ALLIED ONLY: aztez (A) vs erstad (J) ...2nd ROUND

[aztez]

LoBaron: mdl? I guess that you are referring to detection levels?

I did launch couple airstrikes againts Nadi last two turn. More details about it on the combat report section of this update. It looks like it will tough nut to close down.

I might fly in an B17E squadron to try to do the job from Christmas Island. Next turn only naval strikes are ordered since there are now more targets available.

I don't think Wyndham is an bad place to land at all. It is has road connection towards Katherine and thus it is safer route to isolate Darwin. I have kept bombing it even with heavy losses to myself.

seydlitz: Agreed. Wyndham is an good place to land since I doubt any allied player have units defending it. Also it has road connection to Katherine and the airfield has good position to be used againts any sizeable Oz base in the region.

Again, low risk and high gain operation done by Dave.

[aztez]

Northern Oz (june 15th - 16th 1942)


We have kept bombing Wyndham even without the escorts available.

The idea is to keep him on his toes here and also because it seems that this is the main landing site in northern oz.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Wyndham , at 70,127

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
Ki-27b Nate x 3
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 25



Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 12
Hudson I x 6
Hudson III (LR) x 9
B-26 Marauder x 3


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-27b Nate: 2 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged
Hudson I: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed



Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Wyndham , at 70,127

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
Ki-27b Nate x 3
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 22



Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 6
Hudson I x 6
Hudson III (LR) x 7
B-17E Fortress x 3
B-26 Marauder x 3


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Hudson I: 4 destroyed
Hudson III (LR): 4 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

These raids wohn't be conducted for long though since casualties are mounting but for time being I'am doing this.

CV Junyo and other carriers vanished propably towards Timor since the main invasion TF propably had its unloading complete.

There are some 14 units and 20 000 already there. That is if the recon is to be believed.

[aztez]

Fiji (june 15th - 16th 1942)


The battle here took an new twist last turn when his battleships showed up at Nadi.

Our airforce took off and unfortunately wasn't able to hit anything according to the combat report.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Nadi at 131,160

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35



Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 21
SBD-3 Dauntless x 13


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei



Aircraft Attacking:
13 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
Chitose Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (3 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
9th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (4 airborne, 13 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
9 planes vectored on to bombers
24th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (4 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes
6 planes vectored on to bombers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Nadi at 131,160

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 32



Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 6 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 destroyed, 6 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Hiei
BB Kirishima



Aircraft Attacking:
8 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
Chitose Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes
3 planes vectored on to bombers
9th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 12000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 12000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
24th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 13000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes


...the SBD's were set on 10 000 feet and escorts were at 18 000 feet. Now the SBD alltitude is changed into 15 000 feet for the upcoming turn.

What the airforce was unable to do well the Dutch submarine did...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Nadi at 131,160

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima, Torpedo hits 1
BB Yamashiro
DD Hatsushima
DD Yunagi
DD Asagiri

Allied Ships
SS KVII, hits 5



SS KVII launches 2 torpedoes at BB Kirishima
KVII bottoming out ....
DD Yunagi fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Asagiri fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Asagiri fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Asagiri attacking submerged sub ....
DD Asagiri cannot reach attack position SS KVII over
DD Asagiri fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Asagiri fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

I think that is an confirmed hit since Dave mentioned that "I got an small victory at end of turn". This is what he was referring to.

[aztez]

Submarine warfare (1st May - 15th June 1942)


What do you guys think if I would compile monthly summary of submarine "victories" so far?

I went through the combat reports from the beginning of may and up to current date.

Succesfull offensives:

may 17th SS Salmon launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Surabaya Maru near Pagan.
may 27th SS S-36 launches 4 torpedoes at E Kunashiri near Luganville.
june 10th SS Growler launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Hirota Maru near Marcus Island.
june 11th SS Halibut launches 4 torpedoes at xAKL Misaki Maru near Aogashima.
june 15th SS KVII launches 2 torpedoes at BB Kirishima near Nadi.

Unsuccesfull offensive:

may 10th SS Gudgeon launched againts enemy TF near Marcus Island.
may 11th SS Gudgeon launches 6 torpedoes at CMc Ninoshima near Marcus Island
may 12th SS Nautilus launches 4 torpedoes at xAKL Daiten Maru near Marcus Island. (sub damaged by ASW)
may 23rd SS Silversides launches 4 torpedoes at xAKL Aiyo Maru near Savaii.
may 24th SS Silversides launches 6 torpedoes at xAKL Aiyo Maru near Savaii. (sub damaged by 5 depth charges)
june 12th SS Halibut launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Azuchisan Maru near Aogashima.

That is the submarine action. There has been numerous ASW assaults made but didn't copy them here.

[seydlitz_slith]

Looks like Dave is patrolling with his ASW forces in exactly the same places that I patrol as Japan. Good job on placing your subs in the boxes below that area. It's like fishing, at some point you will get a good bite.

