Panzers in Pacific - RA Mod - BBW vs Hortlund

[FatR]

The worst case I've seen is over 80% facilities damaged. I'd an advise indirect approach through Oosthafen with overwhelming force.

[seille]

80% trashed ? Ohhh, that would have been so nice.
I got 100% damage at Palembang oil and refinery. A nightmare for a jap player.
And i landed a division there. Fights lasted a week with one shock attack from my side and another by my opponent (ny59giants) when a unit crossed the river.
In the end i destroyed all defending units, but they did their terrible job. Palembang is now at 116 (784). Captured it in early january (too late)
and we´re now in early may). All the oil i lost.....

Michael and John know what they are talking about !!
Your opponent just makes Palembang a fortress to do the same to you that happened to me .

I underestimated the defense, landed "only" on division direct in Palembang. Would have been good if i landed it earlier.
For a new game i would either take it earlier or use more troops and attack from land.
I wish you good luck for this fight. You´ll probably need it.

10 units there means nothing good for you. Be careful and use enough troops to make it a short fight.
I would not do any shore bombardment ! This has a high chance to damage the industry.
Totally agree to FatR here.

[John 3rd]

Lost ALL of them? Crap. The war is screwed for Japan if that happens. Think of all the supply it would take to get things repaired. Lordy--a nightmare.

[BigBadWolf]

That's a game ender right there. 900k supply and you will repair it just in time to have it bomb to dust again. Not to mention all the lost production. You can fight without carriers, but without oil...

[seille]

It is just a learning game for me (time limited), so it´s not that bad. I sent tons of supply into Palembang.
116 oil are repaired yet.

My opponent was so kind to offer a restart if this happens in the real game we´ll start soon, but i´ll do my best to avoid such a result.

[BigBadWolf]

January 7th-8th 1941

Quite a lot happening in the last two turns. Let's start from the West.

General Shimomura (guy who replaced Terauchi as CiC Southern Army) finally crossed The Straight and assaulted Singapore. Japanese forces achieved 3:1 odds (against enemy base AV of 522), destroyed forts, but the city held. Shimomura requested three days rest for his troops before he attacks again (disruption is in the 80s).

Kurita's CruDiv5 (4 Mogami class CA), augmented by 2 DMS, bombarded Batavia, destroyed few planes on the ground and caused significant damage to the airfield. Nobody hit a mine, plus about 20 of them were cleared by DMSs.

During the night, KXI launched 2 torpedoes at Shiokaze, one of which found its target. Already damaged, destroyer quickly sinks. Umikaze, with flt damage 88, still limps home. If she makes it, it will be a miracle.

Then, on the next day, Navy bombers attacked shipping at anchor in the port, damaging several vessels, while escorts managed to kill 4 enemy fighters on CAP.

Manila is also assaulted, and we got 2:1 odds, but again city held. Next day attack only got us 1:1, but in two days battle, we destroyed or disabled about 250 enemy squads. Last day engagement also showed op mode(-), meaning that PJ is trying to retreat to Clark. Hopefully, we will prevent this tomorrow.

Natori's DesRon Enters Tarakan and finds fully loaded troop convoy, escorted by Dragon. In the exchange, Dragon gunners concentrate their fire on Natori and manage to sink her, but all of the transports are sunk, together with more than 1000 soldiers and heavy equipment. Dragon escapes with light damage.

Port Moresby felt on the 8th, with terrible losses to the defenders ( Torres Strait Battalion, 30th Australian Brigade, Port Moresby Brigade and two RAAF Base Forces). Out of 6000 troops, about 3500 escaped, without any guns or vehicles. They retreated to the coastal hex north of PM. I'll send one regiment after them, just to make sure PJ doesn't evacuate them.

Nagano still rages around Line islands, sinking lots of shipping and heavily damaging Detroit. Akagi, having reduces sys damage, is sent from Kwaj to assist. Curiously, Zuikaku still have her full complement of torpedoes.

I landed 1st Yokosuka paras in that town just south from Palembeng and got this:

Ground combat at Praboemoelih (48,92)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 826 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 30

Defending force 243 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 20

Allied adjusted assault: 40

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 40 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
92 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
51 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
So.Sumatra Garrison Battalion

Defending units:
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /1

Shouldn't be the other way around? Why they got to shock attack?

And the move of the day, PJ has managed to sneak a Burma rifles bn into Chiang Mei and capture it. I have no idea where they came from, although I did neglect Burma in the last few days. Anyway, 1st Raiders are in Bangok and will para drop on them tomorrow.

[FatR]

Port Moresby generally is a deathtrap. I held it in my Allied game against Michael, but only because Japan got slowed down alot in other parts of the globe. I also lost a CV and a BC in operations meant to help keeping the harbor open.

Well, as about Palembang, in both of my Japanese PBEMs I've invaded it within 10 days from the start. 10 days might even be too late, if the Allies start to reinforce immediately.

[BigBadWolf]

[center]読売新聞
The Yomiuri Shimbun[/center]

January 9th, 1941

BREAKING NEWS!MANILA LIBERATED!

