RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (Full Version)

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apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/25/2015 1:41:03 AM)

10 Oct 42

In Burma, there is still movement inland from Cox Bazar, and the Imperial Guard is still moving west. The pressure is rising in the Chittagong area, but I think I'll be ok unless there is a huge simultaneous landing at Chittagong.

The big preview today is at Diamond Harbour. I've moved some units in, including a few Indian infantry divisions. More should move in today, and there's more on the rail lines to Calcutta, including the big Chinese corp.

I hope that the enemy does not attack me. My prediction is that they will bombard with artillery to see what is there. That's fine, and gives me a day to reinforce.

The terrain here is clear. This is bad for both of our armies.

I expect Diamond Harbour to be heavily capped. I see about 40 fighters, but I always see far less than what is there when I show up.

I'm coming with everything I have. Multiple fighter squadron sweeps, including my one P38 squadron, now with excellent pilots. P39s flying at 100ft will attack shipping. A couple of naval bomber units will target shipping. Lots of medium bombers will hit the airfield and troops. All of my B17s in the area will do the same. There will be some escort for every assigned target, but of course, that assumes that all of the planes assigned a target, at the same altitude, actually fly at the same time. That rarely happens. Here's to hoping for the best.

I'm also flying some LR CAP over Diamond Harbour to try and protect my troops.

The enemy army here is in big trouble if I can damage the airfield.

The enemy shipping in the area seems to be all small ships. With my troops there now, I expect bigger ships to show up soon.

I have a 5 destroyer task force arriving at Madras. It will make a run into Diamond Harbour as soon as possible. I'm not as afraid of Bettys with just destroyers.

Fun times. Burma is heating up a bit. And the huge preparations in the South Pacific continue. The US fleet comes out of refit in about 12 days. I'll detail my plans when we get closer to kicking it off.

[image]local://upfiles/6549/67B87F360E7F4A1D8416A6A28F268BAA.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/26/2015 12:13:59 AM)

11 Oct 42

Dutch sub KXII hits an xAK between Chittagong and Diamond Harbour. No troops loaded.

Battleships Yamashiro and Fuso bombard my troops at Diamond Harbour. 209 casualties, almost all disabled squads. Not bad. More of my troops moved into the base today. The enemy did not attack with artillery. Apparently they feared my attack just as I feared theirs. That battleship group was seen in the middle of the Bay of Bengal last turn. I think they were hovering there and moved in as soon as my troops showed up. I need to figure out where they are rearming. It isn't Rangoon. I suspect Port Blair or one of the ports on the Burma coast south of Rangoon.

I have a Dutch minelayer that will withdraw in a month. I'm not sure if the mines are put back into the pool if the ship is withdrawn, so I'm sending it on a risky mission to mine Port Blair. The ship is very fast, and can move 11 hexes at full speed, so it just might work. We'll see in a few days.

At Diamond Harbour, my very low level P39s flew on their naval attack mission, escorted by Hurris and with P40Ks there on LR CAP. Losses were heavy. Enemy CAP was 27 Zeros, 42 Oscars, and 12 Tojos. I lost 22 P39s, 1 P40K, and 1 Hurri. Enemy losses were 4 Oscars, 3 Zeros, and 2 Tojos. But I hit one patrol boat and it was sunk! Oh well.

To mix things up, I'm going with a maximum effort at Cox Bazar today. I see about 30 fighters there. I suspect that some or all of these are flying LR CAP at Diamond Harbour. Time to find out. If my planes actually fly. Lots of bad weather lately.




apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/28/2015 12:08:13 AM)

12 Oct 42

P38Fs sweep Cox Bazar, and do a decent job. 5 are lost, but take down 8 Zeros. Better pilots make a huge difference. And the fact that there weren't more enemy planes. Some B25s and B26s hit the airfield, and do decent damage. No enemy planes are lost on the ground, unfortunately. Hopefully I can keep the enemy a little more dispersed with his CAP.

At Butuan, that base on the northern coast of Mindanao that I snuck a small unit into and captured, along with about 800 supply, enemy bombers show up and hit my small unit. Being a clear terrain hex, the unit is effectively eliminated. Every squad is disabled. But it got his attention, and the small windfall of supply was appreciated by my starving troops in the mountains.

