Cribtop HQ is not willing to put the planes on Port Attack only until the Koepang invasion is ashore.
Set MKB Kates to Naval Attack (Primary) and Port Attack (secondary) with a target of a specific port. They will go after ships in both phases, but if there are no ships to attack, in the PM phase they will attack the port selected. Unless you want to keep MKBs position secret, this will help you out.
You can do the same for shore based Nell and Betty.
Oh, how I could have missed this fantastically written and organized AAR for such a long time? Dear Supreme Chief of Staff, Great Admiral Cribtop San, we certainly highly appreciate and intensely support all your fertile efforts to finally overcome and get away with that Gaijin menace which threatened our beloved Holy Empire for too long!!!
"Santa Maya must be liberated by any means necessary. Even diplomacy if it should come to it."
British PM Sir Mortimer Chris in "Whoops Apocalypse"
nygiants59: That's what we had the Nettys set to - Nav primary, Port secondary with Soerabaja selected. The planes went after the Dutch TF and that's frustrating but acceptable. If That Damn Boise had stuck around near Koepang we'd much rather have knifed her TF than bombed Soerabaja.
Saburo Kurusu San: I am honored at your compliment, Sir. A deep bow to you and all my readers who have pushed thread views to almost 10,000 in such a short time. Many thanks, especially as Shokaku is my favorite CV so I appreciate your sig art.
Subs
No contacts.
4th Fleet
No change.
SE Fleet
An SNLF finishes unloading at Marcus Island just in case. Rabaul hits level 6 airfield and will go on to level 7. Meruake seized by paratrooper assault.
14th Army
No change.
16th Army
We sweep Koepang with Ryujo's Zeroes and shoot down two B339's. We used the CVL fighters to try to maintain the illusion that it's only KBL present. No sign of any enemy SCTF. Koepang invaded without incident. Allied BA shows raw AS at 155:54 in our favor, so the base should fall pretty easily.
Soerabaja port attack scrubbed by bad weather, but recon of the port now shows a BB in addition to 24 ships, including numerous subs. While Cribtop Intel assumes this is actually a CL or the CA Houston, that many ships plus a capital ship with NO fighter cover is worth an alpha strike. We will move Bettys to Balikpapan and order them plus Nells from Kendari and KB's Kates to hit Soerabaja tomorrow. Hoping for a Darwinesque haul. Threat to the Koepang force is minimal as we know where CF's USN CVs are and our picket hasn't been spotted from the air.
Babeldoab makes level 5 port. That plus a big base force and the 1st Fleet HQ means she's as good as she can get.
Odd incident at Balikpapan. An FT TF composed of APDs and TBs was dropping elements of 5th Air HQ. In the night phase she reported contact with an enemy TF but apparently evaded because there was no replay. Our numerous search aircraft over the Makassar Strait report nothing come morning. What was this? Hmmmm...
25th Army
Our arty at Singers launches a BA and shows AS 1929:726, casualties 43(7) vs 6(0) and destroys an LCU. Not sure we've ever seen a BA destroy an LCU, but it's surely a good sign. Just a few more days for DIS to drop in our infantry units and we will attack Singers again, perhaps for the last time.
15th Army
We are conducting a pursuit of the enemy, aiming to rapidly seize Bassein, Prome and Toungoo. 15th Army will push on until it hits a wall, at which point it will await Imperial Guards Division and two armored regiments that are earmarked for Burma once Singapore falls.
China
We usually don't report on the daily bombings of various targets, but when 40 Lilys achieve 7 airbase, 40 runway and SEVEN supply dump hits at surrounded Nanyang, they get mentioned in dispatches. Banzai! We have about 1400 AS moving to the Nanyang hex. When it arrives we will DA and hopefully finish this.
If you are looking for supply hits etc then it is the NUMBER of bombs per bomber which matters more than the payload. Each bomb gets a chance to hit individually so a bomber with 10 x 20 Kg bombs is a LOT better than a bomber with a single 250 Kg bomb. You'll get, roughly, ten times the strategic bombing results with the 10 x 20 Kg bombs. Not realistic but the way the game is programmed.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
The Japanese tidal wave continues without check or abatement. Nicely done....one Gaijin to another.
The war in China seems to be going particularly well. Those are huge advances over such a short period in my experience. Was there a key offensive stroke or defensive flub that caused this?
