Lunacy or Shrewdness?

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:02 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/17/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 63 encounters mine field at Rangoon (29,34)

Japanese Ships
DD Kiji, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 114,60

Japanese Ships
SS RO-66

Allied Ships
DD Aylwin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 113,61

Japanese Ships
SS RO-61

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 115,62

Japanese Ships
SS I-162

Allied Ships
DD McCall

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 7

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 336
Ki-49 Helen x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 8
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 16 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
SS O20, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
128 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 10
Port fuel hits 4
Port supply hits 1

LOL!!! A hard luck submarine for sure. O-20 sinks beneath the waves after a massive port attack catches it in port and hits it with five 250Kg bombs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Canton Island , at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 16
G4M1 Betty x 78

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged

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

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 17
Runway hits 52

Good strikes. I think that while the Allied bombardments will act to keep my SNLFs AVs at zero I can gradually wear them down. The Brigade is due to land at the end of February. If it looks like I'm wearing the US forces on Canton down without the Brigade I may just unload it at Baker, have it help build up the airfield there and then run in for mopping up at the appropriate time. The SNLFs are trashed anyways so I don't see any major need to rush things on Canton. They could easily be there a month from now if the coastal guns remain effective.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 78th USA Coast AA Regiment, at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 3 damaged

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,35

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 37116 troops, 567 guns, 3 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 631

Defending force 84868 troops, 224 guns, 42 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2284

Allied ground losses:
173 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51271 troops, 561 guns, 2 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 950

Defending force 26004 troops, 64 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 420

Japanese max assault: 939 - adjusted assault: 782

Allied max defense: 426 - adjusted defense: 249

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
443 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
243 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Homan

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 34218 troops, 405 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2810

Defending force 18877 troops, 103 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 520

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10338 troops, 183 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 54

Defending force 3550 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2

Japanese max assault: 45 - adjusted assault: 22

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Attu Island

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 709 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 8

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 0

Japanese max assault: 6 - adjusted assault: 2

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Attu Island base !!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5789 troops, 112 guns, 4 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 6

Defending force 1493 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 11

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported

Final refuelling operations for the Indian invasion have taken place and the forces are all heading for the Singapore/Sumatra channel. I expect to make landfall sometime on or about the 27th of February. Almost the entirety of the 5 parachute regiments will be available to support these landings as will the entirety of my Tina force.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:12 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/18/42 Nothing of any great importance happened on the 18th except to confirm that the Allied CVs aren't chasing down my retreating CVL-KB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 44 encounters mine field at Rangoon (29,34)

Japanese Ships
DD Hayabusa, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Yugiri

This DD sinks later in the day. There were only 4 mines left at Rangoon and so, of course, it ran into one. [8|]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 69,118

Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Hakkaisan Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW Toroshima Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
DD Mutsuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Kawakaze
DD Yamakaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS S-34, hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 324
Ki-49 Helen x 26
Ki-46-II Dinah x 7
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 14 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
71 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Port hits 22
Port fuel hits 7
Port supply hits 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 13
B-17E Fortress x 15

Allied aircraft losses
B-17C Fortress: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 5 damaged

Port hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Canton Island , at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 23
G4M1 Betty x 75

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 56

The raids on Canton seem to be doing good work. At this rate supplies may be attrited more quickly than originally anticipated. The main problem is that because of the range morale drops massively after each raid. I am going to move the Bettys to Baker even though thats only a Size 2 airfield as the shorter range should help them fly more often and suffer fewer ops losses.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 80th Chinese Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 8
Ki-30 Ann x 3
Ki-51 Sonia x 5
Ki-49 Helen x 9
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 6th Chinese Cavalry Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 61
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 34
Ki-49 Helen x 11
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

I'm beginning to change some of the forces in China over to Helens in order to prepare for the bombing campaign which I'll have to wage against Chungking in the next few weeks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 26th USA FA Brigade, at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Tenposan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 50900 troops, 548 guns, 1 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 928

Defending force 25757 troops, 58 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 414

Japanese max assault: 795 - adjusted assault: 497

Allied max defense: 419 - adjusted defense: 135

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
495 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
123 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Homan

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 144223 troops, 1497 guns, 16 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3095

Defending force 18900 troops, 104 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 523

Japanese max assault: 2817 - adjusted assault: 1752

Allied max defense: 546 - adjusted defense: 314

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Homan base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
1338 casualties reported
Guns lost 45
Vehicles lost 4

Allied ground losses:
28138 casualties reported
Guns lost 112

And the Homan/Sian/Chungking road is finally totally cleared.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10368 troops, 182 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3541 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 46 - adjusted assault: 42

Allied max defense: 1 - adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5826 troops, 112 guns, 4 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 6

Defending force 1724 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 27

Japanese ground losses:
62 casualties reported

The action elsewhere is pretty much minimal now as I'm focussing on India and getting the invasion there ashore before the end of February. I'm going to stay up late tonight swapping turns with Trey in the hopes that we can reach the end of February and see how the first waves of the invasion work out.

The picture below shows the situation in China.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:23 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/19/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 69,118

Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Hakkaisan Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW Toroshima Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
DD Mutsuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Kawakaze

Allied Ships
SS S-34, hits 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 21,58

Japanese Ships
MSW Toshi Maru #2
MSW Rokko Maru
MSW Musashi Maru
MSW Hinode Maru #20
MSW Choun Maru #21
MSW Choun Maru #7
MSW Choun Maru #6
MSW Banshu Maru #52

Allied Ships
SS KXVII

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 69,118

Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Hakkaisan Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW Toroshima Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
DD Mutsuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Kawakaze
DD Yamakaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS S-34

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 9

No Allied losses

Runway hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 325
Ki-49 Helen x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 9
Ki-15 Babs x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied ground losses:
85 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Port hits 27
Port fuel hits 4
Port supply hits 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 6
B-17E Fortress x 7

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port supply hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 26th USA FA Brigade, at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G3M Nell bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 42,52

Japanese Ships
APD APD-34, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APD APD-46
APD APD-39
APD APD-38
APD APD-37
APD APD-36
APD APD-35
APD APD-33
APD APD-31
APD APD-2
APD APD-1

Allied Ships
SS S-39

Very aggressive work from S-39. APD-34 is VERY badly damaged. Only the fact that it is onl 120 miles from Manilla gives it any hope of surviving.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Pearl Harbor at 112,68

Japanese Ships
SS I-123

Allied Ships
DD Clark
DD Downes
DD Patterson
DD Henley
DD O'Brien
CV Hornet

THIS was a bit of a tense moment. Unfortunately Hornet got away. Still at least now I know he is basing his carriers out of Pearl and has 5 available to him at present.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 50290 troops, 544 guns, 1 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 891

Defending force 25502 troops, 57 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 411

Japanese max assault: 719 - adjusted assault: 555

Allied max defense: 413 - adjusted defense: 215

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
253 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Allied ground losses:
217 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10359 troops, 182 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3521 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 46 - adjusted assault: 92

Allied max defense: 1 - adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

Allied ground losses:
53 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6197 troops, 120 guns, 4 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 8

Defending force 1744 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 27

Japanese ground losses:
112 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

For the rest the usual bombardments and deliberate attacks on cut off troops occurred. Nothing of any major note occurred so I won't comment more.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:37 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/20/42

The main news today was that Allied subs began fighting back and sinking two of the ships hunting them. Reinforcements will be brought in and the ASW groups brought back up to strength.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 61,44

