Defeating the Devil !!! ( aka Damian )

[Nemo121]

Well, I will be posting an AAR here of my game vs Damian which I'm taking over from ny59giants in May 1942. I've asked for and received 10 days of "inactivity" in which Damian will just bomb Manilla and shuffle a few reinforcements around so that I can upgrade and reshuffle my air units a bit.

A lot of units are in places I wouldn't normally consider and my airforce is deployed very differently than I would desire BUT there are three things which are hugely in my favour:

a) ny59giants has managed to keep all the USN CVs afloat - which gives me a solid core of 5 USN CVs and 2 UK CVs - as well as a goodly portion of the USN BBs and CAs.

b) Mike lost only 1800 airplanes in return for 2200 Japanese airplanes. This means the Japanese pilot pools are pretty healthy but it also means that the Americans have a LOT of airframes to burn --- and I intend to burn them in immediate, intense offensive activity in the DEI region.

c) The Allies have kept a foothold in Burma and with a little luck it might prove possible to expand on this foothold. I also hold Pearl which is really a priceless asset as it knocks 18 months off the USN offensives through the Central Pacific.


In addition there seem to be over 100 B-17s and about 50 B-19s on-map which means that I can start a really serious strategic bombing campaign - although I have agreed to fly no offensive missions from the Soviet Union due to the airstrike bug inherent in the Soviets being active from Day 1.


What's my plan? Gather the RN and USN up in a huge ball, load up as many troops as I can easily lay my hands on and smash them into the Japanese perimeter in order to draw Japanese forces away from further thrusts toward Australia and India.

[Canoerebel]

Good luck, Nemo!  I haven't been following the related AARs, so you might want to fill in us newbie readers about the game.  What in the heck are the Russians doing active already?

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121


A lot of units are in places I wouldn't normally consider and my airforce is deployed very differently than I would desire BUT there are three things which are hugely in my favour:

Those are good points -- but what's the bad news?

What's my plan? Gather the RN and USN up in a huge ball, load up as many troops as I can easily lay my hands on and smash them into the Japanese perimeter in order to draw Japanese forces away from further thrusts toward Australia and India.

Stand by for another bloodbath . . . [X(]

[Nemo121]

Well I think the bad news would be that the previous Allied player quit due to his feeling that his position was untenable and victory unlikely. I haven't spoken with him directly but Damian has passed on to me that he felt the aerial and naval correlation of forces was just insurmountable for the Allies.
 
I, on the other hand, subscribe to school which sends messages like "I am pressed back on the left, my right is flanked, situation excellent. I am attacking."
 

Bloodbath? Thanks for the compliment [:D] [:D] [:D] 
 
 
What is the situation in the game.... Well, I have been following the AARs but not religiously so. Basically Japan went to war with everyone on Day 1, including the Soviet Union. The Soviets have been pushed back into the inland Siberian territories and have no significant operational ports.
 
The Allies in the Phillipines are currently holed up in the Manilla an are being bombed daily - they also didn't get a lot of supplies in so they won't hold out for long unless I come up with something "sneaky". But, then again, its a toss-up whether my middle-name should be sneaky or bloodbath so I've got a plan.
 
The DEI is pretty much gone. The Allies have about 400 AV of troops in and just north of Soerabaja. The Japanese have significantly more and will, undoubtedly, take Soerabaja once the 10 day truce is over.
 
China is a stalemate. I can't attack his forces there really.
 
Burma is entirely in Japanese hands except for Mandalay but he has about 6 divisions just south of it and the Allies only have a couple of British Bdes and a few Chinese Armies ( 40% Exp and miserable leaders ) to hold it. Reinforcing Mandalay by air and land will be my absolute highest priority.
 
Guadalcanal, New Caledonia ( including Noumea ), Fiji, Canton, Suva, Palmyra etc have all fallen. Basically apart from Pearl Harbour, New Zealand and Midway the Japanese own the whole Pacific.
 
