Tora Tora Tora - EdM is welcome too!!!

[dennishe]

Doesn't landing in an enemies hex not cause disruption as well? And a lot of casualties? Don't really know what is better. A bombardement of Kuantan is definitively on the schedule. Para's will come into action later on. I was planning to use them to secure an allied base on Java just before my troops land. I want to arrive with a lot of force at once and when the base where I land is already mine, this will save me a lot of casualties and disruption. Kragen or Merak would be suitable locations. First have to do a lot of reconing though. Don't want to drop my para's on top of enemy troops. Otherwise I will find something else useful to do for them.

[2ndACR]

You will suffer some disruption and casualties by landing at Kauntan, but it is alot better than the month of marching overland from KB and arriving in Kauntan in the 60's after the march. You still get the invasion bonus which lessens the disruption and casualties. Use it.
 
Merak is only a problem because you either have to go right thru Batvia or around Singapore to get there. Kragen is the best bet, but his airpower will be hitting you all the way.......remember? Granted it is not that accurate, but it can sting you. I would think about para dropping on Merak if it is empty and then airlifting a brigade or division from Palembang into it. Or even that base just south of Batvia (if empty). That will pin the troops at Batvia in place. Supply will be a problem at Merak though. But Tabby's are great for that.
 
 Kragen gives you good ground right in the middle, but exposes you to attack almost the whole way there. Shoot, bring in 2 divisions, bomb the stuffing out of Batvia, hit with major bombardments (start ASAP) and just land right on him there. This is way early in the game and his forts will be pretty low. Or is in Nikmod only? May need to check the starting forts in this particular scenario you are playing before trying it. But 2 divisions along with say 2 Eng regiments and he is doomed.

[dennishe]

I have a few days to finalize my plans for Java. First I'm going to take Palembang. I have several CAs at Kuching right now and I'm planning to transfer the 65th brigade from Brunei to Palembang. I can be there within a few days.
 
About the bombardements. I'm low on bombers. I need a lot of them to keep the allies pinned down on the Philippines and at Malaya. Further I have Betty and Nell nests at Jolo, Amboina, Kwajalein and Truk to seek and destroy allied shipping. I want to take Palembang first. Then I can used planes with a shorter range. Got plenty of those. Further Palembang is a great base to recon Java. In addition I will soon hold Kendari. I will land there with 1/3rd division.
 
 
 
 

[dennishe]

The invasion of Palembang is underway. The 65th division will land there in a few days, escorted by several surface TFs. Further I'm transfering the 1st and 2nd parachute regiments to Kuching. My transports will follow later on and clear the pathway for the invasion of Java. I have 2 divisions, the 14th Army HQ, 2 engineer squads and some additional troops available for the first invasion wave. For reinforcements I have 2 more divisions and several tank regiments available.
So far EdM has not yet countered any of my attacks. I observed that there were over 40 ships in Soerabaja port, including several cruisers. Tomorrow, around 60 Nell bombers will pay him a visit. Hopefully, I will cause him some damage.

[2ndACR]

Kuching might be a little far from Kragen. I cannot remember if it is within 8 hexes or not. Tabby's go 9 but Topsy's are 9......normal range anyway. I try to stay within normal range to maximize load lift and keep ops losses down. Plus fatigue.
 
 I would transfer them to Palembang, so that once you drop on Kragen or merak, you can at once start lifting the 65th into the captured base to prevent him from re-taking the base. Unless you are going to hit both at once with paras followed by invasion. 4 divisions are plenty. Still way too early for him to have gotten the 18th UK div there. I have never gotten them there before mid-late Jan 42.
 
Are you invading Kuantan? And if so, how goes it?

[dennishe]

I think he hasn't even received the 18th UK division yet. I think it comes after 18 days(?). Anyway, there can't be additional divisions at Java yet. Perhaps some troops he withdrew from other places, but I have not spotted any ships yet. I think I'm pretty save. First I'm going to recon Java. I don't want to drop my paratroopers on top of a full armed regiment. Then I will make up the final plan, which indeed may require to base my transports at Palembang.
 
My Nells did not a good job at Java. They only hit the Ruyter (1 bomb hit, on fire) and the Houston (1 bomb hit). There were only three fighters defending Soerabaja. They will get another change tomorrow.
 
Yes, I'm going to land the Imperial guards at Kuantan. They will arrive tomorrow. My surface TFs have already preluded the landings with a nice coastal bombardement.

[dennishe]

The invasion of Kuantan was successful. About 1500 casualties, but that is not so bad for bringing on land the imperial guards, the 25th army headquarters, a naval SNLF and a tank regiment. His troops seem to be much weaker than I expected. Kuantan will be mine soon. Further I landed a division on Rabaul today. A second division is underway. After the siege of Rabaul I want to take on PM righton.
Further invasions of Kiska island (finally), Mindanao (southern big Philippinian island) and Kendari are expected within the next two days. Palembang will take a little longer. The TF just finished loading at Brunei.
 
 
 

[2ndACR]

Okay, glad you went after Kuantan directly. Take advantage of the invasion bonus for as long as it lasts. And I think it ends at the end of Dec 41. Not sure.
 