B17s from Ndeni bomb Nauru, hitting the airfield, port, and troops. Defending is the 83rd Naval Guard unit and a CB unit, and there is no CAP. Minor damage is done to all targets. I return again today.

At Bandoeng, my mountain fortress on Java, the enemy has now deliberately attacked 2 days in a row. I thought that I could hold given the troops involved, but it appears not to be. Today's attack went at 1 to 2, and lowered the fort to 1. And for the 2nd day in a row, the Dutch take way more casualties than the Japanese. And this is why the attacks will continue.

Japanese ground losses:
916 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 72 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Vehicles lost 54 (6 destroyed, 48 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1669 casualties reported
Squads: 47 destroyed, 80 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 25 (6 destroyed, 19 disabled)

My troops still have lots of supply, but they are being destroyed. I can do nothing but praise the Dutch defense here, though. It's October 1942 and they still hold a base on Java, and do so with ample supply! These are the enemy units that have been tied down here for months, not counting the single units almost all around the base:

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Regiment
65th Brigade
8th Tank Regiment
48th Division
2nd Engineer Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/28/2015 9:28:29 PM)

13 Oct 42

9 hexes southwest of Diamond Harbour, out in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, US sub S-39 spots an AO task force, but is spotted before lining anything up. Wow. For months, months ago, the enemy had ships lurking out here. Carriers back then. Not sure if there are carriers now, I think not, but there's some need for AO's here. My guess is that his Diamond Harbour bombardment forces are topping off the tanks here before running in.

I have more troops there, now. He hasn't done a probe bombardment, and neither have I. I think that I am weaker than he fears. I am waiting for the big Chinese corp to get here, then I'll probe and then hopefully attack. The Chinese unit just arrived at Calcutta in Strat mode, so it will be about a week till it gets to Diamond Harbour.

I have to time any real attack at Diamond Harbour with not being simultaneous with an enemy ship bombardment.

I did no air combat in India or Burma today.

B17s from Ndeni again hit Nauru Island. Sending a message that I am looking this way. All of the bombers then deployed to Australia to rest up for the big ops coming soon.

In the shallows near the entrance to Balikpapan, Dutch sub KXIV torpedoes minelayer Hatsutaka. The sub has been looking for tankers for ages here, but hasn't even seen any. I don't think that Balikpapan is even being used for fuel transport. But I'll take the minelayer! Always nice to remove one of those.

A funny thing has happened in the Borneo and Philippine areas. Since taking an unoccupied Butuan on Mindanao with a starving tiny unit, bombers have shown up in both of these areas, and are hitting my long isolated units. At least 3 bomber groups are involved now, hitting meaningless tiny and starving units.

There was no enemy attack at Bandoeng on Java today. A day of rest before the inevitable attacks continue. The end is near here, despite the ample supply saved up.




jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/29/2015 5:03:36 PM)

What kind of escorts does he have for the AO in the Bay of Bengal? I wonder if you could engage them with, say, a couple of destroyers or is there just no chance to pull that off safely?



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/29/2015 8:51:42 PM)

jwolf, it is tempting to try something like that. I have 5 destroyers that were near Madras, preparing to run into Diamond Harbour. Because they can sprint 10 hexes, I moved them just one hex out of Viz (I think), but they were spotted there last turn. So this turn they ran to port to hide. The enemy shipping in the Bay of Bengal disappeared, and high detection levels were seen west of Rangoon, so I think the shipping pulled back. Port Blair was successfully mined by the one very fast CM though.


14 Oct 42

My small unit at Butuan was completely destroyed by air attack. The Agusan Constab Battalion was a brave unit, and acquired a couple of weeks supply for the army, but sacrificed itself to do so.

Bandoeng on Java is deliberately attacked. Again, a 1 to 2 attack. Forts stay at 1. Casualties were:

Japanese ground losses:
1092 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1936 casualties reported
Squads: 58 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 20 destroyed, 44 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 23 (8 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Units destroyed 1


So it is obvious that the Dutch will not survive much longer. At least they are taking a heavy toll on the enemy, even if it is almost all disabled units. It'll keep the enemy units out of any other actions for at least a month, I figure.

I got some good SigInt today:

1st Division is at Port Moresby. valuable intelligence to know that a whole division is here.

3 Tank Regiment and 10 Ind Mtn Gun is at Katha. These units are not moving.

2 Raid Regiment is at 55,43 which is just inland from Cox Bazar. Good to know that it isn't at a base, where it is a para threat. 9 Tank regiment is there also, and I know that the 1st Armored Division is here, or just one hex further inland. I still fear an armored push up the coast road.