If you are looking for supply hits etc then it is the NUMBER of bombs per bomber which matters more than the payload. Each bomb gets a chance to hit individually so a bomber with 10 x 20 Kg bombs is a LOT better than a bomber with a single 250 Kg bomb. You'll get, roughly, ten times the strategic bombing results with the 10 x 20 Kg bombs. Not realistic but the way the game is programmed.
Yes, but IIRC, the supply amount damaged is proportional to the size of the bomb. So, 5 x 100ib bomb hits should do the same damage as 2x250lb bomb hits.
Are you sure about the bomb size making that difference? It is not quite geometric but whenever I was bombed I found the impact on supplies to be proportional to hits - irrespective of size of the bombs.
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
Saburo Kurusu San: I am honored at your compliment, Sir. A deep bow to you and all my readers who have pushed thread views to almost 10,000 in such a short time. Many thanks, especially as Shokaku is my favorite CV so I appreciate your sig art.
I'm very delighted that we both share the same "love" for this great ship, I'm really addicted to her......
[:)]
"Santa Maya must be liberated by any means necessary. Even diplomacy if it should come to it."
British PM Sir Mortimer Chris in "Whoops Apocalypse"
Nemo: My assumption was that this was how it worked. It's why Cribtop Doctrine defines an early war IJAAF Bomber Wing as 2 Sentai of Sallys and 1 Sentai of Lilys. Going for the combo of big(ish) bombs with the many small bomb Lily mixed in as an airfield re-paver. Later on we switch to all Helen for production efficiency's sake, but in '42 you've got the Lilys, so what the hey.
Princep: So far we are pleased with the progress on all fronts (knocks on wood). In China, I've employed a strategy of big stacks with multiple infiltrating "feeler" LCUs working on outflanking/surrounding the enemy. Cuttlefish has so far gone with big stacks instead of guerrilla tactics. The result has been a series of outflanking moves that have forced his stacks to retreat in order to avoid encirclement. Reminiscent of Sherman's campaign in North Georgia where he contiually flanked Joe Johnston out of a series of positions all the way to Atlanta. (Not that I - a Texan descended from South Carolinians - relishes the role of playing Sherman, mind you). Cuttles hasn't suffered big defeats really, but has been pushed back.
Things have changed recently, however. First, CF voluntarily chose to retire his former Loyang army all the way to the hex just SE of Sian, surrendering without a fight 3 or 4 hex rows worth of marvelously defensible terrain without making me pay for it. It is in these rough forest hexes SE of Sian that most JFB North China offensives go to die as the KMT can actually fight on the defensive with the terrain bonuses. In this case, he has let me march to the gates of Sian. This allowed me to pull a bit of Maskirovka and surround an 18 LCU army in Nanyang. I had some armor and an infantry Division trailing 12th Army's march on Sian. It looked for all the world like they were moving to join the Sian front or protecting 12th Army's LoC. Instead, they were prepping for Nanyang and marched one hex cross country to cut the good road leading from Nanyang to Sian. Now, 3 reinforcement divisions are moving to Sinyang by rail to join 11th Army at Nanyang and finish this stack. Then we should have the combat power to force the issue and get Sian in the bargain (that's the plan anyway).
The other pleasant surprise has been catching large concentrations of Allied shipping in port. We sank numerous ships at Darwin and are hoping to do the same at Soerabaja in the next replay (speaking of which, I'm off to check the inbox for the next turn).
That said, we haven't really damaged the enemy's navy much because with three exceptions we haven't seen them. 1) CF sent Force Z to Kota on turn 1 but we pulled back; 2) CF tried a great CV raid on Kendari but Cribtop Intel's spidey senses tingled and we got KBL and our invasion TFs out of the danger zone in the nick of time; and 3) very early in the war CF sent a CL/DD force to Manado and caught about a 5 ship re-supply convoy with serious glug-gluggage for our side.
Where we have fought the enemy's air force (and we seek to whenever possible), kill ratios have been sky high in our favor due to numbers and the fact we've aggressively swept bases with (for now) better planes and pilots. We want to bring the enemy air force into action to attrit him and are looking for more opportunities to do this.
Saburo: I was always a big fan of Car Div 5. Shokaku and Zuikaku look pretty, gave a good account of themselves historically, and are pretty darn effective CVs by Japanese standards. I like both ships and both names, but tend to favor Shokaku for the admittedly odd reason that I tend to say their names in alphabetical order and Shokaku comes first. Somebody once had sig art saying they were a "Car Div 5 Fanboy" and my instant thought was - damn, beat me to it!
