23rd May 1942 (Full Version)

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yubari -> 23rd May 1942 (10/24/2010 3:27:46 PM)

Excellent idea Giants. I have had the command units in the rear in the belief that it helped with the repair of damaged squads but shall move them forwards immediately.
The Abdiel is still afloat but unfortunately isn`t able to load any mines. The type that she can load (I think Type XVII) is scheduled to arrive at the start of December 1942, and I used her initial load to mine Vizgapatnam a couple of months earlier.

Andamans
A day of very heavy air battles over Little Andaman, as the IJAAF makes an attempt to destroy more British fighters on the ground. In four separate battles, 25 Hurricanes and 11 P-400s are shot down and on the Japanese side, my best estimates suggest that a total of 35 Oscars and 30 Sallys destroyed with no damage done to the airfield.
This is the kind of attritional fighting that strongly favours the Japanese, those losses are probably only a week or so of production, whereas for the allies the Airacobra pool is now completely exhausted and there are only 8 Hurricanes left. I may try to fight one more battle here and then withdraw back to Trincomalee to rebuild the squadrons with the cannon armed Hurricane, 48 a month of which start to arrive in June. As ever, I am hopeful that a lot of IJAAF pilots are killed.

Three new P-40 squadrons arrived at Karachi in this turn, and I am bringing in another 10 or so squadrons by ship from the US East coast to Capetown, if I can get 250 or more operational fighters, then this should be an excellent place to try to attrit the IJAAF.

Burma.
Cox`s Bazaar has at last reached level 1 forts and supply flow has apparently increased to 100 per turn. It is clearly going to take a long time to be able to build up a logistics system to be able to support a move through the jungle towards Rangoon.



yubari -> 24th and 25th May 1942 (10/25/2010 3:59:05 PM)

Andamans.
Following the large battles of the 23rd, Japan tries to attack Little Andaman at night. Hurricanes shoot down one of the attacking bombers and flak destroys another two. The three survivors score no hits, the flak here is awesome compared to the pathetic US guns, that must be a bug in this mod. Unfortunately they have an altitude limit of 25000 feet and FatR is sending his Sallies in at that height. On the 25th, just two days after losing 65 planes at Little Andaman, another 200 or so attack. My fighters are all kept on the ground and 4 Hurricanes are destroyed there.

British searchplanes spot three separate Japanese fleets on the 25th. A carrier fleet with around 100 planes and a surface fleet are 7 hexes from Little Andaman, and another surface fleet is three hexes further back. I imagine that the fleet in the same hex as the carriers is the Mutsu and Nagato, and the fleet a little further away is the Suzuya, Ashigara and Atago. My best guess is that the carriers are the Akagi and the Hiyo. I retreat all the operational fighters back to Ceylon.

South Pacific.
Two large allied convoys moving south of Suva report a large number of aircraft in the area. With a large number of subs in the area, it could just be Glens, it could be Jakes from another surface fleet, there was one in the area about 10 days ago or it could be a part or most of the KB. Whatever, I split the convoy up and set them to flee at full speed. Again, my patrol planes have failed to detect approaching ships.
Surprisingly, the next day, all of the ships escape, I will try to reunite them a bit further south and then send them again to their destination.

North Pacific.
I am starting in earnest the build up at Adak Island. There hasn't been more than a couple of Japanese ships up here the whole war but I am loath to send units a long way along the island chain at the moment, infantry units in the US are still in very short supply, and I am completely out of political points having just bought out a lot of restricted units in the last couple of turns.

Japanese carriers.
With this sighting of carriers in the Andamans area and indirect evidence of more carriers operating east of Pearl Harbour and around Suva, it looks possible that FatR is using three separate carrier fleets, which I find to be simply unbelievable risk taking. I am very nearly ready to strike back.



yubari -> 26th May 1942 (10/26/2010 3:12:11 PM)

Andamans.
As expected, the Mutsu bombards Little Andaman and does little damage. The British fighter force had been removed earlier back to Ceylon anyway. As was not expected, the Japanese land a force at the island of Trinkat, the fourth island along the Andaman island chain. 8 infantry squads and 48 support squads are damaged, so it looks like this is a base force. The map below shows the position at the moment. Frustratingly, none of the allied submarines placed along the way can get a shot at the Japanese ships. However, more are to arrive soon, there should be around 25 Dutch and US S boat submarines in theatre in the next week.
FatR doesnt know this, but he has launched this attack at an absolutely perfect time. Grrrrr.


North Pacific.
With all of the Japanese activity in the Andamans, I decide to launch a large scale reinforcement mission to the Aleutians, and send a couple of newly arrived units, originally attached to South Pacific up to Seattle ready for transport to the Aleutians. As the South Pacific HQ arrived recently and is effectively imprisoned in Pearl Harbour, this seems a sensible use.

South Pacific.
Following the appearance of lots of Japanese planes in the area of Suva a couple of days ago, not a single Japanese ship has been spotted in the area despite a large number of search planes. This could have been merely a large collection of Glen equipped subs, or FatR could have been using a small number of high speed carriers which appeared and dissapeared at very high speed.

Burma.
An RAF units which was forced to retreat towards the enemy in Burma takes an empty Katha. Supplies are now flowing very slowly to Cox`s Bazaar.