Japanese Ships
PC Shonan Maru #17, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PC Ch 29
PC Ch 12
PC Ch 11
PC Ch 10
PC Ch 6
PC Ch 4
PC Takunan Maru #5
PC Shonan Maru #2
PC Shonan Maru #1
PC Seki Maru #2
PC Fumi Maru
MSW W.20

Allied Ships
SS Seadragon

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 21,58

Japanese Ships
MSW Choun Maru #7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Toshi Maru #2
MSW Rokko Maru
MSW Musashi Maru
MSW Hinode Maru #20
MSW Choun Maru #21
MSW Choun Maru #6
MSW Banshu Maru #52

Allied Ships
SS KXVII

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 6

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Wellington III bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Wellington III bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 333
Ki-49 Helen x 26
Ki-46-II Dinah x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 3 destroyed, 23 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 3 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
138 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 36
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 215

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 9
B-17E Fortress x 6

Allied aircraft losses
B-17C Fortress: 2 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
40 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 80th Chinese Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 61
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 34
Ki-49 Helen x 15
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
74 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 56th USA Coastal Artillery Regiment, at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 5

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Usa Maru
AK Tenposan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 69,118

Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Hakkaisan Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
DD Mutsuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Yamakaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS S-34

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 135,49

Japanese Ships
SS I-7

Allied Ships
AK Corrales, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Arcata
DD Lamson
DD Drayton

Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported

Excellent. Another troop-carrying ship takes a torpedo. I doubt it will survive as it is a bit too far out from Pearl to reach it easily.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 50135 troops, 537 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 879

Defending force 25164 troops, 50 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 409

Japanese max assault: 737 - adjusted assault: 531

Allied max defense: 409 - adjusted defense: 219

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
487 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Allied ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10339 troops, 182 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3452 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 4

Japanese max assault: 46 - adjusted assault: 46

Allied max defense: 2 - adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6269 troops, 121 guns, 5 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 8

Defending force 1645 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 25

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:41 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/21/42

With this post we're up to date again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 117,65

Japanese Ships
SS I-18

Allied Ships
DD Blue
DD Bagley
DD Russell
DD Hughes
DD Sims

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 61,44

Japanese Ships
PC Tama Maru #8
PC Toshi Maru #3
MSW Toshi Maru #7
MSW Tamozono Maru #1
MSW Sonobe Maru
MSW Rikusen Maru
MSW Misago Maru #11
MSW Mejima Maru
MSW Kyo Maru #3
MSW Keinan Maru
MSW Fukeui Maru #7
MSW Fuji Maru

Allied Ships
SS Seadragon, hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 116,63

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
DD McCall
DD Gridley
DD Mugford

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 22

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 329
Ki-49 Helen x 26
Ki-46-II Dinah x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
127 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 190

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 9
B-17E Fortress x 5

Allied aircraft losses
B-17C Fortress: 2 damaged

Port hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 83rd Chinese Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 61
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 33
Ki-49 Helen x 11
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
125 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 8
Ki-30 Ann x 3
Ki-51 Sonia x 5
Ki-49 Helen x 4
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
MSW Shonan Maru #7, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Hit and sunk.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 117,65

Japanese Ships
SS I-18, hits 2

Allied Ships
DD Hughes
DD Blue
DD Bagley
DD Russell
DD Sims

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 117,65

Japanese Ships
SS I-18, hits 7

Allied Ships
DD Blue
DD Russell
DD Hughes
DD Sims

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 116,63

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30770 troops, 309 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 640

Defending force 3328 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 88

Japanese max assault: 597 - adjusted assault: 770

Allied max defense: 71 - adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 77 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
75 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,35

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 37631 troops, 580 guns, 3 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 642

Defending force 84097 troops, 214 guns, 36 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2293

Allied ground losses:
534 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 49780 troops, 523 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 884

Defending force 24822 troops, 47 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 406

Japanese max assault: 11 - adjusted assault: 6

Allied max defense: 402 - adjusted defense: 151

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10379 troops, 182 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3412 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 4

Japanese max assault: 46 - adjusted assault: 46

Allied max defense: 2 - adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Allied ground losses:
51 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6467 troops, 126 guns, 6 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 8

Defending force 1789 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 36

Japanese ground losses:
252 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 12:31 pm

I've also just realised that I forgot to give some important info about the day for which I lost the combatreport. On the 14th February Rangoon fell. Happy Valentine's day indeed

. The Emperor has radioed the commander's on the scene to tell them that he prefers this present to the box of chocolates they got him last year. Of course they weren't to know he was lactose intolerant but still... [:D]

Ground combat at Rangoon

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 60259 troops, 398 guns, 158 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1127

Defending force 16508 troops, 97 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 351

Japanese max assault: 1053 - adjusted assault: 2347

Allied max defense: 251 - adjusted defense: 215

Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Rangoon base !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
642 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
24605 casualties reported
Guns lost 43

I placed a sub outside Diamond Harbour ready to intercept the retreating convoy carrying the Armoured Brigade but they didn't pass it. I wonder which of the ports they made for?

The troops from Rangoon are already on their way to Taung Giyi. I have also scrambled the necessary transports from Manilla in order to provide sealift for these divisions and the 2nd Provisional Tank Division... at least for those parts which will be committed to the amphibious invasion of India. I have other plans for a significant component of this force, plans which cost me over 100,000 tons of supply for factory conversions since December 7th 1941 but which are finally coming to fruition and which I think will be worth this 100,000 tons of supply

With the first wave of invasions of India due to commence between 25th February to 1st March and China looking like it should slowly collapse over the next 2 months I felt it was time Trey and I began discussing the Soviet Union... I think it should prove possible to have India and China under my control by the end of April 1942 and have the divisions involved in each of those areas available for further operations. I would prefer to keep the Soviet Union out of the war for some time BUT since I cannot move my China Area Army units by air or sea game limitations dictate that their only viable objective lies in the Soviet Union. I think it would be reasonable for the game engine to unrestrict units once all bases in the restricted theatre they are in are under Japanese control. If this were so I would rebuild a bit and then head for Pearl well before August 1942 with 20+ divisions from China. I have the sealift, just, to do this but such is life. I'm sure that this limitation is, roughly, balanced out by increases in capability in other areas. E.g. Japan may be able to move more quickly than realistic in the first day BUT the Allies are regularly flying 100+ 4-engined bombers a day now and that number will increase. I think it is absolutely blinkered ( a strong word but one I feel is warranted) to condemn that 1 day of advantage without also taking into account the fact that the excessive Allied 4-engined bomber capability over the next FIVE YEARS more than cancels it out. So, in the same way as Trey was sanguine about the first month, I'm sanguine about the four-engined bombers. There may be more than realistic but it is my job as commander to adapt and overcome irrespective of the situation.

Oh one other thing... I raised the issue of sub transportation of troops. I don't have any problem with fragments being evacuated to serve as cadres if the parent unit is destroyed ( especially since I would have subscribed to the view that as Supreme Commander of all Japanese forces I would have had a lot more say over what ground units would be created than I currently do. E.g. I wouldn't have been creating infantry divisions in china when ground resistance in China was being crushed. I would have created these divisions in Japan for committment to the SRA instead of committing them to a dead theatre.

In any case we discussed using subs to transport a couple of squads for sacrificial recon. We both agreed that this was an area where the game was broken and that doing this was an exploit as there was no defence against it. Since there are defences against surface ship-transported troops and paraborne invasions these are still allowed.

