RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN!

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN!

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RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 2:17:49 AM

Capt. Harlock

Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
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quote:

The send in massed CL led DD flotillas to exhaust allied ship ammo not talking 2 or 3 talking 10 or 12 LL armed sqns of DD's and CL's in one night the first 3 or 4 will get creamed but allied ammo will get depleted eventually

Only then land an almighty armada under cover of every bomber he can muster 10 - 12 Divs

No messing pay the butchers bill and do what needs to be done

What am I missing ?

I don't think he can put together that many surface combat squadrons without exposing himself in other areas. And will he have enough fuel for all those ships?

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Andy Mac)

Post #: 511

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 3:49:46 PM

traskott

Posts: 1546
Joined: 6/23/2008
From: Valladolid, Spain
Status: offline

If he doesn't have that fuel now, never will have...

Nemo, can u send me the file. My email is traskott[dot]gmail.com. Thank you in advance.

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)

Post #: 512

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 4:03:39 PM

Galahad78

Posts: 386
Joined: 9/28/2009
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I would like also to have a look to this game, please. zelgadiss78[at]hotmail.com

Thanks in advance

(in reply to traskott)

Post #: 513

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 6:27:25 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
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Harlock,
This is Scenario 2. He'll have the fuel. He has enough fuel for about 18 months without any imports in this scenario.

Really this game is a situation where my forces are NOT strong enough, at all, for the strategic impact they are having but the effect is being achieved through inculcating caution, second-guessing and probably a bit of fear that I'm going to race through his lines into his rear elsewhere.

Logically I don't have the strength to dictate the strategic situation at this point in time BUT people aren't about logic. Most people are about feelings. Control what they feel - which can be done by metering the inputs - and you can significantly impact their mental state. With that you can significantly impact their decisions whilst still allowing them the initiative to make those decisions. IOW they do what you want but do it of their own volition without realising it is what you wish.

I hadn't expected it to occur this early though. I think the Marshalls must have dislocated Mike more than I initially had thought. A miscalculation on my part.

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Galahad78)

Post #: 514

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 7:13:58 PM

Lomri

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Joined: 2/6/2009
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You are missing the fact that Nemo's opponent doesn't appear to realize that there is a giant airbase packed with aircraft in the jungle, no longer just a dot base. Gaining air superiority over Palembang isn't the full answer.

(in reply to Andy Mac)

Post #: 515

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 7:19:29 PM

traskott

Posts: 1546
Joined: 6/23/2008
From: Valladolid, Spain
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I agree with you about "feelings". I have review your turn (thank you!!

), and, altough I'm not sure how much more troops has the jap at Scen2, he should be able to put pressure on you.

Some hints: Oh, my!! 3 CVs in just 1 TF, and a couple of DDs ? a CV with 1 DD... xDD Scen2 doesn't allow japanese SS ?

Hummmm Java is a bit...well, you know what I mean, and all the whole air force you have reunited (altough impressive ), won't survive a decisive japanese attack. He can win the battle and make the war longer, but he doesn't know. You are right about feelings.

In fact, if he strikes, and is boldy enough, he can push it's limits very far at DEI and OZ. His MAIN trouble is he NEEDs to put all its strategic assest in play to win at every theater you have forced to fight.... Interesting. BUT, if he can do it, your lack of reserves and deep defenses should be a trouble...

BTW: Oh, man!!! Port dock limits doesn't mean nothing to you ?

. You have tons of xAKs trying to unload but in fact been a sit duck. It is better disband them (even loaded) and unload just with the docked ships, the undocked can take weeks (more than 1 week, yes), to unload.

xDDD BTW: Impresive performance, although, honestly, I would like to see u facing a more agresive japanese player.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 516

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 7:42:04 PM

Nemo121

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traskott,

I don't play to win, I play for the challenge. TO be challenged one must try to achieve much with little. So, yes, where I don't need DDs I don't have them. After all, when deceptive manoeuvring minimises the need for ASW escorts why waste 8 more DDs on escort duties? It isn't, at all, the sort of deployment which most people would make but it does put pressure on the enemy's weakness and forces a situation where the weaknesses which are created won't be exploited. IIRC his subs haven't seen a CV all game. I might be wrong but, generally, I've just avoided them through pathing instead of going with lots of escorts. If you look carefully you'll see an utterly unescorted CV on-map also ;-). I'll bring the defibrillator for when you find it ;-)

Of course if Mike were a different style of player then my assessment of his likely actions would change and the plan and weighting of forces would change.

Java is a bit ???? Undefended is the word you are looking for. I don't think I have a single unit which isn't permanently restricted there. Ideally I wouldn't have a single soldier on all of Java... but don't forget that I never wanted to defend Java. Why waste men defending something I don't think is essential? THat would be truly wasteful. If it isn't essential then abandon it, that's my motto.

Air force: Survival prospects... Oh I NEVER said the air force would survive. If he hits Sumatra with an invasion TF the air force will die in place. It'll take 4 or 5 days and it'll gut the IJN surface fleet but that air force will die en masse and the IJNAF and IJAAF will still survive. On the other hand the survival of the air force is not a strategic imperative. Gutting the IJN ability to launch invasions BEYOND the DEI IS. In dying the air force will gut the IJN so much that it won't be able to invade beyond Java. That's my calculation at least.

he doesn't know Precisely. Most of the time when I've played the ALlies my opponents were, rationally, quite able to crush my forces when you look at things in terms of numbers and quality of troops, planes and ships. Yet my Allied forces usually not only managed to halt the Japanese but push them back. Why? I simply chose not to fight the physical battle but the psychological battle to crush their belief that they'd win out. If you look at the AARs of past opponents they usually clearly reach a point where their AAR communicates their belief that I'll push more in than they can kill and will wni through in the end. Because of that they end up falling back when, in reality, not only could they hold but they could counter-attack and destroy my forces.... but they no longer think that way and their psychological dislocation dooms them.

I disagree with you a bit about his ability to push beyond Sumatra.... If he hits it the IJN will die en masse in the waters around Sumatra when I commit 10 BBs, 2 CAs, about 12 CLs and 50 to 60 DDs plus over 1,000 planes in massed waves with escorting fighters/CAP. I think the losses he will take will preclude him from expanding Japan at all beyond Sumatra. There's just too much loss potential there for him to move on. Also, don't forget that his ground forces will be utterly destroyed even if they do win in Sumatra and EVEN if they did win and capture it ( which I doubt ) the southern DEI would have been fully built up by then and he'll be forced to attack that in order to secure his OIL supply. The Southern DEI is my insurance if he does somehow manage to take Sumatra, it forces his next action after Sumatra and means that temporally, even if the IJN survives Sumatra, he will run out of time for forcing major invasions of Oz or India.

I think you're right that the situation I've created is that he needs to commit all of his force in order to achieve success in any theatre. By doing that, indirectly, I safeguard other theatres and make it even more imperative that he commit his entire force to succeed in them. As these OODA cycles continue his situation continually worsens purely due to temporal factors.

xAKs etc... I think you must mean Cocos and Roi-Namur as well as Oosthaven.
Cocos and Roi-Namur aren't vulnerable... not because of objective reality but because Mike simply won't strike that deep at this point in time. He can't hit Cocos at all and Roi-Namur is simply something he won't risk his carriers to hit at this stage.

Oosthaven is vulnerable but, again, every time he tried to venture south before with the IJN he found torpedo bombers flying vs his BBs. He tried a few times but got scared off. When he tried to hit it with Netties - which he did a few times - he usually lost the entire raid. Currently he is only trying to hit them with subs... And subs don't take a sufficient toll on a strategic level for me to care too much about rhem.

Ah, you must be talking about the 100,000 tons of xAKs at Oosthaven... They are only there to boost southern Sumatra's supplies for future offensive action. They were due to bring the 100,000+ tons of supplies to Burma but as I began to think nMike mightn't attack at all I decided the supplies would be better used to boost an offensive from Sumatra in a month's time. They're a once off deal. Normally you can subtract 100,000+ tons of shipping from what you see at Oosthaven. Normally you only find TKs there.
Without the 100,000+ extra tons of shipping Oosthaven looks a lot less crazy ;-). And those ships only arrived over the last two days so they haven't gotten properly organised yet.

What did you think about the southern DEI? The USN CV-based air is being committed to defend the southern DEI ( as well as some Oz fighters etc ). You have to factor those 100 additional planes into the defensive plan. Bear in mind that another 200 aviation support is in Darwin about to be ferried forward to Kendari and Makassar to fix the aviation support mismatch there.

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 7/27/2010 7:49:44 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to traskott)

Post #: 517

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/27/2010 8:32:53 PM

traskott

Posts: 1546
Joined: 6/23/2008
From: Valladolid, Spain
Status: offline

Yeah, the Hermes... I said it first time, but I remember your typpo: "c'est la vie"

. She doesn't matter, in fact.

About the 10 BBs and so... hummmm... a lot of firepower, yes. BUT, altough you have a great number of fighters at Sumatra, my (personal) feeling is that they are not enough to stop a well coordinated attack, or an aggresive bombing campaign. If ( IF ) he has developed correctly its factories, he should have enough medium bombers to disrupt your bases...and, with Java empty, if it falls, it should be a fantastic base to pummel Sumatra.

BUT:

Java is the bait. And with Southern DEI more and more reinforced, any advance to Java is add more troops to the bag. If I would want to take Java first clean ASAP Southern DEI. It's a key part of your defensive scheme, as it avoids the "ortodox" japanese plan of takin Flores, Kendari, Amboina and such, to isolate DEI. Now it is not posible.... And with all that troops you are carring there, soon a DEI advance almost impossible.

Now the best allied of the japanese is his recon planes. If he gets enough intel he can identify your LCUs and where they not are...Why? To launch a two pronged offensives til Southern DEI ( the more strong), and Java ( some weak units plus BF). : Java cut of OZ. DEI cut... and a path to the KB to sail to the Indic. End of more Sumatra reinforcements...Then, with the additional troops scen2 give the japanese player, he should be able to chop your defenses (although it will be costly). BTW: If I were him, no more troops to PHI except very small LCUs and Bettys and Nells with HQ to make an effective blockade.

Hummm...lot of ideas, but a bit disorganized...

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 518

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/30/2010 12:12:16 AM

Nemo121

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Joined: 2/6/2004
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Well, the first thing you need to remember is that I'm very firmly in the Tukhachevsky branch of things and ascribe to the ruthless Soviet ordering of the levels of conflict:
National Policy objectives drive the strategic planning which drive the operational planning which drives the tactical positioning and posture.

If at any point there is a mismatch between an operational and tactical imperative then the operational imperative should be the driver of operational and tactical planning. Same goes for strategic vs operational and national policy vs strategic.

So, all planning must be driven by the national policy objectives. Since you don't have an political leadership modelled in-game ( not to a realistic extent anyway, there are attempts to extrapolate it but they are crude ) you get to decide the national policy objectives. In my case I decided that my national policy objective would be to attack the enemy's critical weaknesses.

Political - Enemy morale. I planned to attack this by conducting a defence which would be actively frustrating to my opponent's hopes and morale. Certainly part of the aim was to frustrate his plans but another, significant part, was to frustrate HIM by causing him more problems etc than he had initially expected.

Military - I sought to identify the areas of his military in which I could cause significant attritional damage which he'd find it difficult to make good. These areas were combat vessels for the navy and, to a lesser extent, IJNAF strike groups. I [/quote]Well, the first thing you need to remember is that I'm very firmly in the Tukhachevsky branch of things and ascribe to the ruthless Soviet ordering of the levels of conflict:
National Policy objectives drive the strategic planning which drive the operational planning which drives the tactical positioning and posture.

