31 July 42'

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> 31 July 42'

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31 July 42' - 11/3/2010 6:19:19 PM

Smeulders

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31 July 42'

USAAF Bombers
Opening the turn in tracker gave a rather big surprise, almost all the USAAF bomber units had expanded. Bomber pilots pools were nearly emptied just getting a couple of front line bomber squadrons up to strength, but I can probably pull quite a few competent pilots from training groups.

DEI
The Japanese do a new invasion in the DEI, a naval guard unit occupies a dot hex near Oosthaven, Indian Ocean side. Probably a nice search base for ASW to cover that gap.

Subs
I-6 is hunted by ASW near Auckland, she gets off the first shot and the RAN retaliates with Depth Charges, but neither side gets any hits.
Pickerel gets a dud hit on an xAKL near Sakhalin

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Post #: 241

1-3 August 42' - 11/8/2010 3:39:27 PM

Smeulders

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1-3 August 42'

Burma
A cruiser group bombards Akyab, but does no damage. Japanese forces are moving away, with one unit moving South along the trail to Ramree Island and the regiment returning to the plains. It seems unlikely that Akyab will be counter-attacked by land.

China
The huge stack at Sian is still moving South, and a small vanguard is moving up towards Ankang. This seems like a manoeuvre to take the city before the refugees from Sian have made their way through the woods. Not much I can do against that though, as Ankang is again short of supply. The main blocking force will stay in the mountains North of Ankang, the refugees may or may not get out, if they get eliminated it's not that big a loss, most are woefully understrength anyway.

SW Pac
A small TF is spotted near Luganville. Either my naval search is bad again, or a small raiding force is in the area.

Baker Island
This would be my next target, ships are already moving into position and troops will finish preparing in about a month and a half. LCUs assigned to the operation are few, as I'm guessing Baker is only a lightly-guarded outpost. One RCT, one Raider Bn and a defence Bn will be thrown at the Island. However, this turn a submarine in the hex was beat up by a DD in the hex, so Joseph has at least some interest in the base. In a week a few recon flights should go over the island and I'll know more.

Subs
Gato hits a PC with a dud near Leyte, this is part of an ongoing duel between the ASW-forces and the sub. If I had any working torpedoes the winner would be quite clear though.
Pollack launches dud against a SC near Sakhalin
I-4 approaches a convoy near Tahiti, but is driven off by DD Buchanan before torpedoes are launched.

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Post #: 242

4-5 August 42' - 11/13/2010 11:44:05 PM

Smeulders

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4-5 August 42'

The game was a bit slow the last couple of days, so despite the wait only a 2-day update.

China
It seems like the Sian stack is retreating further into Japanese held territory. Either intel is wrong or he is setting up for a new offensive somewhere else. Sian is still only held by a single unit, most likely a division.

Baker Island
Recon flew over the island today and only 300 infantry were reported. Due to this news the operation has been put on the fast track. The limiting factor on my speed are preparation points for the troops, which are around 65 at the moment. This gives a D-day that is a little over a month away, but if the prep goes up by 2 for a couple of days I can still speed everything up. It also means that I can probably leave the heavy part of the operation behind, the RCT will still be loaded as a floating reserve, but otherwise it will be a minimalistic operation, with only a light surface combat covering force. Even though it will be a small operation I will have to use the majority of my AP to make sure I can land the complete force in a single day.

Operation Basset
The troops for operation Basset are still advancing trough the jungle and seem to be unspotted for the time being. In about 2 days the fastest formation, a British division, will reach a hex next to the dirt track and chances of detection will go up. Recon is hard at work overflying all possible bases in middle and Northern Burma and the garrison for the Northern Jungle remains very small, with some divisions suspected in the plains.

