Hunting the AuTiger - an AAR (no Tigers please)

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

Ok, that changes it by some ways...

Is there any AAR, where a Japanese player conquered the West Coast?

I remember browsing a couple of AARs of Tests against the AI, but I can't remember seeing an AAR of a pbem where the Japanese player attempted to invade the West Coast against a human opponent. Maybe some of the old-timers know of one.

[modrow]

I think there was an attempt (albeit an announced one), possibly by Mogami (???) which failed. The AAR had the beautiful name "beer made me do it", if I recall correctly. Not sure though about all of this.

Also, battles in Russia were the beginning of the end of an AAR between Hawker and Gen. Hoepner. The Russians did very well. On the other hand, I think I read somewhere in the forums people had spotted a weak spot using which Russia could be strangled. If I recall correctly, flow of supplies to the units in the south is necessary and can potentially be stopped.

But let's stop hijacking this thread which - for now - will not involve Russia. Looking forward to the promised update, Dive Bomber !

Hartwig

P.S: just used the famous search function successfully. Here it is
tm.asp?m=911310&mpage=1&key=beer&#911310

[Historiker]

Yes, Tenno Banzai!!! [:D]

[Dive Bomber1]

June 8, 1942 - NLFs landed at Attu and Kiska Islands this turn, which ought to thoroughly convince AuTiger that I am up to something in the Aleutians. However, he also has to deal with lots and lots of rain, so it will be hard for him to find out exactly what is happening without moving out from the relative "safety" or Dutch Harbor. Since the "jig" is clearly "up" now, I've started to move more air power into the region. The increase in Air Balance at my bases will also alert AuTiger, but I've done this sort of thing many times in the past, so he may still figure that this is just another of my nuisance expansions. But the "real" forces are moving up too under the cover of my probes, so AuTiger won't be underestimating what is going on for long, if he is at all at this time.

In the meanwhile, AuTiger did react to the spotting of my ships off of Ceylon last turn by moving a lot of LBA to the bases there. I am keeping my TF in the area but out of range of torpedo planes, just to keep AuTiger edgy. At the same time my surface combat TF near the far western tip of Oz will venture back into patrol plane range again next turn, just to see how much air power AuTiger is really committing to the region. And to add to the fun, I have yet another surface combat TF moving back into the far South Pacific because AuTiger has once again cleaned his LBA out of the region. I may well pick up an NLF along the way and grab yet another empty base in the region.

In China AuTiger reacted to my pullback from Changsha by moving P-40s back to Kweilin and putting them on LR CAP over Changsha. Since I had already moved my Zeros out of China the two Sally groups that flew into Changsha were hammered pretty badly. So I did more wholesale shuffling of planes in China and am avoiding the P-40s for now. I intend for China to become a backwater for the next while and my main effort in the region will continue to be to reassemble all of the split infantry units that I have sitting around in various locations.

[Dive Bomber1]

June 9, 1942 - My fast transport TF landed its troops at Amchikita this turn and ran into yet another minefield. One DD hit a mine and another DD swept some mines the "correct" way. My troops on Attu and Kiska captured those bases this turn and other than a bit of air patrolling, there was no sign of any reaction from AuTiger. Maybe I have caught him a little by surprise. So I am continuing with my massive movement of forces towards the North - if this were an old board wargame the map would start to sink a bit in that region due to the large number of units that are moving in. [;)]

Things were otherwise rather quiet, other than a group of Sallys that flew over Changsha and got intercepted by P-40s. I forgot to sit those Sallys down last turn. Other Chinese bases and units were attacked by divebombers and Nates set to Ground Attack but there wasn't any CAP other than at Changsha. As usual, I moved most of my planes again before the next turn. Otherwise things were quiet in China as I continue to relocate units in order to recombine them and make more sense out of my unit positioning.

My cruiser TF off the north-west (Game-wise) coast of Australia wasn't detected this turn so I am sending it in for a bombardment. I want to re-kindle AuTiger's interest in that region. He did bring some B-17s in on air patrol to look at my transports at Dili, but they didn't attack. So I just sent my transports to other bases.

In the South Pacific I've still got a cruiser TF heading down to check things out. If the area remains quiet I'll pick up an NLF and grab another base. Right now my long range patrol planes are reconning various bases to see which are still empty.