S-36 misses the exact same DD on the return to Cam Ranh Bay that she missed on the outbound leg. Her captain is feeling like the captain of I-15 a few days ago.
4th Fleet
The second Canton invasion TF RVs NW of the island and will move into the hex tomorrow. D-Day the day after that in order to maximize atoll unloading. Could be a little rough as our prep is crap except for the already damaged SNLF ashore (which is back to 18 AS and growing), but sheer weight should overwhelm the enemy.
The Taiyo is about to leave friendly waters in search of prey near Pearl Harbor.
SE Fleet
Lots of Naval Guard units arrive in Tokyo and will begin to build the perimeter.
14th Army
Oroquieta invaded. Dadjangas falls.
16th Army
"Air raid, Soerabaja. This is not a drill." In an action very reminiscent of the attack on Darwin, 22 Bettys, 57 Nells and 152 Kates blast the Dutch ships in harbor. Destruction is so complete that the late turn recon flights no longer show an anchor symbol for a port with 24 ships yesterday. Sole regret is we only bag 1 sub. Biggest catches are CL Sumatra and Dutch AS, AVP, and AR support vessels. Combat report excerpt below. We considered a first person account but have had several lately and want to use part of the weekend for some deep strategic thinking about the course of the game as we near the completion of Phase I. Still, the results are well worth a Banzai! [&o][&o]
Quick update: Tracker shows the CL sunk as Achilles and the SS as Argonaut. We're happy either way.
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Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 15
G4M1 Betty x 22
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires
xAKL Silindoeng, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AR Castor, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AG Albatros, Bomb hits 1, on fire
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 48 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 57
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
AMc Gedeh, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AVP Valk, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Spearfish, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AVP Fazant, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AMc Djombang, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AG Albatros, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AMc Ardjoeno, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Smeroe, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Djember, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Ceram, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Tjerimai, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Enggano, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Silindoeng, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AR Castor, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Port hits 4
Port supply hits 1
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Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
B5N1 Kate x 31
B5N2 Kate x 63
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 5 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Allied Ships
CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
AMc Slamat, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Kawi, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Merbabo, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Merapi, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Bogor, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Sigli, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AVP Fazant, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AMc Rindjani, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AR Castor, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Port hits 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
B5N2 Kate x 61
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AVP Valk, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Silindoeng, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
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We solve the mystery from yesterday as enemy PTs are seen sneaking back down the coast of Borneo from Balikpapan. We are fortunate our APDs avoiding combat.
25th Army
No change. Estimate next DA at Singapore on the 15th.
15th Army
Enemy forces are running away with great alacrity. We should quickly occupy the Prome - Toungoo line.
China
The last reinforcement division should rail in to Sinyang tomorrow. First attack at Nanyang within the week.
Conversely, I've always thought of zuikaku as evil, since reading The Big E as a child. The Zui always seemed to escape attack under a front while the Sho took a bomb or two.
I-15 returns to Rabaul. Her Captain is summarily replaced. Best use of 3 political points ever.
I-22 DC'd by enemy DDs near Canton. They are part of a TF consisting of BB New Mexico, a CL, 4 DDs and an xAP presumably carrying reinforcements to the enemy garrison. The irony is that our TF carrying reinforcements is in the Canton hex today. The enemy TF stops 1 hex short of the island and just misses a one-sided surface engagement. We are outgunned and will have to withdraw, but numerous IJN subs will be at Canton lying in wait.
Escorts chase Seal away from our fleet Oilers, which are en route to refill at Brunei.
4th Fleet
In light of the New Mexico TF, our reinforcements will pull back to the north to await events. Taiyo turns south to try for an intercept, but is at least five days out. Plus, the enemy CVs in theory could be approaching. This could be the end of our Canton misadventure. Best hope is that our subs nail the BB or the xAP, forcing the enemy to withdraw. If not, the subs will pick up fragments of our SNLF.
SE Fleet
No change.
14th Army
Oroquieta and Bassein fall.
16th Army
Manokwari invaded. Phase two of Operation SM loads at Jolo. Targets are Makassar and Bandjermasin.
