19th to 21st April 1942 (Full Version)

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yubari -> 19th to 21st April 1942 (9/19/2010 11:59:05 AM)

Hi witpqs. I am not certain if that would work, I have seen Allied fighters be shot at by flak but never Japanese fighters.

Hawaii.
The big news is the SS Pollack putting a good torpedo into the Junyo. There was no damage reported in the replay, these are tough ships with a durability over 80 but the mini KB seemed to disappear the following turn. The main KB has been unsighted for over two weeks and hence could be almost anywhere on the map. They could also be in port but I doubt that.

Japan tried a third Pearl Harbour strike with 70 Kates but failed to get even one hit on the two US battleships still there and now in shipyard repair. Are ships in the shipyard invulnerable to air launched torpedo attack? Also, not a single plane was shot down, what is wrong with my flak there?

The Japanese now have complete control over the air over Pearl Harbour and I am trying to evacuate my fighters to the South Pacific and eventually Australia. Unfortunately I ran into a problem at Christmas Island where the island is now in yellow supply and so the P-40Es are now stuck there, I am trying to run in a transport TF with supply but it will be a couple of days.

I am continuing the night attacks on Kona but the numbers of bombers is now significantly reduced due to the Japanese bombing of Pearl and Lahaina. In the latest turn, two Zeroes were shot down, hopefully taking their pilots with them. I can spot more units preparing for Pearl Harbour, I hope that FatR does try to launch this attack.

India.
FatR has run large Oscar sweeps over Calcutta for two consecutive turns and I am not trying to engage them, my Hurricanes are moving to Ceylon in the expectation of the main KB turning up here again. With only ten days left for the invasion bonus, any Indian invasion will have to be launched very quickly. I think this probability is now very low indeed.

Australia.
Poor recon by FatR again as I have managed to sneak three xAKs into Darwin, they have so far unloaded 1500 supplies and are still, I think unspotted. Any Japanese invasion of Darwin will now have to be a very large force indeed.
On the east coast, supply has finally moved from Cooktown to Coen and Portland Roads, after about two weeks of trying to get it to move. Engineers are now at Coen and building forts, I want to get a small airfield to cover any potential Horn Island invasion force.

DEI.
An infantry regiment is landed and Bandjermasin and so it will fall in the next day or two.
Malang is back to level 2 forts but there are more Japanese units spotted approaching. This siege should at least keep the Japanese units occupied until the start of May.

China.
The huge Japanese stack is now two hexes along the mountain road, and the arrow shows it to be moving further. I will reveal my Hong Kong attack if the stack gets to the third hex. I will also launch a diversionary attack towards either Nanchang or Hankow, recon shows there to be only a couple of units at each.



witpqs -> RE: 19th to 21st April 1942 (9/19/2010 12:19:29 PM)

AFAIK ships in shipyard can be hit by torpedoes, I think an AAR had one a few days ago. It's just a limitation of the game engine that torpedoes can penetrate dry dock. A very small matter in the scheme of things. [:)]



yubari -> 22nd to 24th April 1942 (9/21/2010 4:17:50 PM)

Interesting WITPQS. You are right though, it doesnt matter that they can be hit by torpedoes in dry dock, Bettys planted a couple of 800kgers on both of them so they are now in even worse condition.

Hawaii.
The mini KB disappears for the turn of the 22nd but there are more carriers spotted based at Kona for the 23rd. Recon shows 4 CVs and a CVL and about 350 planes so this could be the main KB, my best guess is that Junyo is heading back to Kwajalein, and then Japan for repairs, but has the mini KB gone with it? FatR tells me that it is the same mini KB in Hawaii, I shall send a couple of small PT boat squadrons to try to gather this crucial information. Japanese Betty bombers attack Pearl Harbour and the Nevada and Arizona are both hit by 800kg bombs. System damage increases significantly and they now face an imminent death.
On land, Japan lands 8 small units at Lihue, the biggest an Infantry Regiment. With only 30AV and no forts, the island will fall tomorrow.

China.
Japan looks to be moving its main stack, about 3500 AV further along the mountain road, and so my troops are just about ready to start the move towards Hong Kong. I have about 5000AV in this stack and expect to be facing no more than 150AV at Hong Kong. I will however be facing hundreds of IJA bombers who will be attacking every day and hence my troops will be slowed down to combat mode, they should be arriving in Hong Kong on about the 10th May.
Hopefully this will be a situation where FatRs super-aggressive play counts against him; I dont think that there is any Japanese strategic reserve in China and so am able to perform a large offensive here in the south against a crucial city.

Australia.
The transports at Darwin are still unspotted and should be able to unload their full load of supply, some 9000 worth. I regret not sending a much larger force now. Large numbers of Australian units are now moving to strategic mode to move to Alice Springs and then the long march towards Darwin; by June, that crucial town should be completely safe.

On the east coast, I am moving the remnants of the B-17 force towards Noumea and then later to Townsville. The Australian bomber force is to be moved to Cairns, along with most of the Australian fighters and one part of the AVG. The Dutch cruisers are moving north to be joined by a couple of US cruisers which earlier fought at Johnston Island. If I can shut down Port Moresby for a couple of days, then it should be relatively easy to take Horn Island and hence open a crucial second front to distract attention from Pearl Harbour. FatR has spotted both of these task forces so has to know that something is up.



yubari -> 25th to 27th April 1942 (9/25/2010 9:14:02 AM)

Hawaii.
Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour continues and recon now shows over 600 planes at Kona. All of the Japanese carriers have disappeared from the immediate environs of Pearl Harbour and a dive bomber was spotted by a submarine near Maloelap. With only three days left, will FatR be launching a final attack against Lahaina? If he doesnt then I will be able to regain control of the air over Pearl Harbour hopefully in late 1942.
At Hilo, 1537AV of Japanese troops attack 351 AV allied and take the forts down to 2.