BTW - I received a very unpleasant "lesson" in the mechanics of this game a couple of turns ago. When I started this pbem I changed a number of 7K transports into various support ships - AR, AS, MLE, and AV. (Unfortunately, the Japanese player can't create ADs, which are the most valuable type of support ship when you are on the offensive.) Those ships just started to arrive, and to my very great surprise, it turns out that the converted AVs only have an Air Support value of one!!! [X(] What a waste of time and supply points that was. I won't do that again in my future games! [:-]

[Historiker]

According to your intended US Landing, you should read this thread I've just found:
tm.asp?m=666418&mpage=1&key=

[:D]

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

According to your intended US Landing, you should read this thread I've just found:
tm.asp?m=666418&mpage=1&key=

[:D]

That was a fun AAR, but I don't intend to try that direct approach. If I did, I would go south via San Diego.

Thanks -

[Dive Bomber1]

June 10, 1942 – AuTiger got into a bit of an offensive mood this turn and send a few USN DDs to hit Baker Island. My own local surface combat TF just arrived at Tarawa, so I am leaving them there for a while, just in case AuTiger decides to try sometime similar again. As usual, none of the Bettys or Nells in the region bothered to go after the retiring USN DDs that were halfway between Baker and Canton.

There was more night time action as my Fast Transport TF went into Efate to drop off supplies, but one of the DDs hit a sub-laid mine and the entire TF turned and ran. So I am redirecting them to other bases in the region that could benefit from some supply. I guess that I'll have to fly in some transport planes to be able to supply Efate.

In some night time "non-news"; for some reason my bombardment TF off of the northwest coast of Australia decided not to bombard Broome this turn. Fortunately, they weren't spotted by any Allied patrol planes during the day phase. "In theory", they now ought to be in position to hit Broome next turn, but one never knows.

And finally, some British DDs chased after one of my subs off of the south coast of Ceylon. The sub got in the first blow and hit a DD with a torpedo, but subsequently the other DDs hammered my sub with depth charges. So there is yet another Japanese sub that will be heading home for major repairs.

BTW – my wandering Surface Combat TF in the region ended up close enough to the action to be in a position to try to intercept the returning DDs at or near Trincomalee, and for a while I was sorely tempted to let them do it. But when I checked the Air Balance over the Ceylon bases and saw that it had increased even more, I decided that this was definitely a case of "discretion being the better part of valour" and ordered the ships home for refuelling. In any event, they accomplished their major task which was to make AuTiger antsy about that region.

In China AuTiger sent his B-17s out of Chungking and hit the airfields at Wuhan, destroying some Nates on the ground. The Nates on CAP did their best to intercept the Flying Fortresses, but it was no match. So I pulled those Nates back to Manchuria for more training until "real" planes start to arrive in August. I also continued with reorganizing ground troops. This may sound repetitive, but I have a lot of troops in China that need to be moved into rational locations, and fortunately, AuTiger appears to be giving me the time to do that.

In the Aleutians, my troops captured Amchitka this turn, with no response from AuTiger. One surprising thing happened – a report was received that the port at Umnak had increased to level 2. I hadn't known that there were any troops at Umnak, so that was useful information in itself. But what is very odd is that the airfields at Umnak are still at level 1. I can't see why AuTiger would be bothering to make bigger ports in the region instead of bigger airfields, but I'm certainly not going to complain.

In any event, I've got more troops on their way to various locations in the Aleutians, and I've sent out a fast bombardment TF too, just to "test the waters". At the same time the main portions of the Combined Fleet are sailing into the waters of the Kuriles on their way to meet at Paramushiro Jima. My real attacks will start soon enough.

[Dive Bomber1]

June 11, 1942 – My wayward bombardment TF finally hit Broome this turn. Intel reported that it caused Port damage and some Allied casualties, but afterwards there was still no LCU "sign" at the base, despite the casualty report. So I moved a long range patrol plane unit to Dili and set them to recon Broome next turn. This increasing "interest" in Northern Australia ought to worry AuTiger a bit. Certainly he has moved a good quantity of planes into the region.

My retiring surface combat TF in the Bay of Bengal also continued to provide "messages" to AuTiger as it was spotted by Allied long range patrol planes. AuTiger's hunter-killer TF was still out looking for my damaged sub, but the sub's commander got lucky and avoided detection. AuTiger did relax his naval vigilance a bit this turn and some of the Brit 2E bombers returned to hit a couple of targets in Burma, but without causing much damage.

