Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants_MatrixForum

ASW TFs and damaged CVs - I would set up a few ASW TF and run from Truk to say Saipan or the path you plan will have them follow to see if you will run over any of his subs. Make sure the CV captains have high Nav skill. Much more important than Air skill at this point in time.

Hmm, I'll have to check that. I've always focused on air skill for CV captains.

[PaxMondo]

air skill is important for the group commander, for the ship commander naval skill is more important. ship air skill only comes into play if the ship separates from the group and the ship commander becomes a new group commander.

AFAIK .

[;)]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

air skill is important for the group commander, for the ship commander naval skill is more important. ship air skill only comes into play if the ship separates from the group and the ship commander becomes a new group commander.

AFAIK .

[;)]

Interesting. Going to run my turn now.....and check all my carrier commanders. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants_MatrixForum

ASW TFs and damaged CVs - I would set up a few ASW TF and run from Truk to say Saipan or the path you plan will have them follow to see if you will run over any of his subs. Make sure the CV captains have high Nav skill. Much more important than Air skill at this point in time.

Yep, that's my intent, but I'm moving them around seemingly at random. I don't want Ted to possibly get intel on carrier movements. Right now, with a good chunk of KB patching holes, I have some spare DDs that I'm using for ASW TFs all over the place.

[Mike Solli]

3 Nov 43

Sub War

My sub actions have taken a turn for the worse.

The RO-34, hanging out off Perth, was caught by an ASW TF (possibly the same one as the one that took out I-33) and sank her. [8|] Now, I'm down to 1 sub in the area. More coming though.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

That bombardment TF is still sitting at Aitape, but didn't do anything this turn. The Arizona, part of that TF, did hit a mine though. [:D] Every little bit...

KB2 decided to meander to it's target hex and is still 4 hexes away, 14 hexes by air to Aitape. [8|] They're in clear skies and have not been spotted. They're continuing to their target hex, 10 hexes from Aitape and 7 hexes from Hollandia. Hopefully, the meandering will put them in the right place at the right time to punch some holes in some Allied ships. Because they'll leave the next day regardless of what happens. I am really beginning to fear the Allied subs.

Hollandia was visited by 4 small flights of bombers totaling 32x 2E and 8x 4E bombers. They targeted the airfield. Now Hollandia's airfield and port all have moderate damage. I had considered putting some fighters there, but they would just end up as cinders.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Sweeps of Akyab and Chittagong were fruitless. Allied fighters refused to rise against us. Tomorrow, I'm sending some bombers against Akyab.

My Franks had no supply to fly against Ledo. [8|]

I lied to you earlier. Currently, Rangoon has 27k supply. A supply convoy will arrive tomorrow with 22k supply. Hopefully that will get the supply flowing to the NE corner of Burma.

China

Only 17 bombers flew against Chungking, and that was (part of) the sentai allocated to the airfield. That often happens when there is a ground attack scheduled. All those artillery shells flying maybe?

Here's the deliberate attack against Chungking:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 135543 troops, 1571 guns, 985 vehicles, Assault Value = 4713

Defending force 355785 troops, 725 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11534

Japanese adjusted assault: 2116

Allied adjusted defense: 11989

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
15176 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 1701 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 97 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 186 disabled

Allied ground losses:
16329 casualties reported
Squads: 248 destroyed, 920 disabled
Non Combat: 170 destroyed, 348 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 31 (15 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Units destroyed 10

I actually lost 9 squads, all infantry, spread out among 4 divisions. I saw only 7 destroyed units: 1 infantry, 1 base force, the last (of 2) AT regiment, and 4 construction regiments. The divisions are in pretty good shape, other than very high disruption and fatigue. They'll sit in Chungking until the other divisions complete their R&R and move back to Chungking. I expect another assault in about a week's time.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: MTG G-152

I got confirmation of the sinking of an AM at Adak on 5/6/43 to CD guns and the SS Sturgeon near Eniwetok 7/19/43, from depth charge damage sustained off Truk. Nice!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

3 Nov 43

Sub War

My sub actions have taken a turn for the worse.

The RO-34, hanging out off Perth, was caught by an ASW TF (possibly the same one as the one that took out I-33) and sank her. [8|] Now, I'm down to 1 sub in the area. More coming though.

