PzB vs Wobbly - Clash of Steel

[Mike Solli]

None of those B-24 pilots are going to vote for FDR.[:D]

[Przemcio231]

Well a bad day for those Crew's... what will you do with the ones that hit the silk??[:D] any way why aren't you using Tony's??[:D]

[PzB74]

Small successes and we're probably going to bleed for it soon, but still [;)]
Lots and lots of air units available and large ground reinforcements are soon due.
Better hang in there! We'll adopt Lord Fisher's Creed:
Relentless, Ruthless and Remorseless! [:D]

Tony's got way too short legs, keeping them closer to the PI's.

[JagdFlanker]

whooo - it took me 2 months but i finally got to the end of this AAR! somebody should base an alternate history novel on this AAR! [;)] INTENSE!! [&o]

anyhow mr PzB i really hope you continue to play the japs to the end on this one - i know it hurt to get your carriers nailed like they did but you knew it was going to happen sooner or later! and plus i would say you are in the BEST possible position japan can be in this game so it would be interesting to see what you can do under these favorable circumstances. you still have double his score so in the end i would think there is NO WAY for the allies to catch up before the end of the game - might as well enjoy the rest of the ride!

excellent job! [&o][&o]

[PzB74]

2 months!! You should get a prize Flanker [:)]
Nice to know that someone takes the time to read the entire story!...

Btw. Did the AAR get easier to read as the style changed a bit over the years?

Been a bit back and forth lately, but I hope to hang in until the end even thoug things
may go a bit slow every now and then. Was almost a relief not having to worry about the
bloody carriers anymore [:'(]

[PzB74]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/03/44

Sub/ASW Attacks

The I-41 got the USS Princeton in her perioscope....but missed [:o]
Told Andy the sub got lucky! It did, it survived [;)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 49,76

Japanese Ships
SS I-41, hits 4, on fire

Allied Ships
CVL Princeton
DD Luce
DD Kidd
DD Johnston
DD Isherwood
DD Hutchins
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Air Combat

Sent some fighters to Lautern...more P-38's arrived than what was bargained for though!

Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 12
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 15

Allied aircraft
Boomerang II x 10
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 30
P-40N Warhawk x 9
P-38J Lightning x 43
F-5A Lightning x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 6 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Boomerang II: 1 destroyed
Beaufighter Mk 21: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-38J Lightning: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Sarmi , at 48,78

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 11

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed [:)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 28th Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 48,78

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 3

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 2
SB2C Helldiver x 46
TBM Avenger x 38

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
194 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 28th Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 48,78

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 11
SB2C Helldiver x 6
Spitfire VIII x 4
Kittyhawk III x 16
P-40N Warhawk x 9
B-25J Mitchell x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
62 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 28th Ind.Mixed Brigade, at 48,78

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 6
B-24J Liberator x 26

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
106 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground Combat

Allies barely managed to wrestle controll of Sarmi! Troops evacuated towards
Hollandia. Let's see if we can give this place a pummeling....

Ground combat at Sarmi

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 28980 troops, 193 guns, 158 vehicles

Defending force 12499 troops, 59 guns, 0 vehicles

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Sarmi base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
871 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Allied ground losses:
644 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 3

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
----------------------------------------------------

The new destroyer type Matsu

Cheap and decent little thingy...good 3A rating!

[PzB74]

A couple days and two more MLE's will arrive. This will allow me to expand mining operations.
Several subs have also arrived and in a few months a poweful force will be available. 120 new
fighters arrive in 10 days.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/04/44

2 enemy subs reported hit by asw ac today! Enemy boats reported off Home Islands,
another major asw effort underway!

Air Combat

Day Air attack on 1st Amphibious Brigade, at 45,76

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 6
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 12

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 16
P-40N Warhawk x 9
P-38J Lightning x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
P-40N Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-38J Lightning: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------
If only this raid had hit my 'protected base' - all fighters had been
put on LRCAP over Biak!

