Hoepner vs. Beren. Mediterranean clash (CHS,scen158)

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/11/41

Well, he keeps sinking my fleeing ships on the routes south of Borneo. I moved the whole ducth air force at BAlikapan, and despite it didn not achieve any hits against his 2 SFTFs chasing down my ships, i hope to have scared him a bit...just to gain some more days and to save a couple more ships.

In South pac he's moving slow. Tarawa fell today, but the area of Rabaul has still to be conquered.

The KB is lingering near Jonhston's island...probably looking for my CVs to come back from their escaping trip.

India, West Coast and Oz defences are being organized.

In China i finally elaborated the first defensive plan, deciding where to defend and what.

CL Boise is the only important ship lost so far.

The sub attacks are lowering. Already elaborated an ASW defensive doctrine. First hits scored on 2 enemy subs operating in the east indies.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/13/41


Altough his subs keep sinking my AKs south of Java and his 2 mini KB ( he has 2 CVE-CVLs operating between Mindanao and the Celebes ) the slaughter seems finally to be ended. I've lost 70 ships in 6 days of war...i'll probably be ending loosing 100 of them before the evacuation of the East Indies will be completed. Beren is playing a great aggressive match, also considering that his main weapon ( the Death Star) hasn't achieve any great result till now ( the KB is now sailing towards Saipan, passing between Midway and Jonston).

Let's go with some order.

PI
Here the situation is the following:
he has invaded only Luzon, leaving alone Mindanao for the moment. For sure i've identified the 48th Division, the 65th Bde and the South Sea Detachment as big units, supported by eng regiments, Arty units and some SNLFs. He has confined my between the triangle Clark-Manila-Lucena, with the S.S.D. coming up from Legaspi (south-north direction).
Skies over Manila and Clark are already been evacuated and Zeros and Betties are free to bomb the hell out of my positions.

Borneo
He has cconquered the northern coast, from Jesselton to Kuching, placing here LBbombers and zeros as usual. the 35th Bde is the bigger unit operating here.

Malaya
I managed to evacuate Kota Barhu just in time before he could smash my units. Now i've retreated in the last defensive perimeter Johre Baru-Mersin-Singapore, building up forts and waiting for the inevitable. All the Malayan air force has already been moved to Burma.
the 18th and the 5th divisions have been located. The 55th is moving towards Rangoon...the Imperial is still missing

Sumatra-Java
Nothing new here. I managed to move some base forces fragments from Sumatra, leaving the rest there to wait for the written destiny.
In Java i've created the last defensive perimeter between Sosarbaja and Medioen. Z force is still operatin here but soon i'll be forced to move it somewhere else.

Cent-Pac
With the South Sea Det. operating at Luzon, there isn't any big unit left that can threaten my major bases ( well..the 4th div has not appeared yet...let's see if he makes the gamble...)
Rabaul and Kavieng are still to be threatened. Only Tulagi and Tarawa have been invaded.
I won't defend PM,Lunga or even Noumea. If he wants them he can have them. Christmas,Pago Pago,Suva,Palmyra and Canton island will be my must-hold bases.

Northern-Oz
Moving units and planes towards Alice Spring. The idea is to reinforce Darwin area and to be ready to counterattack if invaded.

China
From the map that will follow i hope you will understand a bit even if the situation is a mess generally speaking.
The Japs now have revealed their plans: their main objective at the moment are Changsha and Yenan.
He's massing troops both at Nanchang and Hankow, in order to smash the thin defensive ring that keeps changsha alive. My guerrilla corps are trying to break his comm. back lines, gaining time for the army to be able to mass every single unit that it's spread around the country.
I'll move to Canton soon. HK is still holding on and i must try something here to stop his operations in the south.
The north is far less defendable. Yenan won't be saved. As soon as he will cross the river east of Yenan i'll have to evacuate or fight a defensive retreat towards Sian, leaving alone also Honan which is in a bad position .
The whole AVg is operating in China but till now the chinese air war isn't really something interesting.few planes, few engagements. Nothing to be said about.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/14/41
 
nothing new, except for a interesting cat and mouse game between 3 jap subs and 3 ASW Allied TFs in the waters near Sosarbaja.
 
