Defending the empire 1943, the allies attack - a Jap AAR

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Meanwhile in the port of Rangoon...

Does the ship art improve with repairs?[;)]

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

October is just around the corner. And with that comes both the B-24D and the P-38G...

That means Timor and New Guinea are vunerable to invasions from mid October...

The Battle for Timor, or where ever he first lands nearby, is an important one. Due to lack of nearby airbases, he will probably have to commit the carriers unless you leave him an easy hole. So you will have a chance to hit with "rock paper scissors (LBA, Carriers and Surface). I've had success against multiple opponents in this area. But you need to arrive on the scene with all of your players before he captures the hex. So you need to base the fleet somewhere in the area. I've calculated that Palau or Ulithi would be good spots, but I've actually never based the fleet there, not sure why.

Hm, Im basing the Combined Fleet at Singapore. Then Im moving 3 BBs and 6 CAs to Truk for the defence of New Guinea. I figure the combination of LBA and these fleet units should be enough here. I have lvl 4 or higher airbases at Lae, Gilli Gilli, Thursday Island, Rabaul and Kavieng.

Is it close enough to base at Singapore, or do I have to move them closer? Say Soerebaja?

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Meanwhile in the port of Rangoon...

Does the ship art improve with repairs?[;)]

Hehe, well, I have this mod now...not sure how I installed it really, but there it is.

Anyway, do you have the file for me? [;)]

[Ron Saueracker]

[:)]Leaving for Greece next week. I'll send the files before I go. Send me your email.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker

[:)]Leaving for Greece next week. I'll send the files before I go. Send me your email.

your bloody PM inbox is full!

stevehortlund@hotmail.com

[Hortlund]

Im expecting some action tomorrow

Here is the situation around SA-2. The CVs will remain at their present location, all Zeros are on CAP, all VALs are ordered to hit the Chandpur airfields, Kates are on naval attack in case he tries something funny.

So, transports escorted by BBs will enter Akyab. CAs will bombard Chandpur. Bombers from Mandalay and the CVs will hit the airfields of Chandpur. Bombers from Akyab will hit the port of Chandpur. The idea is that they will arrive after the 4 CAs do a bombardment run on the base to disrupt the AAA there.

Lets see how this works out. Disaster might strike if my CAs fail to bombard the port before the aircraft takes off.

[Hortlund]

Oh, the ring is the defensive CAP over Akyab, and the bases the CAP comes from.

[Hortlund]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/28/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 20 encounters mine field at Akyab (30,29)

Japanese Ships
DD Asagiri, Mine hits 1, on fire
DD Tokitsukaze
CL Kiso, Mine hits 1

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Naval bombardment of Chandpur, at 30,25


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 4 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 2 destroyed
SB-2c: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba
CA Mogami
CA Ashigara
CA Nachi


Allied ground losses:
1481 casualties reported
Guns lost 20
Vehicles lost 5

Airbase hits 23
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 127
Port fuel hits 1

Well, the first part of the plan worked pretty well...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Chandpur , at 30,25

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
D3A Val x 22
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 23
Ki-30 Ann x 53

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 3 destroyed, 16 damaged
Ki-30 Ann: 8 destroyed, 36 damaged

Allied Ships
MSW Maryborough, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Baroda, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Cuttack, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Port hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
11 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
7 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet
19 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

And here comes the port attack... we still take heavy losses from the flak. Divebombers are always more vunerable...

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Day Air attack on Benares , at 28,18


Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 29
Spitfire Vb x 16
P-40E Warhawk x 112


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
6 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 24

Here are his fighters...

But then nothing...no massive raid from my carriers...no 200 bomber strike from Mandalay.

Well, I guess the allies got lucky again. (&#%¤

[Nikademus]

Yes, the DB's are always going to take it on the chin to a degree due to the hard coded altitude they take flak at (2000 feet) I recommend never using them against a base with heavy AA defense. If using 1E's, only use the Torpedo bombers at max altitude. If the exp level is still high or elite, you'd be suprised at the respectible # of hits they can acheive. I used that tactic for the Marianas scenerio when using TF-58 vs a distant atoll target. TBM's are esp good at this being also armored and durable.

[jwilkerson]

Agree, my typical attack profile with KB against land targets is Kates at high, Vals on ASW and/or Naval and Zeros on CAP, escort or sweep as indicated by expected enemy air opposition.

I rarely if ever send KB to attack a Land target that is out of reach of LBA. The combo of LBA and KB is effective - KB by itself risks too many plane/pilot losses for the typical payback.

