KDonovan vs Miller41 Scenario 13-Nik Mod 5.0 (Allies)

[KDonovan]

Aug 5th - the day saw a marginal success of the air raid on Canton. Would've been a complete success had my P40 fighter's swept the base before the arrival of my chinese bombers. Instead my chinese planes arrived first. Thank god for numbers though, as my 90 chinese fighter's (escorts) were able to keep the 23 jap fighter's (Zero,Oscars) at bay, losing 18 of their own planes, and shooting down 9 japanese planes. Also the airfield was hit pretty hard, so not too bad IMO. Finally my P40's arrived to clean up the mess, downing 17 more jap fighters, to no loss of their own.

Over at Tarawa, my CV's launched their own air raid on the base. Over 200 bombers flew off the decks and plastered the base, losing only 3 SBD's to flak.

Back at Darwin things aren't looking that hot. The 8 CA bombardment group hit Darwin again, and my CD-guns failed to hit any of them. Then my B17's out of Derby attack the invasion TF piecemeal, and got the snot beat out of them, losing 7 planes and only downing 1 zero (and hitting no ships). Where's an air HQ when you need one. Finally the japs continued to land more elements of the 32nd Div with ease as my CD-guns are pretty much all knocked out.

Aug 6th - the day began with the submarine S-47 getting run over by a couple ASW TF's near Darwin. Moderate damage was done, which will require a month or 2 to repair.

Back to the air war over Canton, once again my chinese planes went in before my P40's...grrr. Luckly most of the CAP was gone from yesterday's battle, but 6 jap fighters were still able to down 5 Chinese planes, and lost only 3 of their own. Of course now you would expect an easy victory for my P40's...but that was not the case. 73 P40's encountered 3 Zero's and 1 Oscar on CAP. Despite the 20 to 1 advantage my fighters still lost 3 planes, and only shot down the one oscar. Those 3 Zero pilots must've had sidewinder missles or something.

Plan - looks as if the KB may be leaving the Darwin area for now. But chance's are it will be back as intel reported that the 56th Jap Bde is enroute to Darwin. Either way, the AF at Darwin is still too damaged to fly in my B25's to hit shipping. So they will remain at Alice Springs until all is clear.

Elsewhere in China, i'm moving out all non-Chinese planes, back to India to participate in the upcoming invasion of Andaman Is. Details of the operation to come.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Any chance you get and land based DB into darwin, i seem to see 1e planes fly more often from damaged runways than the 2e variety. actually wirraways make good anti-shipping a/c with a 250kg bomb iirc.

As for an air hq ?? good luck finding one of those closeby or even remotely transportable. like gold dust imo. actually might be one spare in india you can ship down to perth , then rail or ship to derby .. just an idea

[KDonovan]

Any chance you get and land based DB into darwin, i seem to see 1e planes fly more often from damaged runways than the 2e variety. actually wirraways make good anti-shipping a/c with a 250kg bomb iirc.

always nice to answer some comments...even if its usually just you and nik. Anyways...i wish i had some DB's close by, as they can operate easily out of a damaged runway. However, the closest group is in Noumea, and by the time it gets shipped to Aus, railed to Darwin, then repaired for operational use...it might be too late, as it seems Miller wants to end this now, since 2 more Bde's are enroute to Darwin. Speaking of Wirraways, i do have about 6 squadrens based in Sydney at the moment, so maybe i will bring a few of them in, since i feel its too risky to bring in my B25's. Would be nothing worse than losing a whole squadren of B25's b/c i miss judged how long i thought Darwin could hold out. Also...wirraways only carry 250lbs bomb not a 250 kilograms, too much of that metric system over in europe has corrupted your mind [:D] j/k

As for an air hq ?? good luck finding one of those closeby or even remotely transportable. like gold dust imo. actually might be one spare in india you can ship down to perth , then rail or ship to derby .. just an idea

yeah there are so few allied air HQ's early on in the game. Currently i only have 3 available....2 RAF HQ's in India, and 1 5th AF HQ based at Canton Is. Not sure why i don't have the 11th AF HQ that is supposed to be in NOPAC...but i guess its not available in the May 1st 1942 start. My next AF HQ isn't due to arrive in 5 months..so that sucks. I'm thinking maybe i should move that HQ at Canton Is. to Australia though. I originally based it on Canton Is, as i thought Baker would be contested, and i wanted to base my B17's out of Canton (lvl 5) to hit Miller's forces. But a las i'm wrong and the HQ is just sitting there useless. So i guess i should move it to somewhere more useful. It will take a while though. The india RAF HQ's will have to remain there as they are needed in my upcoming operation there.