Other than that, still waiting for US Navy refits to end. Lots of units on the move moving to embarkation ports for the next offensive. Coming "soon".




apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/30/2015 12:30:31 AM)

15 Oct 42

Lots of detection levels now out in the Bay of Bengal, and closer to Rangoon. Lots of activity out there, but nothing spotted today.

At Diamond Harbour, I try my first artillery attack, and it doesn't go too well:

Ground combat at Diamond Harbour (52,38)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 26314 troops, 569 guns, 614 vehicles, Assault Value = 1458

Defending force 38277 troops, 400 guns, 264 vehicles, Assault Value = 983

Japanese ground losses:
128 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
176 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 18 (3 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
7th Indian Division
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
7th Armoured Brigade
19th Indian Division
11th Indian Division
18th Australian Brigade
Waziristan Division
94th Coast AA Regiment
6th Medium Regiment
XV Indian Corps
2/9th Fld RAA Regiment
2/11th Fld RAA Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
Burma Corps
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
18th Division
5th Division
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
10th RF Gun Battalion
39th Field Const Co
25th Army
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Port Unit
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
91st JAAF AF Bn
11th RF Gun Battalion
27th JAAF AF Bn
92nd JAAF AF Bn

The 2 infantry divisions he has there just moved from Calcutta. He does have a lot of artillery. It'll be about 5 days until the big Chinese corp arrives. I expect to get a big naval bombardment very soon. And the enemy CAP is still at Diamond Harbour, so he doesn't expect me to attack and win right away.

I will grind down the enemy units here. I'm using mostly restricted Indian units, so the losses will be more acceptable.





BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/30/2015 1:39:47 AM)

Any chance he will get low on supply at Diamond Harbour? In that situation the right thing would be to continue the bombardments.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/30/2015 1:45:18 AM)

That sounds like a good approach, and the longer you force him to commit shipping in the area the more chance for some serious losses for the IJN, even if it's just commercial shipping.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/30/2015 4:10:23 AM)

So far, he's been moving ships into and out of Diamond Harbour freely. Once I gave up trying to keep the airfield shut down, he's been bringing in ships regularly. He started with 5 divisions at Calcutta. Now I move into Diamond Harbour, and the only 2 divisions left are the 2 that just left Calcutta. He's successfully evacuated the rest, along with all of the armor he brought originally. And the Southern Army HQ. I decided from the beginning not to commit carriers to the region, and because of that, he's had control of the Bay of Bengal. His bombardment groups run in and run out, giving me no chance at bombing them from land based air.

But that's all ok. I decided to concentrate elsewhere. He's spent many months with all of these troops here doing nothing, and spent the past few months evacuating them. All time wasted, in my opinion.

When my big Chinese corp arrives, I will attack. Unless it goes just absolutely terribly for me, I will keep attacking and eventually eliminate his units here. I don't think he can do a big last-ditch evacuation. If I'm given an opportunity, I will again try a maximum air effort against the Diamond Harbour airfield too.

I am about to lay some sub mines at Diamond Harbour.




apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/31/2015 1:05:10 AM)

16 Oct 42

And out of the middle of the Bay of Bengal comes multiple battleships. Hyuga, Ise, and Nagato, with 6 destroyers, bombard my troops at Diamond Harbour. 376 casualties listed, almost everything disrupted, not destroyed. This isn't a problem unless he does this exactly when I deliberate attack. The big Chinese corp, with almost 700 AV, is starting to move from Calcutta to Diamond Harbour now. I attack in a few days.

At Diamond Harbour, minelaying sub O19 slips in, lays the mines, and gets spotted by the battleship task force. Just minor damage done. Let's hope that a few of those mines are found soon.

At Cebu, in the Philippines, an invasion task force appears. Cebu has a sizable Allied garrison, and it has stayed in supply all of this time, barely, with its local production.

Part or all of an enemy infantry regiment is unloading. This won't be enough to take the island. Curiously, I don't see the enemy troop icon on the map, but I know that it didn't completely fail in the invasion. It's there. I know this because I can attack it. And I do, setting up a shock attack for tomorrow. Might as well give it a try now. To wait is just to wait for the enemy to bring enough to win the fight.