This brings us to the question of the Soviet Union... Since people seem to think that it is unfair to invade the Soviet Union while its forces are stuck in their current positions I proposed the following to Trey:

"1. At least 1 month before I plan to invade I will move some troops into Soviet territory and activate your forces so you can change your dispositions. This will give you a month to analyse the situation, move, dig in and get ready which I think is reasonable.

2. I think a good, historical way of doing this would be for some of my forces to move in and take Mongolia. You have no troops in there anyways and it would provide, IMO, a reasonable ratcheting up of tensions prior to a full-scale war consistent with previous Japanese intentions.

3. Neither side gets to mount any air attacks or aerial recon of the other at all until my initial aerial assault goes in on the morning of my invasion.

4. At the appropriate time my forces will attack. You can obviously have your fighters on CAP etc. The idea would be that Soviet forces would be in a defensive posture to avoid provoking the Japanese any more but would still be alert enough to put up a lot of resistance when the Japanese do finally launch their aerial and ground attacks.

What do you think? Does that sound reasonable? It would place the activation of Soviet forces sometime in the beginning of June 42 and the invasion sometime in July."

What does everyone else think about this? Is that reasonable?
The salient points would be:
1. Japanese troops move into Mongolia, ratcheting up tensions and securing jumping off points. The Soviets respond defensively but don't want to risk all-out war a they are fully committed with fighting the Germans. IMO this is reasonable and historically plausible.

2. At some later stage a minimum of 1 month later the Japanese forces attack.

I would welcome any CONSTRUCTIVE feedback about anything I have missed in order to give Trey at least some chance of putting up a fair fight in the Soviet Union. From reading other AARs the 1 month warning seemed reasonable to me. The Mongolia occupation is my own wrinkle but I think it is reasonable and won't alter things much one way or the other.

I have been prepping my Manchukuo forces for this operation since December and all units will easily be prepped 100 for Vladivostok ( the job of the forces in Manchukuo) when the time comes to jump off. I ordered all units in Manchukuo and Korea into their initial jumping off positions at the various river crossings into the Soviet Union since I expect Trey to begin checking this sector for redeployments from tomorrow and he should see a lot of movement... all of it part of the largest maskirovka attempted prior to D-day

. Again, I am attempting to dislocate his defences so that he fights on ground of my choosing with an operational phasing of my choosing and with as few units fully prepped for Vladivostok as possible. The goal is to prevent any cut off units being created and limiting the enemy ability to create a festung at Vladivostok with all of their troops. I learnt a lot of lessons from Manilla.

veji1 · Post by **veji1** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:05 pm

by the time you attack USSR, he'll have forts 9 everywhere, and you'll discover that Soviet troops are worth a lot more than Japanese...

In fact in terms of value it would be as if you were the Chinese attacking the japanese... ie even on open ground without fortifications, you will probably need a 3-1 ratio to take out a Soviet Unit ( not in terms of combat ratio, I am talking quantity here ).

To be honest, I am not sure it is worth it... Even with all your troops, he will have all the AFs of USSR ready for all the 4e he'll be able to muster, and he'll bleed you airforce in a way you cannot imagine...

This could very well prove fatal in the Pacific later on... I would think that once, if you manage, China and India are out, in terms of LCUs you should have enough by getting SRA and Burma Armies on the islands and buying of good divisions from China and Kwantung armies..;

But then again, if you do i fast enough it might be feasible... regarding your house rules, they seem fair enough..

jeffs · Post by **jeffs** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:17 pm

1 month to re-arrange Soviet forces is very fair....

While some of your house rules I do find odd..In particular the one about Air dropped mines (the US dropped tons of them and Japan could not/did not stop it...Remember, the air forces were much more concerned about stopping city bombing...I doubt they would have/could have gone after some bombers that did not cross the shore)....And historically tons were dropped. That said, I believe if 2 adults agree to behaviours behind closed doors that is there business. And if your opponent agreed, I will make my obervation and now shut up.

But 1 month is fair. Many games have a 3 day to 1 week interlude only.

Sneer · Post by **Sneer** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:56 pm

I was extremaly tempted to play Russia option but found that Russia is incredibly strong in terms of supply available and unlimited replacement of troops and planes
i doubt russian OOB was as strong in 42 when moscow was still under threat but it makes playing russian card very risky
in east india allied will be ready to atrition fight in the air and in russia there are hundreds of planes also ready to fight to death - IMO it will be death to Japan Army airforce considering that southern dei must be guarded

and yes russian troops are tough ones

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:30 pm

Hmm, I haven't read a detailed AAR of a succesful invasion of the Soviet Union.

Could anyone suggest a good one, preferably one in mid-42? What I am more interested in is not the listing of combatreports etc but more an accounting of what was done, why and whether or not it worked... From what I've read most people seem to think an invasion in mid-42 is impossible. Then again I think people wouldn't have bet on India falling ( except for some utterly predictable mopping up) by mid-April.

Jeffs,

As regards air-dropped mines... Well since we agreed that our only house rules would be to preclude those things which are clear exploits of game bugs our current list of house rules comprises (from memory so if I forget one please forgive me)...
1. No air-dropping of mines. The reason for this is that CAP cannot intercept these mining missions and therefore there is absolutely no counter to them due to a game bug. Mogami has raised the issue of allowing air-mining of non-base hexes. I think that's a work-around but even more in keeping with preventing exploitation of this bug would be to prevent air-mining of ONLY hexes which have Japanese fighters.

So, when we get to the end of 1942 (air-mining begins in 1943 from what I understand) I intend to inform Trey that he can drop mines at ALL hexes which do not have a little airfield icon. While that isn't a perfect solution since some of these airfield icons could simply represent a patrol chutai it is the best compromise I can come up with consistent with not having to inform Trey of the location of all my fighter squadrons every turn

.

2. When India falls UK divisions can begin arriving at either Australia or the USA at Trey's choice. NO Indian units or Gurkha units are to be used in combat after India's fall even if they do show up. The reason behind this is that it is assumed that with India in Japanese hands the ability to recruit new Indian troops to the British cause would pretty much disappear

. So, with India's fall West African and UK divisions and the Royal Navy will still be available for future operations.

3. With New Zealand's fall no new New Zealand ground, air or naval units can be created and replacements must be turned off for any survivors. If there's no way to stop them coming on-map I suppose we can just negotiate that they all be sent to Nome or that base on the far east of the map in the USA and remain safely out of the way there.

4. With Australia's fall no further Australian ground, naval or air units can arrive on-map and replacements for those on-map should cease. So long as even a single Aussie city remains in Trey's hands he gets full benefit of all Aussia replacements and arrivals etc.

5. The new house "rule" to activation of the Soviets which I'm glad to see people think is reasonable.

6. When the Soviet Union falls all Soviet air and ground units will stop arriving. To be honest though I'd be pretty happy with just bottling the Soviets up in Vladivostok and committing 3 or 4000 AV to Vladivostok where I would, eventually, benefit from level 9 forts PLUS the urban bonus. I would also just bomb the ever-loving sh!t out of their airfields and I think that should be enough to hold the Soviets in-place for the rest of the war. Taking all of the Soviet Union would be nice but a long, siege would also serve my purposes. I do NEED to limit the Soviets to no more than 1 city though as more than that will give them an operational freedom which could prove disastrous.

