Splashing the Divebomber

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
The Fast Transport TF for Adak Is. will arrive in Dutch this turn to load supplies. It look like my timing is pretty good because I believe Dive is planning another Bombardment run at Adak Is. because my Cats spotted the Yamato outside of port. If it isn't a bombardment, it is going somewhere. I will run the supplies in after I see what is what.

SoPac:
The AP's are enroute to Luganville to pick up the remaining 2nd USMC div. The rest of the div is planning for the eventual invasion of Sabang, although I really don't want to use the Marines, because whatever lands there is likely to remain there for a long time, and the Marines are too valuable to sit around as mosquito bait.

Burma/India:
My aborted Bombardment TF heading back to Ceylon was struck by 4 Betties just west of Chandpur. Fortunately the AA drove them off, but I realized the poor Exeter will need fighter cover when she decides to head back in a few turns. I will base my P-40B's out of Southern Indian bases to cover the ship, and run her near the coast.

China:
Dive better be pulling his troops out of Wuchow siegeworks, or I will be trapping 17 of them there very soon. Troops from Hengchow are running southwestward to block their egress. Also, Dive has moved one of the five units on the road southeast of Changsha into the boonies in the direction of Hengchow. Since he has obliged me by reducing the strength in the hex, I am attacking it with most of my troops in Changsha. I hope to smash them with overwhelming force to retreat them whereby I can keep them at bay with fewer troops when I turn around and move into Wuhan to interdict supply. Troops from Ichang have made it to 36 miles down the road this turn, and I have ordered Homan units towards the crossroads. Hopefully I can get Dive to dilute his attack on Yenen somewhat - he sure has a lot of troops there.
Also: the P-39's in China STILL refuse to attack anything! I have tried moving them to Kweiyang this turn to MAYBE strafe the two units across the river there. These are supposed to be good tank-busters, but it is difficult to bust tanks whilst sitting on the ramp.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Firstly:
That low-down dirty sneaky Jap coward dropped mines at one of MY bases (Luganville) and sunk an AP! That yellow dry-gulching back-shooter also nailed a couple of MSW's by sub this turn.

Aleutians:
Some of my heroic under-sea warriors are returning from their brave mine-laying infiltration on Dive's ports in the North. I don't know where the Bombardment TF (if that is what it was) went to. I have lost sight of it, but that doesn't mean it is gone, so my fast transport TF is hanging out in Dutch for a turn. The sailors are ecstatic to get the chance to chase some Aleut women, or at least they will be enthusiastic until they get an eyeful. [X(] (Been there, done that.)

EDIT: I should have run WitP Utility before I made this post. The TF in question is due east of Adak Island four hexes away. Here comes the more hate.

SoPac:
The aforementioned AP was sunk at Luganville before the TF had a chance to load any of the Marines, thank goodness, but now all Jarheads are aboard and heading for R&R. These AP's, after dropping the Leathernecks, will go to Sydney, pick up the 6th Australian Div, and go to Ceylon where the Ozzies will recuperate from their long voyage. Other AP's are enroute to Noumea to do the same for the 2nd USMC. The weather is supposed to be nice so I am bombing Efate with some wayward B-17's. They need to keep a hand in.

Burma/India:
The Exeter is fully buoyant once again and no longer aflame (46,0,0). I had diverted a couple of DD's from the non-starter bombardment TF with an eye towards escorting the CA out of there, and they are doing so this turn all the way to Diamond Harbor, where the damaged cruiser will bask under a CAP of P-40's. Five DD's from Ceylon will meet the TF there to escort the ships through sub-infested waters. I really want to save this ship for some reason. Apparently Dive wants to sink it equally badly, because his Northern Burma airbases seem to be loaded for bear. My 4E's will be paying a visit to two of them, weather permitting. The bulk of my troops going to Myit are in Ledo, and that is where they will turn around, and return to Dacca for more building and training. Instead of assaulting Northeast Burma now, I have decided to await the Sabang gambit before doing so. The reasons are two-fold: 1) Dive's airpower will likely be concentrated on Sumatra then, and 2) once I have a significant presence on Sabang, I won't have to worry about a flanking attack on India while my troops waltz through the jungles.

