Big ship, bigger war - Adventures of the Yamato - AAR vs Acepylut (A)

[Fishbed]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

No, this will not be a cheap copy of the best AAR in the history of the witp/ae-forums. I just could not come up with a good name. Besides, Yamato also means Japan so there.

As a sidenote: Yamato is just a province among others in fact [:)]

[Hortlund]

We skip ahead to January 2nd 1942.

The allied defences on the PI have been reduced to the Bataan holdout and some small islands. Mindanao is all but captured, the allies have been retreated to the small mountain holdout north of Davao.

Singapore has fallen, allies are making a stand at Taiping/Georgetown. Im in no hurry to reduce these bases yet, instead the troops from Singapore will be put into use on Java.

Palembang and Oosthaven has fallen. Together with Kalidatji (the base just southeast of Batavia on the coastline). Kalidatji will be the main landing point for my initial units (a division and a brigade together with support troops. The rest of the bunch will land at Semarang.

Koepang and Lauterm are in Japanese hands, together with Ambon and Kendari. These bases will be the staging area for future operations into northern Australia (If I opt for Aus instead of India).

The invasion of Port Moresby is underway, the first two regiments are in the process of unloading their ships. I expect the base to fall tomorrow as it has not been reinforced.

The KB have returned to the PM-area after having taken a tour of the eastern coastline of Australia. We managed to sink a handful of TKs, AKs and two CAs.

[Hortlund]

And now for the losses.

Mutsu was sunk in an engagement against Force Z off Kendari. It was night, thunderstorms, visibility at 2%. My ships were spotted on Radar and in a swift stroke, Force Z cut down my TF consisting of two BBs, some DDs and a CL. Amazingly every single torpedo launched by the British destroyers hit their target! The other BB, Yamashiro is at port with 30 sys 30 float. Other than that, my losses have been relatively light.

[Cuttlefish]

Catchy title!

It looks as though you are about right on schedule. Fortunes of war: I had the same fight at about the same time and near the same area with Force Z in my game with Q-Ball and the battle was a draw, with no major losses on either side (well, except for Hibiki!). I don't remember for sure but I think there was considerably more moonlight, though.

[Fishbed]

How many Hibikis would it take to make a Yamato? Just to see how much waste was that BB in the end...

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Catchy title!

It looks as though you are about right on schedule. Fortunes of war: I had the same fight at about the same time and near the same area with Force Z in my game with Q-Ball and the battle was a draw, with no major losses on either side (well, except for Hibiki!). I don't remember for sure but I think there was considerably more moonlight, though.

Thanks Glad you like the hat-tip.

Overall my losses have been light. Most of my losses come from allied submarines who prove to be more than a nuisance. It makes me wonder if I did the right thing to send KB to Pearl instead of Manila. If the allied subs cause me this much grief in 1941... Ive lost 15-something ships to submarines thus far, the most catastrophic loss being an invaluable AO off Rabaul.

I have had my ASW-forces patrolling the sealanes between Port Arthur/Shanghai and Shimonosheki (which I use as my main offloading-port) but it seems Acepylut is focusing his submarine forces in the frontline-areas instead of in my rear. Im moving my ASW assets forward now to assist in the battle for Java and Australia. It will make them more vunerable to enemy air, but on the other hand they will do more good there than patrolling empty seas.

[Hortlund]

April 3rd 1942

Last turn I spotted an allied convoy leaving Darwin heading west. I sent a CA-TF to try a mid-ocean intercept and a small carrier TF (CVL+CVE) to see if I could catch them. The CAs were set to patrol in the likely area of the allied ships with a reaction range of 6 and it worked. We caught the ships and in the surface engagement they were slaughtered. Two xAPs, two DDs, an AD and AG together with some xAKLs and xAKs were sunk by cruisers and aircraft.

Also, a surface combat TF was discovered consisting of at least three allied CLs, they were LRCAP:ed by P40s out of Darwin but our Zeros managed to clear the way for the B5N1s who scored three bomb hits on a CL. CAs and CVs are now retreating north.

Somewhere his carriers must be lurking together with the Prince of Wales (and Boise). I was half expecting them to show up on the other side of Java to contest my landings at Kalidjati, but failed to appear. My bet is that they are either hovering around Exmouth or Darwin to defend the north coast. When they do show up, it will be a tough fight. I have no BBs in this area, they are at Java and Port Moresby. Im moving an air HQ to Koepang to put some Betty-cover over this region.

Today Port Moresby fell to my troops. That frees up two Regiments and the 21st Division for other tasks. Horn Island is next on the list, but after that its up in the air. Noumea, Suva, Australia.. we will see how things develop at Java and around Darwin before I commit them into the line again.

