US Naval War College Communications (Allied only)

[herwin]

March 16/17 1942

Last turn, I ordered the Eastern Fleet to a scouting line behind Ceylon, so that my reconnaisance assets could sort out what is coming. My opponent had sent a BB division to Port Blair, and I had detected it just outside the harbour. I responded this turn by ordering the harbour defence motor launches (which had been attracting a great deal of interest from his aircraft) up the coast to get them out of the way and then simply waiting--there's a minefield at Port Blair lying in wait for his bombardment force. Elsewhere, my orders were basically unchanged--reinforce Efate, Luganville, and Tulagi, and continue preparing for the invasions of the Shortlands and Kwajalein. Let's see what happened...

OK, a light SAG ran into the HDMLs at Port Blair and sank them--goes with the territory. Hmm, there's a small AmphTF at Port Blair. I wonder how they will like the mines. All that seems to be landing is a base force. Akagi CAP showed up at Pegu!--no cavalry coming to rescue Port Blair. Let's see how big the Bay of Bengal force is.

No detections--even at full speed, can't get close enough to Ceylon to strike it next turn. There's no reason to close at this point, and every reason to wait.

SS I-3 is still in service--not sunk as previously reported.

BTW, who is R. N. Bateson?

[Local Yokel]

ORIGINAL: herwin

BTW, who is R. N. Bateson?

Probably 'Bob' Bateson - celebrated leader of 2 TAF Mosquito raids against Gestapo HQs at The Hague (1944) and Shell House, Copenhagen (1945). OC 211 Sqn flying Blenheim Mk 1 from Sumatra and Java, February 1942.

[herwin]

March 17/18 1942

The old Japanese Battleships and their entourage revisit Wenchow. Keeps them out of trouble. The KB hits Prome! That's about as far as it can get from the real threat! Time to boogie!

The Japanese capture Port Blair.

[herwin]

March 18/19 1942

I ordered the Eastern Fleet forward, but still out of range of KB air attack if it were to sail at top speed towards me. Let's see what happened.

The Combined Fleet's battleship divisions bombarded a Chinese unit that happened to be moving along the coast. No effect...

The Japanese march back into Wenchow...

The KB hangs around Pegu, doing nothing. The Eastern Fleet is patrolling south of Ceylon, 26 hexes away. At full speed, the KB can reach 8-10 hexes away, which does not allow it to pull off an airstrike. If I can sneak up to 18 hexes away (advance 8 hexes) with my Surface Action Groups, I can raid its location during the day. If I advance 9 hexes, and the KB advances 9 hexes, it's barely out of range for an airstrike. He has to advance 10 hexes to do an airstrike without my SAGs reacting.

My head hurts--I think I'll refuel the Eastern Fleet in Colombo and then try to sneak up on him.

Meanwhile at Noumea, I'm assembling an Amph TF to take out the Shortlands with a Marine regiment. I'm short on escorts in the South Pacific for my xAPs, which makes it hard to redeploy offensively. I'm also assembling a divisional Amph TF at Pearl for a landing at Kwajalein.

[herwin]

March 19/20

Not a great deal of action. The Japanese player has learned to use shock attacks to up the odds against Chinese formations.

[herwin]

In for a penny, in for a pound. The Battle Force is headed for Kwajalein with a division organised for an amphibious landing. The operational USN CVTFs are converging on the Eastern Mandates. If that doesn't trigger a reaction, I don't know what will. The KB is operating off Rangoon, and the Eastern Fleet is moving forward. If that doesn't get a reaction, the KB will be engaged in a close-range surface action by six battleships, two dozen cruisers, and about the same number of destroyers. The old Japanese battleships are operating in the Formosa Strait.

[herwin]

March 20/21 1942

Japanese heavy surface units bombard Wenchow.

Air strikes against the CW units holding the line at Pegu produce heavy casualties.

KB loiters near Rangoon.

Chinese capture Chuhsien.

Port strike on Singapore finds Hosho docked. Two hits claimed.

Eight hits on a Dutch submarine off Lingga Roads.

[herwin]

March 21/22 1942

The KB moves to a position a bit south and west of Moulmein. It's 25 hexes from my scouting line. I'll wait on it.

