? Notwithstanding the above do you think that even if they don't reply there's benefit in writing stuff in your mails anyway? That largely depends on whether you think they will attempt to interpret what you write or will have the discipline to discount anything you write without ever reading it. Few people have that discipline. If faced with such a ploy and if I thought it was a mind-game by the opponent then I would create some victories for his forces in-game and congratulate him on them. Very few people have the discipline to: a) see this is a gambit to breach their barrier of silence b) see praise as anything other than warranted, justifiable and genuine. As such most people will open up and make at least some comment about how their plan came together, or if they wish to appear modest they'll put it down to "some good luck" or they'll comment that your plan was good too and it could have gone either way. Whatever they reply with will tell you a lot about their view of you as an opponent, their current mental state re: the game and will, most importantly, have cracked the door open for further conversations. Even if they don't reply you'll still have learnt something about them. You'll have learnt they are more disciplined than 99% of people and that must be factored into future planning. So, even silence tells you a lot.

DOCUP -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 1:28:49 AM)
Nemo great AAR!! Thanks for writing it. I have to agree with you on ur perceptions on young doctors. Especially residents (don't know what they are called in countries other than America), from what I have seen of the many I have been with they subconsciously lean towards how the attending (the one who is working) would act. But theres always a but, there are a few that do there own thing. These few individuals tend to go more by the text book. I don't know how it is in psy (since I work with critical ill/injuried children) I don't have much dealings with the 2 psy drs in my area. The older attending I have worked with all but one have a gut feeling towards some of there patients, most of the time there right. The one that dosen't go by his gut is more of the by the book kinda guy. So you profile your opponents. Interesting. It has been interesting to be let into your mindset of this game. Your strategic thinking and willingness to accept losses and go on the offensive when most would think the other way is very enlightening. People nowadays are more conservative in nature and would play the wait game instead of taking the fight to the enemy. I could see you walking away from ur buddies with a large wad of cash. Also I can see you playing psyc warfare,but you do it naturally. Again thanks for the AAR

Nemo121 -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 11:55:40 AM)
Well, I think in medicine as in any field there's the book and then there's real life. Someone who goes by the book will probably cover most bases but experience teaches you where to differ from the book. With that said I think that no book can teach the rich texture of human interactions and that's particularly noticeable in psychiatry where the junior doctors will often come out of an interview having been completely taken in by a patient who has lied to them ( typically these are personality disorders who lie about their symptoms in order to get a diagnosis of depression and access to medications they like, people lying about post-traumatic stress symptoms because they are pursuing litigation and want to get a bigger settlement, people with secret addictions who wish to get the stuff they're addicted to prescribed them as treatment for the illness they're faking ) while the more senior doctor will immediately see what's going on. That isn't so much an issue of perception though as just greater experience leading one to look for the hidden agenda and recognise the patterns of presentation which presage certain underlying, hidden motivations. I would be very much a "go by the gut" type as I think that "the gut" is a synthesis of subconscious signs and subconscious pattern recognition. The trick is, I think, to examine your gut feeling and make sure that what you're reacting to is professional and not just thinking this patient is full of sh*t because she reminds you, subconsciously, of an ex or something like that ( that might seem like a weird example but in the world of the subconscious the weird and extreme tends to be rather mundane and common ;-) ). Going on the offensive: Well, if you look at this game my navy is inferior and outnumbered in a number of areas, my air force is both outnumbered and inferior and my armies are most definitely inferior and also begin the game very poorly dispositioned. That makes a defence very difficult but if I can choose the time and place of coming together in combat it allows me to minimise those disadvantages and achieve concentrations of force against his less defended areas. So, conversely, it is actually easier to be on the offensive ( strategically speaking although not necessarily operationally or tactically ) than it is to rest on the strategic defensive. So that's what I've done and since wresting the initiative from my opponent I have not really been strategically troubled at all - which has made my game much easier. Since I think the strategic layer is by far the most important I am willing to accept operational and tactical disadvantages in order to gain a strategic advantage. I'm glad you have enjoyed the AAR, that's one of the reasons I write it after all. Question for the gallery: Does anyone know which skill port attacks use? Would it be naval bombing or ground attack? I'm beginning to firm up my plan for the invasion of Malaysia and am considering a massive port attack on Singapore a couple of days before my fleet arrives into view off Malaysia with a view to crippling his local surface combat forces and ensuring none of his local forces can intervene with my invasion TFs as they are vulnerable and unloading. The idea would be to build up Djambi to a Level 3 airfield and sweep Singers with 150 fighters before sending in the medium bombers ( some 250 ) from Palembang and the heavy bombers ( about 60 B-17s and another 100 or so long-range medium bombers ) from Lahat. I could also look into accompanying the raids with dive-bomber strikes from Djambi if I can make Djambi a Level 4 airfield in time ( I'm bringing 200 engineer equivalents into Djambi to build it up quickly ). In addition I'm running 3 different photo-recon squadrons over Singers daily and can spot 14 units, about 100 fighters and 30 to 40 ships in port. I won't be launching this raid for another month or so but it would certainly be nice to use the intervening month to train my guys in the required skill.

Grfin Zeppelin -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 12:15:51 PM)
Port attacks use the ground attack skill. Being a roleplayer I found out very quickly what kind of skill is used for an action [:)]

traskott -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 2:50:08 PM)
Side note: Your DDs your are using as a bait 'cause their upgrades are horrible, are Clemson Class. If you upgrade them to DE (4/42) IF you don't upgrade them at 2/42, turn them onto VERY good DE. They will be plainly HORRIBLE at surface actions, but will excel at ASW, and will be a bit better at AAA. :) . Good luck !!!

Nemo121 -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 3:48:55 PM)
Thanks Graefin, traskott. Damn, I have to retask a lot of my bombers to ground attack now. Ah well there weren't a lot of ships coming my way anyways.... Traskott, Hmm, so if they upgrade now they turn into good DEs but they get even worse at surface combat. Well, I suppose I could just use them as CV escorts and suchlike if their AAA and ASW are good enough and they maintain their speed after the ugprades.

traskott -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 3:53:51 PM)
Well, I use to employ them as convoy escorts, but as ASW cover of CVs sounds good too ( they get enhanced range ). If u like DMSs, you can turn Clemson at DMS too ( in fact they can be turned at: APD, DM, DMS, AVD or DE : Plenty of choices!! ).

modrow -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 11:04:18 PM)
Nemo, very briefly: again very nice reply and nice riposte, thanks. Now, to something completely different: If you want to achieve some fast transport capacities, the Clemson class DDs should be turned into APD - I think this is one of the few ways to gain fast transport capacity as Allies relatively early on. If some AFB out there knows another way, please share ! Thanks again Hartwig

traskott -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/10/2010 11:16:48 PM)
If you want APDs, use the Wickes class, which can be converted early 2 or 3 at 1942 [:)]. Clemson are too much valuable as your main ship with conversion capability. Think deeply prior to make them APDs.