Subs
On the 4th USS Sealion is attacked by SC of Sabang, but to no effect
The 5th finally brings new successes in the sub war, with S-42 torpedoing 2 3800 ton xAKs of Saumlaki. Both of the targets get 2 torpedoes and troop casualties are reported. Only one kill is confirmed, but it is a rare xAK that survives a single torpedo, let alone 2. The sub does get a hit from a depth charge for it's trouble, but damage is very light.
2 other subs also perform admirably, but are thwarted by their torpedoes. USS Pickerel hits a DD and USS Permit a SC.

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Post #: 243

6-7 August 42' - 11/18/2010 11:37:33 PM

Smeulders

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6-7 August 42'

Subs
A couple of calm days, so it's straight to the subs.
USS Pickerel finally gets lucky and sinks xAK Nasusan Maru, a medium sized xAK.
DD ASW harasses some subs stationed of Guam, but not damage of note.

USS Lexington
Is now 3 days out from Pearl Harbour, once she arrives my complete carrier force will be completely upgraded and will carry good planes. With the earlier sinking of Hiryu the American carriers will have a force that could probably stand up to the KB, but I don't feel like forcing the issue yet though.

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Post #: 244

8-10 August 42' - 11/27/2010 2:46:02 PM

Smeulders

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8-10 August 42'

Darwin
The USAAF flew to defend Darwin on the 9th, with decent results. 6 sallies and 5 zeroes got shot down, for the cost of 4 P-40E. The warhawks benefited greatly from their greater firepower and armour as they got damaged in droves, but managed to stay in the air while any zero hit generally went down. On the 10th the zeroes swept Katherine, CAP was up as retaliatory bombing raids were expected and against sweeping zeroes the warhawks performed far worse. The end result of the day was 12-5 in favour of the zeroes. The sweep came in at 17k, CAP was split over 10,15 and 20k.

Burma
A second column has come within 40 miles from the jungle trail and still the advance seems unspotted. Supporting forces have been delayed greatly as they were following a tank regiment, which for some reason seems to be far slower then expected. Other tank units, engineers and artillery all LCU are now moving independently, which meant a reset of progress, but at least they are no longer bound to the slowest unit in the stack.

Subs
I-164 torpedoed HMCS Mirimichi near Tahiti. The minesweeper was part of a Canadian ASW force near the island.

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Post #: 245

11 August 42' - 11/30/2010 12:18:05 PM

Smeulders

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11 August 42'

The game has been patched, database change and all, let's hope we won't regret this. Joseph seems to have run into the problem of the engine change, but as we are playing PDU off he had to produce all planes and engines anyway, so it could have been worse for him. For the Allies there don't seem to be too many problems, at least I haven't noticed any problems with the subs. The loss of some British infantry reinforcements is countered by an increase in 25pdr production, so I'm not complaining. The only slight annoyance so far are the 6pdr AT guns. One of the Australian I corps divisions couldn't be reconstructed due to some brigades having 2pdrs and some 6pdrs, I had nearly assembled enough of the 6pdrs to do the upgrade (and had to stop 2 Indian divisions from accepting replacements to preserve the 6pdrs in the meantime) and now the arrival of the gun has been delayed for 4 months ... leaving me short a couple of guns.

China
The only front active today, a forgotten corps crossed a river straight into a Japanese division .... Strategically insignificant, but a stupid loss none the less.

USA Rifle squad 42
There is one reason this day is significant, the pool of the new rifle squads reached 91 today, meaning I can start upgrading regiments and divisions. Devices might not be as sexy as new plane types, but this does mean the squads improve their anti-soft by 30% and anti-tank by 133%. Ignore these upgrades at your own peril.

Convoy protection
The first Auk and Adroit class minesweepers are arriving for the USN. These have pretty decent range, meaning they make nice convoy escorts. Finally I can start releasing some more destroyers from convoy duty and start fleshing out SCTF groups. The shorter ranged SC can replace the Canadian corvettes for work around the West Coast.

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Post #: 246

Screenshot time - 11/30/2010 9:05:27 PM

Smeulders

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It seems like it has been a while since I sent pictures from the map, so it's time for a small update with images.