DEI.
Malang finally falls and with that ends the resistance of the Dutch.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/A055E0BE7DF54B1BBA896CC7FB2F4D32.jpg[/image]



yubari -> 27th May 1942 (10/27/2010 2:58:28 PM)

Hawaii.
Invasion Lahaina!
Japan launches a huge invasion effort against Lahaina and allied coastal guns firing back do a somewhat disappointing effort at firing back. One of the old Japanese training Cls is hit heavily along with the CL Naga which takes two shells. 2xAKs and 5 other xAKLs are hit heavily and most of these will sink. In the unloading process around 8000 casualties are reported.

The following Japanese units have so far been reported at Lahaina, around 7 divisions worth of troops. Although they are not fully unloaded, the Japanese outnumber me more than two to one already.

Ground combat at Lahaina (182,108)
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 13439 troops, 306 guns, 342 vehicles, Assault Value = 615
Defending force 35279 troops, 266 guns, 121 vehicles, Assault Value = 1367

Japanese ground losses:
399 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
54th Coastal Artillery Regiment
2nd Marine Raider Battalion
Americal Infantry Division
298th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
276th Coastal Artillery Battalion
2nd Marine Regiment
2nd USMC Engineer Regiment
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
208th Coast AA Regiment
102nd USN Base Force
811th Engineer Aviation Battalion
197th Coast AA Regiment
118th USAAF Base Force
111th USN Base Force
46th Construction Regiment
43rd Construction Regiment
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
223rd Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
77th Infantry Rgt /1
48th Div /3
17th Infantry Rgt /4
24th Infantry Rgt /1
5th Div /1
5th Ind. Engr Rgt /2
38th Div /1
16th Infantry Rgt /3
18th Div /2
4th Div /1
20th Engr Rgt /2
27th Electric Engr Rgt /1
65th Nav Gd /4
40th Bde /1
23rd Medium FA Rgt /2

Burma.
The India command unit is approaching the front lines and forts are gradually being built at Cox`s Bazaar. A second division has arrived there and brings another 75 engineers.

Andamans.
Supply use seems to have settled at an average of 400 per turn at both Little Andaman and Port Blair. The Japanese ships unloading at Trinkat have all disappeared and it was a base force unloaded there. I already have troops loaded on transports to retake this island.



yubari -> 28th to 30th May 1942 (10/29/2010 6:23:19 PM)

Hawaii.
6100 more Japanese casualties on the 28th May as the unloading continues, and a lot more ships sinking. The Japanese now have 2057AV on the island and presumably have more to unload, it looks like they have brought enough to take the island.
A small PT boat squadron is sent to interfere with the landing and an almost comedic scene occurs in the 58-ship large Japanese task force with 6 separate ship collisions. 4 of the collisions involve the same ship, which sinks afterwards.
Unloading is completed by the 30th May, and the Japanese have on that date 2195AV against the allied 615, the allies having around 30000 tons of supply left. I imagine that the island will be taken by about the middle of July

Andamans.
The 30th May is another day of slaughter at Little Andaman as the British Hurricanes and the AVG battle against the IJAAF. With the IJAAF attacking every day in the past week, it is likely that their pilots are very tired and their planes damaged/fatigued and the allies pull off a fairly convincing victory. In 4 separate battles, 15 Hurricanes and 15 Airacobras are lost for an estimated 70 Japanese planes, roughly half and half divided between Sallys and Oscars.
With a service rating of 1, the Oscars will all be replaced and flying again by the 1st of June, but the service rating of 2 for the Sally means that it might be 3 or 4 days before they are attacking again.

The small British/Australian invasion force is approaching Trinkat, I am ordering it to land there the day after tomorrow. With the Japanese having just 5AV of troops there, the island should fall easily. Japanese search planes spot the British carrier TF today so FatR should be expecting a landing there tomorrow. I also have a surprise for him to be revealed tomorrow.

I have brought my recon B-25 unit to Little Andaman to allow me to recon Singapore for any Japanese movement. As I have just 4 of these planes, and no more due to arrive until April 1943, I only use them in the most important situations, and they prove their worth by managing to spot the Japanese carrier TF at anchor at Singapore. Also spotted are a couple of task forces heading along the Singapore Straights, one of which is confirmed to be a surface group containing the BB Haruna.

Japanese carriers.
Aside from the small unknown force spotted at Singapore, no definitive sighting of these since the raid in the south Pacific in early May. The couple of Catalinas I still have operational in Hawaii havent spotted anything so far during the Lahaina invasion.

Strategic.
It is beginning to look as though a concentration of allied fighters can at least match the improved Japanese planes in this mod in one off battles when the Japanese are flying every day at a range of 9 or 10 hexes. I shall now look to congregate large numbers of fighters at the bases of Port Blair and Little Andaman including 10 to 12 squadrons of US fighters that have been transferred from the US mainland in the past two months. Although Japan can certainly afford to lose the planes, it surely cannot replace such a large number of pilots in a large scale attritional war in the Andamans.

The key question is going to be whether the allied fighter plane stockpile can hold up. At the moment I am getting 48 Hurricanes, 10 Mohawks, 35 P-40Es and 25 P-39s per month and a total of 50 P-38Es. Bringing in a couple of Canadian units will bring a few more of their excellent variant of the Hurricane. If things get desperate then I also have 45 Wildcats a month that I can thrown in, but I would prefer to build up a reserve for the carriers in the event of any battles.

Air losses from the latest turn, with the Japanese losses significantly overestimated I think.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/9F41FDC08057406CB00E6957B3A36657.jpg[/image]



yubari -> RE: 28th to 30th May 1942 (10/30/2010 11:46:41 AM)

Andamans.
The allies unleash their big surprise, the 5 carriers of the US fleet appear a couple of hexes north of Sabang but unfortunately the Japanese have not reacted as aggressively as I expected them to do. The combined US and British fleet finds itself 10 hexes away from the small Japanese carrier fleet in the day phase. The US fleet is however in range of lots of land based air and 5 separate attacks are made. The CAP however performs excellently and all of the attacking bombers are shot down.

