The First Team: Take Two!

[Jaroen]

For those interested in oil industry in general and some specifics as well:
Daniel Yergin; The Prize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1230648
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~twod/oil ... tline.html

Chapter 18 discusses the Royal Dutch/Shell oil production in Indonesia, the capture and destruction attempts. It shows it was all very much a roll of the die indeed whether destruction of machinery etc. succeeded.

Very good website about the DEI during 41/42 (already mentioned before)
http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/

Check the Balikpapan en Palembang links for specifics. What it doesn't tell precisely is about the involvement of Royal Dutch/Shell and it's employees (engineers and such) in decision making and execution of destruction activities. Better to read Yergin on that matter.

Good reading!

[John 3rd]

Thank you Sir. I will check out those links.

Here is Burma on the 9th of January:

[Canoerebel]

If I'm the Allies and the Japs have (1) taken Meiktila thus marooning my troops near Moulmein and (2) taken Lashio preventing me from getting Chinese reinforcements into India, I'm having a heart attack.
 
The Allies position in India and Burma has suddenly become desperate.  Your opponents will now be examining their "worst case scenario" which means, of course, an invasion of India.  You're unlikely to have the element of surprise, but you do have overwhelming force and a bunch of Allied troops are marooned.

[John 3rd]

That was the plan!  We'll have to see how quickly they react Dan.

I only have about 75 AS holding Lashio due to the arrival of the AVG.  The Japanese Air Force will begin bombing Mandalay and Sweeps will be flown over Lashio to deal with those little Tiger Cubs!  Perhaps then we can get a serious amount of troops into the base.

Since you posted onto this AAR, I will imagine there is a turn sitting in my inbox!  Moving to Summer 1944 in about one minute...

[2ndACR]

They may be examining worst case, but it takes a long time to shift all the forces from Burma to India. Either by marching or air lift. This early in the war, the aalies just do not have alot of airlift capability.

[John 3rd]

These are intercepts between Admiral John and General Brad:

From Me:
OK Turn.

Java
What is your plan with the Java Army?  I pulled the DD that took a Torp and have it heading to Balikpapan to disband.

Burma
I shall begin to clear the skies of Burma this turn:
1.   From Magwe will be 36 Zero and 9 Tony Sweeping over Lashio.  Airlift begins again there.  Should do OK since there were 9 AVG and 9 Buffalo covering that Base this turn.  1st Aviation continues flying into Magwe.

2.  From Rahaeng will Sweep 27 Zero and 36 Oscar over Meiktila.  That will be more difficult since there were 19 AVG there this day.
 
They have pulled back from the river.  I sent an Inf Div and TK Regiment towards Meiktila and the other Inf Div to Rangoon.  Need that Airfield...

SoPac
Will land at Noumea tomorrow and have it the day after.  I will then consolidate the Fleet as well as Fuel/Supply before jumping to Suva.

CarDiv1 will raid Eastern Australia and CarDiv5 will nail the shipping in New Zealand.  After these raids everyone heads back to Noumea for some R&R and then we launch on Nandi.

Thoughts Sir?

---

Brad's Thoughts

.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P {padding:0px;} .ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} Java:  I plan to send a small force northward until it runs into resistance, everyone else is going to clear Soerbaya.  Once that happens, we conquer the north end.  At the end, the troops prep for India.  Maybe one brigade for Palembang.

On Burma, sounds good, you need to do something about the airpower.  On the bright side, I think the Dutch are about spent, so whatever Zeros you need, go ahead and take.  The Nells are resting up at Kuching, don't need those either anymore.  Might need a couple at Koepang to support a move on Broome, but I will alert on that.  Take what you need for Burma. 

Noumea is empty apparently. 

---

Final Decision
[/align]
OK.  I'll will grab some bombers and Zeros.  Will see how we do tomorrow and then make decisions.  I think doing a recon of Mandalay will help.  If there is no CAP--we should POUND the AF. 

Java plans sound 'sound' to me.  Knock them about and then move. 

Think that you should look at taking a Brigade (once Soerabaja falls) and grab a foothold in NW Australia.  You want to get there before the Aussies can establish a defense.  Might also make them think that Australia is the true taerget for the Empire.

Boy--we are rolling the dice aren't we Sir??!!



Brad and I have conversations like this nearly everyday.  It is fun bantering and strategizing back and forth with a partner.