Well, its late 43 … the allies get their big 'under the hood' ASW boost … for me at least, in 44/45 my SS are just VP's for the allies to harvest … except for the Glen boats …
[:@]

[Mike Solli]

You're always full of good news, Pax. [:D]

Waiting for the turn so I tend to get stats to review while I wait. Total losses to date:

Type Japanese/Allied

CV 2/2 Hiryu, Junyo/Saratoga, Wasp
CVL 1/1 Zuiho/Independence(?)
CVE 1/3
BB 0/7
BC 0/1
CA 2/5
CL 0/12
CLAA 0/1
DD 13/47
TB 1/0
DE 0/6
APD 3/0
APA 0/8
LSI(L) 0/1
AP 0/3
xAP 3/37
AKA 0/5
AK 0/5
AKV 1/0
xAK 92/158
xAKL 66/91
AO 4/2
TK 20/24
SS 39/54
SSX 28/0
AMC 5/0
AS 1/2
AD 1/0
AV 3/0
AVD 0/1
AVP 0/8
AG 0/4
CM 2/3
DM 0/1
DMS 4/8
AM 0/48 (expendable minesweepers)
ACM 11/2
YMS 0/19 (more expendable minesweepers)
AMc 1/23
E 11/0
PB 44/0 (sub torpedo magnets)
SC 10/17
MTB 1/8
PG 0/8
PC 0/2
PT 0/26
MGB 0/13
ML 0/14
YP 0/1
HDML 0/13
LST 0/27
LSD 1/0

Thought someone out there might be interested…

[Lokasenna]

The naval losses on both sides are extremely light for this date. Particularly the cruisers.

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, I'm very cautious with my ships and Ted has been hunkering down until he feels he has overwhelming force.

For surface battles, I always try to have heavier ships, CAs when he has DDs, BBs when he has cruisers. I have tried to sneak in small groups of DDs on occasion in very low moonlight to pretty good effect.

[Mike Solli]

4 Nov 43

Lots of action pretty much all over the map today. I still haven't sent the turn back. I need another once over to make sure I'm doing the right thing everywhere. There is a whole new dynamic here. In the past, Ted would usually focus on one location. Engagements all over the map complicate things. Very interesting. It didn't help that I initiated some actions too. [:D]

Sub War

The I-15 sank an xAK on its way back to San Francisco.

The I-4 sank an xAK SE of Pago Pago.

The RO-100 was popped by a K-gun and is heading home: 19-8(5)-1-0.

5 Fleet

It's been far too quiet for too long here. I decided to send a sweep of Tojos to Unmak to see what's up with his fighters stationed there.

I have a single sentai stationed at Adak split into 3 chutai, 2 of Tojos and 1 of Oscars. I sent the Tojos to sweep and they fragmented into 3 or 4 different sweeps. The first was 9 aircraft, and they ran into 5 P-40Ks, shooting them all down for no loss. The other sweeps found no enemy fighters in the air. I'll sweep again tomorrow.

4 Fleet

A new offensive opened up here. I didn’t see these ships sneak up until the air attack occurred (damn naval search slackers).

I see 3 TFs 3 hexes east of Mili. One is definitely an invasion TF, one is probably ASW and the third shows all BBs, but it’s got to be a carrier TF. He hit Maleolap’s airfield with 63 Helldivers, 47 Dauntlesses and 32 Avengers, escorted by 33 Hellcats. 3 CVs and a CVL or 4 CVs? Not really sure, but I guess it doesn’t matter because my carriers are south of Babeldaob. Anyway, those bombers did light damage to the airfield. That was where I had some Emilies providing Naval Search.

I think he’s going to invade Mili, which is the only non-atoll in the Marshalls. I’ve sortied 2 subs out of Kwajalein to try and intercept as well as 4 midget subs. Three Fubukis sortied from Truk, but they’re 3 days out.

I moved the Emilies back to Roi-Namur in case the target is Maleolap. There are 34 A6M5cs stationed at Roi-Namur. They were training defense but I set them to CAP at 8 hex range to (hopefully) cover everything down to Mili.

I moved 36 Franks from Truk to Roi-Namur and set them at 8 hex CAP as well. I moved a small chutai (size 3) of George 2s to Wotje set to CAP.

Finally, I moved a 27 plane Nell unit to Roi-Namur set to night naval attack with torpedoes. They might actually be motivated to attack and get lucky.

I’m pulling 2 subs back from patrol around Hawaii to try and catch the enemy fleets from behind. Maybe put down a damaged ship or two (see I’m being overly optimistic).