What did you do with the 56th Brigade from Palau?
38th from Hong Kong?
 
Mainly just curious, I have always thought about isolating the PI and just bombing them to dust and using the troops elsewhere, but just hate the idea of a huge Allied base in my rear area. Of course, I probably would have staged the Java forces on ship but near Kuching to use the turn 1 warp move. Then on turn 2 or 3 start them towards Java. That would have me landing in Java around 14 Dec 41. I would not cross the "possible" boundary on turn 1, but would have abused the warp move to stage forces forward. Same for all forces that are South Pac bound. I just hate that I have to grab alot of transports and send them to where they are needed on turn 1, thus negating the warp move.

[dennishe]

The 56th brigade is at Amboina and is preparing for invasion of Lautern. The 38th division at Hong Kong is one of the 4 divisions that are either in reserve or will be used for the invasion of Java. I'm grouping these units at Hong Kong and Kuching.
 
Using the warp move to catch Java was indeed my plan. Unfortunately, the warp move did not reach Kuching and then my TF appeared to be stuck in a hex. Well you can read these events above. For the invasions of Rabaul and PM (still to come) it seemed to work out fine. I have two full size divisions in the area. Rabaul, PM and Lunga will be mine before EdM even can think of reinforcing the area.
 
Skipping the Philippines is indeed a big risk, but I wanted to use a lot of the troops originally asigned to the Philippines to quickly capture a lot of ground. I could have landed a few troops at the Philippines (enough so that EdM cannot kick me out), but then I wouldn't have any reserve at all. His planes do not really bug me yet. He has only roughly 14 P40Es and 6 B17Cs operating in the area.
 
Now I hope to have reached the historical outer perimenter of the Japanese advances in WWii within one or two months (Wake, Tarawa, Lunga, PM, Lautern/Kupang), while the allies are still weak. After I have installed my bases there, I will focus my attention to the Philippines and some other bases that I skipped. It will be really difficult for EdM to counter these attacks.
 
I have been inspired by "Hirohito" (see his lawrence of arabia thread). However, I do not want to take it anything near the extreme as he proposed. I think there are more people around that successfully bypassed the Philippines. I have to be careful though that EdM does not successfully bring in supplies, troops and planes and becomes a treath to my shipping.
 
 

[wild_Willie2]

Hi there.

What kind of training program are you going to use for your pilots?.

I can highly recommend the "train,fragment,disband fragment, refill with green pilots" method, as it does not a 90 days waiting period included.

If you want to know details, let me know.

greets

William

[Yava]

ORIGINAL: dennishe

The 56th brigade is at Amboina and is preparing for invasion of Lautern. The 38th division at Hong Kong is one of the 4 divisions that are either in reserve or will be used for the invasion of Java. I'm grouping these units at Hong Kong and Kuching.

Using the warp move to catch Java was indeed my plan. Unfortunately, the warp move did not reach Kuching and then my TF appeared to be stuck in a hex. Well you can read these events above. For the invasions of Rabaul and PM (still to come) it seemed to work out fine. I have two full size divisions in the area. Rabaul, PM and Lunga will be mine before EdM even can think of reinforcing the area.

Skipping the Philippines is indeed a big risk, but I wanted to use a lot of the troops originally asigned to the Philippines to quickly capture a lot of ground. I could have landed a few troops at the Philippines (enough so that EdM cannot kick me out), but then I wouldn't have any reserve at all. His planes do not really bug me yet. He has only roughly 14 P40Es and 6 B17Cs operating in the area.

Now I hope to have reached the historical outer perimenter of the Japanese advances in WWii within one or two months (Wake, Tarawa, Lunga, PM, Lautern/Kupang), while the allies are still weak. After I have installed my bases there, I will focus my attention to the Philippines and some other bases that I skipped. It will be really difficult for EdM to counter these attacks.

I have been inspired by "Hirohito" (see his lawrence of arabia thread). However, I do not want to take it anything near the extreme as he proposed. I think there are more people around that successfully bypassed the Philippines. I have to be careful though that EdM does not successfully bring in supplies, troops and planes and becomes a treath to my shipping.

Hey there...
seems that you are playing similar to my opponent Dixie san [;)] The one and only Japanese of British looks [;)] Anyways, closing down Java is vital and is (not can be) a real pain in the as some of the people have mentioned before. Try to do it as quickly as possible but close the eventual escape route to the South (sorry if someone mentioned it... I didn't see it) [;)] Cut off the Island and later move on to PI! [;)]
Good luck! I'm keeping an eye on your game! [:)]

[dennishe]

Hi William,

Could you give me a little more detail?

I was planning to deploy the underexperienced squadrons to theathers that are relatively safe and where there are not a lot enemy fighters. Initially these units will be sent to bombard cut off troops in the Philippines or the DEI and when these have been eliminated China is probably a good alternative.

In another game that I'm playing against Iley (japanese), he is bombarding one base (which is still mine) in the Philippines daily . There hasn't been anybody alive anymore for months. This method really seems to pay off for him. It is march 1943 and his planes are still killing me. I think this his method is kinda gamey though, but I'm definitively going to use a similar strategy. Just not against empty bases. Although we did not discuss any houserules.