China.
My stack of units marching towards Nanchang has attracted FatRs atention, and there are large numbers of aircraft attacking. The real attack, 5800AV of troops is now three hexes away from Hong Kong and at current speed will arrive on about the 6th of May. So far, it remains completely unattacked.

DEI.
A Japanese attack on Malang fails to take down the level 1 forts, and the Japanese suffer nearly twice the number of casualties. The Japanese will need to bring in at least one more division if they want to finish this siege quickly, just under 11000 tons of supply remain and current usage is about 1000 per day and forts are now back at level 2.

Australia.
The transport fleet at Darwin is finally spotted and sunk by Betties, but they have managed to unload all of their supplies. With just a couple of days of the invasion bonus left, I think that the city is now safe. 500AV of troops soon to arrive at Alice Springs should ensure that.
On the east coast, a cruiser task force is spotted nine hexes away from Port Moresby, I had hoped to be able to get a surprise bombardment but will withdraw them instead.

India.
With no sign of any invasion force, I have to assume that there will be no invasion of India or Ceylon. There are still nearly 300 merchant ships at Singapore however, this just must be false recon information. I notice that there are no Japanese submarines in the area, and FatR withdrew all of his subs from Hawaii before the attack there.

AA Guns.
I had noticed how feeble my AA guns at Pearl Harbour were, performing far worse than they did on the 7th of December. The two large AA units there were both rated as having a flak value of 16, but this turn that suddenly increased to 96 for one, and 128 for the other. Similar increases have happened to all of my other flak units, and the value corresponds to the number of flak guns that unit has. What on earth is going on?



yubari -> 28th April 1942 (9/26/2010 9:38:50 AM)

Hawaii.
The mystery of the disappearance of the Japanese carriers is solved, 6 Kates spot a large allied convoy carrying a regiment of marines and a small paratroop unit from the West Coast to Australia. I am very fortunate in that only 6 Kates manage to attack, scoring 4 bomb hits on an AK ship. The other ships in the convoy, all of which can make 10 hexes a turn are ordered to scatter to all different compass points. As you can see in the picture, those carriers are a long way west, but unfortunately the US Navy is way out of position. It is good to see the Japanese continuing to burn up fuel points.
A deliberate attack pushes the Hilo forts down to 1, the base looks set to fall in the next couple of days.

DEI.
FatR is now mopping up the smaller bases of the DEI and Philippines. Denpasar is invaded and Cebu is under attack, the last base with allied troops in the Philippines.
Battleship Mutsu is spotted by submarine in the Straits of Malacca, could it be there as lure to get me to attack with the Royal Navy again, with hundreds of Bettys in range? I shall not try to attack it anyway. More Japanese troops are landing on Sumatra, the Dutch control just Langsa and Sabang.

China.
The Hong Kong force is still unattacked by Japanese bombers and so very fast progress is being made towards Hong Kong, now less than 70 miles away. Latest recon shows 9 units and 12000 men at Canton, and just 3 units at Hong Kong, I guess about 150AV.
FatR is continuing his attack in the north of the country, the 19 unit strong stack is now 4 hexes along the mountain trail, a long long way from the rail network. Sian has 9000AV but is low on supply, I hope that it is hard for the Japanese to run supply over mountain tracks such a distance.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/8FC1F8ECE49C4D129A812E9BC34178C3.jpg[/image]



yubari -> 29th April to 2nd May 1942 (9/28/2010 10:30:27 PM)

Invasion Bonus.
A joyful day for any allied player, as the invasion bonus has finally expired at the start of May.

Hawaii.
There are still large numbers of Japanese surface ships at Hawaii including the Yamato, mostly based at Kona, behind a huge CAP that I have no chance of getting through. Recon reported 617 planes at Kona on the latest turn.

The Kido Butai Happy Sunshine Tour Spring 1942.
The Kido Butai continues its tour of the South Pacific in early May 1942 scoring a meagre haul of a few small and slow Dutch xAPs. The faster ships were all able to escape. In total, I have lost about 70AV of troops that were loaded on the transports, but parts of both of the units have escaped and so they will not be lost permanently. Latest recon shows the mini KB 3 hexes south of Palmyra with 260 planes and the main KB 6 hexes further south with 474 planes. Given the number of planes, I wonder if the Junyo and Akagi did indeed return to Japan for repairs after their torpedo hits. Indeed, were the hits even real at all?

China.
The AVG fights a large battle against the Japanese over the troops moving near Canton. First come 10 sweeping Oscars who gain a 10 to 1 victory against the P-40Es despite being considerably outnumbered. Then come the bombers, mostly unescorted. 14 Sallies, 8 Kates and 8 Sonias are shot down; that is about the fourth or fifth time that that Kate squadron that starts in China has been shot down to the plane! Then, two turns later it attacks again with another 8 planes, Zombies I tells ya, no matter how many I shoot down they are back in similar or greater numbers a turn or two later! Chinese troops progress further and have now crossed the river near Canton. The first units should be arriving in Hong Kong the next turn and Canton in three turns. More units are spotted unloading at Hong Kong.

The fighting near Canton shows that P-40s are utterly outclassed, even by the Oscars and so I shall keep them out of front line fighting as much as possible in the future.

DEI.
The Mutsu stays at the same hex for a couple of days, surrounded by Dutch subs it is a tempting target but it retreats back to Singapore for the 1st May. More ground units are moving towards Langsa so it seems likely that the ship was merely providing very heavy cover for transport fleets.