Betties however do spot and attack a couple of xAKLs which are to unload more supplies at Little Andaman, two are sunk.
So far identified in the area are the Kirishima, Haruna and the Yamato, plus the Japanese carrier force of around 200 planes. With the location of the rest of the Japanese carriers still unknown it would seem prudent to withdraw my invasion fleet, a force of 6 divisions was loaded on transports and was two to three days away from landing.
The landing at Trinkat and the resupply mission to Little Andaman shall continue however.

China.
There have been two large battles at hex (82,55) in the past couple of days. In the first, Japanese force shock attacked and retreated three Chinese corps. In the last turn, 3000AV of Japanese troops shock-retreated a Japanese division and a brigade. The division in particular was absolutely pulverised, left at an AV of 7 even before the retreat.

Strategic.
I have 6 divisions loaded on ships and two to three days away from their invasion targets but with so many Japanese ships on the scene, and the position of the main KB not known I think that it is wise to withdraw at this time rather than risk suffering a serious defeat. In the next month, the US fleet will get considerably stronger with the 36 plane fighter groups, Avengers to replace the Devastators, the Wasp arriving at Balboa and AA upgrades for the Yorktown class.

With what looks to be a secure and important position in the Andamans already achieved the only way I could lose this war is with a bad carrier battle defeat. I am ready to fight Japan in the Indian Ocean but only in friendly waters.
In the longer term I will look to base 4 engine bombers in the Andamans (Little Andaman and Port Blair can both be built to level 8) and these should be enough to overcome any Japanese air force in either Burma, Malaysia or on Sumatra, depending on which way I choose to go next.

The action in the Andamans. The bright green hex has three US and three British carriers. In the dark green hex is the Trinkat invasion fleet. In the dark red hex is the Japanese carrier fleet and the Haruna, Kirishima and Yamato are in the bright red hex.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/3E24F4F554644C42B9C8E53E978E9A6A.jpg[/image]



ny59giants -> RE: 28th to 30th May 1942 (10/30/2010 4:24:02 PM)

What do you have covering the southern approaches to Ceylon?? I've played FatR and I would expect something to be coming from that direction at some point. Subs, some picket transports, and PBYs should be covering as much as possible. I would have some high endurance American subs patrolling off the straits between Java and Sumatra.



yubari -> 1st June 1942 (10/31/2010 11:10:11 AM)

Yes good thinking Giants, I have seen a couple of AMCs around here in the past month, and wouldnt be surprised to see cruisers or destroyers enter Columbo itself. I havent mentioned it in the AAR but FatR has left Cocos Island empty so I have an AVD based there with a Catalina squadron, and a few submarines near the Oosthaven Batavia straight, hopefully they should spot any carrier forces. I shall land a large unit, possible the 1st Marines there in the next month or so to secure it and then build up a large patrol base.

Andamans.
Nearly all of the Japanese ships retreat, presumably back to Singapore. There is however a group of 6 destroyers that moves straight towards the Allied fleet, presumably as an attempt to get a lucky torpedo hit against a carrier. It doesn't matter as the US fleet also moves somewhat northwards and sinks two of the six destroyers. It is noticable again that destroyers are incredibly hard to hit, and about two thirds of my large afternoon strikes tries to attack destroyers that have already been sunk.

Japanese air attacks against the allied fleet again come up blank, some 40 Japanese planes being shot down for the loss of 9 allied fighters. 7 Betties manage to break through the CAP to launch strikes against British carriers but all miss and 6 are shot down while flying away.

Allied troops land at Trinkat, I shall try a deliberate attack tomorrow and 15000 tons of supplies have been landed at Little Andaman, with another 7000 left at sea. So far the operation has been a small tactical victory for the allies but I dread the appearance of a Japanese submarine, I have around 50 of my Dauntlesses on ASW work.

Allied High Command.
They were demanding the return of a lot of torpedo bomber squadrons and Hurricanes right in the middle of the battle, 9 squadrons to be withdrawn by the 1st of June and with my political points completely exhausted from having bought out the Indian units I had to return them, not wanting to risk negative political points. Can you not be a little patient!



ny59giants -> RE: 1st June 1942 (10/31/2010 2:05:22 PM)

Have your CVs "follow" a SC TF to help prevent a SC TF getting straight through. I usually have all my CV TF with orders to follow this SC TF. So, I could have 5 or 6 TF in a hex.



yubari -> 2nd to 4th June 1942 (11/2/2010 2:48:03 PM)

Thanks Giants.

Andamans.
FatR seems to have surrendered the initiative up here, there have been no sweeps over Little Andaman or Port Blair in the past three days and no sign of any naval presence, apart from a veritable swarm of submarines.

More supplies unloaded at Little Andaman, now well above 70000 tons there. Progress is continuing on the forts, a day or two away from level 4. The landing at Trinkat went uninterrupted by the IJN and the island fell to the Allies on the 3rd June. A number of Japanese troops survive on the island and I am attacking to try to eliminate them. A naval base force that arrived at Karachi will hopefully be unloaded there in around two weeks time to give lots of naval support points and then I will look to unload a division plus coastal guns and AA.

