Attack Attack Attack - a Hotseat AAR

[Remington700]

West Coast
The CV Wasp and NC BB leave San Diego steaming to Australia. They will Join the main CV strike force in the Indian Ocean.

[Remington700]

Builds
UK: Merchant Marine. Canada: Supply truck.
US: 2 Supply trucks, 2 Oilers, 2 Landing ships and a Large Corps.

[Remington700]

Japan July 5th

Burma
The Imperial Guards retake Myitkyina to improve supply. G4M attack bombers of the 12th air group fly to Bangkok to be ferried to the Marshall Islands. The Imperial 1st army rails to the central road and prepares to cross into India. No offensive action this turn as the rain continues to fall.

[Remington700]

Indian Ocean
Resupplying from an Oiler the Zuikaku CVL force steams to Bombay to attack shipping and interdict the city.

Once again, the “perfect intelligence” problem inherent in Hotseat raises its ugly head. To maintain surprise, I try to build a plan and stick with it. If you cannot see an enemy unit, then it does not exist – despite knowing differently. I ignore the fact US carriers are approaching and continue as planned.

[Remington700]

South China
The 12th and 13th armies are resupplied with the few remaining supply trucks. They join the fresh 11th army with an assault on Changsha. The Chinese 17th army is dug in and ready to fight. The 12th IJA losses effectiveness and allows the 16th army to attack through their lines. This is too much for the Chinese 17th and after heavy losses (10 SPs) pulls back to the northwest. The line is broken and Changsha falls!

The 11th army (at 75% effective) takes possession of the city, digs in, and has a particularly good chance of holding out. This is a major victory as it hurts Chinese moral, reduces allied VPs, and provides a strategic base for the Japanese.

[Remington700]

Coral Sea
The 3rd Tactical Air pounds Naumea in preparation for the Kido Butai’s attack on the port. While the US 3rd bomber group should have been softened up, they still manage to surprise the CV taskforce and sink the Battlecruiser Kirishima. After the battle I realized I attacked the ground unit not the airfield. That was an expensive lesson I will not soon forget.

[Remington700]

Gilbert Islands
The Marshall Air Division strikes the Grayling SS group without noticeable effect. This could be a problem. The location of the US CV group is unknown. More air is needed in the area.

[Remington700]

Builds
No builds this turn. Replacements are reduced once again to grow stockpile. Supply trucks are desperately needed.

Oil stockpile is at 35% or 198 Oil Points. I don’t know if this is good or bad at this point in the war.

[Remington700]

Allied July 5th

Indian Ocean CV attack! 
The US CV group arrives and the trap sprung. The Japanese air fleet is hiding in a rain squall when the new TBF Avenger torpedo planes appear flying low over the water. Unable to locate the carriers the Yamato and Hyuga are targeted taking heavy damage. (Unlike history, the Yamato was not sunk by the TBFs - yet). Simultaneously Japanese “Val” dive bombers attack the Hornet doing minor damage.

[Remington700]

Indian Ocean CV attack!
US SBD dive bombers arrive shortly after but are only able to hit the cruiser Takao causing major damage. However Japanese “Kate” torpedo planes find the Yorktown setting her afire. Listing heavily to starboard the Yorktown is in trouble.

The US carriers keep heavy CAP in the air waiting for the next strike. Aircraft is transferred from the Yorktown as she is not operational. The next turn could get ugly.

[Remington700]

Burma/Indian Ocean
The 1st IAF is transferred to Bombay to defend against Japanese carriers. There is no change on the Dacca front. The British main fleet escorts the transport of the understrength 10th Corps to Diego Garcia. It will refuel and move on to India. The British fleet them moves to take up an ambush position southwest of Ceylon.

The thought is the enemy CVL taskforce will either move to a port in the DEI or take a shot at the wounded US carriers before attacking convoys at the end of their reach.

[Remington700]

South China
The loss of Changsha is a major blow to the Chinese. It was a main supply source and now the area is starved for supply. The battered 17th army moves to a quieter location on the front, replaced by the 11th army. And 12th army replaces the 33rd army suffering from low effectiveness.

Manpower drops from 24 to 19, however China seems to have more stockpile than can ever be used. With the failures in Burma Production Points continue to be a problem.

China’s moral drops to 40 (from 50) but does not seem to negatively affect combat. Based on the manual “morale drops” from losing cities will eventually cause a country to surrender but has no effect on combat readiness. I think this is handled abstractly with changes in effectiveness. I compared effectiveness of specific units from the prior turn with the turn after losing Changsha and their effectiveness grew as expected. (with no snow, movement or combat).

[Remington700]

South Pacific
Due to mishaps leaving San Diego, the CV Wasp and her escort the BB North Carolina are overdue to arrive in Australia. The corollary to Murphy's Law kicks in big time. “If anything can go wrong, it will - At the worst possible time.” The Wasp is needed badly to support the damaged CV fleet in the Indian Ocean.

I made another big mistake last turn. I took a screen shot of moving the fleet before sending the ships. I must have gotten sidetracked because I did not move them. Lesson learned - “Make your moves first then take screen shots – regardless of what you want to show.”

The unescorted 3rd bomber group on New Caledonia is ordered to avoid the 1st Air Fleet. Rather than fly into heavy AA and CAP, they wait on the arrival of the vulnerable landing ships. With supply cut off, replacing effectiveness is very slow so I chose to let the bombers sit.

[Remington700]

Gilbert Islands
The submarine fleet remains on station cutting off Tarawa. I thought about sending the Wasp and her escort but decide to stick with the original plan sending her to Australia.

[Remington700]

Builds and Convoys
The US loses another MM. SPs to India is reduced by one.

US: Builds a land-based escort fighter and an airfield. Replacements are recalibrated to match production, but upkeep remains at zero – for now.
UK: Builds a Canadian Supply truck. UK replacements are set to zero to improve stockpile.
India: I would like to build supply trucks but with the loss of MM I don’t want to spend PPs on anything but units and replacements. No builds this turn.

[Frido1207]

Thanks for your AAR. It's an highly enjoyable read.
Lots of stuff I can learn from.

[Remington700]

ORIGINAL: Frido1207

Thanks for your AAR. It's an highly enjoyable read.
Lots of stuff I can learn from.

Thank you for the response! I am learning a lot too.

[Remington700]

Japan July 19th

Burma
Bad weather grounds air operations. The 1st army moves northwest along the central road.

[Remington700]

Indian Ocean
Bad weather suspends all air operations. The CVL taskforce steams south of Ceylon to raid convoys. (It will be interesting to see if the convoys take damage in heavy rain.)

[Remington700]

South China
Eight well-coordinated Partisan attacks on my supply net are ineffectual. It turns out my “overkill” of defending two key rail routes has paid off.

The 12th army supported by the 4th brigade and 19th division push the Chinese 12th army group back fifty miles. Japanese losses are light. The 13th Air division provided ground support. All units were well supplied.