China:
Chinese troops have made it to the cross-roads outside of Wuchow, and are attacking the unit on unknown size in the hex (1027 AV vs. ? AV). If I take the hex, great, if I don't, no big deal because I am interdicting supplies to Dive's assault troops at Wuchow. I have a few more units on the way to the cross-roads, but I have left several on the road back to Hengchow - I don't want to get cut off. Next turn I will be contesting (or nearly so) two more hexes Dive has at the moment: The road hex southeast of Changsha and soon the crossroads northwest of Kaifeng. A few more turns will have combat in the hex due west of Hsinyang. If Dive wants to concentrate his troops in select areas, he will allow me to threaten others.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I have fallen behind in posting because of large demands on my time that will likely continue through year's end.

Aleutians:
Not much change here, although it looks like another Bombardment TF is heading for Adak Island.

SoPac:
The last of the 2nd USMC has finally been loaded aboard ship and is returning to Noumea for R&R.

Burma:
The B-17's are going after some residual resources laying about in Burma, and the the Liberators are doing a LR airfield strike on Haiphong.

China:
Supply levels have recovered nicely now the 4E's have been gone from China for a couple of weeks. I am working on isolating supply to Wuhan. I have cut the northern cross-roads, and threatening Hsinyang, and will be moving forces to Nanchang soon. I have no expectations to take the place, I just want to create aggravation for Dive. Down south I have cut the southern cross-road, but I am retreating from there because of significant danger of getting my troops cut-off by Dive's troops in the boonies. I don't have enogh strength in the region to send a couple of units off road to keep them from moving. My feint to the cross-roads has allowed time for reinforcements to move within two hexes of Wuchow.
BTW: my problem with not getting my P-39's to attack ground troops was resolved when I took them off 90% CAP. [8|]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
Dive's bombardment attack did not occur, but the TF is still out there near Kiska. What are they doing?

SoPac:
Another &$#% DD took a torpedo from a Jap sub enroute from Luganville to Noumea. If the ship doesn't 'find' another sub, it should make it. The AP's containing the rest of the 2nd USMC is halfway to Noumea.

Burma:
The troops returning from the aborted attack down the trails to Mandalay are starting to arrive back in Dacca. My 4E's are resting this turn.

China:
The southern cross-roads has been cleared, and the troops are returning to their bases to rest before Dive launches his next attack. My reinforcements for Wuchow are getting close. For some reason, the troops I ordered to move to Nanning decided to reset their orders to Defend. Try try again.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
Dive sent some Zeros after my PT's anchored in Umniak. Unfortunately for him I had 16 of the Cutting Edge of Aviation Technology Kittyhawk I's on duty, shooting down 5 Zeros. I'll bet that had him blistering the screen. [8D] He hasn't bombarded Adak Island for a while, so my supplies there are in good shape, but if he does hit the place I will send a Fast Transport ASAP. AP's are stripping Anchorage and Kodiak Island of no-longer-needed Seabees, and other Arty and Engineering units for the eventual invasion of Sabang.

SoPac:
Dive sunk the damaged sub in Noumea's port. [:@] I have grown a little short of operational DD's in the area - some sunk, but many badly damaged and in various ports. All of the 2nd USMC is together, and enjoying some R&R and invasion training.

Burma:
My 4E's continue to rest and rebuild morale.

China:
The AVG is resting and repairing aircraft. My troops have cleared the southern cross-roads while others are slowly closing on Hsinyang. Most of the Southern China troops are returning to their designated cities for rest, and to see what Dive decides to do.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
Supplies are starting to drop below 2X on Adak Is. A Fast Transport TF is loading up at Dutch with orders for to drop supplies as that island.

SoPac:
I am starting to suspect that dive is pulling troops out of Efate, so a couple of LB's are going to bomb the place, and P-40's from Luganville will strafe it. If it is no longer garrisoned, I may land some paras to re-take it. Besides, a few days out are two TF's with SoPac engineer reinforcements earmarked primarily for Luganville, but enough are coming to spare some for Efate.

Burma:
Bad weather, and recovering morale keeps he 4E's on the ground, but Dive has moved one of the two units outside of Myit towards the east, so my local bombers are hitting the remaining one to see what it is. I might have an opportunity to blast it with the troops in Myit. We will see.

China:
Troops continue to withdraw towards Hengchow, and reinforcements are resting in Changsha and Ichang. Soutwest of Changsha, Dive has moved 3 units out of Nanchang onto the RR. I have some FB's hitting them from Changsha this turn, and my troops on the RR are moving to intercept. More interesting, Dive may have left Chengting ungarrisoned outside of a BF: it is being reconned this turn, and a Chinese Corps has been dispatched to the city. Even if it is garrisoned by some troops, if I can get some Chinese into the same hex it will do bad things to Dive's supply in Yenen.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
Supplies delivered with no mishap. I have decided to step up the pressure on Dive up there - I transferred some Marauders to Dutch with an eye towards hitting some of his troops on Adak Island or other targets of opportunity. This turn the weather sucks therefore I am resting the bombers this turn.