 
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ASW attack at 22,69
 
Japanese Ships
SS I-158, hits 1
 
Allied Ships
DD Bulmer
DD Parrott
AVD Mercel
PC Albatros
 
and this one was the only result achieved...pratically nothing
 
 
In China things are evolving fast. I made a mistake near Syniang, where i tried to attack with 2 corps and 1 guerrilla unit 1 Japanese unit, that revealed itself as afull division...0-1 and 1300 casualities.
At the same time we manage to shock attack a japanese half Bde south of Hangow, 10-1 odds on my side and a bit of breath for the operation of disangagement in action in the area.
My guerrilla units keeps crushing his supply lines....i need time!!!
HK is ready to fall....[:(]
 
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Ground combat at Hong Kong
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 54763 troops, 336 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 1076
 
Defending force 17439 troops, 121 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 312
 
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3
 
Japanese max assault: 1155 - adjusted assault: 945
 
Allied max defense: 338 - adjusted defense: 304
 
Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 3)
 
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3
 
 
Japanese ground losses:
1510 casualties reported
Guns lost 35
Vehicles lost 1
 
Allied ground losses:
456 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
Vehicles lost 1
 
 
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Ground combat at 49,33
 
Allied Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 15698 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 528
 
Defending force 19518 troops, 105 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 447
 
Allied max assault: 460 - adjusted assault: 28
 
Japanese max defense: 443 - adjusted defense: 293
 
Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 [:@]
 
 
 
Allied ground losses:
1397 casualties reported
Guns lost 35
 
 
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Ground combat at 51,40
 
Allied Shock attack
 
Attacking force 9467 troops, 48 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 294
 
Defending force 3276 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 87
 
Allied max assault: 600 - adjusted assault: 63
 
Japanese max defense: 89 - adjusted defense: 6
 
Allied assault odds: 10 to 1 [8D]
 
 
Japanese ground losses:
226 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
 
Allied ground losses:
344 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
 
 
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
 

KB has disappeared...probably is moving westward to support some other landings and to help isolating Java...

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/15/41

Nothing much happened. I lost the last 4 DDs of the USAFE fleet against betties from Ambonia and Baby KB air strikes nearAmbonia.

In China the situation is the following:
HK lost another fort ( now down to 2), while my guerrilla units created a big pocket in the central japanese front. With the communication lines broken the japs will have to free them up before launching any major operations against Changsa, due to the lack of supplies. At the same time i'm organizing a big operation against Ichang.2 armies ( both composed of 3 corps) will close the back door that leads to the town, while 7 big units will enter at Ichang, avoiding any japanese retreat. the idea isn't to conquer anything, but to force japan to a statlemate, while in the north i'll probably retreat around Sian in the next months, leaving Yenan and Homan in japs' dirty hands...

[aztez]

I like your strategy regarding China.
 

[Gen.Hoepner]

Playing the chinese is real fun for me. What you must keep in mind is that chinese offensive power is very limited so early in the war. Mostof my units are under 45 exp and they're all under strenght and with something like 30/40% of their TOE disabled. So few arty pieces and very little supply make the chinese a useless weapon for an offensive war.
The idea is to force the japs to fight where i want them to fight. Stay always on the defensive and drain your enemy's blood. Terrain is the key. I wanna force the japs to attack on rivercrossing, woods or swamps. they'll need 2x or even 3x the strenght than a plain terrain and they'll soon start to have unacceptable losses.
The only problem is that Yenan is undefendable as it is right now, and so Honan if Yenan falls...while in the south the problem is Wuchow: ifyou lose it you cannot anymore defend Changsha!

[Gen.Hoepner]

Another thing to keep in mind is that till now China has not been a theatre for the Air war. As soon as he will be moving some zeros and some Sallies in good number everything could be changing. I'm keeping my AVG, along with 3 half strenght P-40Es groups in China, getting ready for that moment. I won't use bombers in this theatre due to the drain of supply that they causa, only the IL-4 group, that performs mainly recon missions.
However, to win in China he needs the total dominion of the skies. To do that he needs zeros. Zeros here means less zeros somewhere else....
B-17s, ducth transports and some SB-2 are already moving supplies from India to China.
 