[Hortlund]

Now that I think about it, that convoy probably means that he is evacuating Darwin of all non-combat ships. I see little other reason for him to move out an empty convoy including an AD and an AG. That in turn means that he is probably in the middle of marching half the Australian army up the roads towards Darwin.

I think I need to speed up my assault-timetable here if I am to invade Darwin at all.

Edit:
Oh, and another thing. An unknown enemy TF consisting of 3 ships of unknown class just showed up three hexes off Paramushiro Jima. I find that very odd...what is he doing up there now? I really cant imagine he will try to invade up there...its January, his losses will be absurd. A raid?

[Hortlund]

Early April 1942

Some thoughts on the strategic situation.

With the fall of Singapore and Clark Field, the equivalents of 4 Japanese divisions has been freed for other tasks. The Singapore units will assist in the capture of Java. I already have two divisions ashore on Java together with support units and a mixed brigade. What remains in the NEI for me to capture is Balikpapan, Java, Makassar and the northern bases on Sumatra. After Java, all of these bases can be cleared with SNLF-type units.

I have one regiment and three SNLF units at Koepang, these are immideately avaliable for deployment.

After the fall of Port Moresby, I have one division and four infantry regiments avaliable for operations. These units are at Port Moresby.

By now Darwin is prepared for war, and presumably heavily reinforced. Im expecting at least 200 AV at the base, and more coming along the roads north. 18th UK Div has not been spotted so far, and they could be anywhere. But since our operations in Burma are going at a snails-pace, I doubt he has reinforced that theater. I also dont think he is reinforcing Ceylon since the KB has not made any moves in that direction. It is reasonable to assume that the 18th is in Australia.

The US and UK carriers remain a wildcard, they have not been spotted since the outbreak of hostilities. Force Z also remains at large somewhere out there. I doubt the CVs are in the Darwin area, due to the proximity of Betty- and Zero-bases, but I fully expect that Force Z is in or around Darwin. One possible location for the CVs are around Exmouth, from there they can strike at any landing on the northern coast while still being able to retreat easily.

Gentlemen, I give you operation Spotlight, the offensive against Australia.





Initial landings will take place on the Australian east coast. A force of one division and three infantry regiments will land with the objective of cutting the railline between southern and northern Australia. This force will be the roadblock. The landings will hopefully force my opponent to shift his forces from the Darwin area to the northeast coast.

After these landings, the northern operations will commence. The northern invasion will take place somewhere between 1-3 weeks after the initial landings. The forces in the northern sector will consist of forces from Java and the Philipines.

Reinforcements are currently being gathered at Port Arthur and consists of several Tank regiments, engineers and cavalry units, well suited to the mobile warfare in Australia. These units will either land at Darwin or on the east coast, depending on how things are going on the respective front.

KB will cover the eastern landings, the northern landings will have to make due with land-based aircover only. Mini-KB will be sent deep into the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean in an effort to intercept reinforcements from India.

[Capt. Harlock]

Gentlemen, I give you operation Spotlight, the offensive against Australia.

Looks quite plausible. Would you be able to establish an operating airfield on the east coast?

[Ron Saueracker]

Good luck Panzer! Apologies for not being able to start a campaign with you right now. Still want a crack at a later date when I have ample time.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Gentlemen, I give you operation Spotlight, the offensive against Australia.

Looks quite plausible. Would you be able to establish an operating airfield on the east coast?

Yeah, that shouldnt be a problem, Im bringing some baseforces with me. The airunits in Australia are crappy enough anyway. I fear the B17s that will inevitably come knocking though, I think it will be hard to keep the base open in face of the 4Es

Just looked over the east-coast invasion force and I can throw roughly 1100 AV into the fray, that should be enough to hold one base for a while, no?

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker

Good luck Panzer! Apologies for not being able to start a campaign with you right now. Still want a crack at a later date when I have ample time.

Hey Ron!
No worries, just let me know when you are ready, Ive got one slot reserved for you.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Edit:
Oh, and another thing. An unknown enemy TF consisting of 3 ships of unknown class just showed up three hexes off Paramushiro Jima. I find that very odd...what is he doing up there now? I really cant imagine he will try to invade up there...its January, his losses will be absurd. A raid?

Most likely it is the "single sub magnified to a CV battle group" optical recognition problem common with low exp aviators. Everything they see is a TF, including flotsam, jetsam, and discarded handi-wipes! [:D]

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Edit:
Oh, and another thing. An unknown enemy TF consisting of 3 ships of unknown class just showed up three hexes off Paramushiro Jima. I find that very odd...what is he doing up there now? I really cant imagine he will try to invade up there...its January, his losses will be absurd. A raid?