Australia.
The Dutch light cruisers De Ruyter and Sumatra bombard Port Moresby, but do absolutely no damage at all. Of the 60 or so bombers I have stationed at, a grand total of zero decide to fly their ordered missions against Horn Island, probably down to the size of the airfields. Engineers are now stationed at all of the bases on the East coast but it is taking a long time to build even small airfields.
In the afternoon phase, Bettys and Oscars attack the Dutch force, now at Cooktown. 6 Betties, 3 Oscars and 6 allied figthers are shot down and the De Ruyter takes one torpedo, flooding damage is at 71 percent.

A Game?
So here we are at the 2nd May, the Japanese invasion bonus has ended and I am fairly pleased about how things have gone so far. Although a number of cruisers have been lost, there has only been one capital ship sunk so far (West Virginia on the second turn) and the US carrier fleet is in fine shape, or at least as good as it can be in May 1942.
Japanese losses, particularly in the air have been very heavy and I think that the Japanese economy will be struggling due to the massive amount of Japanese production that must be going on, and the amount of action that the IJN has performed. If I was to guess, I would be surprised if Japan could get to 1944 without severe problems.

Given that I think that most or all of the Japanese carriers are located in the South Pacific, suppose that the allies were to launch a major invasion in the next few days, where would you land?

Here is a map of the Pacific, with Japanese controlled areas marked by the red line. Basically the historic conquests minus small parts of the DEI, and plus Midway, Johnston and half of Hawaii.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/42B9944AE75C483996B933B071029F65.jpg[/image]



yubari -> 3rd and 4th May 1942 (9/30/2010 9:07:35 AM)

Port Blair.
Here is the target of my invasion, 1300AV to land at Port Blair, 1000AV at Little Andaman plus a small force for Cap Nicobar. Although it has been planned since February, this invasion has been put together in super quick time, basically in the last week since the KB was spotted in the South Pacific and so transport shipping is very short; I had to leave a whole British Divsion and air base unit at Madras and aircover is at best limited, Illustrious is still around a week away from Columbo. Nevertheless I felt that I had to launch it now with all of the enemy carriers so far away. The invasion fleet was spotted today and so tomorrow could end up being a total disaster.
Enemy forces are minimal, 1 unit at Port Blair which is I think a small paratroop unit. I hope that I will be able to land my forces at Little Andaman relatively easily, it is a 0 port hex and so could prove very slow indeed.

Strategic plans.
This invasion gives me I hope the best opportunity to
i. Provide a base from which to launch further invasions in 1943
ii. Try to attrit the IJAAF at relatively long range
iii. Provide a difficult place for the IJN to attack, the route between Singapore and Port Blair is narrow and easily flooded by submarines
iv. Provide a difficult decision for FatR; React to this invasion and allow the USN to destroy the Japanese bases so hard fought for in Hawaii, or ignore this landing and let me land either in Burma, Sumatra or Malaya later on, or split the fleet and allow me to defeat one half of it.

My plans for the rest of 1942 are three-fold. Try to fight a carrier battle in neutral or friendly waters. Take and hold onto Port Blair and the surroundings. Eliminate Japanese airpower in Hawaii, with a massive garrison (at least 30 units) now on the main island and two smaller islands also occupied, actual reconquest could prove an extremely difficult battle.

Plan for Hawaii.
This is the reason for why I somewhat held back my punches in Hawaii, my plan was to keep the KB locked there for a couple of months while the British would make this invasion in mid to late June. In the end, due to FatRs courageous play, the battle of Hawaii was won by the Japanese very quickly indeed.
It will be up to the USN to regain control of Hawaiian airspace. If the Japanese try to retake Port Blair then I shall try to do this in July or August 1942. Otherwise I shall probably wait until winter 1942, when I should have a few more P-38s, P-40Ks and heavy bombers.

China.
Chinese troops have entered Hong Kong, there are 570 Japanese AV against an eventual total of 5300 Chinese AV. Sigint spots more troops en route on transport and 2 small light cruisers have been bombarding so I know that FatR is worried. Chinese troops have also entered Canton, and another small unit is 1 day away from taking the final hex side, and hence removing supply. I was disappointed to see such a large Japanese force in Hong Kong, I dont think that I can take the base but I have at least gained a good deal of control over the south of the country and can hold Hong Kong and Canton as urban hexes very easily.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/9616A31BA1B64A1EAD86738674B56B89.jpg[/image]



vettim89 -> RE: 3rd and 4th May 1942 (9/30/2010 11:56:52 PM)

Considering how dark things seemed when he invaded Hawaii, you are doing quite well.

I do not know this mod that well. I know the Japanese get all sort of goodies from accelerated and better CV's to better aircraft. Do the Allies get anything in return? Maybe a few Essex class CV's arrive a little early?



bigred -> RE: 3rd and 4th May 1942 (10/1/2010 1:11:04 AM)

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2452466

Senario 70



yubari -> 5th May 1942 (10/1/2010 4:18:34 PM)

Vettim, the allies dont get any extra ships in this version, but they get a brigade starting in the South Pacific with the latest version. I dont think any of the Essex arrival times have been changed in this, I think that the first arrives in mid May 1943 and then a couple more in July 1943. I haven't played allies at all before so don't know if this is normal.

Port Blair.
The invasion is underway and has gone far better than I had hoped it would. Around 40 Betty and Nells attack, 8 or so are shot down but they all attack with bombs and only 1 small 60kg bomb hit is scored, on a British xAK. Due to the terrible shortage of transport ships unloading has progressed slowly, only 300AV is unloaded at Port Blair and a further 80AV at Little Andaman, it looks like it will take 10 days or so to unload fully. That is of course 10 days that I have got as I know that most of the IJN is far away in the Pacific.
FatR has based planes at Port Blair and so I will be bombarding with the Royal Navy tonight in an effort to destroy as many as possible. I didn't want to do this as I wanted to take the small airfield intact to base the British Hurricanes there the next day for some much needed CAP. Some Topsys are intercepted and these have presumably been flying a base force unit in. I expect FatR to throw everything in to try to stop this attack tomorrow, hundreds of planes flying in ground attack. Hopefully the thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow will materialise, the Royal Navy fighter force is now down to just 28 operational planes.