West Coast:
It is a long time before the October upgrades, and I have three fully functional carriers sitting at anchor in SF, and the Sara at SYS 10 now. In a few short weeks she will have her overdue upgrade and be repaired from it. I intend, when she is ready, to sortie to PH, and then on to Wake Island for a quick raid. It will likely keep Dive guessing, and give my boys a little experience. The CV's will then return to SF for their big AA upgrades.

SoPac:
As expected, there is nothing worth mentioning on Efate - it will be mine next turn. The two TF's mentioned last turn I am combining to the southeast of Efate for the extra ASW ratings and with a ASW escort. They will go straight to Luganville to unload all the support and engineers they have on board. With all I will have there, Luganville will be a thriving base before too long. Also, the 2nd USMC is loading aboard AP's for the run to Sydney, and then on to Columbo to rest and prepare for action at Sabang.

OZ:
Some AK's reach Perth in the next turn or two where one of them will be loaded with 64 B-17's now based in Derby. These bombers will add to the striking power now in Southern India, and eventually will operate from Sabang.

India/Burma:
The weather is bad - the 4E's will rest some more. The strike on the hex just outside of Myit didn't fly so I still have no idea of what is there. Maybe next turn.

China:
The operations enumerated last turn are still underway.

[ny59giants]

What naval assets are you planning to use for Sabang??  Have you added to the British sub fleet in the I.O. (the American subs with 11,000 endurance work nicely over there)??  I would think about mining the shallow sea hexes between Sumatra and Malaya along with the larger ports.  Sabang should also be included on the list just in case he tried to get reinforcements in there after your landings.
 
My CHS PBEM is less than a few weeks behind yours, so it is nice to compare. My 4e are making life very difficult for him. [:D]
 
However, its been so long since I played stock it's hard to remember. Just started a RHS game and love the level 7 map.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Operation Sabang is postponed indefinitely. Looking at the attached map one can see why. Within operational range of Sabang are SIXTEEN level four airbases or better, and a few more level threes. The bases circled in red are 4 and above, and the green circled bases are the level 3’s. Perhaps when I have some CVE’s loaded up with Marine Corsair squadrons will I possibly begin to think of rescheduling the operation.

New operations to consider are moving on somewhere in the South Pacific (Lunga?), the Central Pacific (Wake?), or MUCH more likely, to my way of thinking, Timor.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
No change. Waiting on some clearer weather.

SoPac:
Marine Paratroopers landed on, and captured Efate. I have no plans to occupy the island with more troops at this time: all available engineers are proceeding to Luganville. The 2nd USMC has completed loading, and is now unloading, and changing planning for Lunga. In just a few turns Luganville’s building progress will increase drastically. I just noticed that Luganville is a “French Base”. Not anymore mon ami! Mssr. DeGaulle will not get this place back.

OZ:
B-17’s are accumulating in Darwin for some target practice on some Jap resources, airfields, and oil. There is enough in range to keep me off the streets for a while. The 6th and 7th Australian Divisions are preparing for Koepang and Lautem. Dive can keep Dili for as long as he likes.

Burma:
My B-17’s are getting bored. Against orders they have decided to attack one of Dive’s nearby (sorta) LCU’s. The pilots are almost all in the 80’s so I am loath to write them up for disobeying orders. I wish them a good flight, and I hope they avoid all the bad weather forecast. When I am ready for whichever invasion(s) I decide to embark on, I will begin diversionary attacks in this theater on both Akyab and Mandalay (via Myit.)

China:
My recon finally flew over Chengting. The Chinese unit heading that way has reversed course and is high-tailing it back to the cross-roads. There is way too much strength sitting there for my taste: 7 units, 38,800 troops, and 318 guns. No thanks. I now have two Jap units isolated from supply. The one we already know about (northwest of Hengchow) and a new one due east of Hengchow. It left the railroad a few turns back, moving towards Hengchow, but now a Chinese LCU of equal strength is in the same hex, and every hex around it has an ‘A’, with nary a ‘J’ within two hexes. I don’t think Dive realizes it just yet because he is bombarding with the unit, burning up supplies. I won’t tell if you won’t. This turn, while the weather sucks, the B-24’s in Burma flew into Chungking, where they will rest until a break in the weather happens, then they will create some mischief somewhere.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I am very worried about next turn now!