At early dawn, troops of the 14th Army crushed the resistance of the American occupators and their Philippine lackeys and liberated the capital - Enemy suffered heavy losses, more than 12 000 dead, wounded and capured - People celebrating on the streets.

From our reporter in Manila - The dawn of this day brought long awaited freedom for Manilans. The people are jubilant and crowds of thousands are celebrating on the streets, greeting their Japanese liberators. The extensive damage to some parts of the city is atributed to the stuborness of US General MacArthur, and his desire to inflict as much harm to Phillipines as possible before he is defeated. Commander of the Japanese 14th Army, General Homme, received the mayor and arrangements are being made for the transfer of power. They both agreed that this is a major step towards creation of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Imperial Army managed to completely destroy 2 quisling divisions (1st and 41st), left behind by their American masters, who fled to Clark Field, a heavily fortified airfield complex north of the city. Not a single American soldier was captured in the battle, and very few were found dead. Yankees preferred to leave the fighting to their Filipino puppets. So much for "famous" General MacArthur and his bravery.


EDIT: What was the term for quislings before Quisling?

[ny59giants]

pre-quisling [:D]

[BigBadWolf]

A lengthy update

Sorry, no pics, Photobucket is acting up on me. Can’t upload anything.

Palembeng situation is my major source of concern ATM. I’m too late to prevent PJ from making it into a fortress, so I might as well take my time in taking it. At least, oil production can’t be turned off, and he can’t ship it out, so there will be some waiting for me when I eventually take it. So, I’m pulling the paras out, and will concentrate on preparing Sumatra invasion properly.

Note to all JFBs out there: do not wait, take the oil ASAP. Divert as many of the original invasions as you need, but take Palembeng in the first 5 days.

Singapore group will attack tomorrow. With any luck, Shimomura will have his parade by the end of the day. Northern Malaya pockets are still holding, IG division will try to break trough tomorrow as well. Temuloh is a stand still, Yamashita is waiting for the reinforcements which are creeping through the jungle.

Burma is on the back burner. I don’t expect to start the offensive thete in earnest before February. Paras dropped on Siang Mei was successful, Burma rifles were destroyed.

Luzon will be also placed in slow mode. 14th Army will try to attack in clark in the next 5 to 7 days, but this will be merely to upset the enemy. I don’t believe I have sufficient forces there to do any real damage. PJ managed to save some units from Manila, but I don’t think more than 100 AV made it. Air campaign will continue, with about 90 Ki21-Ic from Iba. Supply is adequate and we captured 48 000 tones of various fuel stores in Manila.

With Ambon in our hands, next stop will be Makassar, which will be built up into a major AF, to suppress Soerabaja and support Java invasion in the future. Will need some more Navy bombers in this region.

Operation Jama (Obstacle) was a plan to capture Line islands, securing a trip wire for the USN onslaught later in the game. Due to my KB blunder, Pj managed to land some troops there. Reckon identified 4th Marine Defense Bn in Palmyra. Two battalions, one SNLF and one Naval Guard, are approaching the island and should land in the next few days. I’m afraid that this will not be enough and some of the Army forces will be needed. Agano’s DesRon (CL, 6 DD) has been detached from Nagumo’s force to clear the port from PTs.

As a part of Jama, Canton port is being expanded and three Lima class AKE are arriving there, with plenty of supplies and fuel. This will be KB’s home away from home. S-18 tried to sneak up on tankers, but was quickly dispatched by escorts. She took 18 hits and is reported sunk.

In China , Japanese Winter offensive is underway. Curently, we are progressing on three fronts. North of Canton 23rd Army has taken Kukong and Kanhsien and is advancing to Wuchow. 13th Army is 20 miles from Wehchow, where PJ has concentrated all of the units from the area. Main trust however is towards Nanyang. 12th Army has reached the outskirts of the city and in yesterdays battle achieved 2:1 odds, inflicting heavy losses to the Chinese bandits. There are 4 Chinese corps present, and no reinforcements in sight. 12th Army has about 1500 AV, with additional 1200 AV in second echelon, hidden from the enemy.

Industry is still recovering from all the changes new regime has introduced. Reserves of everything are dropping like stone. I’m managing to keep resources levels in Honshu at 28-29 days reserve, a major feat for me. Supply levels are taking a big hit from all the repairing factories. Naval shipyards were enlarged to 1725 (from 1649) and vehicles factories to 145 (from 100). Add in various a/c and engine factories increases, plus R&D and I estimate about 300-350k of supplies burnt just on industry expansion, and that’s just a start. Scary numbers. Good thing is that only thing left to repair are R&D factories and that will go slowly enough not to cause any major turmoil. We may even see some small increase in supply levels after January.

A/C production and R&D are progressing nicely. We are producing everything we need in sufficient numbers, except Ki-21-Ia. The losses are very high and the production of 40 a month just can’t keep up. I’m thinking of shutting down A6M2 factory. There are 100 in the pool and A6M3 becomes available next month. I’ll probably wait until then. All 4 of the R&D centers for this model will be fully operational by then, As they repair, I will change them to A6M3b. The first one should be repaired in 10 days. The other two will remain as production factories.

