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Bullwinkle58 -> RE: Nothing Up My Sleeve: Magical Moose Tricks--Bullwinkle58 vs.1EyedJacks (3/28/2013 2:20:54 PM)
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April 6, 1942
I See You!!!!
Day of jabs and feints.
1) As Operation FUDD gathers steam the need for reliable info about what's up in Burma increases. The Allies have been flying recon from Pt. Blair and elsewhere for weeks, but Rangoon in particular keeps showing up empty. Today Ground bombing missions are mounted, at high altitude, to try to get some intel. Despite some losses it is largely successful.
Blenheims hit Rangoon, lose 4, but see the 7th JAAF Base force. Also a pantload of Oscars. Liberators follow and see 3rd RTA Division there. B-26s hit Prome and find 2nd RTA Division, covered by a small Zero CAP. 46 casualties are inflicted here. I suspect this is the main balance of forces down-country in Burma. The stack at Toungoo is ineffectively night bombed by the RAF, seeing nothing. Regular recon here is all over the board, sometimes 12 LCUs and sometimes 1. Given the amount of Allied recon being done in Burma, the sightings of at least one 5000-man LCU on the roads SW of Chiang Mai, intel that some arty is at Bangkok (transiting?), I suspect Japan senses something is coming due in Burma. The forces at Toungoo, while large, are exposed. It is very possible some is being cheated south towards Rangoon/Pegu. FUDD needs to hurry up, but despite my repeated frantic clicking the transports refuse to go faster. All I can do is try to make the strikes, when they happen, large enough that deception is not the key element.
2) Singers is swept and has low-Oscars sink three MLs on harbor duty. The game here now is fort building and rest. The AV is what it is. No LCUs will be risked to relieve Singers.
3) Palembang is very near Forts 4 with supply well over 100,000 now. The AV is very moderate, however. Given time I plan to insert a US division there, but with PPs being used mostly to shore up Chinese leadership no buy-outs are in the offing.
4) The stack NE of Tsuyung gets 50 bombers in what should become a daily event. Eleven casualties. I'm sure Japan sees the strategic fork here now. The Japanese stack cannot proceed up the road toward Paoshan until this growing Chinese stack is dealt with. Bombing won't get it done. I'm happy with this stalemate for now.
5) In a first for me I manage a Ground bombing attack completely from intel, with no icon showing on the map. Intel recieved that a Recon unit is in open terrain SE of Pontianak on the west coast of Borneo, headed for an open, untaken Dutch base. I order bombers at Batavia to bomb the hex and am rewarded with:
Morning Air attack on 2nd Recon Regiment, at 57,92 , near Pontianak
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 1000 feet
Ground Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb
AND
Morning Air attack on 2nd Recon Regiment, at 57,92 , near Pontianak
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese ground losses:
49 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x LB-30 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
Pin sticks, but nice to know this works. I'm sure it's old hat to most players, but I've never done it before.
6) Lots of bombing at Bataan shows results of lots of supply hits, which are phantoms.
7) Report which could be a sub or could be something real: "PBY-5 Catalina sighting report: 5 Japanese ships at 14,63 near Diego Garcia, speed 10, Moving Southeast." DG is only moderately defended by a base force and an AT unit, plus Cats and B-26s. Forts are 1 and building. If Japan took DG this would be a crimp on the CT--Perth supply train. A re-invasion would be needed out of the wormhole, which would take at least five weeks to mount from CONUS.
8) A dozen bases in Oz and NZ go to Forts 2 all at once. Not a big deal, but it's a little comfort to the Allies in these hard months of 1942.
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