43 - The Mouse bites back. Rob vs Littlejoe 43+

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hi Folks ..

Just some advanced notice that i will be starting up a new AAR from my game with littlejoe that we began sometime in late 1986[;)]. It almost died off but with the advent of summer holidays we are both back at it with a vengance.

This being my 1st ever venture into PBEM (and way before PDU) some serious errors were made on the allied side as well as some 'gamey' moves that i have regretted . nothing too bad though.

Summary is :-

Stock game/ no mods/ PDU off /1.8.01 /2 day turns.

Date mid jan 43

Allies (me)

Rough sitrep

Allied lost 4 US CV's retaking canton is in early 42 ! whoops .

NorPac.

Quiet, I took out too many of NPac's troops for use in the south ( where they are doing nowt but garissoning small islands). No action to speak of but the allies are building up the aleutian island bases and most have an RCT fully prepped for defence along with a roving band of seebees that seems to take its sweet time improving this place. No idea if bad weather impacts base building but it certainly seems to. Anchorage is the main sub base for mining ops in N japanese waters.

CenPac

Lost wake but no further japanese advance . Midway is the main subbase for the central pacific, while the likes of palmyra/johnson/christmas and jarvis is. are garissoned with search a/c and some small bomber numbers. PH is virtually empty and is just a supply/fuel hub for the area.

SouthPac

Here is where a LOT of troops ended up, especially in canton, IRL the place would have sunk with the amount of a/c and med i have here . mostly now prepping or prepped for baker and tarawa. Baker is is a blasted hell hole that has changed hands 4 times i think so far. Currently its a starved pit with 12k japanese cannibals in it ( i suspect far less but this is what F5 recon is telling me). its at fort 0 as the af and port have been damaged since he retook it months ago. I have paras prepped but its not enough i think. almost 100 dakotas resting in pago for the airlift. awaiting a bunch of LST/LCI throwaways for an invasion from canton.

SW Pac

Japan has its historical high watermark still. allies are trying to 'grow' the islands between luganville and lunga ( going v v slowly ) His Cv's last raided here and went home with a bit of a cut lip and the odd dent. allied P40s and kittyhawks were devastated but no allied shipping damaged. AP/AK free to roam around as its 'death alley for japanese submarines here'. combined USA/UK carrier fleet based at Noumea and the old slow BB's in lunga awaiting another japanese Bombardment effort ( this might be a nasty suprise ) although im sure he knows they are there by now. afaik the CV presence is undetected.. multiple prepping for lunga and bases surrounding it. although i'm not sure i want to go this route without at least the forward AF's being up and running.

East Oz/NG

NG is his but PM looks very weaklt held. he's basinf fighters from gili to cover it and unescorted 4E raids over gili have been a failure. Suffice to say i have a lot of prepped units for PM and some for gili. i'll group them in townsville when ready as i'm collecting AP's and fask AK's in east Oz.

N Oz

Meanwhile the big 4E units with lightning escort and sweeps have finally made timor a no go area for japanese a/c. I've sent up big convoys to derby so it looks like i am preparing to invade whereas i'll probably go for PM when the time is ripe.Needless to say only kendari resources remain intact for japan.

Burma

This is where the action really is happeneing, without floating airfields i decided on a land offensive in burma , i never lost mandalay and in 7-10 days i 'may' cut off the main japanese land army besieging Mandy. I've sent troops 'slowly' round the edges and made 2 feints toward tuang-gi and tavoy . I briefly captured TG and he's now forced to gassison it . cost me 80% of the brit carabineers in the process mind you. allied fighters a/c have proved equal to the jpanese in defending allied troops and keeping tavoy closed. BUT rangoon is still 100% operational for japan. Andaman is now operating somw swordfish and recently the P40's here bushwhacked some jap fighter training. Also prepping is an invasion of northern sumatra from the main step off point at madras. No air cover is a worry but i'll get one brit CV soon. swop out the TB's for hermes fulmars and i can at least stop unescorted LR betty strikes. Will approach from the west too to minimise detection. He's not built up sumatra one bit and the landing will be the easy part. Keeping it will prove harder. BUT if i can scare him silly in burma then land here he'll be screaming for KB to come help. then i can try the PM venture and baker is invasions too.

