AAR for Tanker

[Hard Sarge]

we got a PBEM game set up for BoB41, if Tanker is the talkative type, this post will be for him to tell what is going on from his side, while I try to set up the same for my side

we are not allowed to read the other posts, until after the game, or we crash out (Hmmm, i still have not checked out Speedys AAR)

overall, we looking for issues we knew about, to see if they are still there, or see if we can find any new ones, what shut me and Speedy down in the last one, should be corrected now

still got a scoreing issue (minor)

let the battle begin, I have gotten his turn and have sent back mine

[Cav Trooper]

Evening everyone, I hope everyone enjoys the match to follow. As stated this is not a "Bragging Rights match" but rather a chance to work issues out. So, without much more...let the game begin...(Travel backwards to 1941, scene: Air Marshal's briefing room and staff on hand....)

AM: Gentlemen, intellegence reports that Hitler has decided to return to the scene of his last defeat since Stalin has agreed to back down and stay out of this war ...for now.. We know that the Western air front has a new overall commander. He is  relatively new one since, the last one was relieved of his command as he failed to achieve the original goal of driving us to our knees..The new one is General Hard Sarge, intell has nothing to report to us on his abilities, tactics or strategy mindset,  so we are up against a total  but assuredly respectable unknown. What we do know is that that it will be a hard fought fight, as we both have built up considerable forces..We all are veterans here, so lets us not assume that it will turn out like the last little tea party...So, what do we know...XO...

XO:Sir, we know that he will attempt to reduce our industrial strength, as that will severely weaken the war effort not only in the North Atlantic, but also in the Med. So, we believe that there are two ways of achieving this. Striking selectively at key industries, or concentrating on one or more key areas geographically; Conventry, Bristol, around London, Liverpool, Leeds-Sheffield and Glasgow. I, sir, personally believe that he will initially attempt to gauge our response by initially going after a few select targets around London, sir. Once he gets a feel for our response he might then go deeper...Probablly Conventry sir.

AM: I agree with that assesment, however, how will he lead off. Will he execute fighter sweeps flying like Bomber raids, trying to draw up our fighters early and wearing the out prematurely?? Will he lead with a shallow raids, then later in the day while we are rearming, go for larger late day raids?? or just how will he do it. Gentlemen, I believe that our best course of action is to respond cautiously the first day, Engage only the raids which we can successfully get to without over extending our forces. XO play it cautious first time out...We need to not show out hand completely, and only show him what we think he wants to see...

Aide: Air Marshal, Plot has reported increased radio traffic from France, and intial radar reports indicate raids are beginning to form up, sir...

AM: Okay Gentlemen, to your posts...Good luck...

[Hard Sarge]

okay, so everyone knows, I am breaking my rules, I need to read Tankers post, I think there is a error and I need to see what he seen (we on the net at different times)

right now, test is on hold until we figure out what is going on

[Hard Sarge]

Dang it, from his PM, he reported he thought there may be a issue, and wasn't sure if what he was doing was correct, but he did not write about it, so I am still in the dark about what it is (got ideas, and that is what we are testing for to start with)

I have sent a new turn to see if everything is correct, we may have to begin this one again, if it is so

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, we've got the communication problem fixed, so I'll continue with the AAR for now...Hope you all enjoy....

****Still inside the Briefing room, after staff has left*******

AM: XO, just a moment if you don't mind....Ah, yes..XO I need you to be careful with our boys out there, we don't know how long this is going to last mind you, so don't go off willy nilly and lose your knickers over the first raids now...

XO: Yes, sir..

AM: Now, here's what I want to do...First few times, show him we're running a wee bit in a tizzie, try to meet him head on, and contest as much as you can, but don't over extend us. First things first, Send the spits for the Fighters...we need to strip them off of the Bombers so that our Canes and do their business, don't need them mucking up in a fight they can't win like the last time around..I think, he's going to throw up a heavy fighter screen the first few days, and escort the lead bombers in with fighters..and try to sneak a couple in underneath or mixed in without escort..Hit those unescorted ones hard..But also just don't let him just fly by unopposed at first..See, he's got to do one of two things, tire out our poor chaps by wearing us down like last time, or he's got to escort relatively large raids to prevent us from getting to his bombers..Which mean large raids first and very few smaller raids..I believe he knows he can't be sending out alot of little raids and which will be lightly escorted, as he knows we can out number him on a few of those type raids, and if we do, we can hurt them very badly. ...Now, remember, I don't think he'll go long these first few days..unless he's really not learned from the last time, which I don't think he hasn't. So watch it and be very careful..He's going to be crafty and change up..don't let our lads think as i said, that it's going to be an easy win...dismissed XO..and Good luck..