If at any point there is a mismatch between an operational and tactical imperative then the operational imperative should be the driver of operational and tactical planning. Same goes for strategic vs operational and national policy vs strategic.

So, all planning must be driven by the national policy objectives. Since you don't have a political leadership modelled in-game ( not to a realistic extent anyway, there are attempts to extrapolate it but they are crude ) you get to decide the national policy objectives. In my case I decided that my national policy objective would be to attack the enemy's critical weaknesses.

Political - Enemy morale. I planned to attack this by conducting a defence which would be actively frustrating to my opponent's hopes and morale. Certainly part of the aim was to frustrate his plans but another, significant part, was to frustrate HIM by causing him more problems etc than he had initially expected.

Military - I sought to identify the areas of his military in which I could cause significant attritional damage which he'd find it difficult to make good. These areas were combat vessels for the navy and, to a lesser extent, IJNAF strike groups. I have ruthlessly sought to attack IJNAF strike groups in preference to IJAAF groups and I've achieved results which, I think, are currently bearing fruit in terms of poorer IJNAF fighter and strike pilots. Ref to Aside 1: Pilot Experience, a 3 month advantage.

Economic- Palembang is the jewel in the economic crown. Even without Palembang the Japanese economy can run at well over 95% efficiency but Palembang allows it to expand and afford an attritional fight.

So, taking those 3 aspects into account my plan was to:
1. Attack the enemy's economic weakness by holding Palembang sufficiently strongly to ensure it would be destroyed in being captured ( this has transitioned to an effort to actually hold Southern Sumatra and significant parts of the DEI as Mike hasn't progressed as I had expected ).

2. Take advantage of the insight into military critical weaknesses to leverage my denial of Palembang - and thus the denial of the ability of the Japanese economy to expand ) - into a situation where I force Mike to devote ever greater Japanese industrial capacity to replacing losses into areas of critical weakness ( aside 2: Critical weaknesses, not critically weak ).

3. Break his will ( threatening and taking the initiative was my means to that end ). By that I mean creating a situation in which he began expecting the worst. Instead of embarking on an attack with expectations of great victory I wanted to create a situation in which he'd embark on the attack with a feeling of, "I wonder what Fionn will do now to scupper this. I don't know what he'll do but I'm sure something will happen." That sort of second-guessing and mental defeatism would enable me to make a small show of strength or manoeuvre and achieve outsized results. That is important since looked at logically I simply don't have the force available to go toe to toe with him and survive for more than a few days.

So, Phase 1 was basically assessing the military, economic and political strengths and weaknesses of Japan. Phase 2 was then deciding how to create an internally consistent, mutually supporting plan which would, at each step, help me to achieve the 3 primary goals I'd set myself. If you look at the objectives I set myself above it is clear that the economic objective ( holding Palembang ) serves the military objective ( creating a focus for destruction of IJNAF land-based airgroups and preventing the expansion of Japanese industry to sustain a war of attrition and the replacement of the IJN and IJNAF assets I was preferentially targetting throughout 1942 ) which, together. served to break Mike's will.

However it is also clear that holding Palembang was not, on its own, sufficient to break the back of KB's airgroups ( the IJNAF CV-based component ) or really threaten the initiative. That's why I needed to add in the counter-attack on the Marshalls. Mike helped me tremendously by gutting his own KB airgroups over the Phillipines and Sumatra and so the Marshalls operation didn't result in the clash of 500+ planes as I had initially imagined but it has still served a useful purpose in attriting the IJNAF and IJN significantly and tethering KB to a relatively insignificant spot of ocean... and tethering it in such a way that it isn't achieving much. It requires the occasional sacrifice to keep it there but that's the price of doing business and will only need to last another month. I can continue losing a couple of DDs and the odd CL or CA for the next month in order to keep KB away from the DEI.

Phase 3 was researching my opponent. In order to do this I read EVERY post he'd ever made to the forums. It took me an entire evening ( about 6 hours ) but making a plan without including a psychological profile of one's opponent is, to me, highly suspect and suboptimal. My assessment was that he was going to be thorough but conventional, would want to clear his lines and wasn't going to be dashing madly through my lines seeking deep, strategic dislocations of my front. When we started playing I gave the first week or so of play to testing his actions and reactions - in order to confirm some of my hypothesis - and confirmed some and threw away some others when they were wrong.

After the 1st week of combat was finished I finalised the details of the plan. To the best of my recollection I hadn't picked the Marshalls as the target for the spoiling attack until about mid-December. Prior to that I'd had a vague plan to launch a spoiling attack to mess with the initiative but hadn't finalised things as I hadn't known what the front line trace would be in February. By mid-December I was confident I knew enough about how he was playing this campaign that I could plan the operation with certainty as to which bases I'd be holding by February and could thus use to organise my forces and combat-load them.

In the OODA cycle Phases 1, 2 and 3 were analogous to the OO portion of the loop. Phases 1 and 3 were Observation ( to the campaign situation and the opponent) while Phases 2 and 3 were Orientation ( begin making tentative decisions as to what the data means and how this understanding should shape future priorities and plans ). .. Of note: Phase 3 was a mixed phase since, obviously, once you assess someone's personality/style you are also beginning to orient as to how they will react to various stimuli etc.

With the data gathered and interpreted and vague plans as to how to achieve the end-points I'd set myself it was then time to DECIDE ( the D in OODA ). I picked the most strategically vital task on the map ( destroying/holding Palembang ) and ruthlessly subordinated EVERY OTHER ACTION on the map to that objective. The emphasis is important as that truly is what happened and was crucial to the success of the plan.

In order to hold Palembang I decided I needed to get as many troops there as quickly as possible. IN order to do this I did the following:
1. I skimped on recon by PBYs etc and flew them all to the DEI to fly troops from Malaysia and the DEI into Sumatra.
2. I sacrificed shipping en masse in order to evacuate British troops from Malaysia. To my recollection I rescued some 80,000+ troops and lost less than 2,000 to attack during the evacuation.
3. I began prepping a naval base to support the naval defence of Sumatra ( Cocos Islands ), began building forts and airfields ( Lahat etc ) and began flying every plane possible into Southern Sumatra. I sacrificed air cover over my troops and even my shipping in order to preserve the air force for the battle for Sumatra. I accepted losses at the tactical level in order to maintain my strength for the strategically decisive action.

I also decided I needed to tie down IJA troops elsewhere for as long as possible. To this end:
1. I decided China could tie down a lot of troops but required secure supply lines. To this end I decided I needed to hold Burma. If I didn't need China to hold down IJA troops I would have abandoned Burma in a heartbeat but without Burma he can move troops out of China and then he can use those troops against Sumatra. So, I have to hold Burma to hold Sumatra.

2. I launched a fairly active defence of the Phillipines with tank raids pushing Japanese forces back on a few occasions but some weird supply bug which used 1,000 tons of supplies per day in Manilla meant Manilla didn't hold nearly as long as it could have. C'est la vie.

3. I launched pinprick raids elsewhere to invite Japanese counter-invasions. These counter-invasions would draw more troops away from Sumatra and thus aid its defence.

The same rationale lay behind the sacrificial Oz and US cruiser raids on Truk... Draw down the IJN and weaken it before it could be committed to forcing the invasion of Sumatra.

In the end the timing of the Marshalls invasion and its phasing was also designed to draw in the IJN and allow me to destroy portions of it so that it wouldn't be available for Sumatra. I had hoped to kill more of the IJNAF also but sometimes one's opponent doesn't co-operate.

Even the build-up of the Southern DEI is dual-purpose. It acts as a fallback from Sumatra for fragments etc but also acts to guard the southern route to Java, threatening endless attacks into the flank of any invasion and, hopefully, making the northern route into Java more attractive for Japan. B y making the northern route more attractive I'm hoping to draw the Japanese into Sumatra first - as that will aid my defence of Sumatra... If they invade Java first and set up bases there my airforce and navy will have a tougher time in the defence of Sumatra. Again though that whole investment ( about 2,000 AV so far ) is ALL being done to support Southern Sumatra.

The Chinese counter-offensives are also being designed to roll out slowly enough to draw IJA reinforcements from the Southern Region Army or from Mike's reserve. In both cases the Chinese counter-offensive will stall BUT in being stalled it will have drawn several hundred AV from the SRA or reserves and prevent those troops from being used against Sumatra.

So, from my point of view the attacks in the Kuriles, Marcus, Wake, the Marshalls, China and Burma are ALL supporting the defence of Palembang. Palembang is the fulcrum around which everything else turns for the Allies.

So, once I recognised the fulcrum it was relatively easy to figure out how to support that fulcrum in each of the other theatres and that was my D ( Decision ) done for me.

All that remained then was to put it into action and phase things properly so that my weaker forces managed to seem a much more potent threat than they really were. In order to achieve that I used phasing both within and across different theatres and operational tempo to create a situation in which Mike was always reacting ( as much as possible in any case ) and, even when he wasn't reacting, was doing something I'd already prepared for and wanted him to do.

It wasn't perfect and I've made a few mistakes along the way of course but for a first game in a new system it hasn't gone too badly.

So, Galahad, that's how I went from the initial assessment to the plan I enacted. It has elements of the Boyd cycle as I hope I have pointed out and once it was put into action it definitely utilised the Boyd cycle in order to get him reacting inappropriately and manouvred into positions where even his own actions ( as opposed to reactions ) served my purposes and simply led him deeper into the trap of my plan.

Since he hasn't attacked Sumatra yet I'm changing the plan ( it is important never to get too wedded to a plan. It is merely an instrument to achieve an objective. It isn't important in and of itself. ) and looking to transition to a general offensive which would support China and the forces still in the Phillipines in order to cut his SLOCs to the oil in northern Borneo - I've prevented expansion, now it is time to cut into the raw materials necessary to run what he currently has.

Aside 1: Pilot Experience, a 3 month advantage.
KB begins the game with elite pilots. If we assume that they are all wiped out on 31st December 1941 ( imagine a particularly horrid fire in the geisha area of Tokyo while all the carriers are based there

). On the 1st January 1942 these groups will be filled with pilots drawn from the trained reserve ( 35 Exp pilots ). Now, let us assume that it takes 3 months to bring pilots from 35 Exp in their primary sub-skills ( A2A, torpedo bombing, naval strike etc ) to 70 Exp in that sub-skill. By 1st April 1942 KB will, again, be filled with 70+ Exp pilots.

Unfortunately the Allies will also be training and by 1st April 1942 they can also field 70 Exp pilots ( in their primary sub-skills ) with the end result that total annihilation of KB's pilots on 31st December 1941 would yield an equal playing field in terms of experience by April 1st 1942. The conclusion is that once the IJNAF wipes out its initial core of pilots it will never be able to regain an experience advantage - assuming competent Allied play. There are some combinations of Allied play and Japanese planning which could yield the advantage back to Japan but if a player is going to play so poorly the least of his problems is this issue.

Caveat: In order to fully capitalise on this situation the ALlied player should seek to achieve the destruction of the initial cadre of KB pilots with as few active squadrons as possible - and ideally no USN or USMC squadrons - so as to maximise his experience advantage in CV-capable airgroups and also hasten the date of onset of experience-equality from 1st April to 1st March or even 1st February.

