AAR swift vs fochinell

[fochinell]

More days to follow now I've found my notes...

16th March 1944. Rest day due to weather. This is really crippling the allied effort at the moment (well, that plus the pants bombig damage even while the LW are in hiding).

17th March 1944. A: 41/2103 (22), X: 8/197 (4).

MTO: 15th AF on their tramlines to Vienna; 0/320f 0/256b 0e, for Ostmark EFAC 2%, Lobau OILS 99%. The usual TAC F stuff, with a P-40 raid to Imotski AF being roughly handled.

ETO: Tactical raids, with the 9th AF Marauders to Liege doing little damage, while the 2TAF Mitchels to Tille AF manage 4/76f 0/24b 5e despite the weather cancellation of their supporting raids.

BC: 6 Group to Hohenbudberg, 4/310b with 0/24b LNSF support, 90% on target and no NJG reaction. Bunawekr RUBBER PR'd at 57%.

18th March 1944. A: 37/1528 (31), X: 1/26 (1).

MTO: The 15th AF on another quest to hit Ostmark EFAC, or at least locate it instead of the CFAC they keep hitting. Another targetting bug? Anyway, nil opposition and results of 0/320f 6/256b 0e, Moosierbaum CHEM 99%, Ostmark EFAC 1%. The Mediums are active for the Tactical forces, but Flak does it's usual execution - 22 12th AF A-20's lost on attacks oil targets at the head of the Adriatic: too high and they do no damage, too low and flak massacres them and they still do no damage even with high morale. [:@] The usual Tac F raids otherwise.

ETO: Bad weather.

BC: 1 Group to Gelesenkirchen, 0/292b, with all bombloads in target area and no NJG activity.

19th March 1944. Rest day due to weather. Again. [>:]

20th March 1944. A: 122/3323 (32), X: 76/992 (2). At last, some combat.

MTO: The 15th AF send two forces to Vienna, in yet another frustrated attempt to hit Ostmark EFAC, while OKL send their Adriatic interceptors recce-hunting. The 15th get 0/320f 0/256b 0e and only hit a T/O en route home. Well, it only cost a quarter of a million gallons of 100 octane to achieve nothing... The usual tactical stuff, but no air combat.

ETO: The 8th send three forces to Cologne RR, preceded for once by some 2TAF strikes to the Dusseldorf area. A new tactic from the ever-inventive Allied planning staff, or a bone-headed mistake? You decide; in any event OKL ignore them while only one of the Typhoon forces does anything worthwhile, Phillips ARM 99%. The 8th get poor bombing due to cloud (Cologne Nippes 33%, Cologne/Eifeltor 46% and Cologne/Gereon 87%) but only lose aircraft to Flak and cripple-hunting on the return, 0/502f 12/300b 2e. The supporting 9th Marauders see all the action, and the absence of the 2TAF supporters tells, with heavy losses inflicted by a major LW response, 42/384f 49/64b 88e, although the bomber losses are inflated by an unescorted return raid which gets slaughtered when returning over France after reaching the UK, nearly 2 hours after their original ToT. [:@]

BC: 3 Group to Wedau, 3/3240b, no NJG response and all bombs in the target area. The comedians of 205 Group stage a laughable raid on Szolnok; the 28 Halifax II's of the lead units in another LGO miss the town by miles.

21st March 1944. A: 60/604 (33), X: 12/358 (3).

MTO: The usual tactical fighter strikes, the worst being a 12th AF P-38H strike on RR near Rome which brings up the three Stab units lurking in mid-Italy. The strafe/bounce-cripple cycle leads to 15/48f 2e, which is one reason I keep obsolete fighters around to soak up the losses.

ETO: Some more Tac F strikes under the weather. Hurris hit Pas de Calais VSITE 98%, while the 9th AF P-47D's strafing/raiding Tille AF get hammered again, totalling 28/144f 10e, mostly down to more strafing/cripple-bouncing.