Nemo121 -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/11/2010 12:22:02 AM)
I looked into the issue of APDs in Admiral's Edition and it really doesn't look to me like it is worth it anymore for mounting invasions due to the massive fatigue they build up. They still have some utility in transporting troops to a friendly base when you can't get merchant ships through but in those circumstances you are almost always better off using flying boats or transports to do the job. They have greater strategic mobility, faster reaction times, are less amenable to interception and can better utilise a central position ( an important consideration when you are on the defensive and are, presumably, trying to rush a reserve to a threatened sector). Traskott, I like DMS but I guard them zealously. I'd more readily lose a CA than a DMS. So far in the war not a single one of my DMS has been scratched and, if I have anything to do with it, that's the way it'll remain. I'm going to risk a few of them in the bombardment TF for Truk but that's pretty much a milk run these days now that Mike has pulled KB back into his interior for some rest and refitting - or whatever it is those boys are up to. Not much happened today except that I decide to divert the convoy carrying 3 Bdes of British troops, engineers and a Base Force to southern Sumatra to Northern Sumatra where they will bolster the Dutch defenders at Medan ( or farther up the coast if my Dutch troops have to retreat to there).

traskott -> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! (8/11/2010 12:31:48 AM)
Hummm..To amphibious assault dunno, but to bring troops at combat mode to islands near the enemy the excels. Besides, as they looks like DDs, enemy recce can be tricked about the goal of the T.F. Whatever. Is your choice. [;)]. Oh !! By the way, I was the man who had asked about the "opponent who doesn't speak anything". Truly fascinating answer. Hummm..If someday I play against you, Nemo, remember me to DELETE all my posts !! [8\|][8\|]

Nemo121 -> Another night of turmoil at Singapore.... (8/11/2010 12:34:56 PM)
Well, Mike has developed a nice, comfortable habit of sending support TFs out and bringing in merchant convoys the night after I launch a night raid. I decided, yesterday, to make him pay for that and so sent the CL TF which was retreating from Singers ( and had refueled at Palembang ) back in for more. It had over 95% of its ammo remaining so I was confident it would give a good account of itself. In the end when it ran into 2 IJN CLs and 3 DDs it didn't do great, just causing significant fires on a single IJN DD but, later, when it found a minelaying TF it redeemed itself by sinking the lot of them. It made it back to Palembang and is refuelled and re-armed, although it only has 50% or so of its torpedoes. I have decided that the success of these raiding TFs operating out of Palembang is sufficient that I'm going to create 3 more, 2 x CL-led TFs comprising 2 x CL and 4 or so DD and a single CA-led TF comprising a CA and 4 or 5 DDs. My current thinking is to use these raiding TFs for three purposes: 1. To mount nightly raids into the environs of Singapore forcing Mike to either commit significant naval forces to the mission of defending Singapore - at which point my raiding TFs will meet them in battle and damage or sink them ( while being damaged or sunk themselves). This will serve the purpose of attritting the IJN forces in the region in preparation for my landings in Malaysia - which is my new strategic priority. 2. Tempt Mike into a major IJNAF and IJAAF assault on Palembang in order to strike at the base ( and support ships - ADs etc ) of these raiding flotillas with a view to catching many of them at Palembang and sinking them. If he is really serious about this he'll commit KB to the mission, which I'd welcome as I want to attrit KB a little more to give myself freedom of movement in the Mindanao region. 3. He could decide to counter it by bringing BBs and CAs into Singapore, which would put them within torpedo-bomber range of Djambi, which I'm currently working feverishly to expand and would, I think, effectively sign the death warrant of any CAs or BBs committed as I WOULD get torpedo-bombers through to them. It might cost me 200 planes but I WOULD get them.... and in so doing he'd move from having lost 4 BBs out of 10 and 5 CAs out of about 12 to having lost the majority of each category, which wouldn't be good as my forces are only getting stronger and stronger. AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 07, 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 7,000 Yards Japanese Ships CL Sendai CL Kinu, Shell hits 1 DD Hagikaze, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Sagiri Allied Ships CL Marblehead, Shell hits 1 DD Dunlap DD Fanning, Shell hits 1 DD Barker DD Bulmer DD Edsall DD Parrott, Shell hits 2 DD Whipple, Shell hits 1 DD Stewart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships ACM Banshu Maru #52, Shell hits 2, and is sunk ACM Ranzan Maru, Shell hits 2, and is sunk ACM Chiyo Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk ACM Muro Maru, Shell hits 10, and is sunk CM Kamome, Shell hits 11, and is sunk Not a bad haul. In other interesting news my intel keeps insisting that the CA Chokai sank after the last night battle where my 2 USN BBs ran into Singapore for a night battle with the IJN defenders. Allied Ships CL Marblehead DD Dunlap DD Fanning DD Barker DD Bulmer, Shell hits 1 DD Edsall DD Parrott DD Whipple DD Stewart Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 60% moonlight: 8,000 yards Range closes to 11,000 yards... Range closes to 10,000 yards... Range closes to 9,000 yards... Range closes to 8,000 yards... CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards English, Robert H. crosses the 'T' I spent the PP on good admirals and it looks like it pays off. I am routinely crossing the Ts of the IJN forces I run into at night. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Toboali at 51,94 Japanese Ships SS I-158, hits 1 Allied Ships DD Lamson DD Drayton DD Mahan DD Flusser DD Conyngham DD Case -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near Makassar at 63,107 Japanese Ships SS I-154 Allied Ships TK Esso Durban -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Hengchun at 85,68 Japanese Ships DD Tachikaze Allied Ships SS Spearfish I think this is KB transitting Formosa on its way into the DEI region. I'm not sure but that's my current estimate. I'll find out soon enough I suppose. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima) Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 21 Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged Allied ground losses: 42 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 21 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 15000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan Coastal Gun Battalion, at 46,76 (Medan) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-30 Ann x 27 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 1 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 1 These Allied planes don't have the legs to reach Djambi from Sabang so are moving back into Medan and flying out to Djambi the next day. I won't try to re-institute a CAP over Medan until I've done something about the IJAAF bombers in the area. Japanese aircraft losses Ki-30 Ann: 1 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 27 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 1 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed As the defenders are only small packets of squadrons they don't perform well in the air. Still, better to die in the air than on the ground. I'm hustling them through as quickly as possible though. These losses are akin to a "toll" for moving through Medan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Singapore , at 50,84 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes I wanted to test just how effective a low-level raid into Singapore harbour might be but I didn't want to tip Mike off that I am checking the ground for a raid early next month so I decided to send only a small number of B-17s in and act as though it was an error following transfer from a different theatre. And, yeah, if you think that such conduct is unfair then you have the right to think so and the right to decide never to play me. I may not be doing any major subterfuges but if one little white lie is going to prevent him catching on to a major multi-hundred bomber attack then I'm quite prepared to sell him the dummy. Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft Martlet II x 4 B-17D Fortress x 6 B-17E Fortress x 6 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-Ic Sally: 3 destroyed on ground G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed on ground In the end 8 IJAAF and IJNAF planes were destroyed on the ground and all my B-17s made it home. This is highly encouraging and confirms that the tentative plan could work out really well. Allied aircraft losses B-17D Fortress: 6 damaged B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged Japanese Ships xAP Buenos Aires Maru xAP Baikal Maru Japanese ground losses: 5 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Airbase hits 10 Airbase supply hits 3 Runway hits 14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 9 P-400 Airacobra x 15 Allied aircraft losses A-20A Havoc: 4 damaged Runway hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 17 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 3 B-18A Bolo x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships SSX Ha-13, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk SSX Ha-12, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage More of these blasted midget submarines. Honestly, it is as though they are endless. Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 2 Port hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-IIa Sally x 25 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged Runway hits 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This was great news. The IJN is trying to reinforce the troops he landed in Mindanao a few days ago. In so doing it gave K-XIII the perfect shot though and in two salvoes of two torpedoes each, which were resolved separately, not something I've seen before, it sank the IJN CL Tama. Sub attack near Oroquieta at 78,88 Japanese Ships CL Tama, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage xAP Kongo Maru xAP Kitano Maru xAK Asosan Maru DD Sanae Allied Ships SS KXIII SS KXIII launches 4 torpedoes at CL Tama KXIII bottoming out .... DD Sanae fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Sanae fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Sanae fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Sanae fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Sanae fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub Since I have re-occupied Manado and re-taken Talaud, which were the previous outpost line for the Southern DEI, I am now extending that outpost line to Badeldoab and Mindanao. As such this invasion has tripped my outpost line and must be met with a firm response in order to slow any further encroachment. Accordingly I have sent the USN CA-led TF ( 2 CAs and 3 or 4 DDs ) guarding Manado/Talaud north to Oroquieta - they will arrive during daylight hours tomorrow and should, I hope, be able to sink quite a few xAPs at anchor before they have unloaded. In addition I've sent 40 fighters and about 40 A-24 Banshees to Cagayan where they will fly against this convoy also and seek to destroy it. Between the naval force and the airforce I expect this reinforcement convoy to be wiped out tomorrow. This will force him to escort future convoys more carefully and put him on notice that he needs to begin posting SC TFs at Jolo and Badeldoab if he wants to prevent me running surface raiders north and east of Manado. It will also put him on notice that the southern Borneon oil producing base he took ( the one east of Balikpapan but west of Jolo, I can't remember the name right now ) is closed for future tanker convoys unless he is willing to heavily escort them with SC TFs and LRCAP. Again, this has the effect of making him react to me and spread his forces defensively which, in the long run, gives me the initiative and more opportunities to find weak spots to hit. In the end this causes a feedback loop where hitting something makes him spread his forces to defend more, which forces him to defend each thing more weakly, which gives me more opportunities for hit and run raids, which causes him to have to defend more and more, which spreads him ever more thinly and so on and so forth. What he should do is either just abandon Southern Borneo and accept that Badeldoab and Jolo require SC TFs protected by strong CAP or he should bring KB to bear and just rampage through the southern DEI destroying my air and naval forces in the region in detail and using KB to nullify this strategic threat. This is what I mean when I talk about KB as a strategic weapon. It can achieve strategically decisive results and shouldn't be frittered away in operations of tactical or, at best, operational value. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 1042 troops, 16 guns, 75 vehicles, Assault Value = 50 Defending force 296 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 12 Allied adjusted assault: 17 Japanese adjusted defense: 1 Allied assault odds: 17 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-) Attacker: fatigue(-), morale(-) Japanese ground losses: 40 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Just gaining experience. Lots of engineers and a few more tank units are on the way. Once everyone gains a bit of experience here I plan to ship them to Malaysia where my tank forces can run riot a little. Assaulting units: 2/10th Armoured Regiment 3rd Motor Brigade Defending units: 1st Indpt SNLF Coy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Kanhsien (81,57) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 8568 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 324 Defending force 2804 troops, 31 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 99 This was a shock attack across a river against an IJA-held base. The base was held by forces my other Chinese armies had forced to fall back on about 3 previous occasions so they were hardly likely to put up much resistance... and in the end they didn't. Allied adjusted assault: 245 Japanese adjusted defense: 20 Allied assault odds: 12 to 1 (fort level 0) Allied forces CAPTURE Kanhsien !!! Combat modifiers Defender: op mode(-), preparation(-), experience(-) Attacker: shock(+), leaders(+), leaders(-) Japanese ground losses: 817 casualties reported Squads: 26 destroyed, 4 disabled Non Combat: 28 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled) Vehicles lost 16 (16 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 2 Another 77 squads and vehicles destroyed. Every bit helps. Allied ground losses: 21 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 73rd Chinese Corps Defending units: 8th Armored Car Co 102nd Infantry Regiment In other news, in about a week the relief forces for Northern Sumatra will begin landing there. Given one week it will hold. The question is can I prevent him reinforcing northern sumatra long enough to buy that week. In order to help buy that time I am ordering the CL-TF back into Singapore and am bringing the other two CL-led TFs into action in 3 and 4 nights respectively. With a little luck that ought to be enough to button him up until I can get enough boots on the ground. Elsewhere more and more US troops are beginning to filter into the southern DEI. In about a week's time a full division's worth of marines and armour will be online and ready to attack. Well they would be except some weird bug has reduced the 8th Marine Regt to just 51% strength despite the fact it was 100% before it began unloading. WEIRD !!! I have just turned replacements on though and will pretend a sub got the rest of them. If the bug isn't a game-killer or very imbalancing I tend not to bother too much about it. It is just an extra challenge to beat in order to achieve my strategic goals. Umm, that's really about it. Nothing too exciting except the raiding TFs should happen over the next two days. [image]local://upfiles/10809/EDF08A5F02864CE8BA16EC5E769DDFAA.jpg[/image]