The current task is the unloading of the Australian 6th Division plus supporting forces at Cap Nicobar, the small island three hexes southwards from Little Andaman. Although the port is a size 0, I think that the Eastern Fleet should hugely speed up unloading there, there are apparently 75 naval support points there. Around 50 transports are currently unloading there and I have more than 170 fighters flying LRCAP from Port Blair and Little Andaman.

Continuing recon of Singapore shows no sign of the Japanese mini KB, or any of the battleships previously seen in the Straits of Malacca. The most likely destination is I think a quick run through the Java-Sumatra strait and a raid into the Indian Ocean.

Hawaii.
I forgot to mention it in the last entry but the Japanese are now landing more troops at Lahaina on barges. It is a dangerous way to land as at least 10 of them are obliterated by hits from the 155mm guns. Interestingly, 105mm guns are also firing, and they did not fire at the larger xAKs landing a few days ago. With another 100 non-combat squads destroyed, I guess this is a command unit.

North Pacific.
The Japanese seem to be reconning quite a few bases in the Aleutians chain but havent yet spotted a base with allied troops. I have a cruiser task force already heading up here.



yubari -> 5th to 7th June 1942 (11/5/2010 3:36:34 PM)

Andamans.
After 5 days of relative quiet in theatre, the Japanese launch another full scale attack on the 7th of June, this time on the transport fleet unloading at Car Nicobar. Despite their severe losses in the last week there are no fewer than 5 squadrons of Oscars sweeping in the morning phase which completely clears the allied CAP. A squadron of Betties also attacks and gets no hits.

In the afternoon there are more Betty attacks and this time a large allied CAP lies in wait, around 15 Betties are shot down along with 10 to 12 Zeroes. There are also Sallies attacking at 100 feet and they score bomb hits against two large allied xAPs. I have to say that I am not particularly happy about this, I would prefer to play a reasonably historical game but it is something that will work in the allied favour later on, I shall be using lots of skip bombing from now on and allied bombers are a lot tougher than the Sallies.

Recon also spots a Japanese surface fleet at Victoria Point, presumably under a large CAP. I shall withdraw all of my transport fleets, the Australian 6th is now more than 90 percent unloaded at Cap Nicobar and has 50000 supplies but it is a tough decision whether to leave my surface fleet there. If the Japanese move to Car Nicobar in bombardment mode then my guys will likely score a large victory

All of the previously loaded troops have been unloaded safely at Trincomalee, I have 2350 AV here, 3 more veteran British brigades are due to arrive in the next month and I should be able to buy out another 800AV of Indian troops. I should soon have around 4000AV ready to land if FatR gives me an opportunity.

Finally, transport ships are spotted moving south of Java, presumably an invasion force for the Cocos Islands. Darn.

South Pacific.
To my surprise, 4 Japanese destroyers show up 2 hexes from Sydney and meet up with an allied ASW fleet of 2 destroyers and an AM. The allies fight surprisingly well, hitting two Japanese destroyers and not suffering too badly in return, certainly none of my ships will sink.
Somewhat to the east of this, I am unloading construction units at Luganville and will look to move the 32nd Division there in the next week or two, it is currently loaded on transports and is just a little north of Auckland. Construction of airfields on New Caledonia is now advancing well, and this island is looking increasingly secure.
Further east than this, another surface fleet is spotted near Penrhyn island, I have no ships within 30 hexes of them and it is just a bit more Japanese fuel being burnt.

Australia.
Around 200 AV under Southwest Pacific is preparing for an invasion of Horn Island. I shall look to land there in mid to late July. With Port Moresby seemingly undeveloped, being still only a level 3 airfield, and with decent Australian airbases at Coen and Portland Roads it should be a relatively risk free operation. Regaining control of this base will allow movement of more supply towards Darwin, it is beginning to run out in this area again, I really like this in comparison with the old WITP.

Aleutians.
Japanese recon flights continue but there is no sign of any landing forces. I am now moving a couple of regiments towards Adak and will take control of Attu and Amchitka is the Japanese haven't taken them by mid October. I think that Japan makes a terrible mistake by not taking these islands.



yubari -> 8th June 1942 (11/10/2010 3:50:08 PM)

A really bad turn for the allies here.

Andamans.
The first surface battle of the Andamans campaign and it is a clear Japanese victory. The Japanese fleet (1BB, 3CAs, 4DDs) detect my surface fleet (2CAs, 1CLAA, 3CLs, 4DDs) first and the allies are surprised. The Takao opens with multiple torpedo salvoes against the CA Salt Lake City. Hit by 3 she sinks instantly, barely 10 seconds into the fight. At this stage I was left fearing the worst but the allies recover well. In a long fight with low moonlight and bad weather both sides manage to score 15 shell hits, the CA Vincennes putting 2 large shells into the Suzuya proving noteworthy. Notably, the BB Haruna fails to hit with her big guns. By day both fleets have retreated out of aerial attack range.
Lesson noted, it is very dangerous to fight against the Japanese this early in the war. I had hoped that the Japanese fleet was on a bombardment mission and would hence fight with a huge disadvantage. I may try to intervene if the Japanese start launching regular bombardment missions.

Hawaii.
The Japanese launch their first deliberate attack on Lahaina getting 2 to 1 odds and taking the forts to level 4. This is a major disappointment, I had hoped for a good six week to two month siege here but it looks like it will be gone in two weeks or less. I really regret not using my B-17s against Kona more.

Aleutians.
A Japanese fleet spotted eight hexes south of Adak, I have two squadrons of torpedo armed Catalinas ordered to attack for tomorrow. These guys are normally very dangerous against ships with no aerial support, and no carriers were spotted last turn.