7. No recon by sub commandos. I may well launch attacks with paratroops but I don't drop them unless there's SOME chance for them achieving their objectives. In the next couple of days of AAR I dropped troops in 4 or 5 places and they ended up getting massacred in 3 of them but that was simply because I had estimated the enemy forces in these areas as being no more than a Coastal Defence Base Force + AAA unit. Unfortunately in these 3 instances the defenders included either an Indian division or an Armoured Regiment which my recon hadn't really picked up on. In each landing a minimum of 150 men were paradropped and in one case almost a thousand so I don't think these attacks ( each of which had a chance of success and WOULD have been supported with further drops by all 4 parachute regiments I have at Pagan if the forces I thought were present had, actually, been all that was present) are equivalent to "sub commando recon by death".

I think that's it. Apart from the commonsense "rules" governing what happens to areas the Japanese over-run the only rules which govern in-game play are the minelaying one ( which I intend to modify following consideration of Mogamis points re: non-CAPed hexes) and the no-sub-recon one.

There are no limitations on the Allied ability to create four-engined bombers, ueber-CAP etc etc. My view is that game model errors probably tend to balance out over time.

I've given some thought to preventing Allied four-engined bombers from transferring to the Soviet Union if I invade. I plan to take the Soviet bases at Sakhalin and a bit further east on Day 1 of my invasion of the USSR, specifically to prevent such transfers. With these bases gone any four-engined bombers transferred to the Soviet Union would either have to fly up from Australia or direct from Dutch Harbour. I don't think the four-engined bombers have the range for such a long trip from Dutch Harbour. Their only chance would be to use the few Philipinno islets I haven't yet taken to refuel and replenish on the way to the Soviet Union. I am, however, planning to take most of these islets in order to prevent this and maintain 200 to 300 bombers in Manilla at the time of the Soviet invasion to pound the few Philipinno bases which remain IF I see Allied aircraft staging into them. This is in addition to the fact that, if possible, I plan to have taken Northern Australia by the time I'm ready to kick off in the Soviet Union which should make it even more difficult to transfer bombers to the Soviet Union from there.

Hmm, I'm surprised to see so many people being so negative about the Soviet option. My analysis showed it to be possible although VERY costly although, to be fair, the operational plan has to be very carefully phased to dislocate Soviet defences and prevent their concentration in Vladivostok. Perhaps the problem is that the attritional approaches which seem to be very much in vogue in the vast majority of AARs I read are the worst possible approaches to trying to defeat an opponent with such deep pockets as the Soviets? My plan focusses more on very quick annihilation of dislocated components of the overall force such that the Soviet ability to rebuild shattered formations won't be an issue ( since those formations will be completely removed from the field in a series of battles of annihilation.

I've read the manual about Chinese forces coming back after 30 days.... What happens to US, UK, Australian and Soviet units which are wiped out in battle? Do they respawn after a certain amount of time?

Sneer · Post by **Sneer** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:17 pm

and you are right
my decision to leave it alone was not because i felt it can't be done but because it would take in my calculations up to 12 months and would be very very costly
pro and cons are in my AAR as I moved in depth of this problem

veji1 · Post by **veji1** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:20 pm

The point is that your opponent will have read all these AARs, and we can expect that he will concentrate his forces to the maximum on the western part of USSR, and the east with Vlad, leaving the center pretty much undefended... He would then pin big part of your forces around Vlad, staying on the defensive with tons of supply, and then slowly but inevitably bulldoze you from his western holdings...

That is probably what I would do if i was him ( I don't have the map cause am at work so I can't be more specific )... The result achieved for you would just be to pin down your Chinese army and the Kwantung one in the USSR, instead of just having the Kwantung one in Manchukuo and being able to buy as many units as you can from the Chinese army for use elsewhere...

With 1 month notice he can very much prevent you from using the operationnal strategy you just presented to us.

Rob Brennan UK · Post by **Rob Brennan UK** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:31 pm

Nemo there is a thread about an invasion of the soviet union here :-tm.asp?m=1040403

its in jan 42 .. and im not aware of any other dedicated AAR's about this theatre.

Your house rules seem fine to me, esp the sub recon glitch. para landings i feel is fine, your paratroops are a finite asset and if you wish to use them that way .. fine ( i do the same in the pacific with the US paras later on .. although i do try and find an empty base 1st [;)]).. been slaughtered too due to sloppy recon, but they can really unhinge a defence if the enemy is a bit careless, although trey got plrnty of advanced notice of your para capacity in china and he's planned well for it.

1 month notice in russia is a gallant move on your part and hopefully shut up the 'gamey comments' once more.

I also agree 100% with your solution to aeriel mining i'm doing exactly the same. Like many self imposed rules ( B17/PT etc) i find the game more enjoyable like that. If however they fix the intercept code then gloves off [:D] [:D].

I'm sort of with the negative crowd about your plans on the soviet union, your anaysis cant be faulted on detail but i just have a gut feeling that it wont go entirely to plan ( same with india , australia and PH ).. I just cant believe that japan can conquorer the entire map in 42 .. please feel free to prove me wrong [&o]. and i do wish you the best in your compaigns , its a very interesting read . all japanese fanboys should be reading/following this avidly [;)]

mogami · Post by **mogami** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:34 pm

Hi, we are not trying to be negative about attacking Soviets We are only urging you to use caution and consider it very carefully before embarking on such an adventure.

With 30 days warning and movement Okha (Sakhalin Island) will not be empty as it is at present (soviets will air lift units there during the 30 day grace period) There will be cap present. If I was Allied player I would have several USA RCT at least ready to air transfer as well.

Starting a war with Soviets places Tokyo 10 hexes from major Soviet airfields. All Japanese ports in Home Islands are in range. (meaning Japanese ports must be empty or have heavy CAP assigned. Fighers defending Home Islands cannot be used for other missions and every Japanese base in Home Islands will need protection.

The B-25 can reach many Japanese bases the B-17 can reach them all. The Soviets will have several hundred fighters on CAP defending these airfields.

Japan has the numbers of land units required but the Soviets have at least 20 divisions and 5 Bde. If they hole up around Vladivistok it might be impossible to root them out.
(Level 9 fort with 2k assault value at 100 percent ready to defend still leaves a sizeable Soviet force for other locations without any US support)

Are you prepared to have Home Islands bombed just to free up a few LCU that you could use PP to transfer without risk?

are you invading Soviets to gain the VP for the bases to achive Auto victory?

With 30 days warning expect USN submarines to be staged around Soviet bases and for them to use these bases to refuel rearm. (If I was allied player there would be not less then 50 subs waiting)

You could lose more points here then you ever gain.

If the Allies retake northern bases before you commence I would cancell the show because you could then be assured USA units would be in Soviet area. It does not take a massive movement just enough to hold Petropavlvok and Okha. Allied bombers would then cause you much worry.

In any case before you take the Southern Soviet airfields Home islands and all sea traffic would be exposed.

I still think your worried too much about the air mines. The Allied player could simply drop them at night. Only night fighters have a chance to intercept and there are more targets then you have night fighter groups. Also Allied bombers can drop them from high altitude where only a few of your aircraft in day time could intercept. (if they were up)

The Allied player only need fly recon to see where your fighters are at.

Mines can only be placed onto ports (it is a form of city attack) You will always see where they are placed and so can clear them with MSW before allowing movement into hex.