XO: Sir!!!! <salute> ..leaves...

AM: Yes, he's going to be smart this one..I have a feeling that he's going to be real crafty...

[Cav Trooper]

Okay here's the first wave I saw come up on the radar..I'm not sure which raid are the bombers, and which are fighters. However, if I were to guess I'd say, both...A wedge of fighters with the bombers(also escorted) around, over and amoungst the bombers. The lower left raid, i believe will head straight for the southern part of England, the lower right if i was to guess will hang a right and follow right behind the first one on the lower left. The middle one, I'm not sure, but might just slide in behind the other two....

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, I guessed wrong and caught me off guard. The one I thought was going to follow behind the first one, didn't, it just angled off to it's right about 30 degrees and looks like it's going to cross over behind or beside the first raid..also noticed another one to the far east over Holland starting to ride in straight for the area North and East of London..I've already committed to the two raids already, and can't change up now with out really getting slammed. Oh well, i guess I'll have to just adjust as best as I can...However, I did guess right in how he presented his raids to me...Fighters leading the raids, and amongest them, leaving the bombers for the most part unescorted. I assigned the Spits to the Fighters, and Hurri's to the unescorted Bombers. Now, if i can slip the Hurri's past the screens I"ll be all right (I hope). Oh I almost forgot, the middle raid came up short and bombed the Port..sneaky IMHO..real sneaky..No damage on that raid I believe, he got in fast and out fast.....

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, we've met almost head on...I've got most of my fighters and some of the twin engine fighters engaged south of London (inside green circle) and some moving to engage the far east raid..I'm either going to get hammered in this fight or hammer him...Again, I sent Spits for ME's, and Hurricanes for the bombers. Also, note underneath the Furball, one squadron almost to the coast of France chasing the middle raid for earlier. Missed them on the recall order, I just hope they don't ignore me and go for those lovely French ladies, and all that Wine..I've got my fingers crossed...Already know I've lost 11 fighters to his 19, not the outcome I've hoped for first turn, but could be worse. Note that I believe that first raid did do some damage...

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, the Day turn is over, and the night one has begun..But first, note that I did appear to get lucky on the losses...He's hurt, but not hurt bad enough..I've taken some hits also. For the most part, my strategy worked as best as I had hoped, but my timing was off, way off..But, he didn't penetrate as far as I had originally thought he would...I thought the first turn he would go shallow, and he did, but shallower than I had anticipated...Now, I"ve tossed all my night fighters up, plus a few day fighters hoping to catch these night raiders...For the most part I did, and got a couple of surprises also. Weather between him and the targets interfered with his strikes, but it also hurt me in some respects. With the score the way it is showing, I believe that the damage repair crews are going to be busy this week....<sigh>....

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, you didn't see the fight in the North, but I got in and amoungst his bombers, and bagged two of them..got alot of sighting reports, and evade reports but I did get lucky...Remember, two nightfighter kills...that was my surprise.[:)] okay, here's what my pilots reported to the Intell Officers...Notice the damages...Shallow raids, screened by fighters, and not many kills. I was also surprised at his timing. But, as I said earlier, I got lucky and didn't get hurt worse than I did...The unescorted raids were the night raids..

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, got turn two from HS...

Weather over southwest Britain was all cloud, but over the area around Dover and south east of London was clear. Seeing this I felt he would start off attacking there first, and avoiding the weather to the west...that thinking would get me into some trouble later on...