[ny59giants]

With Ambon in our hands, next stop will be Makassar, which will be built up into a major AF, to suppress Soerabaja and support Java invasion in the future. Will need some more Navy bombers in this region.

Look at building up the base off the southern tip of Java (Denpasar). It will shorten the distance for your fighters and let you use Army fighters vs Zeros. I take Makassar, but I would chose Denpasar as your base to help isolate Java.

As a part of Jama, Canton port is being expanded and three Lima class AKE are arriving there, with plenty of supplies and fuel. This will be KB’s home away from home. S-18 tried to sneak up on tankers, but was quickly dispatched by escorts. She took 18 hits and is reported sunk.

Add in an AS to base your subs here so they can patrol the South Pacific.

[BigBadWolf]

Good advice about Denpasar, will land there next after Makassar. An AS is already on the way to Canton.

[ny59giants]

Invading Java

I have landed at Merak, Kalidjati, and Semarang.
Choose Merak if you just want to push his troops south.
Choose Kalidjati if you want a quick AF (size 4) and want to divide the island into two quickly.
Choose Semarang if you want a port (size 4).

My preference is Kalidjati as I had captured Oosthaven to provide LRCAP, Billiton or Toboali with Air HQ kept any naval interference out. This minimize my need for having carriers and large surface forces at hand. I was able to cut the island in half and take Batavia and then march those same forces south. Others may favor other bases, but with your situation at Palembang you could do this, take some of those troops, and land over on Sumatra after Batavia falls.

[BigBadWolf]

I was thinking the same thing, take the North of Java and then jump to Sumatra. Going straight for Oosthaven would be too risky.

Operation Jama has commenced by landing one Naval Guard and one SNLF battalion on Xmas island. Much to my relief, only weak forces are found there, and we achieved 2:1 odds in the first assault, but enemy managed to hold their ground. There is an element of 34th Infantry regiment on the island, but with zero AV. The rest of it is either drowned by Nagumo several days ago or is on Palmyra. We'll find out soon enough. Just to be sure, there's another Naval guard battalion on the way to Xmas. Depending on the situation on Palmyra, maybe original forces planned for this operation will be enough.

Arizona appeared on sunk ships list. I was getting worried that I haven't sink anything in PH raid. I still have my fingers crossed for California and Oklahoma.

77th Sentai finally managed to intercept those pesky P-35s strafing my airfield at Iba and killed 6 without losses. I have 115 engineers there and 10 bulldozers, but they can't keep up with the damage. Makes me wonder what will happen when some serious pounding begins later on.

Nanyang was captured today by 12th Army. Terrible casualties were inflicted upon Chinese bandits, more than 10 000 (350 squads and 500 non combat and engineer squads destroyed), while suffering less than 1400 of our own. Enemy fled to teh East and we are in pursuit. Two small Tank regiments are send north to block the road to Sian.

[BigBadWolf]

Pj had some computer trouble, so we haven't played single turn in the last 4 or 5 day.

January 12th, 1942.

Singapore fell to 2:1 deliberate assault, with surprisingly low casualties for the Japan. 33rd is immediately loaded on train and sent north, to help clear enemy's pockets of resistance and then proceed towards Rangoon, while others will be given few days rest before they start preparing for Sumatra/Java operations. Two DMS groups are on the way to clear the port.

Operation Jama is on schedule. Xmas island was captured and invasion on Palmyra is being organized. There are 5 units there, 3rd Marine Defense Bt among others and I think Americans are trying to bring more reinforcements. There are couple of TFs lurking around, we managed to put three bombs into San Francisco and she is reported "heavy fire, heavy damage". I can muster about 4 battalions (2 SNLF and 2 Naval Guard) for an attack, but I also have 40th Brigade in the area, if need be. Unfortunately, Nagumo has to retire to Kwaj, as his TF is down to 3% of air fuel. That will leave us without air cover in the region for about a week and I do not dare proceed further so close to PH until he gets back on station.

Allied subs are having a field day these last few turns. First a tanker at Canton, now a damaged Umikaze on retreat from Batavia. At least, they are also paying the price. Two USN S boats were reported sunk in the last 4 turns by DC, one at Canton and one at Baker while she was trying to engage IJN fleet oilers.

In China, 13th Army arrived in Wenchow and will try to attack tomorrow. There are 14 units of Chinese bandits in the city. Around Nanyang, battered enemy stack retreating towards Loyang proves to be faster than our pursuing forces.

things are heating up in Coral Sea as well. PJ sent Australian cruisers to Lunga and managed to sink few empty transports. Southern Strike force (Kaga, 3 CVL and 2 CVE) is just 10 hexes to the south. Also, there are about 160 G4M in Rabaul. We'll see if Aussies manage to escape.

The last Fubuki I arrived at Hong Kong and all 9 are going through their upgrade. First 5 will be ready in 9 days. Together with them is Mutsu, licking her wounds from encounter with Force Z in the first night of the war. She will be back on line in 5 months.