---

[John 3rd]

Beginning 1 of 3 Screenshots.

Perhaps my esteemed compatriot will join in with some commentary as the Coded Traffic between our HQs have been flying fast and furious the last day or two.

[John 3rd]

Moving north...

[John 3rd]

Japanese SE Pac forces begin to concentrate forf the lunge at Nandi/Suva...

[John 3rd]

Wow!

Cannot do much better then this!





Just noticed that I cannot spell the word immediately...

[Q-Ball]

Happenings the SRA: up to 1/14

Can't remember last time I did an update. Not a ton of happenings, and we have stalled a bit after alot of initial momentum. Hope to get things going shortly.

DEI
The invasion completed unloading at Kragen, and most of 23rd Army is marching on Madioen, where the Dutch seem to be making a stand. A couple small units are moving up the tracks toward Batavia, to pave the way for the rest of the troops once Soerbaya is cleared.

Between the 9th and 12th, we shot down over 35 Dutch aircraft, including 14 Martins, and their attacks have become very tepid. with the successful landing, we moved all the Zeros in the SRA to Burma, where John put them to VERY good effect! Only IJA air is down there now.

Phillipines
This turn, I noticed that the units at Clark are retreating to Bataan. Only 4 units remain, I am shock attacking them, though they may just hit air. A couple days ago we nearly pulled a 2-1, so they wisely decided to pull back to better terrain.

We will have a decision to make now on where to go: Bataan, or Manila. We'll probably try Manila first, see if we can knock it over. There are a ton of subs at Manila, no doubt lifting out fragments of those base forces and HQs.

Malaya
We ran into a brick wall at Singapore; we will concentrate all our forces and try again shortly.

Next Steps

This is a note for John as well, just putting it out on the forum for all to see. We have a few decisions to make in terms of troop dispositions.

REINFORCEMENTS: We just received a ton of SNLF forces at Tokyo. I think we should send a couple to Singapore to join the India landings, as a screening force. A couple should go to Palau/Timor, to assist with taking Northern Oz. The rest we should send out into the Cent Pac and Sou Pac to guard against Allied moves.

The OOB and timing for India will become alot clearer shortly, with how quickly we can close out PI, Malaya, and Java.

We are going to reorganize the subs, many are headed to Kwaj to swap out captains.

I have told John I think the Allied CV's are at Pearl; passing subs were spotted by a Dauntless recently, and a whole flock of SOC Seagulls, indicating a bunch of cruisers.

I also think the most obvious place for the Allies to counterattack are Wake and Marcus. Wake is building nicely, we probably need to get some guys out to Marcus to start building that up as well.

[John 3rd]

Brad posts good thoughts that should get comments.  Here are my initial reactions:

1.  As to use of reinforcements I agree about sending a few SNLF/Base Force to strengthen Marcus and make sure of our hold on Wake.  If I was the Allies, I would look here or Tarawa as primary targets.

2.  India---I join Brad in concerns about getting bogged down at the moment but I think Java will go pretty easily as well as grabbing Clark next turn.  All the reinforcements we have bought out of Manchuria are beginning to arrive at Mersing and they can bolster the Singapore attack if needed.  Considering how many of the British/India/Australian Brigades were treated on the drive south I will wager Singapore is very doable right now.

3.  Broome--We need to grab this target wthin the next month so the Allies cannot set a defense there.  My proposal is to pull a Brigade plus some smaller units from Java (once we have Soerabaja) and use that as the initial landing force.  Should make the Allies thing we are interested in Australia instead of India.

4.  SS--Our Subs have done nicely to this point but those dozen or so SS that were left NW of PH need their leadership upgraded to become more effective.  I'd send them to the IO at that point.

5.  KB--With Noumea falling last turn, I will raid Brisbane and then regroup all my warships at Noumea.  Plan to form 3 major TF:
KB-1  Akagi/Kaga + Escort
KB-5  Shokaku/Zuikaku + Escort
STF   All 4 BC for a powerful Surface threat as well as bombardment unit.

These TF will operate together and move towards Papeate for a raid to cover the landings at Nandi/Suva.

6.  Burma--In gutting the AVG last turn the door is open for serious movement and aerial attack.  If we can hold Magwe and Meiktila for a couple more days then the 15th Army will arrive to make our hold perminent.  With this done we shift over to hold Lashio and then STOOP the campaign and wait for India.

