Typhoon of Blood-Innkeeper Bill vs Hotel John III RA 3.0

[khyberbill]

Thanks for the advice Bookworm. I wont risk the CV's, but I tend to lose them anyway! I am not worried so much as losing Pearl Harbor as I am about losing it quickly. The longer I can force him to fight there, the better off I am some where else. I will keep trying to time my reinforcements for when his CV's are not between PH and the WC. It will become a meat grinder, but if supplies can get through, then I think I can hold PH. John is taking losses there too, but not as heavy as I am.

It will be nice to get CI back, however, there are no troops available for that operation at this time. The first tankers and cargo ships from the WC have reached OZ and while the path is tortuous, it is doable. A CV task force way west of Perth sank a bunch of cargo ships coming in from Capetown and has now moved to the South of Perth. There is little there for it to find. While I hate losing the cargo and the ships, it just missed finding a huge TF of tankers from Abadan. Cargo from Capetown and Abadan will be brought into Melbourne. John will have to go way south to find them and I will only be sending one or two ships at a time.


Last turn KB moved far north near Dutch Harbor in pursuit of my two CV's (I presume). A few turns ago one of my CV's stumbled upon an AO near Attu and sank it. A wandering DD was repeatedly attacked by John's Vals, and they continually missed south of Dutch Harbor. John has four units at Dutch Harbor that are now essentially cut off due to my reinforcement of Unimak Island which is already up to lvl 2 fort and close to lvl 1 airfield.

I wonder how many sorties KB has left?

A squadron of 12 PT boats attacked the landings in Lahaina and put a fish into two BB's and a DD. I hope the DD sinks. We started bombing the airfield in Kona at night and will follow up with sweeps during the day.

Coco Islands in the IO has now been fortified with a strong garrison and is lvl 2 airfield and lvl 3 forts. Forts are being built in Ceylon and Eastern India. I still expect an invasion at one of those two spots unless PH becomes too much of a distraction.

Darwin is also well fortified and now has some air cover for the string of supply convoys.

John invaded Munda Is. and I expect PM to be next. I evacuated all troops from PG and Rabaul except for the static unit at PM to Horn Island.

That's all for now folks. John is in the Rockies getting in touch with nature so I imagine the turns will be slow for the next week.

[gr8bookworm]

Have you had a look at the points totals, can he achieve an auto-victory if he takes all of Hawaii and the other early key bases like Singapore, Rangoon etc??

Good luck to you in your defense of Hawaii, hope those PT's continue to eat away at him.

[khyberbill]

Have you had a look at the points totals, can he achieve an auto-victory if he takes all of Hawaii and the other early key bases like Singapore, Rangoon etc??

No, I don't really worry about VP's especially this early. Losing PH is about a 3000 point swing though! I think I am still ahead in VP's at this stage.

Last post I mentioned losing Munda, I was mixed up, it was Milne Bay. Slight geographical error.

This current turn my PT's decided to sit in port and not play in John's sandbox. I have cut their ration of beer and hope that inspires them. A SCTF did sally forth from PH to Lahaina and engaged the Fast Transport there. A night time action caused some damage to the CA Kinugasa and Oitse. One of my DMS was hurt and then torpedoed on the way back tp PH.

Up north the DD Downes attacked KB...twice. The second time she even got a hit on the Zuikaku. KB withdrew and Downes is retreating to San Fran, kinda banged up. In three days of fighting this DD survived a few days of Vals and night time action. She may survive if KB heads back south.

[khyberbill]

This AAR slipped to the second page and that just wont do.

Not much has happened since the last update. The destroyer that led KB on a merry chase through the N. Pacific made it safely to San Fran and is already back in action after seven days in the yards. The airport on Unmak is now lvl 2 and a sguadron of the mighty B-18 Bolos is going to bomb the local Jap concentrations into the stone age. John took the little island to the east of Dutch Harbor, however support for there has to be a concern.

John has expressed some surprise that PH has an air force that still packs a punch. This past turn a small bombardment of Kona yielded these results!





All these planes on a lvl 3 airfield. I would think that overstacking would cause a problem. John had not flown any bomber sorties with the Nells/Bettys so they may just have arrived. I presume they were going to try to close the air field at PH. Lots of flak at PH, I snuck in another AA so have 5 there now. Supplies have also managed to sneak in every day or so, but I am also losing ships to intense sub concentration.

Intel picked up signals that Johnny Japo ws intending to invade Lihue as well. He already has two islands here, how many does a man need? So, two INF regiments were dispatched to Lihue as well as a Marine def bat.