[KDonovan]

Here's my upcoming operation to take place in about 2-3 weeks. Basically it involves heavy airstrikes and recon by near the India/Burma border in order to pin down forces there. Meanwhile the real force will leave Ceylon and Madra to capture Andaman Is. The force will be covered by Seafire carrying British CV's and supported by the awesome guns of royal navy battleships. The goal is to quickly establish an airfield to provide fighter cover for my follow-up support units. Then to built a level 4 AF so that my Wellingtons can operate in the area, striking shipping and nearby base's

[Rob Brennan UK]

be very wary of rangoon based betties .. as LR cap will be out of the question.

and i do give info/advice .. not always the right choice mind you . see my aar with 2ndACR .. damn hes' good . and very very careful unlike erstet ..

i think there are way more than 2 brit air hq's .. should be 3-4 iirc .. ther colombo based one would be best to go to n aus. as the colombo BF has 90 av anyay ..

[saj42]

IIRC the Brits start out with 1 Air HQ with 180 Spt squads(No 221). What they do have is 5 'Aviation Regts' with 270 AV Spt Squads (can't recall exact designation) numbered 221 to 225.

[Rob Brennan UK]

yes tally ho your correct. i am assuming that the 2 air hq had been rescued from singapore .. DOH .. my bad .. as i now send one of them to australia and one back to india as routine now.

with the may start i guess both died horribly

[KDonovan]

yeah the may start is rough that way....

No Repulse, PoW, Hermes, Cornwall, Dorestshire, Arizona, Housten, Oklahoma, De Ruyter, Java
Only 1 rescued Dutch Bomber squadren
Only 1 rescued PI Bomber squadren
All other airgroups gone
No rescued Dutch, British, PI LCU's
No rescued Dutch Recons (that really hurts...only have 1 recon group as of now)
No sub O20
SS Argonaut is not a minelayer

The only good part..is that zero bonus is over...and you can start offensive missions pretty early...as opposed to waiting for 6 months

[KDonovan]

Slow turn....so i combined the 2 days into one report

Aug. 7th/Aug 8th - in the early morning hours, the submarine S-45 was able to sneak up on a huge troop transport near Lateum. Sure of his shot, the captain only fired 1 torp at the ship, wanting to save the rest for capital ships being reported in the area. Unfortunately for him, that torp failed to detonate and worse he was spotted. The captian was able survive DC attack after DC attack for several hours, but his battery levels were very low from the approach on the AP earlier. He therefore had to surface in the middle of 3 DD's, which then pounded the little sub with 4.7in gunfire, until the sub sank.

Meanwhile the Japanese continued to land more and more troops on the shores of Darwin. This time 6 Naval Guard units, 1 SNLF unit and the 56th Bde landed. However, my few remaining 6in CD guns were able to get a bead on the landing ships, and set afire 3 AP's. Feeling confident in victory, due to the newly arrived reinforcements, the japanese launched a frontal assault on my defensive line. Despite being out numbered 3:1 my troops were able to hold the line inflicting heavy causalties on the japanese troops.

Plan - wow...what a hold by my troops at Darwin. Just to recap, Miller has brought in....
- 3 Inf Divs
- 1 Bde
- 1 SNLF
- 6 Naval Grd
- 1 Tank Rgt
- 4 Eng Rgts
- 2 Const. Rgts
- 1 Base Force.
......While i have only have...
- 1 Inf Div
- 2 Bde's
- 3 BF's
- 2 CD-units
......supported by an HQ holding the line. Amazing what having the HQ does to your defensive line. Fort levels are currently at 3 and are 81% towards increasing to level 4. Supply is currently at 17,000. I do have a 22,000 supply convoy near Broome at the moment, but with Whydam taken..its too risky to unload at Darwin...therefore will be sent to Derby. Confident in my defensive position and the presence of only 2 Japanese TF's near Darwin, i've decided to move some airplanes into Darwin, to strike at the Japanese TF's. The latest report shows that there maybe a CV or 2 protecting the TF's, so thats my main target. So i'm sending in 32 Beauforts, 64 B25's, and 24 P40E's to attack the carrier. The only problem is if Miller decides to bombard Darwin this turn...and knock out most of my planes before they even get off the ground...but its a risk i'm willing to take.

Here's a screen shot of the situation

[Rob Brennan UK]

ouch . don;t know how i'd live without O20 [;)] and upgrading the argonaut [:@] and no dutch a/f [:@].. recon [:@] and them nice Dornier patrol a/c [:@] even some fighters have a great range [:@]
albeit crummy 25 exp pilots [:D] and the dutch AP's [:@].

hehe .. oh well .. anyway HQ's can make a big differance .. i use them a lot in china and it really helps. Long live Darwin , land of the free ( and sheep ) [;)]

[Nikademus]

Ya gamer you.