Allied subs have returned to Java, but I currently don't have a lot of ships travelling in the area - AuTiger is a week or so late for that. I do have a lot of experienced Army bomber units spread out around the region in multiple bases, so I have very nice overlapping air coverage and my pilots are getting more experience by the day at attacking subs.

China was relatively quiet this turn as no Allied bombers took off in the widespread rain. Some of my second line bombers did take off and continued to harass Chinese troops in the field. I did more resetting of targets and some additional base shifting this turn for my Chinese air units, but for the most part I am satisfied with the current status quo. My LCUs are also moving along nicely and it shouldn't be too long before I have a much more rational disposition of forces in China. The question will then be – what shall I do with them? One thing for certain, I will need to bring more base forces in to provide more distributed air support for any future general offensives.

The rest of the Pacific was quiet, even the Far North, where the only visible action was a long range patrol unit flying Recon over Adak Island. Next turn will be a different story as an Invasion Fast Transport TF will land troops at the island just to the west of Adak and a small bombardment TF will hit Adak itself. I've got several additional small invasion TFs in the neighbourhood and hope to do some flanking landings. As long as AuTiger remains fairly passive in the region I will continue to put up a screen of "nuisance" invasions as long as possible.

However, the real invasion TFs are on their way, as is the Combined Fleet. I have also moved almost all of my Zero, Betty and Nell Daitais into Eastern Japan and the Kuriles, along with my long range transport planes. A large number of support ships and land support units are also settling in place in multiple locations in the region. I have been considering this move for a long time and many game-months ago I started to move small base forces, naval guard units, and construction units into the Kuriles. So I actually have a fair number of good "jumping off" points available in the region.

One thing that was particularly interesting to me was that my Recon flight over Adak reported Kittyhawks on CAP. That means that AuTiger has stripped some of his Canadian air units away from the Mainland. If I can catch any of those units on the ground that will mean less opposition as I move eastwards. Who knows, my plans may come to full fruition after all. [:D]

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1

ORIGINAL: Historiker

According to your intended US Landing, you should read this thread I've just found:
tm.asp?m=666418&mpage=1&key=

[:D]

That was a fun AAR, but I don't intend to try that direct approach. If I did, I would go south via San Diego.

Thanks -

This shall only show you, how many extra troops you will face...
But well, your axis Ally from Germany wishes you luck, we are happy if the US troops are gone... [;)]

[Dive Bomber1]

June 12, 1942 – AuTiger had some DDs off hunting subs near New Caledonia again this turn, and they sent yet another of my subs back to port with damage, albeit not as much as usual. Interestingly enough, AuTiger is no longer sending his ASW forces out from Dutch Harbor to hunt the Japanese subs that have once again appeared in that part of the Aleutians. Of course, he has other worries in that region. [;)] [:D]

My latest fast invasion TF dropped off its troops at Ogliuga Island (just west of Adak) this turn. Surprisingly, there were no mines. There was also no opposition so my NLF will take that base next turn. The first bombardment TF that was supposed to hit Adak stood off this turn and so should hit it next turn. The second, bigger and slower bombardment TF is catching up and should hit the following day. AuTiger can't have many doubts now about my activities in the Aleutians, but he will be even more convinced when some crack Divisions start to land at his main bases.

But AuTiger isn't ignoring my other activities either. B-17s flew from Darwin against the TFs at Koepang this turn. Unluckily for AuTiger, and fortunately for me, the 4Es went after the cruiser squadron that was refuelling in port instead of the transport TF that was unloading supplies. Between the long distance, the Oscars on CAP, the flak from the ships, and the nice thick armor on the top of the Japanese cruisers, the B-17s accomplished nothing except to incur lots of damage and even suffer an operational loss. So my ships continue to perform their duties well. But for now I am pulling them all out as I set up another supporting base a little further back.

In China AuTiger moved his P-40s to Ichang, but I wasn't attacking there so it was for naught. My planes did attack a number of places, and then I moved them around again to different bases and different targets for next turn. AuTiger also sent out a few 2Es against my ground troops in China and Burma, but they didn't do much. I am starting to get my troops organized in China, and now that I am examining things more carefully I am realizing what a total mess I made of my forces there. It's a good thing that AuTiger is staying back while I am busy, because I am currently weak enough that a concerted advance by the Chinese would cause me all sort of problems.