Caveat 2: The IJN player can stave off this situation by careful utilisation of his land-based IJNAF groups as pure training groups and a drawing down of land-based IJNAF pilots into KB airgroups in order to replace losses there and maintain quality while waiting the 3 months for newly trained pilots to be available from his extempore training groups. For this reason it is important to lure IJNAF land-based airgroups into combat as frequently as possible ( see Balikpapan and the creation of a need to engage in unfavourable sweeping and escort missions over Sumatra and Ponape ) whilst ensuring that the loss ratio isn't too unfavourable to the USAAF units so tasked. You've got to be holistic with this and not only attack the spearpoint of the elite IJNAF pilots. You've also got to lure your opponent into misusing his land-based IJNAF groups for fighting instead of training. By doing that you can ensure that that new bunch of IJNAF 70 Exp pilots doesn't graduate in April 1942.

How this played out in this game: I consciously attempted to implement this strategy during this game but subordinated this strategic goal to the desire to bag a couple of CVLs and cover the Marshalls invasion. Since the Marshalls invasion has altered the entire strategic situation in the Pacific and appears to have put Japan on the defensive in March 1942 I think it was worth it but it did gut my naval airgroups with overall losses in CV-airgroups being of the order of 70% in 2 days of combat. In terms of the game I expect the IJNAF to be a capable force in April 1942 as it still has experienced pilots available transferred in from IJNAF land units ( even though it can't have many of them given the huge losses to IJNAF land-based strike groups )but once the front line is wiped out ( which I expected to happen over Sumatra ) I expect the IJNAF to collapse for 3 months. That's the time window I need to transition from my current defensive posture to an overtly offensive posture... and I'm already making the preparations for some ( positioning APs and AKs for invasions in the DEI etc ).

Aside 2: Critical weaknesses, not critically weak.
Critical weakness is defined as an area or aspect of the enemy ( whether that be economic, political, military or socially ( the latter is often forgotten but hugely powerful ) ) whose attack and/or destruction will significantly impact many/all other aspects of resistance. So, destroying all power plants in a country ( or taking down the power lines as NATO tried to do in Serbia a few years ago ) will pretty much cripple any modern country and force army units to rely on integral generators etc, all of which use fuel and hasten the onset of immobility in a modern, mechanised army.
Nothing in the definition of critical weakness speaks to that thing actually being "weak". That's a common misunderstanding wherein people think that critical weakness is the same as being weak. It isn't. One of Japan's critical weaknesses is KB, its most powerful and strategically decisive asset. No-one would argue KB is weak in March 1942 BUT if you CAN render it imporent ( sink the CVs or kill the pilots ) then the loss of KB as a weapon will hugely limit Japan's future strategic options. As such KB is a critical weakness one can attack which will have far-reaching strategic consequences. Recognising that critical weakness in no way implies anything regarding the strength of the formation or aspect identified is pretty important so I thought I'd just make sure we're all on the same page.

Ok, that's it. Took a bit longer than I expected but I hope it is useful.

In terms of the game the Chinese offensive goes well. I'll post a picture the next day and Singkawang is due to be visited by 4 BBs in 2 days time - assuming they aren't all sunk tomorrow when the stop in mid-sea some 200 miles from Singkawang. I've tasked 250 fighters for LRCAP but if they don't fly I'll lose 4 BBs.

The IJN is beginning to land on Mindanao with a very large force. I've transferred in 80 A-24s and some SB-2U3s ( sic ) and 25 fighters so I'm hopeful of bagging a half-dozen APs at little cost tomorrow.

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 7/30/2010 2:24:00 AM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Andy Mac)

Post #: 519

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/30/2010 12:34:55 PM

traskott

Posts: 1546
Joined: 6/23/2008
From: Valladolid, Spain
Status: offline

Good luck at Mindanao. And thanks for the turn and combat report. It's very instructive.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 520

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/31/2010 2:20:05 AM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Well, 28th March 1942... Not too much new is happening except for the following:

1. Operations in China to bring as many IJA troops into action as possible and then hold them there so that they cannot be sent to Sumatra continue. If I can make progress and retake ground while doing this then so much the better. The diagram below shows the various axes of advance of the Chinese forces. Inexperience has stalled most of these advances as my troops' adjusted AV plummets due to poor leadership and poor experience. Over time though as they launch deliberate attack after attack this experience is increasing. Some of my Chinese units have 60+ Experience already and will continue to climb with time. The most important attack, that aimed at Nanchang, should be successful and the second-most important, that aimed at Nanking in the west, should also succeed. I intend to seek to complicate the enemy's strategic defence of Thailand by threatening a drive into Thailand. If I can invade Malaysia proper then I won't just threaten the drive into Vietnam but will actually commit several thousand AV to such a venture. It'll be an excellent ploy to draw the IJN into action by tempting them with a long, long coastline just perfect for an Inchon-style landing.

2. Singkawang should be visited by my 4 USN BBs first thing in the morning. They can move 6 hexes per phase and are 7 hexes from Singkawang. I am gambling that surprise ( I haven't yet been spotted ) and my LRCAP will keep most safe from reprisals in the morning but, when push comes to shove, I expect to lose some BBs tonight and tomorrow as the Netties swarm. So far I have spotted 3 enemy TFs at Singkawang so there should be some merchies to sink as well.

3. At Ponape I have reconstituted a CA-centred raiding flotilla and will be sending them into Truk in two nights time.

4. Mike continues to overcommit to peripheral operations. He has landed the IJA 4th Division in its entirety in Mindanao. It should suffice to take Mindanao given time but, really, should be going after Sumatra. In addition the IJA Guards Brigade has just landed at Onnekotan Jima. This brings to 600 his committment to Onekotan Jima and about 500 his committment to Mindanao. With another 1,000+ stalemated at the entrance to Burma and the need to rapidly garrison the Marianas etc he has just robbed his schwerpunkt of too much force for it to take Sumatra.

My assessment is that he won't be going for Sumatra at all so the invasion of Malaysia at the end of next month/beginning of May is on.... I'll conduct some discrete sub recon and hustle a USMC Marine Parachute Battalion into the area and then we'll take things from there.

Unfortunately for MIke he also insisted, against my strong advice, that submarine landings should be allowed so he's going to find a dozen or more of them occuring a turn or two before the invasion fleets are due to arrive at Malaysia. He really should have listened when I said that insisting on allowing such landings would hurt him much more than it would hurt me.

Tomorrow should be interesting as the BBs square up against the Kongo at Singkawang. I'll post the combat report and pass the movie file on to those who have asked to be included on the turn mailing list.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 7/31/2010 12:22:09 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to traskott)

Post #: 521

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 7/31/2010 2:49:23 AM

ADB123

Posts: 1559
Joined: 8/18/2009
Status: offline

quote:

Unfortunately for MIke he also insisted, against my strong advice, that submarine landings should be allowed so he's going to find a dozen or more of them occuring a turn or two before the invasion fleets are due to arrive at Malaysia. He really should have listened when I said that insisting on allowing such landings would hurt him much more than it would hurt me.

It was my understanding that the AE design only allowed one or maybe two Sub Transport Missions at a time. Have you actually tried to load multiple subs with troops?

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 522

Long Lances draw blood... - 7/31/2010 12:49:35 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

ADB,
I wasn't aware of that. If that's true that's good as multiple sub invasions isn't really historical.... but if they're allowed and my opponent asked for them against my advice I'm not above taking advantage of that ;-)... I'd be glad if one can only run 1 or 2 of them at any time though.

Question though: Wouldn't such a limit cripple Japan late-war when it has a fleet of transport subs running supplies to far-flung bases?

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 28, 42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Onnekotan-jima

By the end of the day the Japanese have 700 AV on Onnekotan Jima and utterly out of position for any action in the DEI.

Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

21 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
CL Tatsuta
CL Yura
CL Natori
DD Yudachi
AK Sakito Maru

CL Natori firing at 161st Infantry Regiment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Bathurst Island at 78,121

Japanese Ships
SS I-171

Allied Ships
xAKL Hermod, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
AM Cromer

SS I-171 launches 4 torpedoes at xAKL Hermod
I-171 bottoming out ....
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer attacking submerged sub ....
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,88, Range 8,000 Yards

This was a bit of a disaster. Only one of the two BB TFs actually made contact with the enemy and when Idaho and Mississipi went into action for the first 5 or 6 rounds the Mississipi somehow had to fight the 3 IJN DDs alone. In the very first round of combat the 3 IJN DDs launched torpedoes and got 2 x Long Lance hits on the Mississipi. After that the Mississipi was pretty much doomed and out of action.

The BB TF decided to return to Oosthaven as quickly as possible after this combat.

Japanese Ships
DD Shiranui, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Urakaze, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Tanikaze, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Idaho
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Anderson, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hammann, Shell hits 1
DD Farragut, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 2, on fire

Improved night sighting under 85% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 85% moonlight: 12,000 yards
Range closes to 20,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards
DD Tanikaze engages BB Mississippi at 8,000 yards
DD Urakaze engages BB Mississippi at 8,000 yards
DD Shiranui engages BB Mississippi at 8,000 yards

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-15

Allied Ships
AM Tern
AM Kingfisher
AM Vireo
AM Grebe

SSX Ha-15 launches 2 torpedoes at AM Tern
Ha-15 bottoming out ....
AM Vireo fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Grebe fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Tern fails to find sub and abandons search
AM Vireo fails to find sub and abandons search
AM Grebe fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Grebe fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Grebe fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Grebe fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Japanese Ships
CL Natori
DD Yudachi
AK Sakito Maru
xAP Palau Maru
xAK Meiyo Maru
xAK Terukawa Maru
xAK Hitati Maru
DD Sawakaze

Allied Ships
SS Trigger

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-13, hits 1

Allied Ships
DMS Boggs
DMS Southard
DMS Elliot
DMS Wasmuth
DMS Chandler
DMS Long

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Singkawang at 56,88

Japanese Ships
PB Teibo Maru #2

Allied Ships
SS Sculpin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Singkawang at 55,86

Japanese Ships
DD Shiranui
DD Tanikaze, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Snapper

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Singkawang at 55,88

Japanese Ships
CA Atago
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsuharu

Allied Ships
SS Truant, hits 3

SS Truant launches 6 torpedoes at CA Atago

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Toboali at 51,91, Range 26,000 Yards

The IJN BB TF hunted down the stragglers from Singkawang. The Idaho got pounded with small-calibre shells but suffered no belt penetrations. The Kongo and Haruna each took 14 inch shell hits but, again, none penetrated the deck or turret armour and the only damaging hit was to the superstructure.

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 3
BB Haruna, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Atago
DD Shiratsuyu, Shell hits 1
DD Hatsuharu, Shell hits 2
DD Nenohi, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Shell hits 23, on fire
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 11 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 8
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 52

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 3,100 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 8
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Monaghan
DD Hammann
BB Mississippi, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 6
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 10
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Monaghan

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Bombing? Quite wasteful.

Now Mike will set his Netties to torpedo attack and I'll have the opportunity to create an LRCAP trap.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 75th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 2

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet
1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet

Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 75th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing from 100 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 53rd Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 11

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 5000 feet *
Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 8th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 53rd Chinese Corps ...

Lots of bombing raids on my Chinese troops in order to pin them in place.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 12th Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 82,54 (Pingsiang)

Pingsiang is the gateway to Nanchang so that's where I have committed all of my bombers today.