Most likely it is the "single sub magnified to a CV battle group" optical recognition problem common with low exp aviators. Everything they see is a TF, including flotsam, jetsam, and discarded handi-wipes! [:D]

Yeah, it seems it was a false alarm.

[Hortlund]

I now have about 1000 AV on Java. Do you think I should reinforce with 4 more regiments from Singapore, or do I move on with those forces? From what I can tell, he is holding Batavia, Soerebaja and the mountain hex just southwest from Batavia. I have all the Hong Kong artillery in place together with two divisions and support units and some mixed units.

The first wave for Australia is in the process of embarking their ships at Port Moresby, they should land in a week or two. Things should get interesting then...

Also I wonder what Im doing wrong with my aircraft research, it is soon mid-january, and Ive only gotten three R&D factories to repair a single point each, meaning I get no research done whatsoever on my precious Tojos...

[Hortlund]

8th April
Things are going surprisingly smooth. We are ashore on Java in numbers, and a second landing at Sebarang (or whatever its called, that 5-port in the middle of the island) met with practically no resistance. Another two regiments ashore now. Ive got one division + heavy artillery besieging the mountain-hex south of Batavia, another division and a regiment heading to Tilijap and now two more Regiments ashore at Sebarang. All these forces should be enough to complete the conquest of Java in practically no-time.

Ive got 400 AV waiting at Koepang to head ashore on Australia. Recon tells me the northern bases are undefended. Suits me perfectly.

Initial invasion of Australia should begin tomorrow, with two regiments landing at Cooktown. Meanwhile the division is assembling at sea to head down south for the roadblock invasion. By the looks of things, they should be ashore within a week.

In other news, the mop-up continues. Last base on Mindanao fell today, together with Makassar and Bandjermasin. Now all that is left is Balikpapan and the hex right next to it. The airforce is proving its capabilities, a sweep over Rangoon met 24 Buffalos and 12 P-40s from the AVG. We took down 19 enemy fighters for no own losses.

[Hortlund]

Here is a snapshot of the current situation in China.

Im focusing on an offensive in the North as you can see. The offensive is going pretty well. Ive defeated some Chinese units caught in the open and right now it seems the Chinese defences are converging on Nanyang which as 18 units. Suits me fine as I dont intend to attack that city for now. Ive blocked the road, and thats enough for the southern pincer. The threat of encirclement is of cource too big to ignore for the Chinese, so he cant rush all his forces north.

I will either do a deep strike towards Sian, or the main advance will swing south to encircle the two frontline bases, havent decided yet.

[Hortlund]

Ive found some time for AE again and our game has progressed to the middle of February. Here is a screenshot of the int-screen and the most valuable ships sunk so far.




A short recap of the fronts:

PI
Im in the process of mopping up all the small islands. Bataan still remains in US hands, and right now a 700-AV force is besieging my forces at Clark. We are in a sort of Mexican standoff here since neither of us has enough forces to dislodge the other. Im fine with that since I hold all the bases except Bataan and I can bring in reinforcements later to finish off the defenders. All of Mindanao is in Japanese hands.

Malaya
A few scattered units remain in the Malaya penninsula. Kuantan is still in allied hands, all other bases are Japanese. All that remains here is some mopping up of the last stragglers. For some reason, they have been able to find retreat paths instead of surrendering when I have taken the bases, and it takes forever to follow them into the jungle to finish them off.

NEI
I have all of Java, all of Sumatra (except one base about to fall), all of the Celebes, Timor, etc. What remains here is to take some remaining dot-bases.

Burma
Here is the problem-child. I brought in too few forces at start and I have hardly made any progress at all. Rangoon is still in allied hands, but its about to fall. Ive recently brought in 2 new divisions and a handful of regiments to put some pressure here. I need to clear Mandalay before the monsoon-season kicks in.

[Hortlund]

And here is a couple of pictures of the situation in Australia.

The north coast in all in Japanese hands, all from Carnarvon to Cooktown. Right now there are two fronts.

Darwin-front. Or the race to the south. I have roughly 1500 AVs here running south towards Tennant Creek. The allied forces here are few and scattered. I believe he has a division and some small units here (Gull force, etc).

On the Brisbane front things are shaping up to be an interesting battle. Inital Japanese landings were at Cairns and Bundaberg. Ive also brought in some tank units at Normanton. Ive managed to push north and south from Bundaberg and the main allied defenceline right now is at Brisbane. Right now I want to take Charter Towers and Townsville before going further south. I want to avoid this two-front battle. I also believe I will not be able to take Brisbane withouth bringing in plenty of reinforcements.

I think its pretty good progress for the japs so far though. Mid-February and all of the SRA is captured and half of Australia.