No Way to Fight a War (Dixie vs GBL)

[Dixie]

27th December 1941

Generally fairly quiet...

PACIFIC
One of GBL's subs put a torpedo into the liner Matsonia yesterday at Christmas Island [:@] 47/27 flt damage id the main result, luckily she'd unloaded all her troops. The ships is heading back to Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs.

Still no sign of IJN submarines around Hawaii, looks like they have actually gone away. This means I can get my damaged BBs shifted away to safer waters for long term repairs.


EAST INDIES
Not a great deal happened yesterday. Sandakan on Northern Borneo was captured by the Japanese.


MALAYA
Taiping has been captured by Japanese armoured forces. The British defence consisted of two u/s Bren guns so the Japanese victory was clearly hard fought...

Japanese bombers have been raiding Singapore, by now most Allied fighters are either wrecked or needing repairs. A total of two Japanese fighters were shot down over the island in return for 7 RAF Buffs shot down. Luckily the bombers are staying high to avoid the worst of Singapore's massed AA batteries.


BURMA/INDIA
Japanese troops at Moulmein may actually be Thai troops. Intel reports that the 2nd RTA Division is present at Moulmein. Further troops are known to be moving in from Thailand, but I'm unsure whether they are Japanese or Thai troops at this point.

Plans for the defence of India (Operation Rudyard) are almost finalised, final options are still flexible especially with regard to the Australian divisions and the 7th Indian Division. I'm probably going to put one of the Australian divisions on the Bengal coast and one on the Burmese border. The Indian 7th is currently the major garrison force at Bombay, but in a pinch they could be moved south to shore up the defences. Another option is swapping either the 19th or 23rd Indian Divisions for the more experienced 11th.

[cantona2]

Operation Rudyard, love it [:D]

As an aside Dixie, did you abandon your RN artwork project you had going on at the birth of AE?

[Dixie]

I'm not hosting the website any more, but I've got most of the art stuff still.

[Mike Solli]

Dixie, your maps never cease to amaze me. Wonderful!

I never realized there were so many Indian troops available at the start of the war. How many of them are restricted?

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Dixie, your maps never cease to amaze me. Wonderful!

I never realized there were so many Indian troops available at the start of the war. How many of them are restricted?

The vast majority of the Indian forces are restricted, as well as almost all of the British armoured forces. The exceptions are 11th Indian Div and (the currently unreconstructed) 12th Indian Bde, both part of Indian III Corps. 11th Division is slightly understrength, 12th Bde is almost at full strength and the Argyles have fantastic morale.

The restricted Indian troops are generally Exp 20, the British armoured troops fare even worse with 43rd Cavalry boasting an almost unheard of 5 Exp. So although the defence looks pretty good it's not actually all that capable in a stand-up fight.

Until mid-April the defence will mostly rely on the two Australian divisions and the British 7th Armoured Bde (when they arrive) supported by the British 18th Div and Indian 11th. After April the British 70th Division will arrive (with exp 80) [8D] allowing some reshuffling of forces. The low experience units are going to be tied to city and jungle positions where the terrain (and forts) will partly compensate for the lack of experience.


EDIT: There has been a reshuffling of troops in north and wet India to free up some of the units shown. In particular units have moved from the NW frontier to garrison locations that were guarded by armoured units (who were probably wasted sitting watching villagers).

There will also be more additions to Operation Rudyard as the Burma campaign winds down, a few knackered British and Indian Bns/Bdes will be available for 2nd/3rd line defence.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

Operation Rudyard, love it [:D]

I liked it, and it makes it sound like I have some sort of actual plan should GBL notice the title! [:D]

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

I'm not hosting the website any more, but I've got most of the art stuff still.

Would you mind sharing it or is it for personal use only now?
Thanks

[mc3744]

Do you keep your Indian LCUs on Strat to move them quickly or do you prefer to keep them on combat to take advantage of the engineers (or a mix)?
Maybe a couple of "fire brigades" on Strat in mid India for quick redeployment?

Keep it up [:)]

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

ORIGINAL: Dixie

I'm not hosting the website any more, but I've got most of the art stuff still.

Would you mind sharing it or is it for personal use only now?
Thanks

I can make it freely available, a few tweaks are needed before then though.

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: mc3744

Do you keep your Indian LCUs on Strat to move them quickly or do you prefer to keep them on combat to take advantage of the engineers (or a mix)?
Maybe a couple of "fire brigades" on Strat in mid India for quick redeployment?

