cap_and_gown(j) v witpqs(a) - no witpqs

[CapAndGown]

Here is the situation in the Fiji/Somoa area. The two "regiments" on the Tonga Islands are garrison units due to be withdraw in about a year. On the Tonga Islands I only have very small (size 8) aviation units. These bases host Emily Chutais searching down to the southern map edge. The rest of the bases that show units present have size four airfields and at least 24 aviation support.

[CapAndGown]

I have only recently begun developing the Gilberts in a major way. A number of garrison forces arrive in about 30 days. I will probably send a number of them here. I judge this area to be the most likely site of the first allied offensive (after Canton and Baker are captured). I will base my Carriers and a CA force at Nauru. Nauru is centrally located to the Marshals/Gilberts/Somoa/Fiji/New Caledonia/Solomons.

[CapAndGown]

The Marshals are still being developed. Since I will not have an Air HQ here (at least for a while) these islands will get the bulk of my land based Vals. Sallies/Helens may also be based here.

[CapAndGown]

I judge that the Solomons are secure for a while. I do not believe an offensive will be coming out of Australia any time soon. I believe the fuel situation there is quite poor. Nevertheless, this area is being extensively developed. The forces at Rabaul can also serve as a reserve for the Marshals/Gilberts.

[CapAndGown]

Engineers have also been busily at work around the Bismark Sea. Most of northern New Guinea is built up to spec. The area around Cape Glouster/Finschhafen is still being developed. and the dot base south of Manus need to be built up. But progress in this sector is fairly advanced and some of these engineers can soon be either moved back to develop the Marianas or to build the forts in the Solomons to higher levels.

[CapAndGown]

The Banda Sea is fairly well developed. I still need to buy a reserve division out of Manchuria to base at Kendari. I also need one of the garrison regiments that come available in 30 days to garrison Taberfane. I do not expect anything to happen in this sector for quite a while since I still control Darwin and the rest of northern Australia.

[CapAndGown]

Java has 2 infantry divisions, 5 tank regiments, and 3 SNFL/Nav Guard units garrisoning the southern shore. A regiment will soon land at Denpasar as well.

[CapAndGown]

Western Sumatra is scary since there are a lot of bases right near Palembang and Singapore. I believe I have taken adequate precautions.

[CapAndGown]

For northern Sumatra and Malaya, I am not sure that my defenses are yet up to snuff. But other areas have a higher priority right now.

[CapAndGown]

The final area in this survey is Burma. This area has been difficult to think about. The open plain in northern Burma is not very inviting for defense. Yet giving the allies those air bases would not be good either. Up until now I have not been developing those bases except to build forts. I have now decided that I will develop the air fields there and build the forts some more. I will try to make a stand in the Magwe region. The biggest problem here is lack of aviation support. At both Bessien and Pegu I had stacked two 24 AV units, giving me 48 aviation support at both bases. I am now moving two of the units north. This will only give me 24 aviation support at most of my bases in Burma. I can probably pull a couple more 24 AV units out of Singapore. There are probably also some around the Celebes that I do not need to have there quite yet.

[CarnageINC]

I was wondering how your defensive alignments were laid out, thanks for posting these.  It will be interesting to see how they will be penetrated by the Allies.  How are your Manchurian garrison points looking, can you still bring in more troops over time?

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 1, 1942

An interesting, and accidental battle over Chitagong happened today. I just moved in some Nicks and accidentally set them to Sweep instead of Escort (the buttons are right next to each other and this is not the first time I have done this). It is rather odd that they knew right where to go since I did not know that any planes were based at Chitagong. That base had not been reconned in a while.

26 Nicks faced off against 21 Hurricane IIc Trop's. Although the Nick's were able to dive on some of the opponents because of their starting height advantage, this did not hold up very long. As more defenders scrambled they were able to turn the tables and get the height advantage on the Nicks. I thought the Nicks would do better since they have armor and a 20mm cannon. But they didn't seem to have any advantage. A 2-1 loss ratio is not very indicative of a better plane. Altogether 6 Nick's were lost to 3 Hurri's.

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

I was wondering how your defensive alignments were laid out, thanks for posting these.  It will be interesting to see how they will be penetrated by the Allies.  How are your Manchurian garrison points looking, can you still bring in more troops over time?

Right now my garrison is at 11800, so I have a lot of troops left that I can pull out.

[SqzMyLemon]

Great posts on your defensive dispositions to date. Very informative and well thought out. Good luck defending the Empire.

[CapAndGown]

In looking over the specs on the Hurricane IIc Trop I see that they have 4x20mm cannon versus the one cannon for the Nick. I am now thinking about running some tests against these guys to see how various airframe will do. I expect that Zero's will do best since they have 2x20mm cannons and are much more maneuverable and a little faster. The Tojo's might perform well too since they are much faster and somewhat more maneuverable. I just wish I had more AV support in Burma right now! (2 more 24 AV support units will load up shortly in the Home Islands to be shipped to Burma.)