Nemo121 -> Mindanao... OUCH!!!! (8/11/2010 3:39:38 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 08, 42 A good day for the Allies. Palembang held out against a maximal IJAAF fighter assault and it looks like I drowned a few thousand Japanese troops as well as removing another two CLs from the enemy forces in the DEI. So that's 4 BBs, 5 CAs, 4 CLs and 27 DD sunk so far. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships CL Sendai, Shell hits 2, heavy fires CL Kinu DD Hagikaze DD Sagiri The two hits on Sendai were both penetrating 6 inch hits which punched through the belt armour and exploded internally causing serious fires. Sendai will have to put into port at Singapore and spend some time being repaired. The fact that I don't find heavier forces here tonight tells me there are no heavier forces available and undamaged at Singapore. If he had them he'd commit them. In a few days that will change but for right now this is it. Allied Ships CL Marblehead, Shell hits 2 DD Dunlap DD Fanning DD Barker DD Bulmer DD Edsall DD Parrott DD Whipple DD Stewart Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 50% moonlight: 8,000 yards Range closes to 10,000 yards... Range closes to 8,000 yards... CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards English, Robert H. crosses the 'T' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Oroquieta at 78,88 Japanese Ships xAP Kongo Maru, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage xAK Nako Maru DD Sanae Allied Ships SS KXIII Japanese ground losses: 18 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled SS KXIII launches 4 torpedoes at xAP Kongo Maru KXIII bottoming out .... A CL and an xAK within 48 hours. Not bad going. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84 Japanese Ships DD Sagiri Allied Ships SS Shark I'm keeping a lot of subs around Singapore and Singkawang in an effort to torpedo cripples seeking to transit these areas back towards Manilla or Hong Kong for repair. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Taihoku at 87,62 Japanese Ships PB Shinko Maru #2 DD Shirakumo Allied Ships SS Swordfish SS Swordfish launches 4 torpedoes at PB Shinko Maru #2 Swordfish diving deep .... DD Shirakumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Shirakumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Shirakumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Shirakumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Shirakumo fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Hengchun at 85,68 Japanese Ships DD Tachikaze Allied Ships SS Spearfish, hits 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Oroquieta at 78,88, Range 26,000 Yards It turns out I didn't need the Banshees at all. Japanese Ships CL Oi, Shell hits 41, and is sunk DD Sanae, Shell hits 12, and is sunk PB Shosei Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk xAK Asosan Maru, Shell hits 20, and is sunk xAK Asakasan Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk xAK Kinugawa Maru, Shell hits 26, and is sunk xAK Nako Maru, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Kitano Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Portland, Shell hits 1 CA Minneapolis, Shell hits 3 DD Mugford DD Jarvis, Shell hits 1 DD Downes Japanese ground losses: 2439 casualties reported Squads: 21 destroyed, 14 disabled Non Combat: 257 destroyed, 372 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Vehicles lost 36 (23 destroyed, 13 disabled) It looks to me like I must have destroyed a couple of Base Forces or Aviation/Army HQs. The lack of engineers dead argues against these being pure Base Forces so, perhaps they were HQs? Who knows. Either way 301 squads destroyed and 399 disabled is a great tally for my forces. I'll run them back to Manado at full speed and then transition them to a larger base for repair. Lest we get too focussed on the xAKs and xAPs let us look at the escorts also. Counting the CL Tama yesterday this TF was escorted by TWO CL, a PB and a DD. Just a month or two ago this would only have been escorted by a PB or possibly a PB and DD. I think I'm getting him to commit a lot more of his surface forces as convoy escorts. This is forcing him to penny-packet out his forces and is allowing me to defeat them in detail whenever they stick their snouts out too far. Personally I think he should just create hunter-killer groups and shoal them out ahead of his convoys or else just commit KB but, hell, if he's making a mistake I'm willing to let him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Mike tried to close Palembang with sweeps today. I had my forces on 40% training and 40% CAP so while the CAP wasn't amazing it was more than enough. Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 42 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 11 Fulmar II x 5 Martlet II x 3 Hurricane I Trop x 6 Hurricane IIa Trop x 12 Hurricane IIb Trop x 2 P-39D Airacobra x 15 P-40E Warhawk x 28 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 2 destroyed Oscar losses will actually be much higher as many of the Oscars were damaged and will become operational losses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 21 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 9 Fulmar II x 2 Martlet II x 3 Hurricane I Trop x 4 Hurricane IIa Trop x 10 Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 12 P-40E Warhawk x 20 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Fulmar II: 1 destroyed Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed While only 2 Oscars are shown as having been downed fully 19 of the 21 took battle damage so out of the remaining 17 I'm expecting several won't make it home. This round was a draw. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 18 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 8 Martlet II x 2 Hurricane I Trop x 3 Hurricane IIa Trop x 4 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-40E Warhawk x 12 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed Not a single A6M2 got through. Again, several additional Zeroes should be ditched on the way home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 22 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 3 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 22 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 15000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 1st Marine Raider Battalion ... Also attacking 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 42 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 8 Martlet II x 2 Hurricane I Trop x 2 Hurricane IIa Trop x 3 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-40E Warhawk x 9 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses H81-A3: 1 destroyed P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed Fatigue really hurt my pilots this time with 5 of my planes being destroyed. None of the Oscars were able to sweep my base which, again, tells the tale of many of them being damaged and forced to turn for home but this round definitely went to the less fatigued Japanese. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 10 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 5 No Japanese losses No Allied losses Here are the Allied planes being repaired at Medan before flying on to southern Sumatra. They fight in order to keep the service damage down so more of their brethren can be repaired. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 18th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-27b Nate x 2 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3 No Japanese losses Aircraft Attacking: 1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet 3 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing from 100 feet 1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet Also attacking 94th Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 20 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 1 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses Martlet II: 1 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 8th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-48-Ib Lily x 11 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 3 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 11 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 5000 feet * Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 53rd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 8th Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Canton Special Base Force, at 77,59 (Canton) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft A-29A Hudson x 3 SB-III x 6 Allied aircraft losses A-29A Hudson: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 12 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 3 x A-29A Hudson bombing from 9000 feet * Ground Attack: 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb 2 x SB-III bombing from 9000 feet * Ground Attack: 3 x 100 kg GP Bomb 4 x SB-III bombing from 9000 feet * Ground Attack: 3 x 100 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 9 P-400 Airacobra x 15 Allied aircraft losses A-20A Havoc: 3 damaged Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 9 Aircraft Attacking: 9 x A-20A Havoc bombing from 6000 feet Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 3 B-18A Bolo x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships SSX Ha-8, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage Runway hits 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengselor at 68,92 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 12 Allied aircraft B-26 Marauder x 3 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed Hmm, a tanker convoy at Tarakan? I'm not sure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-IIa Sally x 25 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 21 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 1 P-40E Warhawk x 4 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 1138 troops, 16 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 193 Defending force 277 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11 Allied adjusted assault: 22 Japanese adjusted defense: 1 Allied assault odds: 22 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 21 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 2/10th Armoured Regiment 754th Tank Bn /1 1st Motor Bde /3 3rd Motor Brigade 19th Australian Bn /1 Note the reinforcements streaming ashore. Defending units: 1st Indpt SNLF Coy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 86,42 Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 24728 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 954 Defending force 30617 troops, 254 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 1073 Allied ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 43rd Chinese Corps 93rd Chinese Corps 5th New Chinese Corps 15th Chinese Corps 27th Chinese Corps 9th Chinese Corps 8th New Chinese Corps 14th Group Army 15th Group Army Defending units: 35th Division 3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade 11th Division [image]local://upfiles/10809/C4132A12567E4FEFA999536F4C26CBAE.jpg[/image]

