Payback - jzanes (A) vs. Rader (J). A Rader-free zone.

[Jzanes]

The Pacific remains very quiet. No sign of the KB in a month or so now. Could they be lurking out there somewhere? I really wish I had some intel on their whereabouts. Coastwatchers have been reporting seeing various carriers in Port Moresby but I don’t know how much weight to give this report. That seems like an awful long ways from their last sighting in the Aleutians. I suspect this “CV” is actually an AV or other light carrier. My fleet remains in port at Pearl with large concentrations of transports at Christmas Island and San Francisco. I’ve continued to send out small TFs to the Aleutians and Samoa/Fiji but am itching to form up a big TF of troops and planes and send it to the front. I will wait till I spot the KB though. Too dangerous to risk large numbers of troops getting drowned.

Finally, back to the “new front”. About a week ago, I spotted a line in the sigint regarding “1st raiding regiment aboard AP blah blah maru heading to Fusan”. Then I spotted several more reports of the Japanese army parachute units heading to Korea/Sakhalin. That got me wondering why he’d be sending these valuable troops back to his rear areas. Then I saw that “Kwangtung area army planning for Khaborvsk”. So I checked out what I could see regarding Japanese deployments around the Russians. Lo and behold 40 units (now 28) at Kotou on the Russian border near Khaborvsk. Attacking at this point would allow the Japanese to cut the Russians in two. Compared to the start concentrations, Japanese unit counts are higher in many other spots along the Russian border. I think he actually is gonna attack. I have concentrated on forts building at all the Russian front line bases and have dispersed the Russian airforce as much as possible. All the Russian units have been receiving replacements since day 1 and should be pretty much full strength. He better come strong cause the Russians have some serious firepower.

[Jzanes]

April 28-May 1, 1942

Again, the Japanese detect my movement of planes to Chungking and send in wave after wave of fighters on high level sweeps. The flying tigers accept the challenge and shoot down an estimated 72 enemy fighters (71 oscars) while losing 33 planes in air to air combat. Only 6 pilots are lost but several of my top pilots are wounded. This includes D.L. “Tex” Hill (12 kills). The tigers have moved back to their “secret” base at Tuyun while the B17s have moved to nearby Neikiang and are ordered to attack the Hong Kong heavy industry. Neikiang is a size 5 field and I suspect it will probably look like I’m attacking from Chungking to the Japanese.

[Jzanes]

My Chinese forces have mostly pulled back across the river to my new Changsha defense line. In Burma, the Japanese are across the river and will likely grab the empty city of Rangoon shortly. My troops are digging in at Toungoo.

I continue to pick up signs of an impending invasion of the soviet far east. Sigint has reported several divisions on ships moving to the home islands, korea, or Manchuria. Japanese unit counts along the river continue to rise. So far, it looks like he plans to jump across the river and grab Khaborvsk early and cut the soviet forces in half. I plan to rush forces to Bikin and Birobidzhan to keep him from breaking out to the north or south.

[Jzanes]

We’ve now entered May and here’s the current scoreboard;

[Jzanes]

May 2 to Mid-May, 1942

The early part of May passes fairly quietly. We stare at each other across the river in the Changsha area, the Japanese slowly move forward in Burma, and I tentatively send out some convoys from the West coast with the fear of the KB keeping me on edge.

The game hits a snag related to his invasion of the Soviet Far East. He had intended to sail up the Amur river and land at Komsomolsk on D-day. I found this too gamey and insisted he at least activate the Russians and give the CD guns at the river mouth (Nikolaevsk) a chance to shoot him up as he sails up the river. Rader did some testing and found that no matter what you do, the CD guns will not fire at passing ships. We agreed this likely has something to do with the river mouth not being coded as a “strait”. We decided that it would be fair for him to activate the Russians in the night phase and then sail through in the day phase. It’s not his fault the CD guns won’t work. At least he won’t be landing at Komsomolsk on the morning of D-day.

Here’s the link to the forum discussion regarding whether an invasion up the river is or isn’t gamey.

tm.asp?m=2417264

We will be turning the clock back a turn or two and then we’ll see how the Russian adventure plays out.

