Desperate times calls for desperate measures 1943+ (no Tomasek)

[beppi]

This AAR will deal with the game between me as allied and Tomasek as Japanese. Current date is 2/12/1943 and I have taken over the allied side as the former allied commander decided to honourably surrender after a well played trap of KB sinking 2 CV and leaving 1 CV in sinking condition. As the allied CVs are still quite close to the KB and will possible sink 1 to 3 more CVs next turn.

Scenario 1

- Fog of War: on
- Advanced Weather Effects: on
- Allied Damage Control Advantage: on
- Player Defined upgrades: on
- Historical First Turn: on
- December 7th surprise: on
- Reliable USN torpedo: off
- Realistic R&D: on
- No unit withdrawals: off

As my opponent went to Mexico this week the only current HR is (will update if more are agreed to)

- Pay PP for restricted units to move Borders.

Current main problems:

- Quite some chaos on the entire map.
- Depending on luck allies will have 0 - 3 carriers left.
- Burma and Australia are not in bad shape.
- Overall device pools in bad shape and especially a lot of divisions lack their proper upgrades. Almost none of them got any infantry squad upgrades
- Lack of subs everywhere

Previous information of the last year:

- PH resulted in sinking 3 BBs.
- Force Z was sunk
- China almost conquered by Japan (
- Invasion of India which was repelled
- Invasion of Northern Australia
- A US CV raid on Tokio slinking aprox 30 large AKs and some TKs

[beppi]

Situation in Burma:

Akyab (4/9): 200 Aviation, 55 Fighters, 100 AV
Chittagong (7/9): 180 Aviation, 50 Fighters, 90 LB, 150 AV
Kalyemo: (0(7): 170 Aviation, 120 Fighters, 330 AV
Katha: (0/5): 450 Avitation, 16 Fighters, 30 LB, 100 AV
Myitakina: (0/4): 255 Aviation, 5 recons, 100 AV
Imphal (0/6): 75 Aviation, 70 LB
Silchar (0/5): 50 Aviation

The overall supply situation in India is with 2,5 million tons of supply quite good. Aden und Cape town are right now complete empty of any supply but the situation should not get problematic in any case.

4 RN BB are currently sitting in Diamond Harbor and i do not like it. To close and there they cant really do anything. I think about sending two of them to Australia to get some bombardment protection, or just to retreat them to a less exposed harbour. I don't think that I will be able to bombard something with them in the next year.

The ground situation in Burma itself is from my point of view a little desperate. The two stacks next to Magwe are both damaged from combat with a lot of disabled squads. The enemy has a to strong army in Magwe so i could run in some problem. I would tend to send both stacks complete back to India as all divisions lack squad upgrades.

The stack next to Schwebo is in quite good shape, and especially in Jungle they should be able to stop a much stronger force. Problem is the Army Stack in Lashio (2000 AV) which could use the back entrance to Burma capture Myitakina and create a lot of trouble.

China is complete lost, except the two cities you see on the map and Chungking with 11000 AV of Chinese Troops and 7000 AV of Japanese Guard units.

In India I have approximately 2,5k AV restricted units and 473 AV 9th Australian Division. Moving it to Australia would take almost 100 days, not sure if it is worth it.

In the next few turns I will try to move around some Aviation Support and Engineer Squads to Imphal and Silchar to max Level asap to have a good Base for Fighters and HB which cant be Bombarded by Sea. That's why I don't like Akyab, just to easy to do Bombards Missions. Some HQs for the large Bases will be on the way too.

Right now i would tend to do a full retreat back to India as a Lot of Chinese Divisions can be bought free in the next few months. This will even threat India as Japan can get quite strong there.

If anyone of the Burma experts has some advices I would welcome them.

Next i will do an overview of northern Australia where the situation is even worse.

[beppi]

Situation in North OZ:

Tennant Creek (0/8): 230 Aviation, 20 AV, 30 Fighter, 20 LB, 1 Turn to level 9
Alice Springs (0/7): 156 Aviation, 10 AV, 15 Fighter, 15 LB
Cloncurry (0/8): empty
Normanton (1/0) empty

Overall Situation is Australia is quite desperate. Supplies are ok (aprox 2 million) fuel is a little bit low. Except the units seen in northern oz there is aprox 1000 AV left is complete Australia.