But, with that said, I think the situation offers some excellent opportunities to take the offensive and prevent future Japanese offensives. It will cost me huge numbers of ships and troops but I can either lose them in piecemeal defensive actions around India, Oz and the Pacific over the next few months or I can load them up, ship them out and lose them at a time and place of MY choosing which will force the Japanese to react to me for a change.
 
Really though ny59giants deserves a lot of kudos for keeping his carriers safe. With 5 USN CVs and 2 RN CVs I have enough space for some 500 planes and that should allow my shipping to survive for 2 days in the face of KB. I only need to now find targets which I can either hit without KB showing up OR which I can hit and capture within 2 days.
 
Since Damian has the password I'm pretty happy sending out the current situation file to anyone who wants it so that people can see the situation and this can foster discussion of the strategic situation.

[ny59giants]

I'll be happy to answer any questions from anyone on what I did or didn't do.

[John 3rd]

Lord knows with everything I have learned about Nemo in our Gettysburg Battle--Damian had better run for the hills because Nemo will find a way to attack even that!
 
 

[Nemo121]

Mike, I for one would be really interested to hear your point of view. It looks to me as though you were focussing on delay and force conservation and that's why the USN is so startlingly intact. You have a strong sub force and your fighter force ( and bomber force ) are both in great shape.
 
I know that the Japanese steamroller can still outmass and out-qualitate you anywhere along the line but I think that there's an opportunity for achieving local superiority and attacking in Burma and the Pacific.
 
I think its a testament to your skill that that's even an option. Sure I'd have deployed the air force a bit differently ( mostly I'd have taken advantage of the de facto no fly zones over Russia to move the Red Air Force into Burma etc and really begin bleeding the Japanese like there's no tomorrow but that's really a matter of philosophy and temperament and not one where there's a right way or a wrong way). So, I'd be really interested in what you thought he was up to, what your plans were and what you thought the force correlation was.

[ny59giants]

I'll go through each theater in deatil later. But right now, with your 10 day cease fire, you will be able to get most of the third Philippine division to Darwin through Lautem. My ability to use those patrol planes will make a strong delay in northern Australia possible.

In Java, I was pulling back to Malang vs Soerabaja. I wanted to try the mtn hex bonus (fort level 8) vs the Malaria free hex of Soerbaja for my final defense.

Manila is doing well considering it is May 1st. I had kept an extended defense, but the AI pulled out too much supply, so when I had to retreat into Manila, a lot of supply was left out in the field. However, you now have 2 USN BF, 2 Pp BF, EAB, and 3 AA in China via patrol planes. That should help that theater eventually. [:D]

In China, over 2000 AV is headed to Burma. They are 1st Grp Army, 2nd Grp Army, 26 Field Army, 75 Field Army, and 93rd Field Army. If he heads for Mandalay too soon, they will hit him in a few weeks.

India, I was building up the coast line for a possible invasion. He did so in our last game which I took over at the end of May 42. Now, you can upgrade those Buffalos to all the Hurricanes and Spits stockpiled. The one Russian I-24 was to go to MIG-3s in a few days.

Another Brit CV is almost to Perth. The 5 American CV were headed to Panama to pick up the 2 SBDs for 2 CVs and possibily head over to Australia. A few of the CV TF need the 2 CLAA at Panama. I think my CV TF are pretty strong in escort vessels.

NZ - I was using PPs to pull out the troop for the east coast of Australia. 2 division had their commands changed and AKs were there for transport.

I've lost only BB Penn for large warships and there are over 120 subs. Most of those subs are repaired after the initial battles (some of the large American Fleet subs were engaged in evac missions). I almost lost one of the FP equipped subs, but she is at San Diego now. Hawaii is very safe, IMO as I had planned to make it self sufficient with my CVs on the other side of the world.

Today is Wednesday, which is weekly meeting day. Thus, I will do more later.

[KTNJR]

When are we going to see a map?

[Capt. Harlock]

Basically apart from Pearl Harbour, New Zealand and Midway the Japanese own the whole Pacific.

Hang on a bit -- what about Australia?