Keep it up [:)]

For now, the units will be in combat mode in the first and second defensive lines. Get those forts built up quickly and provide some sort of safety zone. There needs to be some sort of mobile reserve, but until I get some forces with halfway decent experience it's probably not going to help. Throwing an unprepared exp 20 division into combat will just result in lots of casualties, holding a well prepared defensive position will help to alleviate some of that disadvantage.

[mc3744]

I hadn't noticed that Indian units are so low on experience.
It's certainly a good point.

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Dixie

ORIGINAL: cantona2

ORIGINAL: Dixie

I'm not hosting the website any more, but I've got most of the art stuff still.

Would you mind sharing it or is it for personal use only now?
Thanks

I can make it freely available, a few tweaks are needed before then though.

Would love to have them as I already have your RN Carriers, BBs and cruisers installed! Many thanks

[Dixie]

28th December 1941

MALAYA

More raids on Singapore yesterday, but for a change the RAF Buffaloes managed to shoot down two Oscars in return for two of their own lost. This marks the first time that the RAF has managed parity in air combat since the opening of hostilities!

Latest ULTRA intercepts reveal that the IJA 21st Division, previously en route to Mersing, has changed direction and is heading to Singora instead. The presence of Allied submarines and HDMLs (now sunk) seems to have caused GBL to divert the convoy far to the north instead. If this is the case then it's bought several more days breathing room for Singapore.


EAST INDIES

A rare success for the Allies at sea, the Dutch O-19 hit a Japanese tanker with two torpedoes. This was followed by the sounds of a sinking vessel shortly after. It's a nice little morale boost and sinking a tanker is never a bad thing.

Pontianak has fallen, Japanese tanks over-ran the handful of Dutch clerks, cooks and mechanics at the base.


INDIA

Nothing to report really.


PACIFIC

Japanese forces are sweeping through the Gilberts. Sort of. They've taken two islands with decent AF potential, Tabitauea is their latest conquest. From here they can either go east towards Pago Pago or south towards Fiji. I can't see GBL sitting still whilst Allied SOPAC forces are so weak.

[Dixie]

Below is the current situation in Southern Burma. Two Thai divisions have crossed into Southern Burma supported by Japanese troops. There's more AV than I can (or want to) bring to Rangoon so things are looking poor for the Brits.

Defending Burma would need an investment of troops which I could probably manage, but it would mean stripping India of troops. The Raj is a far more important base of operations than Burma, so that's where the soldiers are staying. The only possible plus point I can take is that the majority of my Rangoon defence is made of British and Indian troops who have a better anti-soft rating than the Thai units. Not that I can expect them to make much use of that with the huge disparity in strength.

[Mike Solli]

Dixie, I can't speak for your forces, but there isn't much Japanese strength there. The Thai forces (1 + 2/3 divisions) have very poor experience. The engineers don't have much AV, but they're most likely there to help capture stuff without causing them much damage. The only real forces of note are the 112 IR and the 5 Cav, and the cav doesn't have a lot of AV either.

[Dixie]

29th December 1941

PACIFIC
The ocean is living up to it's name at the moment. Allied HQ is taking advantage of the current lull to redirect more supply convoys to the South Pacific. With Pearl Harbor and Hawaii having a decent stockpile of fuel and supply several Hawaii bound convoys are instead making longer trips to New Zealand and Fiji. The convoys also include a number of support vessels from Pearl Harbor which will be based in the South Pacific in readiness for the Allied counter attack, whenever that actually happens...

Kittyhawk and Hammondsport are heading to the West Coast with a fast USN freighter, these three 16kt ships will form the core component of the West Coast-New Zealand aircraft ferrying run with further vessels being added to the fleet as they become available.

The only downer on a quiet day was Matsonia giving up her fight to stay afloat, the liner eventually slipped beneath the waves just 30 miles off shore from Palmyra.


AUSTRALIA
The past three weeks has been a period of rest and refit for the Australian Army, now that most units are approaching full readiness (if not full strength) they are being deployed to their new defensive locations. Several LCUs are being shifted from Victoria and New South Wales and will deploy to Queensland and Western Australia to guard against a feared invasion of the more vulnerable parts of Australia.


EAST INDIES
Japanese troops have landed at Ketapang, the base is unguarded by military personnel so there's no chance of holding the line. But unless GBL wants to ship in large numbers of engineers the base isn't likely to be much trouble for the Allies just yet. Once it's fallen the plan is to drop bombs on it as often as possible to delay the construction of any usable airfield.

Another Japanese submarine, RO-33 has been spotted in the Batavia channel where the tanker Augustina was torpedoed. She's limping into Oosthaven for temporary repairs.


PHILIPPINES
The end is nigh for organised effective resistance. If it ever actually began. The US and Filipino forces are clustered in a decreasing perimeter around Manila and Bataan. It's the historical option for the defence here, hide in the peninsula. It may be full of malaria and foliage, but it blocks GBL from using Manila harbour and it's full of malaria and foliage for the Japs as well.