Nothing else really happening.

[herwin]

March 22/23 1942

Not much to report. The Eastern Fleet ran into a Japanese sub south of Ceylon. The remaining operations remain undetected.

[herwin]

The KB has disappeared. I have multiple search coverage over the approach lanes, so I assume it's headed home. In any case, I'm pulling the patrol line back to Colombo, where I have a strong CAP.

Otherwise, I'm continuing with my offensive actions. CVTFs currently arriving in the Eastern Mandates.

[herwin]

My opponent continues operations around Sumatra and (to some extent) Java. His Netties seem to be operating in Sumatra, which suggests I should give it a wide berth. No sign of the KB, which suggests it's somewhere in the Malacca Strait. I send a box of B-17s to stir up the port at Singapore. My carriers hit Roi-Namur from the south, while the invasion fleet approaches Kwajalein from the north. 18th British Division (at Perth) begins packing for a passage to India.

[herwin]

March 24/25 1942

Japanese capture Pegu. 17-1 attack on a CW corps.

Japanese recapture Chuhsien.

[herwin]

KB reappears near Singapore. Japanese air raids continue to attack Bandoeng (which is not a strategic target). Three USN CVTFs hit the Betty base at Maloelap in the Marshalls. Burcorps abandons Rangoon and begins the retreat to Mandalay.

[herwin]

March 26/27 1942

Japanese tank forces move rapidly towards Prome as Chinese troops head south from Mandalay and CW troops retreat north from Rangoon.

Dummy aircraft deployed at Bandoeng to attract Japanese raids away from Batavia.

KB headed east, north of Kuching.

Halsey plays whack-a-mole in the Marshalls.

[herwin]

March 27/28 1942

The invasion of Kwajalein by the Americal Division went in at 222-67. After the game engine was done, it was a shock attack at 3-42. That's very strange...

[herwin]

Indicator lamps were reset in Washington. The invasion of Kwajalein at this point was part of War Plan Orange. Very educational...

Problems with coordination and timing. The pre-invasion bombardment by the Battle Fleet didn't happen when planned.

[herwin]

That's very interesting--the Battle Fleet didn't even follow its orders to close and conduct the bombardment. It's dithering at its starting hex.

That's one admiral who will serve the rest of the war as commander of a stateside naval district!

[witpqs]

What was:

Preparation %?

Supply situation?

Disruption?

Fatigue?

The kind of ships they were embarked on?

Commanders rating?

Did all troops unload before combat? If not, was the parent fragment ashore or aboard ship? (Last affects who was in command during combat - the selected commander or a random replacement.)

[herwin]

Preparation < 100%
Supply excellent
Disruption minimal
Fatigue--after the turn 64%
Embarked on APs
Commander's rating OK
Troops did not unload completely. Parent fragment not ashore during the battle, although afterwards the ashore force became the parent fragment.

Main problem was the commander of the preinvasion bombardment force (the US Battle Fleet) decided not to bombard.

[witpqs]

Fatigue is too high for good results, but 222 down to 3 is like a few guys just walked into the enemy.

Presume the commander during the battle was less able than the permanent commander.

A whole division is more than I tested on a 6,000 limit island. At 222% of base load IIRC supply usage was = 91 times normal, just sitting there. Look in Tracker to see the base load of the unit (LCU page, scroll all way to the right), you can not see the base load of units in-game.

What shape is the unit in (disablements)? Maybe you can deliberate attack this turn? With supplies good, but after the penalty eats them all they will fight at 25%.

If needed, split the division leave the best 1 (or possibly) 2 part(s) in place, withdraw the rest to reduce the supply penalty. Rest what is there. Bad if KB has time to show up.

Does enemy have any forts? Are division's engineers still combat ready?

Likely they will fight much better this turn and of course after rest. Shock attack very risky as it might wreck the division leaving no alternative to retreat.

From another thread: for bombardment put one float plane group on daytime recon (doesn't matter if they fly) and another on nighttime recon. One group on recon either time is supposed to suffice to improve bombardment but speculation is that code might care if day or night, so have both since you can't always predict when bombardment goes in. Do bombard if possible on same turn as attack.