China ..

Its been very quiet here , lost the 2 central cities to japan but since then all is still. Yenen still holds vs a vast army ! and we are mutually stagnant between conton and wuuchow. Recent events have led to 3 chinese corps beign cut off in the north of the country .. whoops ! .. but the chinese had a standup fight SE of homan and sent 4-5 jap divs and 4 brigades running like girls back to the nearest city, I suspect he took bad retreat losses and thats what i wanted , atritting the japanese army has been my main objective here. Also as a bonus he's not done extensive fighter training in china and teh chinese a/f with a bit of help from bitain and america have made the air parity over china untill i recently upgraded the chinese SB2's to B25J's .. ( come on P40N's).. now with the help of 2 dozen P40E's and a similar number of lightnings the allies have air superiority (oddly rnough) over North china and have hit a few unsuspecting japanese airfields causing lots of 'tony' casualties as a bonus.

anyhoo, PDU is a wierd thing, soem upgrades make sense and many don't , like the british bombers that convert to hurricanes ( i need bombers not more short legged interceptors). So a/c upgrades are being carefully ( if not always succesfully) managed . IE .. hudsons to PV Venturas ! yikes ! thats was a cock up! also the boomerang has combat debued in lashio and the unit now has 1 kill ! I like the oddballs and wierdos that PDU off throws up, the 'make the most of what you have" is actually more fun than the stock 10000000's of 4E bombers.

We both play semi historical feel to the game and no real abuse of the game engine that we cannot discuss. Joe is a good opponent and though young ( lucky sod). is a well informed and tenacious opponent. With the allies downa good few birdfarms and me being uttery inept in the early stages we have a good scenrios for an allied comeback thats a 'bit late' in the pacific. Although i feel maybe burma and LCU mgith be broken. IF so we can work around it. ( like no mass land DS through Thailand etc.) we do have some house rules and some self imposed stuff that will become apparent and quite frankly i cant remember all of them, i doubt joe can either [;)].

so in a nutshell this is a mid war allied AAR 'come back' attempt, I hope you will enjoy reading it and I will do a turn/theatre per post so i can show screenies and not bore everyone to death with way too much information all in one go, after a few turns and upto speed I'll continue in the same vein as my last AAR ( like it or lump it [:'(])

P.S the AAR vs 2ndACR isn't dead, he's just very very busy right now, so i have time for this AAR,what might happen in the future i have no idea.

[aztez]

Good to see this AAR started [;)]
 
Btw is this the game I read via emails longtime ago? ...I was under the impression that it had stopped?

[VSWG]

Good to see another AAR for 1943! [:)]

Can you post some screens from the hot spots? Much easier to get a feel for the situation that way.

[aztez]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

Good to see another AAR for 1943! [:)]

Can you post some screens from the hot spots? Much easier to get a feel for the situation that way.

Rob is all about pleasing the reading public so you can expect at least dozen of screenshots after that request! [;)]

[ctangus]

Hiya Rob,

This will be interesting for me to watch. I have a very similar game going. (Feb '43. I hold Baker, but not Lunga. We're battling at Mandalay, though he holds it. However you are certainly beating me in one respect - I've only lost 3 CVs! [:'(])

Anyway, good luck as always!

P.S. Corsairs really do rock! [:)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks for the support chaps .. yup screen shots will be forthcoming. today is burma.

Aztez , umm is this the game i did on e-mail ? no i don't think so, that was vs a dane called thomas and in start 43 i'd already surrounded kwajelein and never lost PM either. was in a much better position when that game ended. This one was started in jan/feb 2004 ?? iirc. we did quite a bit then it 'died' for about 10 months with just a few intermittenet turns where we both probably wasted about 2 months game time [;)].