Dutch pilots and planes should die valiently defending their turf! [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

They usually do .. i just reconstitute whats i can get out .. usually with 20 exp pilots [:D]

IS paying the PP cost for the dutch gamey ? i dont tend to do it with the PI .. and i always make sure McArthur stays .. then replace him in SW pac hq ( even though hes a great admin guy .. i just hate him )

[Nikademus]

No, paying for the dutch isn't "gamey", its more a weakness of the PP System. The whole idea behind PP's was to limit player's from moving their forces around with a tad bit too much freedom. Examples would be, moving west coast divisions that normally would be cemented in place as a precaution historically might end up in Batavia by 1/42 or the Manchurian Army might come calling at Darwin by 3/42 etc etc.

PP's work great for the big powerful LCU's....a big strapping Japanese infantry division costs what....3500 points? Now how much does a weak depleated Dutch ENG unit cost? 30 points? no prob. I've played early early WitP games where by 3/42 i'll probe PM and find like 8 Dutch ENG units there + a few regiments and battalions and i'll be like WTF? shouldn't you guys have been defending your turf rather than a piece of jungle??

In short, PP's break down where small and/or depleated units are concerned. Now as Mogami has long pointed out, the "sir Robin" defense and it's varients come with their own problems but removing a few weakened units doesn't reallychange the scheme of things much during that period, but they can really impact things later in the war such as early/mid 42 when the Allies are still gearing up and everything is in demand....particularily AV points for air bases....Dutch ENG units in particular are great for accelerating this.

Recall now...all the above is just my opinion....not trying to tell anyone HOW they should play. Thats like saying NEVER ATTACK MANILA ON TURN 1 YOU GAMER! In the end it all depends on what kind of game the players want. Me? i like immersion based on what i've read (but not a repeat....i can watch history channel for that) As Allied, i never move Dutch units out of the SRA unless the base/island etc is lost and maybe there's a chance to evac some defeated units. Never use subs.....too gamey IMO even though now at least the exp drop issue has been fixed. (again though, that wont mean a wit to an ENG unit. exp 20, exp 80, those AV points work the same)

[KDonovan]

Aug 9th - at daybreak a Coronado spotted the submarine I-7 on the surface near the Santa Cruz Islands. A nearby hunter/killer ASW group responded and pounded the now submerged sub, sinking it. The DD McCall and DMS Zane will share credit for the kill.

Meanwhile things started to heat up near Darwin, as the morning saw the CVL Zuiho spotted by a Catalina. Immediatly air attacks from Darwin were launched. The 1st wave included 47 B25's escorted by 3 P40's. They encountered 19 Zeros on CAP. The P40E's were able to shoot down 1 zero, but the rest managed to get in on the bombers where they shot down 2 B25's and damaged 7 others. At this point, the commander of the bomber group, with 38 undamaged bombers, decided it was too risky to proceed with the mission, and fled back to Darwin (he'll be demoted to janitor later). On the heels of the B25 debacle was a flight of 9 Beauforts escorted by 19 P40's. The fighters fought off the Zero's well, shooting down 2 of them..and losing 2 of their own. However all the beauforts missed their targets (CVE Unyo and Taiyo), and 1 was shot down by flak.

Later in the afternoon, 11 B17's from Derby arrived over the same TF, but failed to hit anything. And lastly, 16 B25 were able to launch from Darwin (without there "brave" commander) but failed to hit anything, losing 1 of their own. So despite 4 separate attacks on the escort carrier TF...no hits were scored. Very sad indeed

Aug 10th - as day break approached, the Japs launched an air raid from there carriers on Darwin. Luckly the airfield was missed completely as only the port facilities were hit. 2 bombers were downed by flak during the raid. The Darwin defenders responded with there own raid. On this strike mission 27 B25's encountered 18 zero's flying CAP for the japanese carriers. Unlike last time, the B25's pushed through the zero's, losing none of there own and manage to but 3 500lbs bombs through the flight deck of the Zuiho causing severe damage. 1 B25 was lost to flak.

The day ended with a 28 plane B17 raid on shipping congregating near Koepang. The raid was successful as 2 AK's were hit (1 severely)

Plan - looking into the debacle with my B25's at Darwin, i noticed that their moral was 31...so maybe that accounted for the retreat of so many bombers in that crucial 1st raid. Either way, i've pulled back my B25's so they can build back up their moral. In replace i've flown in another group of Beauforts, bringing the total of about 40 to the base

Eslewhere, nothing much to report, other than the shifting around of forces in the pacific as raids deep into the S.Pacific look less and less likely for the Japanese, therefore forces are being moved closer to the front lines

Here's a nice screen shot

[Nikademus]

The Zuiho is having a tough time in multiple realities lately. [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

she certainly is [:D]

morale is a big factor KD in pressing home attacks . resting even for a few days is a big help . whats best

1) always attack and get sent home
2) occasionally attack and some get through

no-brainer really ..