The Burma offensive is still under way, the advance elements of the middle column will be reaching the trail in about 5 to 7 days. The Eastern column has had more problems with the rough jungle then anticipated and is thus delayed. Recent recon of Myitkyina does suggest that reinforcements from that direction are very unlikely. In the are of Akyab forces are building, most are there for show or for defending the area, but if I want to I could still find about a division worth of troops there to throw forward. Recon suggest very few Japanese troops in the area. Japanese recon seems very focused on Kalemyo for some reason, fine by me as that means no recon over the trails or Imphal.

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Post #: 247

RE: Screenshot time - 11/30/2010 9:16:52 PM

Smeulders

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The next one is China's Eastern (Northern) Front, the main army that attacked Sian has withdrawn along the large arrow, this might be a prelude to a new attack, but I am quite unsure where the hammer will fall. Changsha is heavily defended and it is easy to move large armies between the 3 bases. Changteh is an option, though with a river crossing and again close to Changsha. An attack near Kweilin is the most likely option, as that base is rather isolated and it would also threaten to cut the Changsha area off from Chungking. A smaller attack is noticed in the far North, it will sweep away the defenders of the dot hex, but will not do much more as there is a large army behind it in the mountains.

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Post #: 248

RE: Screenshot time - 12/2/2010 11:13:34 AM

Smeulders

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So we did run into trouble with the patch, the submarine bug rears it's ugly head. We are backtracking a couple of days to the order phase of 12/08.

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Post #: 249

12-13 August 42' - 12/5/2010 11:17:02 AM

Smeulders

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12-13 August 42'

We redid some turns and are now back on track again

China
Some more battles in the area around Sian destroy a couple of Chinese cops. The units that were routed from Sian are still in the jungle, I obviously made a mistake by all setting them all to follow a single unit as progress is painfully slow.

Burma
Bad news from Sigint, a new division, the 38th, is reported in Lashio, last sighting of this formation was by Sigint in Singapore. This makes 4 Japanese divisional equivalents confirmed in Burma (3 full divisions and one in it's component regiments).
Oscars launch sweeps from the Lashio airfields over Imphal and a Chinese base. The sweep over Imphal was slightly worrying as it might lead to a sighting of my marching troops, but it seems like the DL of the base did not go up.

Subs
USS Pollack gets one DC hit near Den Passer and is retiring to Perth with moderate damage.

< Message edited by Smeulders -- 12/8/2010 2:42:36 PM >

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Post #: 250

14-15 August 42' - 12/8/2010 4:11:42 PM

Smeulders

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14-15 August 42'

China
The attack South from Lanchow consists of 3 divisions, not anything to worry my troops in the mountains. They did rout an observation unit. This attack also means that there are about 3 divisions left to defend Lanchow.

Subs
RO-60 runs into a mine at Luganville.

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Post #: 251

16-17 August 42' - 12/12/2010 9:11:49 PM

Smeulders

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16-17 August 42'

Australia
Zeroes are still sweeping over Darwin, but the task of escorting the bombers has been taken over by Oscars. Every day about 40 fighters and 40 bombers fly to keep the base closed, I'm wondering if this is a good form of training for them, otherwise this seems like a waste of resources.

In North-east Australia a small convoy was sent out to resupply Portland Roads. An RAAF Kittyhawk squadron was set up to provide air cover, but were swamped by a coordinated Japanese attack. 20 zeroes first sweeped the base, taking down 3 Kittyhawks for 2 of their own but also depleting the CAP. The next wave had 20 betties and 20 zeroes, which swept aside the remaining CAP and took down one more Kittyhawk. The Betties then went on to torpedo both xAKL in the convoy, though the combat replay showed the escorting AM being hit. All in all this was a small battle, but it is interesting that such a coordinated strike, complete with fighters set up to sweep ports, was set up for such a small convoy.