The first series or wave of bombers came up exactly where I thought he would place them, SE England. Like the day before, He once again threw what i believe is everything he had or close to it. All raids were heavily screened by fighters. Anticipating that the would do it again like the day before, I launched all my spit squadrons to engage his fighters...Then Hurri's to hit his bombers. I intially had good luck with this tactic, but shortly after his first wave crossed the coast, and approximately 40% of my attacks had already launched, his second wave showed up behind his first, and started inland..I had planned only on the Eastern most raids, as I stated above, with the intent to hit the fighters hard, strip them away, and go heavily after his bombers both inbound and out bound. But this second wave was throwing a monkey wrench into my planes..I did reasonably well with the figher v fighter attacks..and started to make inroads with his bombers, but I didn't commit as much early as I should have as his bombers never made it past the coast like I had thought they would. Instead, they only hit coastal ports....Having said that, He then threw up a second batch of raids, this time going for the ports to the west underneath the cloud cover, again on the coast. I could not hit them intially, until just after they had already bombed my ports, as I didn't have anything close by..again my bad guess about the SW part of England. I did however manage to fighters in the air (tired pilots) and just happen to catch 110's and JU-87's with a good size response, just as they bombed or shortly after. I for the most part ignored his fighters and went for the bombers. I made a decent number of kills on his raids there, and recovered my aircraft. The only place where I made a good show of things was up North..He sent two raids out from Norway..I chose to ignore the trailing one, and hit the lead one. I lauched in some respects to early, however, I caught them out over the north sea, and proceeded to start damaging and killing his 111's..The attacks were pressed home,enough that some of the bombers started home early. But for the most parts, they continued on and did a fair amount of damage. After the dust settled, I had downed more of his Aircraft than I had lost. So far no fighter sweeps over my airfields, luckily, however, I don't anticipate that luck not lasting long. All in all, a decent turn on my part..He still leads me by about 100 points on day two..now for Day three...

[Cav Trooper]

Okay, the next day has arrived...My poor pilots are weary from the constant action with no breaks, but the maintanence personnel have done wonders keeping my battered fleet up and running. His first raids came in a hurry one behind the other, with an odd one out west. First indications appear to the London Area, but as in the past, first indications can be misleading. I had earlier, in hopes of forcing his bombers back or demoralizing them enough that his bombing accuracy would drop off, had changed all of 11 Groups Hurricanes' tactics to direct bomber, instead of bounce bomber (little did I know of the impending problems this would cause). So, once again I decided I would tie up his fighters, although not as often as previous, and go for the bombers en mass..Half of the Spits went for the Escorts, the other half would go for bombers along with the Canes'..For the western raids, I decided that I would oppose them also (thought about leaving them alone and massing all the fighters towards the center) instead of giving them a free ride. As they crossed the coast, I scrambled everything in 11 Group, 12 Group and about a third of 10 Group to the center raids. Left the Twin engine guys on the ground as they would take to long to enter the fight and did not know if he would raid the south that night or not..I hoped to run a series of waves at him, once on the way in, and what I could on the way out...With 10 Group, I sortied the about half of what was left against the Western raid, and saving the other half for the sorties, for the Western raids on his way out. Once again, he hit targets short of London instead of deeper targets as I had both thought he would and had hoped for. To late to change orders as the battle had begun for better or worse. Intially, things appeared to go my way with respect to kills and losses, then the Canes' joined in...By ignoring the Fighters, and not manuevering for position, they flew headlong into a malestrom of destruction..At this point, when I thought his bombers were going to split up, they didn't. It looks like he wanted a final headlong symphony of chaos (which he would have the advantage number wise), which for the most part he got. My losses started to mount, especially amoung the Cane's.. His fighters did not break off, but continued to catch mine in very compromising positions, and began to wreack havoc amoung my poor blokes...To the West I faired better, but had I not sent some of 10 Group towards the center, I would have faired even better than I did, but losses and results were balanced in the West. 12 Group did finally manage to arrive, as his bombers were turning for home, and I managed to turn the losses from a total one sided affair, to a more acceptable number. I ended up losing more than he did, but i attribute that to the tactic change I had made earlier, and changing my strategy from tying up escorts to ignoring them for the bombers. As the sun set upon the Isle, more of my production and support infrastructure was smoking or burning...I wondered if I could mount even a token resistance the next day if he came again in strength as he did. Looking back, I realized that my intial strategy would have paid off better than this latest change, and if I had ignored the Western raids, and sent every thing to the center, could I have influenced the battle to a different end result? Possibly yes, but more probably not, only difference might have been the difference between what I lost compared to his losses might have been narrower.