Hawaii.
Flak manages to shoot down a Betty flying at 6000 feet at Pearl Harbour. Nevada and Arizona take more bomb hits, even if they are not sunk, they will not be taking any further part in the war, scheduled repair time is up to 700 days.

China.
Canton has now been completely surrounded and most of the Chinese army is now in Hong Kong. The battleships Nagato and Mutsu bombard there, it is good to know that they will not be interfering at Port Blair. It is noticeable that there is not a single bomber attack the whole day in China, presumably the entire IJAAF has moved to enable attacks against my troops at Port Blair.

Australia.
The De Ruyter, torpedoed after bombarding Port Moresby is making good progress towards safety.

Japanese carriers.
They have disappeared again into the Pacfic, my best guess is that they have moved towards Johnston Island.



witpqs -> RE: 5th May 1942 (10/1/2010 10:35:10 PM)

Amphibious unloading rates (not at a friendly base):

xAP/xAK = 250 points per day
AP/AK = 600 points per day
APA/AKA = 3000 points per day



yubari -> 6th and 8th May 1942 (10/5/2010 10:41:45 PM)

Ah, very useful WITPQS. You don't happen to know where I could find some APAs in early 1942 do you? [:)]

Editing campaigns.
FatR has discovered a way to edit the database files and the Japanese fighters have been moved back to the speeds from the stock game. Unfortunately this has also caused havoc with the US battleships, see the picture for an example. The game will be on hold for a few days until this issue is resolved.

Meanwhile, back to the war.

Port Blair.
Not a good couple of days here. My recon on the airfield at Port Blair was wrong, the airfield was empty and so my bombarding battleships caused an awful lot of damage to a now British controlled airfield, Port Blair falling to a shock attack on the 6th. On the 7th, the so far unloaded engineers do a very good repair job, completely repairing the runway and so Hurricanes will be brought in for the 8th May turn.
Nearly as bad is a pesky Japanese submarine scoring two torpedo hits on the CVL Hermes. With 23 system damage and 75 flotation damage, she will certainly sink if hit again.

On the 7th, Oscars sweep the base at Chittagong and come off distinctly second best. Next comes a unit of Marys that is shot down to the plane, it will be two turns until I see them in action again. Total losses for the day are 24 Oscars, 8 Marys and a Tojo for 9 Hurricanes and 3 Buffaloes.

I made what could have been a critical mistake here which could have doomed the whole Port Blair/Andaman campaign. In an effort to achieve surprise at Port Blair, I didn't do any prior recon on the base, recon that would have shown the Japanese planes already based there and information that I would have used not to have bombarded the airfield. Fortunately, FatR has paid very little attention to the invasion force so far, there have been no attacks at all in the last two days.

Hawaii.
In my excitement at the shooting down of a plane by flak, I forgot to mention that Hilo fell last turn. Cadres from most of the units were evacuated and more than 5000 Japanese casualties were caused on the final shock attack, with 200 squads destroyed. A large task force bombards Lahaina this turn, including the Yamato and three heavy cruisers. Almost no damage is done, possibly due to the level 5 forts? Then a submarine scores an exploding torpedo hit against the Mogami leaving it with heavy damage. Way down in the south Pacific, near the edge of the map a transport fleet reacts away from an unspotted surface combat fleet. I have a CA and 4DDs in a surface combat task force escorting but do not want to take any risks here, these ships will head towards the Falkland Islands tomorrow. More Japanese fuel being burned.

China.
The Japanese airforce is back, bombing troops at Hong Kong. For the moment I am glad to see these bombers here rather than in the more important battle at Port Blair. Mutsu and Nagato are also daily bombarding but are doing little damage against troops in an urban hex.
Will having troops in the hexes stop resource and industrial production at Canton and Hong Kong?

Australia.
Those Japanese submarines are back again, scoring three hits on the CL Sumatra and sinking it one hex away from Sydney. Grrrrr.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/1E4F61C354C743858573D91953FF715B.jpg[/image]



Alfred -> RE: 6th and 8th May 1942 (10/6/2010 2:00:16 AM)

The presence of your troops at Canton and Hong Kong will stop the production of raw materials (= resources) but not industrial production. The local heavy/light industry will continue to produce supply as long as a stockpile of resources remains to feed the industry.

Alfred



yubari -> 8th May 1942 (10/12/2010 11:19:17 PM)

Thanks Alfred.

Upgrades.
After a lot of trying, we have been unable to edit the campaign to slow down the Japanese fighters without also wrcking the upgrade path for the US battleships. We will continue as before with the house rule that the Japanese cannot use the A6M5 and A6M8 before the dates that they become available in stock.

Hawaii.
The Japanese are continuing to attack the defenceless allied airfields at Pearl Harbour and Lahaina. Flak managed to shoot down 1 Sally today and damage another three or four. Recon reports 9 battleships at Kona and over 150 ships at anchor, it looks like there will be an invasion of Lahaina in the reasonably near future.
Over on the West Coast, the Tennessee is torpedoed just outside of San Francisco as it moves for an upgrade to the large shipyard at Alameda. Damage done is minimal, but this is the third successful IJN sub attack against a large warship in the last three days. Curse these ships, they are eating me alive at the moment.