INDIA AND BURMA
Moulmein fell today, unsurprisingly, following a shock attack by the combined Japanese and Thai force. In all honesty I don't expect Southern Burma to hold for long even given the inferiority of the Thai army. The only reason I'm leaving a garrison at Rangoon is because I need to to prevent partisan attacks.

Although it's not technically a part of India, Diego Garcia has entered my thoughts. Do I send a garrison force here to stop GBL taking it on the cheap? Or let him take it? It's not a major strategic outpost, but it could be useful to either of us. I'm fully expecting GBL to send some sort of force to take the island given that he knows how thinly the Allies are spread early on. I can spare the Winnipeg Grenadiers Bn to sit on the island, they were rescued from Hong Kong so he probably isn't expecting them to spring up in the Indian Ocean.

[Dixie]

30th December 1941

PACIFIC

Japanese submarines are lurking off the US West Coast, slow convoy SQ-10 encountered a Jap I-boat which was driven off by the destroyer escorts. Canadian Escort Group A1 was less fortunate, the Flower corvette Chiliwack being sunk by a Japanese submarine near San Francisco. Despite the presence of US air patrols the blighters are proving to be slippery little devils, a lack of ASW vessels is making the situation all the more frustrating.

Three damaged battleships have departed Hawaii for the continental US, their routing should steer them clear of I-boat concentrations and their heavy escort of destroyers should dissuade any potential submarines from approaching. Another group of crippled battleships will be departing in a couple of days, via a different route just in case.

Japanese troops have landed on, and seized, Nauru Island and Ocean Island. The invasions were swift and the outnumbered Aussie troops capitulated after brief battles. If nothing else, the battles have at least provided some useful intel on Japanese troops and ships.


NEW GUINEA & THE SOLOMONS

Japanese landings are reported at Vanimo, a small force believed to be 2nd AF Coy.


MALAYA

Japanese forces advancing along the Malayan peninsula have been joined by troops coming ashore at Kuantan, a mixed brigade, an recon regiment and a base force. The transport for the invasion is reported to include a submarine tender, is GBL that desperate for ships to haul supplies?

Fighter sweeps against Singapore hacked down more Buffs. With those aircraft now smoking wrecks the RAF no longer has a fighter force at Singapore. There are still a handful of bombers although they're reluctant to attack anything.


EAST INDIES

AVP Poolster was sunk near Batavia whilst attempting to flee the area. Looks like the Jap subs are still kicking around. [8|] Another submarine has been located near Soerbaja by a Dutch naval patrol.

In a morale moment, the Dutch decided to launch an attack on the invasion TF at Ketapang, flying at low level the bombers managed to put three bombs into a freighter and one into an APD with the result that the freighter rapidly sank. It's not much of a victory, but I'll take what I can get right now, especially with those damned Zeroes almost everywhere at the moment.


BURMA & INDIA

More Indian, Australian and Canadian soldiers have left Java and Sumatra. The Canadians will definitely be heading to Diego Garcia in order to try and provide some sort of defence for the island. It's a vulnerable place and a battalion may provide enough defence to stop it being taken on the cheap.

Not much else happened, a few bombers arrived in Aden but replacements don't start arriving for several more months...

[Dixie]

AUSTRALIA

This is the current planned defence for Western Australia, Operation Kelly. I'm giving consideration to the idea of moving more LCUs west from the Brisbane/Sydney area to boost the defences around Perth. The likelihood of GBL taking these areas is probably remote, unless he wants to trigger the Australian emergency reinforcements so it may be possible to shift a good proportion of the Australian militia to other areas.

[witpqs]

I love the fact that you have named your merchant convoys such! Is "Rock" Tory in charge of convoy routing?

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

I love the fact that you have named your merchant convoys such! Is "Rock" Tory in charge of convoy routing?

Too much time on my hands! [:D]


Not AAR related, but it'll pad out this post a little bit. Ladies and Gentlemen, or given that this is the Matrix Games forum; Gentlemen, Geeks and Fanboys. I present to you, Force Z capital ships throughout the ages (well, 1941-45 at any rate). From top to bottom;

Appearance as sunk. PoW needs redoing as it's based on an old design and is the starboard side rather than the port design.
Post refit, hypothetical appearance for Repulse, camo based on a number of schemes carried by RN BBs at this time. PoW is wearing a delightful number created by the RN camouflage department, as seen on fellow models Anson, Howe and KGV.
And finally, the late war Admiralty Standard scheme, should your ships survive that long...