I have 3rd Marine division and 40th Infantry Division in Noumea and enough transpors there to ship them out. I will asap ship both units to OZ as i control Efate, Lungaville and Efeti with each 150 AV some Fighters based. This will at least cost some time for the enemy to capture and in Nouma is gone it is gone. To much danger that entire OZ is lost if i dont support it. Especially as SIGINT says that then the Japanese are shipping additional units from China to OZ.

Situation is currently worse than Burma. I have to retreat my army from derby and I beg that i will be able to do that. The units there lack all Squad upgrades have a lot of disabled squads and are all low on supply. Impossible to maintain an offensive operation there.

The two divisions north of Tennant Creek are both Australian ones and are not full filled with Squads and both lack complete upgrades. (Still CMF Militia)

In NW Oz there is currently an attack on Port Hedland with 600 AV stuck in the nowhere. It could be possible to capture port Hedland but they are low on supply and i will retreat this units asap too. (41 Div, 1 Aus Bde)

One Bde is hanging around in Exmouth having nice hollidays but i will retreat it too as exmouth is an dot hex. If the enemy want to have it he can have it.

As Tennant Creek is close to lvl 9 i will send and HQ there and airlift some air support to get 250 Air support. I can muster aprox 200 LB (100 4e 100 2e) there and 200 fighters. As north OZ is open terrain bombers should work quite nice.

[beppi]

Rest of CentPac and SoPac:

Suva is 5/9 with 100 Fighters, 25 DB and 1000 AV there. So the situation should be quite stable right now North of it we control Tabiueta with 200 AV and 70 Fighters on it.

Wake is currently US controlled with 70 AV on it. It was recaptured some time ago but i expect that i will lose it.

Pearl has 2k AV on it so i will shift a Division from Suva to Australia and one from Pearl to Suva. Pearl can be reinforced by a Division from the West Coast in aprox 1 Month.

Supply situation overal is quite good but as KB can roam freely the next month i will focus most of the shipping to small convoys if needed and supply transport from San Francisco to Pearl Harbour as there is not much more to do and Supply Chain from Pearl is shorter.

Canton Island currently houses the remains of the US Fleet (3CVE, 4 BB, 6 CA some CL and DD) but i will send it Back to Pearl Harbour as there is no need for Battlewagon in Centpac as KB will just sink them. Some of them need upgrades too so there is a good time for it.

What is quite strange is that my predecessor dropped the DB Replacement Squads from the CVE in pearl and just kept the fighters squads there. Is it possible to use the fighters if there are just 28 and if they are a replacement squads for cap ? I doubt that.

WestCoast/NorthPac

North Pac is in good supply and i dont think the enemy will start a big invasion there as there is nothing to gain right now.

Pilot training on west coast was done very well as there are right know aprox. 200 Army Pilots and 200 Navy DB Pilots reday to be moved to the pool. Pilot replacement pool in general is in a good shape and aircraft replacement pool too (except 4E and 2E Bombers).

[beppi]

Ok now it is time to save the carriers.

After regrouping and removing all damaged ships from the corresponding TFs i would do the following as i have absolutely no insurance which carriers i would be able to save.

I would tend to send Lexington and Saratoga Group with full speed to the north west. Marcus Island is only lvl 1 airfield so no Betties there and it is out of torp range from the Marians.

Hornet group would go to the south, south east going to Suva. Ponape is only level 1 AF, Eniwetok too so there should be no danger from there.

Saratoga can move 8 hexes at full speed, Lexington 7 and hornet 3 or 4. This could bring Saratoga and Lex out of KB range, if i can save Hornet i am not sure. Especially i fear a split up of KB so he could catch all 3 of them. The fighters Squads on all of the CV are either complete destroyed or completely damaged so no airdefense from the carriers.

In addition i will create some replenishment group in Pearl to replenish the CVs which flee north.

Enterprise and South Dakota will sink as i see no real way to save them. As always there are no subs really in range. One of the Big Questions is if i should scuttle Enterprise or hope that she will draw some attack bombers next turn. With the rest of the damaged ships i will form some surface TFs and hope to attack KB and force them to retreat. This will use OP Points of KB. Is this right ?

Or are there any other advices how to solve this situation ?