A large number of troops at Babeldoab load for a transfer to Kendari, including 16th Army HQ. This represents the first moves by Cribtop HQ to create pre-conditions for the coming invasions of NW Oz and Java.
KB is transiting the Java Sea, making for Cam Ranh Bay to re-fuel, clear SYS damage and fill air groups in preparation for operations in Sumatra, Java and Australia. Just waiting on the fall of Singapore now.
25th Army
Bad weather scrubs airfield bombing at Singapore. This turns out to be significant (see tomorrow's entry).
15th Army
No change.
China
Kwangchowan falls. Pakhoi, China's last port, is next.
Seadragon misses a DD in the fleet Oiler TF off Mindanao.
Sigint and Glen recon reveal clues the enemy is building up Vava'u. Hmmm.
4th Fleet
Perhaps scared off by our TF from yesterday, the New Mexico TF avoids the Canton hex. This allows still more subs to gather and allows Taiyo and an IJN SCTF to get one day closer to the island. Could get interesting if the enemy enters a hex with 6 subs tomorrow.
SE Fleet
We wonder what the enemy CVs are doing. Watching for a harassment raid on Rabaul or even Truk or an appearance in 4th Fleet AO.
14th Army
Calapan invaded.
16th Army
Makassar invasion will hit the target on the 17th. Manokwari falls. DA Lautern just misses capturing the base, forts dropped to 0, odds 1:1, casualties 42(2) vs 31(0). SA tomorrow should do the trick.
25th Army
KB considers hitting Batavia but it contains only 2 SS and a ton of AMc. Not worth the pilots. It does occur to Cribtop HQ that sinking a total of four AS trying to flee the PI, at Darwin and at Soerabaja has probably put at least some dent in enemy sub ops.
DA at Singers just misses a capture. A bit of a disappointment. Forts are dropped to 1 but needed to drop to 0. The scrubbed bombing mission yesterday let them get past level 1 and saved the base despite the fact we get a great adjusted AS. Odds 2:1, casualties 2202(115) vs 800(52). DIS and fatigue are high enough we will need to rest a few days, so Singapore will last a bit past her historical capture date. The good news is that CF left everybody there to surrender, so the haul will be good when it finally falls. We order all IJAAF bombers supporting the Burma drive to move to Alor Star and Kota Bahru to add punch to our fort negating airfield attacks.
15th Army
The enemy is fleeing as fast as we can pursue him. Prome and Toungoo should fall soon. We will recon the defenses of upper Burma before deciding whether to press on immediately or await reinforcements.
China
A KMT corps crosses the river West of Nanyang and shock attacks into two IJA LCUs. Results are a gratifying 1:2, casualties 726(8) vs 177(0). Unlike at Loyang, the LCU in adjacent hex trick won't work. Why? Because we entered the Nanyang hex from all six hex sides and the garrison can't move out through a red hex side. Reinforcements are just a few days away, we should attack soon and hope to bag the whole Nanyang army quickly. I'll post a screenshot tonight with hex side control on to show the situation.
Here's the screenshot of the situation in North China. Note the hex just West of Nanyang. The KMT corps here is retreating because, in the opinion of Criptop Intel, CF just discovered that his very clever trick used to escape at Loyang won't work here. Because we controlled both hexes, the enemy corps just turns the western hexside green. The hexsides in the Nanyang hex are all still red, so the garrison cannot march out unless the enemy can clear our covering force. Cool, huh? Note also the two divisions on the road to Nanyang to finish the siege. One division arrived in the hex during the Feb 16 replay (which I'll report on tomorrow).
Attachments
Nanyang Su..17, 1942.jpg (255.04 KiB) Viewed 221 times
Here's the screenshot of the situation in North China. Note the hex just West of Nanyang. The KMT corps here is retreating because, in the opinion of Criptop Intel, CF just discovered that his very clever trick used to escape at Loyang won't work here. Because we controlled both hexes, the enemy corps just turns the western hexside green. The hexsides in the Nanyang hex are all still red, so the garrison cannot march out unless the enemy can clear our covering force. Cool, huh? Note also the two divisions on the road to Nanyang to finish the siege. One division arrived in the hex during the Feb 16 replay (which I'll report on tomorrow).
Good to see your opponent still has his LCUs S/SE of Yenan stationary. If you aren't doing it already it might be good to start bombing them one by one just to document what he has out there in what position. Looking forward to reading the climax at Nanyang and drive on Sian that's coming soon.