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3

Allied aircraft
A-29A Hudson x 3
SB-III x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
A-29A Hudson: 2 damaged
SB-III: 4 damaged

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 45 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 9

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

Again just keeping the base suppressed and forts unbuilt.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 3
B-18A Bolo x 3
P-400 Airacobra x 15

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 1 damaged
B-18A Bolo: 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 23
G4M1 Betty x 9
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 14
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Monaghan
DD Hammann
DD Farragut, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

More ineffective bombing. Why skimp on torpedoes, they only cost 10 tons per torpedo. That's cheap.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
B5N1 Kate x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N1 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
YP-401, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
YP-250, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk

I was trying to bring the invasion force at Onnekotan Jima into action but with little joy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 27 NM, estimated altitude 5,100 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 18
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Farragut
BB Mississippi, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hammann

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x A6M2 Zero strafing at 100 feet

Mississipi is still afloat but she hasn't moved from Singkawang. Later in the turn I get a report that she has sunk. Those two Long Lances utterly gutted her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 6
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 12
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 4

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi, and is sunk
DD Hammann, Bomb hits 1

Mississippi dead in the water ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 161st Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 19

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 23
G4M1 Betty x 9
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 11
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Hammann
DD Monaghan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
B5N1 Kate x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
YP-92, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
YP-95, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48, Range 21,000 Yards

Hmm, a CVE within a landing force. An interesting TF composition.

Japanese Ships
CVE Taiyo
CL Natori
CL Yura
CL Tatsuta
DD Yudachi
DD Ariake
DD Sawakaze
AK Sakito Maru
xAK Hitati Maru
xAK Nitti Maru
xAK Huzikawa Maru
xAK Lima Maru
xAK Tatuno Maru
xAK Terukawa Maru
xAK Atago Maru
xAK Delagoa Maru
xAK Montreal Maru
xAK Norfolk Maru
xAK Meiyo Maru
xAK Syohei Maru
xAK London Maru
xAP Kasado Maru
xAP Kowa Maru
xAP Palau Maru

Allied Ships
YP-95, heavy fires, heavy damage
YP-98

Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching!
Japanese TF suspends unloading operations and begins to get underway
Poor visibility due to Rain
Maximum visibility in Rain: 15,000 yards
Range increases to 21,000 yards...
Both Task Forces evade combat

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Japanese Ships
CL Natori
xAP Palau Maru
xAK Meiyo Maru
xAK Terukawa Maru
xAK Hitati Maru
DD Sawakaze

Allied Ships
SS Trigger, hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3865 troops, 97 guns, 83 vehicles, Assault Value = 214

Defending force 19440 troops, 141 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 709

Over 700 AV. What a waste.

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
161st Infantry Regiment
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
1st Marine Raider Battalion
1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1
47th Construction Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
42nd Construction Regiment
111th USN Base Force /9
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
C Det USN Port Svc /1

Defending units:
63rd Naval Guard Unit
61st Infantry Group
64th Naval Guard Unit
62nd Naval Guard Unit
Guards Mixed Brigade
65th Naval Guard Unit
67th Naval Guard Unit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Hankow (85,50)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 83506 troops, 468 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2742

Defending force 21334 troops, 241 guns, 128 vehicles, Assault Value = 519

Allied adjusted assault: 1113

Japanese adjusted defense: 2777

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
379 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 44 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2349 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 180 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 68 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled

I don't think I'm going to force Hankow.

Assaulting units:
53rd Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
8th Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
45th Chinese/C Corps
6th War Area
20th Group Army
26th Group Army

Defending units:
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
57th Infantry Brigade
23rd Division
16th JAAF Base Force
Hankow Special Base Force
67th JAAF AF Coy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Allied Bombardment attack

The bombardment attack is merely a matter of training for these troops. Since they've seen little action their experience level is somewhere in the hig 30s to 40s. I want to train them up for when it becomes important to take the IJA on directly.

Attacking force 92338 troops, 612 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3398

Defending force 156441 troops, 1492 guns, 813 vehicles, Assault Value = 5130

Japanese ground losses:
87 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
84 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
78th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
50th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
21st Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
32nd Group Army
29th Group Army
27th Group Army
25th Group Army
19th Group Army
3rd War Area
30th Group Army
10th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force
9th War Area
56th AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
55th Infantry Brigade
11th RGC Temp. Division
10th Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
6th Division
13th Division
34th Division
10th Division
39th Division
3rd Division
116th Division
40th Division
12th Division
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Armored Car Co
58th Infantry Regiment
51st Infantry Brigade
13th RGC Temp. Division
17th/A Division
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
11th Field Artillery Regiment
13th JAAF Base Force
2nd JAAF Base Force
10th Mortar Battalion
51st Const Co
9th JAAF Base Force
6th RF Gun Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
11th Army
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Road Const Co
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
54th JAAF AF Bn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Kukong (79,57)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9600 troops, 52 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 306

Defending force 3708 troops, 38 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 143

Allied adjusted assault: 119

Japanese adjusted defense: 289

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

I'm going to bring another 2 Corps down into Kukong to break this deadlock.

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
277 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
25th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese/C Corps

Defending units:
8th Armored Car Co
102nd Infantry Regiment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Allied Bombardment attack

This bombardment was designed to see the makeup of the 600+ AV I'm facing. It is one thing to face 2 elite IJA Bdes making up 600 AV and another thing entirely to face a few RGC units. Right now the Japanese have 600+ AV but the experience of those troops is very low.

Attacking force 33504 troops, 153 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1354

Defending force 19433 troops, 144 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 665

Allied ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
59th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
39th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
7th New Chinese Corps
5th War Area
22nd Group Army
33rd Group Army

Defending units:
59th Infantry Brigade
17th RGC Temp. Division
6th NCPC Infantry Brigade
138th Infantry Regiment
14th RGC Temp. Division
32nd/C Division
NCPC Army
23rd JNAF AF Unit
45th Const Co
46th Const Co
39th JAAF AF Bn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 73,52

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18963 troops, 119 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 635

Defending force 3771 troops, 40 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 125

Allied adjusted assault: 190

Japanese adjusted defense: 181

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

On the way do Nanking from the Kweiyang should open very soon. Everything was in the defender's favour here yet still I whittled them down. I'm going to keep the pressure on and try to cut the supply lines from the south.

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

Japanese ground losses:
352 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
101 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
52nd Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
35th Group Army

Defending units:
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Pingsiang (82,54)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 43143 troops, 191 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1972

Defending force 2103 troops, 39 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 23

Allied adjusted assault: 1148

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

The Japanese forces were annihilated. So, the road eastward toward Shanghai is open. Let's see how long it takes Mike to see the noose tighten and react. If he reacts he has more than enough force to counter these assaults. He does however need to abandon Changsha temporarily and re-orient. I'm betting he won't do so quickly enough.

Allied assault odds: 1148 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Pingsiang !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1012 casualties reported
Squads: 36 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 43 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (7 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Allied ground losses:
3 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
74th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
12th Ind.Mixed Brigade
23rd RGC Temp. Division

So, overall, one of the BB TFs was trashed, tomorrow I'll try an LRCAP trap and then afterwards I think I'll look into further strikes against Singkawang. and Singapore. Reducing the SC TFs positioned in both of those bases is necessary if I'm to prevent those ships interfering with my landings near Malaysia next month.

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 7/31/2010 12:54:44 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to ADB123)

Post #: 523

RE: Long Lances draw blood... - 7/31/2010 8:02:15 PM

Capt. Harlock

Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

quote:

Only one of the two BB TFs actually made contact with the enemy

What happened to the other two BB's? Surprising Kongo and Haruna with two fresh BB's would have been useful. Will there be courts-martial in the near future?

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 524

RE: Long Lances draw blood... - 7/31/2010 8:44:02 PM

Xxzard

Posts: 440
Joined: 9/28/2008
From: Arizona
Status: offline

I wouldn't want to try it during the night. As I and Nemo have found out, US battleships rarely get the upper hand on their Japanese counterparts in night combat, and those long lance torpedoes are devastating. Range at night is just too close, the danger of torpedoes is very high. In my game, even versus the AI, I lost several US older battleships to Japanese battleships in night action. Even when US battleships outnumbered Japanese battleships, the results were not good.

_____________________________

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)

Post #: 525

RE: Long Lances draw blood... - 8/1/2010 4:33:46 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Harlock,
Those two other USN BBs sat out the fight 46 miles ( 1 hex ) from where Kongo and Haruna were and never intervened ( I had set them to react 0 ). A small decision on my part with major ramifications, just as happens in real life....

In other news on the 29th March 1942

Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

The IJAAF decides to sweep Palembang and send in bombers. I had left 8 Fulmars on CAP just in case of this as pretty much every fighter was committed to LRCAPing my fleet.

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 34
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 38

Allied aircraft
Fulmar II x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar II: 1 destroyed

Given that the Fulmar is a dog my guys didn't do too badly. Only 1 was shot down and killed while a few others require maintenance. Tomorrow I'll put the full 250 fighters in the air. If he comes back I'm going to hurt him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29
G3M2 Nell x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged

Runway hits 8

The Nells came in at over 20,000 feet and, accordingly, hit almost nothing. I don't mind if my FlAK gets few kills so long as it forces them up so high as to be irrelevant.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 28

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 9

Aircraft Attacking:
28 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 25000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

And here's my surprise of the day for Mike. As his forces are beginning to really encroach on my outpost line I have decided to slow his advance so as to be able to buy the time necessary to reinforce Mindanao and Menado. I've been looking at it and if I can hold Menado and one of the nearby bases ( which have no airfield at present but are native level 5 bases ) I can have a 4 hex run to the most southernly base in Mindanao. That will allow me to hop from CAP to CAP and makes the move viable.

So, I want to stop him at Mindanao and again at Tai-Elaud ( sic ).

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 12
P-40E Warhawk x 16
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Konan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC Ch 16, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TB Hatsukari
xAK Soyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Tosei Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires

15 bombers roar into the attack and score 7 hits with 1,000 lb bombs. Not bad, not bad at all. Most of these guys have naval attack experience in the hig 60s to low 70s so these results aren't too unexpected.

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
3 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
3 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
3 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
3 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Konan Maru
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring SC Ch 16
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Soyo Maru
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Tosei Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 9

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Konan Maru, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Tosei Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

4 hits from 8.

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Tosei Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Tosei Maru, and is sunk
PB Shonan Maru #2
SC Ch 16, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
4 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Tosei Maru

These A-24s didn't do so well because as they dived on their targets those targets pretty much all decided to sink without an additional bomb being landed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
TB Hatsukari, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
PB Shonan Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AV Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

The PB and TB were each obliterated by the single 1,000 lb bomb which hit them. 5 hits out of 8. Not bad at all.

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
4 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring AV Sanuki Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tandjoengbalai , at 47,78

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 36
Ki-27b Nate x 12

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 10

Aircraft Attacking:
36 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Ah, he's making a move on northern Sumatra. That's fine. I'll let him get comfortable with unopposed bombing and then fly 100 or so fighters in and butcher the next raid... So, in a few days he'll get a surprise here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 16
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 9

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PB Kyo Maru #13, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AV Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 6

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
TB Tomozuru

Nimble, damned nimble.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Dinagat at 81,87

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AV Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

So, a single TB is all that survives from this TF of 8 ships. Not bad for a day's work. Tonight I'll fly the A-24s etc out and make a clean getaway.

Allied squadrons didn't lose a single play so, all in all, it was only a small raid but quite a nice success.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 17286 troops, 120 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 721

Defending force 6291 troops, 112 guns, 154 vehicles, Assault Value = 215

Japanese adjusted assault: 183

Allied adjusted defense: 269

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1713 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 112 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
429 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
63rd Naval Guard Unit
62nd Naval Guard Unit
Guards Mixed Brigade
64th Naval Guard Unit
61st Infantry Group
65th Naval Guard Unit
67th Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
1st Marine Raider Battalion
161st Infantry Regiment
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1
47th Construction Regiment
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
42nd Construction Regiment
111th USN Base Force /9
205th Field Artillery Battalion
C Det USN Port Svc /1

Onnekotan Jima continues to be a thorn in his side. If things continue on in this way I may just sneak in another regiment, 20,000 tons of supplies and a fighter squadron. His counter-invasion is utterly bogged down.