[beppi]

2/12/1943

Pacific Fleet is still on the run.
Enterprise was scuttled last turn as there was no way to save it.
Hornet was caught by a part of KB which has split up and ran east and south east. The SE part got Hornet and sank it. South Dakota and North Carolina are gone to. Situation looks grim as all Carriers are very low on Fighters/DBs and TBs. Almost all of them got killed in the big engagement.
Saratoga and Lexington retreated NW with full speed and are right now close to Marcus Island. They will continue to retreat north to refuel there and then retreat to the West Coast.

In Burma retreat of the two Armies in bad shape is going on. Nothing else spectacular happened there.

In northern Australia all exposed armies are in full retreat. Tennant Creek is still not LVL 9 but at 95%. I am redirecting some Fighter Squads from Noumea and the surrounding bases to Australia to get more US Fighters in the Air. Neither Planes nor Pilots are short, just squads to use them.

Some armored Brigades and a Fighter HQ and some Base forces are on the way o Cloncurry to establish a Backup Base if Tennant Creek falls.

1 Marine Division and one Army Division from Nouma are on the way to Sydney to reinforce my ground forces in Australia. Americal Division from Souva is on its way too.

All remaining CVs and usable Battleships where stationed at Canton Island and where ordered to retreat to Pearl Harbor to drop the Air Squadrons off and then will retreat to West Coast as right now every Base is exposed. In the next months KB could even try a raid on West Coast and could succeed. But at least there is more Repair capacity there to repair anything which gets damaged through such a raid.

Situation overall is still grim.


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 121,116

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 62
B5N2 Kate x 20
D3A1 Val x 41



Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses

Allied Ships
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Salt Lake City
BB North Carolina, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CL Columbia, Bomb hits 4, on fire
DD Morris

[JohnDillworth]

Wow, this is a mess. Well, If you can save 2 carriers that will at least be something to build on. Couple of quick questions. How do you look on secondary ships? Particularly TK's AO's and AP's? How is you pilot pool and was training neglected? Anything good left in the British fleet?

[beppi]

2/13/1943

This turn we Fortuna was not on our side. I think we will lose an other Carrier.

At first we where quite lucky as one of our remainin DD Fleet ran into KB and scored a hit on Ryujo. Only reason for this DD TFs is to distrupt the enemy Carrier Fleets and if possible to score a lucky torp hit.


Night Time Surface Combat, near Wake Island at 132,95, Range 9,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga
CV Junyo
CV Hiyo
CV Taiho
CVL Ryujo, Shell hits 1
CVL Shoho
CVL Zuiho
CVL Ryuho
CVE Hosho
BB Haruna
BB Fuso
CA Chikuma
DD Teruzuki
DD Minegumo
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Shigure
DD Yudachi
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima
DD Wakaba
DD Yugure
DD Ariake

Allied Ships
DD Bancroft


A little bit later we ran out of luck and a Japanese Cruise TF running from Tokio to Truk cought Lexington two times scoring enough hits to reduce the maximum speed by one. Another desaster happened as Lexington transferred fuel to St. Louis which cost us 250 OP Points. I think this will lead to sinking of Lexington as KB can reach it next turn.



Day Time Surface Combat, near Marcus Island at 130,79, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CL Yura
CL Kinu
CL Tama
CL Tatsuta
DD Yugumo
DD Kazegumo
DD Makinami
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze
DD Asashio

Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Shell hits 1
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 2
DD Meredith, Shell hits 1
DD Monssen
DD Aaron Ward

Day Time Surface Combat, near Marcus Island at 131,78, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CL Yura
CL Kinu
CL Tama
CL Tatsuta
DD Yugumo
DD Kazegumo
DD Makinami
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze
DD Asashio

Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Shell hits 4
CL St. Louis
DD Meredith
DD Monssen
DD Aaron Ward


In Burma reatreat continues to more defendable positions. I am still not shure if i should completly retreat out of Burma back to India. As my Opponen controls China he can buy out a lot of units to stack the AV Value in Burma to a level which i cant macht.

I rebought the destroyes Fighter Squads from the CVs as they could provide usable in the future even if it takes a year for them to come back. I am not shure if it is always a year fixed from the date of destruction so i could have waited till rebuy, but whats done is done.

