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

[stuman]

ORIGINAL: Nomad

And I notice that my partner is better than me at doing an AAR, but I post more pinups.

[X(]

[Nomad]

You likely Gene?

[Nomad]

Well, May 1, 1942 they got some bad news at Palembang

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 58843 troops, 488 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 1956

Defending force 99814 troops, 956 guns, 582 vehicles, Assault Value = 2481

Japanese ground losses:
158 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled



Assaulting units:
5th Division
114th Infantry Regiment
4th Division
55th Infantry Regiment
12th Engineer Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
33rd Division
143rd Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
4th KNIL Regiment
Dili Detachment
6th KNIL Regiment
4th KNIL Landstorm Battalion
3rd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
46th Indian Brigade
SSVF Brigade
Riouw KNIL Battalion
Timor Garrison Battalion
Sarawak Force
11th Indian Division
1st KNIL Regiment
Lijfwacht Cav Sqn
2nd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Van Aaran Garrison Battalion
West Borneo KNIL Battalion
Kendari Garrison Battalion
Marinier Battalion
1st Regt Cavalerie
VI KNIL Battalion
2/15 Punjab Battalion
SE Borneo KNIL Battalion
1st KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Tjilatjap KNIL Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
18th British Division
Rifles of Canada Battalion
Samarinda KNIL Battalion
Barisan KNIL Regiment
Prajoda Garrison Battalion
So.Sumatra Garrison Battalion
9th Indian Division
KNIL Army Command
Batavia Base Force
1st KNIL AA Battalion
35th Light AA Regiment
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
112th RAF Base Force
113th RAF Base Force
48th Light AA Regiment
Ambon Base Force
MLD
6th Heavy AA Regiment
Pontianak Base Force
Palembang Base Force
1st ISF Base Force
ABDA
Sabang Base Force
Singkawang Base Force
108th RN Base Force
Langsa Base Force
Sambas Base Force
111th RAF Base Force
2 ML-KNIL Aviation
South Java Base Force
106th RN Base Force
110th RAF Base Force
223 Group RAF
Timor Base Force
85th British AT Gun Regiment
Bandoeng Base Force
Bintan Det. Base Force
ML-KNIL
109th RN Base Force
Tarakan Base Force
224 Group RAF
109th RAF Base Force
2nd ISF Base Force
107th RN Base Force
100th RN Base Force
--------------------------------------------

4 divisions and 4 regiments will not be enough to take Palembang at this time.

[vettim89]

I would like to add some context to Ken's post.

First in the what is going on on the east side of the map: the area had gone quiet until May 2nd when the IJN landed and took both unoccupied Baker Island and lightly held Canton Island (Just a small BF). I had conceded everything west of the Line Islands months ago so this was no concern to me at all. I now have a large group of LCU's on the WC that was waiting for escorts to finish refits and the US CV's if needed. As long as the Japanese do not move in the next few weeks, I thnk we are done losing anything significant from thsi point on.

I just wanted to point out something for those of you who might think that our defense of Palembang is far fetched. We decided at the start of the game that this was where we were going to make our stand in the SRA. The 18th UK ID was diverted there instead of Singers. Ken pulled quite a bit out of Malaya with air transport before it fell. What really made the difference though was that Ken moved a lot of the Dutch forces to Sumatra by sea. This operation succeeded because our opponents neglected the DEI while going hog wild in the SoPac. KB spent a grand total of one week in the DEI.

Yes we lost Samoa, Fiji, and the Tonga Islands. We have endured two major raids into NZ killing quite a bit of merchant shipping (especially TK) and some surface combantants plus CV Lexington. While our opponents were doing all that, we were building up Sumatra. They likely have not brought enough to take down Palembang. That means we likely have seen the end of major Japanese expansion.

It was pretty hairy for a few months there wondering how far they were going to push us in the SoPac. I feel we did a pretty good job of bending without breaking. Not that we are invulnerable at thsi point but any move from this point on will cost them. Now they are losing Palembang's oil/fuel prduction. Regardless of the state the get the facilities in when and if it falls, they are not getting 275k of fuel per month we hold it. Given that we are now in May, our opponents are nearly three full months behind historical schedule. So they have already lost over 750 k fuel and 75k supply points. As Ken pointed out a few posts ago, spoilage will guarantee there will be no more than 150k or so left if/when it falls. I joke about the "if" part of that statement. Still if you need 3x AS to dislodge a well dug in force, then they need 7200 AS. They don't have that much free. That means it will be a long siege where they will have to depend on our units eventually running out of supply and finally accumulating enough disruption to be beaten by an inferior force. Good luck with that. SO while not likely, I could forsee a scenario where we decided to try to force a relief effort. Lot of game to play before that happens.

Just a cutionary tail for ambitious JFB's who want to go hog wild elsewhere on the map before securing Palembang

[witpqs]

Would you venture a guess as to how many PP's you spent buying Dutch units so you could transport them by sea?

[Nomad]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Would you venture a guess as to how many PP's you spent buying Dutch units so you could transport them by sea?

Not really all that much. One thing to consider is that Knil Army Command is a subordinate command of ABDA. So those units that could be switched were done at the 25% number, which to me is correct. I really don't think the Dutch units should have to pay PPs to move to a Dutch base. But, the game is the way it is. My guess is that I probably spent no more than about 900-1000 PP to move units by sea. I was able to move a number of units by air also, and there were some that had to be moved by air since they could not have their HQ changed. In some cases I moved all I could by air and then with reinforcements on and lots of supply in Southern Sumatra they refilled some of their equipment.

