The Hive - Cruft PBEM (Japan, Scen 2 Beta + Stacking Limits)

[FDRLincoln]

Perhaps he was going to launch a raid and thought better of it. Or perhaps this is an ambush attempt....he showed his skirt, wants you to send a SAG to investigate, and has carriers waiting to nail you.

[Captain Cruft]

Well yes indeed those are possibilities. The Hive is safe though, that is what matters

[Captain Cruft]

What I meant to say is that I won't chase him into the Aleutians. Adak is at full size already and he is likely to have a fair amount of stuff in the vicinity.

[Captain Cruft]

Offensive-Defensive Operations

I now have two deep penetration operations planned, which I will hopefully be able to unleash just at the time when he starts to attack me in a serious manner, and thereby create some distraction and confusion.

Operation Yak - Previously mentioned, this will strike into the Chinese desert and has a real objective, though it doesn't really matter if it's achieved or not.

Operation Kormoran - Not mentioned before, but I have been preparing this for a long time now. We will cause nuisance in the vicinity of Western Australia and fake a strike towards an objective that is important to the Allies.

As I say, neither will happen until the time is right, and indeed the assets for both are not fully ready either. I am thinking that since I have been so utterly passive (defensive) all game these ops may really throw him a curve ball.

[Captain Cruft]

Another turn ...

The Allies have landed at Hollandia in NG, unopposed, using Fast Transport. I wonder how far he will push along this coast, and to what purpose other than making more green dots? Perhaps the Philippines beckon, even at this stage? They are rather under-manned, with lots of empty bases available.

I don't know what his plan is, but what is certain is that I can deploy about 75% of the IJNAF (including the KB) in this area in two or three days if need be.

[Captain Cruft]

IJN Recon Aircraft

This is turning out to be a bit of a critical time for the IJN in terms of recon planes. The Judy has recently entered production, and I have one group in service at Truk keeping an eye on Rabaul. The Irving will start outputting next month too, and I do need this plane in order to be able to receive some reinforcement airgroups. Otherwise I would just standardise on the Judy, which has a longer range and only needs one engine.

Most of the few IJN recon airgroups on the map are still equipping the Babs though, which has an inadequate range for the "Carolines vs. New Guinea" battle which seems to be forming. This was not something I anticipated, and is a bit of a problem.

The IJAAAF has refused to help out too, which is even worse.

Note: Due to OCD (or whatever) I hate splitting airgroups, so I can only recon one base per airgroup. This also prevents using Netty fragments for recon, not that they are much good at it anyway.

[Captain Cruft]

Back to China ...

Emilies from Tientsin bombed Lanchow airfield today. They got a few hits but there were no planes present. I was a bit disappointed to see that they only deploy 2 x 250kg bombs on a GrdB attack not 4 as the aircraft screen would have you believe.

The Oscar Swarm at Canton (now numbering some 350 odd planes) is turning its attention to Kweilin, which is the next objective for the 6th IJA Panzer Armee. I was pleased to see that despite being Wd rather than Clr terrain, and presumably having some reasonable fort level, the casualties were still quite high at around 400 or so. Hopefully I will be able to shoot him off the hill here as I have done previously in Wuchow, Liuchow and other places. Much cheaper than doing expensive ground assaults.

[Captain Cruft]

The unopposed Allied advance in New Guinea.

[Captain Cruft]

Area of contention in China ...

The stack advancing into Kweilin is about 1,900 AV, is tank heavy, and is intended to take the place, if the Oscars fail to drive him off.

The stack advancing into Changsha is about 3,600 AV, and at this point is simply a pinning operation.

[Captain Cruft]

Nov 12 1942

It looks like shooting them off the hill is working in Kweilin after only a single attack by the Swarm ...

[Captain Cruft]

Today we had the first "recon by bombardment" at Changsha.

His troops are obviously well prepared, and I would guess the fort level is at least 4. So, we cannot even contemplate assaulting at this point. On the other hand I doubt he can drive us out given the Ul terrain.