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Post #: 252

18-21 August 42' - 12/19/2010 11:21:50 AM

Smeulders

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18-21 August 42'

Burma
The first units have emerged from the jungle in Burma. The 39th Indian division (ex-1st Burma Division) is blocking the road leading to Katha and is being backed up by Chinese formations and Indian brigades. Katha still seems empty and a British division is advancing on the base. Though no action has been taken yet Joseph has informed me that he has sighted the troops. Recon is working overtime to check on any Japanese movements.

In the air Nicks again strafe Akyab to little effect.

China
Air attacks have been switched from the area of Sian to near Changsha.

SW Pacific
Mavis planes attack Luganville twice, the port is targeted, due to a lack of air support I can only keep a patrol squadron active there, so no CAP is present to engage these attacks.

Subs
Pompano is fighting against an ASW group and launches 3 dud attacks in the last 4 days.
Japanese subs have more luck, DD Norman is sunk while hunting I-29 near Noumea.

USS Arizona
USS Arizona leaves Pearl Harbour for the Seattle shipyards. It's the second to last cripple from the Pearl Harbour strike to leave for the West Coast, she still has 47 flotation damage, but no engine damage means the transit will be relatively quick. USS Maryland is the last BB to remain at Hawaii.

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Post #: 253

RE: 16-17 August 42' - 12/19/2010 7:16:07 PM

khyberbill

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quote:

Zeroes are still sweeping over Darwin, but the task of escorting the bombers has been taken over by Oscars. Every day about 40 fighters and 40 bombers fly to keep the base closed, I'm wondering if this is a good form of training for them, otherwise this seems like a waste of resources.

Fenton is a good place to fly LR over Darwin. Right now you should be getting some P40K's and they appear to be a better plane now that they can fly at 20k.

_____________________________

"Its a dog eat dog world Sammy and I am wearing Milkbone underwear" -Norm.

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Post #: 254

RE: 16-17 August 42' - 12/19/2010 10:00:08 PM

Smeulders

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Hey Khyberbill, nice to know people are still reading the AAR, it's a bit slow at the, but I hope Burma and the first attacks in the Pacific will make it a bit more interesting.

So far I've used Katherine for the LRCAP, though it's far from ideal at 4 hexes. I have a unit trying to build Fenton at the moment, but even though both Darwin and Katherine have enough supplies Fenton stays in the red, so this might be slowing construction down.

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Post #: 255

RE: 16-17 August 42' - 12/19/2010 11:18:27 PM

khyberbill

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Try bringing an HQ to Fenton. That usually helps pull in some supplies.

_____________________________

"Its a dog eat dog world Sammy and I am wearing Milkbone underwear" -Norm.

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Post #: 256

RE: 16-17 August 42' - 12/21/2010 8:26:29 AM

Smeulders

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It helps getting the supply requirement up, but as I'm already using the supply draw arrows that shouldn't do that much. It does seem like the supplies are relatively stable around the low level and some building is going on, so it may just work out in the end. Tracker gives a nice history of base building and if that is to be believed the ETA for a level 1 field is about 20 days (at 26% and gaining 4% a day)

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Post #: 257

22-23 August 42' - 12/23/2010 11:57:31 AM

Smeulders

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22-23 August 42'

Burma
More units are arriving, the blocking force is in position, the 18th British has reached Katha and will attack tomorrow. Another 2 Australian and one British Brigade have reached the road and are advancing to Katha as well. It will be interesting to see if Mytikyina will be defended, recon suggest a cavalry or tank regiment present (100 AFV), but very little in the way of infantry or artillery. A division reported at Lashio seems to have moved out as there are only 5000 troops sighted there at the moment, it is possible that these are moving North. Mytkyina does seem to exposed anway now that Katha has fallen, it's only 1.5 jungle hexes between Bhamo and Katha.

SWPac
Mavis planes return to Luganville, again to no effect.