I'll do a screen a post for the theaters and more detail on that area as well as a potted history if its relevant.

todays 'limited' events and burmese fun and games.

We have been fighting a night air war recently over mandalay. his NB Nicks vs my old rubbish blenheims , I do have 12 new NF beaufighters that have claimed 3 kills so far but i rebased them to mandalay ( were in imphal, too long range for LR cap( fatigue probs)). so they didnt fight today. As a side note we dont do night raids bar city and specialist night units. the start brit Blenhiems have been in burma/china/burma/java/back to burma/china again etc . and dont nothing in the past 12 months. His 1st attack on mandalay at night bagged an F5 recon plane !!!! bugger, its one of the most valuable alied a/c going.. [;)]. since then its been a bit rubbish.. as shown for todays attack.

Night Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 damaged


Aircraft Attacking:
18 x Ki-45 KAIa Nick bombing at 2000 feet
------------------------------------------------

SUB HUNTING round efate


Japanese Ships
SS RO-34, hits 7.. no real hits nfortunately

Allied Ships
SC SC-707, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage ---eminently expendible----
DD Hatfield
SC SC-701
SC SC-706
SC SC-708
SC SC-709

Aliied bombers in burma target the hex south of mandalay where the indians will soon be over the river and shock attacking ..

Day Air attack on 48th Division, at 32,31


Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 30
B-17E Fortress x 40


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
53 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

naff result .. but its been daily for weeks . must add up somehow

Also a 'standard' raid on baker is in the pacific ..

Day Air attack on 44th Naval Guard Unit, at 94,92


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 11
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 87
B-24D Liberator x 18


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
186 casualties reported

when the port or AF drop to 50% damage i switch over to hitting them.

Other than the usual stalemate in china ( i'll do that one next turn). quiet 2 days really


OK BURMA/INDIA

As i stated before and as the piccie displays , several allied inf and tank units preparing to launch over the river at the japanese rear, I had previously attacked pagan direct but the idiot movement rules and 2 days turns conspired to send my men in the wrong directions and it was a mess. This time i chose the slowest most battered inf unit and set the rest to follow !.. not unsuprisingly this tired indian brigade is streaking away from the rest and will probably arrive over the river 3 days before the rest ! yikes. BUT i think unless he reinforces now he will have problems opening up the supply to mandalay. japanese forces imo are not strong enough to tangle with a full commonwealth armoured div and 2 full inf divs along with the hq and add ons. time will tell however.

At sea and just out of screen shot. andaman is has been building up recently after being ignored by both sides for a while [;)] . In an attempt to stop japanese shipping to/from rangood swordfish (22) now with P40's range out 4 hexes , but that leaves victoria point 5 hexes away as a definate japanese 'slip through' so ive mined it heavily and subs patrol constantly. Tomorrow andaman reaches size 3 AF .. not long till size 4 and wellingtons will close down the area completely. I shipped in one eng unit to andaman with tractors and airlifted the infantry only indian construction units a couple of months back. defending AI is the rangoon CD guns and a brit inf bdge. Plenty of spare AV support in madras for later deployment.

In the rear areas of burma and along the main indian coast the defences are designed to stop free para raids inland and weaker naval attacks from the sea( i.e divisional coastal and rgt sized inland defences). The RN is now in ceylon but was based in chandpur against any attacks on akyab which never materialised. RN is pretty weak but has a dozen DD's 1 CA and 2-3 BB's . mosly does ASW when called for as the entire indian coast is dotted with catalina/mariner units.

Well that covers burma and the commonwealth advance ( fingers crossed). Next turn china ? or any requests for another area ? bear in mind my skills at screen shots and photo manipulation are severely hampered by my incompetance wit modernd technology and i'm steadfastly refusing to pay for a commercial screen capture programme [:D]. so demo mode is all i can do [;)]

Hello to Aztez/ CT and VSWG ..