Australia.
The Japanese now have a surface fleet at Port Hedland, a very strange place to be. Presumably they will be landing here soon, it is all but defenceless. My B-17 force is just about ready for action after the defeat (partially self-inflicted) in the Hawaiians. I will start attacking Port Moresby in the next few days.



yubari -> 9th to 11th June 1942 (11/10/2010 3:55:34 PM)

Andamans.
The Japanese attacks here are really increasing in ferocity. On the 10th there are 206 sweeping fighters, 154 bombers and 112 escorting fighters attacking Port Blair in the day, 34 bombers at night plus a small force attacking Car Nicobar. On the 11th there are no attacks at all. As large as these attacks are they are barely slowing down the airfield and forts construction. At current rate of progress, I estimate that Little Andaman will reach level a level 8 airfield on around the 5th of July.

I am now gathering a much larger fighter force on Ceylon and South India, containing all of the British fighters, around 200 US fighters as well as a couple of Australian and Canadian units. Pretty much all newly arrived allied fighters are being directed to the area, in particular the Canadians and their Hurricane units, it looks like it should be the best allied fighter in 1942. With the Japanese able to out-produce me significantly, I will need to use the fighter pools of every nationality to avhieve aerial superiority here.

A submarine on patrol catches sight of a tanker moving south in the straits between Java and Sumatra. This is very strange as there is no apparent reason for it to be there. I am now working on the assumption that the KB is moving towards the Indian Ocean. More Japanese surface fleets are spotted at Victoria Point, ready to bombard Car Nicobar?


Hawaii.
More Japanese barges are landing at Lahaina and 6 more are destroyed on the beaches. The SS Herring also destroys another two. I wonder if the Japanese are running short of supply? Those small barges will not be able to bring much in.
Wasp arrives at the Panama canal but it is immediately sent towards Cape Town, scheduled arrival the 30th June.

China.
I am trying a huge assault in the Sian area to try to relieve my beseiged and slowly starving units there. Around 7000AV should be launching a shock attack as they cross the river to the north west of Sian. My best estimates are that the Japanese have 8 tank units and 1 division, around 800 AV. I moved all of the available Chinese fighter planes northwards in the hope of catching some Helens which were attacking my troops advancing from Liuchow and shot down 6 of them. The river crossing will be tomorrow and will effectively decide the fate of Sian.

Aleutians.
There were no torpedo attacks and I have withdrawn my Catalina units. The enemy now has four fleets in the area, the most furtherly advanced being just south of Adak. Sigint reports a unit planning for Attu, that will surely be taken very soon.

Australia.
The Japanese take control of Port Hedland airfield, with a couple of engineer units and a base force they will probably have it up and running in two or three days.



ny59giants -> RE: 9th to 11th June 1942 (11/10/2010 7:30:18 PM)

While having a large AF is nice, I would get it up to size 4 to 6 for now and then focus on the forts getting to size 6. You will need them for what I expect to be a counter-invasion that will come at some time.



yubari -> 12th June 1942 (11/12/2010 3:35:59 PM)

Thanks for your comment Giants. It is easy to tell that you have played FatR, but with such a huge army in the Hawaiian Islands would he really still have enough troops to land here? I think that it would take at least 6 divisions to retake the island, I have over 1000AV behind level 4 forts, plus the Royal Navy with most of the US Navy in support.

Andamans.
The Japanese are back with 6 separate Oscar squadrons sweeping Port Blair. The base is all but empty of planes, only a few patrol planes present. My main fighter force, now well over 400 planes strong is training in Ceylon and South India. With a lot of the pilots still not fully trained, I will probably not try to contest these battles until the end of June. With the AVG due to withdraw early in July, I want to get full usage from them and use all their planes in battle.

Situation in Andamans.
Little Andaman is the main base and has 1025AV behind level 4 forts. The airfield should build to level 6 in the next turn or two. Port Blair has 730 behind level 3 (very soon level 4) forts and has a level 4 airfield. Car Nicobar is further south and has 550AV and level 2 forts. This island is certainly still in danger. Trinkat has 40AV behind just level 1 forts. I will look to mount a reinforcement mission in the fairly near future.

China.
The Chinese hordes mount a shock attack at (83,40) the hex just northwest of Sian. Here is the combat report.

Ground combat at 83,40
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 178258 troops, 1076 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 8944
Defending force 19648 troops, 104 guns, 572 vehicles, Assault Value = 888
Allied adjusted assault: 777
Japanese adjusted defense: 515
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
4696 casualties reported
Squads: 16 destroyed, 407 disabled
Non Combat: 38 destroyed, 419 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Vehicles lost 217 (41 destroyed, 176 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
11917 casualties reported
Squads: 36 destroyed, 1120 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 509 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled

Disappointing not to force the retreat certainly. Although the casualty ratio does not look particularly good here I think that I shall shock attack again tomorrow, in such a violent game as this I need to try to keep up attrition against Japan in any way possible. What is interesting is what Japan will do the next turn. There are 13 units, an estimated 2500AV in the next hex, will FatR send them across the river to make a shock attack against the Chinese stack here?
This really is an all or nothing battle, a defeat here would mean the loss of Sian and all of north China.

Hawaii.
Japan is still landing barges at Lahaina, it is a messy business with another 5 destroyed today. A deliberate attack takes the forts down to level 3 but causes the Japanese 6000 casualties to fewer than 1000 allied. Interestingly Japan is reported to be running low on supplies.

Aleutians.
Japan lands about 80 AV at Adak, they will destroy my engineer unit there. A US infantry regiment was just a day or two from arrival, not for the first time, FatR shows incredibly good timing. Umnak Island should be secure with 250AV behing level 5 forts and good defensive terrain.

