Speedysteve
Posts: 15998
Joined: 9/11/2001
From: Reading, England
Status: offline
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Morning all,
Thanks for the comments guys.
Let's discuss.
witpqs: I've oodles of airpower in Burma. In active duty I have:
450 Fighters
200 x 4E (100 of which are B29's)
300 x 2E
The problem is as the Japs are in the Jungle bombing raids cause so few casualties. They obviously cause disruption but that didn't have a meaningful effect on the modified AV as the recent attacks have shown.
All the rest of the stuff is a yes. All bar 1 unit has the latest and greatest squads. Some of the Engineer squads are NOT the latest. Tanks are all Grant, Shermans etc. Leaders changed. HQ's in range. To be fair some of the units are relating to different HQ's but 2/3 of the units are within relevant Corps and Army HQ range.
I really feel I have sufficient airpower in theatre. My other 4E units are in use in Sumatra and in NE Australia for use in Phase 2 of Operation Snowbell.
As mentioned above airpower just doesn't seem to have significant effects on combat ready units in jungle hexes.
Looked at the modified AV Faber has across recent months in Jungle fighting = As a minimum every Jungle battle has always had at least doubled Jap AV. In Burma the modified AV has always been at least 2.5x. Based on pure numbers I'm needing to achieve a Modified AV of at least 5500 in ANY DEFENDED hex to get parity. The challenge with that is I only have 6000 AV across all of the frontline!
Hmm.
I V Lenin makes a salient point regarding field Fortifications. There's no doubt that Faber's Jungle hexes will have level 3/4 forts and if I knock them down in an attack I need over a month to recover before I can attack again allowing the forts to re-build.
BBfanboy you make some good points regarding the Jap situation. We don't know Faber's supply situation. I've not noticed any supply deficiencies but it's an unknown. That's a helpful analysis in terms of squad numbers. I'm still very concerned about the lack of ability I have in forcing a high pace of grinding attacks. With Faber having a relatively high amount of AV in the theatre he can continue to rotate units out of the frontline into Rangoon for example just as easily as I can to Toungoo or Prome. I can only conduct an all out attack every 4-6 weeks once the troops have recovered. I'm very aware that with it being May 1944 I have to make a choice.
I either stick all in Burma and HOPE I wear him down and breakthrough back end of 1944 or early 1945 OR I move out NOW (it will take a month-6 weeks or so to get what I need to Ramree to begin loading). If I wait a few months there's not much I can do to move troops out to be able to get to where they're needed to haven impact until late 1944.
I still feel it's a hope rather than a certainty in Burma. There's no additional troops I can bring in locally. All local airbases are stocked with the planes (mentioned above). I've gained air superiority over the region but so what. Bombing in Jungle has negligible effects on casualties.
As such I'm still leaning towards moving the troops elsewhere where I can have more control and actually influence a theatre rather than rely on hope.
Good to discuss though? 
Thanks guys.
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Burma:
A quiet day over the theatre as I rested my planes and pilots for a day.
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Sumatra:
Usual heavy sweeps by Thuds over the Djambi/Palembang region encountering the usual 20-30 enemy fighters. This is a much reduced amount compared to a month or so ago when Faber would field 80ish fighters daily.
Heavy bombing by 4E over Jap troops south of Djambi.
A small Jap DD TF ventured west of Singapore and was attacked by my SBD's from Padang:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 49,84
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
A6M5b Zero x 5
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 4
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 5
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 3
Ki-84a Frank x 2
Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 8
F4U-1 Corsair x 11
F6F-3 Hellcat x 22
SBD-5 Dauntless x 21
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed by flak
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Suzunami
DD Okinami, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Hayashimo
AND
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 49,84
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 15
SBD-5 Dauntless x 15
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
DD Hayashimo, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Suzunami, Bomb hits 1, on fire
The troops south of Djambi did well when they attacked:
Ground combat at 47,89 (near Djambi)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 55423 troops, 1151 guns, 686 vehicles, Assault Value = 1892
Defending force 19593 troops, 269 guns, 651 vehicles, Assault Value = 730
Allied adjusted assault: 1003
Japanese adjusted defense: 1397
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1377 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 96 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 56 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 33 (4 destroyed, 29 disabled)
Vehicles lost 76 (7 destroyed, 69 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
1369 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 151 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 51 (1 destroyed, 50 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Assaulting units:
81st (West African) Division
22nd (East African) Brigade
28th (East African) Brigade
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
2nd British Division
11th (East African) Division
82nd (West African) Division
29th British Brigade
23rd Chindit Brigade
76th Coast AA Regiment
608th Coast AA Regiment
Defending units:
3rd Tank Division
36th Infantry Regiment
34th Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd Amphibious Brigade
32nd Ind.Mixed Bde /1
31st Tankette Co
Happy with this. Equal losses in raw casualties and Faber lost a larger proportion of his AV. I need to rest to allow the limited supply to trickle through. When it does I'll attack again.
More troops are on their way to Sumatra from the US - 11th Airborne Division and a Canadian Bde are loading up at San Fran.
As the screenshot shows I'm expanding across Sumatra with engineers building an airbase NE of Padang and more troops heading to Benkoelen on the SW coast.
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So/CentPac:
SoPac ships will all be at Sydney tomorrow. Ill then move north to load troops and begin Phase 2 of Operation Snowbell. More on that then.
In CentPac my CV's reached a position to attack Kwajalein. No enemy fighters were found and 2 x SS were sunk. We'll stick around to finish off ships tomorrow and then retire to Wake:
Afternoon Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 73
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 83
TBM-1C Avenger x 81
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
SS I-17, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
ACM Daido Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Tama Maru #3, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS I-8, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
ACM Shonan Maru #8, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
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Submarine Warfare:
SS Flounder sank the troop filled AK Ikutagawa Maru SE of Formosa with 2 torpedoes.
 Attachment (1)
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12th April 1944 - 
I'm bombarding tomorrow to find out the details. 
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