The best house rule for 4e bombers is only 4e bomber groups can use them (no upgrading 2e groups to 4e groups. ) So while the Allied player might have a pool of replacements he will never have more on map.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:31 pm

Guys,

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I appreciate them all and take all of the operational/strategic commentary in the positive vein it is intended... even if the advice says that I need to be hospitalised more than my patients [:D] if I think the Soviet Union is doable.

I'm on hols at the moment and whiling away a few hours in the afternoon chatting about what is and isn't possible with people who have a lot more experience with the game than I do is a nice way to spend a balmy spring afternoon. PLUS if everyone is saying it isn't possible then there may be something my pre-game analysis has missed.

Sneer,
Thanks for the steer. I'll check it out and post questions/comments here later tonight.

Veji,
Yes, the Soviet plan you outline is certainly possible. I will have to see what the previous AARs show to be the normal course of a Japanese invasion of the Soviet Union before I can form a more proper appreciation of the real correlation of forces.

As to the details of my operational/strategical plan... Well, after Trey mentioned my supplies after I spoke about my drop in supplies here I decided not to post my plan of operations for India prior to actually landing there. I had, originally, planned to post it a few days ago. Now, I don't for one second think Trey read this thread but, perhaps, one of his friends or someone here who did asked a question or made a comment which got him thinking about my supply situation. He's a very sharp operator and in his real life job he, like me, can't afford to miss anything so even the smallest hint will, IMO, be enough to get him thinking along the right lines ( I get the very distinct impression that any time I try to mislead him a little in conversation he spots it immediately. I've pretty much stopped any such attempts at this stage. Hell, just this morning he asked me about my parachute drops in Trincomalee, gave me three options as to why I did it and I just fessed up and told him which one was the main reason and which other the secondary reason.... Of course maybe I'm just paranoid and it was something I said. That's always possible.

In any case it should be obvious that I'm going into less detail about future plans over the past little while than I had been previously so the same goes for the Soviet operation. Nothing I have said would allow anyone to figure out what my actual plan is. None of the options discussed here are actually at all close to what my plan is. What I will say is that I think my maskirovka operations would dislocate his forces and allow for a greater degree of operational surprise and Soviet dislocation than people might imagine. Again, I may be wrong but that's fine. I'm not playing this game to win. I'm playing it in order to play what I would term a "skillful game". I derive my enjoyment from conducting operations which I feel were well-planned and executed. Usually that leads to success, sometimes it doesn't. In any case when push comes to shove this game is going to end with my starving forces huddled in bunkers on the beaches of the Home Islands waiting for Allied troops to come ashore. Anything I do at this stage will merely delay that day.

To be honest, I'm really looking forward to that day. When I play WiR I never play the 1941, 42 or 43 scenarios as the Germans. I only play the 1944 scenario and fight to stave off the Soviet juggernaught. That's the challenge, a defence against overwhelming force with limited resources is the acme of skill, IMO, and so that's what I enjoy most. I almost always lose ( although I've managed to push the Soviets back to Stalingrad a few times) but I enjoy it far more than winning when winning requires no great exertion.

Mogami,

Very interesting points as always.

1. Okha. Fine. IF I go for the Soviet Union I would plan to have the division in the Sakhalin Islands take a purely defensive role until such time as the air threat to Okha was taken. In the meantime the US RCTs and Soviet Divisions assigned to Sakhalin can constitute an operational and strategic irrelevance.

2. Soviet airfields. Good points. My very cursory reading of posts regarding and invasion of the Soviet Union made it clear that the Soviet Union's air force and ability to stage four-engined bombers was one of the greatest problems inherent in any invasion. I had a plan to take care of that problem. I wouldn't have been able to stop it completely or immediately but I think that I would have been able to stop it in the first week or so.

3. Your point re: Vladivostok is correct. I feel my initial operational/strategical concept had accounted for the problem of what to do if the Soviets withdrew into Vladivostok and forted up with 200,000 tons of supply.

4. I'm prepared to suffer HI etc losses in the Home Islands in return for a greater operational freedom in 1943, 1944 and 1945.

5. I'm not playing for points at all. I couldn't care less about them. If I did I would be building up the Chinese bases at Sining etc and accepting a greater garrison requirement in return for masses of points. No, I'm playing for strategic position. If I go for the Soviet Union I expect it to hurt my points ratio as I cannot expect to gain 4 or 5 times as many points as I lose in such a venture.

The current points score is roughly 18000 vs 4500 ( this 4500 is illusory as it does not take into account the 2000 points which will be lost when the Allies lose Singapore). So, I'm pretty much working off 19000 vs 2000 once Singapore falls except for the fact that I'm going to leave Singapore in being in order to speed up the invasion of India by a couple of weeks. Once India falls I will take Singapore. If I was going for points I'd definitely dig in once India falls and hold onto my lead until December. Further offensive operations will only hurt my points ratio but that, to me, is unimportant.

6. hmm, wouldn't that give me an excellent opportunity to rid myself of some US units with troops that cannot be committed to any Pearl harbour operation? Well, that's my way of looking at it anyways... Plus all those ops losses on the way

7. Well since I don't want to limit trey's fight-back we have no house rules governing four-engined bombers. If he can mass 1000 four-engined bombers from Vladivostok and bomb me back into the stone age because I made a mistake then more power to him. I will lose, lose quickly and we will all learn that going for the Soviet Union under these circumstances is a big mistake

.

BTW, I'm saving the Japanese turn files at important points of the game so that, after the game is finished, people can access them, if they want, and either examine the situation or try their own hand given the position so IF invading the Soviet Union turns out to be a massive error others can try a different tack.

Thanks for the feedback. It has certainly made me think again about invading the Soviet Union. I am going to read Sneer's AAR and scan my bare bones maskirovka and operational/strategic plans. I think that based on all this advice I will, at the very least, phase it differently such that I can commit my entire army bomber and fighter force to the operation. At most I could still cancel it.

Questions:
When I hit F6 and look at the river crossings in the Soviet Union I see a sort of white line south-west of Vladivostok. Would this impede battleline bombardments of Vladivostok?

P.s. Something else just occurred to me. It would be a real mind-f**k to take Mongolia in June ( according to the timeline I've told Trey) and then just hold there for 6 months

. He might start rushing B17s and US units in and then find that they do nothing but sit there for months on end

. That might actually be a very nice dislocatory move if I followed it up with major amphibious invasions of the Aleutians and Alaska... In order to threaten preventing the B-17s etc from flying back to the US. Hmm, I could definitely work this into the maskirovka for my Pearl Harbour operations at very little additional delay or diversion of resources and I would get a good laugh out of such a perversely dislocatory strategy.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:25 pm

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/22/42

Massive air recon efforts are occuring over Eastern India. I'm flying several Dinah squadrons over all of the ports and bases in south-eastern India. In addition I'm flying Mavis and Emily missions over the bases up to and including Lucknow. My intention is to fix Trey's attention on this area. Anywhere my Mavis and Emily missions show limited troop strengths will be hit by paraborne probes. I expect most of these probes to run into much heavier opposition than expected and be annihilated BUT they will serve to obscure the fact that three landings of note will also be occuring at this time:
1. Trimcomalee. If it is weakly defended a parachute drop may be able to take it quickly. This would allow me to preserve the two divisions which have prepped for Trimcomalee and land them on the Indian mainland instead. This would increase my forces on the Indian mainland to 8 Infantry divisions instead of 6 and is worth risking a few hundred paratroops.