In other news, Darwin was viciously attacked and I have withdrawn the fighters from there. I am presuming that is the next target. Supplies are pouring into OZ. I am using Melbourne as the POE. This port is difficult for John to attack. The supply paths from Abadan, Capetown, and West Coast are tortuous but if John has his CV's out hunting, they are just killing sardines.

[khyberbill]

Singapore finally fell. It was almost a cake walk for John3. Now I can recover some of the Indian units. They will be back.

As predicted, PH has become a meat grinder and I lose at least one AK or AP a day in the area. But, there are now about 500 fighters and bombers on the island and more are coming. Supply level is higher then when John invaded Kona in early January as well as resources.

Four or so B-18's bomb Dutch Harbor every turn. I am not sure the Japs have noticed.

John advances in Burma and China, I retreat.

[Lecivius]

He's going to have a very hard time supplying his forces around PH.  This mod plays murder with available supplies to the Japanese forces.  It would be benificial IMO to keep banging on those bases.  He may have the air frames to replace them, but doing so will eat his available supplies.  Even if you eventually loose the joint, it will set him back.

[khyberbill]

Thanks for the advice Lecivius. I am doing my best to do what you advise. The problem is bombers. Last turn I lost 4 b-17E's. I only make 1 every other day. So, I will send some CA's in to mess up the golf courses at night! In two or three days, I should be back up to full strength and hit the AF from the air again. I just dont have the muscle present to close an AF at this time. However, the attacks have driven his Betty's and Nell's away which has allowed me to ship in supplies, planes and troops. I also now have about 15 subs in the area, and I am slowly bringing in the S-boats. Subs currently dont hurt much but they are pesky and the S-boats have real torpedoes.

I am not sure if John's intention was to take PH-just perhaps isolate it and inflict damage on me as I try to defend. I suspect the defense has surprised him.

The amount of CD guns at PH is formidable as well as the amount of AA and I have added AA to the island with more troops coming. Details will be forthcoming.

[khyberbill]

KB or its sister has shown up northwest of Ph and sunk several supply ships. It is staying well away from PH. Right now I have about 700 planes (including 10 P-26's which have shot down two Vals!) on PH. And six AA RGT's. I think I have enough of each. Most of the planes are fighters and dive bombers.

What does the forum say? Any advice?

[FatR]

I can't give exact tactical advice here, but note, that even with the improved flak you probably won't be able to withstand an extended siege, if Japanese will be able to secure their hold on outlying islands. The Allied airforce still can be attrited at this stage, and constant bomber raids will eventually sap supply by direct damage and drawing AA fire.

[khyberbill]

I see John has updated his AAR. We have had a few uneventful days. There appears to be a large number of ships in port in Koepang, perhaps John has turned his lonely eye to Northern OZ. There really isnt anything that can be done if he does invade at this point. Supplies continue to pour into Melbourne and Sydney and I now have enough fuel to turn HI back on.

I disbanded the P40E squadrons in OZ that leave so early and now have lots in the pool for PH! Speaking of PH.

There is still some action around PH. John sent a Fast Transport TF to Lanai and has now taken that island with the loss of the CL Isuzu (I thought that was a car??). A flight of Buffaloes performed the coup de grace on the CL. I was planning on upgrading these planes first at PH to F4f-4s but I see that they have a niche role for naval attack on light ships around the islands. We continue to batter the airfields and ports every other turn. At some point John has to bring some supply to here and I hope to make that costly.

In the DEI Gebe was taken by a squad of infantry.

John continues to push back in Burma and soon most of my forces will be back in India. I suspect he will stop there. I dont know if he has plans for an Indian/Ceylon invasion but we are preparing for one and these forces will be well positioned for when the offensives start.

[khyberbill]

if Japanese will be able to secure their hold on outlying islands.

The Johnny Jap has not been able to secure a hold..yet. I have bombarded the AF's into the stone age. I have been able to get supplies, more AA, more troops, more planes and soon more CA's etc into PH. Hilo and Kona are at the end of a long supply tail for John. I agree with you regarding attrition of the AAF/Navy/Marine planes. It is my biggest worry.


Thanks for the limited advice-it is also nice to know someone is reading the AAR.

[khyberbill]

Despite all the thunder on the part of John3, it has been a fairly quiet for the last few turns. A large fleet of multiple task forces showed up near PH. I thought sure that 1) John was going to bombard the place or 2) invade Molokai. He did neither and blinked and moved his forces to Kona. It appears he is offloading more future POWs there.

I thought about sending in the bombers etc but quite frankly, when some of your planes are still P-26s one pauses. His Zero's would have shredded my escorts and I am not sure how many bombers would have made it through. Then, a weakened PH would not have been able to withstand a counter strike. It is notable that John did not feel emboldened to attack either. As soon as John leaves PH, I will start the nightly bombardments of Kona.