[:'(]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
Pretty quiet, and continued lousy weather. This is a good time to run more supplies into Adak Island.

SoPac:
C-47's have nearly finished lifting the paratroopers out on Efate; next turn both the paras and the C-47's will load aboard ship for transport to OZ. Eventually the paras will be used to take Timor.

OZ:
The B-17's continue to gather in Darwin. They will be doing so for a couple more turns, rest a little bit, and wreak havoc on Dive's forces in the lower DEI. The first of the excaped Dutch recon units has upgraded to F-5A's and basing out of Darwin will start looking for targets next turn.

India/Burma:
My Brit LBA have been working over Dive's troops in Northern Burma for a while now. With the weather forecast to be poor they have all transferred to Dacca for replacements and rest. The wayward B-17's did some decent damage to the Mixed Brigade outside of Myit.

China:
More movement afoot, but poor weather will keep most of my planes grounded this turn.


EDIT:
West Coast:
Four squadrons of Beauforts ny59giants recommended I send to the Aleutians are three days out from docking in San Francisco. I may have some fun with these boys, and Dive may get a heck of a surprise!
[X(]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
The supplies got through to Adak Is. without a hitch, and supply levels are groovy once again. The weather is looking good, therefore a ground attack on the Japs on the island are n order.

West Coast:
The four Beaufort squadrons I mentioned last post have turned out to be three, plus one Dutch biplane recon unit. [&:] I screwed up a little there apparently. Now the next recon unit due for upgrade to F-5A will be in SF soon. One is in the pool, and 7 more are needed.

SoPac:
Luganville, something strange happened. I had loaded ALL of the 2nd USMC div for transport back to Noumea, but all of a sudden another fragment has appeared on Luganville. Operationally it is not a big deal because I have a lot of AP's there unloading ENG units, so they will load up the fragment for Noumea soon enough. I have been suffering serious small boy damage in this theater over the last several weeks. Dive's subs have been especially virulent in this part of the ocean. I have DD reinforcements heading to Noumea.

OZ:
All available B-17's are now in Darwin. Many have high fatigue, so they need to rest for about three turns before I release the Hate on the southern DEI.

Burma/India:
All excess operational LCU's are in Dacca now (nearly 4000 AV's), and there they will stay while fatigue decreases. The Brit squadrons pulled from the front are still constructing the new planes in their squadrons.

China:
I suffered a pretty major setback this turn in Kaifeng. Three Chinese Corps got their butts kicked out of the base. As it turns out, Dive has quite a presence there. I wouldn't have expected the result I did against three low fatigue and healthy Chines Corps. Now I am re-thinking some of my offensive actions in theater, returning units to bases were they can increase their numbers. But not all troops are doing so. I am maintaining my offensive status around Wuhan and Hsingyang. The latter base I might even capture, from recon reports.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
The air attack on Adak Is. didn't come off, but the weather is forecast to be very nice, so maybe it will happen this turn.

SoPac:
Engineers continue to unload at Luganville. The base will be ready for operations in short order.

Oz:
The weather in the lower DEI is going to be nice, but I resisted the temptation to launch my B-17's too soon, because fatigue levels are still up. I will wait.

India/Burma:
Still repairing and resting in Dacca.

China:
Dive hit Kweiyang with a massive bomber attack, however the Chinese bombers were gone to Changsha. It is time to either keep most of my bombers in Chungking under massive fighter cover, or move the planes around some. My troops from Ichang finally reached Hsinyang this turn, and surprisingly it appears to be lightly defended. Attack orders have been distributed. Large numbers of Chinese bombers are tasked to attack also. The B-24's are back in Dacca now. A Chinese tank unit is running across country, heading for the hex between Wuhan and Nanchang to cut supplies for a bit.

[USSAmerica]

I love that both of you are regularly posting to your AAR's.  It's great fun to actually have the answer to the question, "What was he thinking?"  [:D]
 
Happy Thanksgiving, AU!  [8D]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Thanks USS America, I appreciate the vote of confidence. If it weren't for posts like yours, and steadily increasing "hit" numbers, I would thing I was writing these to amuse myself. In about 2 1/2 weeks I will have more time on my hands and will post more detail, unless I lose my damned mind and go for a graduate degree, but that would wait until next Fall if I did so.