[PaxMondo]

 
Can't wait for this to unfold.
 
 

[Jzanes]

May 16, 1942

The Japanese should strike Russia in the next day or two. Let me share my current defense plan;

30-some Japanese units are poised to cross the river at or near Khaborvsk. I have about 1500 AV in a level 5 fort at this city but it’s a clear hex so I don’t anticipate I’ll hold for long. It is also clear that the Japanese intend to sail up the river and land at Komsomolsk within the first few turns of the Soviet-japanese war.

I have no reports from sigint of any other movement towards or planning to attack any other Russian bases. Therefore, I intend to try to isolate the invasion to the Khaborvsk-Komsomolsk area.

Strong elements of 1st Red Banner Army will move from the Vladivostok area to take up a blocking position in the woods around Bikin. Meanwhile 36th army will move to Birobodizhan from Chita to form the northern blocking force. Both of these forces are already camped out at the railway stations waiting for the order to move (all units are already in Strategic mode). 17th army is currently at Ondorhaan and will have to march over bad roads to reach the nearest railway station. Once they arrive at the front, I will see about going on the offensive.

Even with such large forces moving to stop the Japanese, I will still have plenty of troops to hold off small to moderate Japanese attacks all along the border. I may even conduct some modest raids of my own. Especially in the north.

I will have to wait and see how things develop before I decide for sure what to do with the large soviet airforce. The problem is that fighter replacements are limited to 16 MIGs per month until late 1943. I will likely defend several strongpoints (like Vladivostok) and setup CAP traps to try to attrit the Japanese airforce. This strategy has worked well for me all game and even with amped up production, the Japanese can’t handle taking heavy losses to their bombers for very long. My fighters are currently on 70% CAP. I will be curious to see if they will fly on the first turn the Soviets are active.

A Japanese move against the Russians means that he will be unable to mount any significant attacks vs. Australia, Ceylon, India, or the American pacific islands. The Americans will move up their timetable for moving large forces to Australia. I anticipate beginning my counteroffensive in late 42-early 43. That’s nearly 6 months earlier than I originally planned. However, it all depends on where the KB goes and what happens to it….

[Jzanes]

May 16-21, 1942

The Japanese have yet to attack the Soviets. The Russians are primed and ready to go as soon as he crosses the border. While I wait for this happen, let’s catch up on the other theatres.

In China, the ground war is quiet. I swept Hankow with the flying tigers to clear the way for my B17s to harass the airfield. However, they ran into a large force of Japanese fighters and lost 21 planes in the air and another dozen to operational losses. The Japanese lost about 15 fighters. The flying tigers are due to be withdrawn in July. It may take until then to build them back to full strength.

In Burma, I hold him up at Toungoo for a few days and successfully retreat most of my forces before he overruns the city. Meanwhile, the Imperial Guards division has made a flanking move and taken Taung Gyi. I am trying to concentrate in the Meiktila-Mandalay area for another stand. The final stand will be made across the river at Schwebo. Then it’s time to hit the jungles and try to escape to India. The RAF is sweeping and bombing the Japanese troops with no sign of any Japanese airpower in the theatre.

About 100,000 american troops are starting to arrive at Christmas Island. They are loaded on 4 large amphibious TFs with supply, fuel, and planes. So far, no sign of the KB in the shipping lanes. That’s a huge relief. Samoa and Fiji are well on their way to being built up. In the next few months, I will start moving troops forward to New Zealand and Australia. Slow and steady is the plan.

[ADB123]

About 100,000 american troops are starting to arrive at Christmas Island.

[X(][X(][X(]

Really that many?

Why?

[Jzanes]

Christmas Island is my first stop coming from the West Coast. I've built it up into a major citadel. Smaller convoys move troops farther along to Fiji, Samoa, and eventually New Zealand and Australia. At this point, Christmas is an army base and the marines are building up Fiji and Samoa. My plan is to leave at least 500-1000 AV at each point to make them more or less invulnerable to japanese assault.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: Jzanes

Christmas Island is my first stop coming from the West Coast. I've built it up into a major citadel. Smaller convoys move troops farther along to Fiji, Samoa, and eventually New Zealand and Australia. At this point, Christmas is an army base and the marines are building up Fiji and Samoa. My plan is to leave at least 500-1000 AV at each point to make them more or less invulnerable to japanese assault.