[Nemo121]

Harlock,
 
Well, the Australian and NZ airforces are defending Oz. Lots of US troops are in Perth while the New Zealanders are defending New Zealand. My plan here is to pull out of Oz and send the troops to Oz. If he invades Eastern Oz then I'll fall back to Western Oz. Meanwhile in Western Oz I'm continuing the development of Emouth as a sort of "forward base" to give me a bit of warning if he comes for Perth. I aim to give him too many problems elsewhere for him to free up enough CVs to invade Oz.
 
Right now I feel that if I sit back then he can concentrate wherever he wants and smash what I have so best to counter-attack and force HIM to attack me where I am strong ( at the tip of the counter-attack ).
 
 
Ok I've cleared it with Mike and he is happy for me to give out his password for this game SO I already have a few people who want the starting situation and I'm certainly happy to send the initial situation out to them. If people also want to be put on a sort of "monthly update" list wherein I send the situation file at the beginning of every month then let me know.
 
I will be sending the file to Damian today and will also send out the turn file to those who have asked for it today.

[Nemo121]

Well things kicked off again today with Damian thinking I've sucker-punched him. Basically 1 of his TKs ran over one of the subs I was redeploying during the past 10 days and so my sub torpedoed and sank it ( no way I can stop that from happening and, to be fair, one of his subs did torpedo one of my ships too ) and then today - the day I sent him the file for one of my subs sank another ship and two of his ships hit mines at Dutch Harbour and Singapore so Damian appears quite unhappy. On the other hand those two minefields were present before I even started the game and I haven't added to them during the 10 day truce so its just really coincidence and bad luck.
 
In any case I've offered to send a Tk to Japan for him to sink in return if he thinks he has been hard done by. I've also offered to make sure the Tk I send is double the tonnage of the one he lost so as to try to be fair.
 
 
Anyways, assuming we can overcome this what's my plan? Well, I'll go through it in terms of my phasing so you can see where I try to draw his attention and why...
 
Firstly General Sneaky McSneak has begun Operation Super-sneaky. This is a combined raid by B-24s and B-19s on the anchorage of Kwajalein aimed at planting a few bombs into the decks of the enemy CVs which are bound to be there. I'll also hit Wake hard with B-17s. On the conventional side of things...
 
1. Fly 72 USAAF P-40Es and Lancers, 16 Kittyhawks and 32 Spitfires into Manilla. That ought to give me a very solid basis from which to prevent the bombing of Manilla. In the meantime I'll fly supplies in using B-17Ds and B-24s from Calcutta. Most importantly it'll draw enemy forces into the air at Manilla.
 
2. Hi-Lo Mixes of fighters  (Spitfires, MiG-3s, Kittyhawks, P-40Es are the Hi and Hurris and I-16s are the Lo ) are posted at Mandalay, Akyab, Chittagong and Calcutta. The RAF, Red Air Force and USAAF bombers in India are all converted to the least effective ( but thus most numerous and easily replaced ) forms - this means there are many Hudsons, Blenheim IVs and B-18s - and readied for massed bomber raids into Burma.
 
3. 3 UK and Indian Divisional equivalents will land at Rangoon and its surrounding bases. The idea is to trap the 6+ Japanese divisions in Burma between 2 fires and cut them off from their supplies. He can certainly retreat them etc but it will cost him time, annoyance and forces to do so.
 
4. Pinprick raids from Oz.  Obviously since that's our 2nd point of contact after Burma he is going to expect me to make an effort there and if I don't he'll find it suspicious.
 
5. Air transportation of another US Regiment into Umnak to be followed by Fast Transport into Umnak to build up supplies there. It was a Level 0 airfield but I've used the break to build it to Level 1. It has the potential to be Level 4 - which means big enough to dominate the air battle around the Aleutians.
 
 
6. "Big Ball O' Troops and Ships" - aka BBOTS. Well the Bots will gather at PH and will be 5 CVs and many, many CAs, CLAAs and DDs strong. I'll load raider units onto DD Fast Transport TFs and load the guts of 6 US Infantry and USMC Divisions onto transports along with commensurate levels of supply, AAA, CD, engineer and Aviation units and then head them straight west toward the Marianas and Bonins. My goal is nothing less than their complete capture and establishment as US bases. I'll also capture Wake along the way.
 