Aleutians:
Poor weather, and Fast Transports needing re-fueling mean little action here. DM's are a couple of turns out from Dutch, and will be escorted into Adak Is. to lay some more eggs for Dive to find.

SoPac:
Luganville has received all of her new engineers. Construction is continuing apace.

India/Burma:
The weather is poor so the 4E's are resting, and troops are accumulating in Dacca.

OZ:
The weather is good, and the B-17's are ready to party. Amboina's oil, airfield, and port have all been targeted. Apparently some ships are docked there.

China:
Last turn I laid an air ambuscade over Hsinyang with the AVG, catching 31 Jap bombers out of about 150. More would have been nicer, but the Av Support at Ichang had been overtaxed, so only 15 warriors met the enemy in the air. The AVG is about 1/3 out of service, therefore the unit is transferring back to Chungking for R&R. I have Chinese moving all over China, trying to create headaches for Dive, and I believe I am, however I am beginning to think I should send them all to home bases so they can improve training and morale. I have not pursued this course of action yet, but am considering doing so.

[Alfred]

Hey, just because I don't regularly post in this AAR doesn't mean I don't read it! [:)]
 
I never miss an opportunity to read this AAR.  Appreciate greatly that it is not padded with pasted combat reports and instead deals with strategy and "musings".  Nice maps too.
 
Alfred 

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Hey, just because I don't regularly post in this AAR doesn't mean I don't read it! [:)]

I never miss an opportunity to read this AAR. Appreciate greatly that it is not padded with pasted combat reports and instead deals with strategy and "musings". Nice maps too.

Alfred

[;)]

Thanks,
About the maps, I post them when I think things have progressed past the last one too far to still be relevent, or when something 'interesting' occurs. If anybody has requests concerning future posts or images, let me know and I will revise the style. More detail will have to wait a few weeks though.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Aleutians:
There is no sign of Jap ships in the area. Fast Transport and Minelaying TF's are visiting Adak Is. this turn, but just in case, PT's are going there also. The weather is predicted to be crappy all over the place so not much is expected from bombers this turn

West Coast:
The Saratoga is down to 6 SYS, but will go up soon when it gets its 6/42 upgrade.

SoPac:
Supplies have all been unloaded at Luganville, but another TK transport TF is still unloading. The airfield hit level 4 this turn so a number of LBA have taken up residence. The weather has a poor forecast so the bomber crews will spend the day decorating their new tents.

OZ:
The 4E's continue to rest this turn after their air attack on Amboina two turns ago. Decent damage was done to the facilities, and 3 Jap PT's were sunk in port. The (50) oil wells were half destroyed in the attack.

India/Burma:
The Brit Bombardment TF made it to Andaman Island undetected and blasted the heck out of the place. Escorts were set to bombard, and even though 7 CD's returned fire, none of the ships sustained any damage worth mentioning. This worked out so well, I might invite the Brit BB's along next time. Dive apparently has abandoned Imphal; some troops from Kohima are enroute there now. Too bad I don't have paras in the area.

China:
Lots of bombing and counter-bombing has gone on the last two turns, and Dive is committing a bunch of planes to the theater. Unfortunately, supply levels are suffering right now so I am beginning a phased draw back of my troops from the wide-spread counterattacks. Dive didn't leave me any openings to exploit so the attacks have largely run their course. There is no reason to keep my troops where they are any longer than it will take to retrieve the "wayward" units. Reinforcements for Yenen are enroute.

Here is the current China situation:

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

According to Dive, I am a "Lucky Bugger." I'm really not too sure what he is talking about though.

Aleutians:
All of my TF's ran in to Adak Is. without incident, the DM's dropping their presents off (1470 there now) and the Fast Transport TF dropping supplies off. A quite a few LBA attacked the DM's on their way out of Adak, but no hits were scored. It may be a little dangerous to send them in there anymore. I have been planning on sending some DM's to SoPac, and will do so now. MLE's have already arrived in the theater, and are awaiting customers.

SoPac:
Nothing to report other than Luganville is building towards 6/6.

OZ:
Nothing to report, the weather is poor.

India/Burma:
Imphal truly is unoccupied. I will rectify that in a couple of turns.

China:
Dive's overwhelming air superiority in the region has caused my to withdraw most of my planes to Chungking, although I sent a bunch of fighters and fighter-bombers to Changsha, hoping to catch some bombers unawares. Troops are falling back on Changsha now also.