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 92395 troops, 612 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3403

Defending force 156578 troops, 1492 guns, 813 vehicles, Assault Value = 5136

Japanese ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Killing the Japanese and gaining lots of lovely experience. In a short time as my forces south of Changsha swing north I plan to create a path for the Chinese troops at Changsha to move eastward, dislocating his defenders at Changsha. This will force Mike to either retreat at CHangsha or attack.

I plan to pull 1400 AV of the 3400 AV out of Changsha which will leave only 2,000 AV to defend against the 5,000 AV of Japanese attackers. With the terrain bonus, preparation bonus and fortifications that should be enough to hold. In the meantime the troops I've already passed through the Japanese lines ( some 1500 AV ) will be reinforced by the 1400 I get through Changsha and will make a serious push on Shanghai and closing the Changsha pocket.

The IJA situation in China is rapidly coming apart.

Assaulting units:
37th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
50th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
46th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
32nd Group Army
9th War Area
27th Group Army
3rd War Area
10th Group Army
29th Group Army
19th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force
25th Group Army
30th Group Army
56th AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
10th Division
40th Division
11th RGC Temp. Division
55th Infantry Brigade
10th Tank Regiment
39th Division
3rd Division
13th RGC Temp. Division
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
34th Division
116th Division
12th Division
51st Infantry Brigade
58th Infantry Regiment
13th Division
9th Armored Car Co
13th Tank Regiment
6th Division
17th/A Division
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
10th Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd JAAF Base Force
51st Road Const Co
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
13th JAAF Base Force
11th Army
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
51st Const Co
6th RF Gun Battalion
11th Field Artillery Regiment
9th JAAF Base Force
54th JAAF AF Bn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 90,40

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 43840 troops, 314 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1490

Defending force 8903 troops, 64 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 316

Allied adjusted assault: 1593

Japanese adjusted defense: 808

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
988 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 69 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 57 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2106 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 178 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 160 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Hmm, so close and yet so far. Ah well, I'll keep pushing. There are 30+ IJA units east of Sinyang who can be cut off if I can clear this hex.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 73,52

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18842 troops, 119 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 625

Defending force 3511 troops, 40 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 105

Allied adjusted assault: 228

Japanese adjusted defense: 559

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
274 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
447 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

While an unfavourable loss ratio this still works in my favour as the IJA is so weak here that after a few days of this the force correlation will switch in my favour.

Assaulting units:
52nd Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
35th Group Army

Defending units:
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade

So, all in all, things are going well. Losses are heavy in China but the IJA is beginning to bleed badly. Already IJA ground losses in terms of victory points are over 600 while Allied ground losses are still under 3,000 ( most of which occurred in the Phillipines ). Basically the IJA has already lost 4 divisions worth of troops to this point in the war and I expect that to increase significantly as the south of China and Changsha open up to further opportunities. The need to replace all these losses is an additional, unwelcome, strain on the Japanese economy. Replacing a division's worth of losses per month is a significant strain on Japan and directly cuts into the number of planes and ships Japan can complete to continue the naval and air wars.

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 8/1/2010 4:48:27 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Xxzard)

Post #: 526

RE: Long Lances draw blood... - 8/1/2010 4:46:05 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 30, 42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48

Japanese Ships
SS I-7, hits 3

Allied Ships
APD Gregory
APD Manley
APD Stringham
APD McKean
APD Little

These APDs are testing the way for resupply efforts to Onnekotan Jima. They have dropped off 360 tons of supplies and, generally, have proven the survivability of fast supply efforts. More heavily escorted slow supply efforts should thus also be possible. Time to gather the necessary escorts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Medan Coastal Gun Battalion, at 46,76 (Medan)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 34

I've cut lots of IJAAF air attacks in China, the daily IJNAF bombing raids on Onnekotan and my own training missions over Kwajalein.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Eureka at 212,70

Japanese Ships
SS I-2

Allied Ships
AK Algorab, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

AK Algorab is sighted by SS I-2
SS I-2 launches 4 torpedoes at AK Algorab

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Onnekotan-jima (136,48)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3701 troops, 100 guns, 85 vehicles, Assault Value = 183

Defending force 18572 troops, 144 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 645

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

I have a Bn of 155mm guns at Onnekotan and they seem to do a good job of hurting the Japanese.

Assaulting units:
161st Infantry Regiment
1st Marine Raider Battalion
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
1st/102nd Infantry Bn /1
111th USN Base Force /9
42nd Construction Regiment
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
47th Construction Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
C Det USN Port Svc /1

Defending units:
63rd Naval Guard Unit
64th Naval Guard Unit
62nd Naval Guard Unit
61st Infantry Group
65th Naval Guard Unit
Guards Mixed Brigade
67th Naval Guard Unit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 92540 troops, 612 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3420

Defending force 156662 troops, 1492 guns, 813 vehicles, Assault Value = 5143

Japanese ground losses:
122 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
49 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
58th Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
50th Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
10th Group Army
29th Group Army
27th Group Army
19th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force
30th Group Army
3rd War Area
9th War Area
25th Group Army
32nd Group Army
56th AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
6th Division
40th Division
11th RGC Temp. Division
9th Armored Car Co
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
39th Division
51st Infantry Brigade
55th Infantry Brigade
13th Tank Regiment
12th Division
13th Division
3rd Division
10th Tank Regiment
116th Division
13th RGC Temp. Division
58th Infantry Regiment
10th Division
34th Division
17th/A Division
2nd JAAF Base Force
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
13th JAAF Base Force
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
11th Army
51st Const Co
10th Mortar Battalion
51st Road Const Co
6th RF Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
9th JAAF Base Force
11th Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
54th JAAF AF Bn

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 90,40

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 42176 troops, 314 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1360

Defending force 8079 troops, 64 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 251

Allied adjusted assault: 224

Japanese adjusted defense: 1123

Allied assault odds: 1 to 5

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker: shock(+), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
618 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2524 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 181 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 205 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Last time I almost broke through, this time I got spanked. C'est la guerre.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30610 troops, 252 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256

Defending force 17868 troops, 173 guns, 109 vehicles, Assault Value = 585

Allied adjusted assault: 985

Japanese adjusted defense: 134

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Liuchow !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
2851 casualties reported
Squads: 110 destroyed, 64 disabled
Non Combat: 253 destroyed, 42 disabled
Engineers: 72 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 45 (40 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 75 (72 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 6

Well, that's the 104th Infantry Division and the 51st Engineer Regiment pretty much wiped out. Excellent news.

A total of 510+ squads have been removed from combat here, 250 of them being combat squads or vehicles. This leaves the way open to Nanning in the west and Hong Kong in the south. It'd be quite interesting to see a Chinese-originated ground campaign retaking Canton and Hong Kong in mid-42 wouldn't it?

Allied ground losses:
1394 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 119 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 87 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Defending units:
51st Engineer Regiment
104th Division
2nd Militia Regiment
23rd Army
21st Mortar Battalion
2nd RF Gun Battalion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 73,52

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18443 troops, 119 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 599

Defending force 3364 troops, 40 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 95

Allied adjusted assault: 314

Japanese adjusted defense: 514

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
246 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
52nd Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
35th Group Army

Defending units:
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade

Since losses are relatively equal and my forces are much larger as time goes by the correlation of forces here will move in my favour. In any case the fall of Liuchow will cut off this IJA unit from supplies and make its destruction all the easier. *Fingers crossed*

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 527

RE: Long Lances draw blood... - 8/1/2010 8:48:48 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Interestingly enough on 31st March he has begun landing at Tandjoengbalai south of Medang. Could it be that either:

a) he is going to try the overland route to southern Sumatra or
b) he is aiming to bypass Sumatra entirely and make for India/Burma.

Interesting...

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 528

Banshee Wail - 8/1/2010 10:45:23 PM

Capt. Harlock

Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

quote:

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring AV Sanuki Maru

Maybe they should have let those fires keep burning.

On a slightly more serious note, a well-executed attack with some nice dividends. It would be great to get Mike's side of the affair but he has essentially shut down his AAR.

(Too many other things that need doing.)

I haven't checked the details for Scenario 2, but it seems to me that the RN ships get upgraded radar earlier than the American ships. Maybe they would give better results for night fighting?

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 529

RE: Slaughter at Truk... AGAIN! - 8/2/2010 2:41:53 PM

Galahad78

Posts: 386
Joined: 9/28/2009
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
[...]

Thanks a lot for your post Nemo, lots of material for thinking. I'm printing ir right now for a more thourough and calm reading this evening. BTW, thank you very much also for the save!!

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 530

Well, the IJA is still active... - 8/3/2010 10:49:57 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Well, I mightn't think these dispositions are the best use of his forces but Mike is definitely still up to something.

700 AV at Onnekotan Jima, 500 AV deployed to Mindanao and now 600+ AV deployed to Northern Sumatra. In the meantime my slaughter of a few units in CHina continues apace....

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 01, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Tioman Island at 52,84

Japanese Ships
DD Kyukaze

Allied Ships
SS Shark

SS Shark is sighted by escort
DD Kyukaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Truk at 113,109, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Sento Maru, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Northampton
CA Chester
DD Sims
DD Hughes
DD O'Brien
DD Morris
DD Hull
DD Fox
DD Dent
DD Sands

Improved night sighting under 100% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 100% moonlight: 11,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 10,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 10,000 yards
PB Sento Maru sunk by CA Chester at 10,000 yards
Combat ends with last Japanese ship sunk...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 114 encounters mine field at Truk (112,108)

Allied Ships
DD Sims, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

A costly raid as I was really rather expecting find IJN CAs in defence of Truk. On the other hand if he continues to not base SC TFs there I'll begin running in bombardment TFs. I can muster a couple of CAs and a BB an that'll be enough to annoy him into posting an SC TF here.

I'm not sure where KB is but it has definitely moved. I am sending another small raid into Badeldoab to kill an ASW TF there tomorrow. My hope is that the DDs will trigger some strikes but survive the worst of whatever they stir up.

Why is this necessary? Simple, I have a US Marine Regiment, an Australian Armoured Brigade, some aviation support units, engineers and a few independent Infantry Bns unloading at Menado as well as a couple of Australian Armoured units heading for Telaud as part of my plan to create safe stepping stones to Mindanao for the delivery of several divisions of troops to Mindanao to secure a lodgement in the southern Phillipines. I don't want to lose a division's worth of troops to KB so it is worth seeing what's out there with some aggressive DD raiding.

I feel like my efforts in this game are mirroring the German raiding DD efforts during World War I. If anyone hasn't read of those efforts they really should. I think there are some excellent lessons to be drawn from the German raiding strategy ( and its Royal Navy reaction ).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84

Japanese Ships
DD Kyukaze

Allied Ships
SS O19, hits 2

SS O19 is sighted by escort
O19 bottoming out ....
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kyukaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Kyukaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-17, hits 1

There seems to be an endless supply of these midget submarines. I don't know where they're all coming from but they're not really achieving anything so I don't mind too much.

Allied Ships
AM Vireo
AM Grebe
AM Tern

SSX Ha-17 is sighted by escort
AM Vireo fails to find sub and abandons search
AM Grebe fails to find sub and abandons search
AM Tern fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Tern fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Tern attacking submerged sub ....
SSX Ha-17 eludes ASW attack from AM Tern
AM Tern fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Tern fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Truk at 112,109, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Kiso Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk

And a second PB on the way out.