At Bandoeng, on Java, another massive deliberate attack on my mountain stronghold. Casualties are high for both sides, higher for the Dutch. The Dutch are losing but they are making it hurt. The enemy armor units are taking a beating.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24370 troops, 269 guns, 248 vehicles, Assault Value = 681

Defending force 10929 troops, 108 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 173

Japanese adjusted assault: 239

Allied adjusted defense: 346

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
598 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 62 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 31 (14 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1150 casualties reported
Squads: 35 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 29 (9 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)


In the buildup to my next big op, the vast majority of the US fleet will come out of refit in 5 days, including carriers. The 2 exceptions are Saratoga and Lexington, which are lagging a bit and not repairing each and every day, probably due to the crowded conditions at Auckland's port. They show 8 and 9 days to go. I expect it to really be about 2 weeks left. It's taking about 2 months to set this operation up. I hope that I enjoy the actual operation as much as I've enjoyed the preparation.



jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (8/31/2015 1:50:09 AM)

Can't wait to see our op unfold! Good luck!

It's amazing to see the Dutch fight on into October!



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/1/2015 11:45:26 PM)

17 Oct 42

Ships spotted out in the Bay of Bengal, again.

More enemy troops land at Cebu. The rest of the infantry regiment landed, I think. I shock attacked. It failed due to terrain. Casualties were fairly even with my 1 to 2 attack. I'll have to just defend now and wait for the inevitable reinforced attack.

I bombed Port Blair's airfield with LB-30's Madras, just to be a nuisance. No hits achieved.

I noticed from SigInt that there is an enemy construction unit on Great Nicobar, in the Andamans. More evidence that my opponent has gone defensive. I have really long range plans for the Andamans. It appears that they won't be empty.

Repairs from refit for my US carriers have slowed at Auckland. Too many ships in too small of a port.

I have more troops arriving in the Aleutians. Some arrive at Ulak, near Adak, today. My shipping is being spotted, by Glen subs mostly, and search from Attu. I'm feeding in units a little at a time, minimising the risk.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 1:30:30 AM)

18 Oct 42

I have a couple of troop transport task forces in the Aleutians. One is unloading at Ulak, near Adak. The other will be unloading at Atka, east of Adak. I-8 spots a task force, but only sees destroyer Farragut. Torpedoes miss and so do all the depth charges.

On Mindanao, I was moving a tiny fragment of a base force to Butuan on the north coast, hoping to evacuate it by sub. Unfortunately, the small infantry unit that I had moved there got obliterated by bombers, and the base flipped back to the enemy. I have another small infantry unit on the way from Malaybalay, but it gets bombed every day, and movement is very small in combat mode. The base force fragment will get to the coast ahead of the infanty, and has no combat value, so the base won't flip back to me. Then the base force may get bombed and obliterated. It's a fun exercise though. It would be awesome to save a unit from the Philippines at this late date.

Cebu is bombed. I got SigInt that the 4th Infantry Division is loaded on ships at Basilan. Basilan is adjacent to Zamboanga, at the western tip of Mindanao. I suspect this division is headed to Cebu to finish it off.

My big Chinese corp at Calcutta will move to Diamond Harbour today. Then everything attacks. Probably with an all-out air effort. And we know how well that has worked in the past. But we will try again.






BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 2:05:35 AM)

I believe fast transport or sub TFs can "Pick up troops" at any coastline hex that is not red/impassible. Your troops do not need to get to a base hex.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 3:12:35 AM)

I don't know. Seems like the only sub transport I have done was at a base, and the ground unit to be picked up had to be in "Strat" mode. I've never tried from a non-base hex. Not sure how I feel about doing that, if it is possible.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 4:06:01 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I don't know. Seems like the only sub transport I have done was at a base, and the ground unit to be picked up had to be in "Strat" mode. I've never tried from a non-base hex. Not sure how I feel about doing that, if it is possible.

It is NOT gamey if you do it only for a beat-up unit that is cut off with no chance of a retreat to safety otherwise. You can rescue troops like that with a patrol plane, so why not with ships? It is also historical that people were picked up from shore rather than a base hex. You can even do an amphib landing at a non-base hex, but there are some penalties for that.



HansBolter -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 11:36:47 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy


quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I don't know. Seems like the only sub transport I have done was at a base, and the ground unit to be picked up had to be in "Strat" mode. I've never tried from a non-base hex. Not sure how I feel about doing that, if it is possible.