BC: 4 Group manage another LGO raid on Bottrop. A couple of NJG units active 96/240b hit the target area, but no air combat.

[fochinell]

22nd March 1944. A: 143/3748 (23), X: 56/1240 (4).

MTO: A busy day; the 15th head for Budapest and for once the LW come up to fight, assembling a mass of fighters west of the city as the Liberators come in. The bad news for me is that this coincides with the weather delay of the target-leg escorts, but fortunately I plotted enough inbound escorts to put up a fight, although one half of the bomber force ends up unescorted over Budpest and the first stage of the return leg. The returning escorts get repeitively bounced as they exit the Adriatic coast on return (15 P-38L lost for nothing; one day the RTBing fighters may fight back. One day...) Good results against targets of opportunity for once, and the bomber losses are low considering the circumstances, 27/320f 23/256b 51e Budapest RR 99%, Budaors OILR 100%. The supporting P-38H sweep gets massacred near Frankfurt courtesy of our old favourite, the Belfast bug. Otherwise the mediums hit Villa Orba AF and the Tac F's do the usual monotonous RR strikes. No combat in either case.

ETO: The weather breaks sufficiently for the 8th to stir themselves into action, and some short-range raids to high-value targets in the western Ruhr follow. No resistance as usual, but some good bombing for once, 0/384f 8/300b 0e for Krupp STEEl 100%, Duisburg Ruhrort 47%, Hohenbudberg RR 68%. The three groups of 9th AF Maruaders in support do some useful damage to Gutehaffnung STEEL 86% for no resistance, 1/487f 4/96b 0e, while the 2TAF raids also avoid combat while the Mitchels hit Randerath CHEM 72%, with the exception of one of the Tiffie raids to Antwerp which attracts most of the action from the late-scrambled LW, 24/69f 0/24b 6e.

BC: The Second Battle of the Ruhr continues, with 5 Group to Dortmund 8/336b with 0/36b LNSF support. Token NJG activity, but the raid isn't concentrated desite 90% of the bombloads hitting the target area.

[wernerpruckner]

sidenote from the German side:
 
The Fw190A and Bf109G-6 are still the main A/Cs in the Luftwaffe....even the Co-Axis forces have better A/C ( at leat their Elite units ) with the Centauro and the Archer and also with the G.56.
The German heavy fighter forces are still flying their Zerstörer - if they can go into a bomber unit they are able to finish them off!!
The German Schlacht units are also sometimes make a few sorties against the enemy.....mainly in the East.
 
But soon
very soon
there will be a new A/C for the Luftwaffe....
the long nosed Fw190D production will come online soon...very soon.
 
This A/C will mainly go to the units that go after the Allied Tactical forces......

[fochinell]

23rd March 1944. A: 11/930 (9), X: 7/0 (5).

MTO: The usual Tac F raids on Italian RR.

ETO: The 9th AF do a couple of successful sweeps against French AF's for once, losing a couple of P-47's to Flak in the process.

BC: 4 Group to Vorhalle, 2/332b and no NJG response. Most bombloads in the city area, although abut 70 hit Alm Pluto FUEL.

[fochinell]

And now, a quick note about my ECM/RCM deployment: by now 192 Sqn in 100 Group has re-equipped with all three RCM a/c now available; the Fort RCM, the Lib RCM and the Halifax RCM. At the start of the game I normally use the Wimpey ELINT aircraft to follow the same track and timing as the bombing force, in the hope of picking up Lichtenstein and then SN-2 emissions, whilst departing from the main force track near the target in order to pull some of the night-fighters after them; this works reasonably often. I also use them for spoof raids against the AI, but unfortunately Werner's not dumb enough to fall for that, and it's hard to con a human player into chasing an ELINT/RCM-only raid as if it was the real thing. When the RCM aircraft arrive in '44, I plot single missions, using the Halifax RCM's with Mandrel (which was supposed to create a jamming screen vs early-warning radar) to come out ahead of the main force and orbit the coastal zone radars which would be the first to pick up and track the incoming raid. Then I distribute the Fort RCM and Lib RCM a/c along and around the main force route, some over nearby radars and others on the track to distrupt radio transmissions with their Jostle transmitters. The Forts and Libs have the right cruising speed to mix up as multiples (rather than single sorties) in the main force, but the Halifaxes are too fast and have too short a range to do that effectively in my opinion.