What will this accomplish? Well, it'll give me more bases within range of the Phillippines - onto which I can drop paratroops and/or fast transport troops -, allow me to fly supplies in there and rotate in fresh fighter groups. It will also cut the enemy's SLOC to all of his Southern and Pacific conquests and, most importantly, it'll focus his forces on turning around and counter-attacking what i take. What will this do? Well, every week he spends reacting to this attack is another week in which he isn't manouevring and preparing to capture Hawaii or Oz. Also the Bonin bases will allow me to launch high-altitude bomber raids against the Home Islands and that's always a fun thing to do in mid-42 .
 
I think there's a VERY good chance that my forces will ed up being pushed out but it will take time and a lot of lost ships and planes to do so. Right now he's only lost 47 or so ships and that's far too little. I want to draw him in and be able to kill ships by the dozen so as to stretch him thinner and thinner. Even if he pushes me out I should be able to evacuate significant portions of my ground forces using PBYs
 
Aggressive? Yes but actually it should hit weakness and thus actually be far less risky ( in the short term ) than trying to hit KB head on - which is about my only other option to seriously discomfit him strategically.
 
 
P.s. Many of those who contacted me looking for the turns didn't include an email address. Since I'm going to send turns as a Zip file I need a working email address to mail them to.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

6. "Big Ball O' Troops and Ships" - aka BBOTS. Well the Bots will gather at PH and will be 5 CVs and many, many CAs, CLAAs and DDs strong. I'll load raider units onto DD Fast Transport TFs and load the guts of 6 US Infantry and USMC Divisions onto transports along with commensurate levels of supply, AAA, CD, engineer and Aviation units and then head them straight west toward the Marianas and Bonins. My goal is nothing less than their complete capture and establishment as US bases. I'll also capture Wake along the way.

What will this accomplish? Well, it'll give me more bases within range of the Phillippines - onto which I can drop paratroops and/or fast transport troops -, allow me to fly supplies in there and rotate in fresh fighter groups. It will also cut the enemy's SLOC to all of his Southern and Pacific conquests and, most importantly, it'll focus his forces on turning around and counter-attacking what i take. What will this do? Well, every week he spends reacting to this attack is another week in which he isn't manouevring and preparing to capture Hawaii or Oz. Also the Bonin bases will allow me to launch high-altitude bomber raids against the Home Islands and that's always a fun thing to do in mid-42 .

Fun, yes. But also very risky. The Bonins especially are uncomfortably close to the HI -- I would expect trouble from both the KB and LBA. Do your carriers have the full compliment of fighters yet?

[Nemo121]

Nope [:D].

One reason why he won't be expecting it.

As to it being fun. Hopefully it will be BUT I wouldn't do it unless it were also actually strategically viable.

P.s. 1st combat turn was exchanged today so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Mostly I've just decided to:
a) Hammer Wake - I want to prevent him hitting my invasion fleets in the flank as they pass in a fortnight's time.
b) Hammer Rangoon - I am sending in 100 Pe-2s.
c) Hammer Meiktila - I want to begin killing some resources there so as to draw his fighters in where I can get at them easily.
d) Defend Manilla - I am sending in roughly 150 fighters in order to "kill me a few bombers".
 
This ought really increase the loss rate for Japan and if I can continue it until such time as my landing forces arrive he will have less fighter reserves with which to whittle my forces down ( which is very, very good for me ).

[Nemo121]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/11/42

And we kick off. Only 2 of my "surprises" went off today but I'm going to try the other 4 tomorrow again. If they work it should result in quite painful plane losses for the IJN/IJA.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 23 encounters mine field at Kwajalein [Nanyo] (81,84)

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 36

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TF 45 encounters mine field at Kwajalein [Nanyo] (81,84)

Japanese Ships
DD Kiji
DD Yugure
AK Tuyama Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire

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Sub attack near Kwajalein [Nanyo] at 81,84