Allied Ships
CA Northampton
CA Chester, Shell hits 1
DD Hughes
DD O'Brien
DD Morris
DD Hull
DD Fox
DD Dent

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
Range closes to 20,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 20,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 20,000 yards
Chandler, W. crosses the 'T'
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 20,000 yards
Range closes to 17,000 yards
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 17,000 yards
DD Hughes engages PB Kiso Maru at 17,000 yards
Range closes to 15,000 yards
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 15,000 yards
Range closes to 12,000 yards
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 12,000 yards
Kitow, C. orders Japanese TF to disengage
Range closes to 10,000 yards
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 10,000 yards
CA Northampton engages PB Kiso Maru at 10,000 yards
Range closes to 7,000 yards
CA Chester engages PB Kiso Maru at 7,000 yards
DD O'Brien engages PB Kiso Maru at 7,000 yards
PB Kiso Maru sunk by CA Northampton at 7,000 yards
Combat ends with last Japanese ship sunk...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-20

Yet another midget sub.

Allied Ships
AM Vireo
AM Grebe
AM Tern

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 161st Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 47 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment ...
Also attacking 161st Infantry Regiment ...

I've removed the many air attacks in China as they are too many to really go through.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 91st Naval Guard Unit, at 49,79 (Kuala Lumpur)

These B-17s didn't hit the enemy troops at the landing site in Northern Sumatra due to cloud cover and, instead, found alternate targets elsewhere.

What's great about this is that I can bitch about it to Mike and then use similar "failed" raids to account for B-17 bombing raids over the rest of Malaysia/Borneo. Each raid will uncover some of the troops at these bases, let me see the strength of the defences and decide where I can attack...

All while appearing to be "failed raids".

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 65,87

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 14

Since I am planning to expand beyond the Makassar/Kendari/Ambon line I've been bringing aviation support and troops into Balikpapan. These were the first bomber raids against resource and oil convoys in northern Borneo. As time goes by I plan to pin a unit of Zeroes to Brunei in order to protect against future raids.

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Nojima Maru
xAK Kaiko Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Hakonesan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on I./4th Infantry Battalion, at 58,88 (Kuching)

ONE battalion at a place the size of Kuching? Damn, that's worth dropping a couple of regiments off there.

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
1st Sentai with Ki-43-Ia Oscar (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(1 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Raid is overhead

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 12
P-400 Airacobra x 15
P-40E Warhawk x 1

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 3 damaged

Runway hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x A-20A Havoc bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 65,87

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 4

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Nojima Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 6000 feet *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 65,87

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 4

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Kaiko Maru, heavy fires

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 6000 feet *
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Kaiko Maru

The B-26s aren't as well trained as many of my units so they still aren't getting enough kills. WIth that said they've hit something and put a marker down, which was the point of this mission.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 113th Infantry Regiment, at 50,84 (Singapore)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 17

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 8 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Tandjoengbalai (47,78)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 17232 troops, 174 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 605

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 446

It looks to me like he has brought 2 divisions worth of troops plus lots of combat engineers. I don't have enough to hold this force in Northern Sumatra but I'm considering flying additional troops in. I can probably afford to take a couple of hundred AV from southern Sumatra and invest it in holding Medan.

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 446 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Tandjoengbalai !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker:

Assaulting units:
55th Infantry Rgt /2
148th Infantry Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
21st Infantry Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Infantry Regiment
11th Infantry Rgt /2
42nd Infantry Rgt /2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 92633 troops, 612 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3427

Defending force 156876 troops, 1492 guns, 813 vehicles, Assault Value = 5162

Japanese ground losses:
119 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
28th Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
37th Chinese Corps
6th Construction Regiment
10th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
21st Chinese Corps
3rd New Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
20th Chinese Corps
50th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
19th Group Army
25th Group Army
32nd Group Army
3rd War Area
27th Group Army
10th Group Army
29th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force
30th Group Army
9th War Area
56th AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
13th Tank Regiment
9th Armored Car Co
13th RGC Temp. Division
40th Division
51st Infantry Brigade
10th Tank Regiment
10th Division
34th Division
116th Division
39th Division
3rd Division
55th Infantry Brigade
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Division
12th Division
58th Infantry Regiment
6th Division
11th RGC Temp. Division
17th/A Division
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th Army
9th JAAF Base Force
51st Road Const Co
8th Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
11th Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
2nd JAAF Base Force
6th RF Gun Battalion
10th Mortar Battalion
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Const Co
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
13th JAAF Base Force
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
54th JAAF AF Bn

Just building experience while I wait for my troops to open the roads past Changsha from behind the Japanese lines.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Kukong (79,57)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9212 troops, 52 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 271

Defending force 3626 troops, 38 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 134

Allied adjusted assault: 204

Japanese adjusted defense: 157

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

I have another 400 AV on the way, once those arrive I'll break through here. In the meantime I trade troops for experience.

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
208 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
25th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese/C Corps

Defending units:
8th Armored Car Co
102nd Infantry Regiment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 73,52

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18032 troops, 119 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 571

Defending force 3171 troops, 40 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 86

Allied adjusted assault: 322

Japanese adjusted defense: 94

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
795 casualties reported
Squads: 27 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 8 (7 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
400 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Well the Japanese Brigade on the way south from Kweiyang is now well and truly removed from the equation. Time to push south and a little east towards Canton. I should be able to bring about 1,000 AV to bear there in a couple of weeks time. I don't need to hold, just distract.

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
64th Chinese Corps
52nd Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
35th Group Army

Defending units:
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade

In other news:

If I take Hanoi and Haiphong will the Japanese get Vietnamese Militia Units? I am trying to figure out just how far I should push the Japanese back in western China.

As you can see from the picture below I plan to push as far south, east and west as possible with the eventual aim of trying to link up with the northern Chinese forces. What I'll settle for, though, is drawing a reaction and then pulling back to a highly defensible river line ( from Nanchang in the west to Canton in the south ) which can't be dislocated by riverine operations landing troops in my rear.

That'll give me interior lines, an opportunity to rebuild and resupply and the choice of where to attack next. If I can take Hankow it'll also give me 5,000 AV + of IJA troops pocketed in my rear slowly dying off. That's the equivalent to the entire SRA and will be something he HAS to commit to save... which is just what I want.

So, it looks like he might be trying for the overland route from northern Sumatra to southern Sumatra - or he could just be clearing the lines for an amphibious invasion of Burma... Either way I think I may invest in stopping him at Medan.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 8/3/2010 10:51:16 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Galahad78)

Post #: 531

Fools seldom differ... - 8/4/2010 8:26:05 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

What are the odds of TWO landing forces arriving at the same isolated island near the DEI on the exact same night by chance? Well, they're pretty low but these things do happen.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 02, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Japanese Ships
xAK Seattle Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Kano Maru
DD Tachekaze

Allied Ships
SS S-38, hits 1

As is my habit I had staked out this possible target with a submarine and today S-38 finally found a target as an IJA occupation garrison hove into view.

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97, Range 10,000 Yards

As I was sending another small raiding force to Badeldoab I took the opportunity to route it via Talaud "just in case" and this routing paid off. It ran smack into a lightly defended IJN convoy and did great damage. Only a single xAK survived unhurt. I doubt it will carry sufficient troops to fend off an armoured Bde.

Japanese Ships
PB Nishho Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Seattle Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Kano Maru, Shell hits 21, and is sunk
xAK Hokuroku Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Tokai Maru
xAK Tokyo Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
xAK Arimasan Maru, Shell hits 8, heavy fires
DD Tachekaze, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Porter, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Selfridge, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Clark, Shell hits 2

Japanese ground losses:
1774 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 160 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 34 disabled
Guns lost 23 (14 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Hmm, looks like a base force to me... Lots of engineers, lots of support squads and quite a few AAA and CD guns but very few combat-capable infantry.

Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching!
Japanese TF suspends unloading operations and begins to get underway
Improved night sighting under 96% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 96% moonlight: 12,000 yards

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Japanese Ships
xAK Tokai Maru, Shell hits 6

Allied Ships
SS S-38

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

The S-38 decides to attack on the surface this time but its gunnery is poor and a spread of torpedoes it fired scores a dud.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Singapore at 50,84

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
CA Chokai
CL Kinu
CL Sendai
DD Hagikaze
E Kunashiri
E Hachijo
E Shimushu
LSD Shinshu Maru
AK Tosan Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
xAP Kobe Maru
xAP Koan Maru
xAP Kokuryu Maru
xAP Huzi Maru
xAP Hakusan Maru
xAP Hikawa Maru
xAP Argentina Maru
xAP Brazil Maru
DD Kamikaze
DD Sagiri
DD Shiratsuyu

Allied Ships
SS O19, hits 24, heavy damage

The invasion fleet returns from Northern Sumatra. Tomorrow some more of my USN BBs will visit Singapore. I want to make this base unsafe for future IJN fleet gatherings.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-20

Allied Ships
AM Vireo
AM Grebe
AM Tern

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Macdhui, Bomb hits 1
AMC Cornwallis
xAP Moreton Bay, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAP Felix Roussel

Sadly my LRCAP didn't fly.

Allied ground losses:
43 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 34

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed on ground
139WH-3: 1 destroyed on ground

For the third day none of my bombers flew and now the IJAAF is beginning to bomb me. Tomorrow I foresee a mass evacuation in Medan's future.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAP Macdhui, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Glenorchy, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Moreton Bay, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
79 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 102nd Infantry Regiment, at 79,57 (Kukong)

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-29A Hudson x 2
SB-III x 6

Allied aircraft losses
A-29A Hudson: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 65,87

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 12

Allied aircraft losses
B-26 Marauder: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Nihonka Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Hanakawa Maru
xAK Hakonesan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Babeldaob at 91,96

Japanese Ships
DMS W-8
DD Tatsukaze

Allied Ships
SS O24

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Brunei at 65,87

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 17

Allied Ships
SS Permit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Brunei at 65,87

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 18
xAKL Hanakawa Maru
PB Tokotsu Maru
PB Naruto Maru #3

Allied Ships
SS Sturgeon, hits 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAP Felix Roussel
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Tjisaroea
AMC Cornwallis

xAP Felix Roussel fired at enemy troops
xAP Cap St Jacques fired at enemy troops
xAP Tjisaroea fired at enemy troops

VERY little fire. I am taking this to mean very few IJA troops got ashore last night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amphibious Assault at Talaud-eilanden

TF 79 troops unloading over beach at Talaud-eilanden, 79,97

Allied ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)

11 troops of a CMF Inf Section accidentally lost during unload of 3rd Motor Bde
11 troops of a CMF Inf Section accidentally lost during unload of 3rd Motor Bde
11 troops of a CMF Inf Section lost in surf during unload of 3rd Motor Bde /3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Kukong (79,57)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9108 troops, 52 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 264

Defending force 3571 troops, 38 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 132

Allied adjusted assault: 199

Japanese adjusted defense: 151

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

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

Allied ground losses:
233 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
25th Chinese Corps
65th Chinese/C Corps

Defending units:
8th Armored Car Co
102nd Infantry Regiment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 83,55

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 10096 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 425

Defending force 294 troops, 31 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Allied adjusted assault: 600

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 600 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 2

These IJA units are pretty much eviscerated now and should offer no further resistance.

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
99th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
12th Ind.Mixed Brigade
23rd RGC Temp. Division

So, all in all, it looks as though Mike was trying to encroach on the southern DEI just as I decided to expand it a bit. I'll take losses but taking Talaud would be very helpful in securing an air and sea bridge to Mindanao and securing entry into the southern DEI against the IJN by means of a mutually supporting group of Size 8 airfields.

