ADavidB V. Treespider...Tree's view

[treespider]

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[treespider]

Another quiet day in the Pacific....

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/17/42

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Day Air attack on Ichang , at 47,33


Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
16 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 6

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x IL-4c bombing at 5000 feet
3 x IL-4c bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30


Allied aircraft
B-17C Fortress x 18


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-17C Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
3 x B-17C Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on Lashio , at 35,30

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 17
Ki-21 Sally x 54

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged


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

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 29

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
11 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
7 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
5 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
2 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 14000 feet
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Day Air attack on Singapore , at 23,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 26
Ki-21 Sally x 26
Ki-48 Lily x 15
Ki-15 Babs x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 4 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported

Runway hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 15000 feet
11 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
5 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 15000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on Palembang , at 20,55

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 10

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x G3M Nell bombing at 20000 feet
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 20000 feet
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 17
Ki-21 Sally x 23
Ki-48 Lily x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported

Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 14

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 20000 feet
12 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
5 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 20000 feet
3 x Ki-48 Lily bombing at 20000 feet
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Day Air attack on 3rd Division, at 47,36


Allied aircraft
I-16c x 5
SB-2c x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x SB-2c bombing at 10000 feet
9 x SB-2c bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 39th Division, at 47,36


Allied aircraft
SB-2c x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x SB-2c bombing at 10000 feet
3 x SB-2c bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 4th Mixed Regiment, at 35,30


Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 9


No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Hurricane II bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 33rd Division, at 34,28


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 14


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
8 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on 31st PA Division, at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 8
Ki-30 Ann x 27
Ki-15 Babs x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-30 Ann: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged


Allied ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
24 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 11th DAF Base Force, at 25,58

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 9000 feet
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Day Air attack on 13th/B Division, at 46,33


Allied aircraft
SB-2c x 15


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
3 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
4 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
3 x SB-2c bombing at 5000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Pontianak at 25,58

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15

Allied aircraft
Brewster 339D x 3
Martin 139 x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AP Nojima Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martin 139 bombing at 5000 feet

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Ground combat at Pontianak

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1861 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 48

Defending force 2731 troops, 12 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 28

Japanese max assault: 41 - adjusted assault: 17

Allied max defense: 26 - adjusted defense: 13

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0


Japanese ground losses:
26 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
19 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Wuchow

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 39111 troops, 445 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 541

Defending force 50858 troops, 347 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 1291



Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 63017 troops, 681 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1206

Defending force 76137 troops, 906 guns, 250 vehicles, Assault Value = 1573



Allied ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


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Ground combat at Davao

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 8884 troops, 69 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 169

Defending force 5170 troops, 64 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 129



Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported

[treespider]

All in all fairly quiet...

Davao fell to the Japanese, Pontianak fell after a prolonged battle.

In Burma, Japanese troops have reached Myit. According to the rulebook the Burma Road should now be cut. I hope so. On the 19th Dave launched a large airraid from Yunan against Luang Prabang. With the road cut and several Chinese bases contested it should become extremely costly for Dave to launch air missions from chinese bases as the chinese supply pool will now start getting smaller and smaller. The damage at Luang Prabang was exaserbated by the fact I had just stood down a large number of air units there for some rest.

In the rest of the Pacific...

Singapore should be assaulted tomorrow..just wonder how long it will take to reduce.

My attacks in Manilla are about to resume...after my disasterous shock attack last week most of my units have recovered. The 4th Division was withdrawn from the line and is recovering in Legaspi. 755 of its devices are disabled. I plan on the standard Deliberate Attack, Bombard, Bombard, Deliberate Attack.

My next big OP in the DEI will be a move against Koepang. In light of Daves propensity to raid with the American CV's and my propensity for not spotting them I plan on massing my forces and proceed in a very deliberate fashion.

My build up in the Solomons is proceeding slowly. Rabaul will soon be a level 4 airfield and will have a nice strong presence of Nells and Betties.

In the rest of the pacific fortifications and airfield are being enhanced across the board.

[treespider]

All was fairly quiet except for one very important event...


Ground combat at Myitkyina

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21824 troops, 232 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 463

Defending force 6948 troops, 95 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 157

Japanese max assault: 346 - adjusted assault: 286

Allied max defense: 145 - adjusted defense: 77

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

Japanese forces CAPTURE Myitkyina base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
110 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Allied ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Guns lost 3


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

For some reason David completely abandoned Burma and allowed me to march unmolested all the way to Myitkyina. IMO by not contesting me in Burma he allowed me to beat the Chinese to Myitkyina and Lashio.