Japanese Ships
DD Hatakaze
DD Arashi
DD Kagero
DD Akigumo
DD Asanagi
DD Satsuki
DD Ikazuchi
DD Arare
DD Hamakaze
DD Isokaze
DD Yugumo

Allied Ships
SS L-19, hits 2

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Day Air attack on Sovetskaya Gavan , at 73,30

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 7
D3A2 Val x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 7

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Day Air attack on Changsha [S China] , at 45,37

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 18
G4M1 Betty x 24
Ki-32 Mary x 12
Ki-51 Sonia x 3
Ki-15II Babs x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Ki-51 Sonia: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 5

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Day Air attack on Rangoon [Burma] , at 29,33

B-17s soften up Rangoon. There were meant to be 150 Pe-2s screaming in also but they didn't fly. Tomorrow then!

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 38
Ki-43-I Oscar x 24
Ki-44IIa Tojo x 6
Ki-109E Mike x 18

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 81

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-43-I Oscar: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-44IIa Tojo: 1 damaged
Ki-109E Mike: 2 destroyed
Ki-48-II Lily: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 23

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Day Air attack on Meiktila [Burma] , at 32,31

I'm hitting Meiktila so that if my landings at Rangoon to Tavoy work out the enemy divisions in Burma will just have no suply production whatsoever. Loading for this invasion has begun today.

Allied aircraft
SB-2M x 83

Allied aircraft losses
SB-2M: 1 damaged

Resources hits 17

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Day Air attack on Manila/Cavite [PH] , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 7
G4M1 Betty x 50
Ki-109E Mike x 26
Ki-21-II Sally x 67
Ki-15II Babs x 5
Ki-46-II Dinah x 5

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 15
P-43A Lancer x 24
Kittyhawk I x 9
Spitfire VB x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 3 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 14 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-109E Mike: 25 destroyed
Ki-21-II Sally: 14 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged
P-43A Lancer: 8 destroyed, 6 damaged
Kittyhawk I: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Spitfire VB: 6 destroyed, 11 damaged

By day's end almost twice as many Japanese planes were downed than Allied planes and most of those Japanese planes went down with their pilots while most of my pilots survived. This was a big air force win for my guys.

Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 50

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Day Air attack on ROC 75th Guerilla Regiment, at 48,41

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 27

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported

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ASW attack at 34,63

Japanese Ships
DD Shiokaze
DD Nokaze

Allied Ships
SS O16


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Ground combat at Nikolaevsk na Amur

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 12945 troops, 140 guns, 90 vehicles, Assault Value = 315

Defending force 3148 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Japanese max assault: 568 - adjusted assault: 171

Allied max defense: 64 - adjusted defense: 127

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
281 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

Allied ground losses:
383 casualties reported
Guns lost 11


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Ground combat at Manila/Cavite [PH]

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 89318 troops, 1255 guns, 1040 vehicles, Assault Value = 2457

Defending force 57503 troops, 1261 guns, 385 vehicles, Assault Value = 2155



Allied ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 1


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Ground combat at Sinyang [Cent China]

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 79925 troops, 1180 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 2106

Defending force 27950 troops, 476 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1406

Japanese max assault: 4372 - adjusted assault: 5904

Allied max defense: 1397 - adjusted defense: 576

Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
2233 casualties reported
Guns lost 117
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
996 casualties reported
Guns lost 27


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

These guys were just moving off a trail. By attacking them Damian is actually moving them in the direction I wanted. Thanks!! [:D]

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Ground combat at Kuala [Sumatra]

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 110 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3

Defending force 2520 troops, 53 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 113

Allied max assault: 2 - adjusted assault: 0

Japanese max defense: 109 - adjusted defense: 59

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



Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Medan [Sumatra]

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1300 troops, 12 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 35

Defending force 1583 troops, 21 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 52


1 Division is being fast transported to Midway on board 5 BBs, 17 CAs and CLs and over 60 DDs. Backed by 30,000 tons of supplies and a C unit this should make Midway impregnable. If Midway falls I can't launch my counter-offensive so securing it is absolutely essential.

It looks like I'll handily have 6 divisions for the assault phase of the plan... Manilla looks a lot more vulnerable than I had initially thought. I doubt I'll be able to save it BUT for now its a great Japanese pilot killer.

