RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942

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RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942 - 4/27/2011 10:19:24 AM

obvert

Posts: 14050
Joined: 1/17/2011
From: PDX (and now) London, UK
Status: offline

Seems like dividing is what is getting you into trouble. Why not keep them together now that;

A. You know where his CVs are located

B. You can only hope to beat his CVs with the full KB

A concentration of force, wherever you are in 42 as Japan, seems the most likely path to positive results and expansion.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to ChezDaJez)

Post #: 151

RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942 - 4/27/2011 10:50:30 AM

ny59giants

Posts: 9869
Joined: 1/10/2005
Status: offline

It is tempting to divide Mini-KB into smaller TFs while operating in the SRA, but I have seen what can happen to them when those small flight decks, 30 planes or smaller, run into a numbers game played by the Allies. Most of the Allied planes are obsolete, but they can manage to throw in great numbers from time to time. IMO, it is important to move two Air HQs from Takao to the eastern DEI to provide much needed protection by Nell/Betty. One at Koepang along with Makassar closes off the western area while the capture of Port Moresby or Milne Bay closes off the eastern side.

OT: Chez - Have you been able to use a break in the action up to this point in the game to be able to resize your non-restricted Zero, Val, and Kates?? I did that in my game even for those Zero units scheduled to be withdrawn by 1 April 42 and it helps.

(in reply to obvert)

Post #: 152

RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942 - 4/27/2011 6:56:59 PM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

It is tempting to divide Mini-KB into smaller TFs while operating in the SRA, but I have seen what can happen to them when those small flight decks, 30 planes or smaller, run into a numbers game played by the Allies. Most of the Allied planes are obsolete, but they can manage to throw in great numbers from time to time. IMO, it is important to move two Air HQs from Takao to the eastern DEI to provide much needed protection by Nell/Betty. One at Koepang along with Makassar closes off the western area while the capture of Port Moresby or Milne Bay closes off the eastern side.

OT: Chez - Have you been able to use a break in the action up to this point in the game to be able to resize your non-restricted Zero, Val, and Kates?? I did that in my game even for those Zero units scheduled to be withdrawn by 1 April 42 and it helps.

The allies can definitely concentrate enough bombers to ruin your whole day in the DEI. That's what led to the loss of the Shoho. The two most dangerous land-based bombers the allies have IMO is the Banshee and the Swordfish. The Dutch air forces are obsolete but can still deliver on occasion. Combined, they can hurt if you aren't careful... and I wasn't.

On this occasion, if mini-KB had been kept whole, I would have lost the lot in one action. I estimate he had 4 fleet carriers and 2 Brit carriers for the attack on Ryujo and Zuiho and I seriously doubt that even KB would have come away without major damage. Of course, he would hhave had some in return but Japan can not afford to lose any flight deck at any time.

Most land-based units have been resized but many of the units have been divided to cover more areas. Once he starts getting better fighters, I will have to recombine the units to reduce losses.

I have air HQs now at Koepang, Ambon and Denspassar. Makassar does not have any air units.

Chez

_____________________________

Ret Navy AWCS (1972-1998)
VP-5, Jacksonville, Fl 1973-78
ASW Ops Center, Rota, Spain 1978-81
VP-40, Mt View, Ca 1981-87
Patrol Wing 10, Mt View, CA 1987-90
ASW Ops Center, Adak, Ak 1990-92
NRD Seattle 1992-96
VP-46, Whidbey Isl, Wa 1996-98

(in reply to ny59giants)

Post #: 153

RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942 - 4/27/2011 10:47:30 PM

SqzMyLemon

Posts: 4239
Joined: 10/30/2009
From: Alberta, Canada
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Hi Chez,

With your recent setbacks are you still planning your NZ operation? I think now is not the time to think of splitting off CV's from KB for operations in the DEI as you hinted at in a recent post. That could just lead to them being destroyed piecemeal. It's time to get your airbases in order and your LBA massed to apply more pressure and fully support your operations in the DEI. Maybe a case of trying to achieve too much with inadequate force allocation is leading to these setbacks. I'm not a great player, but I've learned that bringing the kitchen sink and simply forcing your will on your opponent can be the best strategy at times.

< Message edited by SqzMyLemon -- 4/27/2011 10:49:26 PM >

(in reply to ChezDaJez)

Post #: 154

RE: 21 Feb - 28 Feb 1942 - 4/27/2011 11:37:33 PM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Hi Chez,

With your recent setbacks are you still planning your NZ operation? I think now is not the time to think of splitting off CV's from KB for operations in the DEI as you hinted at in a recent post. That could just lead to them being destroyed piecemeal. It's time to get your airbases in order and your LBA massed to apply more pressure and fully support your operations in the DEI. Maybe a case of trying to achieve too much with inadequate force allocation is leading to these setbacks. I'm not a great player, but I've learned that bringing the kitchen sink and simply forcing your will on your opponent can be the best strategy at times.