[vettim89]

1-6 May 1942

I think our opponents have reached an impass as far as what to do. They are deadlocked at Palembang which means they will have to start pulling from other areas to break through. I still hold extreme western Mindanao, one base on Palawan, and one other base in the central PI (the one between Cebu and Cagayan). They are cleaning up the SRA with micro-invasions

All my ships are going to be out of the yards next turn (was waiting for Saratoga). I have an Inf RGT heading to Christmas Island with a Tank BTN and some Arty. I have two Marine RGT plus oodles of engineers and support that will head for the Societies and eventually into the Cook Islands. I want to build up at least Bora Bora to shore up teh defense of Tahiti. I have an ID heading to NZ and two ID heading for Oz.

We have been sparring quite a bt around Darwin. The AB there is at almost 90% damaged in both runway and facilities; so I have been running LRCAP from Katherine. Its been a bit of a cat and mouse game with forces varying from day to day as each side rests. Today I finally got a clean shot at some bombers. Between here, Palembang, and China they lost 19 Nells and 18 Sally's this turn. They also lost four each of A6M2 and Ki43I. We lost 4 P-40E, 2 Kittyhawk and 1 P-39D. Not a bad day at all

[vettim89]

7-8 May

The convoys for the SoPac are finally moving. With a few weeks, I will finally be in a place where I feel I have a good defense set up.

The air war over Darwin continues to go in the Allies favor. On the 8th alone, IJN lost 6 A6M2 to only 1 Kittyhawk I. Bombers are falling from the sky in droves also. Most of them are victims of the heavy AAA over Palembang.

Our opponents pulled off a masterful SCTF interception on the 8th. This occured about 500 nm due rest of Rapa on the very bottom edge of the map. Just to verify that I failed to miss something, I loaded the Combat Report Utility and there was not even a hint that this force was at sea. Very impressive. I lost four fully load xAK that were bound for NZ with supply. Not a huge loss. Glad they were xAK not TK

[Nomad]

Here is a screen shot of the resource history of Palembang. The thing to notice is that oil and resources are no longer being produced since they have some units in the hex. Also notice that the fuel is spoiling at about 8400 per day. Palembang has a fuel limit of 129,000 and currently has about 402,000. If I assume that over time the spoilage will be about 4000 per day, it will take about 90 days for the oil to fall to 129,000. It is possible that Palembang will hold out that long.

I bring this up because I have seen numerous AARs with the statement that it is not important to take Palembang quickly because all the oil and fuel will be there when it is taken. As you can see, that may not be true.

[vettim89]

We have lost yet another Japn player. It appears this game is now concluded. Will verify that in the next day or so

[Nomad]

It's official, this game has ended. Too many Japanese players having to exit( mostly because of RL problems )

My last Gene pict:

[Mynok]

Sounds like they knew they were dead anyway. Which was absolutely true....no Palembang...no Japanese production after mid-42.

[Nomad]

They were going to lose Burma all the way to Rangoon also. I had more than 4 divisions moving in and they had 3 or 4 armored regiments and a couple of inf regiments.

[PresterJohn001]

Thanks for the game.

Palembang was an "interesting" situation. Whilst losing all the oil there (if it happened) would have been bad, we had mitigations in place. Obviously fleet ops would have to be severley curtailed. I guess i would have pulled lots of ship production (to save HI). I think the raw AV situation was 3000 Japanese to 2400 Allied. Plus forts. Plus Swamp. Ugly.

Once the Burma problem surfaced may well have just sent some divs from Palembang and i think we could have bought one out from Manchuko. I wonder how long it would have taken to Starve Palembang out. Maybe if we seige for a couple of months, allies run out of supplies and it falls easily? [:D] Oil saved and the March to Oz begins

China was becoming a problem and the Japanese air force peformed very badly in the whole campaign.

Some of the problems were as a result of multiple Japanese players. I was a replacement myself.

[witpqs]

John,

Palembang can't be starved out in this game because of the supplies it produces. Trespider and others are looking at that for some of the mods because it just isn't realistic. The sort of supplies Palembang produced from the refineries were of the petroleum variety, not food, bullets, and so on.

[Nomad]

Actually it can be. If you look at the screen shot above with the Palembang resource table in it, you will see that supply is dropping. Once the hex is occupied the oil wells stop producing. The refineries will continue until the oil is below 10200 and then they quit. Once the refineries have quit producing then there is no supply produced and by aerial bombing and land attacking the supply level will drop. It will take time after the hex is occupied, but the supply can be reduced to zero and the defenders starved.

[witpqs]

Ah - my mistake. Still I'm glad they are looking at it because being able to stockpile so much there makes it way unrealistically difficult.

[vettim89]

It was actually our experience here that caused me to start that thread (yes, I am the OP). While it certainly worked in our favor here, it was pure folly. Even though it can be an early war Allied boon, I knew in my heart of hearts it was wrong.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

It was actually our experience here that caused me to start that thread (yes, I am the OP). While it certainly worked in our favor here, it was pure folly. Even though it can be an early war Allied boon, I knew in my heart of hearts it was wrong.

Sorry - so much interesting data, so few brain cells!