[Hortlund]

I just finished the September 30 turn today. Wich means we now enter October. This is the day I lose control of the skies over Timor since he can now escort his bombers with P38s. Same goes for New Guinea.

Does anyone know when the US subs get their torpedos back in order? The reason Im asking is because my inner lines of communications have been blissfully void of allied subs. Instead he has been using them for front-line dutys. This will no doubt change sooner or later, and I need to prepare for it. Right now I have tankers and cargo ships running unescorted with oil and resources from the NEI, and sooner or later I will have to change this.

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

I just finished the September 30 turn today. Wich means we now enter October. This is the day I lose control of the skies over Timor since he can now escort his bombers with P38s. Same goes for New Guinea.

Does anyone know when the US subs get their torpedos back in order? The reason Im asking is because my inner lines of communications have been blissfully void of allied subs. Instead he has been using them for front-line dutys. This will no doubt change sooner or later, and I need to prepare for it. Right now I have tankers and cargo ships running unescorted with oil and resources from the NEI, and sooner or later I will have to change this.

The allied torpedos have already started to decrease their % of dudeness (sp??). If i recall correctly by 1.1.43 the rate of dude torps decrease down to 20%...so you're close to it.
My suggestion is to use Hubs. Form few hubs (from Palembang to Brunei, from Brunei to Formosa and from Formosa to Japan; the other one from Java to Balikapan, from there to Formosa and the Japan). Keep few constant routes and use BIG Tfs. Use single ASW TFs to follow the transport TFs and more ASW TFs going up and down from one Hub to another...Don't go and hunt for subs...simply keep your routes clean. A good Air ASW, along with strong ASW TFs and a little number of predictable routes should keep the flow constant.
my 0.2 euros

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner
My suggestion is to use Hubs. Form few hubs (from Palembang to Brunei, from Brunei to Formosa and from Formosa to Japan; the other one from Java to Balikapan, from there to Formosa and the Japan). Keep few constant routes and use BIG Tfs. Use single ASW TFs to follow the transport TFs and more ASW TFs going up and down from one Hub to another...Don't go and hunt for subs...simply keep your routes clean. A good Air ASW, along with strong ASW TFs and a little number of predictable routes should keep the flow constant.
my 0.2 euros

The way I had planned to do it is use 3-4 specialized ASW TFs with my best ASW ships and captains, these will base in various places around my convoy lines. These will chase any spotted submarine. I will have Helens on ASW duty on bases lining the convoy routes so I cover all of the convoy lines with my Helens. Finally in the convoys themselves I will only have one MSW or PC to prevent a sub from making more than one attack.

[Hortlund]

Here is a look at the Timor/Ambonia defenses in October 42.

[mlees]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

The allied torpedos have already started to decrease their % of dudeness (sp??). If i recall correctly by 1.1.43 the rate of dude torps decrease down to 20%...so you're close to it.

Heh. That's "dud rate", not "dude rate".

A dud is a malfunctioning piece of ammo. A dude is a guy. [:)]

[Hortlund]

hehe "dude torpedo" sounds kinda gay

[jwilkerson]

Hum, in looking at your Arafura Sea defenses, I'd probably go after Kai Island (and the other two closer in to Darwin) ... they can be taken easily since you have nothing there and then can build up - albeit slowly. Once he can have fighters here and maybe 2E Bombers at Kai, he can probably invade farther with no additional support. So all this can probably be done without carriers.

[Hortlund]

I really cant take Kai now. Ive bombed the base to pieces since it is my airforce training target. I cant bloody well invade it now and spend two months rebuilding the base and then start fortifying it. Isnt it better to prepare for a counterattack at Kai? Like setting up a cunning ambush with surface combat forces and airunits?

[Nikademus]

Can't cover everything......best you can do is cover the easiest targets along a line of advance. Looks like you have things well covered. As long as you have a strong reactionary reserve force, you should be able to make things difficult for him.

[Hortlund]

Im building up two reserves. One local reserve, will consist of SNLFs and be based at Kendari. This will be the emergency reserve that can be airlifted into a threatened base. Im planning to hold 3-400 AVs together with 5-6 L2D2 wings here.
 
I am building up similar reserves at Rabaul and Bangkok.
 
I am also building up a strategic reserve at Manilla. I have two full infantry divisions and one Tank division here. right now its around 1000 AV, but the tank division is only at 38%, so it will grow more. Ive got all my 14 knot APs here. The idea is that there are the guys I will send in to prevent the main effort wherever that one will come.
 
All that remains is to decide where to base the Combined fleet...