I am still considering a NZ operation but every passing day makes it less likely. I need divisions to accomplish it though and they are all tied up at Clark and Sigapore. I have already shelved the plans for invading SE Australia though planning continues for Perth, Darwin and the Cooktown area.

KB will stay in the Pacific for the moment as I am about to land in Fiji and I cannot discount the idea that he has left a carrier in the Pacific. Plus he may have some surface raiders still about in SoPac and KB will be needed to ward them off. I cannot risk any more carriers without a substantial possibility of a significant victory. That means Hosho and Taiho will not venture beyond range of land-based air in the DEI and KB will not go running off onto its own.

In addition, I'm thinking that Dan may send his carriers back to the Pacific by transitting south of Australia. I have set up a sub scouting line in case that happens so I will not get surprised again. And I want to know where they are going as an opportunity may eventually present itself to reverse the tables.

Chez

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(in reply to SqzMyLemon)

Post #: 155

RE: 28 Feb - 9 March 1942 - 5/8/2011 9:14:30 AM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

Another update that should have come earlier!

28 Feb

My troops land on Suva as planned and without interfernce. Landing casualties were relatively light for once and I am ashore in good order. A desultory allied artillery bombardment caused few casualties. Next turn should see the port fall into my hands.

His carriers have disappeared from the face of the earth it seems so I will assume that they may be coming round the south of Australia to contest mt activities in SoPac.

Am conitinuing fighter sweeps and bombing raids against Singapore. I have more troops coming but it will take some time to get them in theater as they have to move overland to reach a port from Kwangtung. I have a division earmarked each for Clark and and Singapore. That will bring me down to close to 10000AV in Kwangtung. That is my limit. The game allows down to 8000 but I never go that far.

My bombing raids continue on Clark but it seems as though only the USAAFE and Asiatic Fleet HQs get bombed. He is starting to have troops destroyed through bombing now so I think his supply situation is desparate... I hope.

Dan sent several small air raids against the airfield at Denspassar. A coordination penalty must have kicked in as all of the raids were small.

His first raid 12 P-40s and 3 139WH-3s met 15 Zeros. All the bombers were shot down along with 4 P-40s. No Zeros were lost. Then the second with 5 Hurricane IIb escorting 10 B-17s had better success against my fighters. I lost 1 Zero to 2 Hurris. 2 B-17s were damaged. His 3rd raid of 8 A-24 Banshees arrived without fighter escort. 6 Zeros shot down 2 Banshees and damaged another. The 4th raid of 6 H81-A3 and 8 A-24 Banshees met a single Zero. One Banshee was damaged but no aircraft lost on either side.

1 March 1942

Troops continue to land in good order at Suva. Dan had not reinforced the island at all which leads me to be that he must be husbanding his forces for an early counter blow somewhere.

Dan has stacked a few subs around Kwajalien and Roi-Namur. I have several ASW TFs hunting them down but with my weak ASW I hope just to keep their heads down. SS Thresher is one of the boats and she took a DC hit though damage is probably light.

Dan revisited Denspassar. His first raid of 139WH-3s had a heavy escort of 6 H81-A3s, 3 Hurricane IIbs, and 23 P-40s. 11 Zeros engaged and shot down 5 P-40s and damaged one bomber. No damage to the airfield noted.

5 Blenheim IVs attempted to attack a small supply TF near Salajar. 8 surviving Ryujo Zeros operating from Makassar took their vengeance and splashed every one of them for no losses.

I launched another deliberate attack against Clark after 2 days of rest. 76707 Japanese troops (AV 2162) engaged 31497 Alied troops (AV 639) and obtained 1:1 odds. Forts are no at zero. For once the allies lost more troops than did the Japanese. Allies had 134 combat squads destroyed to my 33. Total casualties were 3068 (j) to 3199 (A).

The attack on Suva went well with 3:1 odds but level 3 forts kept the place in alllied hands. Fortunately my engineers reduced the forst to zero. Japanese had 372 casualties to the allies 701.

I continue to bomb and bombard Singapore with seemingly little effect.

2 March 1942

I-15 encountered a small xAKL and blasted her with gunfire. The sub submerged due to low gun ammo so the sinking is not confirmed.

Finally a good air raid on Singapore... 66 Netties obtained 71 runway, 15 airbase and 4 air supply hits. The 85 Sallys obtained 36 runway, 4 airbase and 3 air supply hits. That should keep him from building up the forts and hopefully reduce supply though I am sure Singapore has a bunch of supply present.

Java's bombers don't seem to learn. 4 more Blenheim IVs attempted to attack another TF near Salajar. 2 Zeros on CAP shot one down and damaged another. No damaged incurred.