NIK .. lets continue our discussion on my thread i have no wish to hijack KD's AAR [:D]

[KDonovan]

Darwin is creaking....

Aug. 11th/12th - once again my planes out of Darwin had a shot at some juicy CVE's and failed to hit anything. This time 21 Beauforts with 23 P40's escorts approached the CVE Hosho, Taiyo, and Unyo. 25 Zero's were flying CAP and the P40's were able to keep most of them off the Beauforts backs....shooting down 3 Zero's and only losing 7 of their own. Despite this, all the Beauforts failed to hit any of the CVE's. The carriers then launched an retaliatory raid on Darwin, that cuased only minor damage and cost them 2 Vals. Later in the evening the Japanese launched a frontal assault on the defenses of Darwin. The troops fought courageously, but being out numbered 3-1 caused them to give away, as they had to fall back (fort level is now at 2).

Plan - not looking good for Darwin. The overwhelming numbers are started to favor the Japanese. The goal now is just to clear a path of retreat for the besieged troops when they finally get pushed out of Darwin. Therefore, that SNLF unit most be moved off the raild road junction. Therefore i'm launching a deliberate attack with my Tank Rgt. If this fails, then a Aus Cav Div will arrive the next turn to finish the job. Also since the Japanese fleet has moved off for the time being...all my planes from Darwin are being moved to Derby, so not to be caught on the ground, if the AF is lost.

[Rob Brennan UK]

HUmm .. yes darwin is looking bad .. but i guess that it was almost inevitable. you have made him pay for it though , which is the whole point of allied early war strategy imo [:D]

good luck clearing the rail line . the Cav wil make a lot of differance i hope.

[KDonovan]

thanks for the reply Rob....and yes Miller is sure paying for this adventure....another AP sank today the result of a 6in CD hit a few days back, bringing the total of sunk AP's up to around 15...final tally will come at the end of the battle of Darwin. At this point i guess Miller doesn't expect to be launching anymore offensive's so the lost AP's won't cost him much other than VP's.

Aug 13th/14th - big suprise today...and it wasn't near Darwin. At daybreak, the Japansese launched their biggest raid yet in China. The target was Changsha. The raid included 107 Helens escorted by 45 fighters, mostly Oscars, but some unidentified planes were also present. Intel indicates this may be the new Tojo fighter planes that were in developlment some time ago. Anyways, needless to say, the raid pounded the heavy industrial area of the city, causing great damage, killing thousands of civilians and knocking out 1/2 of the heavy industry in the city. Talk amongst the Allies is that this is the start of a major offensive in China. However, as of now, all is quiet on the front, with few new Japanese Div's being ID'd along the front. Intel is being hampered though, due to the complete lack of recon planes in the area, as the only recon squadren in the allies aresnal just landed in Perth to assist in the eventual retaking of Darwin.

Meanwhile at Darwin, confident that victory was at hand, the Japanese launched a Banzai charge at the allied front lines. The Japanese were intially able to break through, but eventually the a new line of defense was quickly organized and the invaders were driven back with massive loss of life (fort level now at 1). Also, despite the best effort by the Aus Tank Rgt to dislodge the Japanese SNLF at the nearby railroad junction, the road out of Darwin remained unopened.

Plan - the railroad out of Darwin, must remain clear, therefore the newly arrived 2nd Aus Cav Div will launch an immediate attack on the SNLF there, along with the Aus Tank Rgt, to pursue the expected retreating japs. Meanwhile a 60 plane B17 raid out of Derby will attack the japanese forces besieging Darwin, to give a much needed boost to the defenders.

Elsewhere, 4 Japanese AK's were spotted in the slot heading towards Lunga. Unfortunately the only surface asset i have in the region capable of engaging the force in time is the DD McCall. Thought was given to sending the destroyer in by itself, but the risk was deemed too high. Therefore, i'm sending the 7th Destroyer Division to E.Santo to reinforce the surface forces there. The DD division is lead by the CL Concord and 4 Bagely class DD's.

[KDonovan]

as i wait for the next turn, here's the situation on the ground at Darwin (its not prety)



here are the results...
45% of my combat infantry units are KIA, WIA, or MIA
26% of my engineers are KIA, WIA, or MIA
30% of my base's support units are KIA, WIA, or MIA
63% of my coast defense guns are destroyed/damaged
44% of my AA guns are destroyed/demaged

so basically, since the start, my force has lost 30-40% of its effectiveness, and while the Japanese have at least doubled their combat effectiveness. Hence, the end is near