As a result of today, I will say that General HS did exactly what I did not expect, and it paid off for him...Now, I have to be going to explain to the Prime Minister and the House of Lords, why we did not fare as well as the previous days...

[Cav Trooper]

Day four....Orders went out for 11 Group to revert back to original training and tactics that had served us well, up until yesterday..The new Pilots were again complaining about the frantic pace, but the old salts from the First Gambit, only smiled, sighed and wearily climbed into the cockpits or sat down waiting for the orders to scramble...

Once again, radar indicated a strong raid forming up over the Coast of France. As with yesterday, I saw indications that he was going to mass again over the center and I issued orders much along the same lines as yesterday. Spits to go for fighters, and Canes' for the bombers. Everything massed well, and this time almost everything hit at the same time..but..They were mostly Italians...where were the German Luftwaffe???? General HS had done it again, changed up tactics again. As soon as I began to engage his leading formations another wave had formed up behind that one..I had committed to much to soon, and would be hard pressed to even offer more than a token resistance to this follow up. Hastily, I recalled most of the current fighters back that had just taken off, hoping that I could get them reserviced in time to engage the second wave...Another mistake I made, should have left them to engage the leading wave..Quickly my fighters made it in amoung the Italians, and started to thin out their ranks. Intially I was racking up a kill loss ratio in my favor. But as soon as this intial group of interceptors broke off for home, I found out that his fighters had arrived over a few of my airfields, and losses began to mount for those landing birds...Luckily it didn't last long. I scrambled what I had for the second wave inbound, and as I engaged them with some success, a third wave appeared behind them climbing up from France...Great, now I had almost no reserves....I hastily, launched what I had at them...Frantically they climbed for altitude to catch them soon enough to do something. As the third wave crossed the coast, a fourth one appeared...As soon as I had recovered aircraft, reserviced them, I sent them back up...Fatigue began to climb for my pilots..But luckily, as soon as the fourth raid appeared, no more came forth from France. My pilots hit his as best as i could. I found some unescorted bombers on the way back to France, and mauled them...Caught 110's on the way home, and caused some damage. IT was a rinse and repeat affair all day long. I had lost the inititive and was fighting my own loss there of....I just hoped that the day would end soon...It did... Looking back at the losses, I realized that I had actually faired better than he did, but only by the slimist margins...Luck it seemed had smiled today on the English Isle for once this battle..Now, to await his next move..

[Hard Sarge]

And, after sending Tanker his day 5 turn, I went to work on my files and screwed up the password info, so, the battle ended here

a good AAR, a good little battle

found a couple of things to work on (which should of waited)

next run, I will make a 2nd game, so when I make changes and test them, it does not screw up the files for the game we have running

Good Game Tanker, plus we learned some stuff I needed to see (and I liked your AAR, but think my rank should be different)

[font="arial"]Oberst[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]Colonel[/font] [font="arial"]Group Captain[/font] [font="arial"]Generalmajor[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]Brigadier General[/font] [font="arial"]Air Commodore[/font] [font="arial"]Generalleutnant[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]Major General[/font] [font="arial"]Air Vice Marshal[/font] [font="arial"]General der Flieger[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]Lieutenant General[/font] [font="arial"]Air Marshal[/font] [font="arial"]Generaloberst[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]General (4 star)[/font] [font="arial"]Air Chief Marshal[/font] [font="arial"]Generalfeldmarschall[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]General (5 star)[/font] [font="arial"]Marshal of the R.A.F.[/font] [font="arial"]Reichsmarschall[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font] [font="arial"]-[/font]

we will be working on a new PBEM test shortly, so stay tuned

[Cav Trooper]

(roleplaying switch on)

My apologies, Herr Generaloberst, I was unaware of the proper German name for the position, I will hence forth have my staff present me with the proper titles and associated ranks for the future..Again, my apologies, Sir...

Sincerely,

Air Marshal Tanker

(roleplaying switch off)

Seriously, thank you for an enjoyable game, and am looking forward to more in the future...