I can’t prevent him from taking whatever base he wants. I have only 1-2k infantry at each, but they do have forts and CD guns:

Roi-Namur: AF 4(1), 6 forts, 24 CD
Kwajalein: AF 1(0), 6 forts, 20 CD
Wotje: AF 3(0), 5.15 forts, 20 CD
Maleolap: AF 4(1), 5.98 forts, 20 CD, Damage 4 runway, 17 service
Majoro: AF 0(0), 4.34 forts, 0 CD
Mili: AF 1(2), 4.04 forts, 23 CD
Jaluit: AF 0(0), 6 forts, 6 CD

My guess is Mili because it’s not an atoll and he can build the airfield up to level 5, pack it full of fighters and 2E bombers and try to suppress the Marshalls. Should be interesting.

Wish I hadn’t been so stupid with my carriers and had a second KB available to send here. Ah well, such is life.

SE Fleet

Things started off here with the Allied bombardment TF sitting at Aitape. The 4 DDs with the TF cleared a few mines. The CL Perth cleared another one, with her hull. [:D]

They bombarded Aitape again (4 BB, 2 CA, 3 CL, 1 CLAA – Arizona notably missing after hitting a mine yesterday) and did absolutely no damage. Probably a lack of ammo. [:)]

They left after doing that unfortunately. [:(] KB2 is now sitting 10 hexes to the NW, still unspotted under extreme overcast. Here’s the big dilemma. Do I keep my carriers there, move them closer or pull them out after doing nothing but wasting fuel.

I had noticed some Allied subs in port at Kavieng and decided to take a chance. 27 Nells (the ones at Roi-Namur now) were sent on a suicidal port attack against Kavieng during the day. Ted wasn’t expecting it because only 7x P-38Gs and 2 Corsairs were on CAP. The Nells snuck past the CAP (amazing!) and smacked around the ships in port, but unfortunately were pounced upon by the CAP after the attack, losing 8 aircraft:

Morning Air attack on Kavieng , at 106,122

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 21

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 7
F4U-1 Corsair x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
SS Dragonet, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AD Hamul, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
SS Cod, Bomb hits 1
SS Bowfin, Bomb hits 3
SS Growler, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Archerfish, Bomb hits 1
AS Griffin, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AE Henry S Grove, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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

Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
21 x G3M3 Nell bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VMO-155 with F4U-1 Corsair (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes
8th FG/80th FS with P-38G Lightning (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 5 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 23000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes

Nothing reported sunk, but damaging 5 subs, 2 severely, in one shot makes for a nice day! [8D]

Allied 4E bombers hit Hollandia, causing minor port and airfield damage. I’m sure Ted wants to take out that base so I can’t position planes there to interfere with his Aitape invasion.

Aitape’s troops were hit by 2E bombers once again, causing little damage.

I still have a line of subs between Aitape and Manus, but Ted has ~4 ASW TFs prosecuting the subs, and just out of range of KB2. I’ve decided to move KB2 a few hexes closed to go after the ASW TFs. If the bombardment fleet returns, all the better!

SRA

This is the only place where nothing happened!

Burma

I’ve decided to bomb out the airfields starting with Akyab, then Cox’s Bazaar, and finally Chittagong. I’m not sure if 4 bomber sentai can keep 3 airfields suppressed though. I’ll give it a shot. I want Ted to withdraw the RAF from here so I can start hitting his troops, to keep them from doing anything foolish. Should things go my way in China (unlikely to happen anytime soon), I'll transfer some bombers here to take part in the fun.

First, I swept Akyab with a sentai of Tojos, shooting down the only Hurricane that rose to meet them.

Then, I hit Akyab with 76 Helens, taking the airfield to 45% damage and destroying a Hurricane and Cat on the ground and damaging a handful more. There will be a repeat performance tomorrow.

Over Ledo, things didn’t go quite as well. Only 14 Franks swept them (lack of supply still), against 11x P-40N5s and 3 Mustangs. For a loss of 3 Franks, they took out 3 Warhawks and a Mustang.

My convoy at Rangoon offloaded most of its supply. There’s 31k at Rangoon with another 17k still on the ships. Hopefully, the supply will start moving NE.

China

The bombers didn’t kill many squads today, only 2.

The resting army still needs a day or 2 before they can move back into Chungking. The most disrupted of the divisions in Chungking are moving out. Yeah, about a week or less to the next attack.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

I-43, to the SRA
523 Ku K-1, 36 Vals, 13 Air Flotilla, training
523 Ku K-2, 27 Nells, 13 Air Flotilla, training
48 Sentai, 36 Franks, China Expeditionary Army, changed to different HQ, will deploy forward

Confirmation of the sinking of an xAK by sub off Finschhafen on 7/16/43.

