Local Yokel
Posts: 1494
Joined: 2/4/2007
From: Somerset, U.K.
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The wide Pacific sea:
I now know that Jonathan’s next objective was indeed the Lower Solomons, and that he had amassed a force of about six divisions for this purpose, with Guadalcanal and Rennell Island as the initial invasion targets. Rennell would have fallen fairly easily, being defended only by a small IJN base force and NLF with a combined AV of about 40, sitting behind level 4 forts. Lunga and Tulagi would have been a different proposition, as each was defended by the equivalent of a full division in level 9 forts with ample air support based further up the Solomons chain at Shortlands and Buin/Kahili. The job of the Guadalcanal defenders was to hold on long enough to allow reinforcement by elements of the Central Pacific strategic reserve, based at Truk and built around the Imperial Guards and 38th Infantry Divisions with the support of Yamashita’s 10th Area Army. I had ample lift available at Truk for this reserve, and indeed the Guards Division was actually at sea when the game ended, as I had anticipated a Solomons landing taking place in the near future (as noted in previous posts). In addition to the strategic reserve I had another 5 divisions garrisoning Pacific bases that I could have called forward at short notice, so that, in terms of ground force strength, I had the potential to create a stalemate in the Lower Solomons provided I could get the reinforcements ashore.
That, of course, is the big proviso, and the outcome was going to depend upon who ultimately established control of the waters around the Lower Solomons. To this fight Jonathan was bringing 5 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers (I assume Independence class) and an indeterminate number of CVE’s. In battle line terms I expected him to have available most of the standard battleships (having only disposed of two in the initial attack on Pearl Harbor), together with all the North Carolinas and South Dakotas – a substantial force with which to reckon!
Against this I could bring to bear the six or sometimes seven fleet carriers of 1 Koku Kantai. For the foreseeable future only six fleet CV’s would be on immediate call, as I was rotating one fleet carrier at a time back to Japan for flak upgrades, although, as it happened, all seven CV’s were in the Nan’yo at the time the game ended.
Having felt the punishing effect of a battleship bombardment of Noumea, I was determined to deny the Allies a repeat of this success if I could. I was equally determined to find a way in which my super-battleships Yamato and Musashi could be used to good effect before their practical emasculation by Allied naval air power. This was what lay behind the plan I conceived and christened Odachi-go (Operation Great Sword), which positioned the two behemoths, with a brace of Kongo fast BB’s in support, within one day’s steaming of the Lower Solomons and the anticipated targets at Lunga/Tulagi. The four battleships were to be supported by a division of my most capable radar-equipped destroyers from the Yasen Butai for maximum night-fighting efficacy and commanded by R Adm Tanaka. With only 8 ships in the Odachi force I was confident that both Yamato BBs would come into action and I eagerly awaited the opportunity to confront an Allied bombardment force in Savo Sound.
To oppose a landing in the Lower Solomons I had deployed 5 groups of torpedo-capable land attack planes at Kahili on Bougainville and Vunakanau near Rabaul, with a further three groups (+ 1 group of Shinzan 4-engined bombers) in reserve at Takeshima in the Truk archipelago and another three in the Mandates. I could have done with some more Model 22 Zero units as escorts for these, but there was no shortage of Raiden interceptors at Solomon bases to fend off Allied carrier air attacks and cover the Odachi-go force. A sentai of Type 2 Shoki was en route to Darwin as a potential replacement for the No.2 Detachment of the Genzan Ku, which could have then redeployed to the Pacific and raised to five the number of Reisen groups available between Truk and the Solomons.
Against this, I am aware that Jonathan had large numbers of 4-engined bombers deployed to the New Hebrides, from which he made repeated efforts to shut down the level 4 airfield at Lunga with only limited success, as I had a large contingent of engineers beavering away at repairs there. He was also developing airstrips on Vanikoro with a view to flying P-38 operations over Lunga, which is just within their range. I suspect he may not have appreciated that he needed a level 2 airfield in order to fly offensive operations such as sweeps, so initially his P-38s could only have attempted LRCAP operations over Lunga at extreme range. I should have been pleased to meet such incursions with my Raiden and expected to get the better of such encounters, the more so since the Americans would have been going up against units of the elite Tainan Air Group.
One other factor going into the mix was my minelaying effort. I have previously mentioned my plan to conduct a ‘smoke and mirrors’ exercise in the Gilberts and Marshalls, attempting to compel my opponent to prepare full divisions for atoll assaults for which, in reality, a more modest force would more than suffice. On the other hand I had a couple of islands on the west side of the Marshalls prepared to meet a divisional-scale assault, but in this case I had added mines to the defensive mix with a vengeance, having laid in excess of 15,000 at each of these two bases - though with this size of minefield the attrition rate was severe! In CHS you get three auxiliary minelayers, each capable of laying 500 mines at a time. Used together and with the assistance of some lower capacity regular minelayers it becomes practical to put down a field of 2000 mines per night, and I was in the process of liberally strewing the waters around Guadalcanal and Florida Island with these little beauties when the game ended. I suspect that, as off Sabang and Port Blair, the invaders were going to pay a big penalty when they ran into these fields.
Unfortunately we are not now going to find out how effective these Japanese preparations would have been. For my part, Lunga was an objective to be defended to the utmost, because its airfields in Allied hands would have largely unhinged a Japanese defence of the remainder of the Solomon chain, and by extension led to the reduction of Rabaul and breach of the Bismarck barrier. Beyond this the way up New Guinea’s north shore lay clear – there wasn’t a single Japanese unit between Lae and the Moluccas bar a sound detector and 5 aviation support squads at Hollandia! Once through the Bismarcks the Allies were to be allowed a clear run westward until they bumped the next defensive complex at Morotai-Galeia-Weda which was in an advanced state of development when the game ended. There wasn’t much to oppose him in the Western Carolines either, though I should have made some effort to keep him out of the decent harbour at Ulithi. Before then, however, there was deadly work to be done at Guadalcanal, at the outcome of which we can now only guess. My suspicion is that even if the Allies had succeeded there, they would have paid a very high price for their gains, as I think I had given the Japanese a sporting chance of holding out in the short term at least.
To give some further idea of naval force dispositions in the Nan’yo at the game’s end I have attached an image of the Solomons area.
 Attachment (1)
< Message edited by Local Yokel -- 9/12/2010 5:27:26 PM >
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RE: Nanshin! or the ramblings of Local Yokel: July 1943 - 
so I am catching up here. Congrats on your victory - yours is a hard act to follow! Both sides in this conflict have been precoccupied with other things such as weddings, so progress has been slow, but we are still going forward. 
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