Nomonhan Redux: Seydlitz (Japan) vs. MBatch729 (Allies)

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

Ulan Bator happened a few turns ago. He rushed enough units in that I was at 1 to 2 odds. Therefore my units have pulled back to regroup and await reinforcements.

Ah, missed this. Thanks for the explanation!

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

And here is the combat near Borzya...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 108,27

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31535 troops, 228 guns, 111 vehicles, Assault Value = 943

Defending force 19548 troops, 174 guns, 1289 vehicles, Assault Value = 698

Japanese adjusted assault: 573

Allied adjusted defense: 1615

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1164 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 49 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 84 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 23 (1 destroyed, 22 disabled)


Assaulting units:...
14th Division...
23rd Division...
...
Defending units:...
61st Tank Division...
111th Tank Division...

The Soviet tank divisions were in movement mode, not in combat mode.

It seems that your oppponent has some problems with handling the new (AE) features of the ground combat/movement model. And it seems (my impression from reading this AAR) that he had similar problems at Rybolov.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 54 29 January 1942

The big battle at Voroshilov finally happened. There were more units on each side than would fit in the combat display. 38 Japanese and 51 Soviet.

I pummeled him all turn with ground attacks by my tactical air and even all of my Nates. Air losses were somewhat heavy because he had a lot of flak in the hex. Air opposition was light and was brushed aside by sweeping zeroes.

[seydlitz_slith]

As mentioned, the flak casualties were heavy, but at this point I must keep up the tempo.

[seydlitz_slith]

The artillery duel was massive with so many heavy artillery units on both sides. Here is the combat report from my attack and from his bombardment attack.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Voroshilov (112,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 102316 troops, 1100 guns, 1034 vehicles, Assault Value = 2725

Defending force 104544 troops, 1948 guns, 1608 vehicles, Assault Value = 2828

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 609

Allied adjusted defense: 3485

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
7296 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 517 disabled
Non Combat: 26 destroyed, 423 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 107 (8 destroyed, 99 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
6395 casualties reported
Squads: 149 destroyed, 172 disabled
Non Combat: 242 destroyed, 651 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 13 disabled
Guns lost 228 (74 destroyed, 154 disabled)
Vehicles lost 648 (263 destroyed, 385 disabled)

He lost a lot of guns and vehicles destroyed for one turn of combat.
Assaulting units:...
74th Infantry Regiment...
12th Division...
10th Tank Regiment...
9th Division...
25th Division...
5th Infantry Regiment...
9th Garrison Unit ...
2nd Manchukuo Distr Division...
11th Division...
11th Tank Regiment...
27th Electric Engineer Regiment...
8th Recon Regiment...
1st Manchukuo Division...
Kwantung Army...
12th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
2nd Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion...
9th Ind. Engineer Regiment...
3rd Army...
20th Fld AA Machinecannon Company...
54th Field AA Battalion...
12th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion...
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion...
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment...
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion...
28th Field AA Machinecannon Company...
10th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
45th Ind.AA Gun Co ...
6th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion...
24th Fld AA Machinecannon Company...
4th RF Gun Battalion...
53rd Field AA Battalion...
22nd Field AA Machinecannon Company...
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment...
45th Road Const Co ...
Botanko Hvy Gun Regiment...
22nd Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
27th Fld AA Machinecannon Company...
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion...
7th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
4th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment...
5th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
9th Medium Field Artillery Regiment...
3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment...
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment...
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion...
7th Ind. Engineer Regiment...
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion...
23rd Field AA Machinecannon Company...
5th Army...
6th RF Gun Battalion...
...
Defending units:...
26th NKVD Regiment...
105th Rifle Division...
98th Rifle Division...
76th Tank Brigade...
8th Cavalry Division...
6th Ussurii Tank Brigade...
72nd Tank Brigade...
4th Ussurii Tank Brigade...
126th Rifle Division...
22nd Rifle Division...
190th Rifle Division...
59th Rifle Division...
40th Rifle Division...
39th Rifle Division...
77th Tank Brigade...
46th Engr-Sapper Brigade...
1125th Cannon Regiment...
25th Army...
78th/186th PVO AA Battalion...
50th Cannon Regiment...
1127th Cannon Regiment...
548th Cannon Regiment...
22nd/24th AA Battalion...
282nd Cannon Regiment...
1192nd BM Howitzer Regiment...
1132nd Howitzer Regiment...
182nd Howitzer Regiment...
1122nd Cannon Regiment...
115th/129th AA Battalion...
33rd VVS Base Force...
386th Howitzer Regiment...
45th Howitzer Regiment...
372nd Hvy Howitzer Regiment...
9th Air Army...
59th/721st AA Battalion...
1133rd Howitzer Regiment...
45th/103rd AA Battalion...
1138th Cannon Regiment...
273rd Cannon Regiment...
1124th Cannon Regiment...
43rd/44th AA Battalion...
1134th Howitzer Regiment...
1132rd Howitzer Regiment...
83rd VVS Base Force...
1139th Cannon Regiment...
87th Howitzer Regiment...
199th BM Howitzer Regiment...
165th Hvy Howitzer Regiment...
215th Howitzer Regiment...
28th/70th AA Battalion...
93rd VVS Base Force...