[treespider]

January 22, 1942 - Lashio falls. Looking at the map Lashio and Myit should be fairly well protected from any Chinese counterattack. The Chinese will have to shock attack Myit by crossing a river. In addition the supply draw range is too great from Yunan which will effectively put the chinese out of supply if they advance. Each trail hex eats 25% of the supply moved across it...

January 23, 1942 - Deliberate attacks at Singapore and Manilla reduce the fortifications at both. Manilla however will be a problem...it seems that with every attack I launch at least one of the Japanese Divisions gets trashed in the assault - upwards of 75% disablements. So far I have withdrawn the 4th ID to regroup and will probably have to do so with the 38th ID. The 38th just arrived from HK within the last week and it too is now trashed... after two attacks.
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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 115361 troops, 1006 guns, 314 vehicles, Assault Value = 2077

Defending force 49009 troops, 347 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 678

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese max assault: 1732 - adjusted assault: 1221

Allied max defense: 683 - adjusted defense: 942

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 4


Japanese ground losses:
968 casualties reported
Guns lost 33
Vehicles lost 10

Allied ground losses:
4056 casualties reported
Guns lost 56
Vehicles lost 2

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Ground combat at Manila

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 90166 troops, 752 guns, 154 vehicles, Assault Value = 1412

Defending force 76292 troops, 885 guns, 251 vehicles, Assault Value = 1587

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese max assault: 1181 - adjusted assault: 748

Allied max defense: 1570 - adjusted defense: 11825

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
3165 casualties reported
Guns lost 90
Vehicles lost 10

Allied ground losses:
603 casualties reported
Guns lost 19
Vehicles lost 1

I guess I'll need to bring my Sally's to Clark and start a full bore carpet bombing campaign....

[veji1]

why do you divide so evenly your troups between Singers and Manilla ?

Just leave enough to blockade the place in Manilla, and bring everything to Singers, and once it is done there, bring everything back to Manilla... Or the otherway round... By splitting evenly your troops you cannot take advantage of your capacity to move while he is stuck in cities and cannot interdict south china seas...

Just a thought.?.

[treespider]

ORIGINAL: veji1

why do you divide so evenly your troups between Singers and Manilla ?

Just leave enough to blockade the place in Manilla, and bring everything to Singers, and once it is done there, bring everything back to Manilla... Or the otherway round... By splitting evenly your troops you cannot take advantage of your capacity to move while he is stuck in cities and cannot interdict south china seas...

Just a thought.?.

Why give one place or the other the chance to fortify more than it already has? Singapore seems to be being reduced quite nicely with the forces I have in place. The forts in Manilla are still coming down...its just the disablement rate in Manilla is higher than what I would like which will make it last longer, because I will have to cycle my divisions through, to give them time to recover.

[treespider]

Just noticed on my screen shot of the 4 ID, the Leadership rating of the commander is a 39, Inspiration is 64....I ass-u-me the Inspiration is important for recovery....

[treespider]

Things are relatively quiet. I have most of my Navy in port slowly recovering system damage and the weather has been pretty awful...

In Burma ...David appear to be trying to cut the Mandalay/Myit. Rail but I have forces enroute to the trail junction that leads to Imphal in an effort to block the move.

In China ...David's forces seem to be pulling back from Ichang toward Homan, while I also continue to redistribute my army there...I'm curious how his supply situation looks in China. Per the rulebook([8|] Wuchow, Yenen and Changsha should not be producing supplies and the Burma road is cut.

In the DEI ... I continue to repair Lautem and should soon start to upgrade the airfield there. David does not seem to have reinforced Timor. After I have a solid air base at Lautem I will complete the conquest of Koepang.

In New Guinea....I have started hopping down the bases on the North Coast. A bombing run at PM revealed that david is probably not planning much of a defense at PM. Nonetheless I am still planning on coming in overwhelming strength here.

In the South Pacific...Guadacanal now has a base force and a construction battalion upgrading the facilities. Tarawa is also well on it way to becoming a substantial base.

In Malaya ...Singapore should fall soon here is my last Deliberate Attack. The results were so good this turn my morale was barely affected so i plan on anothe Deliberate Attack on the 26th....Perhaps I will be able to match the historical timeline in Malaya and be able to witness the fall of Singers by February 15th.