I have no idea if any of this works, but it was pretty much what BC did in real life, so I'm hoping it's not a total waste of time in the game.

[Hard Sarge]

using 2nd Tac/IXth to make a path during the day, and then placeing jammers to the deeper sites at night, you can pretty much cut down all the radar if that is the path that BC is using

once the Malmut came in, it makes it a bit HARDer to work out (of course, the main idea is to keep the Malmuts down)

[wernerpruckner]

in the OB/OA we are using all ( or nearly most ) of the ECM/RCM devices are working !!
but be aware that we also have some of the better German Radar sites included ( Wassermann, Mammut, etc....)
 
 
here is one nice homepage about various aspects of German C2 structures
 
 
http://www.gyges.dk/

[Morgan60]

I am really enjoying this AAR ... fantastic effort!  ... now if I could just find my old game ....
 
A question about escort what works best?  I seem to remember woeking on a FG ahead of the main force with the bulk of the escort as top cover with one/two squadrons in close.
 
I'd be very interested to find out.

[fochinell]

24th March 1944. A: 192/4211 (40), X: 175/1853 (1). A good-sized bloodbath at last. Losses include 68 B-24J, 42 B-26G, 31 P-47D and 77 Bf 109G6, 45 Fw 190A, 35 Me 410.

MTO: 15th AF head for the Romanian oil industry near Ploesti for a change, attracting some local interception on the return route. 2/288f 5/256b 14e for Targoviste OILS 0% (yet again - presumably the Axis defences include some effective Voodoo witchdoctors) and Mongasia OILS 100%. Various tac raids including the mediums hitting Villa Orba AF, but the only combat comes with some skirmishing on a P-40 raid on southern Italian RR which attracts the local Stab units.

ETO: 8th AF 2nd Bomb Div B-24's head for oil targets around Hmaburg. No resistance on the way in, but flak-cripples causing groups to deviate from the planned return route north of the Friesian coast lead to unescorted groups getting hammered (why do they do this? [:@] Alternatively, why don't the escorts split up a bit more to cover the absent bomb groups? In this case the weather was marginal, but it's tedous being unable to do anything about providing escort cover for the deviants without resorting to wasteful, buggy and ineffective fighter sweeps). Final results 0/696f 63/300b 40e for Harburg Rhenania OILR 81%, Ebano OILR 37%,Alcona OILS 99%, so at least I got some industrial damage to compensate.

The real battle takes place against the tactical forces, with three 9th AF B-26G groups going to targets between Bonn and Cologne, with 2TAF supporters coming in to cover the return route. Major combat inbound, with the escorts failing to prevent repeated bounces of the bomber units. Nil bombing damage, but heavy losses inflicted and suffered - 34/580f 42/96b 129e. The 2TAF Mitchells hit RR around Liege for zero bombing results, but a tolerable 12/324f 6/46b 26e. The Tiffie and Mossie raids do little and miss the combat.

BC: 1 Group to Mulheim, 1/292b with 0/24b LNSF support. No NJG reaction, but some of the later bombing falls short in Oberhausen. 205 Group send a theoretical 168 Halifax II's to Bucharest, but guess what? Yes, that's right, another LGO raid. However, I'll spare the crews the firing squad this time as the two lead squadrons actually managed to get their bombloads in the city area for once.

[fochinell]

A question about escort what works best? I seem to remember woeking on a FG ahead of the main force with the bulk of the escort as top cover with one/two squadrons in close.