South Pacific.
A large surface fleet is spotted some 8 hexes north of Pago Pago. This force evidently presents serious problems to the 32nd Division landing at Lugaville, I shall retreat for the moment.



Alfred -> RE: 12th June 1942 (11/12/2010 5:38:08 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: yubari

... With the AVG due to withdraw early in July, I want to get full usage from them and use all their planes in battle...




Assuming that the AVG is flying the H81 and that this mod is like stock ie the H81 can be used by Chinese air units, you might care to consider whether there is any benefit in switching over to standard American models. That way you leave the H81 available to requip your Chinese air force whose plane production is quite limited.

Alfred



yubari -> 13th and 14th June 1942 (11/13/2010 12:34:54 PM)

Good thinking Alfred, you are right about the H81 and one of the AVG squadrons is still using it, the other two AVG squadrons have been very heavily involved in China and replaced the H81 a long time ago, here is the most successful squadron. I shall have a look at replacing the H81s for P-39Ds next turn.

Andamans.
Japan is now launching sweeps of around 150 fighters roughly two days out of three against Port Blair but with no bombers attacking I will not be trying to interdict them. Troops have now begun loading in Ceylon for a large scale landing on Trinkat, the next island down the Andaman chain as well as a small base force unit for Great Andaman, the last base before Sumatra. Patrol planes on this last base should give me naval search right down the Straits of Singapore.
Japan used a paratrooper unit to take the empty Dutch base of Sibolga, an island to the west of the Sumatra mainland. Elsewhere, my suspicions were correct, Catalinas spot an enemy task force apparently containing two small carriers around 20 hexes south of Java.

China.
Japan moves its army across the river and it is very large indeed. 8 full divisions launch a shock attack and both sides suffer around 12000 casualties. It is hence evident that I cannot win this battle and so I will retreat my troops, with around 200 Japanese bombers attacking daily, my disruption is rising daily and I fear suffering yet another forced retreat.

Aleutians.
I send my only available force, 4 destroyers to try to attack the unloading transports at Adak but in a night with only three percent moonlight the unloading Japanese transports all escape. Quite unbelievably I have omitted to send a base force to Umnak Island and so cannot launch any air attacks against this force

South Pacific.
The Japanese task force spotted north of Suva is heading back north again and I shall try again to send the 32nd Division to Luganville. More New Zealand troops are arriving at Auckland so I shall move these forward to Noumea when shipping arrives in the next week or two, I want to occupy some of the smaller bases such as Tanna and Vanua Levi.

Japanese production.
After not having seen any for months, it is notable that the Japanese are now flying Oscar 1a`s in China. Also, the Oscar squadrons sweeping over Port Blair are not at full strength, has Japan run through its fighter plane pools? I estimate that around 600 of the 1c version have been destroyed so far, which would roughly agree with my earlier estimate of 150 a month being produced. Mousing over Japan shows that the Tojo is being heavily developed, if Japan is running out of army fighters then this would seem a good time to attack, before they can enter production. I expect the Tojo to perform significantly better than even the speed improved Oscars.
Most confusingly, why is Japan continuing to send huge fighter sweeps against an empty Port Blair, sweeps which are costing a couple of Oscar ops losses per turn.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/89B8C7FD12DC44F0B9F28ADD56C6FF14.jpg[/image]



yubari -> 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/15/2010 4:19:39 PM)

It was a good idea Alfred but unfortunately the AVG couldnt upgrade its squadrons, maybe because they are due to be withdrawn in a couple of weeks?

Andamans.
Whoops, FatR makes a mistake and sends three Oscar squadrons on ground attack at Port Blair instead of sweeping. They suffer terribly due to the flak, 24 reported shot down and a further 60 damaged.
As this was evidently a mistake I feel as though I should offer a replay. However, due to the way that Japan has played so far, I am not certain that this would be offered if the situation was to be reversed. Another problem is that I have all of my carriers just one turn away from launching a surprise attack and with a large transport fleet behind them and none of them were spotted this turn. However a different set of dice rolls could easily see them being spotted and my attack ruined. Basically this mistake could not have come at a worse time and I cant really even discuss this with FatR as any mention would obviously indicate that the attack is about to proceed.

China.
The Japanese shock attack at the hex north of Sian and the Chinese hold firm! Here is the combat report, notice the large number of destroyed Japanese squads.

Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 91882 troops, 850 guns, 724 vehicles, Assault Value = 3046
Defending force 231536 troops, 1462 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 7074
Japanese adjusted assault: 1196
Allied adjusted defense: 980
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
17546 casualties reported
Squads: 177 destroyed, 367 disabled
Non Combat: 213 destroyed, 858 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 117 disabled
Vehicles lost 314 (127 destroyed, 187 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10536 casualties reported
Squads: 23 destroyed, 803 disabled
Non Combat: 24 destroyed, 809 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled

With nearly all of my units very low on supply I will need to retreat towards Chungking to replenish.

Australia.
I am starting attacks against Horn Island, Japan has only Rufes present for defence, three are lost to Australian Kittyhawks but they also shoot down 3 precious B-26s. Funnily enough, I also make a mistake, B-17s attacking troops at Horn Island on the 16th instead of the airfield. For the 17th I filled Townsville with fighters expecting FatR to try to strike at them but FatR avoids the trap, instead bombing the small airfield at Portland Roads.
My invasion force for Horn Island is spotted by a sub, it is sunk but manages to send off a sighting of a large transport fleet heading northwards. Expected landing date; around the end of June.