2. Madras. Again, if weakly held I will fly in parachute regiments until it falls. I expect there to be at least an Indian division stationed there. So, probably a suicide mission but if it is more weakly held than I expect then a coup de main will save thousands of my infantry from the slaughter of an opposed beach landing.

3. Yanam. A rather out of the way place with no port but on one of the routes forces from eastern India could take to interfere with the landings at Madras. I had tasked one of the invading divisions with setting up a blocking position here but if I can take it I can fly the division, an aviation regiment and some engineers in and quickly establish a Tina base which will give me the option of dropping parachutists all over India. Since there is no port at Yanam there is no benefit to any amphibious troops landing there. Trey, knowing this, won't hold it strongly. This is my best chance for just being opposed by a small base force.

In the meantime 1 recon flight will take place over Trimcomalee and 1 other over Madras. This should make a ratio of about 10 flights elsewhere to every flight over one of the two bases I'm actually interested in. I'm also heavily reconning Darwin with Mavis Chutai operating out of Koepang. The last time I reconned Darwin I sent the battleline in so Trey will have to honour the potential threat heralded by this recon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 9

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 306
Ki-49 Helen x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 12 damaged

Allied ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 154

Gees, will these guys EVER run out of supply? I had estimated that even with resources being produced every turn my bombing would cause such significant expenditure of supplies on repairs that Singapore would run out. Even if they had 100,000 tons of supplies to begin with they really should have run out by now... I wonder what's going on?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 60
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 34
Ki-49 Helen x 15
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Tenposan Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 5000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 6

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Sydney Island at 100,102

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Tatuharu Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 66,118

Japanese Ships
PG Seikai Maru
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Hakkaisan Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW Ataka Maru
DD Mutsuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Yamakaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS Tarpon

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30745 troops, 310 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 638

Defending force 3193 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 87

Japanese max assault: 591 - adjusted assault: 610

Allied max defense: 70 - adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 61 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Allied ground losses:
301 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 39161 troops, 329 guns, 271 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 919

Defending force 50740 troops, 170 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1058

Japanese max assault: 892 - adjusted assault: 344

Allied max defense: 1067 - adjusted defense: 915

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
1739 casualties reported
Guns lost 73
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
532 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

I figured my assault here wouldn't be sufficient to remove the Chinese but it was designed to let me gauge the force I'd need to push the Chinese out of Kweiyang. 2000 AV should do it and I have significantly more than that on the way. I've been looking at the force correlations and after Rob's advice on how to free up several hundred AV from the mountain hex north-east of Chungking I think I can closely engage the 20 Chinese units north-east of Chungking for long enough to bring 1500 AV into Chungking. Unfortunately I just don't have enough time to bring the other 1500 to 2500 AV I'd need to capture Chungking before the mass Chinese respawn in 3 weeks time [:(]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,35

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 37753 troops, 582 guns, 3 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 646

Defending force 83262 troops, 208 guns, 37 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2285

Allied ground losses:
282 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

As you can see I've been thinning my holding forces out so as to maximise the offensive power I can bring to bear against Chungking and western China.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 46182 troops, 525 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1232

Defending force 24754 troops, 44 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 412

Allied ground losses:
23 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10379 troops, 182 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3412 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 4

Japanese max assault: 45 - adjusted assault: 39

Allied max defense: 2 - adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
78 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6662 troops, 129 guns, 6 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 10

Defending force 1579 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 24

Japanese ground losses:
131 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

My forces seem to recover about 20 AV every night and then the bombardment knocks them right back to somewhere between 4 and 6 AV during the next day. I'm sure the Brigade I'm about to land in 4 or 5 days is going to get savaged but if even 40 or 50 AV survive I will be able to wipe out the defenders.

I also checked out my invasion transports this turn. They are about 3 days hard sailing away from Trimcomalee but I won't commit them until 28th February as I want to spend 2 or 3 days refueling the carriers, softening up the port and bringing all the CLs and DDs I have at Rangoon into play as convoy escorts.

I also counted heads and I must admit I was a bit disappointed. I thought I had over 300,000 troops in this wave. It turns out I only have 246,000 troops on the transports. I do, however, have the 3rd Provisional Tank Division, comprising 5 Tank Regiments, so my combat power is a bit better than the numbers themselves would suggest.

By mid-March two infantry divisions and the 2nd Provisional Tank Division from Burma will also have landed in or been air-transported into India. That'll be another 75,000 men and should be the final edge I need to quicken the pace of operations in India. At that stage I should have 11 Infantry Divisions and 8 Tank Regiments in western India along with enough engineers and aviation support to operate two 250+ size airfields. One airfield will be tasked with supporting Bettys/Nells and Zeroes to protect my west flank from Royal Navy forays and also to attrit british merchant shipping if it tries to make a run for Australia. The second airfield will be tasked with supporting the Imperial Army's operations on the mainland.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:53 pm

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/23/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 20

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 328
Ki-49 Helen x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 9 damaged

Allied ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 6
Runway hits 167

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Canton Island , at 98,99

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 4
G4M1 Betty x 60

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
111 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 11
Runway hits 62

The switch to Baker Island seems to have done the trick. The amount of damage caused is up and the fatigue suffered is down.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Tenposan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 7

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 42,52

Japanese Ships
APD APD-46
APD APD-39
APD APD-38
APD APD-37
APD APD-36
APD APD-35
APD APD-33
APD APD-31
APD APD-2
APD APD-1

Allied Ships
SS S-39, hits 6

This is the sub which took up station outside of Manilla in an effort to hole some of my invasion transports as they went by. Didn't quite work out that way although I'd say it is still in pretty good shape, hit messages notwithstanding.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30645 troops, 304 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 633

Defending force 2957 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 84

Japanese max assault: 582 - adjusted assault: 585

Allied max defense: 68 - adjusted defense: 7

Japanese assault odds: 83 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
162 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 42,37

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 64834 troops, 688 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1910

Defending force 24599 troops, 46 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 413

Allied ground losses:
19 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,35

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 37861 troops, 584 guns, 3 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 648

Defending force 82881 troops, 206 guns, 36 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2289

Allied ground losses:
280 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Taung Gyi

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 65121 troops, 438 guns, 406 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1332

Defending force 7297 troops, 48 guns, 1 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 167

Japanese max assault: 2550 - adjusted assault: 1761

Allied max defense: 154 - adjusted defense: 51

Japanese assault odds: 34 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Taung Gyi base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
905 casualties reported
Guns lost 22

Allied ground losses:
11497 casualties reported
Guns lost 47

Excellent, the 3 Divisions which took Rangoon have now finished off the Allied forces at Taung Gyi. 1 Division is heading for Pagan, the rest is heading for Rangoon to mate up with the transports which should dock just as they arrive. Today the Tank Regiment which I'd pulled out of Ledo after the whole Shock Attack Pursue thing was sorted out returns to Ledo. I know it can't actually take Ledo BUT it will force Trey to keep the Indian division there and that's 1 fewer division facing my troops where it matters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10396 troops, 183 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3351 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 45 - adjusted assault: 90

Allied max defense: 1 - adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

Allied ground losses:
43 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6634 troops, 129 guns, 6 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 9

Defending force 1366 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 12

Japanese ground losses:
36 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Trimcomalee

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 142 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 7

Defending force 10268 troops, 99 guns, 293 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 172

Japanese max assault: 10 - adjusted assault: 0

Allied max defense: 189 - adjusted defense: 150

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 9)

Japanese ground losses:
65 casualties reported

Hmm, it looks like Trimcomalee is going to be a contest alright. The Armoured Brigade which was pulled out of Rangoon has ended up here. I wonder what an Armoured Brigade will do to two infantry divisions storming ashore? I'm sure it won't be pretty whatever it is.