[2ndACR]

I would use the SNLF's for all those atolls. India needs all your big ground forces. Better to place garrisons on those atolls. That way the allies get no free rides.
 
Bring 2 Zero groups, 2 Betty groups to India.......all other a/c should be army. Place all the rest of your Zero's and Betty's around the Pacific to protect your perimeter. That way if the allies do try something, you can make them pay from the air until heavier forces arrive to correct the situation. ie........KB, surface forces or Johns heavy army troops in S.Pac.
 
I would have heavy air at Kwajalain, Tarawa but most placed at Truk ready to shift wherever the allies get frisky.
Every atoll would have CD guns on them.........the main ones anyway. Wake, Marcus, Tarawa, Entiwok and a few of the others. Kwajalain already has CD guns. At least they will shoot up any invasion fleets.
 
3 full strength Naval Guards on an atoll will force the allies to bring a minimum of 2 divisions to take the place if the forts are maxed. If they arrive with only 1 div, well you just destroyed a div. Once it lands, it will be butchered, your air power will prevent evac, Johns div or heavy brigade arrives to finish the job.
 
I would place 1 heavy brigade at either Truk or Kwajalain before India is begun. And it will have avail shipping to move it, preferrably the fastest AP's avail. There is your rapid reaction force for the Pacific. Best case would be 1 heavy brigade at Kwajalain with AP's and Johns Inf Div based out of Noumea area with AP's.
 
I would have 2 CV's base out of Kwajalain, with the other 2 based out of Noumea. These are your spear tips backed with heavy land based naval air, it can keep the allies honest while India goes down. I do not think I would worry too much about north Oz right now........run alot of recon out of Timor to north OZ bases, that alone will keep the attention. Maybe shift a slew of support troop units, small NLF's into Timor so the allies suddenly see 35 units there on a mouse over. That alone can scare them.

[John 3rd]

Those are sound concepts.

I really like the Timor decoy idea to preoccupy the Allies.

We are stockpiling Political Points so I can pull one of those small Brigades out of China to help with Central/South Pacific. 

There are currently 2 Nvl Guard units at Wake plus a Base Force.  I have a CD unit heading there to provide some teeth to the defense.  Figure 3 SNLF to Marcus plus a Base Force too for strength.  Kwajalein is good for the moment and we are building up Maleolap, that other nearby island, and Tarawa.

Not sure regarding splitting the CV Divisions.  I don't mind it where we are but prefer to pack them into one units for the punch starting in February.

Once Malaya gets a bit more settled I think we will begin a redeployment of Naval Air to the Pacific.  I just moved a Daitai and Chutai of Betty to Truk on the previous turn.

Will ponder the rest of your note.

[2ndACR]

No problem.......you could even keep the 4 CV's together since Noumea will be safe from seaborne invasion with just 24 Zeros and 24 Bettys. No CV's to protect an invasion force.
 
You could actually use that div you have for a reaction force since they will not be needed for garrison duty anytime soon.
 
I think the main object is to set a surprise for the Allies once India kicks off.......they will be looking for some way to pull the heat off India, so may stick their necks out of the cave they are in. I would bet on either Tarawa or Wake. And then you pounce.
 
 

[modrow]

Gentlemen,

good to see this war rolling on. You are doing a great job, I would not like to be in the Allied position right now...

I got two questions for you: Could someone explain to me the (strategic) value of an Allied attack on Tarawa ? I see that this may be a starting point from which to take on the Marshalls, but a) are those really vital or just a detour to what may be achieved quicker via Wake/Marcus and b) is there a relevant axis of attack starting from Tarawa which one can think of ?

In addition, as Allies I would be concerned about the fact that this attack may not be started from a sound basis. My fears would be a counter move against Baker and/or Canton Island that just cuts off my troops.

For the above reasons, I have used Tarawa as Allied player only for feint (sp?) attacks to attract attention and keeping the Empire's focus from the places where I would really like to strike. Should I reconsider this approach ?

Reversing the above thoughts and getting back to the purpose of this thread, might it be possible to actually lure the Allied into an attack on Tarawa, then cutting them off, let them starve a bit and finally destroy them [:D]? I think this might be a great place to let the Allies vent some of the steam they are building. If so, I would try to invite an attack by a weak garrison rather than strengthening the place.

Thanks

Hartwig

[modrow]

Just noticed the subject I reply to [8D]. LOL !