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Great posts on your defensive dispositions to date. Very informative and well thought out. Good luck defending the Empire.

Thank you.

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 6, 1942

B-17Es staged a raid on Milne Bay today. This is the first opposed raid by B-17s since the initial conquest of the DEI about 7 or 8 months ago. (These same B-17s had been bombing a tank regiment I had at Daly Waters, but those raids were unopposed.) The Forts were met by Oscars and Flak. Over all, the results were, what I consider, fairly positive. Five B-17s were lost (1-A2A, 1-AAA, 3-Op) to four Oscars (2-A2A, 2-Ops). One pilot went MIA, while another was WIA. This was a relatively fresh formation with exp in the 50s, air skill around 70, and defense around 50. So this was their baptism by fire. The one disappointment was that none of the raids were detected by radar. This resulted in most of the A2A combat taking place after the bombers had already dropped their load. (The airfield is moderately damaged.)

The first raid had 45 B-17Es opposed by 36 Oscars, though I don't think many of these actually engaged. The second raid saw 6 Forts against 26 Oscars. Again, a number of these probably did not engage, and most of the action took place after the bombs were dropped. The final raid was composed of 6 B-17Es and was opposed by 12 Oscars.

Considering the number of damaging hits my pilots made on the bombers, I doubt they will be back for a few turns, more than enough time to patch up both the runway and the numerous damaged fighters.

I need to look into the radar situation. Maybe I need to bring some more radar equipped units to my outlying bases.

Meanwhile, B-17Fs showed up in northern Australia to harass my beat up tank regiment. That regiment had been at Daly Waters guarding the road to Darwin, but has been subjected to numerous attack by B-17s. With no forts and clear terrain, it has been murder for the tankers. So I am pulling the tanks back to Darwin where they will be evaced to Java to recuperate.

I am holding Northern Australia very lightly. At Port Hedland I have one SNLF and a small aviation unit (8 AV). This base hosts a group of Emily's doing naval search down towards Perth. At Broome I have an SNLF. And there is one SNLF at Katherine. Finally, at Darwin I have an SNLF and a JAAF company (24 AV). A Sentai of Nicks is stationed at Darwin, as is a Chutai of Babs doing recon of Tenant Creek.

[Q-Ball]

Great maps! Looking at them I can't help but wonder: How did you build all those airbases? I don't let the grass grow under any of my engineer units, yet you seem to have made more progress than me (well, I'm a month behind you, Aug 1942). How did you do it?

It takes a long time for the Empire to build a base, since our only engineering tool is the Type 89 Shovel

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Great maps! Looking at them I can't help but wonder: How did you build all those airbases? I don't let the grass grow under any of my engineer units, yet you seem to have made more progress than me (well, I'm a month behind you, Aug 1942). How did you do it?

It takes a long time for the Empire to build a base, since our only engineering tool is the Type 89 Shovel

Strictly speaking, not every base is yet built up, though I expect many of them to be built to spec soon. For instance, Jailut is 97% of the way to a level 1. Taubiteuei is at level 4, but the bases around it are still level 3, about 50% towards level 4.

One way to get the bases built faster is to get all your engineers out of Manchuko and most of the ones in China. Another thing is to concentrate on the high SPS bases first. Then, if time permits, go develop the lower SPS bases. As supply convoys restock bases I always set them to not retire so that they can stick around to pick up units as soon as the base is built to spec. My specs generally are: size 4 airfield; size 3 forts. In some spots I have built the ports. On the whole, though, I am skipping port building and using AKs in amphib TFs to deliver supply/troops, and pick up the engineers. Using AK to deliver goods over the beach is generally faster than unloading at a size 1 or 2 port. I am also using combat engineers in a straight engineering role. I am not invading anything or attacking anywhere right now, so their usefulness against fortifications is not needed.

My general plan is to not lose any any engineers to an allied invasion. I want them all gone except for the aviation support units by the time the allies invade. There are a few exceptions where I judge that some extra engineers will be needed to keep runways repaired. But I am going to need those engineers later to help develop the Mariana's and Philippines.

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 11, 1942

Lightnings made their first appearance today. Two formations swept Milne Bay at 30,000 feet. The first sweep consisted of 22 Lightnings. The second sweep consisted of just 3. Our CAP was at 15,000 feet so for a number of rounds our boys were getting bounced. That did not last and we were able to get the bounce on some occasions as well. Nevertheless, the Lightnings were the clear winners this time around with an 11-4 score in A2A. The overall score, including op loses, was 13 Oscars to 5 Lightnings. Despite this poor showing, however, we did not actually lose any pilots. Four of my pilots were WIA. They will be coming back at some point, though their experience level took a hit.