Day Air attack on 5th Base Force, at 45,76

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 5
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 9

Allied aircraft
TBM Avenger x 58

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
TBM Avenger: 5 destroyed, 12 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Furious air combat over Biak today as the US carriers attacks! Almost a hundred
enemey ac destroyed including 76 crack Hellcats!

Day Air attack on TF, near Biak at 46,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 70
J2M Jack x 18
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 25
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 11

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 79
SB2C Helldiver x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 42 destroyed
J2M Jack: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 27 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 9 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 29 destroyed, 15 damaged
SB2C Helldiver: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Kohuku Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attackers suffered especially heavy losses in this second big raid!

Day Air attack on Biak , at 46,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 50
J2M Jack x 15
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 20
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 5

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 87
SB2C Helldiver x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 25 destroyed
J2M Jack: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 17 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 39 destroyed, 9 damaged
SB2C Helldiver: 3 destroyed, 14 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 3
Port supply hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 46,75

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 4

Allied aircraft
FM-2 Wildcat x 27
F6F Hellcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Kasyu Maru, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x FM-2 Wildcat attacking at 100 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Todays's bonus [8D]Placed a Daitai of crack Jill's further down the coast of NG
and today they punched big holes in the cruiser Richmond and left her sinking!

Day Air attack on TF at 55,80

Japanese aircraft
B6N Jill x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N Jill: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged

Allied Ships
LCT LCT-163, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Richmond, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-351, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ewa
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Air Losses

Can't be unhappy about this tally! If we doesn't count the worthless Oscar losses we managed
to give better than we got in March 1944 [:)] Andy can't afford to loose his crack Hellcat pilots
against LBA. I'm still keeping my crack formations in reserve.

[PzB74]

Strategic Situation New Guinea, March 1944

[JagdFlanker]

it was pretty consistant reading all the way through but the cutting out of the extra info like bombing altitudes and such made scanning through the battles much smoother! your detailed screenshots a nice treat too!

congrats on the big hellcat mauling - hopefully that'l keep the wolves at bay for a couple minutes at least!

[pauk]

Nice one PzB... 76 Hellcats shoted down in one turn is nice.

I know you are busy, perhaps when you can find some time you could post details about your first defencive line:

a) how many AP do you have in northern NG bases
b) how many crack formations (i guess crack means 80+?) and which types do you have
c) your industry screen (r&d, supply level, etc?)

I don't know how it is can be achived but you must hold positions in northern NG for next couple of months until your fleet is ready again. Once when he open the door in the Indonesia SRA is doomed (sooner or latter)!

Keep your crack formations in reserve, use low exp groups and Andy could become easy going. You still have a chance for one Divine Strike - but this time this battle should be fought on your terms.....

And, if it possible train your carrier based fighters to the over the top. This could be edge....

[PzB74]

Hi Pauk, good to see you again!

Got some spare time this weekend, so I have taken screenies of all the bases in and around
Central/Northern New Guinea and combined them in 3 overviews.

In this area the Navy can call upon ca 90 APs, lots of barges and aux. vessels.
The Combined Fleet is based in Davao/Ulithi.

Another 100 APs are based in Manila together with more aux vessels.
The bulk of the crack Navy Air groups are kept in Ulithi/Davao/PI.
Training new groups to 80+ exp level if possible.

Industry overview first:

Struggling to get ac engine production up above demands - getting there.
Otherwise the situation is pretty good.

[PzB74]

Base Overview 1

[PzB74]

Base overview 2

[PzB74]

Base overview 3

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: PzB

Hi Pauk, good to see you again!

Got some spare time this weekend, so I have taken screenies of all the bases in and around
Central/Northern New Guinea and combined them in 3 overviews.

In this area the Navy can call upon ca 90 APs, lots of barges and aux. vessels.
The Combined Fleet is based in Davao/Ulithi.

Another 100 APs are based in Manila together with more aux vessels.
The bulk of the crack Navy Air groups are kept in Ulithi/Davao/PI.
Training new groups to 80+ exp level if possible.