Grfin Zeppelin -> RE: Mindanao... OUCH!!!! (8/11/2010 10:28:17 PM)
An Army or Air division hq and a naval guard I would say.

Capt. Harlock -> RE: Another night of turmoil at Singapore.... (8/12/2010 4:13:22 PM)
quote: I wanted to test just how effective a low-level raid into Singapore harbour might be but I didn't want to tip Mike off that I am checking the ground for a raid early next month so I decided to send only a small number of B-17s in and act as though it was an error following transfer from a different theatre. And, yeah, if you think that such conduct is unfair then you have the right to think so and the right to decide never to play me. I may not be doing any major subterfuges but if one little white lie is going to prevent him catching on to a major multi-hundred bomber attack then I'm quite prepared to sell him the dummy. This is one of the times I'm on your side. Moving units or attacking in such a way as might give a deceptive impression seems, to your humble correspondent, an entirely legitimate thing to do. In Cuttlefish's game against Q-Ball, Q-Ball sent a weak invasion convoy against a central Pacific island, knowing that the report of casualties on board the transports would make Cuttlefish believe that was his main axis of attack. In reality, Q-Ball was going for the DEI, and he succeeded. Telling an opponent something false is a problem, allowing an opponent to deduce something false is something else again.

Nemo121 -> RE: Another night of turmoil at Singapore.... (8/12/2010 10:02:01 PM)
Well I'm sure it'll be misrepresented by some. It seems that if they can't take umbrage at something you actually said they'll just twist it untilnthey can get offended.

SqzMyLemon -> RE: Mindanao... OUCH!!!! (8/12/2010 10:10:41 PM)
Nemo, I think you'll find your B-17's very effective in whatever role you use them. I've learned that they are absolutely deadly against ships disbanded in ports. They may not be able to hit a ship at sea, but they come into their own when bombing a port. Their ability to decimate CAP and reach those bases behind the lines should make it extremely effective for you to pound his shipping recuperating in various ports. I don't think attempting a small raid to gather intel on how effective a larger operation may be can even be called a "little white lie" as you are not misleading anyone by doing so. Most people have no problem with letting an opponent's units do the speaking for them [;)]. I have to say I'm really impressed with your analogy of events and the extreme pressure you are applying. I have suffered a little of the same by an Allied opponent in another PBEM. I haven't been following the Japanese side of things much in your matchup, but I'd hazzard a guess that he's just overwhelmed by the sheer number of obstacles and reverses he's suffered and that has completely paralyzed him, causing him to lose focus. I think at a time like this he needs to step back and not look at the big picture (it's depressing after all [:D]), but concentrate on areas of the map that he can defeat you and accomplish some of his goals all with the aim of setting himself up to be in a better position to tackle the nightmare that is Palembang. That will mean giving you a free hand in some areas and a chance to grow stronger yet, but if he doesn't stop the bleeding soon it's going to get much worse for him. If he attempts to commit his forces piecemeal to simply hold the line you will simply hit him somewhere else just exacerbating the problem he faces,. I agree with you, I think he needs to commit KB and company to an operation that actually deals you a reverse somewhere, but it's not the time to take on your strength. A reverse here and there may not matter to you, as you've often stated being willing to lose assets or real estate in pursuit of your strategic goals, but for him it's extremely important to accomplish something meaningful and build some confidence/momentum. He needs to ignore Sumatra, as painful as that may be, and strike elsewhere to put himself into a better situation to deal effectively with it later, if it's not already too late. Just some thoughts.