Finally, what I believe is the last Dutch straggler in the DEI made it out of the jungle to Samarinda this turn. Unfortunately for it, and conveniently for me, I left a good SNLF unit in Samarinda which ought to get rid of the straggler once and for all next turn. It's only too bad that my division in China isn't able to move like these stragglers moved. I would really love to hear a self-consistent explanation of what is different between the two situations.

[Dive Bomber1]

June 13, 1942 - My first bombardment TF hit Adak Island this turn and destroyed some Dauntlesses on the ground. Maybe those were the Dauntlesses that my sub saw a ways back when I pulled back that surface combat TF. In any event, the second, bigger bombardment TF is due to hit next turn, so we'll see what they catch on the ground.

My patrol planes and ship-borne float planes spotted more ships in the region. There may be a couple of PTs at Atka to the east of Adak, and there are a number of ships around Dutch Harbor. I've now got three subs circling Dutch Harbor, two of which have Glens, so I ought to get an even better idea of what is going on.

A transport TF reached Kiska this turn and will unload a base force next turn, so I moved in some long range patrol planes and a Daitai of Zeros. This will start to worry AuTiger even more as he sees the Air Balance start to change in the region. BTW - the airfields at Paramushiro Jima reached level 3 this turn, so that makes it an even better base for Bettys and Nells.

Speaking of bases, my troops captured Ogliuga Island this turn. It also has a level 1 airfield, so I may move a base force into there too. But if I capture Atka without much damage I will get a level 2 air base, which will take priority for air support units.

In any event, another big bombardment TF left Paramushiro Jima for Adak Island, and to provide general support for further "mischief". I also assembled a sizable Air Combat TF which will head for the waters just north or Ogliuga. I expect AuTiger to try to interfere with my expansion in the Aleutians with some surface forces, and I hope to catch them from the air, although the weather has been anything but conducive to air operations. But then, I can't really complain, because the lousy weather has covered my invasion and bombardment TFs from the Allied LBA.

Elsewhere, a few of my bombers in China flew to hit various Chinese units, and AuTiger sent a large number of B-17s to hit the airfields at Wuhan. But there was nothing much around except for some recon planes, so the attack didn't accomplish much. This is buying me the time to continue to rationalize the distribution of my forces in China, and I'm quite happy to continue doing that as long as AuTiger allows me to do so without interference.

Otherwise, things were quiet, with the exception of my SNLF unit in Samarinda capturing that last Dutch straggler base force. So the DEI is finally clear of "pests".

[Dive Bomber1]

June 14, 1942 - Things started out well for AuTiger this turn. His PT squadron at Atka Island reacted to my bombardment TF that was going in to hit Adak and achieved surprise. Things looked even better for the USN when four out of the five PTs launched torpedoes against the Japanese ships. But then Lady Luck turned against the Yanks as all four torpedoes missed and the PTs were only able to achieve a couple of machine gun hits on the BBs and DDs, which caused no damage.

The two task forces then broke off and my ships continued in to hit Adak very nicely before sailing off into the dark. But there was one final price for the US forces to pay for their attempt to be "heroes" - while the PTs were wasting their opportunity in the dark at Adak, my fast transport TF landed its troops at Atka without interference.

So, unless AuTiger can transfer some troops to Atka next turn my troops will capture it and remove all safe havens for US ships in the Western Aleutians. Just in case AuTiger is trying to fly in troops (and I suspect that he has been trying this at Adak), I moved some Zeros into Ogliuga to provide LR CAP over Atka and also set one of the Zero Daitais at Kiska to fly LR CAP over Adak. I also flew more Zeros into Adak to provide air cover in case AuTiger is able to bring some long range bombers into Dutch Harbor - I am using Kiska as my forward staging-point for task forces.

I also flew more patrol planes forward including a unit into Ogliuga. It appears that AuTiger has very little in the way of forces in the Aleutians, and certainly not enough to stop my initial charge. And I will be landing some even bigger "surprises" in the next couple of turns. I wonder if AuTiger will start to rush forces to Alaska or continue with his plans elsewhere. I bet that he doesn't believe that I will continue on with my long-time "threats" to invade the US. [;)] [:D]

Elsewhere, there were the usual light bomber attacks in China from both sides. AuTiger sent a number of Chinese LCUs across the river to the west of Ichang to attack my trapped Division, but the Chinese units were "punished" by the river-crossing Shock Attack and will spend some time licking their wounds. This has opened up the way for me to start a counter-attack so I ordered more of my good Divisions to march back into the field between Wuhan, Ichang and Changsha. I also, as usual, ordered various air units to attack different targets in China again.