Another deliberate assault on Clark yielded nearly the same result as the turn before though he lost 78 combat squads to my 7. I don't know what Dan has done to make his defense here so masterful but it sure is taking a long time to capture this place.

Suva falls with 2:1 odds. Dan took some very heavy casualties so I will pursue him to the base west of Suva (forgot its name).

3 March 1942

Bad day in the air for the empire. Once again Dan brings his surface forces to play and uses his fighters to great effect. This time he brought a naval bombardment force consisting of CA Exeter, CLs Dauntless, Adelaide and De Ruyter with 6 DDs to Singapore. The resulting night bombardment was poor by anyone's standard. Only 1 non-combat squad disabled. The day bombardment was only slightly better.

As I sat and watched the naval bombardment replay I wondered how far his ships would get before my bombers found them. When the day search showed them still at Singapore, I was elated.

Then my first sweep of 13 Zeros went to Singapore. 15 H81-A3s, 24 Buffalos, 13 Hurricae IIa, 39 Hurricane IIb, 24 P-39D Aircobras and 51 P-40Es were waiting. That's 166 fighters!!! I didn't know he had that many in theater! The CR reported 3 Zeros lost for 1 Buffalo and 1 P-40E.

Then came my bombers to attack the fleet. 65 Netties arrived unescorted and were massacred. 153 fighters claimed 15 Nells and 3 Bettys destroyed for no allied losses. Fortunately my Sally bombers had better sense and waited for the escorts. 85 Sallys and 100 Oscars fought their way through 132 fighters. 11 Sallys and 9 Oscars were claimed shot down for 1 Buffalo, 1 Hurricane IIa, 1 P-39D and 4 P-40Es.

Finally another sweep of 25 Zeros arrived over Singapore and engaged 94 allied fighters. This time, the results were more in my favor. Zero pilots claimed 1 H81-A3, 1 Buffalo, 1 Hurricane IIa, 1 P-39 and 3 P-40Es shot down for the loss of 3 Zeros.

As near as I can tell, total losses in the air over Singapore was 92 Japanese bombers and fighters and 33 allied fighters. When you take out the bombers and compare just fighters, the results were nearly 1:1., 36 Japanese fighters lost for 33 allied fighters. Japan lost 71 pikots killed however.

3 more Blenheims showed up near Makassar to attack a supply TF and were met by 7 Zeros. All bombers were shot down for no loss.

Japanese troops captured Prome in Burma.

4 March 1942

SS O21 found CVE Taiyo transitting between Kendari and Ternate and put 3 torpedoes into her. I am really survived she survived this attack with only 54 flot damage and 20 fires. If she can get the fires out and make it to Kendari she might survive.

I sent 25 Zeros sweeping over Soerabaja. They claimed 1 Hurricane IIb out 8 engaged shot down for the loss of 2 Zeros.

The last time Dan sent fighters into Singapore, he pulled them out the next turn. To make sure I directed a large fighter sweep before sending any bombers back there. Unfortunately, my fighters went in fragment. The 1st sweep had 12 Zeros encountering 112 fighters. 3 Zeros went down while claining 2 enemy shot down. The 24 Oscars went in and met 99 allied fighters. 5 Oscars went down for 2 enemy. Then 5 Zeros showed up and tore into 72 enemy fighters and claimed 3 for the loss of 1.

Unfortunately I did forget to stand down two Sally units. 32 bombers from the first unit went to Singapore with an escort of 31 Oscars. 60 enemy fighters engaged and shot down 1 Sally and 3 Oscars. 3 enemy fighters were claimed. The second unit of 17 Sallys went in without escort. 5 Sallys were shot down.

A last sweep of 23 Oscars then went in and engaged 39 fighters. 5 Oscars were lost for 5 enemy shot down.

The only positive note for the day was the I-122 finding a nice sized Ak ,the Empire Curlew near Koggala and sank her with 2 torpedoes.

Chinses forces recaptured a non-base at Kweiteh. Troops are on their way to kick them out.

5 March 1942

Dan still has his fighters and his cruiser force at Singapore so I try a night bombing raid. They go in fragmented. 26 Netties went in first followed by 8 Sallys. No damage is inflicted. So much for that idea.

I try another deliberate attack at Clark. Another 1:1 result. 1729 Japanese casualties as opposed to 1730 allied. The good news is that 90% of his casualties are destroyed whereas only 10% of mine are.

6 March 1942

SS Thresher continues to be harassed near Kwajalien but sustains no damage. SS Trout in the same area takes a hit however.

SS Sargo attempts to penetrate the screen of a BB force near Makassar but fails.

As Dan has nearly his entire Far East fighter force at Singapore, I decided to raid the port of Soerabaja. SS Sailfisk takes 2 bombs and sinks.