It is NOT gamey if you do it only for a beat-up unit that is cut off with no chance of a retreat to safety otherwise. You can rescue troops like that with a patrol plane, so why not with ships? It is also historical that people were picked up from shore rather than a base hex. You can even do an amphib landing at a non-base hex, but there are some penalties for that.


+1 This tactic, labeled "Evacuation" in the manual is a basic function of Fast Transport and Submarine Transport task forces.

It's not gamey. It was built into the game design for a reason.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/3/2015 1:50:56 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: HansBolter


quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy


quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I don't know. Seems like the only sub transport I have done was at a base, and the ground unit to be picked up had to be in "Strat" mode. I've never tried from a non-base hex. Not sure how I feel about doing that, if it is possible.

It is NOT gamey if you do it only for a beat-up unit that is cut off with no chance of a retreat to safety otherwise. You can rescue troops like that with a patrol plane, so why not with ships? It is also historical that people were picked up from shore rather than a base hex. You can even do an amphib landing at a non-base hex, but there are some penalties for that.


+1 This tactic, labeled "Evacuation" in the manual is a basic function of Fast Transport and Submarine Transport task forces.

It's not gamey. It was built into the game design for a reason.

Thanks for finding that in the manual HansB. The key is that you need to use the "Pick Up Troops" command after you choose troop transport. This will enable you to retrieve from any good coastal hex.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/5/2015 11:49:00 PM)

19 Oct 42

There had been an enemy sub hanging around the Australian coast, just north of Brisbane, where the coast juts out furthest east. I sent a couple of Australian PC's out to hunt for it. I don't want to make a major effort here, but I will be using the east coast more and more, so it would be nice to send a message here and now.

Sub attack near Fraser Island at 98,156

Japanese Ships
SS I-171

Allied Ships
PC Wilcannia, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PC Yandra


Message received. :( Send more and better ASW next time!

At Cebu, there's a fresh enemy landing of troops. The defending troops are heavily bombed also. My obligatory bombardment here shows that the new units are the 10th Garrison Unit and the 1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment. They join the 33rd Infantry Regiment. Garrison units generally aren't very good, so maybe Cebu will hold awhile longer.

In the Aleutians, more Allied units are unloading here and there.

And finally, at Diamond Harbour, the big Chinese corp arrives. All Allied units are set for a deliberate attack. I'm making a maximum air effort. I have sweepers, medium bombers at 9k targeting the enemy ground troops, and heavy bombers at 10k targeting the airfield. I have escorts for the bombers. Maybe some of them will actually escort. I'm hoping for a decent result here. Either way, I'm determined to clean up Diamond Harbour.

Oh, and in Burma, a single enemy unit has moved north on the road from Cox Bazar. I don't know what that unit is yet. I have a good Brit infantry division here, in the jungle, with 2 forts. There's also a small cavalry unit of some kind. I should hold here with the Brits. From the rear, I'm starting to move a big armored unit to Chittagong and then to this hex. By the time it gets to Chittagong, I will know if it is needed in the jungle.

Turns have slowed a bit, with my opponent having a busy schedule. I'm not willing to spill the beans on my planned big operation coming up, but it won't be too long. It should start moving in a couple of weeks.




apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/8/2015 12:51:06 AM)

20 Oct 42

Oh no. My troops at Diamond Harbour get bombarded by 4 cruisers and a few destroyers. 149 casualties, but what I fear is the disruption. I am attacking today! This could be bad...

In the morning, my air attacks start, and things couldn't have gone better. Sweepers sweep, escorts escort, and bombers bomb. And all in the "right" order. Awesome. P40Ks hold their own in the initial sweep against 36 Oscars and 12 Tojos. Then P38Fs do a great job sweeping against 21 Oscars and 9 Tojos. Using the best pilots makes all the difference. Finally, P40Es sweep, and more enemy are lost than friendly. Nice when a plan works!

Then my bombers start, and there are just a few enemy fighters left on CAP. Medium bombers hit the ground troops. Heavies hit the airfield. All goes well.