[Gen.Hoepner]

BB Fleet Status

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/16/41

Finally one of my dutch subs manage to hit and sink a japanese transport south of Indochina. 3 torps for an AK[:o]!!!

Sub attack at 33,49

Japanese Ships
AK Nikkyu Maru, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS KXIV


Around Java the ASW keeps going on with alternate fortunes. My ASW TFs(each of 4 ships, as agreed in house rules) are having hard time sinking or even damaging his subs,but also his boats now have a harder life around Sosarbaja. 5 Different TFs are looking for them in the shallow waters and the numbers of contacts are rising!

In China nothing changed today.

In India the 18th Divis being loaded on transports. Destination: Tricomalae.

Manila was hit by 150 japanese IJN bombers for the 3rd day in a row. Results were poor, but enough to burn my precious supply...
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 103
G4M1 Betty x 49
Ki-46-II Dinah x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 8 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged


Allied ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 2

Port hits 3
Port supply hits 1






At HK another fort fell down....[:(]now down to 1

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Ground combat at Hong Kong

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 52668 troops, 297 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 982

Defending force 16694 troops, 101 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 297

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese max assault: 993 - adjusted assault: 585

Allied max defense: 306 - adjusted defense: 625

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


Japanese ground losses:
420 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
325 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

[Gen.Hoepner]

the score.

I'm quite pleased about the plane losses. As long as i can keep the rate below 4-1 i consider this a victory.
Ships lost and army points are clearly something i will have hard time to get better...

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/17/41
 
The ASW war around Sosarbaja today sees 2 points scored by the Japs. One Ducth SC sunk by a mine in the Sosarbaja HArbour and one MSW torpedoed and sunk....the hunter that becomes the victim.
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TF 1139 encounters mine field at Soerabaja (23,66)
 
Allied Ships
MSW Tanager
MSW Lark
SC OJR-1, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
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Sub attack at 26,68
 
Japanese Ships
SS I-154
 
Allied Ships
MSW Burnie, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
MSW Maryborough
MSW Goulburn
MSW Bendigo
 
 
 
 
Beren is very very cautious with his zeros. He's not using them for sweep missions or any other risky gambles like that...
 
In China he managed to move 2 units from Canton upwards in the hex south of Wochow, where my units were trying to move to enter in Canton....result: my brillant idea for Canton screwed  and the whole southern chinese operation threated to become a disaster!!

 

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/18/41


Well, an important day, but not for the allies.

While Hollandia has been invaded, while the evil japs are running down the Malaya peninsula and are approaching Singa (Kuantan fell today by a japanese para drop), the allies get a small victory, reconquering Naga (LUzon). The S.S.D. seems to have gone away and the important resources centers is back in McHartur's hands. 25 japanese units are ready to siege Clark fields, while 170 bombers keep on giving havoc to Manila...it's gonna be bloody.

In China the situation is very fluid. We're on the edge. i rely on my guerrilla forces to slow the advance of the enemy towards my main cities.


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Ground combat at Naga

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2769 troops, 35 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 68

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

Allied max assault: 69 - adjusted assault: 71

Japanese max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 71 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Naga base !!!

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/19/41

Well...i've never seen such a good unexpected result in china.
3 badly supplied corps ( with exp. in their mid 30s) managed to push back with 3-1 1 full jap division and 1 Ind.Bde! These enemy's units tried to close the road that keeps my troops ,deployed on the eastern side of the chinese territory, supplied and connected with Changsha. We managed to push back the dreaded japs and so we gained few more days to wait for the last corp to come in and get out of that nasty position and redeploy ourselfs on the Changsa perimeter.
At the same time Japs are pushing fast towards Yenen and towards the road the leads Honan to Sian...we're moving accordingly to our general plan in order to be ready to welcome them when they'll have to cross the river[;)]
HK, against every prediction, held another day...[8D]


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Ground combat at Hong Kong

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51905 troops, 288 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 945

Defending force 16358 troops, 91 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 271

Japanese max assault: 824 - adjusted assault: 430

Allied max defense: 279 - adjusted defense: 709

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


Japanese ground losses:
902 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
576 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

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Ground combat at 48,39

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 22581 troops, 120 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 698

Defending force 27946 troops, 121 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 678

Allied max assault: 735 - adjusted assault: 768

Japanese max defense: 654 - adjusted defense: 208

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 [X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][:D]


Japanese ground losses:
124 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
1062 casualties reported
Guns lost 25


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

[Gen.Hoepner]

.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/20/41

Another good day!