"There’s no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself.” ~ Erwin Lutzer
They are part of a TF consisting of BB New Mexico, a CL, 4 DDs and an xAP presumably carrying reinforcements to the enemy garrison. The irony is that our TF carrying reinforcements is in the Canton hex today. The enemy TF stops 1 hex short of the island and just misses a one-sided surface engagement. We are outgunned and will have to withdraw
The situation has features of interest, to put it mildly. Did you manage to unload anything, or did you have to skedaddle too quickly?
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
nygiants: Screene below. As you can see, we've captured the historical perimeter, controlling Port Moresby, New Britain and the Solomons. A few dot bases to clean up and the former PM and Rabaul garrisons to finish off, but at this point the question is whether to go farther.
Capt. Harlock: No, I was using atoll assault rules and stayed on "do not unload" so that we could take advantage off full unloading. Then the New Mexico showed up 1 hex out and we skedaddled.
Subs
Another weak performance by our subs. Six subs at Canton and all we get are 3 ineffective DC attacks by the enemy's escorts this turn on RO-67. We'll try again next turn. Ominously for CF, at least one of his escorts is out of ASW ammo.
S-27 torpedoes a PB in our aborted Canton reinforcement TF. She somehow doesn't sink but it's probably only a matter of time.
Our SCs DC Porpoise near Formosa. KB's dedicated ASW TF, which is now leading the carriers wherever they go, harasses K XV near Sinkwang.
4th Fleet
The enemy succeeds in unloading enough of 8th Marine Regt at Canton that his AS is up to 90. Cribtop HQ orders its forces to pack it in. [:(] The reinforcement TF heads for Jaluit. However, we can still damage CF's ships with luck. We will have 7 subs and 1 midget in the Canton hex tomorrow. Hopefully they will actually attack the poorly escorted enemy TF. Taiyo is one regular move and one flank speed move from launching. Also, an SCTF will be one move out tomorrow. We may have our revenge yet.
Cribtop HQ considers what the reversal at Canton means strategically. The original invasion was strictly opportunistic, but it is nice to get Canton to lengthen the enemy convoy routes and to keep the enemy out of 4E range of the Gilberts. Upon checking, it looks like TB is 21 hexes from Canton, meaning that Liberators could just reach at extreme range (although using a TF at TB the game tells us it's 22 hexes, which is out of range). Attacking Canton with a Marine Regiment in residence would require a major effort given its atoll status. Bottom line is that we are unlikely to try again but may revisit the issue upon the conclusion of our conquests on the western side of the map. Thoughts welcome as always, of course.
SE Fleet
Emirau Island occupied. We are putting together a lot of reinforcements at Tokyo to ship to Truk and build a perimeter. The PM garrison is trying to march to Terapo. We may have to use more than Bettys to finish them. Tomorrow we try a para assault on Horn Island.
Screenshot of the situation in SE Fleet AO below:
14th Army
Dumaguete invaded. Calapan falls. We are getting close to the end of DBCL ops here. Still need to scrape together a regiment or so to finish the enemy garrisons at Iliolo, Leyte, Cebu and Bacolod.
16th Army
We seize all of Timor in a stroke today. SA Latern captures the base with 5:1 odds, 2 enemy LCUs surrender. At Koepang, we drop forts to 1 and get 7:1 odds, with 3 enemy surrenders. A big Mavis group will move into Koepang tomorrow. Operation DK is thus concluded successfully.
The Makassar invasion will go in tomorrow, covered by LBA and Indes Fleet. The Bandjermasin invasion is loading at Tarakan.
We have some re-positioning to do now and still need to capture Denpasar, but we have almost completed Phase I objectives in the 16th Army AO. Java and Oz are on deck.
25th Army
Sandakan invaded. KB is about to clear the Java Sea and make for Cam Ranh Bay, which convienently just hit level 7 port.
Today's bombing prevents fort building at Singers. BA today destroys another crippled LCU. Surely the end is near, but we need to clear DIS and FAT (fatigue).
15th Army
We DA both Prome and Toungoo tomorrow.
China
The enemy LCU west of Nanyang has a movement arrow indicating it is retreating west back over the river. Just a few more days until the first DA at Nanyang.
Attachments
Solomons F..17, 1942.jpg (114.56 KiB) Viewed 220 times
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