Pin Ups in the Pacific - Da Big Babes 2x2 - Allies Only please

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

vettim89,

Re the invasion bonus, look at this AAR (plus its mirror Japanese AAR)

tm.asp?m=2495125&mpage=5

See post #124 for the joyous cry from the Allied player when 1 May 1942 arrived.

Alfred

That would be the very one I was referencing, Alfred

[Nomad]

This is a reiteration of some ideas I sent Tim in an email.

Given an initial hypothesis that they will not advance further in the South Pacific, which major assault axis do you think you will want to take? The end game goal is to destroy their capability to produce units and supply. Cutting them off from the oil fields in the DEI is very effective. We have to consider that a sub war will probably not produce any thing close to a historical outcome. With that in mind, I see some possibilities:

1. Through the Solomon Islands to New Guinea and then on to the Philippine Islands.
2. Retaking/occupying Northern OZ and then through the Celebes and Borneo to Indo China.
3. Retaking/occupying Northern OZ and then through the Celebes to the Philippine Islands.
4. Invading Java and then Sumatra and Borneo and then into Indo China.
5. Retaking Fiji and Samoa, invading the Marshals, Marianas, Okinawa, and Formosa.

( I expect that the retaking of Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia, etc. will occur in any event. )

Most of these attack axis are directions the USN/USA/NZ/OZ units will take.

For my part I will be doing some kind of land based push into Burma backed by massive air power. If/when they move KB to oppose you, I will be looking at one or more amphibious invasions along the Burma/Thailand/Malay coast. I will need to wait until at least the middle of 1943 for a few CVs to provide air cover and specialized assault shipping. When and how large of a push will depend on just what they do in Burma and Bengal. If they invade India and/or Bengal it will be different than if they just take Burma and sit there.

[vettim89]

Per my replay to Ken in our e-mail, our best axis remains tied to Palembang in my mind

If Palembang is largely trashed when finally taken by the Japanese, our opponents will have to win the war off the oil/fuel in Borneo and Java. Yes there are some other small centers around the map but the most productive ones remain in the DEI. In my mind the condition of Palembang after the siege steers our axis as follows

Palembang trashed:

Use a pinscher maneuver to cut off Borneo. SWPAC/SoPac advance across NG to Mindanao. Centpac will support this maneuver by tieing up Japanese units in a feint toward the Marshalls and Marianas, but the main axis of advance will be the southern one. Alternatively this could be accomplished through the eastern basin of the Java Sea (Darwin - Timor - Celebes). I did that in my last WiTP game and would like to do it a little different this game. meanwhile the Commonwelath troops will attempt to breakout of India to retake Burma and possibly move east into Indochina vice south towards Malaya. The second half of that is a tough row to hoe because of the supply issue but if the US thrust hits the eastern edge of the South China Sea, supplies can eventually be run in from that direction. A variation on that approach could be an advance by NoPac forces into the Kuriles

Palembang Not Trashed

Pretty much as above but the Commonwealth forces head SE towards Sumatra. My thinking is that is Palembang is intact it is a target of importance. If not, then there is very little in the DEI worth retaking

Those are just some initial thoughts

[vettim89]

17-21 March 1942

This new crew on the Japan side is moving some turns along.

Very little happeneing with my forces. Ken is quite busy as the battle for Sumatra reaches its climax.

Largely moving stuff on my side of the map with one exception. Highlights:

* Tahiti's Port went to level 3 which is a great help. Port size is going to be very important in this mod. My primary thought when I scan potential bases's is no longer AB SPS; its about the port. FOrget location, location, location: its port, port, port.

* Trying to get fuel moved forward but it seems to be eaten up as fast as it arrives. The loss of all those TK is really being felt.

* Both Canton Island and Raratong have had supply runs made to them with no interference. The convoys didn't even get detected by NavSearch

*Ergo, the USN CVTF will hit Suva next turn. Hope is to pick off a few merchies or auxillaries. WOuld really like to hit Luganville as it seems this is their primary base in the SoPac. Unfortunately, that's just a little too deep into Indian Country for my taste at this point


More to follow. Hopefully good news

[vettim89]

22 March 1942

The combined force of three US CAG hit Suva on this turn. Minor damage to AB and and port. Two Petes destroyed and one Betty. But......