Sallies at Hankow will be doing airfield attacks on a daily basis to remove supply and prevent further fort additions.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 102730 troops, 960 guns, 293 vehicles, Assault Value = 3621

Defending force 144065 troops, 867 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5479

Japanese ground losses:
     812 casualties reported
        Squads: 3 destroyed, 51 disabled
        Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
        Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
     Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
     50 casualties reported
        Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
        Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
        Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
   71st Division
   13th Division
   36th Division
   26th Division
   6th Division
   40th Division
   34th Division
   8th Division
   2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
   15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
   2nd Army
   14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
   3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
   94th Chinese Corps
   70th Chinese Corps
   99th Chinese Corps
   37th Chinese Corps
   1st Chinese Cavalry Corps
   20th Chinese Corps
   100th Chinese Corps
   26th Chinese Corps
   74th Chinese Corps
   63rd Chinese Corps
   78th Chinese Corps
   5th Construction Regiment
   87th Chinese Corps
   58th Chinese Corps
   39th Chinese Corps
   10th Chinese Corps
   72nd Chinese Corps
   6th Construction Regiment
   14th Construction Regiment
   30th Group Army
   27th Group Army
   19th Group Army
   33rd Group Army
   9th War Area
   1st Artillery Regiment
   3rd Heavy Mortar Regiment
   17th Chinese Base Force
   18th Artillery Regiment
   20th Group Army
   56th AT Gun Regiment

[Captain Cruft]

Nov 14 1942

Movement at Shwebo ... You can also see how the rowboat corps has taken Lashio and Meiktila.

I need to move the excess oil and fuel out of Rangoon before it falls.

My opponent is wondering where my "main defense line" is. I told the truth in a way by responding that "Tokyo is quite important" [:D]

[Captain Cruft]

The Oscar Swarm

There are now 18 airgroups attached to the 1st Air Army, of which 17 are F and 1 is FB. In March 1944 this will amount to 882 operational aircraft, so it will require 9 size 2 airfields for basing, or equivalent. China and Manchuria are the ideal places, or maybe Luzon, if the IJN feels the need for some help if any "Decisive Battles" are going on.

The Oscar IIb will start rolling off the production lines soon, either next month (Dec 1942) or at latest in Jan 1943. This plane is a major step up from the Oscar IIa since it can deliver its bombs out to range 7 instead of 6, and also has armor of 1. I will be producing 300 planes a month initially. It is (IMO) the most important aircraft of the whole war, or at least of the war as I am playing it in this game [:)]

[Saros]

I've forgotten but were you planning to make a stand at the Thailand/Burma border? There are some really good spots where you can make a stand and the way burma is set up ingame its really really hard to beat off a determined allied assault across the India/Burma border.

What does your opponent have to say about the Oscar swarm anyway?

[koniu]

It is (IMO) the most important aircraft of the whole war, or at least of the war as I am playing it in this game

And what about Ki-44. As you are playing PDU On. Did Tojo should not be you major fighter. At lest until Frank arrive. Tojo is far superior even from Ki-43IV (if we do not count range)

[Captain Cruft]

Saros,

Yes I will try and hold/delay at Rangoon/Pegu then the Thai border, for a while.

My opponent has not mentioned the Swarm other than to comment that it is a "bit scary". However his actions speak more clearly, and he has abandoned 4 bases now in China to get away from it. I think he will try and hold at Changsha though.


koniu,

The whole point of the Oscar is its use as a bomber. Do keep up old chap [:)]

[Saros]

Have you tried the swarm out against Commonwealth or American divisions yet? Seems like your opponent is flanking you from Shwebo and it would be a perfect time to tear up some troops in the open ground. Even better if you can get him to LRCAP loose troops and then sweep his low level fighters into oblivion.
Honestly the current position is about the best chance to engage you will likely get for a while. He has only Shwebo as an airbase and will be forced to split his fighters between defending the troops and the airbase and you can play cat and mouse with your strikes to overwhelm him in one spot.

[Captain Cruft]

Burma was the birthplace of the Swarm idea.

Now that he has started moving there, and given that I have reached something of a hiatus in China, with only the long siege of Changsha in prospect which will be handled by the legacy Sally Corps, there may be some scope for Swarming over to Burma and Thailand. The only problem is I don't really have enough av support over there, and none to spare anywhere else.

Certainly I am not going to just roll over in Burma. I will fight, but I will not allow myself to be drawn into a costly meat grinder.

[obvert]

Are you not afraid that if Burma falls too quickly that the SRA will be incredibly exposed? The source of oil needs to be active and intact at full production through at least the middle of 44 to fight into the middle of 45 I would think.Am I off target here?

Just curious about your thoughts on this. (You may have addressed this all before, but I'm only partially through the previous pages, trying to do a bit of work on my own AAR this week).

[Captain Cruft]

I have not done any long-term economic calculations. In a way I would welcome not having enough fuel since that is exactly what happened in real life, and since the Allied subs are nerfed invading the SRA is the only way to do it.

That said, the SRA is wide open regardless of what state Burma is in. All he has to do is land 3 or 4 divisions onto any of the numerous unoccupied bases in Java and it's game over.

Remember, it is the Hive which matters, all else is just a raid.