I have about a 3:1 AV advantage at Singapore but his fort level is unknown. I think it is worthwhile to attempt a shock attack there in the hopes of capturing Singapore before he can evacuate his fighters. The plan doesn't work. The shock attack achieves 1:2 odds vs level 3 forts. No forts are brought down and I sustain 11131 casualties, roughly 1/3 of those are destroyed. Dan loses 5687 casualties but only about 20% of his are destroyed. Still the battle yields good intel on the state of his defenses.

Tokyo Rose announces the fall of Clark airbase!!! A deliberate attack yielded 3:1 odds with only 496 casualties. The allies lose 9807 troops, the vast majority of which are destroyed. All allied units retreat to Bataan. My troops will rest and recover disruption before actively pursuing. I will send a smallish combat team in with artillery to test the defenses while the remainder rest.

7 March 1942

I-154 spotted 2 destroyers, the John D. Edwards and Le Triompant pulling into Sydney. No other ships were spotted but I'm curious as to why 2 DDs are headed there. I am going to go with the assumption that the US carriers are in port there. I am sending in to Glen equipped subs to recon the port and I have 5 subs with midgets onboard enroute also. If the carries are inport there, the midgets will launch an attack. With any luck, one of them will get through. Even if they don't, it put Dan on notice that no port is safe.

SS KX got through some escorts and found a big, fat AP headed for Ternate from Kendari and put a torpedo into her. She's headed back to Kendari for temporary repairs.

Japanese troops captured undefended Toungoo in Burma.

8 March 1942

Allied fighters swept Mersing in preparation for bombing raids against the airfield. 11 P-40Es found 26 Zeros and 46 Oscars waiting for them. 2 P-40s went down for the loss of 1 Oscar.

6 Hurricane IIb's then tried to sweep against 72 Japanese fighters. No losses on either side.

The main event was next when 17 B-17s escorted by 36 fighters encountered 54 Japanese fighters. 3 friendly fighters were shot down but 8 enemy fighters also went down. Damage to the airfield was minimal.

An small invasion force is gathering to take Lord Howe Island. This will give me a staging point for keeping tabs on SE Australian waters in case his carriers are using Sydney.

The current stragetic plan is to take Bataan as soon as possible then route most of those troops to Singapore while the remainder begin taking Borneo. Once Singapore falls, java will be next. Palembang will be saved for last.

Chez

_____________________________

(in reply to ChezDaJez)

Post #: 156

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/15/2011 10:05:13 PM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

9 March 42

Fairly quiet turn. SS Seadragon attempted to penetrate the screen of a cargo TF near Kuantan and received 3 hits for its trouble.

2 IJN BBs bombarded Lautem for little gain. One disabled squad and a few port/airfield hits were all that was achieved.

My bombers continue to pound Bataan while my troops rest at Clark. They will be moving to Bataan in a few days to finalize the capture of the Philippines.

A 3:1 deliberate attack against the NZ defenders at Nadi saw the forts drop to level 1. Casualties were light on both sides.

10 March

SS Sturgeon attacked a cargo TF near Mersing but failed to penetrate and recieved 4 ASW hits. ANother sub, SS Tambor, tried to whittle down an ASW TF near Kwajalein. She missed but escaped unharmed.

Nadi falls with a 5:1 deliberate attack. All defenders surrendered so Fiji is now totally under the control of the Empire. Clean up of the surrounding islands will commence shortly.

A TF is on its way to take Bakeer Island. This area appears totally unreinforced and in many places, undefended.

Clean up of Chinese forces behind Japanese lines continues unabated. Dan is using Chinese HQ units to disrupt the flow of supplies to my frontline units. It's a bit like playing "Whack-a-mole". Just when you have one area cleared, up pops another Chinese unit.

11 March

No real combat to speak of.

An allied ASW TF near Koggala inflicted 2 hits on the SS I-122. She'll survive.

As before, Bataan is experiencing continuous air attack by approximately 80 bombers.

Dan has over 100 fighters stationed at Singapore making it impossible to bomb the town or interdict any of the shipping enter and leaving. I am gathering nearly 200 fighters to conduct a sweep of the area to whittle them down.

There is also a lot of shipping in and out of Palembang, Batavia and Osthaven. Some are tankers but many are cargo. I'm not sure if he is removing small amounts of troops from Singapore and bringing in supply or is he doing something in Java. I have subs stationed in and around the straits between Java and Sumatra and it doesn't appear as though the ships are heading out of the area. Just not sure.

I could sure use those 3 sunk CVLs right about now. Unfortunately Hosho is the only carrier (if you can call her that) in the area.

KB remains on patrol between Norfolk Island and Noumea. They are awaiting the arrival of a troop TF that will go to Lord Howe Island. This island will give me a good recon point for the coast of Australia and early warning should his carriers be located in Sydney. I don't know that they are there but that would be the location from which they could do the most damage with raids into the SoPac and Coral Sea.