CA Kako, Bomb hits 2, on fire
BB Hiei, Bomb hits 14, heavy fires
DD Yukikaze, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Yoshino Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 1
CL Nagara, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Likely none will sink but some are going to need some yard time. Now for the get away

Also, this kind of intel always helps

[vettim89]

23 March

The US CVTF withdraws to the east unharrassed. I don't think they were even overflewn by search A/C. A USN fleet boat finds a working TT and puts it into an AK north of Truk. KB continues to steam eastward toward the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Other than that, all is well

[Nomad]

On March 23, 1942, I was able to ambush some Japanese bombers and Nates over Changsha.

Morning Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 69
Ki-30 Ann x 59
Ki-32 Mary x 22
Ki-51 Sonia x 25



Allied aircraft
I-15-III x 21
H81-A3 x 16


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27b Nate: 4 destroyed
Ki-30 Ann: 4 destroyed
Ki-32 Mary: 2 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 2 destroyed

---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-32 Mary x 6



Allied aircraft
I-15-III x 11
H81-A3 x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-32 Mary: 4 destroyed
----------------------------------------------

And please note, the CAF got the bulk of the kills, the AVG was mostly on training.

[khyberbill]

If Palembang is largely trashed when finally taken by the Japanese, our opponents will have to win the war off the oil/fuel in Borneo and Java.

You never know how this will pan out. In my first PBEM in AE I left just a base force in Palembang and when my foe took it, it was almost completely trashed so I let him re-run the turn and he got it with minimal damage. He still surrendered in late 44 mainly due to lack of oil to drive his industry.

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

If Palembang is largely trashed when finally taken by the Japanese, our opponents will have to win the war off the oil/fuel in Borneo and Java.

You never know how this will pan out. In my first PBEM in AE I left just a base force in Palembang and when my foe took it, it was almost completely trashed so I let him re-run the turn and he got it with minimal damage. He still surrendered in late 44 mainly due to lack of oil to drive his industry.

I for one will be very disappointed if the base is not trashed. I suspect it will take at very least two or more weeks to fully take the base. This will likely involve constant bombardment and multiple Deliberate Attacks. That said, I know the game engine is highly unpredicatable as far as this goes.

24-28 March 1942

The US CVTF have refueled and head north for April AAA upgrades. Americal Div is about 80% unloaded at Tahiti along with even more engineers and most importantly Av support. A moderate amount of a/c are inbound to this locale. Some more engineers are being sent to Christmas Island as well. Lack of activity in this direction has led me to decide to slowly start building up this base also.

Two very strong IJN CVTF traversed through the Gulf of Carpentaria to a point just south of Milne Bay on the 27th. They are off grid as of the 28th but are likely heading to Lugainville as this base has shown some signs as being as close to a forward fleet base they have right now. The could also be heading to Rabaul. Where they go from there will be a source of much consternation for me over the next few weeks.

Ken and I have been discussing a lot of "Where do the go from here?" scenarios. Quite frankly SigInt has not been helpful. The only nugget we have received is that 53rd ID was planning for Wellington. This is a restricted unit and we believe that is merely mistroika on our opponents part. That said we really have nothing either on the map nor from SigInt giving us a likely axis of advance. There is a little bit of activity up around Timor these past few turns but that could just be resupply convoys. While it is likely they will be tied down on Sumatra until the end of April, that does not preclude them from moving elsewhere.

With KB in the SoPac for now, any move on nothern Oz is unlikely. They could move on NE Oz but I doubt they have the strength to make anything more than a nuisance raid in the Cairns/Cooktown area. I think Darwin is safe for now but that could change very quickly if they move their CV's back. That said, it would be burning an awful lot of fuel to just "show the flag" in SoPac after my carrier raid. So I am thinking that NW Oz is likely off the table at least until the Sumatra Campaign concludes.

I have considered a move on Norfolk Island or Raoul Island to set up some outer bases to act as pickets. The other area where we have seen very little movement is the Howland/Baker - Phoenix Islands area which are all still Allied. Also most of the dot bases in the southern Gilberts remain Allied. So perhaps we will see some backfilling operations.

