fochinell
Posts: 287
Joined: 11/19/2005 Status: offline
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And now, the things that keep us all awake at night - yes, the stats! Overall AS 3, IND 12 and TERROR 17. This is worse than it seems, as the AS and IND score both went up by one point each on the basis of the Armageddon last turn. Still, I should be able to scrape through the invasion period with only a small amount of targetting cheating (I'm bad about VSITES, but I try and make up for that when OVERLORD kicks in). Allied sorties and losses both rose fractionally this month compared to March, with the sorties up to 58,120 (up 3% from 56,403 in March) and losses roughly static at 3.0% vs 3.2% in March (1865 vs 1706). The biggest change was the drop and the simulatanous proportionate drop in Flak losses from 36.9% to 30.5% in April (630 vs 568), which indicates heavier air fighting than I suspected. I reckon most of that was down to the 30th April turn, however. Axis sorties rose fractionally to 15,070 from 14,371 and losses rose substantially, from 857 to 1207, or from 6% to 8%. Either way, this month represents an improvement for me in attritional terms, although I've still lost ground since the epic attrition from December '43 to February '44 due to the drop in March. Axis ground losses are actually down from 38 to 33, but I think this was distorted by the last turn and the total was pretty low in any case; I should really be using more sweeps to jack that figure up, but they're too expensive. By category, the Axis day fighters have seen heavy 109G6 losses, up from 335 to 500, while 190A losses have declined from 234 to 189, likewise the A8/R8's from 34 to 9. The real joy was seeeing the 190F's rocket up from 29 to 104, while the new types are only just beginning to feed through into the losses, with the first 109K-4 going down on the 30th April, and a total of 16 190D's in the month. The zerstorer losses have risen sharply from 143 to 289, but they're still below the epic level of 318 in December '43. On the other hand, the 43 Ju-88C6a's lost this month represent a record. The Wilde Sau fighters have vanished entirely from the losses this month, while NJG losses have been static (31 in March and 32 in April). On the Allied side, the reduction in raid frequency by BC and the doubling of the sizes of the raids has reduced NF losses, which halve from 32 to 15, while night bomber losses drop fractionally (118 vs 102). I suspect the percentage loss rate is slightly higher than the more frequent raid schedule in March, but it's still low enough to permit the Halifax II to be phased out entirely for the III in 205 Group, and I've cut the tedium of plotting night intruders in half by halving the number of raids I need to cover. Overall bombing results from the heavier raids have still been disappointing, though. Heavy bomber losses have risen 424 to 634, with the main increase in B-17G losses due to a slightly more active 8th AF. Weather has been the real limiting factor, although the mediocre level of operations has allowed me to equip all new units in the 8th AF with the B-17G, with only eight B-24J units remaining in the 2nd Bomb Division. The 15th is in good shape, with plenty of B-24J's in stock and literally hundreds of P-38L's in reserve. Mediums have been unexceptional again - dropping from 292 to 197. The 9th AF Marauders seem to be the beneficiaries, with their losses halving - dropping from 135 to 68, evenly split between B's and G's. RAF Mitchell losses have doubled, from 29 to 46, but the numbers involved are still lower. A-20 losses for the 12th AF are static, 58 vs 58, but the proportion of G's involved rose as the A-20C was streadily replaced. On the fighter side, the P-51D enters the loss statistics with 27 - 22 of which were lost on the 30th April! Otherwise the Spit IX losses are down from 158 to 76 which suprised me, given that the number of Spit IX units has increased with new arrivals and the re-equipment of the Hurricane squadrons. On the other hand, the P-40 losses are also down from a steady level of 51 to 16, which implies the tactical forces (at least in the MTO) haven't been losing too many fighters this month, as the P-40 force has been the same size for months. P-51B losses are up from 47 to 113, but then there are a lot more P-51B units in 2TAF and MAC by the end of the month (15 sqns in 2TAF and 8 sqns in MAC vs 8 and zero in March), which has balanced up the complete re-equipment of the Mustang force in the 8th AF with the D model (thanks to OKL's policy of rest-rest-bloodbath-rest...). P-47D and Mustang III losses are pretty static (218 vs 224 and 13 vs 12 respectively), while the P-38L has doubled (102-215). But I still have around 900 in stock, so that's not a problem.... The good news is that the allied forces are now basically fully-equipped and replacement aircraft can now be completely dedicated to sustaining operational attrition rather than having to equip new units as well. Hopefully this means the weather will now break and the allies can really go on the rampage...
< Message edited by fochinell -- 3/5/2008 3:29:55 PM >
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