The CVL Ryuho arrived at Tokyo WITHOUT AN AIRGROUP!!! Her airgroup doesn't arrive until 6 months from now! That means she will sit in port until it arrives unless I can meld the rememants of the other CVL airgroups into an effective force. Otherwise she is useless.

12 March

More sub attacks. SS KXVI tried to attack a troop TF near Makassar without success.

SS I-159 took 4 hits from a AM near Townsville and will have to retire for repairs.

Bettys flying out of Makassar attacked the airfield at Soerabaja and destroyed a Banshee on the ground. One less divebomber to worry about. A single P-40 rose to interdict but was driven off by the escort.

A second raid took care of the P-40 shooting it down and scored 6 runways hits. These raids are more of a nuisance raid in the hope that Dan will reposition some of his fighters to defend the port. So far, no good.

SS I-3 and DD Conyngham have been playing tag 400nm north of Lihune. No damage to either side.

Chinese bombers took to the air with little success against my troops near Changsha.

Baker Island falls. It was undefended.

13 March

Japanese invasion forces are landing at Singkawang. SS KXV attempted to interfere and was sunk by gunfire after being forced to the surface by DCs.

So I sent a very large sweep against his fighters in Singapore. Of course, the sweeps fragmented despite the presence of 2 Air HQs. 18 Zeros and met 32 H81-A3s, 7 Hurri Trop IIa's, 63 Hurri Trop IIb's, and 32 P-40Es. 18 Zeros against 124 fighters.... 5 Zeros lost, 2 P-40s downed.

Next 24 Zeros went in and met 20 H81-A3's, 7 Hurri Trop IIa's, 63 Hurri Trop IIb's and 26 P-40s. 5 more Zeros lost, 1 P-40 downed.

Then 23 Ki-43-Ic Oscars encounter 18 H81-A3's, 6 Hurri Trop IIa's, 54 Hurri Trop IIb's and 22 P-40s. 3 Oscars downed, 1 P-40 lost.

Along come 36 Ki-43-Ib Oscars. They meet 16 H81-A3's, 5 Hurri Trop IIa's, 47 Hurri Trop IIb's and 14 P-40s. 3 Oscars gone, 1 H81-A3.

But it gets worse. 9 Sallys at Mersing decide that the coast is clear and take off to attack a cargo vessel at Singapore. They meet 59 allied fighters. The CR says 3 Sallys lost.

Not to be outdone by their army brethern, 9 Nells from Kuantan decide to do the same thing. 48 Allied fighters shoot them all down.

Then 4 fearless Sallys decide that the Singapore area is a bit too hot so they fly down Tandjoenginang to attack a lone merchant. Fortunately only 1 P-40 is around but it shoots down 1 Sally and damages another. And of course the bombs miss the target.

And again the Navy has to follow the lead of their army friends. 13 Bettys raid the same TF. They encounter 2 P-40s that damage three of them but they are able to launch torpedoes. One xAK sustains 3 torps and the 2. Both sink loaded with support troops. 99 allied vehicles go down with the ships. Funny that the combat report lists 75 vehicles destroyed while 24 are only "disabled" at the bottom of the sea!!!

Now comes another sweep. 26 Ki-43-Ic Oscars engage 5 H81-A3's, 4 Hurri Trop IIa's, 25 Hurri Trop IIb's and 8 P-40s. One Oscar is lost along with one Hurri Trop IIb.

We're still aren't done yet. 36 Zeros then coming flying down to Singapore and find 4 H81-A3's, 4 Hurri Trop IIa's, 16 Hurri Trop IIb's and 5 P-40s. The odds are finally in my favor but it does little good. 2 Zeros lost for 2 Hurri Trop IIb's and 1 P-40.

Finally the morning air phase ends.

More stupid bomber attacks in the afternoon. 4 Nells go to raid a TF at Palembang. All 4 are lost as 16 allied fighters chew them up.

More Nells go in to Palembang. 9 attack and all are shot down.

4 other Nells pay a visit to Singapore. All lost.

A total of 78 Zeros and 85 Oscars go in at high altitude and come out like ground hamburger. 19 Japanese fighters and 9 allied fighters downed acording to the combat report.

Actual losses were 31 Zeros and 23 Oscars shot down, ops losses accounted for 6 each. Total loss was 66 fighters. These were all 65+ experience units.

In addition, 10 Sallys and 22 Nells were shot down with 3 ops losses for a total of 35 bombers lost.

Allied losses were 9 P-40s shot down with 3 more to ops losses. 8 Huuri IIb's shot down and 3 to ops. 2 H81-A3's shot down and 1 to ops and last, 2 Hurri IIa's lost to ops losses for a total of 19 shot down and 9 ops losses.

