GreyJoy
Posts: 6750
Joined: 3/18/2011 Status: offline
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Thanks guys for your support. You know how much it means to me... However, even if not with the patient and the depth which was required, i tried to make some calculations about how many AVs does Rader has at hand right now. At the start of Scenario 2 Japan has, more or less, 8500 AVs (only considering infantry units, so not Eng nor Tanks). I'd say that between 3000 and 4000 are scheldued to arrive from 8th dec 41 till Feb 43 (always talking about INF). Then Japan gets 50 PPs each day. The typical "chinese" japanese division costs 1200/1400 PPs. That means that each month Japan can buy a division. I'm pretty sure he has bought all the tanks he could spare, so probably till now he has "only" bought 12, maybe 13, divisions (something like 5000 AVs). So that brings to a total of something around 17,000 AVs only counting Infantry. if you consider also Tanks and Eng, we're probably somewhere around 20,000 (remember that he had 14,000 AVs at Jodpur last august). We have already seen 7,000 AVs in SOPAC (4500 at PM, 2000 at Tulagi and more 500 at Russell Island). As far as i can tell(intel, recon etc) he has brought many more big units at Rabaul during the last 2/3 months. I know he has regiments at Scoodra, at Diego, at Cocos Island, Iwo Jima, Guam and Timor. At Java he has at least 2 regiments and some tanks units. I've spotted the 6th Guards Div at Surat (exactly where i didn't want it to be) and i'm sure most of his tanks are still India (intel reports), while the rest has been shipped to Java. Let's say he needs 1000 AVs to garrison my former chinese bases. More 1000 for garrisoning Indian main cities. Now let's guess he has 10,000 AVs in Sopac (7000 already known plus 3000 at Rabaul and in the other bases - i've spotted lots of "garrison" units around), 600 AVs in the Bonins, 2,000 in the Mariannas, 500 in the Kuriles, probably more 2,000 in the DEI, 500 in Burma, say 200 at Scoodra and Diego, i'd say 500 at least at Colombo. The rest could be easily in India, waiting for me to come. I know this is not math. It's just guess, but i don't think we're that far from truth... I've also made tests with Hellcats against Tojos and A6M3s and A6M5s. The Hellcats is superior to the IJN planes, but if not inferior nothing more than equal with the Tojo. My decision to stay and fight in the Solomons is also dictated by my will to grind him down into a theatre where i can fight on decent conditions but still being on the defensive side, Playing an active defence. I know he's still superior. But our production will become acceptable in 2 months and....above all...i cannot really stand the idea of leaving 130,000 of my best troops to rot there. I wanna do my best to avoid a pacific stalingrad. What is my plan? As easy as possible. I'll do what beppi, ADB and others have suggested (even if not in this context). I'll build up the Espiritu Santu, The New hebrids and the Fijis. Every single dot base will be built. I wanna make an iron ring around Ndani, Lungaville and Suva. he wants to encircle Lunga with a ring of fire? Very well, we'll back it up with bases full of 4Es, DBs and fighters. String must be right: as long as i have problems resupplying my men, he's gonna have lots of problems to resupplying 10,000 AVs for an offensive! I still have 3 operative AFs in the front line. He's the one who has 80,000 men stuck on the beaches at Tulagi. He's the one who has to find a solution to free them. He's the one who has to attack. He's the one who has to risk. Let's see it on the positive side: he has to come to me. He has to invade. We've seen how bad it was his first landing at Tulagi... There won't be another PM where he can easily march all the way to my positions. He will have to land. And there, on the beaches, well entrenched, his troops will find the best the western powers can put on the ground: the US MARINES. Again...i want to believe.
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