ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
A few words about India from somebody who nearly lost it and who knows exactly how you feel at the moment.
Bombay and Karachi are, as you know, the keys. Karachi is key for reinforcing - getting to India all the troops that will arrive at Aden in coming weeks and months. If the enemy crosses the line of death, you do get the Waristan Division directly at Karachi, which adds 300 AV to your defenses.
Bombay is a great defensive position due to the major urban terrain. You'll need to configure supply as best you can, but I'd definately try to hold Bombay with as much AV as I can muster. If you can get 2,000 AV there, your opponent is going to have a really hard time taking it.
Calcutta is also major urban terrain. In my game with Q-Ball, just the static fortress unit managed to hold against a division for several weeks. If you can get more than that there it's probably worth it as a speed bump. Your garrison will ultimately die, but it should be worth it to you. Use air transport to extract troops from the Imphal/Ledo regions.
Do not impale yourself in southern India including Madras. Your opponent can cut off your troops down there using armor, aircraft (to slow movement) and paratroops. It aint worth losing troops. Get those guys up to Bombay, Karachi, Surat, and Ahmadebad.
The line of death is well known. It's marked with a thick blue line on a map I posted in my AAR with Q-Ball - soemtime during the turns for March 1942.
Rader isn't a month ahead of Q-Ball. Q-Ball landed at Ceylon on March 7, 1942. He spent a month there, but by destroying a UK division it might have been worth it. Your going to have a tough time until around September. After that, if you manage to hold out, your opponent will begin to go on the defensive, will make mistakes, and you will score alot of points. So you've got to hold for about six months. It will be hard.
You might need to be prepared to sacrifice the RN if in doing so you can savage a big landing force or exact a heavy toll in enemy combat ships.
I can't remember if your opponent took New Caledonia or Fiji, but plan to use your Aussie troops to reclaim them if so. They are high value and you'll need to be doing something offensive in the Pacific while your opponent is tied up in India.
Good luck.
Hi CR! Many and big thanks to everyone who's taking time to write down suggestions and thoughts!
My opponent didn't take Fiji nor Noumea (he conquered the other dot-bases in New Caledonia tough).
I'm building up the defences around Karachi. Bombay is well guarded at the moment but i between Karachi and Bombay, following the path of the suggestions recieved here, if i'll have to chose i'll decide to defend Karachi till the very last men.
Everything you all said guys i well understood by me. The point is that i cannot do all the things you said at the same time. I cannot defend Scoodra, Diego, Bombay and Karachi, fight and delay the japanese advance but not without guarding my backdoor, engaging the KB but not risking the US CVs, sending units from EC to India but at the same time prepare a counterattack in the pacific or in the SRA.... everything at the same time! It's simply not possibile. I need to give myself priorities. Here are mines:
1. Keep Karachi safe. Karachi at this stage of the war is what moscow was the for russians in december 41. Every other objective will be prioritized keeping in mind that if it's directly or indirectly connected with the defence or Karachi it will have the means for its accomplishment, otherwise will be postponed. Bombay and the indian islands (Diego and Scoodra above all) will be part of the defence of Karachi plan.
2. Time gaining. I need to gain time for the defence or Karachi first and also to keep him deeply involved in India with his main assets while i'll be able to prepare my defensive/offensive positions in the pacific and in Oz.
3. Prepare a move somewhere in the pacific. Nopac is still my prefered theatre at the moment, cause i'll need little assets (he has nothing beyond Paramushiro) and the summer-window will end so soon that any counterattack of his will have to come (if i can keep him busy in India long enough) during the terrible blizzard. The alternatives are: a limited action in southern Marshalls (Tarawa for example) - which are still very lightly defended -, or a Fiji-New Caledonia reinforcement action (as CR suggested). The latter option is a risky one cause SOPAC is very far away from my main hub base (PH).
4. Connected to point 3. -> build up the hub-chain in CENTPAC. Christmas is being built up in these days. Soon i'll move units and supplies to Pago Pago in order to unite these two important bases that will act as hubs for my sealines
Mar 23-24 1942
The KB moved towards Scoodra again (westwards), leaving Karachi area. He's concentrating around Scoodra some SCTFs (with AVs and CSs in them) clearly in order to stop my route from CT to Aden channell. However this turn i managed to make a HUGE supply convoy (some 80k supplies in it) slip through the net of his search planes and arrive safely in Aden Channell. It will now move towards Karachi. More planes arrived today at Karachi from CT via Aden. A new US bomber squadron composed of 13 4Es and some 25 P-400 aircobras. Not bad i'd say. Now i have 52 active B17s in India and 26 Liberators! All the best ground-attack-pilots have been moved to these crack air-groups. Some 60k fuel are also arriving in the next days to Karachi.
Diego G. is surrounded by SCTFs and so it's Addu Isl.
At Comilla (north of Chittaong) despite the heavy air bombings (more than 150 IJN and IJAF bombers involved) his tanks didn't manage to take the base, while my guys are struggling to get off and move to Dacca.
A rail transport Indian division managed to disperse the paras that was blocking one of my railroads north of Dacca. Now a little exit door is open again for the Dacca garrison...let's see if i can save some of them.
He keeps on reconning every single base of mine...i fear paradrops everywhere so i'm guarding all the possible targets with at least 50 AVs... this disperdes my forces, i know, but it's part of the plan. The retreat will be made with order, step by step. Not like we did in China!
China...oh well in China Chungking and Chengtu are sieged. We're now waiting for the final assault.
However still no sign of any invasion force bypassing Colombo...as i guessed the KB wasn't escorting an amphib TF...was just raiding my sealanes and interdicting my reinforcements route. But, as long as she remains there burning fuel and op points for a couple of KVs or PGs i'm fine. That means she isn't somewhere else.
To answer to CR: yes, the RN is ready to make the supreme sacrifice if needed. Now sitting at CT but ready to enter in the arabian sea! I'm also considering to move it right now (in 3 different Aircombat TFs) into the Indian Ocean and deliver a fast blow to those CLs+DDs operating near Diego Garcia while the KB is busy trying to sink AKLs near Scoodra or Karachi. I'll move in, attack, and move out. This will force him either to leave Diego or move his KB from the Karachi-Scodra area...and this will be a victory all the same.
The 27th US Division has been ordered to move to East Coast. From there it will move to CT in an attempt to send some quality troops for the last defence of Karachi. May god bless those guys.
ABD...i discovered a very very very usefull thing! Never used it...and i have to say that sometimes the railroads as rapresented graphically aren't exactly the same as they are in reality...or maybe it's just that it's not always easy to understand if it's a road, a trail or a railroad! THANKS!
....now they'll keep their route for now but without any prey left to hunt would be stupid to reveal my presence for nothing to be gained [:o]