[Mike Solli]

Here's 4 Fleet area. Note the 3 Allied TFs, ASW, invasion and carriers. He'll take whatever island he wants, but I hope to make him pay.

[Mike Solli]

And here is SE Fleet. The 4 TFs around Wewak are all ASW, as is the TF north of Kavieng. The US carriers are at the very bottom center. They're staying away, probably worried about my subs.

You can see the composition of KB2. 30 of the Judies are D4Y3s, with an 8 hex range. Very nice! I decided to move them 4 hexes to the SE. They should be in range of the ASW TFs. I want them to hit any Allied ships in range as hard as possible. The goal is to slow Ted down. Tomorrow, regardless of what happens, they're hitting the road.

[rustysi]

I think he’s going to invade Mili, which is the only non-atoll in the Marshalls.

It may be listed as a small island, but its terrain type is still atoll according to the manual. p297

They were training defense but I set them to CAP at 8 hex range to (hopefully) cover everything down to Mili.

Its been my experience that CAP won't extend fighters past 3 hexes no matter what range is set. In this case you'll need to try LRCAP, but at that range don't expect much. Other than a bunch of tired pilots.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Tomorrow, regardless of what happens, they're hitting the road.

In the words of Halsey, "Attack Repeat Attack".

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

In the words of Halsey, "Attack Repeat Attack".

Wait, what? Who's this Halsey fellow you speak of? [;)]

[rustysi]

Here's 4 Fleet area. Note the 3 Allied TFs, ASW, invasion and carriers. He'll take whatever island he wants, but I hope to make him pay.

Looks like Ted's finally ready to press seriously in the 4th Fleet region. This is gonna complicate things for you. I always believed that this type of historical approach into the Japanese Empire was the most difficult for Japan to defend against as everything that's needed must be brought to the locale. All bases are scattered. No roads/railroads to assist in moving forces between them. No production anywhere to give at least a small supply boost. Everything must travel by sea. Add to that Ted has the option to attack anywhere, and would be best served by hitting undefended or lightly defended bases. Then by using his large engineer forces quickly build said bases and dominate and isolate large tracks without heavily engaging your ground troops. Did someone say island hopping?[:D]

[ny59giants]

4th Fleet area - it's too late now, but I like to build up Ailinglaplap due to it being able to take 10k in troops vs the 6k found at most bases in area. Add in an Air HQ there and it can present problems as it can be built up bigger. Add this note for your next game.

Looking over to the west, what have you got at Kusaie Island?

Any base in Marshalls and Gilberts that has AF potential of size 5 is prized for Allies as it allows 4e beasties to fly out of without any reduction in bomb load.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I think he’s going to invade Mili, which is the only non-atoll in the Marshalls.

It may be listed as a small island, but its terrain type is still atoll according to the manual. p297

They were training defense but I set them to CAP at 8 hex range to (hopefully) cover everything down to Mili.

Its been my experience that CAP won't extend fighters past 3 hexes no matter what range is set. In this case you'll need to try LRCAP, but at that range don't expect much. Other than a bunch of tired pilots.

That's interesting. It's showing a max of 30k troops. Can an atoll have more than 6k troop size?

We'll see what happens with the fighters. I want to wear his carrier air power down a bit so he feels like he may lose more than he gains here. I don't think he's using the CVEs that carry replacement aircraft as they are intended to be used. Maybe he is, though, I just haven't seen them.

We're both traveling this weekend. Ted is taking the high road and I'm taking the low road. There's a good chance he'll fly over me. At any rate, things will probably slow down the next day or two.

[rustysi]

I like to build up Ailinglaplap due to it being able to take 10k in troops vs the 6k found at most bases in area

In scen 1 vanilla its 30k, and there's a string of them down the chain that could possibly anchor the whole region. Doesn't make them impervious, but it could complicate the Allies' approach. Especially when they're built up and have the ability to base a good number of aircraft, to include torpedo bombers.

[rustysi]

We're both traveling this weekend. Ted is taking the high road and I'm taking the low road. There's a good chance he'll fly over me. At any rate, things will probably slow down the next day or two.

Hey, enjoy, you guys deserve a break. Though I must admit the suspense may kill me. Things are getting 'hot' around here lately, and its really interesting.