Battle for Mandalay - help needed.

[turkey]

Hi All
I'm in my first game, playing allies at end August 42 (PBEM, stock, fully patched). We are playing 3 day turns.

Allies are dug in at Mandalay with 870 AV and level 9 forts. Disruption of allied troops is low (10-20), supplies in the green and fatigue about 40-60.Experience is 60-70 and morale 20-40. The Japanese have been bombarding for months with a small force and yesterday their assault army of some 5,900 AV arrived in the Mandalay hex. The Japanese are experienced troops that have been resting in Rangoon for a short while.

Allies have a reserve force of 1 full strength British Div and one full strength Chinese Div in Myitkyina which could add another 430 AV if marched to Mandalay and would arrive in 4 days time by when it’s likely some of my forts will have been destroyed.

There are additional full strength Australian Bgds (x2) and Chinese Divs (x2) in Chandrapur and 80 odd C47s relocated from SW Pacific that could deliver more troops if I decide to make a fight of it, even though I suspect the troops will arrive in Mandalay too late to be much use, or of course the C47s could be used to assist an evacuation, (but most of the allied army will have to march out).

Allies have total air superiority everywhere except in the Rangoon Hex, so close air support is freely available in the battle areas and pilots have high morale / experience.

The question is should I rush my reinforcements in and try to hold Mandalay or should I leave a rearguard and run for it back to India?

I've read the manual and it’s not much use to get into the details of how the combat resolution works so I'm looking for help form the forum to give me a best guess of how the combat will resolve itself and my best course of action.

If I try to hold Mandalay and loose quickly and decisively then the victorious Japanese 5,900 AV could be put in ships at Rangoon and taken round the coast to India and cause even more trouble as I will have lost much of my SE Asia Army in Burma. All help and suggestions most welcome!

[gladiatt]

Hi.
I will give my advice, but first i must warn: i am not an expert player: playing my first PBEM, not even in August, and also fighting in Mandalay, but my opponant have roughly 800AV against my 840;
for me it seem 5400AV is HUGE !
but you have a very good level of forts, and your C47 could help, in order to bring supply ! (i think it is important on this front).
In your case i would rely on my airpower, but i am kind of cautious player: i would keep force in India (roughly 2 or 3 div and an arm bde) and build forts just in case things get wrong.
In fact things would depend of the overall situation: if the japs player don't commit all his air force, you could may be held. If he commit a big part of his air assets, than he could overwhelm you.
My idea would be to just hunker down, resist, bring supply, and prepare in case of defeat; the goal would be to buy time, and maybe attrit in the air.
This is only a partial advide. Much better player could tell you what to do/fear/prepare.
For myself i feel that allied airpower just start to grow, but the rate of production of planes is not yet enough to really have an upper hand. So i would be cautious.
In any case, good luck.
And i will read with attention any advice of experts player.

[tocaff]

I'd keep my reserves as reserves and try to keep the supply lines open as your opponent will try to surround you and cut you off from supply and retreat.  You will not hold as he's got and unadjusted 8:1 advantage over you in AV.  If he's brought more arty with him he'll wear you down with heavy bombardments, make an attack, rest and wear you down for the next attack.  This cycle will continue until you can't resist anymore.  An attack that gets 1:1 odds, or better, will reduce forts by 1 (or more) and that's without any combat engineers who will further reduce forts.

Before such an overwhelming force I believe Mandalay is doomed.  What you're willing to lose while making your opponent pay a price is up to you.  The option is to fight a delaying action from one location to the next and try to slip a unit in behind him to cut off his supplies.

[Alfred]

Stay and fight at Mandalay.  You haven't given enough info to fully quantify all the force multipliers but you certainly will be able to put up more of a fight than you seem to realise.  Consider the following:
 
1.  Having level 9 forts means your AV is multiplied by 3.  So in fact you have not 870 AV but 2610 AV to meet his unadjusted 5900 AV.
 
2.  I don't recall what the Mandalay terrain hex is, but difficult terrain is also an AV force multiplier.
 
3.  If your units are prepped for Mandalay and fall within the radius of HQs which are also so prepped, that too is a significant combat multiplier.
 
4.  You claim to have air superiority.  Constant CAS will have a significant impact upon the enemy.
 
5.  You have identified some nearby reserves.  You should start to move some (but not all) to the sound of the guns otherwise you allow the enemy stack to defeat in detail your uncordinated garrisons.  Use your reserves to rotate units in and out - in view of the size of the enemy stack I really doubt he has any reserves to do so similarly.
 
6.  Do you have good leaders in charge at Mandalay?  Pay the PPs to get them if otherwise.
 
7.  When you claim that you would lose most of your SE Asia army, I assume you really mean you would lose the initial (December 1941) units garrisoning Burma (and perhaps the odd unit saved from Singapore).  Because 870 AV does not represent all the Indian formations you would have available in the Indian army by August 1942.  You have plenty of reserves in India to meet the enemy stack if it susequently moves to invade India.
 
8.  You start off the game with several Chinese divisions unders SEAC command.  If not done so already, they should be operating in Burma, thereby relieving the supply situation in China, and being in Burma are able to fully receive replacements.
 
Alfred 

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

8. You start off the game with several Chinese divisions unders SEAC command. If not done so already, they should be operating in Burma, thereby relieving the supply situation in China, and being in Burma are able to fully receive replacements.

I am playing as the Japanese and recently tried to break out of Burma into India and it darned near killed my armies. The expanses between Kohima, Imphal, and Mandalay seemed nearly insurmountable given the supply concerns. I marched my armies across and many of the smaller units didn't make it and died out from lack of supply. The darned thing nearly failed after most of my units were severely depleted and decimated by starvation.

How do the rest of you handle the supply problems as the Japanese when you try to break out of Burma and into India? That zone between Burma and India appears to be almost insurmountable (and I am only playing against the AI at historical levels of difficulty).

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

ORIGINAL: Alfred

8. You start off the game with several Chinese divisions unders SEAC command. If not done so already, they should be operating in Burma, thereby relieving the supply situation in China, and being in Burma are able to fully receive replacements.

I am playing as the Japanese and recently tried to break out of Burma into India and it darned near killed my armies. The expanses between Kohima, Imphal, and Mandalay seemed nearly insurmountable given the supply concerns. I marched my armies across and many of the smaller units didn't make it and died out from lack of supply. The darned thing nearly failed after most of my units were severely depleted and decimated by starvation.

How do the rest of you handle the supply problems as the Japanese when you try to break out of Burma and into India? That zone between Burma and India appears to be almost insurmountable (and I am only playing against the AI at historical levels of difficulty).

Well, historically it DID break the back of the Japanese Army (battle of Imphal was called "The Stalingrad of the East").

Most players never attempt this route... any successful attacks i've seen against India have been amphibious, not through Burma.