Thinz2 vs Zuluhour

[zuluhour]

At 23:59 hrs PST all five carriers will have completed refits. Two or three of their escorts are two days behind them. Not much going on besides Allied logistic Ops. The IJN subs took DD Tucker to the bottom off Oahu yesterday. The only combat Ops in progress are a scheduled night raid in Burma set for two days from now, weather permitting, a re-inforcment Op in the Solomons, a day raid by B17s in New Guinea, and assembling Indian IV Corp for deployment.

[zuluhour]

April 21st 1942
Night raid on Mandalay damages bombers on the field, our night raid delayed.
A full B17E group will join up in Northern Australia with other heavies and placed back under a USAAC command.
presently searching for every available FLAK unit for deployment.
I think P38s will begin to enter the pools in eight days, I hope I can upgrade the Lancers and send them to the front.
I peeked in on Bataan, posting over 880 AV...starving
Singapore in a similar situation but a couple weeks behind them.
IJA making final conquests of the central PI with Cebu and Leyte now invested.
More landings in New Guinea.

[zuluhour]

April 22nd
CVTFs on sea trials, Sara on escort shuttle duty.
VII bomber command enroute to Australia
Batavia now infested with Japs
More small dot expansion in New Guinea
Sub attack near Truk at 111,108

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku, Torpedo hits 1
CA Chokai
CA Atago
CL Sendai
DD Tanikaze
DD Hagikaze
DD Isokaze

Allied Ships
SS Pike

Pike finds Nips outside of Truk.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

... HELP: how do you resuppy isles with 0 ports? air? build 'em? amphib supply?

I would have thought the answer is quite obvious.[:)]

Why "build 'em" of course.[;)]

1. A dot base is limited to only a 5k supply stockpile (and 1k fuel) before spoilage kicks in, thus you really have no alternative but to build up the infrasturcture if you want a larger stockpile.

2. Dropping supply from the air is an inefficient transportation mode. The inefficiency is greatly magnified when you are dropping supply to units out in the field, and units at a dot base are out in the field. If you must resupply by air, at least ensure you are flying the supply to an airfield (minimum level 1) - at least that way you will actually deliver 100% of the rated cargo load of the plane.

3. In the absence of naval support, up to a level 3 port, unloading supply from an amphibious TF is much quicker than a cargo/transport TF. Of course there are other factors that come into the reckoning such as:

(a) the greater efficiency of cargo/transport TFs, or

(b) the different ship classes which can be placed in the different types of TFs

(c) enemy threat profile, for example the most inefficient type of naval resupply is to use a barge TF but it might be the safest in terms of hiding the vessels from enemy forces

Bottom line is that if you intend to stay at the dot base, you should just build up the infrastructure.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

Thanks Alfred, An amphib TF is on the way. A base force is also on an amphib TF two days out. Un fortunately I did not prep it! Its the Ndeni expedition. I am sure learning from every angle. Every Op requires at the very least, weeks of prep. I just lost the point lead as Singapore falls:
Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 63098 troops, 778 guns, 493 vehicles, Assault Value = 1919

Defending force 32655 troops, 455 guns, 270 vehicles, Assault Value = 471

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 1706

Allied adjusted defense: 487

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Singapore !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2959 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 256 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Guns lost 48 (1 destroyed, 47 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (3 destroyed, 26 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
29279 casualties reported
Squads: 822 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3684 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 178 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 555 (555 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 340 (340 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 38

[zuluhour]

I may be in danger of being AV'd. The loss of Bataan, Palembang and Batavia may be enough, SH%T I hope not. All these are besieged with no hope of escape. Rangoon would probably follow to. Ill post the SitRep with the score next turn. I do have all my capital ships and the AF has trained as well.

[Alfred]

It takes a lot more than the loss of those 3 bases to suffer an auto loss. In any case, it can't happen before 1 January 1943.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

Big sigh of relief.....you would have got a chuckle had you seen it.

[DOCUP]

You won't lose Zulu.  Your doing better than me, I have already lost Singers in my game and I'm not out of Jan yet.

[zuluhour]

Glad to see your still here, it gets lonely at the top![:D]

[zuluhour]

April 29th 1942
Turn away. next post India defense.


1942!!

[DOCUP]

Yea I'm still here.  Just waiting on you to stop riding your bike and post soemthing.

[Alfred]

By the depth of the colour on the Japanese stack at Rangoon, it is clear to me that the enemy main immediate objective is the capture of Rangoon. That should be a relatively easy task for Japan to accomplish. When that occurs, the various Allied dispositions throughout Burma are going to be exposed as not even providing a speedbump. The Allied forces are simply too weakly spread out throughout Burma to offer any effective resistance. Whilst Rangoon holds, the Allied position should be consolidated.

Especially poorly positioned are the Allied troops on the Thai border (4 hexes from Taung Gyi). They should have commenced their withdrawal on 8 December 1941. As it is even if they start withdrawing now, it is doubtful they will reach in time the Allied frontline trying to hold Burma.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