South Pacific.
Unloading has been nearly completed at Luganville, the ships that performed that operation are to be sent quickly back towards Australia to load the Horn Island invasion troops. A floatplane spotted over them on the 17th gave me a few nervous moments however.



paullus99 -> RE: 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/15/2010 4:38:44 PM)

I would recommend against the replay - especially if you're opponent hasn't asked for it (mistakes always happen, especially in war). You're already behind the 8-Ball in Scenario #2, so just chock this up to the vagaries of war.



ny59giants -> RE: 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/15/2010 5:41:20 PM)

If this game is scenario #2, then Mr. Tojo comes out in 6/42 and I would expect a sizable number to be visiting you soon. [:-]



bigred -> RE: 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/16/2010 1:28:41 AM)

I sense an initiative shift to the allies.



janh -> RE: 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/16/2010 9:18:50 AM)

Seems like the Adamans campaign is going to be FatR's Solomons.   I think this was an excellent choice to go for them, and FatR seems to have underestimated the threat to those islands initially. 

I would suggest not to replay this turn -- a few pilots and air frames won't make a huge difference.  And FatR is not in such a needy state yet that the game would turn to numbers-crunching without.  Actually this is one of the most interesting and exciting AAR's.  Very even and balanced play might have the potential for a long game.  Very enjoyable, thanks Yubari. 



yubari -> RE: 15th to 17th June 1942 (11/16/2010 3:46:40 PM)

FatR did not ask for a replay for this issue, and we shall be continuing on without one. We might be doing a test turn to see if the US AA guns are bugged in this mod; as I have reported a couple of times in this AAR they have been almost useless against Sallys at 10000 feet. Hopefully FatR will be sending a test turn where he sends a few Oscar squadrons at 100 feet against Pearl Harbour. Otherwise, we should be continuing properly in the next day or two.

Thanks janh. I am always of the opinion that it is the first attack against Japan that is the hardest, and riskiest to achieve. Any competent Japanese player should be able to set up a defensive position where there are no places (with the exception of Port Moresby) that can be attacked with LBA support. By letting me take Little Andaman on the cheap, he has allowed that first and most dangerous phase of the allied advance be achieved at minimal cost. FatR is an extremely brave and dangerous opponent, but I think that he has just been too aggressive by leaving his carriers at sea too long, and sending too many troops to Hawaii too late in the game.

Bigred, I hope that you are right. There should be plenty happening in the next month certainly.

Giants, this is the Reluctant Admiral, somewhat different to Scenario 2 but I think, of a similar difficulty level. The Tojo is due to arrive in September 1942 but is being very heavily developed in Japan. I am monitoring Tojo production closely and I hope my plans should be able to make the relatively limited range of 8 hexes a factor.

Thanks Paullus, I think you are right. FatR has said that he will be using this error as an inspiration to play better in future turns.



yubari -> 18th and 19th June 1942 (11/18/2010 11:44:04 PM)

Flak test.
Something seems to be very wrong with the US flak. We ran a test turn in which lots of Zeroes did a 100 foot attack against Lahaina. At Port Blair there are 108 large (3.7 inch)guns, 72 small (40mm) guns and 82 machine guns. The Japanese attack there destroyed 56 of 127 Oscars. At Lahaina there are 34 large guns, 83 small guns and 180 machine guns. However, of about 70 sweeping Zeroes, only 2 were destroyed. Despite apparently possessing similar AA defences, the American bases are only about 10 percent as effective as the British bases. All of the units at Lahaina still have full supply and are at 100 percent preparation. I have never played the allies before so do not know if this is a bug in this mod or not, but it certainly appears strange.

Andamans.
The mistake attack at Port Blair looks to be even more expensive than I had thought. Fully 56 Oscars are reported destroyed for the 17th June. For the 19th, around 400 fighters have been brought into the Andaman bases. Hopefully I will be able to hold air superiority over Little Andaman and Port Blair from now on.

On the 18th, the allied carriers make an appearance 7 hexes away from Victoria Point but no Japanese attacks are made. Overnight, the Prince of Wales and Repulse launch a very effective bombardment of Victoria Point, destroying 31 planes and getting around 100 airfield hits. Carnage breaks out on the 19th as Japanese planes from Sabang, Georgetown, Victoria Point and Tavoy launch numerous attacks against the Allied carrier fleet as well as transports unloading at Great Nicobat and Trinkat. None of the attacks against the allied carriers are successful and all of the attacking bombers are shot down. Particularly unlucky are 23 unescorted Kates, all shot down very quickly indeed. Attacks against transport ships unloading are somewhat more successful; low level Sallies sink one transport and damage two others, as well as crippling a patrol craft. At one point, a squadron of Jakes attack; 11 are shot down but 5 survive and score a small bomb hit.

Somewhat mysteriously, a Japanese cruiser force is left unprotected just 5 hexes from the allied carriers. The Oi and Kitakami are reported to be dead in the water and the small allied strike hits them numerous times leaving both with heavy fires and heavy damage; both are sure to sink. My best guess is that they were sent on a full speed run to Great Nicobar, found no enemy ships present then retreated back towards Victoria Point, running out of fuel in the last hex.

China.
The Chinese complete their retreat from the huge battle north of Sian and supplies in a lot of the units are at a critically low level. I think that this battle was a minor victory for the Chinese however, a lot of Japanese squads were destroyed and many units critically low on supply were moved from Sian to the north where they might be able to draw supply.