Nemo121 -> RE: Mindanao... OUCH!!!! (8/13/2010 2:36:32 AM)
Hi there SqzMyLemon, Well, I think people see what they want to see and what is matters less than their personal bias. That has been made clear to me in recent days. I agree with you re: what Mike should do in terms of general approach. He needs to step back, clear his mental state and look at things rationally and logically on a whole theatre basis deciding which areas he just needs to hold my forces back in and which areas he needs to smash me in. Right now there are 5 theatres. 1. Sumatra 2. Southern DEI/Mindanao 3. Aleutians 4. Marshalls. 5. China Burma is so quiescent as to be an irrelevance until Sumatra is sorted. Anyways, I think he needs to figure out just what he is going to do with those regions. China needs a re-organisation of his ground forces. Once he does that he'll be fine. I don't have the strength to take fortified cities. The Aleutians can be handled by the committment of another 300 or 400 AV to Onnekotan Jima. If he does that he'll have over 1,000 AV there but he'll retake the island and can then redeploy them. If I were him I'd use those 1,000 AV to attack Pearl Harbour but we'll see what he does. In recognition of this risk I have decided to bring another regiment into the area and use APDs to shuttle that in to Onnekotan Jima over the next month. That should bring me defensive force to over 300 AV and will serve the purpose of meaning he'd have to bring more than an additional 300 AV to bear to break my defenders. I want Onnekotan Jima to be a tar baby and it has served that purpose extremely well, tieing down significant naval and IJA forces at a minimal Allied commitment ( 2 regiments of ground troops ). So I think it comes down to the Marshalls and Sumatra and Southern DEI. Personally if I were him I'd send KB into the Marshalls to conduct port and naval strikes against my rear echelon bases in the area. He could sprint in from the north and be gone within 2 days at minimal risk since I can't have too many fighters defending the rear area bases. So long as he avoids Ponape he should be fine. I would then replenish at Truk and quietly slip into an area south of Talaud before doing a maximum speed sprint into the area between Kendari and Ambon. He could then sweep westward and northward from there clearing out my forces around Soerabaja and Balikpapan ( neither of which would have anywhere to go give that KB would be blocking escape routes south and Netties would be blocking them north. By focussing on naval strikes and careful usage of strike ranges to avoid strikes over Allied bases one could conduct such a raid with minimal risk of running into significant Allied CAP. That would be a successful, minimal risk cruise which would lose very few pilots, probably no ships and demonstrate an ability to strike into my operative depth which I'd have to account for in the future - through committing more forces to SLOC security, thus weakning my speartip. Right now I think southern Sumatra is suicide for the Japanese. I have about 4,500 AV there and Level 5 or 6 forts as well as about 1,000 planes with another 600+ planes within 1 to 2 days transfer range. He can't prosecute an invasion in the face of that force, IMO. This is not even counting the fact that right now if he sends anything to Singkawang or Singapore he gets visited by CLs and DDs that evening so even to try to load his troops for the invasion of Sumatra now would require him committing his battlefleet for several nights of attritional combat JUST to protect the loading of his invasion fleets. If they succeed at that ( and usually the attacking ships get into the transports ) he will then have to transit to Oosthaven, facing torpedo and bomber attacks and then protect the landing at Oosthaven from 6 Allied BBs and numerous more CLs and DDs which will have orders to make for Oosthaven and smash the landing or die in the process. When this is all over it'd be great fun to have someone take over and try and force a landing in southern Sumatra just so we could see how it would turn out but right now I think it would be a disaster unless he committed KB to the fight and was willing to burn out its airgroups entirely in the process ( at which point in time I'd take advantage by activating the Marianas/ Mindanao axis ). I think that by the end of 1942 Japan is going to be reduced to northern and eastern China, Formosa, Japan and Korea as well as an isolated base at Truk. I'm not sure about the Phillipines. I should hold Mindanao unless he pulls a major force out of nowhere but I'm not sure if I can invade and retake the Phillipines proper. I think there's a good chance of me retaking the Marianas in order to secure shortened, direct SLOCs between CONUSA and major US bases in the Phillipines. At that point I think it would make sense to call the game although if he fights on things will prove very difficult as his perimeter will be so small by then ( Aleutians, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Formosa ) that KB will be able to cover any point in the perimeter with a 1 day dash from Tokyo Bay. That means I won't be able to really use manoeuvre to negate KB as I have done over previous months. As things remain Mike assures me he has a plan but I have little idea what that might be. About the only thing that I can see that makes sense is taking northern Sumatra to get the oil at Medan and then, perhaps, pushing infantry south through the jungles. Apart from that the only remote possibility I see is really off the wall stuff like mounting an invasion of Oosthaven or a major Pacific drive. He definitely has the troops and ships for this but I think the strategic situation argues against this at this time, IMO. Mike might see things differently though. He may think taking Marcus, Midway and Guam would bring me out and into combat. It won't but I could see why he think it might - especially since the last time he tried it I was nearby and sent my CVs in and killed an IJN BB and a whole load of assault shipping.