CT , hope i can give some useful ideas ( i'll have to catch up on your aar ). but i have never been into 43 in pbem or even vs the AI before ! Corsairs im looking forward to but in all honesty i want P40N's ! .. to relieve the pressure on the E pools and to upgrade the chinese AF .. as i dont intend basing corsairs onto american CV's untill britian can( or 44 ) they are ground based only for a while [;)]

[aztez]

That is what I thought too. You really kicked his butt (Danish guy) at Port Moresby.
 
Anyway, nice to see that this old game had chance to be continued. Way too many games are abandoned before mid 1943.
 
You seem to have things quite well under control in this one. Allthough I guess you are lacking some CV's here! The obsession with Canton Island!!! [:D][:D][:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Yes that old obsession with canton and at the time not much clue about 2 day turns either left me in the same hex as the island and easy prey ! whoops.

anyway 1st up south china as its been dead quiet for ages .. IL4's will resume anti shipping strikes from wuuchow next turn .. all else Zzzzzz

[Rob Brennan UK]

Next is the turn and N china where there has been recent engagements .

Noteably today rge chinese AF closed off chengtung AF .. they were the 1st allied units upgraded to B25J's fyi.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/25/43


Day Air attack on Chengting , at 52,28

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 18
P-38G Lightning x 20
B-25J Mitchell x 61
B-26B Marauder x 63

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-15 Babs: 4 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported

Airbase hits 30
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 65


day 2


Day Air attack on Chengting , at 52,28


Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 3
P-38G Lightning x 17
B-25J Mitchell x 59
B-26B Marauder x 51


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 110 yikes !

The ex-sb2 had good experience and added in a SE Asia bomber unit and a few decent fighters
and we are doing well in the chinese airspace.

In the north as i tried to crayon in .. badly .. i'm cut off after some serious manouvering by both sides and the sudden appearance of a japanese tank division ! .. no spare troops to send up so if they die .. well 3 months isnt long really. i have sent up a second chinese corps to the crossroads to prevent the japanese tank unit overrunning my current troops if they arrive in time .. if not .. well its hardly the end of the world.

the "crossed swords" was the major engagement ground wise in early january. basically i'd been sending over fully refitted corps from chungking to sian while holding with 6 corps SE of homan.
combat reports indicated i had 2400AV to 1900AV ish .. chinese Sb's did well keeping him at 1800-1900. Then when i had another spare 8 corps/divs and tanks. i moved down and shock attacked/persued ( fair enough on rail lines imo). allied 4-1 forced him back. second followup sent him reeling into cover in the city while a 'new' japanese div arrived too late to help, so i snet that at 17-1 into the same redoubt. [;)]. chinese have 1 badly mauled corps and 3 more at 90% .. rest are fine but the chinese tanks had been battered ( leading the shock persuit i'd guess). so back to home for refits and rebuilding . while his losses will have been 30-50% permanent kills mine are almost all disablements , which is just as well as supply in homan and sian isnt good enough right now. I'm not daft enough to try and take a japanese city and leave my self open to this bunch driving down on me .. from yenen

Ground combat at Yenen

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 398984 troops, 4053 guns, 282 vehicles, Assault Value = 8106 HUMMMMM

Defending force 148164 troops, 933 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4334



Allied ground losses:
183 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Yenen is quite a good training ground for chinese infantry [;)]

Elsewhere the attack over the river in burma has sorted itself out oddly, lead unit at 52 miles rest following at 52.. miraculous .. and no japanese movement detected. I have sent out east and west from mandalay more inf to cover him trying to reflank the flankers [:D]. meanwhile heres a taster for ground pounding

Day Air attack on 5th Division, at 33,30


Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 45
P-40B Tomahawk x 9
B-25C Mitchell x 20


Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported

Day Air attack on 48th Division, at 32,31 THE target


Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 24
B-17E Fortress x 48


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
153 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Day Air attack on 4th Mixed Regiment, at 31,31


Allied aircraft
Avenger I x 8
Spitfire Vb x 18
Vengeance I x 27
Blenheim IV x 31
Wellington III x 41
Hudson I x 15
Beaufort I x 12


Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged
Hudson I: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
362 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Flying from akyab as decoy ground attack vs Pagan.. this regiment must be in bits by now ..