Subs
Subs still seem to be solely interested in ASW forces, Pompano shoots of more duds near Mindanao and I-29 misses a DD near New Caledonia. Both escape retribution.

< Message edited by Smeulders -- 12/26/2010 3:44:49 PM >

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Post #: 258

24-25 August 42' - 12/26/2010 4:00:24 PM

Smeulders

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24-25 August 42'

Burma
All the news from the past 2 days comes from the Burmese front. On the 24th Katha falls and the Eastern column reaches the Katha-Mytkyina road, the advance on Myitkyina has started. Unless reinforced or very heavily fortified the base should fall quickly. Still, a Burmese battalion is moving trough the jungle towards Bhamo. The Chinese have also started moving with 2 divisions, worth some 140 AV.

The second axis of attack would be into the central plains, but I'd rather not move into the open without some air cover closer than Kalemyo. Only Magwe seems adequately defended though, so once some aviation support has moved trough the jungle I might rush towards Shwebo and use that airfield as a forward base for the rest of the offensive. A move into the plains was not planned at the beginning of the offensive, but leaving it until Lashio falls seems like wasting a good opportunity. The lack of airbase building does indicate that Joseph doesn't plan on holding anyway.

There were some air battles over the past couple of days, mainly attacks by the Japanese air force. Bombers are striking Cox's Bazaar and Akyab, my fields closest to the plains, but Akyab is lacking aviation support for a defence. An Oscar sweep over Imphal was disastrous for the attackers, the 3 Hurricane squadrons defending claim 8 Oscars with some more going down with Ops losses. In return only 2 Hurricanes are lost with only 1 pilot being wounded.

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Post #: 259

26-28 August 42' - 1/1/2011 12:59:53 PM

Smeulders

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26-28 August 42'

Burma
A Liberator squadron of the 7th Bomber Group has just arrived in Cape Town and will be shipped over to India to support the Burma front. This is the first squadron of heavy bombers that will arrive in theatre. A complete other Bomber Group is in transit to CT as well, this will make for quite a potent heavy bomber force at the end of 42.

A lot of other air news from Burma, with the USAAF making it's first appearance. Two Warhawk squadrons of the 51st Fighter Group were sent to defend Cox's Bazaar from Sally raids, but due to an unfortunate mistake� they were grounded on the 27th and lost a couple of planes to an unescorted raid which they would have slaughtered had they been in the air. On the 28th they proved their worth though, Oscars swept in 3 waves. The first one, with 33 planes was stopped with 9 Oscars down for 5 P-40E. 4 Lonely planes were then dispatched with 1 shot down for no loss. A final 22 plane raid finally wore down the CAP, but not without losing 2 of their number with only damaged Hawks to show for it. Finally 2 planes were diverted to a bomber raid over Akyab, but both were damaged for little effect. Final results will be in once I get the turn, but it looks good for the Americans.

The Brits had worse luck, after the first successful battle the Oscars swept on the 27th, the first sweep was a victory, but the CAP was seriously weakened giving the second raid an easy time, multiple Hurricanes were shot down for no loss to the attackers. Total results were 14 Hurricanes to all causes, with 7 Oscars shot down + Ops.

China
Air raids in the Changsha area are heavy and the large stacks that left Sian are still unaccounted for. SigInt is also revealing multiple units preparing for Hengyang, a base close to Changsha.
Japanese units are trying to infiltrate everywhere in the South of the country and Chinese units are manoeuvring to counter. In the North 2 small recon corps were routed by a Tank Regiment, the lack of anti-tank capability didn't seem to help.

Darwin
Remains closed down, but nearby bases are building.