South Pacific.
Unloading is now complete at Efate and the transport fleet is to move quickly towards Brisbane to load ready for the invasion of Horn Island. An AVD sent towards the Louisiades, a still allied controlled dot hex near Milne Bay is sunk by a Japanese cruiser force with two light cruisers. I had hoped to run Catalinas from there to spot any carrier forces approaching.

Hawaii.
A Japanese deliberate attack on Lahaina gets 2 to 1 odds and puts the forts down to level 1. The end here is nigh but the theatre is nearly an irrelevance. Pearl Harbour has enough supply to last into 1943 and its huge coastal defences should leave it invulnerable.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/608BD3578EFD4E2D8975D3D85736E52D.jpg[/image]



Itdepends -> RE: 18th and 19th June 1942 (11/19/2010 11:01:42 AM)

Did the Zeros sweep at 100ft though? (RE differences in AA effectiveness)



Redd -> RE: 18th and 19th June 1942 (11/19/2010 4:13:41 PM)

RE: flack, are all of your units in combat mode? My understanding is that they won't fire in other op modes. Just checking .....[;)].



yubari -> 20th June 1942 (11/19/2010 9:37:25 PM)

Welcome Redd and Itdepends. I am not certain what orders the fighters at Lahaina and Port Blair, but they certainly both attacked at 100 feet. Maybe you could ask on FatR`s AAR. All of the AA units were in combat mode.

Andaman.
The Royal Navy is bombarding again. The Prince of Wales and Repulse hit Tavoy this time and do a colossal amount of damage. More than 170 hits are reported against the empty airfield and it is left closed. Meanwhile, the 4 slow Royal Navy Battleships bombard the already damaged Victoria Point doing a considerable amount of damage. Another 25 planes are destroyed on the ground and around 95 hits are scored on the airfield. In the day there is no CAP over the 2 modern Japanese destroyers based there and both are sunk by US carrier planes.

In the morning the Japanese launch 2 Oscar sweeps against Trinkat. The first of these sweeps is treated very roughly indeed by the LRCAP, around 20 of the 24 Oscars are shot down for just a couple of allied fighters. Could this be the first sign of the Japanese fighter training program failing? The second sweep performs much better, both sides lose around 10 planes. Curiously an Oscar sweep over Great Andaman meets Australian Kittyhawks. With an apparent range of 6, they are flying 7 hexes away from their base at Little Andaman. There are no Japanese bomber attacks.

Sigint provides information that there is a Japanese ship about 15 hexes north west of Cocos Island, this is presumably the small carrier fleet previously spotted. I have nothing in range apart from a lone xAK which delivered supplies to Cocos earlier.

China.
Japan is now moving troops towards the rough wooded terrain south of Sian. The pressure is relentless.

South Pacific.
Japan is now launching large attacks against the airfield at Portland Roads but they are not doing a large amount of damage. There appears to be a Japanese cruiser fleet at Port Moresby, presumably the ships which sunk my AVD last turn. The B-17 force is ordered to hit Port Moresby airfield tomorrow.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/FADB509C2BE54E39B16B5DFFE88C6562.jpg[/image]



yubari -> 21st and 22nd June 1942 (11/23/2010 4:57:05 PM)

Andamans.
Those cursed Japanese submarines strike again, I-154 torpedoes the Enterprise and a fuel explosion results. She is moderately damaged, enough not to be able to conduct flight ops but at least there are no fires burning at the end of the turn. The submarine torpedoing was another of those hateful types with six forward tubes. There are at least 5 other Japanese submarines spotted in the area by my ASW planes, Dauntlesses claim two hits against one particular sub.

Unloading at Trinkat is mostly finished which is a relief as there are two Japanese task forces spotted at Georgetown, one of which is reported to contain battleships. There are no further Japanese air attacks, not even any sweeping Oscars. Trinkat should make a level 1 airfield tomorrow. Recon over Sabang shows that base to be the main defensive area; 25000 troops (I think that that is the 56th Division), over 170 planes and 2 surface fleets are based there, FatR leaves surface ships very far forward.

South Pacific.
The Japanese are continuing to sweep Portland Roads but this leaves Port Moresby almost empty of defenders. 36 B-17s attacking from Townsville get about 65 airfield hits and destroy four Rufes on the ground. Transports will arrive in theatre to start loading for the Horn Island invasion in three days time, I should be landing on the 1st or 2nd of July. Before then I want to close Port Moresby and Horn Island airfields; the B-17s are tasked to hit Horn Island tomorrow and the next day, three US cruisers should bombard Port Moresby.

Aleutians.
A Japanese submarine moves to Umnak Island and attacks the DD Phelps. Torpedoes miss and the destroyer hits the sub with two depth charges. A glooping sound afterwards confirms the sinking, a small bit of revenge. More Japanese transports are spotted at Adak Island but the US destroyer fleet sent to engage them fails to make contact and they are gone the next turn.



ny59giants -> RE: 21st and 22nd June 1942 (11/23/2010 7:31:34 PM)

What plane types are you using for ASW patrols?? I like to follow what FatR did and train up in ASW and then LowN experience for those large 18 plane Kingfisher groups. It does take some time to get their experience levels up, but their bomb load will sink a sub. A bunch of PBY and other types would help in this area. Double check with your non-American planes to see if there any that get MAD gear or other aids later in the game. Those plane types should be set to train up asap.



yubari -> 24th June 1942 (11/30/2010 12:43:28 PM)

Andamans.

[image]local://upfiles/20271/B5FA155F6CEC423C8CCF1D70A8C1F8F1.jpg[/image]



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