Finally, my deliberate attack occurs at Diamond Harbour. I avoid posting combat results, but this one is significant:

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 60730 troops, 752 guns, 767 vehicles, Assault Value = 2129

Defending force 37775 troops, 400 guns, 264 vehicles, Assault Value = 960

Allied adjusted assault: 1838

Japanese adjusted defense: 625

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2948 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 224 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 59 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 33 disabled
Guns lost 47 (4 destroyed, 43 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2594 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 231 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Guns lost 85 (4 destroyed, 81 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)


Hurrah! I just missed a 3 to 1 attack, but I'm very happy with this one. Losses were heavy for both sides, with mostly disablements for both sides. The difference is that the enemy is trapped at Diamond Harbour, and all of his troops will be lost . My troops will recover, and many of my units are restricted to India anyhow.

I'm very happy. I may attack again immediatley, or I may bombard and rest a bit. Depends what my fatigue and disruption looks like.

Also worth noting is that it appears that his bombardment task force remained at Diamond Harbour. If only I had my naval bombers set! But I couldn't have expected to dominate the air so quickly and decisively, not after the previous failures here. I expect his ships to flee, but I'll get some naval bombers ready just in case.





SqzMyLemon -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/8/2015 9:19:38 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I'm very happy. I may attack again immediately, or I may bombard and rest a bit. Depends what my fatigue and disruption looks like.


I always get nervous with these follow up attacks. Everything can look good on paper, then you run the turn and your units are trashed for some reason or other that you didn't think of. Being my own jaded self [:D], I'd recommend waiting until you can rule out disruption or fatigue ruining your day.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/8/2015 10:20:48 PM)

21 Oct 42

Enemy troops continue to unload at Cebu. My troops are low on supply but should still put up a good fight, considering their strength. The enemy artillery attack does eliminate a fragment of a port engineer unit. The rest of this unit was evacuated by Catalinas at the beginning of the war and is in Australia. All that remained was a radar set, I think. Now the saved unit can be filled out.

My medium bombers hit ground troops again at Diamond Harbour, doing good damage. Enemy CAP is light. Most planes are either damaged or withdrawn to Burma. I do another deliberate attack, and get good results again. Another 2 to 1 attack and forts are reduced to 2. 1864 Japanese casualties, and we're starting to get some destroyed squads. 1510 friendly casualties, and almost all are disablements. Here is a list of enemy units about to be destroyed at Diamond Harbour:

18th Division
5th Division
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
25th Army
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th RF Gun Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Port Unit
27th JAAF AF Bn
91st JAAF AF Bn
10th RF Gun Battalion
39th Field Const Co
92nd JAAF AF Bn

The infantry divisions were near full strength at the beginning. There were lots of artillery here, but it's possible that fragments of all units have been taken to Burma. Regardless, this will be a major loss to the Japanese. I will make a summary of the Diamond Harbour/Calcutta battle when it ends. It was interesting.

I will look at disruption and fatigue and decide whether to rest a day or two.

In the South Pacific, most US naval units are within 3 days of completing refit. The exceptions are 2 US carriers that are lagging, still showing 9 or 10 days of repair to go. I have too many ships at Auckland at once. When the bulk of the ships finish, I expect the 2 carriers to speed up repair.




jwolf -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/9/2015 12:43:06 AM)

Assuming you bag all those Japanese units, as seems likely, that should put them firmly on the defensive in this theater. Is there any longer a possibility of him making a successful withdrawal by ship? Or maybe just fragments by plane or sub?



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/9/2015 12:56:08 AM)

I've shut down Diamond Harbour's airfield, so I seriously doubt any more ships are coming. There are no enemy planes there now. All have been withdrawn.

The original Japanese invasion at Diamond Harbour had 5 infantry divisions, a few armor units, the Southern HQ, plus lots of support units. All of the armor, the HQ, and as many as half of the support units were picked up by ships and/or air transport and evacuated already. The two infantry divisions were the ones holding Calcutta while the rest evacuated from Diamond Harbour. So, there won't be much more evacuated.

This turn, I decided to rest at Diamond Harbour. My medium bombers will continue to hit the enemy ground units.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/9/2015 1:01:00 AM)

What kind of weather do you let your bombers fly in - both target and departure airfield? I have been standing mine down in Severe Storms, Medium and Heavy Rain, Heavy Cloud, Extreme Overcast and sometimes just Overcast. Do you just set them to strike and let the AI decide whether to go or no? If so, what kind of ops losses do you get?
When I do the stand-downs, ops losses are much lower, but so are the number of strikes per month!