In Australia my northern exposed forces continue to get hammered. That feels so bad having units that exposed and at leats 2000 - 3000 AV sitting in Daily Waters. 3 Reinforcement Divisions are on their way to Australia and should arrive in 2 and 4 turns.
I hope with this force i an at least defend Tennant Creek even if i would not fight it out. I Japan advances to early i will just retreat more south with all i have. Exposed Bases in eastern Australia are already retreating to places from where i could strat move them.

[JohnDillworth]

Sorry, missed your post on pilot training. That is good news at least. Was any damage inflicted on the IJN?

[beppi]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Wow, this is a mess. Well, If you can save 2 carriers that will at least be something to build on. Couple of quick questions. How do you look on secondary ships? Particularly TK's AO's and AP's? How is you pilot pool and was training neglected? Anything good left in the British fleet?

I hope that i can save at least one of the CVs. Second might sink too.

Secondary ships are in good shape. TKs are running around the map, most bases are in good shape and have a loot of fuel and supplys. Only one AO sank till today so no problem here.
But no possibility to create any usable replenishment Fleets as all of them are much to far away.

Pilot pool is in a good shape. My predecessor did a lot of training, but i fell to much skill for all of the pilots. So a lot of Bomber pilots have been trained to recoon skill and naval bombardment too.

During the first turne i completly reorganized the training move a lot of pilots to the pool and starting new ones training the basic skills. Overall pool is in a very good shape for planes and airframes for US, Australia and Brithis Fighters. Only 4E and 2E are a bit low.

Brithis Fleet is currently 4 BB as one was withdrawn last turn as i could not use it at west coas. No Carriers there and a soon as i get some of them i will move them to Central Pacific theater. I have counted my reinforcments for Carriers and i think it will take at least a year until i can fight KB.

With alle the CVEs, CVLs and Carriers i get it might be posssible to start some island invading action in 8 - 9 Months.

What i realy fear right now is the lack of preasure i can put on the Japanese in Central Pacific. This allows my opponent to shif all bought Divisions to Burma and Australia. And especialy Australia is a mess. I am not shure if i will lose huge parts of it.

And KB can roam free wherever he wants, he coulb Attack Pearl with KB if he wants, he could Attack West Coast with KB if he wants. Nothing can stop him (excep. a lucky Sub hit or something)

[d0mbo]

I salute you for taking over in this (for now) desperate position... even as a JFB that likes to see allied CV's go gluck. I am sure your apponent is very pleased you were willing to take up the challenge!
 
 
 
 

[beppi]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Sorry, missed your post on pilot training. That is good news at least. Was any damage inflicted on the IJN?

Akagi was hit by 6 1000lb Bombs, currently in the list as sunk but i dont trust it. Nothing else larger than a CL for Japan sunk during the war.

[JohnDillworth]

Akagi was hit by 6 1000lb Bombs, currently in the list as sunk but i dont trust it. Nothing else larger than a CL for Japan sunk during the war.

Might be sunk, 3 bombs will usually do it. Well the good news is you have pilots and a couple of carriers to start. also, your torpedoes will get better soon and you have some good bases in the SW pacific. Not much value in holding Wake. You certainly have your work cut out for you. I look forward to following your AAR.
Good luck

[Sardaukar]

Some good news for future:
 
Your USN subs start to do better from Jan 1943 (Mk14 torpedo 80% -> 60% dud rate) and again Sept 1943 (60% -> 10%). Also, Mk13 aircraft torpedo dud rate will drop down from 50% to 10% Sept 1943.
 
And Essex-class carriers are not that far away either. Maybe you can find some use for RN CVs too before.  

[JohnDillworth]

Maybe you can find some use for RN CVs too before.  

Desperate times indeed. If there are any good training squadrons around I would look to start putting U.S. planes on British carriers. Lets load them up to the max (45?) instead of the default squadrons

[Sardaukar]

And Brit torpedoes actually work...which is bonus. Good idea about putting US CV-trained squadrons on RN CVs, if any available.

[beppi]

2/13/1943

Still not a good day for the allies. As feared Lexington with the additional sys Damage and the lost OP points from refueling got caught by a part of KB.

