The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[jeffk3510]

I am guessing you wont be tore up once youre ashore as much as you think....its not like Rader has his top 15 crack Divisions defending Northern Honshu and they've been there and digging in for 3 years....it will be a brutal fight...but I am confident your armor should be unstopable...

[GreyJoy]

Yes, i need the ships of the first wave for the second wave....and yes, i can create barges in hokkaido but i'm not relying much on them...however i'm already forming several groups of barges at hakkodate....they will be used for supply pourpose with the first wave...then we'll see...
Jeff, it all depends on how much those cd guns can maul my ships... If my bbs do their job well i think i can have a chance...

Can't wait...this iatus is killing me!!![:D]

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Aboard USS New Jersey, somewhere east of Honshu:

princepBolton laid down his whetstone and turned off the blade grinder. He wiped his hands clean of grease and oil and carefully rubbed his eyes. It had been a long night of preparation. But he was ready. Now he would say his goodbyes to Admiral Ser Greyjoy and his friends among the crew. Soon, he knew, he would likely enter the maw of sure death. But princep did not demur. He smiled briefly. Having known so much death, his own demise held little fear.

For glory....Forward.

That's the spirit my master!
All men must die. What reaLly matters is HOW we die!

[GreyJoy]

I went back reading the first 50 pages of this AAR...
It's amazing how much we all went through in this RL year!!!!!!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

GJ: I really hope you are fooling us and landing the big one at Akita or even Niigata (nice doggies, those Akitas--that's it, "Operation Hairy Dog: The Akita Landing"). Your feint was hardly damaged and it seemed to only attract a lot of his troops.

Anyway, the suspense of this is killing me.

Cheers,
CC

Aikita is defended with the same strenght as hachinoe and more 360k men are between aomori and ominato!!!!

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I went back reading the first 50 pages of this AAR...
It's amazing how much we all went through in this RL year!!!!!!

Yes. It is. You've given everyone quite a ride!

Not so many GreyJoyisms now. I miss them. Your English writing is getting far too close to grammatically correct.

[princep01]

Ser Greyjoy, I keep seeing these references to English not being your 1st language. I must have missed something way back, but what is your first language? You always screamed in English back in the day. I guess I never stopped to consider that strange accent. How unobservant of me.

princepBolton

[cwDeici]

So, wave 1 is going to fight without reinforcing units for about 8 days??
I'm going to revise my guess, I think the landing will fail for lack of landing crafts to reinforce/exploit unless Greyjoy has something big up his sleeve he hasn't mentioned to us. Anyway I hope I'm wrong even if its a straight-up invasion. And congratulations to you both for being players with the fortitude to last the whole campaign, and considerate of both each other and the audience!

So if anyone has the time, is it better for an attacker conducting an amphibious landing to be on 1 or 2-day turns?

[paullus99]

I have to give mad props (in advance) for GJ keeping us all in the dark to his true intentions. He can read the tea leaves much better than we can (since he has the actual game in front of him) & I'm sure his choice of invasion beachhead will take us a bit by surprise.

[Cap Mandrake]

Given the amount of accidental (presumably) cross-pollination between the threads, an effect the pantless one must have recognized, I consider it more than likely that Patton is in command of a bogus Army prepping for Pas de Calais. [:)]

Of course, Rader must also have recognized the potential and the pantless one will have recognized that Rader may be on to him so the pantless one may just WANT us to think that he really isn't landing at Pas de Calais when he really is and just wants one of the worker bees to get water-boarded by Rader until he gives up the double-deluxe secret.

[princep01]

Cap't Picard responds...."You're overanalyzing, Data".

[GreyJoy]

Guys...i feel you are feeling my same impatience[:D]...but please, refrain yourselfs from all these meta-analysis...soon you'll know all the answers[:)]
 
don't know CwDeici...i think my first wave is pretty a strong force. All the divisions involved are experienced and upgraded and with a good armour support. As i said it will all depend on in what state our army is gonna arrive on the beaches...If the CD guns will torn our APA/AKAs apart...well...there's won't be a second wave and our barges will be used to get our guys (or what will remain of them) back into Hokkaido and the whole war will be statlemated...while if my BBs will be able to absorb the pushment and get the batteries attention, saving the transports, everything will be possible...
 
But remember...there's also the Mighty Combined fleet...how will Rader react? Will he wait or will he send his Combined fleet against our BBs? Will it leave this task to his Betties?
 
The replay has arrived...but the turn won't come untill tomorrow [:(]
 
Here's what happened...i bombed Hachinoe with our BBs and gave them a range of 30k yards...the CD guns didn't fire back...but the damage was so low that i fear forts are well beyond level 6...[:(]
 
Oh...and we sunk Ominato again under a river of bombs...
 