Interestingly diamond harbour has 130 bombers and no fighters, so as not to alert him i'll not do a small raid with the swordfish and i've flown in the vengence DB's from akyab (range 5). I dislike using 2E bombers from af's smaller than 4 btw. need a bit more AV support and a brit BF sailing to trincomalee from madras will be airlifted in .. more allied pure infantry engineers are being lifted direct from calcutta to andaman too. andaman size 2 99% .. tomorrow we will try and hit diamond harbour , although i'm a bit short on AV support i'm not over the 50/lvl airfield limit. ( or i wont be when it build tomorrow). as it only recently made it to a size 2 i doubt japan will expect it to get to size 3 so fast.

so maybe in day 2 next turn i'll shock across the river in burma .. IF this goes to plan he's going to be in huge trouble in burma ! I have been planning this for months and months ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

3rd turn in one day .. ie 6 days done .. great news

Well the allied river assault didnt happen must be tomorrow

japanese subs sank an AE off Noumea .. the sub wont last long and i'm suprised it
survived the escort to be honest.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/27/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Lifou at 70,111

Japanese Ships
SS I-24, hits 5

Allied Ships
AE Lassen, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Isaac Sweers
DD Tenedos
DD Foxhound
DD Isis
DMS Southard
DMS Hovey
DMS Dorsey
DMS Perry
DMS Long
DMS Chandler
AD Cascade


Allied bombers still pound burma as usual ..

and the swordfish at andaman announce thier presence

Day Air attack on TF at 26,36


Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 18
P-40E Warhawk x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Jinmu Maru, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage--sunk--

I would rather have held out for an ASW group but an AK will do .. on average i sink 1-2 merchants
a day. I will include a screenie of SW pac today but not much really happening here.
aliied/US sub ops have been hit and miss. around japanese waters its been useless.
on the transit routes <guessed> to truk/rabaul moderate success and they seem to be
unescorted. in the DEI mixed sub patrols and mine laying ( to keep some escorts in port)
has been paying off. sank several TK's and AP's.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Well what can i say but



WOOT

hehe .. ok i cut the japanese army in burma. the planning and decoy attacks on
pagan and tuang gi worked a treat.. littlejoe isnt a happy bunny [;)]

hers is the map overview on positions .. more detail on turn to follow ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/29/43

Well the end of january proved a dream turn for commonwealth (mouse) troops in burma
and we bit back with a vengance .. assault accross a river just worked at 2-1

Ground combat at 32,31

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 44002 troops, 328 guns, 479 vehicles, Assault Value = 1040

Defending force 16945 troops, 168 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 325

Allied max assault: 980 - adjusted assault: 334

Japanese max defense: 265 - adjusted defense: 126

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
741 casualties reported
Guns lost 30

Allied ground losses:
1045 casualties reported
Guns lost 24


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

I 'm not sure he cant blow me out of this hex ( south of mandaly) if he uses concentrated force
but i am confident i can make it hurt if he tries [;)]

piccie is at the end of the days reports

well diamond harbour hurt a PG with mines

TF 136 encounters mine field at Victoria Point (25,39)

Japanese Ships
PG Uji, Mine hits 1, on fire


BAD news is both allied subs were attacked by air and will have to retire quick if they hope to
survive. japanese ASW a/c are proving hard to avoid and they get hits, my own do find the enemy
but it takes dedicated ASW surface groups to hit them.

the night air war over mandalay continues with inconclusive air engagements .. the lost nick
was to AA fire

Night Air attack on Mandalay , at 33,30

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 20

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IF x 9
Beaufighter VIF x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IF: 1 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x Ki-45 KAIa Nick bombing at 2000 feet

also the allied suprise raid on victoria point was well timed ! ..

Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 10
CW-22 Falcon x 3
Vengeance I x 26
P-40E Warhawk x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 4 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 19

great news . no cap at all ! .. and a few kills as well . andaman is will prove to be
decisive in my ideas for malaysia i hope.

b17s carried on the asault

Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 61

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 2 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
40 casualties reported

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 78

the unusual accuracy is due to dutch ( range 5) recons flying from andaman is. .. really paid off
with the huge runway hits and i suspect a lot of damaged a/c are lying about .. recons have been
flying over VP for 6 days prior to this FYI.

the japanese retreated to pagan and were hit badly by allied air on day 2

Day Air attack on 48th Division, at 31,31


Allied aircraft
Avenger I x 8
Spitfire Vb x 15
Blenheim IV x 35
Wellington III x 36
Hudson I x 12
Beaufort I x 9
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 46


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
215 casualties reported
Guns lost 7


i think this div is about 50% useful now as the retreat and continued air attacks will
surely have depleted it.


the next question is .. can i hold the blockade ? i'm unsure to be honest but i have
panicked japan at least ..

[aztez]

Well that was an nice result just South of Mandalay.
&nbsp;
By looking the screenshot it seems that Japanese have forces in Pagan, Tang Guy and Rangoon. Dark read so those troops do have some AV.
&nbsp;
I think you can hold the blockade for time being at least. I mean 40 000 allied troops can put up a good defense there. Just be careful though since you really don't want those troops routed and disabled! [:)]&nbsp;Nice assault though!

[VSWG]

Nice move! Time for some probing bombardment attacks at Mandalay, methinks. How far away are your troops to the southeast of Mandalay? And how are you planning to supply your units south of the river? If I read the screenshot correctly, the Japanese at Mandalay have no supply path - but neither do your troops south of the Irrawaddy?

Dark read so those troops do have some AV.

aztez, could you elaborate? Light green = no AV at all, or does it just mean less AV than dark green? So far I though that the color reflects the number of troops (inlcuding second line) in the hex.

Sorry for the threadjack, Rob...

[aztez]

Yeah, the colour reflects number of troops in total in the hex. I just assumed that Japanese would have some solid ground infantry forces available at Rangoon and those two&nbsp;Burma bases. (That is a pure assumption)
&nbsp;
As for Rob's situation I would try finish those Japanese troops at Mandalay quickly. That would open the supply paths and it would give you an opportunity to advance further in Burma before he has time reorganize his defense. Basically move and destroy those troops fast and you should be more than ok! [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

Nice move! Time for some probing bombardment attacks at Mandalay, methinks. How far away are your troops to the southeast of Mandalay? And how are you planning to supply your units south of the river? If I read the screenshot correctly, the Japanese at Mandalay have no supply path - but neither do your troops south of the Irrawaddy?

Dark read so those troops do have some AV.

aztez, could you elaborate? Light green = no AV at all, or does it just mean less AV than dark green? So far I though that the color reflects the number of troops (inlcuding second line) in the hex.

Sorry for the threadjack, Rob...

Yes regarding supply we are both out , i have 100+ dakotas flying and para dropping in what i can.As to bombarding mandala we have roughly equal forces at 4000AV each. i have sent out 2 brigades/corps ( mostly chinese ) to hold the flanks.

And to answer both yourself and Aztez. re japanese forces

pagan - retreated 33rd division ( so its broken). regimental defence was being regularly bombed so nothing bigger then that. and the AF is being regularly closed.

Tuang Gui- 2 regiments and a tank brigade. ousted my british carabineers which spoiled here to draw troops away from the river ( and worked). so in total 3 regiments + 1 broken division + armour. vs when i have there which most importantly has armour to counter any shock attacks.

He has been hit by ground attack missions for weeks and weeks so they must be badly disabled given that the area is malarial.