Austalia was invaded, specifically Broome.





You can see the Broome base force leaving the area. They made it to Derby and then John invaded Derby too and so now they are fleeing south as fast as the camels will carry them. We hope to stop Johnny Jap at Katherine.

While PH has kept the Emperors attention, more troops have landed at Pago Pago. This really helps anchor this part of the world and with lvl 3 forts and more than a division ashore, I think we can start planning for future ops.

[khyberbill]

While PH has kept the Emperors attention, more troops have landed at Pago Pago. This really helps anchor this part of the world and with lvl 3 forts and more than a division ashore, I think we can start planning for future ops. Here is a picture of the USN airfield. Crude but getting better.

[khyberbill]

A long overdue update.

I have made some bone headed moves since the last posting and I know that John has exulted over them in his AAR so no need to waste words here pouring salt into wounds.

Cocos Islands
John appears to be determined to take Coco Islands. I am not sure why. It has little strategic value to him or me; my sporadic shipments to Oz go far west of there. First he launched an Infantry Brigade against this last outpost of the Dutch and it was destroyed. Figuring he needed a bigger stick, he brought the 18th ID to battle and the gin swilling Dutch shattered the division in two turns. Now two islands at each end of the map hold John's attention. I am considering reinforcing the Coco's. Anyone have advice???

Pearl Harbor
The siege, started on 19 Jan 42 continues. John has slowly increased the blockade of PH to the point where recently three separate CV TF's were involved. I call them KB, Mini-KB and Mini-ME-KB. Supply has slowed to a trickle. That is the bad news. The good news is at the current rate that supply is being consumed there is about 120 days of fuel and between 90 and 180 days of supply remaining. I am still building forts, taking reinforcements and upgrading a/c, all of which eat into the stockpile. We have contracted with Blatz to build another brewery. Molokai has been secured and the Japs there destroyed. Plans are being drawn up to retake Lahaina.

Australia
John has invaded Derby and Wyndham. I decided to leave Darwin and concentrate forces at Katherine. I may re-garrison Darwin. The problem is one of supply. I tried to send some cargo ships there but John bombed them from Koepang and also a few SCTF changed my mind. Three US Army and Marine armored units are motoring up from Alice Springs to help out. John has not invested much into this enterprise yet. I am pumping up supply in Alice Springs to support the units in and near Katherine. Not much is flowing yet.

Aleutian Islands
Fairly quiet. Unmak is up to lvl 5 airfield but not many planes available to go there, most were snuck into PH when John wasn't looking. A squadron of Bolo's is still there striking fear into the hearts of the Godless Japanese.

Burma, India and China
A large force was shattered by John in Sian. More squads were lost in that one battle then will be produced in 18 months. On the other hand, reinforcements of 350 inf squads a month is more than I can use with the current supply situation.

In Burma, the Burma Division is now a shell and struggling to get to India where it will be broken up and used for garrison duty. John and I are fighting over Coxs Bar. Neither has the upper hand. I still have a fear of an invasion of the East Coast of India and when that fear subsides, I will commit the forces necessary to drive John from the area.

Intel
Intel reports of units prepping for PH. Does anyone know how long it usually takes from the time that a unit starts prepping that the report pops up on Intel? I am assuming a few days so doubtful if an invasion is anytime soon. I would think that these troops would be 100% prepped prior to the invasion.

April approaches and that is when the subs and DD's upgrade. ASW will get much better then. As always, suggestions are welcome.

[khyberbill]

John has been merciless with his bombarding of the peaceful Coco Islands. Almost every third of fourth turn he attacks. Not much is left.

[Durbik]

Come on, you still got the tree!

[SoliInvictus202]

after having had a closer look at the island - I can't make out any impact craters???
where have the Japanese been firing at? - shelling the coral reefs just behind the horizon?... if so - you might want to consider putting the wild-life preservation fund on alert! - always good to have another charge in front of the Den-Haag human-rights court....

[khyberbill]

Come on, you still got the tree!

Hi Pawel:
Yes, but you need more than one to make lambanog an alcoholic drink made from the coconut flower)!

[khyberbill]

after having had a closer look at the island - I can't make out any impact craters???
where have the Japanese been firing at? - shelling the coral reefs just behind the horizon?... if so - you might want to consider putting the wild-life preservation fund on alert! - always good to have another charge in front of the Den-Haag human-rights court....

Hello Soli, the gin and lambanog soaked Dutch have been busy landscaping. None are visible now because they are hunting for lobsters.

[khyberbill]

The DD Downes ran into some bad luck against the Yamato. This is the second time the Downes has been pummeled. A few weeks ago it was the Yards in San Fran and now the Yards at PH. Notice how empty the Yards are here.