The fragmentation of the sweeps is probably the single biggest resaon for the huge losses though I can't explain why they fragmented so badly. My fighters launched at a range of 2 from Mersing, a level 6 airfield with 2 air HQs and over 100k of supply. They were all set to the same altitude,, 32K ft. The defensive CAP was stacked from 15K-29K feet yet not one time did my fighters get the bounce. Radar was not a factor as all raids were detected at 40nm or less. In fact the first sweep was detected at 17nm. Radar is not mentioned in any of the reports.

Anyways, these losses hurt bad. My Sally bomber pool is empty. Production has been ramped up but engines are the limiting factor for the moment. Soon I will be producing 90 Sallys a month but it will be much longer before the pilot losses are made good. 85 pilots listed as KIA or MIA. Only 2 wounded.

14 March

My air forces in Malaya have stood down. The Sally units are out of the action for some time to come so will be rotated back to Saigon. The Nell losses have been replaced and experienced pilots drawn from other units to make up the difference.

SS I-16 encountered another AM near Newcastle. Both escaped unharmed. Then SS I-18 encountered the same AM with the same result.

SS KVII put a torpedo into the large xAK Arimasan Maru near Singkawang. Must have been a good shot because she sank.

Singkawang falls to a 27:1 deliberate attack. The allied units retreat to the east.

15 March

More surprises in store for me. I have several subs guarding the apporaches to the straits near Oosthaven. An allied ML tagged I-164 with 3 hits and begins the trip home for repairs.

Then I-155 strikes a mine at Merak and is severely damaged.

Next I-27 finds the tanker Francol and puts a torp into her sinking her at Merak. She then also strikes a mine at Merak! All 3 subs should make port but the straits are now unguarded. More subs are being sent to fill in.

SS I-160 sank a small xAKL with gunfire near Brisbane.

A second amphib TF begins unloading at Kuching with problems.

I-3 continues to play tag with DD Hammann and Hughes. No damaged sustain by either side.

Soerabaja is slowly gathering airfiled damage as my bombers continue to bomb. He must not have many engineers there because I seld send more than 15 bombers at a time.

I conducted a preliminary bombardment at Singapore to guage the state of defense. He is removing troops from there. AV values ar 2832 to his 874. I have another division on the way so I will hold any attacks until the arrive.

SUMMARY:
I must admit Dan has me stymied. I'm unable to dislodge his fighters from Singapore, my bombers have been ravaged and he continues to build up Palembang without interference. The only bright spot is that I anticipate Bataan fallling soon and then I will send those troops to Singapore and Java.

Singapore should fall after Bataan as I will bring many troops in from there but this will take time.

I cannot let Dan sit at Palembang as I need the place. But as long as he is there, I cannot starve him out as he will enjoy good supply. He has probably built the fort level higher than the sky. Plus I need to make sure that there won't be any effective retreat from the place. According to my calculations, I have enough fuel to last through July at its present usage. So I could hold off assaulting the place until June. I am considering taking NW Australia down to Exmouth to prevent him from redploying his air forces to Australia or India. Port Blair needs to be taken too but that will happen when Singapore falls..and then turning attention to Palembang.

I am seriously open to ideas on how to handle this.

Chez

_____________________________

(in reply to ChezDaJez)

Post #: 157

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/15/2011 10:47:02 PM

Bullwinkle58

Posts: 11302
Joined: 2/24/2009
Status: offline

Can't help you on Palembang, but could you in the interim get some fuel relief on Borneo? Pinning the Empire's hopes on P. with that tight a time restriction seems risky.

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The Moose

(in reply to ChezDaJez)

Post #: 158

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/16/2011 12:26:31 AM

SuluSea

Posts: 2358
Joined: 11/17/2006
Status: offline

Here's what happened during my Palembang stand.