Oh, okay. I was surprised because I thought that Christmas Island was one of those islands where there is a limitation on how many troops you can put there.

Good luck

[Jzanes]

Strangely enough, Christmas Island is "unlimited" re: troops and an atoll. Perfect for an early game citadel.

jason.

[ADB123]

ORIGINAL: Jzanes

Strangely enough, Christmas Island is "unlimited" re: troops and an atoll. Perfect for an early game citadel.

jason.

Wow! I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info!

[Jzanes]

May 22-23, 1942

The Japanese commence a sneak attack on the Soviet Far East on the 22nd. Several landings are made and many soviet airfields are assaulted. Both sides lose about 60 planes in A2A combat. All in all, things go well for the good guys.

Let me break the action down into 3 parts; maritime area, central front, and northern areas.

In the maritime area, the Japanese invade Magadan in the far north but are badly shot up by the CD guns. Several Japanese BBs and CAs support the landings but fail to stop me from sinking at least several and probably more like a dozen transports and escorts. Several of the large surface vessels may also be badly damaged with some danger of sinking. Over 8000 japanese IJN ground troops are landed and will likely capture Magadan in the next few days.

The Russians also launch fairly ineffectual airraids on Petropavlosk and Okha.

Plan: large numbers of Russian subs will be deployed to pick off damage ships retiring from Magadan.

[Jzanes]

As expected, the Japanese cross the river to the north and south of Khaborvsk to isolate the city. In an excellent move, Japanese forces also cross the river farther north to cut the rail line. Enemy airraids hit Khaborvsk, Rybolov, Voroshilov, and Nakhodka. Only Khaborvsk is damaged much and no planes are destroyed on the ground. In fact, the Japanese fail to destroy any soviet planes on the ground in the first two days of the war.

30,000 japanese or about 7 divisions worth land at Komsomolsk on the 23rd and will likely grab this city in the next turn. I conceded to letting him move up the river after he activated the Russians but am a little perturbed that he really pushed it. He moved them up the river at full speed so they’d arrive on the first turn (2nd day of our 2 day turns). He also didn’t even bother to land at the river mouth (Nikolaevsk) to represent suppressing the guns. Oh well, I remain hopeful that I’ll be able to bottle up these 7 divisions with the rest if my plan goes as hoped.

Plan: No moves on the Vladivostok area so I will rail the 1st Red banner army to Bikin to block any moves South. The troops in Khaborvsk are bugging out to the north. Only 6 japanese units have crossed the river to the North and I hope to be able to push thru them to safety in Birobidzhan before his Komsomolsk horde arrives at the front. 2nd Red banner army will work to clear the railroad around Kuibyshevka while 36th army moves down from Chita, clearing the railroad in front of it as it comes.
The soviet airforce has two missions. Ground attack enemy forces to force them into slower “combat” deployment and protect Vladivostok. Each Japanese force that has crossed the river will be hit by at least one squadron of bombers with escorts or at least with some fighters sweeping the hex in front of them. Over 200 fighters are defending Vladivostok where I am concentrating the soviet destroyers. More importantly I am defending Vladistostok as it is going to be my submarine base.
Russian subs are sent out to patrol off Japanese ports and the various entrances into the sea of japan.

[Jzanes]

In the northern sector it is quiet except for more river crossings north and south of Skovordino. This will be a job for 36th army and 2nd Red Banner Army to clear. Japanese forces also crossed the border and are besieging one of the inland bases (I forget it’s name).

Plan: 36th and 17th armies commence their planned move to the south. Remaining forces are mostly concentrating at Borzya. I don’t plan to go on the offensive until I get a better feel for what I’m facing. A smallish airforce is left to help defend Borzya and harass the Japanese units that have crossed the river.