Hartwig

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: hartwig.modrow

Gentlemen,

good to see this war rolling on. You are doing a great job, I would not like to be in the Allied position right now...

I got two questions for you: Could someone explain to me the (strategic) value of an Allied attack on Tarawa ? I see that this may be a starting point from which to take on the Marshalls, but a) are those really vital or just a detour to what may be achieved quicker via Wake/Marcus and b) is there a relevant axis of attack starting from Tarawa which one can think of ?

In addition, as Allies I would be concerned about the fact that this attack may not be started from a sound basis. My fears would be a counter move against Baker and/or Canton Island that just cuts off my troops.

For the above reasons, I have used Tarawa as Allied player only for feint (sp?) attacks to attract attention and keeping the Empire's focus from the places where I would really like to strike. Should I reconsider this approach ?

Reversing the above thoughts and getting back to the purpose of this thread, might it be possible to actually lure the Allied into an attack on Tarawa, then cutting them off, let them starve a bit and finally destroy them [:D]? I think this might be a great place to let the Allies vent some of the steam they are building. If so, I would try to invite an attack by a weak garrison rather than strengthening the place.

Thanks

Hartwig

Keep in mind that I have never played the Allies. This is from the Japanese perspective. I would welcome an attack strictly along a Wake-Marcus axis. A Japanese held Marshall comples would create a very long Allied southern flank which I could attack to cut off his supply lines. By taking Tarawa (and all Japnanese bases to the south and east of Tarawa), the Allied player can build up a string of level 4 bases aimed at the Marshalls. As the Japanese player, I am very concerned about Allied level 4 airbases. When they are filled with the best available Allied fighters and B-25s, they form a most formidable offensive platform. I will not go within 6 hexes of such a base with KB. It's just not worth it.

[Q-Ball]

John is no doubt creating false intel with the subject line!

Until the Allies get 4E's in strength, the primary defense in the Pacific is an IJN Air Fleet; specifically, Bettys and Zeros based at Truk or Rabaul that can quickly stage to a trouble spot. A chain of Lvl 4 airbases at Wake, Kwaj, Tarawa, Noumea, PM, etc, can keep an Allied invasion at bay. We need some subs on picket duty, and lots of search aircraft, but provided we get some warning, we can really do a number on any Allied invasion fleet with Zero/Bettys. A ground reserve at Truk, with enough transport capacity to lift it, can be anywhere in the perimeter within a couple weeks. We have to defend this area with a minimal ground force commitment, to put it all in India; but we can do it with the IJN Air Fleet, CD guns, mines, etc. This strategy is of course moot once P-38 escorted 4Es can pound the target base; at that point, you really need boots on the ground, and the equation changes completely.

I do not advocate a CV split; we must keep those 4 together. A CV battle loss would be a disaster. But 4 should be sufficient for defense until 10/42 or so. In fact, 4 will be enough for attack through 5/42.

I advocate a landing on Northern Oz with small forces; it's not well defended, and I think would be more successful to create a diversion than recon flights. A full scale invasion is completely out, and even taking Darwin is probably out of our reach. This area freaks me out though, an Allied push from there can make the Solomons completely irrelevant, and get to your Oil very very fast!

Regardless, there will be no Allied moves until at least 5/42, and probably not until they get CV Wasp and TBFs. That gives us time to set up and build the defensive perimeter.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli


Keep in mind that I have never played the Allies. This is from the Japanese perspective. I would welcome an attack strictly along a Wake-Marcus axis. A Japanese held Marshall comples would create a very long Allied southern flank which I could attack to cut off his supply lines. By taking Tarawa (and all Japnanese bases to the south and east of Tarawa), the Allied player can build up a string of level 4 bases aimed at the Marshalls. As the Japanese player, I am very concerned about Allied level 4 airbases. When they are filled with the best available Allied fighters and B-25s, they form a most formidable offensive platform. I will not go within 6 hexes of such a base with KB. It's just not worth it.

Mike is dead on. As an Allied player I wouldn't consider Marcus and would be apprehensive about Wake; I'd be much more likley to hit Tarawa (or Baker and Johnston if necessary). It's tough for the Allies to go on the offensive in early '42, but the one strategy that would have a chance would be to take a decent sized island or two that I can build up with a supply line that I have at least a chance of protecting. With the Jap focus in India, Tarawa offers possibilities. Marcus is a dead end or worse.