[crsutton]

aztez,

A couple of Allied supply questions. At this point is it necessary for the Allies to move supplies from the East Coast through the Canal or does the supply flow fast enough on the rail system?

And, should the Allied player be sending large supply convoys from the east coast to Cape Town or do the Brits get enough with the regular convoys that arrive there periodically?

[Yamato_Blitzer]

.

[Sardaukar]

If you have reasonable number if fighters available in Suva, might be useful to try to see if fighter sweeps would cause attrition to his fighters in Nadi. Maybe trying it once to see if you can get favourable kill-ratio.

[LoBaron]

Aztez: about the dl: yes and no.
if i understand this right the mdl is a function of how much the dl was raised but it deteriorates slower.
dl is for hitting/finding targets
mdl is for report accuracy/reliability
so 10000 reported troops at a mdl of 5 could mean a true number between 5000 and 15000 troops.
At least thats how i understand it.
 
seydlitz: you are much further into the game than me so i lack the experience there but:
 
If he wants to go Australia he needs to land sufficient troops to defend the north anyway. Going to Darwin takes
the best place in northern Australia from the allies and he gets a good LBA base combined with a decent port.
So attcking Wyndham would only make sense in a 2 pronged assault with the other attack simultaneousely hitting Darwin imo.
Then he could use Darwin as the primary and Wyndham as a R&R/Bomber Base, if he got air/naval superiority there he could
shuttle ships between the bases.
But in this case id invade Darwin first and keep an option for Wyndham later or as a secondary target of the invasion.  
 
Without attacking Darwin Wyndham is just a dead end place, if i was Allies id even ignore it when the time for a counterattack
comes and only take it back when its been cut off for a time.
 
Do i miss something here? [&:]
 
Anyways i guess that Darwin has to be VERY alert from now on.

[Smeulders]

I'd say that getting a decent land force ashore in Wyndham makes a defence of Darwin very dangerous. He's threatening to cut off all LCUs in Darwin when he attacks Katherine. Even putting a force in Katherine can be fatal if they decide to retreat North when (if) defeated. It's also not impossible to bring in convoys with a low threat of air attacks. He can route them from Koepang, straight South and then hugging the coast, that way he keeps out of the way of most short legged bombers.

My guess is that he's looking to start a ground offensive quite soon with the forces he has landed.

[LoBaron]

You got a point Smeulders. Although maybe in this situation my main defense line for the north as an Allied
player would be Katherine anyway and not Darwin if only because its the choke point for a move to the south...

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

You got a point Smeulders. Although maybe in this situation my main defense line for the north as an Allied
player would be Katherine anyway and not Darwin if only because its the choke point for a move to the south...

Smeulders is correct. A landing at Wyndham effectively renders Darwin indefensible since troops moving along the road from Wyndham to Katherine could cut off Darwin.

Also, Erstad can defend the hex with a smaller LCU since it is in a swamp hex.

If he had landed at Darwin, the allied player could retreat back to Katherine, fighting as he went. By doing what he did, he is strongly encouraging a retreat from Darwin without a fight.

Wyndham is also closer to Perth, and getting in air attack range of Perth is important since most of Australia's supplies will be coming by sea from the west given what has happened with Japanese conquests in the south pacific. That means that many ships will need to refuel in Perth coming or going. Anything that can shut down traffic there could strangle Australia.

[aztez]

crsutton: Good questions. I do not run supply convoys from East Coast into West Coast. The railway system so far is adequate but this really wohn't hurt if you have the transports available. I might run few regular runs once I get enough transports into wc.

The supply convoys into Cape Town seems to do good job and so far haven't noticed any problems here. Allthough I would recommend sending some tankers loaded with fuel into Cape Town. To me that is the main "problem" at Cape Town.

Yamato_Blitzer: [:D]

Sardaukar: Unfortunately the initial duel with KB took out 65% of fighter cover here and with the new replacement rules I haven't been able to recover.

The battle here is all but over. It was an action packed operation at least.

LoBaron: I read the manual regarding MDL and I think you are right. The assesment from my recon planes has been quite accurate though.

I think Dave is going for two front assault at northern oz. He is moving troops into Wyndham and these tank regiments are enroute towards Katherine. I cannot afford to lose the base or Darwin become trapped fortress and thus it can easily be conquest from behind.

Losing Katherine also means that our retreat path is blocked. The game models this towards nearest base so this is very problematic.

Smeulders: Exactly! That is what he is aiming for. Good and nasty move by him. I agree 110% with your assesment of retreat paths.

The northern oz offensive is definately ongoing since he has now landed at Derby too.


seydlitz: I agree. Dave is also using tank regiments in order to move towards Katherine with speed. This is an good move too and I would have done the same if I were him.