Depends upon the defender's tactics, I suppose, but I generally avoid close escort for various reasons (mostly down to it seeming to cause the lead bomber group to seperate from the following ones after bombing) and go for high escorts; one escort unit between 2-4,000ft and another at about 5-6,000ft which is just close enough to bounce anybody intercepting the bombers. If I have enough available fighter units, I'll stick another layer of escorts in at 8,000ft (and if I'm really paranoid, another one at 9-10,000ft), but these are only going to be relevant for bouncing anybody taking on the lower escorts, and won't give the bombers much protection.

Sending sweeps ahead is an excellent tactic, IMO, but it's problematic, depending upon timing (plus the strafing/freezing bugs) and the defender's response. Against the AI sweeps along and to the sides of the bomber route can be very effective, but a human opponent is harder to catch out like that, and the sweeps can be very vulnerable to the defender concentrating on them.

[fochinell]

25th March 1944. A: 12/952 (8), X: 7/204 (0). A better day for my AF attacks than the ground destroyed figure suggests, with 11 a/c damaged.

MTO: The usual Tac F stuff, with lots of weather cancellation.

ETO: A small number of 8th AF and 9th AF sweeps do well, with a 78th FG P-47D sweep to Leck AF in Schleswig-Holstein attracting LW interceptors from Holland, who take casualties when they break for home on the return leg over the German Bight.

BC: 3 Group to Bochum. Another good raid, although some bombloads hit Bochumer Verein ARM rather than the city-centre RR I'm aiming for. 1/240b, no NJG activity.

[fochinell]

26th March 1944. A: 39/3671 (35), X: 3/0 (2).

MTO: The 15th go to Ploesti against nil opposition. Not that OKL need to worry about that, as they miss the usual targets; Columbia Aquila OILR 27% and Targoviste OILS (which requires no Flak defence at all, provided the local witch-doctor has a plentiful supply of USAAF bombardier voodoo dolls), 0%. The 12th AF A-20's do some excellent bombing for the first time in six months, Kostinbrod CHEM 98% and SIAP Leghorn OILS 99%, and only lose a few to Flak. Bzzzt... does not compute.... The Baltimores visit a rare industrial target but miss Berat-Kudowwz II OILR from 16,000ft.

ETO: The 8th head for oil targets around Hamburg, and do some good bombing as well; Eurotank OILR 99%, Shell-Grassbrook OIL 36%, Bucken OILS (sec) 25% for 0/668f 6/384b 0e. Nil opposition against the tactical raids over France and Belgium.

BC: 4 Group to Minden-Weser PORT, 0/240b and all on target. Also 0/24b LSNF to Berlin, scattering 4,000lb Cookies over Reichmarshall Werner's luxury residences and personal cinemas. 205 Group head to Austria and bomb Hall, and suprisingly actually manage to do so; all bombloads reported in the target area to the suprise and disbelief of Allied High Command.

PR reveals the 2nd Battle of the Ruhr is progressing reasonably well; recent targets include Bochum 60%, Bottrop 68%, Oberhausen 28% and Mulheim 77%.

27th March 1944. Rest day.

28th March 1944. A: 102/3368 (35), X: 53/1036 (0).

MTO: 15th to Ploesti again, 1/240f 17/256b 11e, for the usual mixed bag; Dacia Romana OILR 99%, while the voodoo witchdoctor at Targoviste laughs at another attempt by the USAAF to defeat his powerful juju. Such combat as there was, was essentially another late-scramble cripple-hunt. The usual tactical raids in Italy otherwise.

ETO: The 8th back to oil targets in northern Germany and do some excellent bombing against nil resistance, 2/523f 11/256b 3e and Hitzacker OILS 99% and Ebano OILR 100%. The 9th AF do astonishingly well in support, with the Marauders doing 2/464f 0/64b 9e for Hamm OILS 99% and Ludwig BBFAC 100%. Some skirmishing inbound, but nothing serious. 2TAF do most of the air combat covering the Marauder's return over the coast on the return; 20/338f 2/47b 25e, and even a shallow Tiffie raid to St Gobain CHEM doing 2/128f 1/48b 13e.