24th February 1942.
Managed to lose this turn again [:(]. Sorry guys. We are swapping files back so quickly at the moment that I sometimes forget to rename the previous turn's combat reports before running the next turn.

I'll give a summary.

Today Trey spotted a couple of my APs which moved 1 hex more than I had expected. So, the bad news is he knows my APs are moving on India 3 days before I wanted them to be spotted. The good news is that he hasn't spotted the entire battleline which is only 240 miles from Trimcomalee. I show 20+ ships still docked at Trimcomalee. It would be nice to catch him completely unawares but I am worried that in spotting my AP he will evacuate Ceylon before the battleline strikes.

Elsewhere nothing of note occurs. I'm still seeing APs at Dutch Harbour... I wonder if Trey really intends to carry on with the invasion of Amchitka at this late stage... I may just have to put another spoiling attack in.

The picture below shows the situation at Ceylon. As you can see Trimcomalee is being evacuated whilst the Royal Navy has moved out of Colombo and taken up position within sprinting distance of the landing sites at Trimcomalee. The yellow box shows the whereabouts of what my recon tells me are 4 BBs and a few CAs. I presume that the Royal Navy CVs are lurking somewhere nearby.

The prudent thing would, of course, be to continue closing on Trimcomalee gradually with my carriers being co-located with the transports in order to provide them with CAP. I, on the other hand, am willing to gamble a significant number of those transports in order to get a crack at the Royal Navy battleline and will sprint into position 240 miles from their current position. If they do anything other than run away about 120 torpedo bombers should get to attack them. With the amount of AAA BBs and CLAAs put up I expect my losses to be heavy but if it helps the landings get ashore and take Trimcomalee it will be worth it. Especially when the 5 Betty Daitai I have in the area begin staging out of Trimcomalee and prevent any British shipping from escaping from India when its fall becomes inevitable.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Fri May 12, 2006 1:46 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/25/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 135,49

Japanese Ships
SS I-7

Allied Ships
AK Admiral Gove, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK San Gabriel
DD Monaghan
DD Dale

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 116,63

Japanese Ships
SS RO-65, hits 2, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Case
DD Ellet
DD Maury

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Trimcomalee, at 15,25 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 3 destroyed
Catalina I: 2 destroyed
Wirraway: 1 destroyed

24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
CA Kumano
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
CA Nachi
CA Haguro, Shell hits 4
CA Chokai
CA Maya
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato
BB Haruna
BB Kongo

Allied Ships
SS O16, hits 1
AK Jalatarang, Shell hits 1, on fire
TK Empire Norse, Shell hits 1
SS O19, hits 1
AK Empire Bunting, Shell hits 1
AP Dardanus, Shell hits 1
TK Empire Onyx, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
417 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 6

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 74
Port supply hits 1

Interesting, caught a few ships still in port and probably managed to attrit the CD guns a bit (hopefully).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 334
Ki-49 Helen x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 18 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 2 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 150

I checked the experience levels of these bomber formations and all of them are in the low to mid-80s. In looking at the pilots it seems that the only reason the level is in the low to mid-80s is that I am allowing completely green pilots into these units and while most pilots have experience in the high 80s to 90s the 1 or 2 twenty experience pilots drag things down. I looked at one Daitai with 27 pilots which had just received a green pilot of 24 experience. It had one other pilot of 45 experience and then the next lowest experience was 79. 10 of the pilots had experience in the 80s while the remaining 14 were in the 90s with 6 or 7 being greater than 95 experience. It would seem that I underestimated the effectiveness of this bombing in training up my pilots. I decided to have a look at China and most of the units which have been there from the beginning are in the low 80s. By the time this phase of operations finishes I am going to have some HIGHLY experienced army bomber pilots. I wouldn't mind beginning operations against Pearl Harbour with 600+ Helen all with average experience greater than 90. That sort of force should be able to close airfields pretty expeditiously.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 62nd Chinese Corps, at 45,35

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 59
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 34
Ki-49 Helen x 15
Ki-15 Babs x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 98,99

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Tenposan Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 115,61

Japanese Ships
SS I-162, hits 4, on fire

Allied Ships
DD Bagley
DD Blue
DD Russell
DD Hughes
DD Sims

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30754 troops, 303 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 640

Defending force 2485 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 56

Japanese max assault: 589 - adjusted assault: 876

Allied max defense: 39 - adjusted defense: 4

Japanese assault odds: 219 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
122 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,35

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 38185 troops, 591 guns, 3 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 655

Defending force 81535 troops, 182 guns, 32 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2272

Allied ground losses:
190 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

This force has lost over 5,000 men and 60 guns in the past two weeks. Only 32 more weeks to go eh? . Seriously though, it is being held in place by only two divisions and is allowing me to concentrate forces to drive the Chinese out of Kweiyang and push onto Chungking.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10389 troops, 181 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3310 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2

Japanese max assault: 45 - adjusted assault: 21

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6750 troops, 134 guns, 6 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 9

Defending force 1779 troops, 7 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 24

Japanese ground losses:
210 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

The slaughter here continues. The Brigade is only 2 days out and I've got to say I'm unsure as to whether or not to commit it. I know it will suffer heavily if committed but I am hoping that with the port attacks some of the guns will have been neutralised and it will maintain sufficient strength to overcome the attackers. If this is not the case I will simply load the survivors onto the transports and bring them to Palmyra for rest and refit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Yanam

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 377 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 20

Defending force 5339 troops, 36 guns, 4 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 24

Japanese max assault: 22 - adjusted assault: 10

Allied max defense: 24 - adjusted defense: 24

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese ground losses:
21 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Jamshedpur

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 714 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3

Defending force 7893 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 158

Japanese max assault: 4 - adjusted assault: 0

Allied max defense: 157 - adjusted defense: 63

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

Japanese ground losses:
24 casualties reported

Paradrops into disaster . Only the troops landed at Yanam did any good. I will reinforce this landing and see what I can develop... The AAA over Yanam is unbelievably intense. I have only 6 flyable Tinas from an entire Daitai of 36 Tinas after they have delivered their troops. I lost something like 4 planes to FlAK. If I'm intending to take Yanam it will probably only occur after many days of paradrops have occured or a battleline bombardment suppresses the defending FlAK.

Tomorrow I move in to launch my torpedo strikes against the enemy battleline. I have roughly 150 Kates in the 4 CVs and 2 CVLs of this portion of KB and 120 Zeroes. When I was replenishing KB at Midway I swapped all of my Vals out of this force and into the CVL-KB since I figured that torpedoes would be more useful against the armoured flight decks and BBs of the Royal Navy than Vals. I kept 20 Kates in the CVL-KB in order that Trey wouldn't notice anything if CVL-KB stumbled over some of his shipping. It looks like that was the right choice. 150 Kates ought to make an awful mess of the 3 CVs, 5 BBs and 1 BC I think are lurking north-west of Colombo. My losses will be atrocious and I expect to lose at least half the Kates over the next few days if Trey stays and fights but, while my naval pilots might be difficult to replace, they DO exist to be expended if the rewards justify the expenditure. The sort of force outlined above definitely warrants their expenditure.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Fri May 12, 2006 2:18 am

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 02/26/42

Battleship Row II[

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 293
Ki-49 Helen x 25
Ki-46-II Dinah x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 152

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 17,28

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 14
Martin 139 x 7
Beaufort V-IX x 15

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort V-IX: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
MSW W.14
DD Asagao
AP Nissen Maru
DD Fuyo
AP Rakuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Tatuta Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Yawata Maru
AP Nichibi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Kashiwara Maru

Japanese ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Well, the cost of leaving the invasion transports carrying the two divisions for Trimcomalee undefended was only 3 ships hit. All should make it to Trimcomalee and unload their troops although I expect two to sink shortly thereafter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a typical piece of bad luck the ONLY British TF covered by cloud on this bright, balmy spring morning around Ceylon is, yes you guessed it, the Royal Navy battleline. Frustrated by this turn of events my squadrons vent their fury on an ASW TF and some merchants fleeing from Trimcomalee.