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 532

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/4/2010 8:36:57 PM

Capt. Harlock

Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline

quote:

What are the odds of TWO landing forces arriving at the same isolated island near the DEI on the exact same night by chance? Well, they're pretty low but these things do happen.

Sounds a bit like "I hear there's shoes at Gettysburg."

A visit to Singapore sounds interesting, but how many CD guns might the Japanese have there?

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 533

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/4/2010 8:44:38 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Well, to be fair, it just "felt" like the time. Always listen to your gut, that's where fingerspitzengefuehl lies. And fingerspitzengefuehl is what separates good from really excellent play and command.

As to Singapore... I'm not bombarding, just trying to catch an ASW TF, some merchies and, possibly, a couple of BBs and CAs guarding the port. If I can do that I'll be very happy as it'll force Japan to begin basing their invasion forces east of Singkawang or risk further immolation ( I'm bringing PoW and Repulse into action and basing them at Oosthaven just in case I need to follow this punch up relatively quickly ).

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)

Post #: 534

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/6/2010 1:57:40 AM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Well this is the situation in the Singapore region....

1. Two USN BBs with escorts are tasked to make havoc in Singapore overnight and tomorrow... I am LRCAPping them with some 200 fighters from Palembang but we'll have to see how many actually fly.

2. After a fair bit of thought I've decided that the prospect of tieing down 600 AV of IJA troops in Northern Sumatra is worth the investment of additional troops. With that in mind I am using some 150 PBYs and Catalinas as well as about 25 transport aircraft to fly Allied units ( mostly Dutch Bns with a smattering of British Bns ) into Medan. I am also flying in an aviation support regiment of some 75 aviation support squads with a view to enabling me to mount a strong CAP over Medan and, even, base some bombers there so that those bombers can disrupt IJA attacks.

I have 179 combat squads in Medan but I need to boost that to over 600 to have any chance of withstanding an IJA attack comprising over 600 AV. I only have Level 2 forts and the terrain is clear. In addition troop experience is only between 40 and 50 Exp. So, there's a need to fly in as much as I can as quickly as I can. On the plus side with the forces committed to this operation I would be very hopeful of being able to fly in roughly 100 AV per day and at that rate it'll only take 4 days to reach 600 AV and 8 days to reach 1,000 AV.

If things really go bad there are 3 British Brigades and support units which arrived in Aden and are currenly making for Sumatra at 8 hexes per day aboard some of my fastest transports. If needs be I could land them in northern Sumatra and create a final bastion in the very north. These 3 Brigades have 70 Exp and so are very useful additions to any force.

By tieing these Japanese forces up in Northern Sumatra I hope to:
a) reduce the force he can bring to bear if he DOES invade Southern Sumatra and
b) reduce the IJA forces available to resist any Allied invasion of Malaysia.

In other news the Chinese continue to push hard. Changsha now only has a single hex side controlled by Japan through which those forces can withdraw. The number of troops in Hankow has shot up to 11 from 5. It would appear that an IJN convoy has significantly reinforced Hankow. I didn't have enough suitable planes in the area to halt that convoy. C'est la guerre.

Also, the unloading will continue at Talaud in spite of the fact that I didn't have sufficient LRCAP - my P-40Es don't have the range to reach without using drop tanks and there isn't enough supply at Menado to allow them to use drop tanks... A significant error on my part. I think I'll get one more day without KB but then all bets are off. Fortunately the unloading is going well enough at Menado and by tomorrow some 400 AV plus engineers and aviation support should be ashore, enough to get the drop on anything at Talaud even if I don't take it.

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 535

Not the best of days.... - 8/6/2010 5:46:56 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

... but not the worst of days either:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 03, 42

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Invasion Support action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

3 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAP Felix Roussel
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Tjisaroea
AMC Cornwallis

xAP Felix Roussel fired at enemy troops
xAP Cap St Jacques fired at enemy troops
xAP Tjisaroea fired at enemy troops

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Sub vs Sub: SS I-162 attacking SS O19 at 50,84 - near Singapore

Japanese Ships
SS I-162

Allied Ships
SS O19, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

O-19 was damaged by the depth charging yesterday, forced to surface and now claimed by I-162.

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 8, on fire
CA Chokai, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
CL Sendai
CL Kinu, Shell hits 1
DD Shiranui
DD Nowaki, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Hagikaze
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Sagiri
DD Kamikaze, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
BB Colorado, Shell hits 17, on fire
BB California, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2
DD Russell
DD Walke
DD Tucker, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

I managed to sneak another BB TF into his operational depth without him even noticing it... The results weren't amazing as California will be out of the war for some time and Colorado will probably need a month's repairs. Notwithstanding this though the Kongo took a couple of 14 inch shells which penetrated her belt armour and the Chokai is damaged. Neither of these two ships will be available to counter any invasion of Malaysia in a month's time.... Mission accomplished.

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 92% moonlight: 11,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 16,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 10,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 10,000 yards
Easton V. crosses the 'T'
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Invasion Support action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAP Felix Roussel
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Tjisaroea
AMC Cornwallis

xAP Felix Roussel fired at enemy troops
xAP Cap St Jacques fired at enemy troops
xAP Tjisaroea fired at enemy troops

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Pre-Invasion action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Penrith Castle
xAK Tanda
xAK City of Manchester

xAK Penrith Castle firing at 1st Indpt SNLF Coy
xAK Penrith Castle fired at enemy troops
xAK Tanda fired at enemy troops
xAK City of Manchester fired at enemy troops
xAK Penrith Castle fired at enemy troops

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Amphibious Assault at Talaud-eilanden

TF 247 troops unloading over beach at Talaud-eilanden, 79,97

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAP Felix Roussel
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Tjisaroea
AMC Cornwallis

xAP Felix Roussel fired at enemy troops
xAP Cap St Jacques fired at enemy troops
xAP Tjisaroea fired at enemy troops

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Penrith Castle
xAK Tanda
xAK City of Manchester

xAK Penrith Castle fired at enemy troops
xAK Tanda fired at enemy troops
xAK City of Manchester fired at enemy troops

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97, Range 24,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Maya
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CL Naka
DD Yamakaze

The IJN riposte....

Allied Ships
DD Clark, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

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Day Time Surface Combat, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97, Range 24,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Maya
CA Mogami, Shell hits 2
CL Naka
DD Yamakaze

Allied Ships
DD Balch, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Maya
CA Mogami
CL Naka
DD Yamakaze

Allied Ships
xAP Moreton Bay, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAP Glenorchy, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Felix Roussel, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
xAP Cap St Jacques, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Tjisaroea, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Cornwallis, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
479 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (4 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Fortunately most of the units had already unloaded. Still I thought I'd have one more day and if I had I'd have been out of dodge. Ah well, c'est la guerre.

An important thing to note though is that the IJN didn't hit the 2nd TF unloading as it had used up so much time butchering the DDs and this TF. Silver linings and all that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-20, hits 1

Allied Ships
DMS Perry
DMS Zane
DMS Elliot
DMS Wasmuth
DMS Chandler
DMS Long

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Morning Air attack on Medan Coastal Gun Battalion, at 46,76 (Medan)

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 35

Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 6
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 6 destroyed, 4 damaged

With 100 fighters there now and about 90 AViation support due after the transports finish their work I am confident of being able to put up enough of a CAP to hurt the IJAAF and IJNAF in further raids. Ill have to clear out the grounded bombers first though but once that's done I should be fine.

Allied ground losses:
3 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
24 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 20000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 4
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Only the Wildcats can fly LRCAP here but even though there are few of them ( I'm waiting for the US Air HQ to arrive so I can base it at a major base and upgrade them to F4F-4s ) they still do a reasonable job.

Allied Ships
xAK Penrith Castle
xAK Tanda

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment, at 136,48 (Onnekotan-jima)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 1st Indpt SNLF Coy , at 79,97 (Talaud-eilanden)

1 Independent SNLF company. Not exactly a massive defence force. With elements of a couple of Bns and a couple of Brigades landed here it should fall quickly - not today though as only two tiny fragments were ordered to attack today.

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 12
F4F-3A Wildcat x 1
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 2000'
Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
11 x P-40E Warhawk sweeping at 29000 feet *
1 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 3000'
Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

Have a look at the P-40E bit. The P-40Es are escorting the raid but noted as sweeping so that they function as escorts but without the negative modifiers for escorting. Also note that there was NO problem having the Banshees escorted by the single P-40E unit at Menado in spite of the fact they are from different HQs etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Brunei at 65,87

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 6

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Nojima Maru
xAK Teihoku Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 12
P-400 Airacobra x 15

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 4 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Medan , at 46,76

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 31
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 10

Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 3
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Martlet II: 2 damaged
Martlet II: 1 destroyed on ground
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 2 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 4 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

Hmm, a good day for the IJAAF. Tomorrow I'll have more fighters and fewer grounded bombers and then we'll see how things turn out. I think Medan will be a nice place to thin the IJAAF out in such a manner that its experience will be lowered for the really crucial battle a month from now.

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 4
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Mulbera, Bomb hits 1
xAK Nurmahal

The Mulbera was only hit by a 60Kg bomb so, no real harm done

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 68th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 2

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet
1 x Ki-27b Nate bombing from 100 feet

Also attacking 94th Chinese Corps ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 68th Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing from 100 feet

Chinese bombing... ad nauseum...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 53rd Chinese Corps, at 85,50 (Hankow)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 7

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 5000 feet *
Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb

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ASW attack near Aogashima at 112,66

Japanese Ships
xAK Zyuyo Maru
DD Yugao

Allied Ships
SS Haddock

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Aogashima at 112,66

Japanese Ships
DD Shigure
DD Yugao

Allied Ships
SS Greenling

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Invasion Support action off Talaud-eilanden
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

3 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Penrith Castle
xAK Tanda
xAK City of Manchester

xAK Penrith Castle fired at enemy troops
xAK Tanda fired at enemy troops
xAK City of Manchester fired at enemy troops

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Ah, a parity of forces... I have ordered the Chinese to begin to withdraw here to better terrain which will allow them to hold more economically.

Attacking force 3316 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1325

Defending force 38377 troops, 153 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1364

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
6th NCPC Infantry Brigade
138th Infantry Regiment
59th Infantry Brigade
41st Division
14th RGC Temp. Division
17th RGC Temp. Division
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
32nd/C Division
NCPC Army
46th Const Co
23rd JNAF AF Unit
45th Const Co
39th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
92nd Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
39th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
7th New Chinese Corps
5th War Area
22nd Group Army
33rd Group Army

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 804 troops, 10 guns, 53 vehicles, Assault Value = 51

Defending force 342 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 16

Allied adjusted assault: 35

Japanese adjusted defense: 27

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Well, it won't last.

Assaulting units:
2/10th Armoured Regiment
3rd Motor Brigade

Defending units:
1st Indpt SNLF Coy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Hankow (85,50)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 82465 troops, 468 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2642

Defending force 29135 troops, 302 guns, 129 vehicles, Assault Value = 854

5 Naval Guard Units and an infantry Brigade from the SRA ( about 400 AV ) have now been sucked into China and away from the crucial area of battle. The strategic goal of the Chinese strategy is finally being achieved. GREAT news !!!!

It should be noted that this 400 AV won't make much difference in China but would make a huge difference in the DEI. Score one for strategic misdirection. Really, this committment of resources is a HUGE deal!!!!!

