Where the eastern wind is blowing... AAR against Canoerebel

[geofflambert]

witpqs, you sound like you're as ancient as me!  I love those little ratburgers, but I wish they would introduce another option - garlic burgers!

[Hortlund]

A quick look at China. Today we achieved the objectives for January 1942, which was nice, considering it is January 1st today. At first glance, it might seem like a defeat for me when we both lose 7k casualties in a battle. But I have plenty of supply, and I dont think he does. And my target for China right now is to kill 350 enemy squads per month.

He won the battle, he forced me to retreat. But more battles like this will win me the war. I think Nanyang will be a good place to bleed the Chinese army. Think of this place as the Verdun of the chinese front. I want to kill 350 squads per month while his supply levels dwindle, and in 5-6 months, I will go on the offensive.

So, I will move around in a threatening way, making him think I am going for an offensive push here. Meanwhile I will try to make him attack isolated Japanese units to force similar losses like the one today.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at 85,46 (near Nanyang)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 54359 troops, 349 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1852

Defending force 18246 troops, 154 guns, 53 vehicles, Assault Value = 652

Allied adjusted assault: 845

Japanese adjusted defense: 420

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
7468 casualties reported
Squads: 194 destroyed, 206 disabled
Non Combat: 98 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 19 disabled
Guns lost 46 (19 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (7 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Units retreated 2


Allied ground losses:
7019 casualties reported
Squads: 349 destroyed, 211 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 146 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 46 (33 destroyed, 13 disabled)


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
67th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
32nd Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
26th Group Army

Defending units:
34th Division
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade

[Hortlund]

And the situation in the eastern NEI. The US CVs retreated west, which is good in many ways. Time to launch the next offensive in this area.

I give you Operation NATALIE

The ultimate objective of the operation is to render Darwin useless as a forward base for the allied forces. At the same time, the operation is designed to create the impression that Australia is under threat of invasion.

By striking already now, we will reinforce the impression that the allies cannot stop us or even delay us, despite the number of forces they commit. This should serve to further undermine Canoerebels confidence in his forces and his ability to interfere with our plans.

The goal is to build up several airbases that can interdict shipping to Darwin, as well as reduce the bases at Darwin and Katherine to rubble. This will serve two purposes:
1) Remove allied offensive capability
2) Create the impression that an attack on Australia is imminent.

If I do this right, I can probably get Canoerebel to reinforce Australia heavily. Perhaps he will also keep his CVs in this area.

[Historiker]

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 54359 troops, 349 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1852

Defending force 18246 troops, 154 guns, 53 vehicles, Assault Value = 652

Allied adjusted assault: 845

Japanese adjusted defense: 420

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
7468 casualties reported
Squads: 194 destroyed, 206 disabled
Non Combat: 98 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 19 disabled
Guns lost 46 (19 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (7 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Units retreated 2


Allied ground losses:
7019 casualties reported
Squads: 349 destroyed, 211 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 146 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 46 (33 destroyed, 13 disabled)


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
67th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
32nd Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
26th Group Army

Defending units:
34th Division
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade

Does it make any sense in SA here?
My experience is, that SA always leads to much higher losses. I bet he'd be better off just to DA. Or does your experience tell you that your losses would've significantly been lower in that case?

[Hortlund]

He attacked across a river, so he had no choise. Generally its a bad idea to shock against units with high firepower imo.

[adsoul64]

At the same time, the operation is designed to create the impression that Australia is under threat of invasion

Do you plan to send some dummy invasion fleet as well? I'd strongly advice against sending around Darwin since this is not the right way to invade Australia and CR woudn't probably take the bait.

I think that landing at Darwin will finally lead IJA to a deadlock because it will take for ever advancing from Darwin with his poor road/rail net. IMHO a "true" Australia invasion would start from western Coast... but those are only the 2 cents of a novice and I would be happy to learn opinions from more experienced players.

P.S. Indeed, striking Darwin is the right move, for every Japanese willing Australia has to remove the threat coming from this base.