Port Blair.
Unloading is progressing at a very slow pace, the rushed planning of this operation and the consequent lack of transports is really causing a problem. 19000 troops are now unloaded at Port Blair with another 41000 still at sea and 68000 supplies. At Little Andaman, 15000 men are now unloaded and 49000 are still on transports, with 47000 supplies.
My latest estimates are that the troops will be unloaded by the 20th May with the supplies fully unloaded a few days after that. One problem is that the coastal artillery is unable to unload. In an emergency measure, I am sending the Eastern Fleet naval unit with 300 naval support squads to Little Andaman. I think (hope) that my battleships should still be able to replenish at Columbo.

Japanese bombers attack at night destroying 5 fighters on the ground at Port Blair, I really need this base expanded quickly. Suprisingly, there are still no air attacks against my transport fleets.

Australia.
Bettys try a night attack against Katherine destroying 4 planes. With a lot of recon flights over Townsville, I set a couple of fighter units on night CAP to try to catch the Nells that I will expect to attack tonight.

China.
The main Japanese army now lies just one hex away from Sian. They now face a river crossing and then a huge Chinese army, around 7500AV.
Nagato and Mutsu have stopped bombarding at Hong Kong. If they are to move to Port Blair, it will take them about 10 days.

Japanese carriers.
Unspotted for 6 days. I think that the most likely probabilities are in order;
1. Moving to cover a landing at Lahaina, they should be very nearly in position.
2. Moving to Port Blair, they can get there by around the 23rd May
3. Moving further in the South Pacific, if they have enough fuel.



Smeulders -> RE: 8th May 1942 (10/13/2010 12:02:00 AM)

Why are you sending what seems like half the Indian army to those little two Island bases ? I get trying to discourage a counter-invasion, but this just seems excessive.



yubari -> 9th May 1942 (10/14/2010 6:31:59 PM)

Thanks for your comment Smeulders, I particularly welcome critical questioning of my decisions.

Firstly, I would say that these are not merely small bases in the Indian Ocean, both of them can be built up to a level 8 airfield and so later on in the war, they should be able to control a large amount of real estate very close to the strategic resources area, as well as cutting off any convoys to Burma.

Secondly, I was expecting FatR to be far more aggressive in his attacks against my shipping, I expected to lose a lot of transports along with the troops they contained.

Thirdly, I expect(ed) FatR to launch a major campaign to try and retake these islands, and so I had to have enough units there to be able to fight for months. I have seen no evidence yet from sigint that FatR will try to retake these islands. I played a campaign in the old WITP where the allied opponent took these crucial islands but left an insufficient army such that I was able to retake them without trouble.

Finally, there is still around unrestricted 2000AV in Ceylon and the Madras area available for any future landings, and more will be arriving from the US in the next month or two.

Ultimately, only FatR knows if I have indeed over committed to this invasion, and I will find out probably in the next two weeks if there is a counter invasion attempt.

Port Blair.
Unloading progresses well today, and for the first time there are significant supplies at the bases. An overnight bombing attack tries to hit the airfield but does no damage, Hurricanes on night CAP prove ineffective managing to only damage 1 Nell. Both bases should move forts to level 2 in the next turn or two, and Little Andaman will build a level 1 airfield next turn.

China.
There are now 20 Japanese units one hex away from Sian but they looked to be stationary at the moment.

Australia.
FatR continues his night bombing campaign and hits a couple of medium bombers at Cairns. With such terribly low replacement rates, I withdraw these units back towards Sydney, they were only based so far forward in my successful attempt to divert attention away from the Port Blair area.

Hawaii.
Two more battleships bombard Lahaina but do very little damage. I hope that FatR is having to replenish these ships at Kwajalein.



Smeulders -> RE: 9th May 1942 (10/14/2010 6:36:40 PM)

Interesting thoughts, I think about a division and some change per Island would have been enough to seriously delay any counter-attack though. What will happen if he sieges the Islands ? I think the Japanese should be able to take control of the skies over the islands if they work for it, in which case your stacks could get in trouble. Of course, if there are American units arriving in India to take over the defence of the mainland, you can push some more units forward.



topeverest -> RE: 9th May 1942 (10/15/2010 12:47:31 AM)

Yubari,

Not sure I understand the Blair thing.  I struggle to understand the commitment logic.  Also dont understand the 'battle of hawaii lost' concept either.  I think you should reevaluate the state of affairs and how you can affect the outcome.  With KB away, now is the time for a strike and restock...a big strike.  What would James Lawrence or John Paul Jones think!

As far as your BB's in PH.  They aint out'a the war until they are sunk.  Do a readiness critical with them (or pierside critical.)  Once the non major damage is removed, then you can decide to do the major damage in PH or back in USA.  Dont do shipyard repair until all non major damage is repaired.



bigred -> RE: 9th May 1942 (10/15/2010 2:36:20 AM)

quote:

Port Blair.
Unloading is progressing at a very slow pace, the rushed planning of this operation and the consequent lack of transports is really causing a problem. 19000 troops are now unloaded at Port Blair with another 41000 still at sea and 68000 supplies. At Little Andaman, 15000 men are now unloaded and 49000 are still on transports, with 47000 supplies.
My latest estimates are that the troops will be unloaded by the 20th May with the supplies fully unloaded a few days after that. One problem is that the coastal artillery is unable to unload. In an emergency measure, I am sending the Eastern Fleet naval unit with 300 naval support squads to Little Andaman. I think (hope) that my battleships should still be able to replenish at Columbo.



Sounds like 2 divisions. Hope you dont need them on the Burma Road. I put two brigades into Port Blair early before Singers fell in a senario#2 game. Japs will control the air until 43. Your stuff will be out of supply w/ real hard time reloading. With IJ push at Pearl I wonder what the deployment of the 15/25th army is? Do you have the locations of all divisions in these /armies?



yubari -> 10th May 1942 (10/16/2010 10:57:28 AM)

It is funny, I thought that this attack was a strategic masterstroke, but everyone here seems to think that it is at best an irrelavence. It is very interesting to read your comments.