I haven't thought what this means to Perth but cannot argue with your analysis. Allthough even capturing northern oz doesn't render it worthless or in major danger.

[aztez]

Northern Oz (june 17th - 20th 1942)


There has been additional landings made at Derby. No doubt this base will fall with the upcoming turn.

Last turn was the 1st time we saw an glimpse of BB Yamato near Derby. This battleship is an monster.

Dave is also moving troops via land towards Katherine. I have tried to slow him down with airstrikes. These assaults have been somewhat costly since I lack the fighter escorts here. The troops moving towards Katherine seem to be tank regiments with superior speed.

Japanese also have launched raids againts Katherine from Wyndham, There are now Sally bombers ready at Wyndham.

We also spotted an large invasion TF near Kendari. Either these ships were ones he used at Wyndham or these are main body of assault againts Darwin.

I have moved some 150av worth of troops into Katherine from Darwin. This move was forced when he landed at Wyndham.

[aztez]

Fiji (june 17th - 20th 1942)


The battle is kind of over. Dave marched some 1350av worth of infantry and artillery into Suva. There are two enemy divisions taking part in this offensive.

I have some 500av worth of infantry behind level 5 forts so just hoping to inflict maxium amount of damage before we surrender.

The SBD's have been evacuated into NZ. This has been ongoing for 4 days now and happy to say that all of them made it.

I did disband the RN torpedo bombers along with 90% US fighters here. These squadrons will be reformed within 60 days or so.

There has been naval bombardments by BB Huyga, BB Hiei and BB Yamashiro, This time around the airfield damage has been 30-50% thus killing some of aircraft on the airfields.

The good news is that the torpedo hit BB Kirishima doesn't seem to be an FOW.

Also combat report indicated an 1000lb bomb hit on CA Aoba. This has not been confirmed though.

[aztez]

Burma (june 17th - 20th 1942)


RAF has conducted an heavy airstrikes againts several burmese bases.

The main target currently is oilfield at Magwe. This base has some 270 oilfield points operational. In past 2 days we knock down around 20 points thus reducing the production capabilities.

The other targets have Mandalays airfield/resource center and the airfield at Schwebo.

Dave moved some Oscar's along with Zero fighters in and we have had quite a few duels in burma now. The loss ratio has been 1:1 so far.

I will continue to harash his troops here since the supply situation and roads aren't made for an land offensive at all.

[bigbaba]

hi aztez.

maybe you can force a bloody river crossing right west of katherine to slow your well playing opponent?

too bad he brought enough troops to win at suva but he paid a high price by loseing some good japanese carrier pilots. are there any subs close to evacuate fragments of the defenders of suva to reform them?

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: aztez


SuluSea: They are doing better but no means are they deadly yet. I will post more about this now that you mentioned. (Made an note to check things out try an do that on tomorrows update). I know seydlitz is intrested in this area of the war.

How much did you have behind lvl 5 forts at Changhsa? I think the railways are the burden. He can shift troops in quickly and give units rests in nearby bases which are well supplied nodoubt.

We both moved troops to the city during the battle I think at one point I had 140,000 troops and recon showed 150,000 for Swen forts are down to level two but still holding, I've moved out a few units and have less than 100,000 . Yenan is in deep stuff and am surprised Sian is still holding. I got routed out of Nanyang and the troops are doing great in the hex NW of the city . Considering the defense they are putting up I don't see him moving me from that hex without a heavy cost the Chinese are actually giving some back at the location. The Battle of Changsha has been raging for maybe a month so despite losing an extreme amount of troops level 5 forts did help me as opposed to having none, sometimes frustration gets the better end on me. [;)]

[aztez]

bigbaba: I thought about the river crossing but I have just +300av worth of troops in the north. I doubt it could do any good so opted not to move forward with it.

Another thing being that those tanks are moving quite fast.

I could evac some fragments but we have an gentlemans rule againts it. I think we both have just couple of fragments gathered. The good thing is that one of those happens to be from the division trapped at Suva! [:D]

SuluSea: Ok. You guys had/have one hell of an battle ongoing at Changhsa. I can imagine that those losses have been horrible for both sides!

I know about the frustration part too well! [:D]

I haven't evacuated the base at Changhsa either. There are a lot of troop movement currently at china though. A lot of things to reorganize.

[Swenslim]

Hi Sulu

Aztez please sorry for little oftopic...

Actually my losses at Changsha was low and I think the city will fall within week. I think your idea of moving some units from Changsha was mistake, look on map - after I will crush your forces at Changsha (with heavy loses to you) I will have a free operational space to maneuvre and will push your routed troops to river on north.

But the loses at forest hex norther of Nannyang were much havier, I really dont understand how your troops are holding there with their supplyes cut.

Air battle over Burma and Northen India will be bloodbath, because I am planning to destroy your industry in Calcutta [8|]