My opponent attacked across the river into Palembang which forced a shock attack, the end result of his shock attack was damaged industry oil and refinery , memory is fuzzy but I'd say 15 to 30 point range.
In Late May/early June IIRC he got to Palembang faced off against all the Dutch troops I could muster and one Indian division from forces I combined from Singapore and one Punjab unit .
My forces were in the 2,200 AV range, I thought he compounded a strategic mistake by landing on South Java and actually pushed more troops my way, I'm guessing around 70 AV plus some engineers before evacuations from Java was stopped.
When my opponent got to Palembang forts were real close to 6 (maybe 3 to 4 turns away), I had the NZ engineers out of Singers earmarked for Palembang but an I-boat got a fish into one of the two AKs carrying them and I just bypassed it to rebuild the unit and build forts elsewhere. (mentioned that so that you have a reference point what Dutch engineers can do.)
From what I saw Palembang will produce supply until the enemy arrives.
During the seige in my game I had lost complete air superiority from mid May with nothing left to fly the Japanese side was bringing everything he had bombers weren't even flying in Burma, supply was slowly trickling downward. I noted supply loss every turn but felt it was marginal . It wasn't until the IJN showed up and started bombarding I felt headway was being made.
The catch 22 is ship to shore bombardment can damage industry .
I prepped all DEI troops except those needed to garrison Java for Palembang on day one by the time Imperial Forces got there the waiting troops were not only 100% prepped but gained (considering the starting points) nice experience levels.
My general feeling was the Dutch AA units performed better than I anticipated I didn't check the ceilings of the Dutch guns because I couldn't control where he was bombing from, going from memory operations were around 15,000 ft.
I'm pretty certain the opponent brought roughly 4,600 AV to the party and added atleast a couple more units as the summer wore on.
Swamp terrain has very good defensive modifiers.
My troops held on until late September/early October and didn't lose the place until Palembang supply was sitting at zero and still held on 1 extra deliberate attack with the supply the units had on hand.
Industry was wrecked upon eviction with Oil and Refinery producing in the neighborhood of 4 and 10.
All units had the best leaders I could pay for.

< Message edited by SuluSea -- 5/16/2011 12:36:47 AM >

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"There�s no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself.� ~ Erwin Lutzer

(in reply to Bullwinkle58)

Post #: 159

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/17/2011 2:36:13 AM

Alfred

Posts: 6685
Joined: 9/28/2006
Status: offline

ChezDaJez,

Back in post #23 you asked for people to �avoid giving away Canoerebel�s past strategies�. As any advice from me would, at least subconsciously, have been framed with the knowledge of your opponent�s modus operandi, I have refrained from posting after my initial post. However following your last post, a few observations may be possible without breaching your earlier request. BTW, you should not assume this self imposed restraint of not studying your opponent�s previous play is reciprocated.

These are only a few generalised comments. Screenshots, force dispositions and your industrial situation would be necessary for more detailed comments.

Palembang

1. The first issue to consider is your observation that you cannot starve the Allied position at Palembang. That claim is actually not accurate. Palembang does generate a lot of supply and therefore it can sustain a sizeable garrison. But, in the absence of importing supply, there are most definitely limits as to:

� the size of the garrison
� ability to accept replacements and rearm both air and naval assets
� building infrastructure

2. Once you accept the proposition that Palembang can be starved, you are then faced with two quite different direct solutions to deal with Palembang, and one indirect solution. In general terms, these solutions are to:

� capture Palembang by assault
� capture Palembang by stealth via a siege
� make the Allied position at Palembang irrelevant

Taking into account your observations regarding cargo ships in the vicinity which remain in the area plus evacuation from Singapore plus the large Allied air force currently stationed at Singapore which can be easily relocated to Palembang, I would not advocate the direct capture of Palembang by assault. To attempt to do so would require the use of prodigious amounts of Japanese assets which IMHO would be more profitably used elsewhere. Accordingly my advice is to approach the Palembang test using a combination of stealth and making it irrelevant.

3. A stealth approach to Palembang contains the following elements:

� limiting Palembang�s supply generation capacity
� establishing a cordon sanitaire around Palembang
� encouraging the Allied player to over garrison Palembang
� Japan taking the appropriate actions elsewhere to allow it to last the distance of the siege
� contrary to popular myth, in scenario2 steady, intelligently targeted application of Japanese assets rather than brutal frontal application of assets is the key to success

To provide some context to these planning bullet points here are a few factors to bear in mind.

(a) Palembang itself has much more refining capacity than it does oil production. To maximise its supply generation it is dependent on continued access to the oil of Djambi. Cut that LOC and either there is a substantial reduction in Palembang supply production or troops are moved out of their fortifications to reopen the LOC, in the process weakening the Palembang defence

(b) supply production in northern Sumatra is an important secondary supply source for the Allied forces in southern Sumatra in the vicinity of Palembang. Capture that and you not only put pressure on the Allied supply depots down south, you also feed your own southern marching forces. Both Medan and Bengkalis can be captured before Singapore falls with Japanese invasion TFs entering the Strait of Malacca from the Indian Ocean

(c) Japan owning the Sumatran off shore islands plus Cocos and Christmas islands, plus the Java bases is part of establishing a cordon sanitaire. The range of your aircraft cannot be matched by the Allies so you can attack enemy resupply/reinforcement TFs well outside of range of Allied LRCAP. With good naval search you can quickly vector in the IJN.

(d) Allied players tend to over concentrate on amassing raw AV at those points they intend to defend stoutly and pay insufficient attention to firepower and the actual consumption rate of supplies needed to maintain the amassed forces (land, sea and air) at maximum combat staying power. They tend to not fully appreciate that all the mouths present still have to be fed even though the combat value of the individual units may be widely divergent. It often means that a large part of the combat force is essentially a one shot wonder, not really structured to survive attrition of their logistics.