After the fell of Naga, my brave troops managed to get to Legaspi, abbandoned during last night by the last japanese garrison...i wonder where is he going with the S.S.D and the 4th Division, which is yet to be detected....
Anyway, tomorrow we'll get Legaspi back in our hands, then we'll leave back few small garrisons and we'll fall back to Manila for the last man standing match...

In China we managed to push back 2 regiments of the 51st jap division north of Canton. Now we'll try to encircle Canton and to stop any further japanese advance in the Canton area.

Near Hanqchow the unit we were waiting for finally arrived. Now we're ready to move westewards!

HK bombed today by japanese mortars




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Ground combat at 43,40

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 35749 troops, 200 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1087

Defending force 14644 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 339

Allied max assault: 1073 - adjusted assault: 1167

Japanese max defense: 369 - adjusted defense: 152

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 [8D]


Japanese ground losses:
558 casualties reported
Guns lost 17

Allied ground losses:
296 casualties reported
Guns lost 12


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating towards Canton![:D]

[aztez]

Those were really brave Chinese infantry men that scored the first victory! [;)] 
 
Eherm, He abandoned Legaspi! [&:] That sounds really odd. The only reason doing so in my mind is the fact that he has something major brewing either in Malaya or DEI. Maybe he isolating the Philippines theatre of operations?

[Gen.Hoepner]

Probably yes, considering that he didn't even invaded Mindanao. I'd say something like: directly Java or even Darwin and Northern Oz, along with an Invasion of PM probably.
However surely the fact that he used the SSD at Legaspi on the first day of war was simply strange. Very odd however cause Naga has 100 res. points...and that means supplies that can flow to Manila[&:]

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/21/41

While an abbandoned Legaspi fell today, 18 units enter at Clark Fields. So the PI onslought is ready to begin!

Japanese subs manage to engage two TFs that were escorting 2 damaged BBs back to SF. Luckly the battlewagons haven't been spotted, but i lost a MSW in exchange of 2 minor hits on an I-boat[:(]

Palemband and Manila are again heavily bombed by 80 and 170 bombers. Tavoy fell to the knees of the men of the 55th Division, while in China everything is on the move, but today was exactly like yesterday[:D]

It's clear that Beren has something in mind with those units that were not involved in the Philippinian and Malayan campaign....the point is : what??

After Hollandia, today was the turn of Wewak: invaded and conquered.
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Sub attack at 123,66

Japanese Ships
SS I-172

Allied Ships
MSW Bobolink, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage*sinks*
MSW Tern
MSW Grebe
MSW Vireo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 124,68

Japanese Ships
SS I-9, hits 2

Allied Ships
DD Kennison


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ASW attack at 124,68

Japanese Ships
SS I-9

Allied Ships
DD Kennison

[Gen.Hoepner]

The conquest of Naga-Legaspi was defenetly a surprise for me. I could not immagine Beren had left completely ungarrisoned those places. Not that this will change in any way the course of the PI campaign, but it will probably give me some more days of resistance at Manila, and so to say some more days to built up my defences in india and Northern Oz.
Now i need to know what has he put at Clark Fields. if the 4th division is there, along with the 48th and the 65th Bde, it means that Darwin is safe. the S.S.D. alone cannot take even Mindanao, let alone Darwin with its huge CD guns.
Now only the 33rd and the Imperial divisions are missing...but probably they are between Kota Baru and Kuantan, advancing towards Singapore. The Intel screen didn't say anything about them yet.
 
Generally speaking, i will probably be less cautious than usual with my CVs. I'm planning to wait for the 4th one and then start to think about some raiding operations in SOPAC and CENTPAC, as long as now the UberCAP problem isn't there anymore... 

[Gen.Hoepner]

North-China plans