April 28th 1942
Logistics: Many DDs have undergone refits. Submarines begin refits adding radar. SoPac is well supplied but requires more fuel, I believe at least 50M more points to conduct surface and air Ops with forces available. I hope the 50M plus is enough to conduct defensive Ops as I feel a storm brewing in proximity to the Solomon’s. The Japs have occupied all of north New Guinea to Lae. As we spotted Shokaku at Truck last week we have to believe the KB is local. Rangoon remains supplied as the Japs have, for the most part allowed re-supply from Calcutta by small xAKs. Northern Sumatra is surrounded and in the yellow. I may try some counter attacks shortly to try and bleed the enemy some as opposed to buying time. It was hard to watch Singapore starve so long. Bataan has been out of supply for a long time, I have no idea what he’s waiting for.
Burma Front: Little ground combat thus far, the theater being limited to air raids for the most part. The Burma Army will try to fall back, using monsoon weather, to Mandalay and onwards towards Imphal. The newly established Indian IV Corps is now led by LtGen Alexander with the 7th Australian Div. as the center piece. I still have to politically muscle a brigade plus to the corp. I only have a couple of hundred PPs in the bank. The Corp is taking positions along the Arakan. Eastern HQ is still in Calcutta but will move to fill gaps between IV corps and Burma Army expected to form after the fall of Rangoon. Air power, sufficient till now, is bracing for the hundred plus bombers which were engaged in Malaya.
China: Desperately trying to stabilize the line. The horrendous losses of February-March are being felt now. The CAF is a fragment of the meager at start OOB.
Dutch East Indies: Hoping we can tie up the four or five suspected Divs plus their Arty as long as possible. There is no Dutch AF. Most of the Dutch surface ships have survived and are presently operating out of Western Australia.
Philippines: I did not realize some of the subs can carry 20pts? Of supply? I would have sent “care packages” if it would stall the inevitable for a day.
NoPac: While not all units attached to NoPac have been assigned there, Dutch Harbor has been strengthened to repel a halfhearted attempt to take it with Infantry and triple A.
SoPac: Four CVTFs are closing for a rendezvous. Ndeni is being reinforced as well as Luganville. Both are growing. I hope Marine Rgts can be rebuilt if there is a major IJN push here. I have postponed OpBarb again due to the Shokaku sighting at Truk. I am putting a lot of effort into holding at Port Morseby. The runway was repaired but the service damage will not go down. Any thoughts on how to best fix service damage? NOW is the time.

[zuluhour]

Are the Japanese LBUs faster than Allied units? or simply to easy to outflank?

WHOA! I am color blind but I can see (for the first time!) the color difference between Moulmein and Rangoon. Meaning? manual somewhere?

Oh now I see the unit on the border, I do not have the trun right now, but the Brits ( I believe) were mauled in Siam last month whats left of them I was using as early warning, bad idea?

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Are the Japanese LBUs faster than Allied units? or simply to easy to outflank?

WHOA! I am color blind but I can see (for the first time!) the color difference between Moulmein and Rangoon. Meaning? manual somewhere?

Oh now I see the unit on the border, I do not have the trun right now, but the Brits ( I believe) were mauled in Siam last month whats left of them I was using as early warning, bad idea?

1. There is no different movement rate based on nationality. A British infantry division moves at the same rate as an IJA infantry division. However, in practical terms, at this stage of the war, expect the Japanese army in Burma to move much more rapidly than the British/Indian/Burmese forces. Reasons for this are:

(a) the IJA will almost certainly have deployed armoured units. Look at the table on page 189 of the manual and note where, and at the theoretical movement discrepancy achieved, by armour over infantry

(b) defeated units suffer disruption and their ability to reduce fatigue is usually reduced (due to loss of support squads and possibly a shortage of supply). The more fatigue a unit has the more removed their actual movement rate will be compared to the theoretical maximum. The victorious pursuing Japanese LCUs will have less fatigue

(c) Japan will probably have air superiority and thus will be able to force the retreating Allied LCUs to move at the much reduced "combat" rate whereas the Japanese will be using the "move" rate

(d) Japan will probably not need to employ every LCU on a deliberate/shock attack. It can probably afford to have a unit in "reserve" and thus able to enter "pursue mode" (see page 185 of the manual)

(e) the Japanese will be able to use the better transportation network from Pegu to Mandalay whereas the Rangoon to Mandalay transportation network, which will probably be the route used by the defeated Allied forces, is inferior

2. The darker the colour is, the more assets present. thus there are a lot more Japanese present at Rangoon compared to Moulmein.

3. Yep bad idea. Those border guards won't stop any half decent Japanese border crossing. Plus the enemy gets better usuage of its own assets deploying them in the main Burma axis, so your border guards will probably see no fighting where they are stationed.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

This is to big for a sticky note. Wheres the legal pad?! I had not considered A through E, nor knew of 2. Knowing this emperor's tendency towards prep and encirclement, I'd say I better act fast. He has been at Rangoon at least a month if memory serves. Thank you Alfred, looks like a couple cigs, a bloody mary, and some quiet time for a reassessment. The plan I think I can leave in place, delay in the rough in Bn strength (hopefully force him to deploy, he is cautious) and hit him with air in the clear. I will try and reorganize the defense with mind to keeping a solid cadre of the army intact. The soon as he attacks at Rabaul, assuming I can keep the northern hex mine, I will begin rapid redeployment north and east. Should I see him move north of Rabaul again, I will also consider calling the withdrawl of the city also. I did catch him trying this two weeks ago and closed the gap. When I get the turn back, if feasable, I will entrain elements and send them north. thinking..........(danke wieder)

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

... Any thoughts on how to best fix service damage? NOW is the time.

Almost overlooked this question.[:)]

I know you read DOCUP's AAR. There I recently commented on things being under the hood. Well this is basically another under the hood issue.

Repairs to damaged port, runways and airfield service is handled automatically. All you can do is move in extra engineers. You cannot determine the order of repairs, they are always done in the order of

1. Runways
2. Service
3. Port

So your engineers will only commence repairing the service damage after the runways are fully repaired. The port only gets repaired after the airfield has been fully repaired.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

Excellent!! The runway actually repaired 55pts in three days. Im ok at PM for now.

[DOCUP]

Nice info about Burma Alfred.  Thanks again Alfred. 
 
Zulu, How are you running your CAP?  What are ur alt, how many planes, are they staggered and so on.  I'm no expert on CAP, but I am seeing that if he dosen't sweep I can get some kills.