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
68th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
18th Chinese Corps
8th Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
53rd Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese/C Corps
20th Group Army
6th War Area
26th Group Army

Defending units:
44th Naval Guard Unit
43rd Naval Guard Unit
42nd Naval Guard Unit
57th Infantry Brigade
47th Naval Guard Unit
23rd Division
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
48th Naval Guard Unit
Hankow Special Base Force
16th JAAF Base Force
67th JAAF AF Coy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 73,55

Allied Shock attack

Oops, I hadn't realised that the little river here would force a Shock Attack. OOPS!!!

Attacking force 29596 troops, 252 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1153

Defending force 14433 troops, 137 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 481

Allied adjusted assault: 770

Japanese adjusted defense: 1801

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
831 casualties reported
Squads: 30 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 66 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2183 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 264 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 127 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

The Chinese are hurt badly but another 30 combat squads are destroyed. Overall though this was a win for Japan. They won't be able to capitalise on it though without the landing of significant SRA reinforcements in Vietnam marching overland to this area to cut my neck as I extend southwards towards Canton and Hong Kong .

Assaulting units:
63rd Chinese Corps
62nd Chinese Corps
86th Chinese Corps
88th Chinese Corps
31st Chinese Corps
2nd Prov Chinese Corps
4th War Area
7th War Area
12th Group Army

Defending units:
2nd Militia Regiment
104th Division
51st Engineer Regiment
3rd Militia Regiment
23rd Army
21st Mortar Battalion
2nd RF Gun Battalion

So, all in all, Talaud looks doable albeit costly, my navy achieved its mission at Singapore, albeit at high cost and the Chinese have drawn in elements of the SRA. My air force continues to be able to defeat Japan at better than 1:1 in the air and I am bringing the Prince of Wales and Repulse and a very strong battlegroup into action in the southern DEI. I am also moving the US CV airgroups into position for serious action.

Question: Does anyone know what the earliest date that Singapore has ever been recaptured by the Allies was? There's a strong possibility that Singapore could be back in my hands by the end of May 1942. Concommittant with such a drive I would push north to force the IJA out of Burma and that would free up the several thousand AV I have in Burma to come barrelling down into Thailand etc. That would, quickly, get nasty for Japan as that would allow me to clear a land route to China and that, combined with the holding of Mindanao - which I am currently fighting to maintain a SLOC to - would spell the end of the dream of sustainability for the Japanese war economy.

The smaller area they would hold would then be held quite densely but there would be no more threat of major IJN action as Japan would be ringed by a semi-circle of Allied bases containing its forces and preventing any force projection.

Attachment (1)

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 536

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/7/2010 10:30:35 AM

modrow

Posts: 1100
Joined: 8/27/2006
Status: offline

Nemo,

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
Well, to be fair, it just "felt" like the time. Always listen to your gut, that's where fingerspitzengefuehl lies. And fingerspitzengefuehl is what separates good from really excellent play and command.

as a native German speaker (and to shape the profile of my posts for eventual analysis of my true nature), I just have to point out that Fingerspitzengef�hl really should be separated from Bauchgef�hl (which is a common German term corresponding to gut feeling) and really really lies in your fingertips rather than anywhere else.

As a matter of fact, a lot of people (those who believe you always bring the sledge hammer and, if lacking a real one, using at least all of the kitchen sink for the same purpose) might be of the opinion that said approach indicates a lack of Fingerspitzengef�hl as much as the use of rather explicit statements in some threads in these forums may be (personally I think this needs to be looked at more differentiated). Anyway, Fingerspitzengef�hl relates more to the ability to handle a delicate affair competently and avoid collateral damage, whereas gut feeling is that something "just feels like it is the time", an intuitive grasp of the situation.

Now, the reason for all of these statements (other than profile-shaping, as above) is that maybe in view of your professional background you might be able to give us more information about or views on the reality of gut feelings and "just knowing" as well as their relation to instincts. I would always tend to claim that gut feeling is a projection to explain a successful guess by a personal achievement unless the gut feeling is really just experience and automatized analytical thinking to an extent that allows for a subconscious analysis.

Thanks for your views

Hartwig

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 537

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/7/2010 2:31:18 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

Hartwig,

I'm using fingerspitzengefuehl in the old German military sense a la Clausewitz in which it has connotations of coup d'oeuil, an intimate understanding of the terrain and the ability to correlate many different reports from different parts of the battlefield at the same time.

I don't think fingerspitzengefuehl is the same as a "gut feeling" but I can see how my post might have been confusing there. What I meant was that fingerspitzengefuehl isn't something you can "learn" but it is something you can "cultivate". You can't, I think, consciously seek to learn it but can grow whatever kernel of that instinct you have by listening to your "gut" and acting on it and seeing if your fingerspitzengefuehl was right, learning from that and then listening to your gut the next time.

Eventually your fingerspitzengefuehl may develop ( some may never be able to develop it... I can't draw worth a damn and even if I took classes I would never be better than mediocre... I don't have the innate talent for that ) such that when your "gut" says " You've collated all this disparate evidence, your fingerspitzengefuehl says this is now the current situation. I, your gut, am not telling you that this is the right action to take based on the fingerspitz assessment of the situation".

So, fingerspitzengefuehl is the Observe and Orient part. Decsions are down to the gut feeling which is formed on the basis of the fingerspitzengefuehl. I think they are, however, two separate processes although each does inform the other.

As to whether or not I have fingerspitzengefuehl or whether or not my force allocation shows I don't.... As I think I've said to you before I have a rule, "Never disavow an opponent of an incorrect assessment." So, if people want to draw utterly the wrong conclusions and this drawing of wrong conclusions will allow me to more easily manipulate their understanding of the strategic situation in-game then I'm more than happy to let them continue on with their incorrect assessments. On the other hand I also have the policy that if asked directly I'll answer directly.

So, my personal view would be that I undertake offensives by massing all of my available forces at the critical juncture, which I've identified, and then I push through and take the critical position. Some might look at that and just see a "big old ball of ships and men taking an island" and go, "there's no skill in that." Perhaps they're right, perhaps not ;-). My personal assessmentif I saw someone else mounting these offensives would be along the following lines:

1. These offensives are being mounted in a strategically coherent, internally consistent and phased manner with both strategic foresight ( plans are laid out many months in advance and while the details may be improvised the strategic plan is carried out just as outlined x months previously ) and the phasing of strategic actions over many thousands of miles and theatres.

2. These offensives are being carried out with smaller forces, earlier than is normal.

3. These offensives are often being carried out in the presence of overwhelming enemy strategic superiority and, occasionally, in the presence of overwhelming enemy operational superiority yet they do seem to succeed in their strategic goals time and again.

4. While losses may be high at a given point by the end of the offensive losses almost always act in favour of the player on a strategic level. E.g. Losing 4 USN BBs and a CV to take the Marshalls was costly ( I lost two because of the CD gun borking prior to the recent patches ) but in destroying 4 IJN BBs and many smaller units I basically crippled the IJN ability to maintain two offensives at any time and thus won one of my main strategic aims of the game. Strategically the 4 for 4 exchange was hugely in the player's favour.

5. Overall, even when attacking into superior forces the offensive always seems to find a way to continue to grind forward and the cost, when viewed within the strategic context, is always light for the gains made. IN fact overall loss rates tend to favour the player's side over the course of the operation --- e.g. while the player may lose more than others in the initial stage of the op by the end of the op ( enemy counter-attacks etc ) losses are usually very much in favour of the player.

Taking the above into account I would say that when attacking superior forces with inferior forces it is usually just smart to bring along everything you have because even with everything you have your force is still inferior to the enemy. I would view the "bring everything" approach to be due to this strategic correlation of forces and not due to a need for the player to have overwhelming force and that the use of strategic misdirection showed some element of their being a finger on the pulse of the strategic situation. I would draw the conclusion that the conventional wisdom was over simplifying the situation and the underpinnings of success. That would be my assessment in any case.

I think that anytime anyone attacks a superior force and wins that it is impossible to explain such a victory in purely force on force terms. There must be more going on than that. That is basically the conclusion I'd draw. In terms of my games I think the additional thing that is going on is that I correctly identify critical points and then do everything I can to draw the superior enemy forces away from that point such that my forces can slip in and take it. If I draw enough enemy forces away then my forces may achieve local superiority for a period of time and, to that end, I do try to concentrate my own forces. The overall context though shouldn't be forgotten, IMO.

In terms of gut feelings... I tend to think they are either:
1. post-hoc rationalisations or
2. subconscious information being processed and referred to the conscious mind as a "gut feeling".

We process FAR more information than we are consciously aware of and sometimes that processing leads to an analysis which enters our consciousness as a gut feeling. I see that in junior psychiatrists a lot where they recognise that a patient is becoming agitated and might attack them but when asked about it they can pinpoint a time they were aware they might be attacked but are unable to provide any actual signs (verbal or non-verbal ) which they were consciously aware of which led them to that conclusion. IN my experience senior doctors are always able to point out many signs they consciously noted which showed evidence of growing agitation. The juniors weren't consciously aware of those signs but subconsciously their "common sense" as opposed to clinical sense was adding them all together and going "What the hell are you doing here? This guy looks like he's getting ready for a fight. Get out." With junior doctors you'll often see them subconsciously balling their fists when meeting an aggressive patient and when you go back over it you'll find that they were balling a fist even before they consciously felt threatened. Subconsciously they're prepping for the fight before they even consciously become aware that it might happen.

So, the difference between gut feeling and conscious analysis may simply be a matter of knowledge.

With that said though sometimes I do think it is a post-hoc rationalisation.

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to modrow)

Post #: 538

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/7/2010 2:51:56 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

In other news: My 2 USN BBs are in surprisingly good shape and are being LRCAPed by 200 fighters as they make for Oosthaven at 6 hexes per turn. Medan is being CAPed by 100 fighters and some 70 combat squads per day are being flown in.

I am moving many DDs etc needing upgrades up to Soerabaja ( which has 8 repair yards - most upgrades to DDs and CLs need a minimum of 5 repair yards) and, as a result, am going to upgrade Soerabaja to be my main fleet base in the DEI. It is a Level 7 port now and if I get it to Level 8 I can run my 16 inch BBs and CVs out of there with no hassle.

The USN CVs have delivered their fighters to Madano which now has 150 USN fighters which are now LRCAPing Talaud. Tomorrow Talaud will be hit by about 40 x B-17Es I have flown into Kendari and the two small tank units there will Shock Attack. Fingers Crossed.

I am also basing a USN CA TF ( 2 CA and 6 DDs robbed from my CV TF (3 CVs). The escortless CVs are now making their way to Darwin where they will pick up a DD escort and make for Capetown for upgrades ) at Talaud and will fight the enemy there if he comes again.

More transports are despatched to the DEI to get ready for an invasion of Malaysia. I should have about 120 transports available by month's end and that's enough to land quite a sizeable force.

The IJN attempts to interdict my activities last turn cost it 23 planes ( including 3 Zeroes and an Oscar ) in return for 5 of mine... Only two of which were fighters lost in aerial combat.
IJA ground losses have risen from under 400 points before the Chinese offensive to over 720 points now. That is the equivalent of 2160 squads being destroyed which is the equivalent of 5 divisions.

Over the next couple of days the PoW/Repulse TF will search for targets in the southern DEI and set up a forward TF around Kendari/Manado while I continue to reinforce Medan by air. I will also continue shifting my main fleet base to Soerabaja and bringing in engineers to build Manado up as quickly as possible.

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 539

RE: Fools seldom differ... - 8/7/2010 3:21:21 PM

Nemo121

Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline

No longer necessary.

< Message edited by Nemo121 -- 8/7/2010 4:10:15 PM >

_____________________________

John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.

(in reply to Nemo121)

Post #: 540

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