[SqzMyLemon]

I don't know if this post is warranted or not, but a recent post in the general forum has me concerned over possibly doing PH a disservice and bringing undo attention to a discussion of the feasibility of a campaign in the North Pacific. The timing, to say the least, is rather poor and to be raising issues about conducting operations in the North Pacific considering PH's recent moves is almost an OpSec breach in my opinion, especially when it was specifically stated that the topic was being removed from discussion within the confines of this AAR to not "clutter" it. I'd just like to caution people that Canoerebel may very well pick up on this and he's no dummy. He may very well deduce that PH is attempting a major operation in the North Pacific and act accordingly. So please be aware of what you are posting and the possible implications to this PBEM.

Regards

[Hortlund]

Another turn passes.


Rabaul
A strong SCTF tried to intercept my landings at Rabaul. One CA together with a modern CL escorted by six destroyers tangled with my SCTFs protecting the landing site. A dreadful performance from my ships saw the battle end in a draw. 3 CAs should do better than not score a single hit in a night-time engagement with ranges down to 8k yards. A lone CA together with a lone DD fared better in the second round and scored some hits. But overall the results were pitiful...just pitiful.


Timor
What must be the Hermes appears and launches a few Swordfish against some transports of mine. Some of my ships sunk, no real loss. But what puzzles me is what the &%#¤ my Bettys at Ambon are doing. Instead of launching against the enemy carriers, they launch a strike at a longer distance hitting some transports unloading at Koepang. Seriously WTF!


Malaya
Johore Bharu falls, and the invading army rails south to meet up and regroup at the base before the assault on Singapore.

Philippines
38th Div arrives from Hong Kong. We attack tommorrow. I want to break this pocket of resistance as soon as possible.

China
I have decided on overall approach.
South China - Defend, but pretend to attack
Central China - Verdun
North China - the big push. I will attack in the far north with the objective of removing supply sources. Huge forces being gathered in northern China to go on the offensive in a month or so.

[Hortlund]

Something odd in the northpac by the way.

I landed an infantry batallion at Juneau. I figured it would make short work of the AV0 base force starting there. Amazingly enough, my AV was adjusted to 8, while his 1 was adjusted up to 10. [:@]

We try again tomorrow, but the reinforcements will land today. I dont want to have them floating around in case some odd SCTF appears. When the Fleet HQ and large baseforce lands, Canoe will know the game is up in the north.

Same at Cold Harbor, my infantry regiment with 120 AVs are having one hell of a time trying to pry the base from an AV10 baseforce. What ...is...happening. This is throwing off the timetables something fierce. I was planning to recombine the 2nd Division at Anchorage by now. Instead Im pinned down...

[Hortlund]

A quick overview of three important areas right now.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Something odd in the northpac by the way.

I landed an infantry batallion at Juneau. I figured it would make short work of the AV0 base force starting there. Amazingly enough, my AV was adjusted to 8, while his 1 was adjusted up to 10. [:@]

We try again tomorrow, but the reinforcements will land today. I dont want to have them floating around in case some odd SCTF appears. When the Fleet HQ and large baseforce lands, Canoe will know the game is up in the north.

Same at Cold Harbor, my infantry regiment with 120 AVs are having one hell of a time trying to pry the base from an AV10 baseforce. What ...is...happening. This is throwing off the timetables something fierce. I was planning to recombine the 2nd Division at Anchorage by now. Instead Im pinned down...

I find the lack of feedback why suddenly forces are downgraded to tremendously frustrating .... I have had 320 AV "adjusted" to 10 without explanation like disruption, disablement ...heck I can find some pattern in leaders (-) Morale (-) Supply (-) .but nothing but a line with "adjusted AV" one cannot discern a pattern.... even a message "randomly the game has assigned an adjusted value .." would be nice . at least I would have an understanding and some data .. [&:]

[desicat]

Question about your attrition strategy in China. I understand you wanting to eliminate a certain number of squads and to cause him to use supply, but by letting him be the aggressor aren't you also giving him a chance to rotate units and build precious experience levels?