Nemo121 -> Another bloody day for the USN and IJN. (8/13/2010 4:20:06 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 09, 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 9,000 Yards The traditional night raid went in and achieved inconclusive results again. Japanese Ships CL Sendai, Shell hits 2 CL Kinu DD Hagikaze DD Sagiri Allied Ships CL Marblehead DD Dunlap DD Fanning DD Barker, Shell hits 1 DD Bulmer DD Edsall DD Parrott DD Whipple DD Stewart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48, Range 10,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Shigure DD Yugao xAK Zyuyo Maru xAP Montevideo Maru Allied Ships APD Manley APD Colhoun APD Gregory APD Little APD McKean APD Stringham At Onnekotan my APDs ran into an IJN reinforcement convoy. They avoided combat which is a pity as they look like they might have done some damage. Note the use of DDs as escorts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48 Japanese Ships DD Yugao Allied Ships 2 SS Cachalot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84 Japanese Ships PB Nako Maru #2 AK Sasako Maru AK Sado Maru AK Hirokawa Maru xAK Gosei Maru xAK Kansai Maru DD Tawakaze DD Akikaze Allied Ships SS Shark This was important as this sighting vectored the Marblehead TF onto this IJN convoy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Invasion action off Onnekotan-jima Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 187 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships DD Yugao xAP Montevideo Maru DD Shigure Japanese ground losses: 326 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled DD Yugao firing at 205th Field Artillery Battalion DD Yugao fired at enemy troops Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious Assault at Onnekotan-jima TF 74 troops unloading over beach at Onnekotan-jima, 136,48 Japanese ground losses: 24 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled 18 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost in surf during unload of 48th Engr Rgt /2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Onnekotan-jima Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 106 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships DD Yugao DD Shigure xAP Montevideo Maru Japanese ground losses: 167 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled That's a lot of dead engineers and support troops. Obviously this is an attempt to drop the fortifications which my troops are relying on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Tandjoengpinang at 50,85, Range 21,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Okikaze, Shell hits 4 DD Hakaze, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Akikaze, Shell hits 1 AK Hirokawa Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire AK Sado Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires AK Sagami Maru, Shell hits 7, on fire AK Sakura Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire AK Sasako Maru, Shell hits 3 AK Kinka Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires xAK Kansai Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Gosei Maru, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage PB Nako Maru #2, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Tawakaze, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk So, one IJN DD sunk, a PB heavily damaged and two xAKs heavily damaged. I've got multiple fires on the AKs also. AKs are useful for opposed amphibious landings. Hmm, this makes me wonder, could he be planning an opposed amphibious landing in this region? If he is the only real target would be Southern Sumatra. Allied Ships CL Marblehead DD Dunlap, Shell hits 1 DD Fanning, Shell hits 2 DD Barker, Shell hits 1 DD Bulmer DD Edsall DD Parrott DD Whipple, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Stewart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Paramushiro-jima at 138,49, Range 20,000 Yards Japanese Ships CV Junyo CS Nisshin CA Nachi DD Suresushio Gees, talk about penny-packeting one's CVs out... If it weren't just utterly contra-indicated by my strategy I really would be tempted to send a couple of CVs in here to kill Junyo and Nisshin. On the plus side it does show the value of this continued side-show in the Aleutians. For the past two months he has committed troops and ships and airplanes to this venture and I've had to commit almost nothing apart from the original two Regiments of troops and a few ships for supply runs. Allied Ships APD Manley APD Colhoun APD Gregory APD Little APD McKean APD Stringham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Singkawang at 56,88 Japanese Ships SC Ch 18 xAKL Hanakawa Maru PB Tokotsu Maru PB Naruto Maru #3 Allied Ships SS KXIV, hits 8, heavy damage Hmm, I have a new radar-equipped CL force at Palembang. I think it may just visit Singkawang tomorrow. It looks like there will be rich pickings at Singapore ( as the convoy with all the damaged AKs attempts to dock there ) and at Singkawang - as this heavily escorted convoy attempts to do whatever it is doing ). Hmm, choices, choices. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 51,86 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 16 No Japanese losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 51,86 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 9 G3M2 Nell x 15 G4M1 Betty x 16 Japanese aircraft losses G3M2 Nell: 2 damaged Allied Ships DD Stewart, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk DD Whipple, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk One of my DDs stayed with the cripple and they paid the price. The rest of the ships are safe back under the air cover of the CAP at Palembang. At this stage I may do a small LRCAP trap in this area to kill some of these Netties. Aircraft Attacking: 15 x G3M2 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo 16 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 161st Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima) Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 21 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 54 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled) Aircraft Attacking: 21 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 15000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 42nd Construction Regiment ... Also attacking 161st Infantry Regiment ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 3 B5M1 Mabel x 3 No Japanese losses Allied Ships CA Portland Hmm, this CA TF should have made 16 hexes and been within a few hexes of Balikpapn by morning-time. Instead it only made 5 hexes in total. Weird. It pays a small price for this later on but a price worth it given the drubbing it gave the IJN yesterday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 18 No Japanese losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 1 G4M1 Betty x 10 Ki-21-Ic Sally x 17 Ki-21-IIa Sally x 46 Ki-30 Ann x 25 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12 Ki-48-Ib Lily x 41 Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged Ki-21-IIa Sally: 9 damaged Ki-48-Ib Lily: 3 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground Allied ground losses: 11 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Airbase hits 10 Airbase supply hits 4 Runway hits 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 44 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 15 Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses Runway hits 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft A-20A Havoc x 3 B-18A Bolo x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships SSX Ha-25, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage SSX Ha-27, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage I removed the everyday China and Kwajalein raids but I had to leave this in. ANOTHER two Midget submarines. This is getting to be pythonesque. Runway hits 4 Port hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro-jima at 140,49 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 17 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 13 B5N2 Kate x 7 No Japanese losses Allied Ships APD McKean APD Colhoun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 32 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 9 Fulmar II x 3 Martlet II x 3 Hurricane I Trop x 6 Hurricane IIa Trop x 12 Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 14 P-40E Warhawk x 26 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 5 destroyed I'm happy to gain significant experience over my own territory and allow the IJAAF to lose its best pilots at a disproportionate rate. Overall Mike can definitely overmatch me if he really commits to these raids but I don't want to show him just how weak I am - I am currently getting about 60 first-rate fighter replacements per month ( P-40Es, Hurricanes and Kittyhawks ) so losses like this really hurt. On the other hand he is losing more fighters than me over Palembang and losing FAR more pilots. Plus nothing will make him attack more fervently than showing weakness. Time to suck it up, laugh the losses off and make him think my pockets are bottomless ( as opposed to having no more than 50 first-rate fighters of all types in the pools [:D]. Once I hit May 1942 I get about 36 Hurricanes and 36 x P38s per month. That changes my first-rate fighter replacement rate from about 60 per month to about 110 per month ( cause I think I lose some early Hurricane replacements ). That pretty much doubles my ability to sustain attrition and since those 36 Hurris are armed with 4 x 20mm cannon each that means no more damaged IJAAF planes. Hits will be kills, which will help tremendously. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 42 Allied aircraft H81-A3 x 6 Martlet II x 2 Hurricane I Trop x 5 Hurricane IIa Trop x 10 Hurricane IIb Trop x 1 P-39D Airacobra x 8 P-40E Warhawk x 17 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed Allied aircraft losses H81-A3: 1 destroyed Martlet II: 1 destroyed Hurricane I Trop: 1 destroyed Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed What happened here was a bit strange. My CAP seems to have been grounded entirely. I had NO planes in the air when this sweep came in. Then my CAP rose to attack the IJAAF planes in groups of 1 and 2. As each plane entered the fray it would be attacked by multiple Oscars until it was destroyed. At that point another Allied fighter would take off and the same thing would happen again. Overall while I think it is a bit strange that not a single Allied plane was in the air at the beginning of combat I've got to say that this did model the effects of trying to climb up to fight Oscars from below quite well. The Allies got badly drubbed here and that's a realistic outcome given the tactical picture which pertained. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 7 No Japanese losses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft G4M1 Betty x 9 No Japanese losses Allied Ships DD Jarvis CA Minneapolis CA Portland -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Zamboanga at 75,88 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft B5M1 Mabel x 3 No Japanese losses Allied Ships CA Minneapolis, Bomb hits 3, on fire Only one penetrated. The rest just bounced off the belt armour. Minneapolis will be fine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 18th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-27b Nate x 2 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3 No Japanese losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro-jima at 140,49 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 13 B5N2 Kate x 7 No Japanese losses Allied Ships APD McKean, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk APD Stringham, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Damn, that hurt... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Manado at 75,99 Japanese Ships SS I-168 Allied Ships DE Sutlej -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Manado at 75,99 Japanese Ships SS I-168 SS I-168 is sighted by escort I-168 bottoming out .... Sub escapes detection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Babeldaob at 91,96 Japanese Ships DD Tatsukaze Allied Ships SS O24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Onnekotan-jima Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 42 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships xAK Zyuyo Maru xAP Montevideo Maru DD Shigure xAK Zyuyo Maru fired at enemy troops xAP Montevideo Maru fired at enemy troops DD Shigure fired at enemy troops -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Changsha (82,52) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 136737 troops, 1361 guns, 499 vehicles, Assault Value = 5297 Defending force 97666 troops, 594 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3069 Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5 Japanese adjusted assault: 4991 Allied adjusted defense: 9619 Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 5) Interesting, interesting. He has tried to attack again but found out that the force I've left behind is well-calibrated to keeping him pinned down. He has also fatally weakened the forces at Changsha just 5 or 6 days before my encirclement is completed. Excellent timing, for me [8D] Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 22596 casualties reported Squads: 42 destroyed, 1154 disabled Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 674 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 142 disabled Vehicles lost 120 (1 destroyed, 119 disabled) The kills aren't too impressive but look at all those disablements. OUCH!!! Allied ground losses: 3448 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 238 disabled Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 184 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 34 disabled My own losses are, comparatively, miniscule. This is important because don't forget that the Chinese only get 200 squads per month. The IJA can actually afford a war of attrition against the Chinese rather better than one would initially imagine. My forts were reduced from Level 6 to 5 but since I have been actively building them all along they should pop back up to Level 6 in no time again. Assaulting units: 34th Division 13th Division 55th Infantry Brigade 10th Division 58th Infantry Regiment 12th Division 13th RGC Temp. Division 116th Division 3rd Division 11th RGC Temp. Division 6th Division 10th Tank Regiment 39th Division 13th Ind.Mixed Brigade 13th Tank Regiment 40th Division 9th Armored Car Co 51st Infantry Brigade 17th/A Division 15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment 51st Const Co 9th JAAF Base Force 14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment 1st Mortar Battalion 5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion 13th JAAF Base Force 51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion 2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment 51st Road Const Co 8th Ind. Engineer Regiment 6th RF Gun Battalion 11th Army 10th Mortar Battalion 11th Field Artillery Regiment 22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment 2nd JAAF Base Force 52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion 2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment 54th JAAF AF Bn Defending units: 9th Prov Chinese Corps 6th Construction Regiment 50th Chinese Corps 26th Chinese Corps 28th Chinese Corps 3rd New Chinese Corps 74th Chinese Corps 58th Chinese Corps 10th Chinese Corps 16th Construction Regiment 20th Chinese Corps 21st Chinese Corps 72nd Chinese Corps 37th Chinese Corps 5th Construction Regiment 27th Group Army 29th Group Army 10th Group Army 25th Group Army 9th War Area 17th Chinese Base Force 19th Group Army 30th Group Army 3rd War Area 32nd Group Army 56th AT Gun Regiment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 3978 troops, 104 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 214 Defending force 20774 troops, 149 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 767 Japanese ground losses: 37 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 8 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 1st Marine Raider Battalion 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment 161st Infantry Regiment 1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1 Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion 111th USN Base Force /9 47th Construction Regiment 42nd Construction Regiment 205th Field Artillery Battalion C Det USN Port Svc /1 Defending units: 62nd Naval Guard Unit 67th Naval Guard Unit 61st Infantry Group Guards Mixed Brigade 63rd Naval Guard Unit 64th Naval Guard Unit 65th Naval Guard Unit 48th Engr Rgt /1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 3636 troops, 28 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 191 Defending force 268 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 10 Allied adjusted assault: 37 Japanese adjusted defense: 3 Allied assault odds: 12 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), leaders(-), disruption(-) preparation(-) Attacker: op mode(-) Japanese ground losses: 28 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 19th Australian Battalion 1st Motor Brigade 3rd Motor Brigade 2/10th Armoured Regiment 754th Tank Bn /1 Defending units: 1st Indpt SNLF Coy Training, training, training. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 86,42 Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 24743 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 956 Defending force 30688 troops, 254 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 1079 Allied ground losses: 13 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 15th Chinese Corps 5th New Chinese Corps 27th Chinese Corps 9th Chinese Corps 93rd Chinese Corps 43rd Chinese Corps 8th New Chinese Corps 14th Group Army 15th Group Army Defending units: 35th Division 3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade 11th Division -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 90,40 Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 36057 troops, 283 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1016 Defending force 25822 troops, 212 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 934 Allied adjusted assault: 458 Japanese adjusted defense: 5008 Allied assault odds: 1 to 10 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 551 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 44 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 32 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Allied ground losses: 2864 casualties reported Squads: 71 destroyed, 126 disabled Non Combat: 84 destroyed, 138 disabled Engineers: 5 destroyed, 7 disabled Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units destroyed 1 Ouch, this time I got spanked. I lost 10 days worth of Chinese replacements right here. Time for this force to retreat. Assaulting units: 22nd Chinese Corps 19th Chinese Corps 42nd Chinese Corps 35th Chinese Corps 16th Chinese Corps 4th Chinese Cavalry Corps 23rd Chinese Corps 3rd Prov Chinese Corps 2nd War Area 6th Group Army 13th Group Army 18th Group Army Defending units: 14th Division 11th Indpt Infantry Regiment 4th Ind.Mixed Brigade 12th Indpt Infantry Regiment 102nd NCPC Route Brigade -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Nanchang (85,54) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 30127 troops, 114 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256 Defending force 5863 troops, 46 guns, 89 vehicles, Assault Value = 162 Allied adjusted assault: 594 Japanese adjusted defense: 163 Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 4) Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3 Combat modifiers Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-) Attacker: leaders(-) Japanese ground losses: 413 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 28 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 51 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Vehicles lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled) Allied ground losses: 205 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Well, this is another Japanese-held city which has fallen to my troops and another portion of a division which I may just be able to maul before it can get away. Assaulting units: 99th Chinese Corps 70th Chinese Corps 100th Chinese Corps Defending units: 22nd/B Division 17th JAAF Base Force Tomorrow I'll send a CL TF into either Singkawang or Singapore ( depending on where I think I can get the biggest payback based on today's recon flights ) and will try to get the Minneapolis TF and the APDs back home. Apart from that I'll just continue exploiting into China, building the encirclement and bringing the shipping into position for the Malaysian venture. I also want to check what the exchange rate was like over Palembang so I know precisely how long I can afford it for.