Here was the casualty summary from his bombardment attack later in the turn:


Ground combat at Voroshilov (112,45)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 80933 troops, 1671 guns, 1263 vehicles, Assault Value = 2508

Defending force 112985 troops, 1221 guns, 1328 vehicles, Assault Value = 2296

Japanese ground losses:
1367 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 124 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 27 (4 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 124 (27 destroyed, 97 disabled)

[seydlitz_slith]

I have 7 significant infantry units that now have disruption levels between 87 and 93. It will take a while for them to recover from this. The sheer amount of artillery on the battlefield is going to turn this hex into the equivalent of Ypres (a WWI battle for those who don't know) and the casualties will be just as horrendous.

I have no choice but to continue pounding him with my tactical air. I can't be sure, but I believe that the disablements and disruptions caused by my air strikes may have led to his increased losses in terms of destroyed vs. disabled when it came to the combat portion of the turn. I am well supplied so my artillery can keep on pounding away while the infantry recovers.

Meanwhile, the stack of units that I had siphoned off to hit his airbase at Spasny to the NE of Voroshilov should move into that hex to attack in about 3 turns. It has occurred to me that I might want to use that as a hooking force. Driving the enemy south and east and then following up so that his large force is cut off from supply other than from Vladivostok. That would help limit his supply and also guide him into a dead end if I should push him out of the hex.

--if--- being the operative word here.

Other points of note, he is still hung up trying to kill the border fort at Kotou and it is showing no signs of going down easily. If he does manage to finish it, he gets to start all over again on the next fort in the next hex west.

I am about to land on the east coast with forces that had been tied up at Okha. If I win here, I will use the navigable river to move up and start spreading the front.

Here is the map.

[seydlitz_slith]

Up north, it is mostly a trade off of bombardment attacks for the time being. My northernmost stack has enough force to win the combat, but I am still recovering from the disruption of the water crossing. The stack to the east of Borzya should have had enough AV to get the job done, but the rough+woods have made his defence very tough here. And did I mention that he has about 1300 tanks here for some reason? The Germans should be having an easy go of things come spring. Perhaps Von Paulus won't have to surrender at Stalingrad.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the map for north China.

I attacked at Loyang this turn.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is what the Loyang battle looked like. I am hurting but I will keep pressing. I do not think that he can hold out much longer here.

Ground combat at Loyang (87,43)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 117871 troops, 872 guns, 269 vehicles, Assault Value = 3322

Defending force 51549 troops, 317 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 869

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 1512

Allied adjusted defense: 533

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2871 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 241 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 148 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 7 (0 destroyed, 7 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
8214 casualties reported
Squads: 228 destroyed, 177 disabled
Non Combat: 195 destroyed, 333 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 13 (0 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Assaulting units:...
15th Division...
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade...
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade...
17th Division...
110th Division...
27th Division...
7th Ind.Mixed Brigade...
35th Division...
16th Ind.Mixed Brigade...
22nd Division...
32nd Division...
1st Army...
12th Army...
...
Defending units:...
34th Chinese Corps...
27th Chinese Corps...
98th Chinese Corps...
80th Chinese Corps...
40th Chinese Corps...
33rd Chinese Corps...
2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps...
9th Chinese Corps...
93rd Chinese Corps...
15th Chinese Corps...
5th New Chinese Corps...
Jingcha War Area ...
24th Group Army...
10th Chinese Base Force...
15th Group Army...
3rd Construction Regiment...
1st War Area ...
36th Group Army...
14th Group Army...
7th Group Army...
39th Group Army...
4th Chinese Base Force...
7th Construction Regiment...

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the other battle noted on the map for North China. As you can see I have enough force but the rough terrain is helping the Chinese unit.

Ground combat at 92,33

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11044 troops, 64 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 338

Defending force 3813 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 84

Japanese adjusted assault: 246

Allied adjusted defense: 37

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
136 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
399 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Assaulting units:...
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade...
17th Infantry Regiment...
...
Defending units:...
11th Chinese Corps...
17th Group Army...

[seydlitz_slith]

In Malaya I will be engaging his 6 units that I had previously kicked out of G'town earlier. I am slowly pushing him south with the terrain being more of an obstacle than the enemy soldiers. I am irritated that there seems to be one unit that has moved behind my lines somehow.

Singapore shows as having 23 units in it. I am so tempted to send my units on Luzon to help in Russia but I really need them to keep moving in the SRA....