Subs
Finally the subs get a couple more kills.
O20 might have become the first ace sub, she hit xAK Kinai Maru in the South China Sea, but the kill is not yet confirmed. This sinking would also put the sub in second place for tonnage.
Seadragon attacks, but misses a destroyer in the vicinity of Truk
Finally, Halibut attacks twice in shallow water near Foochow, the first attack is foiled by duds. In the second attack two torpedoes explode on target and the large xAK Hoeisan Maru is sunk

< Message edited by Smeulders -- 1/5/2011 11:28:15 AM >

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28 August Update - 1/1/2011 11:21:10 PM

Smeulders

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Losses are in and even though only 5 Hawks were lost in the replay I'm down 15 planes due to write-offs and ops losses. Pilot losses are low though and 14 kills are claimed with probably an additional 5 Ops.

For the 29th the Invasion fleet for Baker has started loading at Pago Pago. Unfortunately, the harbour is not in fact big enough to dock all the TFs, so it's still anyone's guess when they will actually set sail. Troops are one RCT, one Raider Bn and one Marine Defence Bn while recon has shown only 500 defenders, let's hope that's accurate.

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Post #: 261

29-30 August 42' - 1/5/2011 12:43:37 PM

Smeulders

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29-30 August 42'

Burma
No more air attacks targeting Indian bases over the past few days, but there was a tactical strike by Nicks and Sallies on the column advancing on Mytkyina. These did little damage beyond slowing down my forces a bit. Mytkyina is being abandoned, but in other locations the Japanese are advancing slightly. A large infantry formation (33rd Div?) is moving towards Shwebo and another large unit, probably 38th division has moved just out of Lashio to cover the road into China. SigInt has confirmed that the 55th Division is still split up, so the main units I have to keep track of are the above 2 divisions, 3 infantry regiments and a couple of cavalry/tank regiments. 5th Division is also nearby, but might still be covering the South against potential amphibious operations.

Airfields in Kalemyo and Cox's Bazaar have both gone up a level, meaning I'm gaining the capability to put a lot of air units quite close to the front if I want to. Unfortunately, Imphal has a temporary shortage of aviation support due to a lot of the units going South, so for the next half a week I'm down one of my main bomber bases.

North Oz
A construction regiment has arrived at Fenton and the base has gone to level 1. It will be interesting to see the reaction to this, will Joseph try to close this base down as well (and risk LRCAP from Katherine?) or will he let me build which would give me a chance to open up Darwin again ? It will only take some 10 days before level 2 is reached if there aren't any attacks.

Baker Invasion
Lots of naval support and amphibious ships allowed the troop ships to load quickly and on the 31st the armada will set off. Supply is running low on Pago Pago as the invasion fleet takes huge amounts of supply with it. D-Day for the landings is the 4th of September.

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Post #: 262

August Overview - 1/6/2011 11:26:25 AM

Smeulders

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August Overview

While the ground forces have not yet made contact with the Japanese it seems like next month is going to be more interesting with the first battles coming up in Burma and the first Allied amphibious attack planned. The main attractions this month were some air battles over India where the IJAAF is going on the offensive.

Theatre by Theatre

Burma
Northern Burma is being easily secured, the Japanese seem to be throwing up a line in the plains and near Lashio. Surprisingly, the IJAAF is going on the attack, trying to sweep and shut down airfields. This is quite surprising, as he would probably need a good part of his Burmese air units to shut down even a single base, while I have several back up bases ready. Overall, results in the air seem to favour the Allied air forces.

China
Some minor attacks encroach on the mountain position in the Sian-Lanchow area, but it seems unlikely this will be the site of a further offensive. Japanese units are trying to infiltrate all along the front in the South. Air attacks are mainly focused on the Changsha area, but whether the goal is to burn supply or preparation for an attack is unclear.

SWPac
Minor skirmishes with limited raids on Luganville

Northern Oz
The Darwin blitz continues unabated, and it may or may not have already passed the 100 day mark. With Fenton being built up I might get into a position to really contest these raids, but I'm starting to wonder whether I should spoil his little game. I'm not planning on using Darwin just yet anyway so if he wants to throw away supplies and planes for little gain, who am I to stop him ? "Never interrupt your opponent when he's making a mistake" as said by wiser man then me.