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Aug 25, 26 44
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Hachinohe  at 118,55
 
Japanese Ships
      SSX Ha-26, hits 8,  heavy damage
 
Allied Ships
      DD Ingraham
      DD Wilkes
 
 
  
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Hachinohe at 118,55
 
Allied Ships
      BB Queen Elizabeth
      BB Valiant
      CA Exeter
 
Japanese ground losses:
      133 casualties reported
         Squads: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
         Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
         Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
      Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
      Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
 
 
 
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2
Port hits 1
 
BB Queen Elizabeth firing at Hachinohe
Walrus II acting as spotter for BB Valiant
BB Valiant firing at 36th Division
Walrus II acting as spotter for CA Exeter
CA Exeter firing at 33rd Division
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Hachinohe at 118,55
 
Allied Ships
      BB Washington
      BC Renown
      CA Louisville
      CA Portland
 
Japanese ground losses:
      98 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
      Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
 
 
 
Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 10
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
 
OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for BB Washington
BB Washington firing at 93rd Division
BC Renown firing at 72nd Division
OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for CA Louisville
CA Louisville firing at Hachinohe
SOC-1 Seagull acting as spotter for CA Portland
CA Portland firing at 4th Guards Division
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Ominato , at 119,54
 
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
 
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes
 
 
Allied aircraft
      Liberator B.III x 8
      Liberator B.VI x 37
      Mosquito FB.VI x 18
      Wellington B.X x 15
      B-24D Liberator x 13
      B-24D1 Liberator x 18
      B-24J Liberator x 136
      B-25D1 Mitchell x 52
      B-25H Mitchell x 50
      B-25J1 Mitchell x 15
      FM-2 Wildcat x 18
      F4U-1 Corsair x 14
      PB4Y-1 Liberator x 46
      PB4Y-2 Privateer x 10
      PBJ-1D Mitchell x 43
      PV-1 Ventura x 36
 
 
Allied aircraft losses
      Liberator B.III: 3 damaged
      Liberator B.VI: 12 damaged
      Wellington B.X: 5 damaged
      B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged
      B-24D1 Liberator: 3 damaged
      B-24J Liberator: 39 damaged
      B-25D1 Mitchell: 11 damaged
      B-25H Mitchell: 9 damaged
      B-25J1 Mitchell: 2 damaged
      PB4Y-1 Liberator: 15 damaged
      PBJ-1D Mitchell: 6 damaged
      PV-1 Ventura: 11 damaged
 
Japanese ground losses:
      56 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
 
 
 
Airbase hits 105
Airbase supply hits 26
Runway hits 611
 

[jeffk3510]

Is Ominato even a hex on the map anymore....[:D]

[crsutton]

GJ,

I never really gave it much thought but it does seem as writing this AAR has really helped improve your English writing skills. So who cares if your invasion gets crushed. You have gotten a college level English course out of us....[:D]

[cwDeici]

Thanks for your reply.

So, fellow grogs... and I'm sure this is completely stupid, what would landing at Shikoku be like?

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: cwDeici

Thanks for your reply.

So, fellow grogs... and I'm sure this is completely stupid, what would landing at Shikoku be like?

I've done it once in Downfall against the AI. Allowing that the IJA in this is very brittle and I dont know how raders IJA is faring.

From Okinawa/Iwo Jima you can approach it at a right angle rather than sail past the whole japanese air force.
As you are attacking the centre of the line, you allow the IJAAF to attack from both flanks at shorter range rather than hit the end of the line and have lengthening flight distances.

You are not far from probably major IJA concentrations.
My WAG is that it isnt well defended.

Like Kyushu it can be taken and set up as a base region if you control the crossing to Honshu

IMVHO, It might have been a worthwhile target straight after Hokkaido before rader got over the shock (maybe overkill on the operation didnt allow a reserve for a second attack), or if you are coming from the south in conjunction with a Kyushu attack.

A disavdantage of landing in Hokkaido (or Kyushu) is that you limit your lines of approach, if you threaten from the Iwo Jima direction you have the whole Pacific coast of Japan at your mercy.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Yes, i need the ships of the first wave for the second wave....and yes, i can create barges in hokkaido but i'm not relying much on them...however i'm already forming several groups of barges at hakkodate....they will be used for supply pourpose with the first wave...then we'll see...
Jeff, it all depends on how much those cd guns can maul my ships... If my bbs do their job well i think i can have a chance...

Can't wait...this iatus is killing me!!![:D]

Merely a point of information: The proper landing craft in the game unload everything in one phase (IIRC, at worst it is one day, but I am 95% certain it is one phase which means 1/2 a turn) and deliver very low disruption during the landing process. Anytime you have enough available (and for a short sea trip - they add fatigue on long voyages) they are a great way to put units ashore in good fighting shape.

[GreyJoy]

So everything is loaded guys. The bulk of my amphib TFs should be able to unload within the first 2 days...so to say after the first turn we should be able to get back...despite the presence of some xAPs and xAKs i've tried to compensate adding a lot of empty LCIs and LSTs which should help the other ships unloading rates.
4 ACGs will support the invasion (with only one actually loaded for this wave), divided into 5 different 100-ships TF.

Basically the TF composition is this one (with some small differences)

1 BB
10 DDs
5 AMs
5 SCs
5 DE/PFs
20 APA (or 10 APAs+10 xAPs)
10 AKA (or 5 AKAs+ 5 xAks
10 LST/LSD (loaded)
10 LST (with only supplies)
10 LCI (empty)
10 LCI (G)
4 support ships

I'm still not sure if i need to add more warships (CAs basically) or if this composition is enough to absorb the punishment of the CD guns.. Because if i wanna add more warships, then i have to create more smaller TFs...and i really don't have many good admirals specialized in landing operations...

Any idea is this is optimized or not?

[GreyJoy]

a part from that we have indipendent supplies convoys for 800,000 supplies...these are not listed cause are composed only by xAKs...

[CaptBeefheart]

Hayzoos cristo, another day of suspense! The movie rights to this AAR are getting more valuable by the minute.

OK, crystal ball says Niigata end run while a Dieppe-sized invasion using the Canadian brigades gets utterly crushed at Hachinohe. Or not.

EDIT: Not 100% sure on ideal Amph TF composition, but that looks pretty good to me.

Cheers,
CC