In Burma the Brit 2Es continued to harass some of my forward infantry units, but because there are so many targets AuTiger hasn't been able to focus on any single location. There was a bit of very "relatively" good news in the region as two out of my three retiring Brigades that are on the Rangoon coastal road came another hex closer to getting out of the jungle. Considering the number of troops that have moved along that road in both directions over the past 6 game months there ought to be a 6-lane highway of hard-pressed dirt, but unfortunately, the Game hasn't been programmed to look at things that way. Oh well, eventually I'll get those troops out of there.

And I am not forgetting my other "obligations" as I am positioning surface combat TFs to do more raids into other regions, just to keep AuTiger a bit edgy. I don't know if he is "counting" Japanese Divisions, but I've got eight of them that have been out of sight (but not out of mind) for quite some time, and I want AuTiger to keep looking over his shoulder for some time yet.

[ctangus]

Considering the number of troops that have moved along that road in both directions over the past 6 game months there ought to be a 6-lane highway of hard-pressed dirt

Considering the location, it might more likely be 4-feet deep mud by now...

ORIGINAL: Dive Bomber1

I bet that he doesn't believe that I will continue on with my long-time "threats" to invade the US. [;)] [:D]

Boy, are you really plan to do this? Can I play you sometime? [:D] Joking aside, I think you're ordering the IJA to commit seppuku but in a perverse way I'd like to see you pull it off. It'll be entertaining at the very least.

Where are you planning the initial landings? How much supply do you think you can land in the initial lift?

[Dive Bomber1]

Boy, are you really plan to do this? Can I play you sometime? Joking aside, I think you're ordering the IJA to commit seppuku but in a perverse way I'd like to see you pull it off. It'll be entertaining at the very least.

Well, as we've seen from so many of the other long-running AARs, the Allies eventually come back to punish the Japanese anyway, even when the Japanese player has taken places like India, Hawaii, Australia, and so on. So why not try to cut off the "snake at the source"? [;)]

I plan to work my way along the Pacific Coast, from West to East and then from North to South.

What I am hoping is that AuTiger won't take me seriously and will commit his good forces to counterattacks in the South Pacific. (That's why I'm using NLFs at this point so that he underestimates the extent of my intent.)

Will it work? Probably not unless AuTiger makes some really dumb mistakes, which he hasn't done since the first couple of times we started the game. But it will still be interesting. And if I do get troops down to the Golden Gate you can bet that AuTiger won't be spending time on "feints" in other areas... [;)]

BTW - much of my plan is predicated upon AuTiger's overall strategy in the early part of the game. He really likes to move out units and create "super" strongholds. It has worked well as a strategy so far and has essentially prevented me from extending very much beyond the historical expansion. But it also means that the Allied bases that are "behind the Front" are much weaker than historically. And it is a looooooong way back to the West Coast from the South Pacific. The longer AuTiger waits to take me seriously, the harder it will be for him to get back into position to stop me.

At least, that's my theory...

Also, I'm counting upon AuTiger remembering all of my other very light nuisance attacks upon his flanks... We'll see what happens! [:D]

Thanks for the comments -

[Dive Bomber1]

June 15, 1942 - I'm a very unhappy camper at this moment. All of a sudden there are 15K+ troops on Adak Island, when there were only a couple of thousand the day before. AuTiger is "teleporting" troops again, just as he has consistently done in China, Burma and India.

Sure, I realize that the Game allows the players to do this, and both sides have plenty of transport planes, as well as bombers and patrol planes that can be used as troop transports. But something seems fundamentally wrong with this model. I am very certain that if the US could do this in 1942 it would have done it and not sent troops via multi-month-long ship voyages.

Once again I've been caught trying to play this game in a semi-historical manner - I've been dutifully sending my troops via ship everywhere and saving air transports for the occasional paratroop drop and sending in supplies. It bothers me to play "star wars" with this game - maybe I just shouldn't play pbem.