[Prydwen]

Certainly in areas where CR has the initiative he can rotate units and build experience. But he will still be using up supply and losing squads in addition to the supply and squads that are used/destroyed in the areas where CR does not have the initiative.

Joe

[Hortlund]

I wonder if the weather is affecting the combat somehow. I have two battles now that are very weird. Truly annoying.

At Dutch Harbor, one full-size infantry regiment (120 AV) is being held by a basefore of AV 10.

round combat at Dutch Harbor (171,50)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 3368 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 113

Defending force 2474 troops, 25 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 10

Japanese adjusted assault: 87

Allied adjusted defense: 47

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
55 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)


Assaulting units:
16th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
103rd USN Base Force
2/250th Coastal Artillery Battalion




And at Juneau a similar story....


Ground combat at Juneau (193,37)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1063 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 69

Defending force 607 troops, 4 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 14

Allied adjusted defense: 16

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

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

Japanese ground losses:
40 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


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


Assaulting units:
I./4th Infantry Battalion
7th Base Force /1
5th Fleet /1

Defending units:
105th USN Base Force

[Hortlund]

It looks like trench warfare at Clark Field... God I hate that hex and the defensive tactic that puts all units in the entire PI in that hex just because its jungle rough.

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 55827 troops, 654 guns, 391 vehicles, Assault Value = 1642

Defending force 40952 troops, 576 guns, 538 vehicles, Assault Value = 1247

Japanese adjusted assault: 931

Allied adjusted defense: 1711

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
6579 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 409 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 20 destroyed, 165 disabled
Guns lost 50 (2 destroyed, 48 disabled)
Vehicles lost 45 (11 destroyed, 34 disabled)
Units destroyed 1


Allied ground losses:
1037 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 142 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 47 (5 destroyed, 42 disabled)


Assaulting units:
21st Division
3rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
48th Division
38th Division
20th Ind. Engineer Regiment
19th Ind. Engineer Regiment
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /2
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
2nd Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
71st PA Infantry Division
91st PA Infantry Division
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
1st PA Infantry Division
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
31st PA Infantry Division
14th PS Engineer Regiment
194th Tank Battalion
192nd Tank Battalion
51st PA Infantry Division
21st PA Infantry Division
11th PA Infantry Division
4th Marine Regiment
41st PA Infantry Division
2nd PA Constabulary Regiment
I Philippine Corps
1st PI Base Force
Clark Field USAAF Base Force
Cavite USN Base Force
Far East USAAF
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
86th PS Coastal Artillery Battalion
USAFFE
Subic Bay Defenses

[Crackaces]

It looks like trench warfare at Clark Field... God I hate that hex and the defensive tactic that puts all units in the entire PI in that hex just because its jungle rough

I found the map with stacking limits to provide a balance ...

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

It looks like trench warfare at Clark Field... God I hate that hex and the defensive tactic that puts all units in the entire PI in that hex just because its jungle rough

I found the map with stacking limits to provide a balance ...

... and I believe you can download the map into an ongoing game if both players are willing.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: pws1225

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

It looks like trench warfare at Clark Field... God I hate that hex and the defensive tactic that puts all units in the entire PI in that hex just because its jungle rough

I found the map with stacking limits to provide a balance ...

... and I believe you can download the map into an ongoing game if both players are willing.

Yes IJ first and then the Allies ..

I am an AFB, but after watching Radier cross the Owen Stanleys with 5 divisions .. and I crossed into Burma with 2 Corps with little downside I encouraged my IJ adversary to upgrade to the stacking limits map. Now we have more WWII like ground campaigns [although still borked [8D] ] with some lines and maneuver rather than two ground based death stars grinding it out ..

[Hortlund]

Its too late now, he is already holed up at Clark, cant really ask him to download a map-mod that causes them all to starve to death because of overstacking.

[ny59giants]

Combat results - Going back to old WITP days, how much support do you have in those hexes?? Not having enough has always led to poor combat results.