[Capt. Harlock]

B-17s soften up Rangoon. There were meant to be 150 Pe-2s screaming in also but they didn't fly. Tomorrow then!

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 38
Ki-43-I Oscar x 24
Ki-44IIa Tojo x 6
Ki-109E Mike x 18

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 81

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-43-I Oscar: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-44IIa Tojo: 1 damaged
Ki-109E Mike: 2 destroyed
Ki-48-II Lily: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 23

Luck comes in two flavors -- good and bad. Looks like your good luck here (no B-17's shot down) more than outweighed the bad. Perhaps the Devil has changed his policy about being "good to his own"?[:D]

[Nemo121]

Harlock, no luck involved. My B-17s simply flew in above the ceiling of his fighters so they were never going to be in any danger whatsoever. In this mod the B-17s can use their full ceiling to good effect and stay above the Zero ( and even the Mike ) if they really want to. Accuracy suffers but is, IMO, compensated for by the very low loss rate.

[Nemo121]

Day 2:
 
Another mixed day. I shot down more fighters than I lost and killed a LOT more pilots than I lost over Manilla and managed to destroy about 50 G4Ms on the ground at Wake - and almost succeeded in closing the airfield --- something I'm doing in order to screen the left flank of my invasion TFs.
 
However the Pe-2s didn't fly yet again. I've swapped out their leaders for much more aggressive guys and I have high hopes for tomorrow. In the meantime I've noticed a major Japanese aerial concentration at Bangkok so that's the next place my B-17Ds are going to visit.
 
Manilla - Well he is willing to throw more and more planes into the air here and even though I'm killing them at between 2:1 and 3:1 he has the numbers to wear me down. Consequently I'm pulling my main fighter groups out and will rebuild them in time to let them provide cover for the invasion of Burma.
 
Mandalay has been reinforced from some 400AV at the time I took over to roughly 1200 AV. I have another 2,500 AV coming to Lashio from China and between the Chinese at Lashio, the British driving south from Mandalay and the British and Indians landing behind the enemy lines at Rangoon etc I expect to really catch the Japanese here in a vice. Almost all of my troops are loaded on transports and ready to go. I'm just waiting for sufficient supplies to be loaded and then I'll attack. I have BBs, CAs etc acting as Fast Transports and roughly 3 Divisions of infantry ready to go ashore, one of the divisions being assault-loaded, as well as sufficient support troops to allow me to fly fighters in for CAP on the day after I land.
 
In the Pacific the 24th Infantry Division will land on Midway in 2 days time and then I will begin loading the transports at PH for the invasions of the Bonins and Marianas. It'll take about a week to get everything combat-loaded and formed up and then I'll go for it.

Overall so far since I've taken over I've lost 80 planes in return for over 180 Japanese planes and I have two significant offensives ready to go. So far things are looking good but we'll have to see how they turn out in the end. The Japanese have a very commanding position in this game and it is going to take a fair bit to shift them off of it.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Harlock, no luck involved. My B-17s simply flew in above the ceiling of his fighters so they were never going to be in any danger whatsoever.

No danger whatsoever? What about AAA?

[Nemo121]

*Dons MacArthur's cap* " AAA? AAA? Only cowards concern themselves with AAA. I've banned all mention of it from combat reports as unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman."
 
Hmm, I may actually give garrulous, over-confident answers to all questions as that sort of bluff optimism before the fall sounds like it suits the gambit I'm about to engage in. I think that henceforth General Garrulous McDuff may be appointed as Supreme Allied spokesman.
 
 
The real answer is that at most IJN and IJA AAA maxes out at well below 33,0000 feet and thus my bombers flying at 33,000 feet don't even have FlAK to contend with. In short its the sort of operation which looks UEBER-aggressive in an AAR but is actually about the safest thing you can d-. "Fly out there above their FlAK and fighter ceiling, drop some bombs and then fly back." Talk about a milk run. These milk runs will stop in January 43 when the Japs begin to get fighters which can reach that high.