SPac
Little so far, but the Baker Island invasion force is on it's way.

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Post #: 263

RE: August Overview - 1/6/2011 11:47:16 AM

Smeulders

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Naval Losses

                                Japan                          Allies
DD                                 0                               1
AM                                0                               1
AO                                 1                               0
xAK(L)                            5                               2

Little happening, all sinking were due to subs, except for the Allied xAKL, which were torpedoed by Betties off Cooktown.

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Post #: 264

RE: August Overview - 1/6/2011 12:01:28 PM

Smeulders

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Air Losses

�� Japan�� Allies
Air�� 47�� 34
Flak�� 8�� 0
Ground�� 0�� 2
Ops�� 106�� 61
Total�� 161�� 97

The Allies have overtaken the Japanese in air kills and the huge Japanese ops losses mean there is a large difference in total losses. Losses this month were mainly due to air battles in Burma.

Next month gives the P-40K, a huge step forward for the USAAF in numbers and also quality. I also welcome a few more recon planes in the form of the F-4 Lightning

< Message edited by Smeulders -- 1/10/2011 7:32:40 PM >

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Post #: 265

31 August - 2 September 42' - 1/11/2011 8:56:31 PM

Smeulders

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31 August - 2 September 42'

Burma

Japanese forces have abandoned Mytkyina and Allied forces should arrive in the city on the 3th. About 1 1/2 Division will be moving South to see take at least Bhamo and pin some Japanese that are in front of Lashio. Chinese forces are camping out in the mountains just outside of Burma, they have not yet been bought out, but they might make Joseph nervous.

Akyab remains the target of some occasional bomber raids and the Chinese are under attack as well.

Baker Invasion
They made good progress, but on the 2nd the whole armada got broken up and was split over 3 hexes. All troop convoys had for some reason stopped following the surface cover and were proceeding independently. During all this one convoy got spotted and now orders are for all ships to race to Baker and unload as soon as possible. This will happen on the 3th, though the USAAF BF will stand off one hex and land after the battle has finished.

A zoomed out map, showing how the Western flank of the invasion is covered. I wouldn't be able to fight off a strong counter-attack, but I should be able to see it coming and get out of the way in time.

And a map showing how the invasion fleet got split up. Resistance still seems light, but the army regiment is getting landed to be absolutely sure of a quick conquest. Minesweepers are moving in as well.

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Post #: 266

3rd of September 42' - 1/14/2011 11:06:46 AM

Smeulders

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3rd of September 42'

Baker Island
The invasion was successful and can even be classified as overkill. In the end there was no reason to land the army regiment. The defenders were a single SNLF company, which were already decimated by the cruisers and destroyers in the amphibious groups. Once the shock attack began, the Japanese couldn't muster more than 2AV against 195 from a regiment, raider battalion and defence battalion. The island easily fell.

Next turn the base force will be landed and the infantry regiment re-embarked. In 3, and preferably 2 days I don't want any more targets near the Island.

Burma
In the meantime the Japanese keep their air force busy striking undefended targets, Akyab is getting quite beat up due to a lack of engineers.

On the ground things are still rather quiet. Viper force takes Warazup just North of Mytkyina and that base is also reached by a division and a brigade. No defenders means the base will be mine tomorrow.

Forces are still amassing just in front of the plains, in 3 days the RAF Base forces will arrive and the move towards Shwebo started. Right now defences in the city seem to be about a division. In the spearhead I have the Burmese division, 2 Chinese divisions an Indian and a British brigade, but another British division, 1 British bde and 2 Australian brigades will be right behind.

In other news an Indian brigade has left Akyab and is moving straight through the jungle to possibly threaten the Japanese rear and an extra Indian division (19th) has just finished fitting out and will move to Burma as well.