During the night there was another surface combat with the Japanese Combat TF.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Marcus Island at 133,76, Range 29,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
CL Yura
CL Kinu
CL Tama
CL Tatsuta
DD Yugumo
DD Kazegumo
DD Makinami
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze
DD Asashio

Allied Ships
CV Lexington
CL St. Louis
DD Monssen

This resulted in a retreat east of the Carrier TF right into the range of KB. Lexington was heavy mauled by KB. 60 sys and 50 flooding damage is a lot. I will order a full speed move to the west but i think the carrier is gone too. All remaining Pilots have been sent to the reserve.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Marcus Island at 135,78

Weather in hex: Light rain


Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
A6M3a Zero x 9
D3A1 Val x 29



Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage



Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
11 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VF-6 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 28300
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes
VF-6 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 28300
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes
VF-8 with F4F-3 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 28300
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 5 minutes
VF-2 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 7 on standby, 3 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 28300 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 28000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes
3 planes vectored on to bombers

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Lexington


Saratoga is out of fuel 10 fields southwest of Attu. Holy shit. To resupply with fuel i created a DD TF at Adak with 4 Destroyers. They will do a high speed run to meet Saratoga for refuel. If KB does not move full speed north there should not be any real problem.

Burma Air war was quite good this turn. Shot down a lot of Japanese fighters at a 8:1 ratio. A large Stack of units left Magwe to hunt down my badly damaged stack which went NE in the same turn. From there i try to enter the jungle but i think the enemy will shock me into the jungle. Sent a 480 AV Australian Division and the last Indian Division to Imphal. I have to stop a Japanese assault on India. Enemy troops will be bombarded each turn.

Northern Australia still looks bad. Tennant Creek is Level 9 now and i will shift all available 2E and 4E there to stop possible Japanese from Daily Waters. Rest of my troops will continue to retreat. 3 Divisions (1Army, 1 Marin, Americal) are on the way to reinforce Australia.

[beppi]

2/14/1943

Pacific
Lexington crash dived during the last night and will try to snorkel right under KB back to Pearl. Not shure if it will be able to surface again

Saratoga meet the destoryer TF and after some tricky TF creation and shuffling fuel around i was able to move enough fuel to Saratoga to move to Attu to refule there. So currently Allies have 1 CV and 1 Brithis CVL. Impressing fleet

Created a lot of picket TFs to screen West Coast, Pearl Harbor, Suva and Nouma/Sydney. As KB can roam freely there is a lot of danger.

A Sub encountered a AO Fleet NE of Truck. Seems Japan is trying to move some fuel to KB. Truck right now and all retreating pathes for KB are swarmed with subs. If i am lucky i score a Torp hit on one of the carriers.

Corresponding to my enemy he only knows of 3 sunk CVs so at least until the sinking is confirmed he wont run around with 2 CV TFs to harras my position.

My replenishment CVEs are in Range of Pearl so all groups have been sent there. Need the groups to train pilots and dont want to lose them with on of the CVEs. All other CVEs take a very long run to Suva to drop their fighters and TBs there to fortify my position. After that i will use them for Fighter transport or retreat them offmap. No offensive operations possible with them and i dont want to lose them.

Burma
Burma still in full retreat. Air war was 1:1 this turn, lost some 4E and fighters. Fighter pools are in very good shape Bomber pool not. But i need to bomb the stack hunting me as much as possible to give my troops a chance to escape. In the next few turns i will start with a full retreat in Burma as the enemy hast 6000AV + there and i have only 2500 AV left as the rest of my army is out of place retreating through the jungle.

Australia
In northern OZ i did some sweeps but did not caught anything. My retreating Force from Derby is still getting hammered and i hope i wont lose this stack. Bombardment from Air is no problem but getting trapped would be a disaster.

[beppi]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Maybe you can find some use for RN CVs too before.  

Desperate times indeed. If there are any good training squadrons around I would look to start putting U.S. planes on British carriers. Lets load them up to the max (45?) instead of the default squadrons

I am planning to use my RN Carriers in CentralPacific as there is nothing to do for them in India. Problem right now i have a RN CVL and nothing else. And i will stuff them with Navy and Marine Sqads until the Brithis get some good fighters.

[JohnDillworth]

am planning to use my RN Carriers in CentralPacific as there is nothing to do for them in India. Problem right now i have a RN CVL and nothing else. And i will stuff them with Navy and Marine Sqads until the Brithis get some good fighters.

What happened to the CV's? I thought you should have a few by this time?