Smeulders, if he tries to siege these islands, then I shall fight him as hard as I can, this would probably be the best opportunity that I can get to fight a Guadalcanal type battle. I am concentrating all of my available fighters over Port Blair and I think I should be able to hold aerial superiority there, at least until the KB arrives.

You are right bigred, it is the British 18th and the Australian 7th at Little Andaman. On Port Blair is the 1st Burma and the Indian 17th, both somewhat understrength. Just starting the move into Cox`s Bazaar are six Indian divisions as well as a couple of armoured brigades. Unrestricted troops still available are three British Brigades, four Indian Brigades, an African Brigade and the Australian 6th, around 1300 AV in total. There is a bit less than 1000AV of US troops to arrive in theatre in the next 5 or 6 weeks. In addition around 300 US planes are also being brought in. My best estimates put 6 or 7 divisions in the Hawaii area, one on Sumatra, one and a bit in Burma and 3 on Java. There are probably at least 2 or 3 more divisions available by now.

Topeverest, unfortunately I will not be able to fight in Hawaii for some considerable time, I simply cannot compete with the improved Zeroes in the mod, in just a couple of days of fighting in April they destroyed a couple of months of replacements for the P-39s and P-40s. Also the US carriers are not in position to fight in Hawaii in the near future. Rest assured that a new offensive is being planned and should be launched in about 6 to 8 weeks time.

Comments.
FatR`s comments with the latest turn.
Not a very nice turn for the Empire. Looks like you've really invested in the Andaman invasion. Sorry for the weak reaction (so far), not a big fan of getting my forces killed piecemeal.
And my reply.
It is a large invasion force for the Port Blair area. No need to apologise for not attacking it so far. I think that I have you in a difficult position now. Ignore the Port Blair invasion and I will be able to take Burma in the next three or four months. Move the KB to fight at Port Blair and I will be able to destroy your airfields in the Hawaiian Islands.

I am not certain how to interpret that latest comment, but I assume that the implicit threat of action inside means that there will be no attack.

Port Blair.
Unloading is now going well, and more than 15000 supplies are unloaded at Port Blair, with another 40000 or so still on ships. At Little Andaman, a level 1 airfield is constructed. With the large number of engineers I have brought, I guess that both of these airfields will be level 5 by the end of the month. Hermes is continuing her slow voyage towards safety, and her flooding level has decreased by 5 points since the torpedo attack. Finally, CV Illustrious is set to arrive at Columbo tomorrow.

DEI
A deliberate attack at Malang takes the forts down to 1, but they are immediately rebuilt. Supplies at the base are now completely run out so the end will come probably in the next three or four attacks.

China.
Japanese troops storm across a river in the Nanyang area and launch a shock attack. Achieving 1 to 1 odds they suffer around twice the number of casualties. My troops need two more turns to get to the relative safety of a rough wooded hex.

Hawaii.
Ise and Fuso bombard Lahaina again doing minimal damage, Ise is hit by a bonucing 1000lb bomb from a Dauntless overnight. Sigint reports the 18th Division on ships heading to Kona, an invasion of Lahaina now looks certain.



topeverest -> RE: 10th May 1942 (10/16/2010 1:18:43 PM)

Yubari,

Any attack can be the critical game changing attack.  I was not criticizing per say - merely asking for clarification on your intentions and methodology. Port Blair does have the potential to be a huge value to you, if the Empire commits naval, air, and ground forces away from other operations, especially PH.  By some military logic, your invasion threatens both Medan and Rangoon.  If he buys into that, he has to mount a large invasion, or deploy significant forces to prevent a sweeping attack.  IMHO, rangoon is very vulnerable to amphibious invasion with Blair in your hands, and if the allies are successful in the invasion and plan the overland well, the entire empire burma army can be bagged in 42.  I know because I have done it.

Think about drawing on your late war Empire experience regarding airpower use and apply that to PH and other points on the map.  It is the same logic.

Anyway, good hunting. 



yubari -> 11th and 12th May 1942 (10/17/2010 5:57:29 PM)

Topeverest,
That is exactly the threat that I am now trying to plant in FatR`s mind, of how risky his position in Burma now is. I have a large stack of units at Chittagong heading towards Cox`s Bazaar and will start to send a number of recon flights over the bases.
It appears that FatR is now utterly committed to the Hawaiian islands, there are still at least 5 battleships in the area, around 600 planes and two more divisions were spotted in the last couple of turns on transports headed towards Kona (to make a minimum of 7), and I do not think that I can stop that much force at this time.

I wonder if the fact that I am not American influences my thinking on Pearl Harbour? I do not view it as being particularly important to this war now, and wouldn`t even be too upset if I lost Lahaina. Maybe I would like to avoid the ignominy of being one of the only people to lose Pearl though.

Port Blair.
Unloading has sped up massively since the arrival of the Eastern Fleet unit at Little Andaman and it should all be completed tomorrow, both of the islands should have at least 60000 supplies and be able to survive any siege for many months. Indeed I am now confident that these islands will not be retaken.
Night attacks by Sally units score no hits, but Hurricanes on night duty manage to shoot 1 down and flak destroys another 2. Flak here is proving to be many times more effective than that at Pearl Harbour, which is a tremendous relief for me.

Hawaii.
Poor Arizona is in a terrible condition at Pearl Harbour, with system damage at 99 and flooding and engine damage both around 90 it is a miracle she is still afloat, damage repair is now estimated at nearly 1100 days, or around three years.
On the West Coast, there is a large number of recon planes spotted over Los Angeles, is it possible that FatR will send the KB to attack there in the next day or two, it would certainly fit in with his hyper-aggressive play so far, and would make sense given the 11 days or so since the KB was last spotted around the Line Islands. I move nearly all of my West Coast fighters there just in case.