[wild_Willie2]

Hi Dennishe.
 
I will try to give you the heads up on training:
 
1) Always assign a leader to a training unit with a high inspiration rating, this will increase their training speed significantly.
 
2) Retain some uncaptured backwater enemy base to train upon, preferably somewhere in the philippines (clark field) or near some other central place near a level 8-9 AF  (flying training missions from big AF's reduces the number of ops losses significantly.
 
The training itself:
 
A) Fill out squadron with green pilots.
B) Assing good leader.
C) Begin training by daily bombing backwater enemy base.
D) After a few weeks, EXP has climbed significantly.
E) Transfer squadron to base with harbour and little AV support (this works best in home isl, where plenty of bases with harbours are located next to each other).
F) In same turn, load and them unload squadron (now all planes are damaged)
G) Next turn, a small percentage of the planes will have been repaired (due to very little AV support available).
H) Transfer repaired planes (1-3) to new base (these planes will now have become "parent" unit, left behind planes will have become "fragment").
I) Transfer, a to be filled out/depleted squadron to same base where the "fragment" is located.
J) Disband fragment into, the to be filled out/depleted squadron.
K) Load newly filled out squadron onto Ak and unload at base with plenty of AV support.      
L) Fill out parent unit again with green pilots, and restart training.
 
This method skipps the mandatory 90 days waiting period of disbanding the ENTIRE unit into a new unit, it also keeps some experienced pilots in the squadron with a lot of green pilots, this will also help the rookies gain EXP quickly.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Gr.
 
William

[histgamer]

tHAT STRIKES ME AS COMPLICATED.[:(] To much work lol.

[wild_Willie2]

No, actually it is easy as pancakes. Just train, transfer, load/unload, transfer, disband, fill out again.
 
try it, it is much easier than it looks.
 
Gr.
 
William

[histgamer]

Perhaps I will next time I am Japan. But it does sound complicated at least.[:D]

[wild_Willie2]

If you want to keep up with the allied airpower mid/late in the war you NEED an active training program.
Especially when you are playing stock, A-A losses through UBERCAP in stock can be crippling for japan within 2-3 major battles, that is why I will never play stock a PBEM game anymore.... 
 
In mods (big B-Nik-experimental) using this technique, you can actually keep on IMPROVING the quality of your airgroups until quite late in the war....
 
It might take an extra 3-4 minutes per 10 or so turns to execute this technique, but it will be more that worth it...
 
Greets
 
William
 

[dennishe]

Thanks Willie. It makes perfectly sense to me know.
And if you do the training with obsolete planes, you can simply upgrade them to the planes that you want the pilots to fly in the active unit. This will keep all the planes on the ground as well and it saves some planes (never enough front line planes, while there are obsolete planes enough). In that case it is hardly extra work as well, because you would have to upgrade these training squadrons anyway.
 

[dennishe]

Today, there were landings at Davao, Mendano, Kendari and Nauru island. Further there was heavy fighting at Kuantan, Rabaul and Yenen. At all these places I have much more troops, but so far only Nauru island was liberated.

Malaya: The Malasian army escaped to Singapore. There are currenlty 8 units at Malacca. He is obviously retreating everything to Singapore. Good! Taking the rest of Malaysia will be easy. I will let them starve a bit at Singapore, before I will try to take it.

The Philippines: Things are quit in the skies. Intel says there are only a few fighters at Manilla. Clark fields seems to be abandoned. Troops are landing near Davao. There is a Philippinian division there. I probably have to bring in some more reserves to take it completely.

DEI: The invasion of Palembang is underway. It will take around 4 days for my troops to arrive. Further there were landings at Kendari and Medano. Both locations might need some reinforcements to take it. For now they are on bombardement attacks until all supplies are ashore. Reinforcements are underway

Rabaul: I have 4 SNLF units, a special base force and a full size division at land but still I couldn't blast a dent in there defenses. Tomorrow it will hopefully be a different day after another coastal bombardement.

Pacific: Nauru was taken today. The invasion of Kiska island will commence tomorrow.

[dennishe]

I forgot to set my supporting TF at patrol when I did the shore bombardement at Kendari (I do that a lot). EdM almost punished me heavily for that. I think the dice really fell my way.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kendari at 33,71

Japanese Ships
PG Busho Maru
PG Kanko Maru
PG Keiko Maru
PG Nanpo Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
PG Okuyo Maru
PG Taiko Maru
AP Biyo Maru
AP Daaban Maru, Shell hits 61, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AP Eli Maru
AK Hakodate Maru, Shell hits 2 (wil probably sink)
AK Himalaya Maru
AP Hino Maru #3
AK Hokutai Maru
AK Huzikawa Maru
AP Igasa Maru
AK Isin Maru
AP Jinshu Maru
AP Kimishima Maru
AP Kiri Maru
AK Kiso Maru

Allied Ships
CL Java
CL Tromp
CL Marblehead
CL Boise
DD Alden
DD Barker
DD Bulmer
DD Edsall
DD John D. Edwards
DD Paul Jones, Shell hits 1
DD Parrott