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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 114394 troops, 976 guns, 311 vehicles, Assault Value = 2027

Defending force 44623 troops, 286 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 637

Japanese max assault: 1875 - adjusted assault: 1594

Allied max defense: 635 - adjusted defense: 658

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3


Japanese ground losses:
1542 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
3965 casualties reported
Guns lost 36
Vehicles lost 1

[treespider]

At work...so not a lot of detail...but here is an update of January 26 from last night...

In Burma - David must have thought better of his move to cut the Mandalay - Myit line as the units I saw have vanished.

In Malaya - Singapore's Fort is now down to Level 2 and my moral is still in good order so i continued with a deliberate attack for the 27th even though the losses in the last attack were about even at c1300 for each side.

In the DEI - various air attacks took place.

In Northern Aus. - I forgot to reset my Nells at Amboina to not Port Attack so they once again flew into Wyndham and got intercepted by 8 P-40's. DD Eversten was sunk by I-162 at Broome.

In New Guinea - Base hopping continued on the north coast.

In the Phillipines- Bombardments of Manilla continue as i readjust my units...

In China - a shock attack west of Ichang across the river was unsuccesful. David now has two Chinese corps opposing 2/3 of the 13th division here. Other units continue to reposition themselves.

This weekend will be slow for us as I head out of town...

[treespider]

What are some good reasons to go after India?

Actually let me qualify this - I am not playing for a Victory Point win. Victory points don't enter into my calculations...my only intent in playing is to see if I can do better the the IRL Japanese.

I reckon that taking the bases around Dacca are good to deny airbases for bombing units in Burma. Are there other reasons for attacking India....please enlighten me...I don't want to think at the moment.

[Jim D Burns]

Having played the allies for so long, I have been thinking about playing Japan in my next PBEM game and have been giving a lot of thought to strategies in India. As you know from our house rules in the two CHS games you and I started, I view taking Karachi as unfair as it represents all of the off map production for all of Britain.

That said I assume you would not take Karachi if you could, so the strategic options for Japan in India are then two choices in my view. If you simply want to deny the allies lots of forward bomber bases, you can take the Northeast block of bases encompassed in the Jamshedpur-Asansol-Ledo-Akyab box.

This leaves you a good year or more where the allies will have a tough time taking the fight to you in India. They’ll probably be able to attack one base at a time on the ground, but they’ll have a hard time winning air superiority since they’ll be unable to close down all your airfields within range of the front at one time.

The weakness of this strategy is that it leaves your flank wide open to counter-attack once the British fleet starts to arrive in earnest in 1944, and there is a good chance most of the land units in India will become trapped and lost if you fail to time a pullout back to Burma properly. So in my view if you take on this strategy, a voluntary evacuation to Burma or Malaya in early 1944 is a must in order to preserve your land based combat power for the last half of the game.

Of course if you’re willing to commit a large part of KB to the Indian Ocean then you can easily stand toe to toe with the British fleet well into 1944 at the cost of conceding the naval air portion of the game to the US in the Pacific.




The other option is to take the Northeast box and then continue down the East coast of India and finally take the Island of Ceylon. I’d refrain from taking Ceylon until after the East coast of India is taken first. It’s too easy for Britain to launch a counter-attack there from sea if you don’t have those mainland airfields secured to support Ceylon first.

The two airfields on Ceylon are easy to shut down if the US CV’s show up for a couple of weeks during the landings, but with Madras-Mannargudi-Trivandrum airfields in your hands (and built up), an allied attack on Ceylon would be a major operation that would require most of the allied CV fleet to remain on station to sustain the landings, giving you a good chance of sinking some carriers with your land based air when/if he does try to land.

Taking Ceylon also secures your exposed flank as the British fleet will be bottled up in Karachi until they suppress your land based air on Ceylon and at the tip of India first. So in a way you will be forcing the allied player into either attacking Ceylon or letting the British fleet ride out most of the war at anchor in Karachi.

The down side of this strategy is with all those extra bases under your control, it will be a lot easier for the allies to counter-attack you as your land armies will be much weaker since they’ll be spread out across half of India. In fact were I the allies I’d probably opt to attack you via land first and secure those Southern Indian bases before I tried for Ceylon, so you could probably expect to see a lot of extra allied divisions sent to India from the West Coast.