South Pacific.
Two Japanese cruisers arrive at Suva and bombard, destroying a Buffalo based there. Very pleasing to see these missions still being undertaken, probably another 10000 or so fuel used. A level 1 airfield is completed at Efate, I hope to make the leap to Luganville in the next three weeks or so.

China.
A shock attack by Japan in the area north of Ichang forces three more units to retreat but there is a small bright side, two Japanese armoured car units are completely destroyed.



yubari -> 13th and 14th May 1942 (10/18/2010 5:15:06 PM)

Port Blair.
The map below shows the allied transports retreating en masse back towards Columbo, as well as a complete list of units at Little Andaman. Already at level 3 airfield, a level 5 airfield should be completed within ten days and then work can continue on the level 2 forts. I think that this base is now secure.

With the arrival of Hermes into port at Madras (I thought that the route back to Columbo would be crawling with submarines), this marks the end of the operation, with not a single ship being lost! During the battle the Japanese, including the crucial fight at Chittagong just before the Port Blair landings have lost 39 fighters and 23 bombers, compared to 23 allied fighters. I shall likely leave Hermes in Madras for many months now, the route back to Columbo and a repair shop will be incredibly dangerous even for an undamaged warship, never mind a crippled old light carrier with a top speed of 5 knots.

Right at the edge of the map, near Diego Garcia, Catalinas spot what looks to be a lone AMC patrolling and Japanese submarines launch three attacks on the 14th, fortunately all of them missing.

Hawaii.
The Fuso, Yamashiro, Hyuga and Ise all bombard Lahaina and cause minimal damage. It is evident that they are replenishing in Hawaii itself.

China.
Never one to leave a single unit out of action for even a single day, FatR is now launching a renewed attack in the south of the country to compliment his attack on Sian. Troops look to be moving along the road route towards Kukong, and so I shall retreat around 3000 AV of troops back towards that city. With lots of good defensive terrain I should be able to hold here.

Over the same hex, the Chinese version of the P-43 Lancer gets into action, 2 being shot down for one Sally, not an overly auspicious debut.

Burma.
FatR has spotted my large stack of units at Chittagong and is of course attacking them, Nicks showing up for the first time and Sallys doing little damage. Japanese troops look to be retreating from Katha so it looks as though FatR is worried about Burma. Excellent.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/AC0346875FCF4588B7A4225B7CE04B2B.jpg[/image]



topeverest -> RE: 13th and 14th May 1942 (10/18/2010 8:40:10 PM)

You want much more than 60k supplies in Blair considering what and where it is...double that at least.  No rush, but I would mount a resupply mission when feasible.  I dont see an air HQ.  i would fly one in too and begin harassing flight ops



bigred -> RE: 13th and 14th May 1942 (10/19/2010 1:17:30 AM)

Sorry I was so pessimistic about PB. I stopped watching my replay in mid-replay to let you know it is Jan43 and the japs are still bombg me at PB. I am pessimistic about my own problems being at PB. LOL



yubari -> 15th and 16th May 1942 (10/19/2010 8:58:33 PM)

Heavens you are right topeverest, supply consumption seems to be running at nearly a 1000 a turn at Little Andaman. Hopefully this will decrease if I was to stop building forts and airfields. Port Blair has an air headquarters unit so should hopefully be able to launch torpedoes.

No problem bigred, you were right as the Japanese finally started an aggressive response to my landing this turn.

Port Blair.
A Japanese sub sinks an xAP near Columbo but is then itself sunk by a Flower class AMC. It is the only shipping casualty so far of the Port Blair campaign.
On the 16th May, the air campaign at Port Blair begins in earnest. First 3 Japanese cruisers and then Mutsu and Nagato bombard Port Blair fighting a duel against two Indian coastal batteries, thankfully doing very little damage and destroying just one Hurricane on the ground. Then Oscars sweep Port Blair and in the ensuing battle, 8 Airacobras (from the AVG) and 3 Hurricanes are shot down for 8 Oscars
Little Andaman is proceeding at 40 percent a turn to a level 4 airfield, it should get there tomorrow. I may decide to move my main defensive airbase here, it is one hex further away from what looks to be the main Japanese aerodrome at Tavoy and should prove easier for the Royal Navy to defend in any surface battle.

With the Japanese navy ready to fight, I shall now bring in more recon planes, submarines and Swordfish and Vildebeest. I think that, if they headed in this direction straight after their raid in the South Pacific, the KB should be arriving in theatre around the 23rd May after around 5 months at sea with, as far as I can tell, not a single day in port.

China.
The Japanese stack is now moving to the hex north west of Sian, 6 tank regiments arriving this turn, I should be able to get 4 Chinese corps into the mountain hex on the road towards the west of the country.

Hawaii.
The flooding on Arizona is slowly increasing, up to 93 now. At the current rate she will slip gracefully under the waves in the next turn or two. A US sub sinks an APD loaded with some troops heading towards Kona, good to see gronud units still heading this way.



yubari -> 17th to 19th May 1942 (10/21/2010 10:38:27 PM)

Port Blair.
The IJAAF tries a night attack but AVG pilots on night CAP shoot down four and no damage is done to the airfield. In the morning of the same day three separate squadrons of Oscars sweep and shoot down four Airacobras of an AVG unit that I had stupidly forgotten to stand down with the rest of the Hurricanes. There is still no sign from sigint of any units preparing for Port Blair so I assume that there will be no landing attempt.
Supply usage on the two islands has moderated considerably, both are now using about 500 points a turn and so should be OK for the next couple of months.