Day Air attack on TF, near Colombo at 14,24

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
B5N Kate x 115

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
PG Freesia, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Pakenham, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nestor, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PG Auricula, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Romney, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Not bad. I am assuming all of these ships will sink.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 17,28

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 9
Martin 139 x 6
Beaufort V-IX x 12

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort V-IX: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Nichiryo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Fuyo
AP Yasukuni Maru
MSW W.14
AP Kyushu Maru
AP Yawata Maru

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported

More trivial losses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 13,23

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N Kate x 93

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 13 destroyed, 57 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Resolution, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BC Repulse, Torpedo hits 1
BB Ramilles
BB Royal Sovereign, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Revenge, Torpedo hits 1
CLAA Van Heemskerck
CA Dorsetshire

And in the afternoon the cloud clears and my Kates go to work. Results aren't all I would have hoped for. I counted FOUR duds in the combat animations but, still, Resolution looks like it is badly damaged while 3 other BBs have enough damage to slow them down a little. This will make them easy pickings later on. Trey has three choices now:
1. Withdraw the battleline hoping for a better opportunity later,
2. Dock the battleline in Colombo hoping my forces are not set to dock attack,
3. Charge for Trimcomalee in the hope that that's where I'm heading and engage my invasion fleet in a daylight gun battle. He will lose the BBs for sure when my Kates retaliate BUT if he gets lucky he could sink most of the APs.

I expect him to play it safe and retreat and I will let him do so. Later on the battleline will have to try to make its way past Ceylon when it becomes clear that Trey must evacuate India. When this happens he will meet over 100 Bettys flying from well within their torpedo-carrying range and some other preparations I've made. If he retreats now he will simply lose the BBs 6 to 8 weeks from now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 16,24

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 16

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
TK Empire Onyx, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Jalatarang, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
TK Empire Norse, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Oh, sure, when faced with a horde of BBs wouldn't EVERY air group commander divert 1/7th of his force to sink some tankers and a merchant vessel which pose no threat whatsoever? Answer: No, only the stupid ones. Thanks a lot tactical AI. I got roughly 1 detonating torpedo hit for every 15 planes which sortied against the battleline and I would definitely trade these 6 hits for another torpedo hit on one of this battleline.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 45,50

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30773 troops, 304 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 638

Defending force 2280 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 41

Japanese max assault: 586 - adjusted assault: 285

Allied max defense: 27 - adjusted defense: 4

Japanese assault odds: 71 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
30 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
130 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 23,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10436 troops, 183 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 55

Defending force 3220 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2

Japanese max assault: 45 - adjusted assault: 22

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Canton Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6782 troops, 135 guns, 6 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 9

Defending force 1453 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 16

Japanese ground losses:
433 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Yanam

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 126 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 29

Defending force 5329 troops, 36 guns, 4 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 24

Japanese max assault: 8 - adjusted assault: 2

Allied max defense: 24 - adjusted defense: 24

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese ground losses:
33 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

I tried landing more troops there but instead of the 90some Tinas I was able to use yesterday I could only muster 20some flyable Tinas today. The FlAK is absolutely horrific.

So, the end result of today is that Trey's Royal Navy battleline has taken a bit of a beating. 1 ship is badly damaged while 3 others are lightly damaged and 2 others untouched. Prince of Wales took two torpedoes early in the game and so may still be in another port being repaired. I suspect that his carriers are in a Task Force 60 miles north-west of the battleline which shows several more BBs and CAs. He can either attack now before I get another day of strikes in (His attacks will result in the demise of his ships but he could hurt me a lot.) OR he can retreat. I'm betting he will retreat.

The invasion fleet is being ordered into Trimcomalee. KB is being ordered in alongside it and so is the battleline. A whole host of CL-led DD TFs should also be at Trimcomalee if the British battleline makes a call. I am confident in the ability of my 100+ Zero CAP to handle whatever the British carriers or land bases throw at them. I expect to suffer some damage and am quite willing to have 1 of my CVs badly damaged in return for a succesful landing.

The only dark spot is that I forgot to order my battleline to BOMBARD. I think I left them set to SURFACE COMBAT... I am worried that even though I have bombarded Trimcomalee yesterday the British will have recovered enough that the troop transports will get massacred. I remembered this just after I sent the turn but, screw it, mistakes happen in life and war and I wasn't going to ask Trey to ignore my initial turn and substitute a later turn for it. That'd be a bit too much to expect.

Oh and just in case the Allies DO remain outside of Betty torpedo range I've set my most experienced Betty Daitai ( about 85 experience) to skip bombing. The BBs and presumed CV TF are both well within Betty maximum range from Rangoon so, with a little luck, the Bettys might launch against one of the damaged BBs. I doubt they'll do much against the BB belt armour but, then again, they might. Either way I'll learn a good lesson for next time and will know better what to do when I face off against the Americans at a more crucial time.

Nemo121 · Post by **Nemo121** » Fri May 12, 2006 3:09 am

I've had a look at the Soviet Union and as near as I can tell their maximum force by the time I invade should reach about 8000 AV in roughly 25 divisions, 3000 arty in the divisions and another 500 outsideand about 600 tanks. They also should muster about 600 fighters, 400 bombers and 200 Shturmoviks.

I estimate that I will be able to bring 16,000 AV, organised in 35 divisions, 7500 artillery pieces and 5 tank regiments ( the tanks are a weak spot admittedly). I will also have about 18 AAA regiments with which to defend my airbases and should be able to muster at least an equivalent number of fighters and double the bombers.

Furthermore I will have the help of my battleline in turning Vladivostok into a deathtrap.

Sure some Americans could be flown in (although without an actual declaration of war I would question the plausability of Stalin allowing this... He would, rightly, view it as a further provocation to the Japanese and more likely to bring a war about than to avoid one). but I don't think they would materially influence events on the ground. As far as events in the air go I agree American four-engined bombers could cause havoc in Japan until such time as their airfields were bombed into submission. I think that that point could be reached relatively quickly and before very significant damage was done to the Home Islands.

I may be wrong and I couldn't find Sneer's AAR in order to read it but I read the one Rob linked to and nothing in that convinced me that the Soviet Union was undoable. The key limiting factor, IMO, will be that I can only attack so long as my army and naval bomber forces are not needed, en masse, elsewhere. Since operations in Pearl are expected to begin in August/September it is highly probable that this would preclude significant air force participation in any land war in the Soviet Union at this time... I either go before August or after Pearl finishes, one way or the other.

Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?

RE: Lunacy or Shrewdness?