[Smeulders]

Can you try mining the mouth of the river at the naval forts ? Ships running on mines in that hex might trigger the CD guns into firing. You could also try deploying the airborne Bde if you have the lift capacity, in the right location this could seriously mess up his supply lines. Manchuria doesn't seem like a bad location, if you have the troops to hold his invasion at that base.

[Jzanes]

March 24-25, 1942

Again I will focus on the Soviet Far East. Nothing else of note happened in the rest of the war.

Overall, things are tense but going pretty much as planned in the soviet far east. The airwar is intense with the Russian losing 75 planes (61 fighters) and the Japanese losing 66 planes (41 bombers). I can’t take these losses for much longer but at least I’m putting a real dent in the Japanese bomber force.

My subs start to deploy. Four subs run into Japanese mines at Hakodate. None are sunk and they are returning to base for repairs. I will be careful around Japanese ports for now on. I’m loading up 6-8 subs with mines to plant at Nikolaevsk and other points to leave the Japanese a surprise.

Let’s take a look area to area. First the Russian maritimes. The city of Magadan holds out for a couple days but should fall to the next deliberate attack. I hear the sweet sound of ships sinking during the replay and imagined that this reflects some of the badly damaged magadan invasion fleet going under.

Fairly intense air action around Petropavlsk. He hits my airfield and my escaping shipping (heading for Kodiak in the Aleutians). I only lose a couple ships and am setting up a CAP trap near this city for next turn. My remaining fighters will be flying CAP over a single AKL I have between Petropavlsk and Paramushiro Jima. Let’s see if he takes the bait.

A Japanese force has crossed the border on Sakhalin Island and is moving towards Alexandrovsk. This city has about 400 AV and 6 forts in a forest hex. It should hold a while unless he’s coming with a very strong force.

[Jzanes]

The central front is where most of the action occurs. Japanese planes raid Rybolov and Birobidzhan. This is where each side loses most of their planes. My Vladisvostok fighters get chopped up pretty good by sweeping Japanese fighters while the Birobidzhan force takes it’s lumps but puts some hurt on the raiders. Both cities are still in good shape. I try something new and set the Vladivostok planes to 100% LRCAP with a target of Vladivostok and range of 0. Hopefully, they will only defend their base. I moved the Birobidzhan planes to Bikin to reinforce that airfield.

My ground attack missions on the Japanese invaders go smooth with no fighter opposition met. It appears that they successfully slowed up his troops as none of them have moved in the last two days. I will continue this tactic next turn. I have intensified my sweeps around Khaborvsk, anticipating he’ll try to CAP his troops this time.

Komsomolsk falls on the 2nd deliberate attack. My Khaborvsk army crosses the river to the north and shock attacks. I find about 2 divisions of Japanese troops and get nearly 1:1 odds. I suffer 3200 casualties and the Japanese suffer 1900 losses. All in all, much better than I expected. I have time before the Komsomolsk force will be able to march up so I’ll rest a couple days, move up reinforcements from Birobidzhan and then try to push the Japanese out of the hex.

He made further landings at Komsomolsk and it appears he’s brought the entire Southern Army. So far, I count about 70,000 troops making up the 14th, 15th, and 16th armies. If I get a week or two, I still think I’ll be able to keep them bottled up. Should be touch and go though.

I was surprised to see that his railcutting force north of Birobidzhan is actually 6 units and 45,000 troops. I will stay away from them for now and use bombers to slow them down.

1st Red Banner Army arrives at Bikin to solidify my southern blocking force. I am sending out some flank guards including 2 tank brigades crossing the river to the north and a rifle division into the woods to the south.

[Jzanes]

In the north, 36th army arrives at Mogocha and starts south down the railway. They will try to clear and secure as they go. My bombers fly ground attack missions trying to pin down his infiltrators.

About 2 divisions of Japanese overrun Tamsag along the border. Not sure what he’s up to here but I’ll keep troops in the region to keep this force from doing any real damage.

The Japanese 2nd raiding regiment drops on the empty city of Petrovskiy near Ulan-ude. Clearly his goal here is to cut the railroad again. I have several tank brigades at Ulan-ude that will clear the railroad and deal with these upstarts. Good move for him though as I intended to have these troops in Borzya and they won’t get there for another week or so now I imagine.