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Post #: 267

4-6 September 42' - 1/22/2011 11:02:48 PM

Smeulders

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4-7 September 42'

Burma
More ground action on this front, Mytkyina is taken. It doesn't seem like Bhamo to the South will be defended. On the plains the march towards Shwebo is started, about 30,000 Japanese (2 Div+Supporting troops?) are now sighted in the town, but there are indications of a retreat across the river.

More air strikes against various targets, but nothing really important. Katha will reach level 1 today or tomorrow, I'm interested in the response to that.

Baker invasion
The garrison is complete and the infantry regiment has re-embarked, all ships have left the area. The invasion was a complete success, with negligible ground losses and no ships even damaged. Pity that my opponent won't care too much either. As a little bonus nearby Howland Island is auto-captured.

Darwin
Zeroes stop sweeping in support of the daily milk runs, while Fenton is building to level 2. Almost time to give a little sting.

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Post #: 268

8-9 September 42' - 1/28/2011 1:35:56 PM

Smeulders

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8-9 September 42'

After a nice weekend with lots of turn as slower week again, but some interesting things happening on the ground in Burma.

Burma
Time for a rather crowded little map

On the coast a infantry brigade is moving through the jungle in a flanking manoeuvre, while the 7th Armoured brigade will be moving down the coastal trail. A Tank regiment is somewhere on the trail, but it's not that frightening. Together these two should scare the Japanese a little.

The main assault is in the plains, 8 units crowd Shwebo, but together they can't put together more than 30000 men, a large force is advancing to take the town (2200 AV). This could be an early decisive battle in the campaign, if the plains fall, the position near Lashio becomes very dangerous for the Japanese troops left there. Some troops appear to be leaving the town, but these might be engineers and other miscellaneous units, so I'll assume I'll have to fight to take the base. The main problem is the low quality of my troops, about 600 AV are in Burmese and Chinese squads.

In the jungles the situation is rather unclear. A division has advanced into the mountains, but whether these will merely block the Chinese or really try to push them back is uncertain. An offensive would now be rather strange though, with the Commonwealth troops descending from the North. It also seems like the Japanese are holding in Bhamo, only 3 units, but one might be a stronger formation brought up from the South. Air recon should clear this up. There are less than 2 divisional equivalents to clear the road though, so even light resistance might hold me in the jungle. The firepower of my forces is also less than overwhelming, 17th Indian division currently has a very light, air-transportable TOE, this means the only artillery are mountain guns and 3" mortars. I might have to wait for the Japanese to leave because of pressure elsewhere.

Overall the situation still seems good, but SigInt has already spotted an extra division on it's way to Rangoon and there are still quite a few unknowns that might get me into trouble. I have decided to move up extra divisions though. The danger to Ceylon has probably passed by now, which means I'll be taking off 3 divisions, which will be thrown into Burma. These are an Australian division, the elite British brigades off the 70th Division and the nearly rebuilt 20th Indian Division.

In the air raids damage Cox's Bazaar slightly. My coastal airbases aren't doing too well at the moment, but repairs should begin tomorrow at Akyab and I doubt he'll be able to keep both closed when that happens. The time to unleash the RAF (and some USAAF) draws near.

Subs
USS Greenling puts a torpedo in the destroyer Shirayuki. No confirmed kill though.

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10th of September 42' - 1/29/2011 3:57:38 PM

Smeulders

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10th of September 42'

Burma
Bombers returned to Cox's and did some more damage to the field. As it is one of the few within sweep range of Magwe I'll put some CAP up today so it can get repaired a bit.

The division in the mountains turns out to be the 5th, pretty nice as I was sure it was in Burma anyway. They did rout the Chinese but aren't planning on pursuing further.

Bhamo is probably defended by a division and 2 smaller units now, no way I'll break through, so the Indians are standing off one hex. They might retreat to Mytkyina to build forts.

Shwebo is evacuated, one small unit remains. He'd better make a nice line quick in Mandalay. The first units should arrive within a hex tomorrow.

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Post #: 270