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/9/2015 1:10:52 AM)


BBfanboy, I let my bombers fly in any weather, and I let the AI decide if they go or not. Bad weather seems pretty common. I don't find my ops losses to be terrible. The only exception is transports. They seem to have a very high ops loss rate flying to China. I let them fly for a few days and then rest them. This helps.

If I do have bombers flying, though, I do monitor how ready they are the next day. So I don't fly them day after day, usually.



Additional Note for Today:

I got a really strange SigInt. Activity at 72, 201.

This is 22 hexes SSW of Hobart. That's 880km. This is 2 hexes from the southern map edge. I don't know how far it is from Hobart to Antartica, but this is a long way south.

What could this be?

The answer, I think, is probably nothing.

But what if? I do think that it is possible to send a task force from Java around the western part of Australia, then pass far to the south of Australia. All it would take is enough tanker support.

If there is something down there, what is it doing? Nothing leaves the southern map edge, so I don't think that it could be raiders looking for ships from CapeTown. Or a sub.

Now for my super paranoid feeling. This could be a backdoor raid on New Zealand, specifically Auckland. I've had many, many ships there for quite awhile. That hasn't gone unnoticed.

Could KB really make that far of a trip though? It has been missing for a long time. Unless the carriers in the Aleutians a few weeks ago were part of KB.

Anyhow, the Antartic whaling fleet is on alert. I'm sending a few destroyers and long range AM's out from Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland. They'll set up picket duty to the west of New Zealand and in the gap between New Zealand and Australia.

I know, it's probably a crazy overreaction. I don't use pickets blindly, but if I have a spotting or SigInt that something may be out there, it's reasonable to send some ships to look.

I've also moved some search capability to the southern part of New Zealand.

It's nuts, I know, but if I've thought about such a plan in the past, I'm not the only one. If my carriers were in a port, it would certainly be worth trying. Maybe.



BBfanboy -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/9/2015 4:39:48 AM)

I've only seen IJN ships go down there hunting for convoys coming from CT on a very southerly route to NZ or Oz.
But most often it is just bad Sigint. If you have a small ship to spare to check it out, go ahead but I wouldn't make any big effort unless there is a second Sigint hit in that region within a few days.



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/10/2015 2:53:34 AM)

22 Oct 42

At Cebu, my artillery attack is actually effective, causing 173 casualties. Not bad for being low on supply.

At Diamond Harbour, my mediums bomb again, after a sweep by P-43s. 7 Zeros are on CAP, and it looks like they were LR CAP. A few are lost on each side. Bombers were effective. I do an artillery attack and rest the infantry. I will deliberate attack tomorrow.

In the jungle east of Cox Bazar, the Imperial Guard Division crushes the small unit 4th Assam Rifles Battalion. All that is left now is a thin line of defense between the enemy and the open plains, and Chittagong. But my line is better defended than my forward defenses were. With the fighting at Diamond Harbour coming to a close fairly soon, I will have a huge air force ready to contribute to any threats coming out of the jungle into India.


[image]local://upfiles/6549/5C6ECDA8FBDC42B8B56523F56E7DFDC0.gif[/image]



apbarog -> RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28 (9/11/2015 12:46:20 AM)

23 Oct 42

US sub S-23 spots a task force with an AO out in the Bay of Bengal, about 9 hexes southwest of Diamond Harbour. Then S-39 spots a task force with battleship Fuso and escorts nearby. There is no doubt that it is headed to Diamond Harbour. The question is whether it will continue on to bombard the base, because....

Diamond Harbour has been recaptured!

The Allies got a 5 to 1 attack and recaptured the base. 3 Tojos and 5 Oscars are destroyed on the ground. Japanese casualties are just under 5000, and no units surrender or are destroyed, so there's plenty more prisoners to take. Today I rest, though, and just bombard with artillery. Less risk with the expected battleship bombardment coming.

Next to Kohima, in the jungles near the India/Burma border, an enemy regiment and SNFL unit defeat the 13th Burma Rifles Battalion. Kohima is defended. With the push by the Imperial Guard Division to the west, we'll now see if the Japanese plan is an active defense or a full blown offensive.

With a bunch of units about to be freed up at Diamond Harbour, I feel a lot better about my chances of holding the Indian frontier.

In the South Pacific, all US ships except Lexington and Saratoga come out of refit at Auckland tomorrow. They will move to assembly areas for the next phase of the war.



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