B-17s also bombed the airfield. After the first raid where he lost 5 bombers, witpqs had increased the altitude of the Forts to 21,000 feet to avoid the Flak. From that altitude they are not scoring many hits. OTOH, they are not suffering much damage either. No Forts were lost today to A2A, Flak, or Ops. The first raid consisted of 26 Forts, the second raid had only 6.

I am wondering if he will continue to target Milne Bay. Why stick with this one target? Why not vary it up a little to keep me guessing? While that may yet happen, for now I have decided to move in a Sentai of Zero's. There is also a Sentai Tojo's that just upgraded at Rabaul. As soon as they are ready, I will pull out the Oscars and Zero's and fly in the Tojo's to see how they do. (BTW, Tojo production is now at 190 a month, so I am rapidly replacing my Oscars with a much better airframe.) Another step I have taken is to increase the patrol altitude to 31,000 feet for my fighters at Buna and Milne Bay. I also need to install some fighters at Woodlark which I will do next turn.

In other developments, I have decided that my next priority for political points is aviation support groups. I am going to buy out every non-static aviation support unit in the Home Islands. These will be distributed around to various areas where aviation support is either lacking altogether, or where it could definitely stand to be beefed up from its dismally low level of just 24 at the majority of my bases.

[bklooste]

Why keep you guessing , maybe he just wants to use his P38 and B17s to grind down your oscars [:D] Multiple altitudes seem to work well for P38s eg put a Chutai at max Cap.

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 15, 1942

The Lightnings were back today over Milne bay. The first raid of 22 decimated the Tojo's based at Milne Bay. Some Oscars based at Kiriwina intervened as well, yet they did much better. In looking over the two formations, one thing that stood out about the Tojo's was their very low defense rating. I have found that just training for escort duty does not seem to raise this defense rating much. So I am trying an experiment: I am taking fighter squadrons that have gotten their Air skill up into the 60 and setting them to train for airfield attack. We will see if that is able to get their defense value up. Another factor may have been the low experience rating of the Tojo's. Their average experience is only about 52 or 53. In contrast, the Oscars from Kiriwina have a defense rating in the 60's and an average experience of about 70. Looks like I converted the wrong group to Tojo's! A second raid of 3 Lightnings also appeared.

_____________engaged(first/second raid)_____lost A2A_____op losses___kills claimed_____KIA___WIA
Lightnings____________22/3__________________9__________5
Tojos________________36/2__________________15_________1___________2__________5_____4
Oscars_______________13/6__________________2__________1___________1__________1_____2

I was rather disappointed by the Tojo performance. Not simply because so many of them were shot down. That is to be expected with less than elite pilots. Rather, their suite of 4 mgs (2x7.7mm, 2x12.7mm) were not really able to outright kill the Lightnings. Rather, there were numerous damage results, some of which, obviously, turned into ops losses. But outright kills were rare. I may go ahead an bring in Zero's. Their 20mm cannons should work well here. But I really was hoping that the Army could bear a lot of the A2A load since IJN fighter pilots are a precious commodity. I was hoping to preserve the Zero's as escorts for anti-shipping strikes while using Army fighters to provide CAP.

A large raid of 62 B-17E's also made an appearance over Milne Bay. None were lost, although a few were damaged. The B-17s appear to be flying out of Townsville. I am interested in bombarding the place but I am concerned about mines. So I am sending a low value sub to investigate whether mines are present. If there are no mines at Palm Island, I am going to send in some BBs. My planes may not be able to kill B-17s, but the battlewagons might. If the path into Townsville is clear of mines, I will recon the place for a few turns and then send in the heavy hitters. Of course, the B-17s may be at Charter Towers. Hopefully recon will be able to give some indication.

On the production front I have upped the number of Merchant Shipyards somewhat and have decided that I will halt all Std-D and -E cargo ships when they start to build. The -E class only take 30 days to build while the -D class only take 60 days. So if I should need such little ships for some reason I can restart them and have them available relatively quickly. I plan on using the points saved to accelerate TKs.

Large numbers of Aviation support units have now been bought out of the Home Islands and are now on their way to the front. This is a big problem I have in trying to mass my planes: lack of aviation support. I will still be short, but hopefully the situation will be somewhat improved by this influx of new support units. A much larger influx of reinforcements is due in January.

A large number of allied subs are surging into the South China Sea. I am diverting TK convoys through the Surigao and San Bernadino straits. So far I have lost only one TK to a sub and that was a long time ago. I find the best way to not have my ships sunk is to simply avoid the b*st*rds.