Burma.
The first allied units have arrived at Cox`s Bazaar to find that no supplies will flow there. I shall start trying to build forts there to increase the supply flow. I also move some of the RAF bombers to forward airfields in India to start a night bombing campaign against IJAAF airfields in the area. It now looks like the Japanese have retreated all units all the way back to Shwebo.

Hawaii.
The SS Halibut, damaged by a depth charge attack and returning to the West Coast for repairs spots something in the hex southwest of it on the night of the 18th which then promptly disappears from sight in the morning. Sighted around ten hexes to the east of Pearl Harbour and not looking to be a submarine, is this a possible sighting of the KB? Hex counting shows that it is in a likely position if they moved from their attack position on the 1st May back towards Kwajalein, refuelled there for one day and then moved eastwards towards the US west coast.

China.
Chinese forces gain a very small and very unusual victory forcing a Japanese recon unit to retreat and destroying 50 squads and 30 vehicles. Japanese troops north of Sian seem to have stopped moving, maybe they are only trying to cut my supply route and starve my units.
Large scale bombing of Sian airfield continues and it is noticeable that all of the enemy Lily bombers have been withdrawn from service (we are playing with PDU on)

DEI.
Japanese troops are approaching the western point of Sumatra, Sabang and have the best part of a division here. On Java, supplies are completely run out at Malang and the forts are down to 0. Not long to go now.

Japanese carriers.
Always the most important bit of info in the game, the position of the KB. Is it safe to guess that the mysterious spotting east of Pearl Harbour is the KB? It would fit perfectly with FatRs previous use of it. The ocean between Pearl Harbour and the US west coast is totally free of allied shipping so will FatR be brave enough to launch an attack against one of the US cities?
Most importantly, what should the allies do if the spotting is confirmed correct in the next few turns?



topeverest -> RE: 17th to 19th May 1942 (10/22/2010 1:34:44 AM)

Cox bazaar will flow supplies.  Remember the 7 day supply cycle.  Set stockpiling correctly across all bases in India and Burma and wait.  This assumes you have enough supply in India in total.  If that, then It will happen.



yubari -> 20th to 22nd May 1942 (10/23/2010 1:50:29 PM)

Topeverest, the seven day supply cycle? Do supplies move only every week, and is this the kind of movement that can be altered by the supplies requested button? What I am seeing is that because Cox`s Bazaar has only a level 1 port, only a maximum of 50 supplies can flow there a turn. When the forts are increased this turn, that should increase to 100 a turn. I am no expert on this part of the game.

Port Blair.
FatR is continuing to send Oscar sweeps over Little Andaman and Port Blair and launches a bombing attack on the 21st, destroying 5 allied fighters on the ground and then another couple the turn after. I move the fighters back to Little Andaman which is one hex further from Japanese bases and has a level 5 airfield and so will not be affected by overstacking issues. It is also 19 hexes from Trincomalee and so I will be able to withdraw all of my planes if that becomes necessary.
With FatR apparently flying his fighter sweeps a distance of 10 hexes daily, I send the Hurricanes up on this turn looking to meet some exhausted IJAAF pilots. If I cannot win this battle, then I shall think about retreating all of my air units to rear areas until the second generation planes become available.
There is no sign of any Japanese naval presence in the area, the KB should be arriving in theatre by now or in the next turn or two if it moved here directly from the South Pacific. I am becoming more certain that the KB is deep in the Pacific between Hawaii and the West coast.

Hawaii.
It finally happened, Arizona sinks rather peculiarly directly after a large Sally raid against the Pearl Harbour airfield. Nevada still remains afloat with flooding damage in the 50s. The Fuso, Yamashiro, Ise and Hyuga are all continuing to bombard; I wish the game modelled damage to the main guns from being fired. They have probably fired more times in the past two weeks at Lahaina than they did in reality in the whole war.

Sigint says that the 5th Division, involved in the fight at Singapore is planning for Lahaina. I think that that makes the 4th, 5th, 6th, 18th and 33rd Divisions all planning for the operation, as well as a couple of regiments. Also in theatre are the 38th and 48th divisions which fought at Hilo, plus numerous smaller units.

China.
The Japanese are now moving northward from Sian, a small tank regiment is facing up against 4 Chinese corps. In a mountain hex I have around 2000AV of troops and I am hopeful that these will hold against anything other than the main Japanese army.
Another advantage is that these troops are a long way behind the front line so they should not suffer so badly from FatRs trademark attack, hitting the units with hundreds of Sallys for days to stop them retreating and then a shock attack. Aditionally, being so far from Japanese airfields means that I should be able to use the Chinese bomber force to slow down any advancing Japanese units.

Burma.
Fort construction is moving ever so slowly at Cox`s Bazaar, now 90 percent of the way to level 1. Hopefully when level 1 is eventually reached, supply movement will increase a little. I have to say I really like this improvement in AE, logistics are now much more of a challenge.

Reading my last entry again, it looks somewhat like I am asking for information. These are of course only rhetorical questions. Thankyou to everyone for keeping strict radio secrecy here.



ny59giants -> RE: 20th to 22nd May 1942 (10/23/2010 4:49:46 PM)

Where do you have your Command HQs in India?? I would move at least one to Chittagong as they draw supply to themselves above what you are requesting at that base. Start prepping it for a target in Burma. It is easy to forget the importance of HQs, especially the range Command HQs (India HQ has range of 9 while the Southern & Eastern have range of 5) have when it come to combat modifiers.

Is CM Abdiel still afloat?? She carries 150 mines with a speed of 38 to mine your two ports with some DDs as escorts. I would use subs to mine the shallow hexes coming out of Singapore as ships will soon be coming up from here.

Fast Transport in more AA units. If your fighters cannot kill them then use AA guns. I know in WITP there were a few American BFs that had a deadly amount of AA in them. Double check what you have and see if you can send them to India/Burma.



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