Walloc -> RE: Another bloody day for the USN and IJN. (8/13/2010 4:37:39 PM)
Once I hit May 1942 I get about 36 Hurricanes and 36 x P38s per month. That changes my first-rate fighter replacement rate from about 60 per month to about 110 per month ( cause I think I lose some early Hurricane replacements ). That pretty much doubles my ability to sustain attrition and since those 36 Hurris are armed with 4 x 20mm cannon each that means no more damaged IJAAF planes. Hits will be kills, which will help tremendously. Just a heads up. Note that u only get 24 P38Es. The replacement dates are only for May as the end date is May 42. IIRC u start to get 40 P38F in 8/42 but only for that and the following month then u go down to 20 P38Gs a month, until 6/43 IIRC. 8/42 or 9/42 depending on how u view it, is the date u really start to get any US Army figthers in force. As u get 65 P40Ks from 9/42 and for 1 month IIRC even along side the 35 P40Es. Along with P-38 and P-39Ds. U get some planes with arriving squadrons too ofc. Kind regards, Rasmus

Q-Ball -> RE: Another bloody day for the USN and IJN. (8/13/2010 6:07:02 PM)
This game is very interesting, and I think Nemo's fortress Sumatra approach is a good one, and really hurting his opponent. 1EyedJacks though is making piles of mistakes, both tactical and strategic. The Japanese at this stage should be able to make fighter attrition work to their advantage (because IJN/IJA fighters can be replaced, Allied replacements have limits). There is no way the Japanese shouldn't have a Betty umbrella over the whole SRA by now, putting a torpedo into anything that floats. But all along, I think Nemo has devised good traps, but 1EyedJacks has obliged by walking right into all of them. Anything that an Allied players pushes forward into your rear in early 1942 should be an opportunity to bypass and leave for later. A Betty base at Den Passar, Koepang, and a couple other spots, and any troops on Talaud Island may as well be on the moon for all the good they are going to do Nemo. But, as long as 1EyedJacks allows uninterrupted supply lines into his rear, Nemo will keep taking advantage of that and make him pay. He needs to assert control of the Seas in the SRA, until he does that, he'll go nowhere, even though he has plenty of strength to do so. And once you have control of the ocean, everything on land will eventually fall into your pocket, no matter how many troops are there. Hate to say all that about 1EyedJacks, he's a good sport and probably will get alot better after this game, just hasn't the experience others have. It would be interesting Nemo for you to play an experienced opponent and see how much you can disrupt the game. Maybe you have, I just haven't seen an AAR on that

Capt. Harlock -> RE: Another bloody day for the USN and IJN. (8/14/2010 5:10:41 AM)
quote: Hmm, I have a new radar-equipped CL force at Palembang. I think it may just visit Singkawang tomorrow. It looks like there will be rich pickings at Singapore ( as the convoy with all the damaged AKs attempts to dock there ) and at Singkawang - as this heavily escorted convoy attempts to do whatever it is doing ). That should be fun to see -- you're already getting remarkable results from Marblehead when you consider 60% of her main guns are casemated instead of turreted. (You mentioned training your admirals to "cross the T" and it indeed seems to have paid off.)