I do not anticipate any bold invasions of say Oz, Bengal, Ceylon, or NZ anytime soon. There is still a fairly large force at Singapore plus the force that recently took Bataan that are probably in R&R mode. Portions of the PI are still in Allied hands. Need to post a Strategic Map to show the current situation

[vettim89]

Strat Map

Key:

Black = the Battle for Sumatra reaching its climax even now
Red = ares that will certainly be filled in in the very near future
Yellow = areas where movement would not be surprising at all
Green = potential invasion sites in the mid/far future

[vettim89]

29-31 March 1942

The Japanese have Nells at Koepang and Bettys at Kendari. These units have been harassing convoys heading into and out of Darwin. My B-17's and RAAF Hudsons have been hitting their convoys moving into Koepang and Dili. Unfortunately I failed to anticipate this and had not moved any fighters to Darwin. In my defense I had pulled a lot out of Darwin anticipating an early invasion here. While that may still be coming, I will at least risk some fighters up there for now. One sq of the recently arrive 49th FG will be moved to Darwin next turn. A second sq will arrive the turn after that. I snuck some DD's in to Koepang and roughed up a convoy. No sinkings though (although I did here that sinking ship sound effect during the end of turn admin segment). I think the PB and the one AK prolly both sank or will sink

The IJN put two Nav Guard units ashore on Horn Island. The base fell to the Japanese on the 31st. My esteemed partner's reply was (in his best Aaaarnold voice): We'll be back!

So April is here. The USN CVTF are still a ways out of WCUSA for upgrades. They will arrive within a week I think so we can get them out of the way. Meanwhile the abysmally slow replacement rates for SBD's means USS Hornet sits at SD with biplane dive bombers aboard. It will take two full months without replacing a single SBD anywhere on the map before this is fixed. Unfortunately the game will not let me downgrade any USMC SBD-3 units (which arrive with full complements). GRRR. Its crap like that that pisses me off about the aircraft replacement situation with the Allies vs Japan with PDU on. I would complain less about the waves of Ki44 I know we are about to be hit with if I could at least put my best planes on forward deployed units. I have a VMF at SD that arrived a few weeks ago with 7 F4F-4. It will not let me downgrade this unit to -3 or even better -3A. SO either I do not upgrade my carrier based VF to -4 or this sq sits on the WC for two or three months. Ok, enough with the rant

[Alfred]

vettim89,

Am very intrigued that you cannot downgrade your air units. I don't seem to have the same problem. I pay close attention to the individual unit scheduled upgrade paths and generally downgrade if that was scheduled, but overall I always try to maintain one unit with each old aircraft type extant. Also it used to be the case in classical WITP, that there was a barrier between USN and USMC downgrade capabilities.

Alfred

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

vettim89,

Am very intrigued that you cannot downgrade your air units. I don't seem to have the same problem. I pay close attention to the individual unit scheduled upgrade paths and generally downgrade if that was scheduled, but overall I always try to maintain one unit with each old aircraft type extant. Also it used to be the case in classical WITP, that there was a barrier between USN and USMC downgrade capabilities.

Alfred

Well USN and USMC draw from the same pools. Some VMSB units have SB2U Vindicators so you would think that should be an option as far as changing from SBD-3 to SB2U. It is not. Also, the VMF I described arrived at below TOE with F4F-4. Other VMF's are equipped with F4F-3 so there, in my mind, should be some flexibility. Of note both the units I am talking about arrive as reinforcements with the better airframes. Perhaps that is the problem as these units have no heritage in older types vs a unit that was present at game's start with older airframes that upgraded to the new ones.

It may be related to the air HQ they are attached to now that I think about it

[vettim89]

1-4 APril 1942

Well the Japanese detected the buildup of fighter strength at Darwin and have not attacked there since the 49th FG arrived. USAAF heavies have been hitting Keopang but fatigue is rising and morale is sinking. They are put on rest for a few days.

The Japanese have finally started clearing the central and southern PI. Invasions on Cebu, at Cagayan, and Bacolod. There is still one base on Palawan that is Allied with a BF present. Also two unoccupied bases in the northern end of the central PI are still Allied.

I have been scouring the SigInt reports and have found nothing as of yet that our opponents are considering a move on any of the major areas (Oz, India, NZ, Midway, etc) Are they just going to hold what they have? They are so bogged done on Sumatra right now. Ken has their heads spinning on a swivel as keeps cutting off their advances with flanking maneuvers. Maybe he'll post a screenie??????

[Nomad]

OK, a screenie.

The units in Benkoelen are holding down a division + for a few more turns.

The other units are all small and or have been retreated, but they can't ignore them, so they will
have to spend time to move and destroy them. Time is what I am mostly interested in. They have already
passed the amphibious bonus period.