Joe did say to me that he as trying to move south from mandalay but i got the drop on him . suprising as he had a rail line to move down [;)] . BUT i still have to reduce a 'never surrender' enemy before going much further. It would be gamey to leave a tiny garisson to prevent movement and drive south leaving a huge army in the rear. I'd like to take pagan if possible ( for the airfield) but its not a priority. no 1 effort will go into reducing the pocket/ stopping any retaliation or reopening a japanese supply path.

Trying to kill off whats in mandalay fast will be a LOT more difficult than it sounds, I'll post a screenie when i next bombard ( stopped for a turn as it ruins ground movement out of the hex)

thanks for the words chaps !

[aztez]

Yeah, I thought Mandalay propably would not be as easy.
&nbsp;
Have thought about flanking movement in Burma? I mean kind of an landing I did againts FDR. (The current situation is pretty much the same) That propably would force him to withdraw from Mandalay and hurry towards South. Maybe you could even liberate Rangoon if those Japanese troops are as bad shape as you described.
&nbsp;
That would be sneaky offensive. I guess you don't have the troops needed just yet though since it is early 1943.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Yeah, I thought Mandalay propably would not be as easy.

Have thought about flanking movement in Burma? I mean kind of an landing I did againts FDR. (The current situation is pretty much the same) That propably would force him to withdraw from Mandalay and hurry towards South. Maybe you could even liberate Rangoon if those Japanese troops are as bad shape as you described.

That would be sneaky offensive. I guess you don't have the troops needed just yet though since it is early 1943.

nope i certainy dont have the troops for that .. i do have a nice reserve in madras for the sumatran landings when i get CV victorious ?? in 11 days. and prepping nicely. I have definately flattened victoria point which will have caused a bit of a panic for him . i might send a new AK convoy to akyab to panic him further <evil grin>

andaman is aircraft are now concentrating on anti shipping range 5 as lots of ships appeared in rangoon harbour today. also swopped over the wellingtons and range 10 beauforts in akyab ( no LR escort though).

he's also 'liberated' mandalay ! see piccie .. oddly enough i sent 3 corps/divs west to cover the gap, 2 never moved and one moved 2 hexes and is now just NW of the position circled on the map. i've had to send more troops out to mythilinka as a target so they move out of mandalay northwards, then i can turn around and try and get it back, but as well know the daft movement system that allowed me to trap his has now opened up a new corridor, im not unhappy however as i'll be glad to see the back of those troops , assuming he leaves ( which he'll do imo). any move back from here by japan is by default an allied victory.

1st up for today is the flattening of victoria point .. well done boys !

Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 20
CW-22 Falcon x 3
Vengeance I x 28
P-40E Warhawk x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 3 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
30 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 26

Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 62

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 8 destroyed EXCELLENT
Ki-48 Lily: 2 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 86


Day Air attack on Victoria Point , at 25,39 DAY 2

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 40

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 8 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 4 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 3 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 47

thats a lot of dead japanese a/c .. out of comission for some days i would think.

It also lends credance to a possible allied assault on malaya/thailand ( not happening) and might make sumatran invasion a better option.. sabang in N sumatra is a size 1(3) so max 6 a/f .. nice. keeping it supplied may prove problematic but would need his CV's to implement it. Henec i'll be taking a LOT of supply with me ( have 10 4.5K AK already loaded in madras for this purpose). Landings will be easy imo. although i have no recon on here i doubt its well defended and allied convoys sail happily to/from karachi/perth/sydney so i'll net be detected till late too.

Just to keep that div that retreated from rebuilding :-

Day Air attack on 48th Division, at 31,31


Allied aircraft
Avenger I x 8
Mohawk IV x 16
Spitfire Vb x 13
Blenheim IV x 26
Wellington III x 31
Hudson I x 12
Beaufort I x 7
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 26


Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
158 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

must hurt .. happened again day 2 with just b26's .. the b17's that hit VP are stood down
with v high fatigue, they will resume carpet bombing japanese troops after a 2 day rest.

IN china .. chinese and CW bombers from sian hit that dratted tank div in the north
that has my 3 corps trapped

Day Air attack on 3rd Tank Div , at 51,23


Allied aircraft
B-25J Mitchell x 48
B-26B Marauder x 40


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 2

they flew at range twice and are fatigued so instead of a 2 day rest ,, mass recon time [;)]
all 5 units given a base to look over .. hehe will give him pause for thought on how to
disperse his air defences as quite a lot of japanese resources and HI are now in range. i've a self imposed no 4E bomber rule in china. but as its with the chinese airforce i cant see a problem.

Mass sweeps of 150 lightnings over timor drew up no enemy a/c today .. no matter .. P38
production is great and as i am not throwing them away i've converted another 72 plane P39
group in brisbane over. also have 24 based in luganville. i'm flying in a BF to a newly made L1
airfield in the islands just north of luganville too. so i will be sabre rattling down here too. to mask the HUGE troop build up in townsville ( i'll piccie when they are all in place).

churchill was not happy i didnt send back a CV ( silly notion) ,,, and has toned down his demands
in Feb for a CL. he can have CL enterprise/saphire but NO DD's .. i'm out of PP's now too. although
not badly in the red iirc.

I have also decided to send home some RN surface ships from the fleet base in noumea, just
CA and smaller units as they will be needed for the upcoming invasion anyway. The current
RN in the indian theatre really would be an opertion showstring for any serious landings
as i am very very short on AP's ( tons of AK's though). so massive lightly loaded landing
forces are the way ahead, along with allied LCI/LST units created in ceylon.

Sorry for no picture of bombardment in mandalay yet , not doing one this turn either. although
with hindsight i could just have used one Arty unit for the piccie .. apologies.

On another completely unrelated note the aussie 'throwaways' are converting to boomerangs
which hacve quite good stats really , esp the range. some convert to vengance which i do not need
one bit in australian waters as beauforts are much better. and i have plenty of land based SBD
units for those smaller airfields.

Well thats enough for now. i've prattled on for longer then i intended ( shows how bored i am !)

bye




EDIT .. Aztez , your game vs FDR i advised being patient and doing what i tried to do here, and
while your invasion was a huge success and very well done, imo was too risky. so i'm doing the
'ooze' method of forcing japanese retreat [:D]. looking back at the screen shot i wonder if
that unit came from mandalay ? its rather weak isnt it ?

[aztez]

Yeah. It was an risky operation but I had the troops to do it and the gains were enourmous! [:D]
Mandalay, Pagan, Tang Gyi and Rangoon folded! What more can you ask! [:D]
&nbsp;
I think you are doing fine in this game just don't let Joe get organized or he might have couple aces on his sleeves too!

[Rob Brennan UK]

He's got the 59 mile move bug trying to escape mandalay. so i have agreed to a land ceasefire west of mandalay. so he can escape in 'peace' I will be thumping him from the air all the way and will he concentrate at pagan ? much easier place to surround with the rail lines and tuang-gi will be a death trap if he moves here. ( screen off and head for rangoon. ) there isnt a central point for a concentrated defence once mandalay has been liberated.

So i think we could be in for quite a lot of fluid ground action in the theatre and i am hopeing that my airpower will tip the balance in my favour as our forces are very evenly matched in AV . I'd guess he's much more disrupted than i am and there isnt anywhere he can repair except back in rangoon or even into thailand. Mandalay maxed out isn't malaria free but i do get reinforcemnts here , the carabineers were down to 2 working humber armoured cars but now at 30% strengh in just a week or so.

Basically i want a fun game rather than a massive win , fighting down to the thai border will make my best fighters (spits 1/2) out of range. I'll need to ship up a large P39--( to become P38) unit from australia to get better LR aircraft. That said i do have 'new' beaufighter LR heavy fighters. although i suspect they will die horribly trying to dogfight Zeros etc. I'll be down to using Buffaloes for the short term .. not the best aircraft to rely on for safe escort. AVG was hurt badly sweeping Rangoon a few weeks back and is only about 55 operational a/c ( still using P40B).

all in all should be fun !