[seydlitz_slith]

In Borneo, I am sending recon flights to Kuching. Fighter sweeps are coming back clean from there. If it turns out that he has abandoned the base I plan to take it with an airborne assault from Miri.

The unit at Brunei/Jesselton (can't remember which) is loading up and enroute to land at Kuala Lumpur in Malaya to cut the retreat of his units. If that is not needed they will also go to Kuching.

I am also hoping to intercept his fast transport TF that is trying to rescue his troops on the north coast of Borneo. I have two subs moving in and a surface combat TF consisting of all 4 Mogami class cruisers are steaming at full speed to intercept this turn. Maybe I will get lucky.

[seydlitz_slith]

Near Oahu, one of my subs was caught on the surface by enemy Catalinas. Although gravely hurt, her crew is going to try and bring the crippled vessel back to port.

[seydlitz_slith]

I also had this tidbit on the sigint report this turn. Not sure what to make out of it. Perhaps he is going to build up bases across Alaska and try to eventually funnel allied forces over to Russia.

That means that I will have to go back after Petropavlovsk before mid April.

[seydlitz_slith]

Of course, maybe the radio transmissions at Anchorage are nothing more than Sarah Palin's mother going rogue. (Sorry, allusion to American politics....ignore if you don't know who she is.[:D]).

I also thought about putting the mini KB together and using them off the Russian coast to help keep things under control until the real KB arrives. However, when I looked at the aircraft outfit of the ships I decided otherwise.

Ryjuho has a unit of zeroes and a unit of Kates. I would have to put another air unit on her to bring her up to capacity.

Shoho is also ok I believe (didn't check her but she just arrived a few turns ago).

Taiyo would need airgroups.

But Zuiho looked like this....

[erstad]

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

Near Oahu, one of my subs was caught on the surface by enemy Catalinas. Although gravely hurt, her crew is going to try and bring the crippled vessel back to port.

Why are you bringing her all the way to the HI instead of heading to Kwajalein?

[seydlitz_slith]

Claudes just do not cut the mustard, even in Russia. At least she had some Kates.

Not so with the Hosho... fixed gear fighters and biplane torpedo bombers for her. She is ready to fight the last war, not the current one.

[seydlitz_slith]

Obviously these ships are too many victory points to send into action with these pitiful air groups. For now I will leave them in port saving fuel. Converting the small number of Claudes that they have onboard is not an immediate priority since I don't want to risk the ships at this point. I still have several Claude units that I need to upgrade to zeroes. This includes two units in Japan proper and the unit on Truk. I have a few zeroes in the pool, but not enough to cover both operational losses and upgrade anything right now. I figure that I will be able to do all the upgrades by mid-march barring significant zero losses before then.

Sorry to disappoint some of you allied players, but in some areas it is smoke and mirrors as Japan. I have increased production of zeroes but it is still tooling up. I am not cranking out hordes of aircraft at the end of January 1942, and I am engaged in major combat on one more front than normal for Japan. You will notice that I am also continuing to hold off using my Betties and Nells. The crews are training in Japan for most of the units. They are there if I decide to use them, but I really want to avoid losses to the planes and experienced aircrew so that I will have them when I need to be fighting allied landings. The crews are continuing to train at 70-80% general training every turn and should be pretty good when needed. I have one unit that seems to really be focussing on ASW training (even though they are on general training) and they are already up to high thirties and low forties on ASW skills.

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: erstad

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

Near Oahu, one of my subs was caught on the surface by enemy Catalinas. Although gravely hurt, her crew is going to try and bring the crippled vessel back to port.

Why are you bringing her all the way to the HI instead of heading to Kwajalein?

I pulled my auxiliaries out of Kwaj. My opponent likes to do carrier raids there and I didn't want to lose any ships that I might need elsewhere. My experience with subs has been that if they can stay afloat long enough to make it to kwaj they can usually make it home to the large port.

[erstad]

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

ORIGINAL: erstad

ORIGINAL: seydlitz

Near Oahu, one of my subs was caught on the surface by enemy Catalinas. Although gravely hurt, her crew is going to try and bring the crippled vessel back to port.

Why are you bringing her all the way to the HI instead of heading to Kwajalein?

I pulled my auxiliaries out of Kwaj. My opponent likes to do carrier raids there and I didn't want to lose any ships that I might need elsewhere. My experience with subs has been that if they can stay afloat long enough to make it to kwaj they can usually make it home to the large port.

31 float is a lot, especially with 44 sys. Kwaj could repair a chunk of that even without auxilaries, although if the allied CVs are making a regular appearance I can see the hesitation.

Let us know if she makes it, and in what condition.

[offenseman]

The Bettys and Nells you have training up in the HI could make a convoy headed for the Soviets very costly indeed...  I wonder if he might consider sending some CVs into far northern waters, hook them around Sakhalin and bugger your surface forces. 
Have you had a chance to get some aviation support to Okha or other bases in Sakhalin?