BC: 5 Group go deep to Leipzig for the first time in a while and get almost all the bombs hitting the city but take some significant losses, 21/360b although the NI's claim 6 for 6 in return. I must remember to plot them further away from known Flak nests. 0/36b LSNF mossies to Berlin for the usual nuisance raid.

[fochinell]

29th March 1944. A: 62/3029 (18), X: 19/718 (0).

MTO: 15th AF return to Ploesti OILR, but do no significant damage. 0/288f 9/256b 1e. Various boring Italian Tac raids.

ETO: The 8th AF go to Leverkusen RUBBER 100% and Rhenania FUEL (S/T) 30% for some combat on the return leg, 11/336f 20/256b 24e. The Tac raids preceeded but did little due to little LW response, although the 9th AF Marauders hit Lunen POWER 100%.

BC: 6 Group to Schwerte 2/336b, all in the target area with no NJG response. Leipzif PR'd at 35% which is a little disappointing.

30th March 1944. A: 55/1854 (26), X: 13/369 (4).

MTO: Tac raids only, with a single brief skirmish between the MAC Spit IX's escorting P-40's to Pescara and some IAR 81's chasing a 15th AF P-38L strike to the northern Adriatic.

ETO: The 8th AF to Hannover in poor weather; most of the losses to Flak with 7 lost on the inbound leg alone to RR Flak on Dutch/German border AF's. [:@] Grrrr... 1/426f 21/256b 7e and only targets of opportunity (T/O's) hit due to cloud cover. The 9th AF send out some P-47 sweeps to cover the return, who take plenty of casualties due to the usual AF-strafe/flak-cripple cycle, 20/192f 2e. 2 TAF resting and absorbing new Spit units.

BC: 1 Group continue the 2nd Battle of the Ruhr on a raid to Wattenscheid, 1/316b and all bombloads on target or a couple on neighbouring urban areas. 205 Group to Ploesti, who manage the astounding feat of scattering bombs around the area without actually hitting anything. Some NJG activity, but they don't need to shoot any down as 205 Group are a net drain on the Allied war effort at the moment. Time for them to get some Halifax III pathfinders with H2S and maybe the local witchdoctors will take them more seriously.

[histgamer]

Has your success or failures advanced or delayed any invasion times yet? Also do you need to bombard the defencive lines in italy to help your boys move forward?

[fochinell]

31st March 1944. A: 1/306 (1), X: 0/0. Bad weather sees a quiet day to round out the month, with only BC active.

BC: 3 Group to Hamburg with all bombloads in the T/A, 1/240b, and LNSF to Berlin for a scattered raid, 0/24b. No NJG activity.

[fochinell]

Has your success or failures advanced or delayed any invasion times yet?

Not really; the invasions of Sardinia and Corsica were a little earlier than usual, but that's a regular occurance in the game. I'm guessing D-Day will be on 4th June 1944 at this rate. I think I've managed to see it right at the end of May in one game vs the AI, but never that early against a human opponent. But then I'm really not doing enough industrial damage to trigger that, if indeed the game really does model it.

Also do you need to bombard the defencive lines in italy to help your boys move forward?

Yes, but the bombing level to achieve decisive results on the ground campaign is astronomic, and really boring to play out IMO, although more experienced gamers like Werner or HS might have a different opinion.

[fochinell]

And now, some screen shots of progress by the end of March 1944. First, the aces:

[fochinell]

And now the losses:

[histgamer]

When someone is killed and is an ace are they removed from the list or do they stay on the kills list listed as KIA until they no longer have enough kills to be on it?

[harley]

KIA, WIA and MIA stay on the list till there are more higher scorers.

When I have time, there's some other changes to be made to this list, but I'll save them up for now...

nope, not giving hints...