Hi, I would never left Defender of the Empire... lots of extremly good Jap players can be found here these days, but it seems that you one of the Chosen imortals[;)]

1. manpower - i think have more than enough manpower - you can turn off some manpower sources to spare resources (i know, you have more than enough for now, but sooner or latter Andy would came close to your resource centres)

2. engines - it is true - you are just above demands but you have plenty of supply. It wouldn't be a problem to expand Nakajima and Mitsubishi (if neccesary), right (i consider engines as money in the bank, and in late 42 i have more than 4000 naka and mitsu engines in the pool[:)])

3. Heavy industry - more than decent production but you are low on stockpiled HI points. Nothing to worry about that, you are runing at full capacity but...

Perhaps you can turn off few armament factories and vechiles and keep an eye on new production qoutes - it seems that 2.200 ac per month eats lots of HI points?


EDIT:

Noticed that you have elite 18th div in Wewak... i hope that you evacuating this unit?

[PzB74]

Regarding the quality of troops:

Most of my crack troops can be found in the Palaus/Marianas.
A variety of crack Naval Garrisons, Tank Regiments, Engineer Regiments and Special units are
sprinkled through the area - but the bulk of the troops is made up of regular army units.

It's an advantage to have as many defensive units as possible as this makes it much more difficult
for the enemy air force to disrupt them all.

Morotai has been turned into a barge hub and reinforcements are unloaded here before being
shipped out to forward bases. Only the bypassed bases are low on supplies, the rest are well
stocked and most bases have high fort levels.

Strategy:

1. The Palaus/Marianas is currently an impregnable fortress and I'm pretty sure they can be held.
2. Woleai has now been turned into a stronghold and I hope Andy arrives and smashes his teeth here [8D]
3. Northern Guinea consists of many bases and several of them are vulnerable - but only the smaller ones
(size 1-2 air fields). If Andy continues to invade these he will soon find himself surrounded by large
Japanese fortress bases.

I think the Allies have pushed as far north as they can for now. Over the next month they will expand
Sarmi, replenish their bases, rest their ac and ships and prepare for another 'leap'. This time we will
put to good use and stock the last vulnerable bases in the area. When this has been accomplished come
He11 & High Water [;)]

The KB will stay out of the fight for another 6 months or so and the surface fleet will be conserved but
will conduct hit and run missions when opportunites are found. An increasingly strong reserve of crack
Army/Navy fighters/bombers will be built and placed in reserve in the Philippines. Large number of Oscars,
Zekes and a few crack Tojo/Tony/Jack units will bolster them. We also have hundreds of crack dive and
torpedo bombers available. Judy/Jill/Betties mostly.

[PzB74]

A break did me well and I'm ready to bring the struggle to a victorious complection now Pauk
Thanx for the input! Need to go over my production facilities, so your advice is appreciated.

Will turn of manpower sources and increase engine production further!
10000 engines in the bank sounds like a plan [:)]
Armaments factories can also be halted - have already halted hundres of AKs but it's very
expensive to accelerate CVE/Aux ships.

Quite a few ac types have also been halted, need more Zekes: loosing some 500 pr month...that is expensive.

[pauk]

uh, 500 Zekes... i need to boost my production once when Zeke arrives....[X(]

I see that you are a fan of new Jap destroyer... i like Matsu too...especially their AA rating....i wish i could have them in early 1943....

[PzB74]

Yes, the Zeke is useful and expendable! Like bread and butter for the empire [;)]
If I only could produce another 50 Matsu's..... [8|]

Ground Reinforcement Schedule for the next 50 days or so!
The bulk of these will be pushed straight into the furnace around New Guinea, but I will
also reinforce Northern Japan and prepare a limited counter offensive in the Aleutians!

Burma/Malay also need a few brigades!

[PzB74]

Combat Air Reinforcement Schedule

The Frank is right around the corner! [:)]