Some of the ways to attrite the enemy logistics is to engage them in aerial combat away from their airbases so that their aircraft operational and pilot MIA losses are maximised. Southern Sumatra has no good ports, so engage in naval combat well in advance of sailing the invasion TFs so that local naval rearming and repairs is under considerable stress and not 100% combat ready to oppose an invasion. These are all actions consistent with establishing a cordon sanitaire.

(e) the rest of the DEI produces more oil than does Palembang. The fact that this campaign is in mid March 1942 and this oil has still not been captured is a serious indictment. The fact that some early Japanese convoys were wiped out is no excuse. If the original forces earmarked for the capture of Tarakan, Balikpapan etc were destroyed you should have redirected the forces you used in the south Pacific to instead capture these oil centres which would not have been strongly defended. They must be captured ASAP, even before Singapore. Some of the forces released from the end of the Luzon campaign should be immediate tasked with their capture.

Sweeps

LoBaron has posted extensively on air operations in AE. It is his considered view that sweeps cannot be co-ordinated. No amount of tinkering with heights, Air HQs, supply etc has an impact. My recommendation is to do the following:

� desist from attempting to follow up a fighter sweep with unescorted bombers
� don�t attempt to amass 200 fighters to sweep a single base, instead spread them out to sweep multiple bases simultaneously and when you have discovered enemy bases with minimum cap reinforce your success but maintain the pressure elsewhere
� concentrate on LRCAPing Singapore rather than sweeping. This has three benefits, firstly you stand a chance of getting co-ordination, secondly it provides high escort for your close escort bomber raids, and thirdy if your opponent is using airplanes to fly in supply/fly out troops, you intercept the air transports

Fuel Stocks

You state that at current usage rates, you have sufficient fuel to last through to July 1942. This is clearly a dangerous situation and IMHO is largely due to two fundamental mistakes committed by you viz failure to capture early the oil centres and misuse of the fleet.

Currently you are wasting both fuel and key strategic assets steaming the KB between Norfolk Island and Noumea waiting for the arrival of the Lord Howe Island invasion TF. Firstly, it was not that long ago that the mini KB was ambushed, by your estimate, by 6 Allied CVs off Bali. Those 6 CVs are not going to be able to intercept the Lord Howe invasion fleet, so the KB is loitering with no prospect of gainful employment. Secondly, any covering Japanese forces should be in port conserving fuel until the invasion fleet arrives. Thirdly, Lord Howe Island is far too insignificant a location to merit the presence of the KB when most of the DEI, including the vital oil centres, remains in Allied hands; when a cordon sanitaire against Palembang is yet to be instituted.

Anyway, that should be enough to get the discussion started. If you want, more informed suggestions are possible if you post screenshots and force disposition details.

Alfred

(in reply to SuluSea)

Post #: 160

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/17/2011 3:38:30 AM

witpqs

Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004
From: Argleton
Status: offline

Some useful general info when you are looking to shut down places. From the manual:

quote:

9.4.1 AIRFIELD DAMAGE
Airfields can suffer two types of damage: runway and service (both ranging from 0 to 100
percent). It is easier to damage smaller airfields than larger airfields, but once damaged larger
airfields take longer to repair. Less damage to the runway is required at smaller airfields in
order to prevent aircraft from being able to take off and land than at larger airfields.

Airfield service damage in combination with the availability of aviation support determines
the number of aircraft that can be repaired and may limit the number of planes that may
be operational (ready, not in reserve). Airfield service damage can also impact the morale of
pilots.

Runway damage can limit the air operations at a base. A strike Mission may only be launched
from a base with runway damage less than 20+(Airfield Size *5). Patrol and CAP Missions may
only be launched from bases with runway damage less than 50+(Airfield Size *5).

Damage can also impact the receiving of air replacements and upgrades.

The critical parts:

Launching offensive missions requires runway damage less than 20+(Airfield Size *5).

Launching CAP missions requires runway damage less than 50+(Airfield Size *5).

(in reply to Alfred)

Post #: 161

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/17/2011 6:30:42 AM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Can't help you on Palembang, but could you in the interim get some fuel relief on Borneo? Pinning the Empire's hopes on P. with that tight a time restriction seems risky.

Forces will land at Balikpapn next turn and more are headed for Tarakan and Miri. Borneo should be mine within a week.

Chez

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(in reply to Bullwinkle58)

Post #: 162

RE: 9 March - 16 March 1942 - 5/17/2011 6:35:29 AM

ChezDaJez

Posts: 3436
Joined: 11/12/2004
From: Chehalis, WA
Status: offline

Alfred,

I appreciate the comments and advice.

I'll provide a reply after I look at the situation again. Unfortunately I'm out of time tonight.

Chez

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(in reply to Alfred)

Post #: 163