Nemo121 -> RE: Another bloody day for the USN and IJN. (8/14/2010 4:18:05 PM)
Q-Ball, Well, I think that while your assessment is right we need to look at why what is happening is happening. E.g. Let us agree that 1EyedJacks is making errors in terms of strategy in terms of not simply choosing a single portion of the front and committing an overwhelming force there in order to gain the superiority necessary to impose his will. The question which I think is needed to be asked to determine what that means about his ability is WHY he isn't doing that. I would argue that a poor player would fail to impose himself because he doesn't realise that he has that capability or doesn't recognise the benefits which accrue from that. I think 1EyedJacks recognises the capability and the benefits but I think that he has found himself manoeuvred into a situation in which he just doesn't have the free mental reserve ( which I'll define as thought cycles which are not committed to any other thoughts - kinda analogous to CPU cycles ) to devote himself to a root and branch strategic re-evaluation which, I think, would be necessary to get himself going again. I've done my best to create and further enhance this situation and he has fallen into that trap. As such he is now reacting operationally and tactically and not really strategically and that is, IMO, costing him the strategic initiative and the ability to push his strategic goals ( which he does have ). I think that throughout history whenever commanders have found their OODA cycles to be overwhelmed they often enter into one of two states: 1. The first I like to call "paralysis by over-analysis" in which they continue to believe that if they can just speed up their analysis they'll eventually catch up. Unfortunately they are usually so far behind that they just are analysing the wrong data with an incorrect/outdated mental context and thus they fall farther and farther behind. 2. The second is a state in which they are so overwhelmed by one layer that they simply stop functioning within that layer and usually drop down a level or two and try to "win" through being able to cope well at that level. You can see that at Leuctra, Cannae, Tannenberg etc where commanders pretty much gave up the ghost of the strategic picture and started trying to win the operational/tactical levels of things while the strategic picture kept getting so much worse that no amount of lower-level success was actually going to make a difference. So, I think it is easy, once you overwhelm someone's OODA cycle for them to look bad in real life and in-game but I would always seek to remind people that being able to be overwhelmed within the OODA cycle isn't something which can only happen to poor players. It can happen to anyone and once it happens and brain freeze steps in it is easy to continue making poor choices long after people outside of the situation ( and unaffected by the OODA cycle ) can clearly see what has happened and what has to be done. E.g At Cannae the situation was NOT irretrievable at all. The Romans simply had to marshall their auxiliaries better, refuse their flanks with their rear-most cohorts and deploy their light troops ( who had retreated from the front and were sitting behind their cohorts ) such that they screend the rear of the army. In reality the Romans DID actually break the Carthaginian line ( a local, tactical success.... and incidentally this occurred at the point where one of the two Roman commanders decided to move forward to urge his troops on when he saw the battle at the flanks going badly and got overwhelmed ( he was a 2nd-stater in the terms I defined above ) - which is something most people forget - and merely lost that battle because no-one took the strategic-layer decisions necessary to stave off the defeat that the Barca brothers were about to inflict at that strategic layer. It is easy to look at the Roman commanders there and think they were crap but, really, they were pretty decent and just got overwhelmed by something outside of their understanding at the time. They fell back on their SOP and DID achieve what always won them battles in the past. The Barcas had just made that breakthrough an irrelevance in that particular battle. We can all see what happened and what should have occurred as a counter now but OODA games aren't aimed at defeating the OODA cycles of dispassionate onlookers. They are aimed at overwhelming the OPFOR CO's processing ability and I think that the OPFOR's conduct has to be viewed within that context. So, bottom line, I think it is easy to look bad to onlookers when you've been Boyded but I think that we all have to remember we can all be Boyded. I have a lot of sympathy for people who get overwhelmed on the OODA side of things. It has almost happened to me a few times. I think the difference is that since I'm aware of the potential I mentally do an objective check of whether I'm getting too drawn in to low-level concerns from time to time and if it is beginning to happen I pull back. If you're not used to doing that then I think it can be almost impossible to avoid, particularly against someone whose primary strategic focus is to make that happen to you. As to the Netties: Well he has tried. He has tried many times and that's one of the reasons he has lost about 400 Netties in the past 4 months. Every time he extends their range beyond 5 or 6 hexes I set an LRCAP trap or CAP trap and shoot down 15 to 20 Netties in a day. If he did extend his Netty range to 20 hexes now I have no doubt I'd shoot down upwards of 100 Netties the next day. I think that in the current game system where all one can do is set a circular range it is pretty much impossible for him to establish a Netty umbrella over the DEI so long as I hold Palembang and base 200 fighters there. He MUST clear Palembang in order to establish his Netty umbrella and I'm just not certain he is willing to lose the 400 to 500 fighters that clearing Palembang would require ( since I have fighter reserves nearby and he has to figure I'd commit them to keeping Palembang secure... I wouldn't but he doesn't know that. I'm quite happy to abandon Palembang and leave it to his bombers as my FlAK there will down 1/3rd to 1/2 of all bombers he commits to medium-level ( 6,000 feet to 12,000 feet ) raids. The only reason I have CAP there at the moment is in order to protect my CL-TFs and if need be I'll abandon those raids for a little while and base the CL TFs at Oosthaven instead. As to walking into traps. Somewhat agreed. AARs by their nature tend to only list the traps which work. Many times traps I've considered are not feasible because of precautions he has taken. When they are feasible you read about it in the AAR. When they aren't I don't mention it since otherwise I'd have to type 3 times as much ;-). His rear: I'm not in his rear... Marcus, Marshalls, Midway, the Aleutians and Talaud were the front line. Even Malaysia is the front line. I'm merely pushing my outpost line forward really and battering back his outpost line. I don't have the strength to push into his rear or push back his main defences yet. Even with Mindanao I'm only able to land there because I already have 500 AV holding Cagayan and so have safe bases to race transports into. As to the bases you mentioned... I'm not really so sure. I've chosen my bases with a view to ensuring that my faster transports can hop from one base to the next within a day. This means that to get at my transports he has to send Netties into my base hexes where my CAP can butcher them ( which is favourable to me ) OR he has to send SC TFs into my base hexes to fight my SC TFs ( which again results in favourable attrition to me ) OR he has to commit KB to the region to prevent further advances ( which again is favourable to me as it allows me to move forward and launch invasions in other theatres ). I truly don't think his choices are as simple as setting up some Netty bases and sweeping all before him. If it were that simple he'd have done it. He is not a bad player at all BUT none of the options he has are good. Pretty much everything he can think of is something which works in my favour. Initially he tried those things anyway and learnt that I was happy for them to happen since either in terms of attrition or strategically or manoeuvristically they worked in my favour and I wouldn't have given him the opportunity to try them unless they were things I wanted him to do --- caveat: I do, obviously, still make huge mistakes from time to time just like anyone else but I'm talking here about times when I'm sending forces into regions on purpose and not just cause I mis-clicked or something silly ;-) ). As to playing an experienced opponent. Well, again, I think it is easy for experienced opponents to look bad when their OODA cycles get overwhelmed and I wouldn't view being overwhelmed in terms of one's OODA cycle to place someone as being a poor or even average opponent. I think only the best people could avoid being Boyded in terms of their OODA cycle. But does that mean you aren't an above average player? No, I don't think so. In other simluations, including some which are used for training by various militaries I had the opportunity to play professional soldiers ( mostly Sergreants, Captains and Majors ( few lieutenants for some reason) and a few Lieutenant Colonels) and I've found that everyone's susceptible to OODA cycles. Some handled it better than others but I think everyone, me included, is susceptible. I think that's one of the great benefits to the Soviet style of warfare really. It imposes a huge OODA burden on one's opponents while minimising it on one's own officers. I think that some of the mindlessness with which it can be applied is certainly a huge problem but that sort of planning with a bit of leeway can, I think, be very effective. I really do think though that once someone gets overwhelmed in terms of OODA ( which can happen to anyone ) then it can be easy to see what they should do but can be very difficult to see or do that if you were in their shoes and I think that needs to be borne in mind whenever judging anyone's play - against me or anyone else. I like to think though that 1EyedJacks is enjoying the game ( I think he is ) and is learning a few lessons from it. I know I am. I will also say that he's been a good opponent and a nice guy which, to be fair, is hugely important. There are people on this forum I simply wouldn't play because I know I wouldn't enjoy their email communication and for a game like AE I wouldn't commit to a game with someone I thought would be a braggart or otherwise unpleasant to play. LOL Harlock!!!!, Really? I had no idea about that. A CL is a CL is a CL after all unless it is something like one of those IJN long-lance conversions. Ok, well I'll expect better things from the 4 CLs and a CA I should have operating out of there after tomorrow then ;[8D] In today's turn the IJAAF lost 21 Oscars over Palembang and the Allies lost about 20 fighters. I'm going to keep the cover for one last series of strikes and then I'll consider pulling it back. This shouldn't take more than 3 days. In other news since I'm prepping for an air offensive myself now I've begun really reconning Singkawang and Singers properly. I have 3 recon units online and 2 are reconning Singers with 1 reconning Singkawang. Whenever I do strike I should have a very high DL and excellent results. I've, belatedly, done my comb-through of training squadrons and brought the total number of 70+ A2A skill pilots in my general reserve to 84. Next month should see me graduating the first few >70 skill naval and ground attack pilots. My front-line squadrons are a mix of 70+ A2A skill pilots and others in the 60 to 69 skill range. I am leaving them in there to either improve or die in place as it is just too much of a headache to rotate them into the general reserve and then from there into a CONUSA training squadron. I've also spent 300 PP upgrading all of my fighter and bomber squadron COs in the northern DEI to the skill mixes I want. My dive-bombers have high naval skill leaders, my fighter pilots have high aggression and aerial combat skill leaders, my B-17s have high ground skill leaders and my torpedo bomber units have high naval skill leaders. I've also moved my premier RAF squadron ( the 232nd ) into Palembang. It has 37 kills in return for about 3 planes shot down and so I'm interested to see how it does. I've also upgraded two USN fighter squadrons to F4F-4s at Oosthaven and am sending them to Palembang for some live-fire training. I've also, truthfully, told Mike that I intend to engage in rotation by nationality and arm of service. Today the USN enters the fray with the British Royal Navy squadrons, tomorrow I'll bring in Dutch fighter squadrons and then the day after that it'll be the turn of fresh USAAF fighter squadrons. I haven't told him that I won't continue the rotation endlessly though. That would be a little much. It is a good opportunity for me to assess which squadrons can survive in the air vs Oscars and thus which planes I should base at Djambi when it comes time to sweep Singers before my big port attack at the end of the month.

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