Anyway, venting aside, my various TFs spent time clearing mines at Kiska as my ships regrouped. AuTiger now has his PTs at Adak so I am sending in several CL/DD surface combat TFs to try to clear them out. I also have a couple more bombardment TFs moving in to hit the base. Now that I'm trying to defeat a Division worth of troops it will take more effort, so I've also redirected my other two invasion TFs to hit Adak too, along with the initial TF. So I will bring three divisions to the battle. I wonder if AuTiger has any "shame" or if he will empty all of his troops in the Eastern Pacific and West Coast to stop me.

BTW - if you are wondering, I did have Zeros on LR CAP over Adak this turn, but I suspect that they didn't fly because of the weather. My LR CAP did fly over Atka and my NLF there captured the base.

The weather being clearer than usual, my carrier planes flew this turn and hit the airfields at Adak. There were some Kittyhawks on CAP but my planes got through to hit the airfields fairly hard and destroy both Kittyhawks and more SBDs on the ground. I'm sending my CVs further along towards Dutch Harbor because AuTiger has a number of TFs sitting around there. Come to think of it, AuTiger must have had his bombers on transport duty because none flew against my CVs despite the clear weather, and there is an Air Balance of something like +300 for the Allies at Dutch Harbor.

Elsewhere, things were relatively quiet in China. Some light Japanese bombers hit the odd Chinese unit in the field and massed B-17s hit the resources at Wuhan. I still have my troops marching around. I have no intention of flying them around and forming dozens of LCU fragments like AuTiger does - every time he does that we start to see an increase in "bad" commanders and inconsistencies in the Allied Combat Replay.

Nothing much is happening elsewhere - I guess that AuTiger is too busy flying everything that isn't nailed to the ground back to the East.

[ny59giants]

As an Allied player, I can say that we have plenty of transport planes. [:D] If he is also using his heavy bombers to transport, then he can lift in a high amount of troops p.d.q. (pretty damn quick). [;)]  The weather in Alaska will be very unpredictable, even in summer. Thus, do not plan your advance expecting weather to be good enough to use your air power on a regular basis. It will have to be done by using small TF's of various types. Good luck!!

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

As an Allied player, I can say that we have plenty of transport planes. [:D] If he is also using his heavy bombers to transport, then he can lift in a high amount of troops p.d.q. (pretty damn quick). [;)]  The weather in Alaska will be very unpredictable, even in summer. Thus, do not plan your advance expecting weather to be good enough to use your air power on a regular basis. It will have to be done by using small TF's of various types. Good luck!!

When AuTiger starts to whine again about Combat Replay discrepancies I am not going to be at all sympathetic - every time he goes into full "teleport" mode he leaves LCU fragments all over the place, we get each other's air squadron leaders as task force leaders, and his version of the Combat Replay becomes sci-fi.

Your comment about the weather makes me realize why it took AuTiger so long to get those troops into place - the earlier bad weather stopped his transports from flying too.

What I have learned from this is that the next time I start a game I am not going to try at all to play it "historically" but instead will use the first turn "teleport" function to land troops at all the South Pacific Islands so that I can cut off air transport of massive amounts of Allied troops.

It shouldn't be this way, but that's what the Game allows, and I see no reason that I should handicap myself.

Thanks for the comments -

[princep01]

Dive, rather than "teleporting" troops into Adak, is it possible that your intel concerning what was at Adak a turn ago was the culprit?  Intel is far from exact in the game, especially for the Japanese.  This is as it should be.
 
I suppose that airlifting troops could have been part of it, but I seriously doubt it is possible to airlift sufficient troops to go from 2-3K to 15K troops in one turn, particularly at this remote area of the world.  I don't know, as I don't read his AAR.  However, I sense a case of barking up the wrong tree here.

[Dive Bomber1]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Dive, rather than "teleporting" troops into Adak, is it possible that your intel concerning what was at Adak a turn ago was the culprit?  Intel is far from exact in the game, especially for the Japanese.  This is as it should be.

I suppose that airlifting troops could have been part of it, but I seriously doubt it is possible to airlift sufficient troops to go from 2-3K to 15K troops in one turn, particularly at this remote area of the world.  I don't know, as I don't read his AAR.  However, I sense a case of barking up the wrong tree here.

He moved a couple of Divisions by air into Changsha within a few days during that siege. He moved 6 Chinese Divisions into Akyab within a week or so at the begging of that siege. Another of my opponents in another game moved 10 LCUs into Mandalay by air within a couple of weeks - so anything seems possible.

Sure, the air transports leave the big equipement behind, but in this game, quantities of fresh troops is what counts the most.