As the allies I spend most of my political points in my game to keep the British Fleet on map. But if I were bottled up, I’d probably withdraw the fleet and spend my points on sending land units to India instead. One CV with 2 DD’s costs 2600 PP, a US division costs about 3000 PP.

With 18,250 PP a year generated, the allies could bring 4-6 extra divisions to India by the end of 1942 if they simply gave up keeping the British fleet around.

Of course if you have no problem taking out Karachi, then most of my ramblings are mute points.

Jim

[treespider]

Thanks Jim!

No, I have no desire to move as far as Karachi.

I view my dilema as such - there is a gulf between Burma and India. I would have to cross three trails to reach Akyab-Imphal-Ledo if I wanted to continue overland. If I sit where I am David will just continue to pound my forces from his airbases in the Northeast box. If I do continue, as you point out I leave my flank wide open, unless I decide to commit myself to an India first strategy... which is not appealing to me although it may be an easier road to travel...which brings up my next post....

[treespider]

Continuing along my former line of thinking I am considering different options available to the Japanese after the SRA is secure...

My next line of consideration is an invasion of Northern Oz....

In stock it appears that Northern Oz is connected to the rest of Australia by a nice railline...This would seem to make it easier for the allies to defend those bases and/or to counter-attack should the Japanese player decide to attack here.

Pros -

For this route seem to me to be that by occupying the Northern Oz bases you deny their use to the Allies for any counter attack into the SRA

Cons -

If the allies decide they want to kick you out of here, it seems to me that you have just provided them with an excuse to mass forces here and to continue the counter attack stright up into the SRA....

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: treespider
I would have to cross three trails to reach Akyab-Imphal-Ledo if I wanted to continue overland.

You have complete control of the sea, why on earth would you go overland?

Simply add a major amphibious op to the bottom of your scheduled list. Don't do it till all other historical expansion goals are met first, but when you're ready, go for it if time allows. Of course only go by sea if you can gain temporary air superiority, if not then an overland approach might work better in the long run.

By sea I'd hit Yanam and hold it long enough to support a lightening quick push to Diamond Harbor, but once Diamond Harbor was taken I'd leave Yanam empty and focus all my attention on taking the box. Once the box is secured then go along the east coast if you want, but get that box ASAP before spreading out your land armies.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: treespider

My next line of consideration is an invasion of Northern Oz....

Read Pauk's AAR for an almost best case scenario of a Japanese push on Australia. It cost him the Gilbert Islands in 1942, and in my book it wasn't a good trade.

It allows a large fixed army to engage him that otherwise would sit out the war in Australia, thus greatly increasing overall the allied combat power he must face in the game. And in the end the allies will retake Australia by land, so it does not attrit the allied fleet in any way.

The Indian forces will engage you no matter what, so a move on India does not increase the allied combat power that you will have to face in the game. It also doesn't tie up any forces you would otherwise use to secure historical conquests, so the loss of the Gilbert Islands shouldn't happen if you wait and launch your attack in India only after all other goals are met first.

I guess in hindsight Pauk could have gone after the Gilberts first, but he should really be the one to comment on possible changes to his strategy.

Jim

[treespider]

My OS crashed yesterday...I'm currently on my sons pc so until I get back up and running ....David and i will be on hiatus..

[treespider]

Let's see...my last update was dated Jan 26...our current game date is Feb 18...a lot has happened in the interim...I am at work right now so I don't have my map in front of me but in the intervening three weeks of game time Koepang and Macassar have been occupied as well as the entire island of Mindanao.

Manila is still holding strong and will prove to be a truly pyrhic victory for me if and when it finally falls. I have been bombing the airfield and a number of ground units located there daily with upwards of 200 bombers. Everytime I launch a deliberate attack I am thrown back with 5000 casualties...whilst only inflicting a few hundred. I then have to pause for a weekj or more for my divisions to regroup. However I think finally I am making some progress as the last attack I launched although unsuccessful did inflict 1200 casualties on the Allied troops in Manila.

The invasion of Java was also launched with landings occurring at Kragen and Malang...

Well have to run... I'll try and provide a comprehensive update later this evening.

[treespider]

I haven't been able to keep up with this AAR the way I would like. However since I am off today I figured i could devote a couple hours to updating this AAR.

Our current game date is Feb 25.

[treespider]

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