And really quick, last turn I was able to hit Sabang with BB bombardment:
Night Naval bombardment of Sabang at 44,70

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed on ground
Ki-15-II Babs: 1 destroyed on ground
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Resolution
BB Ramillies
BB Royal Sovereign
CA Dorsetshire
DD Electra
DD Thanet
DD Tenedos
DD Norman

Japanese ground losses:
325 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 3 disabled



Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 46
Port hits 14
Port supply hits 3


Note in the list of units in Palembang: 2341 AS, 408 ENG, 886 guns. And in a few more turns
Palembang will have level 6 forts and is still in the swamp. The British 18th has 48x25# artillery, and the 9th Indian division has upgraded to 42 Inf squads. It should be interesting to see what happens

[vettim89]

5-6 April 1942

Well KB must have refueled and headed out. They were spotted NW of the Cook Islands by PBY based at Raratonga. Course was NE. I was thinking a raid on Tahiti ala my raid on Suva (Anything you can do I can do better?) So I pulled everything out of Tahiti, deverted all traffic around it, and prayed. LBA will arrive there in about ten days so the islands are largely naked against air attack.

Then I look at todays turn and you can see that KB turns SW not NE or E and now has some convoy traffic pinned against the map edge. Again everything is rerouted as much as possible. The TK convoy has four TK in it. This is the only such convoy on my side of the map as I purposely limited them to no more than two TK per convoy after the last debacle around Tahiti. If KB continues to move SW or W, I am going to break off some xAK from the TF to the west and have them drive straight for the IJN. Hopefully this will at least divert the attention away from the TK. If the Japanese drift too far west, the 150 fighters now based in NZ will hopefully weaken the air arm somewhat. Even if I can't sink a carrier, chewing up the air groups is just as good.

[vettim89]

7 April 1942

Japan contnues to land troops at Cagayan. Base AS is still in Allied favor but the Filipinos are out of supplies. Also see quite a buildup at Koepang now with over 200 a/c based there. As this is not an area I intend to devote any resources to any time in the near future, this is fine by me. Better there than say the SoPac or PM. My only question is this a prelude to an eventual NW Oz invasion?

KB is just circling around in the ocean east of the cook islands. That said, it appears there will be a SCTF raid on Tahiti next turn. I am moving the small number of ships disbanded in the port one hex north with autodisband orders. My TK are now safe. Bad news is a Ro Boat hit a convoy running away from KB and sunk an xAK.

First two CVTF will arrive WCUSA next turn and the one that follows. A SCTF with dinged up CA's and DD's from SoPac are also approaching. The last CVTF should arrive Bremerton in a week or so.

Note on image: dates are where KB started the turn

[vettim89]

8-9 April 1942

A SCTF bombarded Tahit on the night of the 8th doing no lasting damage. KB moved closer on the 8th and hit the TF running out of Tahiti. Here some game mechanics got me. I had the TF set as an Escort mission but the AS in the TF had supplies on board. So when it reach the destination hex it started to unload instead of disbanding. This made it vulnerable to air attack. I lost a short range xAK and had an AVP wrecked (will likely sink next turn with 98 Fires) and the AS a little dinged. The TF was disbanded and was left alone on the 9th

KB moved even closer on the 9th and raided Tahiti's AB/Port. Again negligible damage that is already repaired. So far the IJN has lost 5 Vals and 4 Kates in this adventure. I have several AAA units at Tahiti and I am sure there are quite a few damaged a/c also. I suspect/hope KB will retire NW this next turn but have not made any ship movements based on that assumption.. Good news is the TK TF I was so concerned about a few turns ago will arrive NZ next turn. IN RL we had "Nagumo's IO ADventure"; in this game we have "Nagumo's Polynesian Vacation"

CV Hornet has completed it's upgrade. CV Saratoga and Enterprise have just started their April upgrades which need only 6 days of yard time CV Yorktown heading for Bremerton is still a few days out

[Nomad]

Future invasion planning - very preliminary.

Tim and I have begun discussing where the Allies should/could launch their counter attacks in the future. One idea is to retake Java and some of the islands south of Java. The British and India forces would land at Banjoewangi and Denpasar. The units at Banjoewangi and follow on units would be tasked to retake all of Java. The USA/USA/USMC/NZ/OZ forces would take most of the other islands detailed and proceed Northeast to Mindanao.

[Nomad]

I forgot: