A midwar Japanese AAR (no USS Henrico)

[Chickenboy]

Air losses August 30, 1943

[Chickenboy]

August 31, 1943:

Oops. I forgot that August has thirty one days.

Overall, a comparatively 'slow news' day. Except for China.

China: Aerial bombardment NE of Ichang causes 64 Chinese casualties. Aerial bombardment W of Chengchow causes 240 casualties.

Chenchow: West of Chenchow, 8/A arrives to support the ID I had there. Shouldn't be any more concern about this hex being forced now. 8/B will move from Chenchow west over the next several days in support as well.

Kweiyang: A deliberate attack on Kweiyang captures the city. BANZAI! Chinese casualties are horrific as they are forced to retreat across a river hex. Lots of support units (HQ support) killed:

Ground combat at Kweiyang (74,49)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 124217 troops, 1012 guns, 409 vehicles, Assault Value = 4364

Defending force 22915 troops, 311 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 434

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 3098

Allied adjusted defense: 607

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kweiyang !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
2063 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 168 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 123 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Vehicles lost 29 (7 destroyed, 22 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
5684 casualties reported
Squads: 287 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 663 destroyed, 116 disabled
Engineers: 186 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 49 (43 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Units retreated 23

Ed. note: I count 1185 units destroyed. Even at the reduced victory point 'wholesale' of Chinese units, this yields as many VPs as sinking 2-3 Allied CAs. This is the game engine's way of expressing something 'important' happening in the game. IMO, too many players forget about the 'easy' VPs associated with the Chinese theatre and focus too much on the naval war.

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th Tank Regiment
15th Tank Regiment
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th Division
51st Recon Regiment
6th Division
53rd Infantry Brigade
68th Division
40th Division
13th Division
69th Infantry Brigade
37th Division
115th Infantry Regiment
60th Division
39th Division
61st Infantry Brigade
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment
23rd Army

Defending units:
70th Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
16th Construction Regiment
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
85th Chinese Corps
28th New Chinese Division
52nd Chinese Corps
13th Construction Regiment
2nd Prov Chinese Corps
39th New Chinese Division
38th New Chinese Division
11th Construction Regiment
35th Group Army
1st War Area
7th Chinese Base Force
1st Group Army
9th Chinese Base Force
24th Group Army
27th Group Army
39th Group Army
18th Chinese Base Force
20th Chinese Base Force
7th Construction Regiment

An armored unit is ordered to secure crossroads to the west. I order an infantry regiment to occupy crossroads due north. This should block Chungking from meaningful supply from western China.

Ichang: NE of Ichang, my ID arrives in the hex with the two delayed Chinese units. All available ground attack aircraft in China will concentrate on this hex tomorrow. My ID will shock attack afterwards.

Burma/KB: I count 5 different brigade-sized incursions along the India-Burma frontier now. Having cleared the area, KB will return for a ground bombardment of two of these units. They're in clear terrain, under 'move' orders, so they're looking for a pounding. Ki-44IIa sentai are ordered to LRCAP these hexes for additional support as well.

The SCTFs clear the area and are bound for Singapore to rearm and refuel.

Rabaul / P/NG:

Okinami succumbs to her wounds just outside Shortlands harbor. Surprisingly, her captain survives(!) the sinking.

At Rabaul, only one air raid materializes. A number of B-24s are escorted by some 25 F4F-4s. I manage to get 15 (mostly Ki-44IIa and A6M3a) fighters into the air. Amazingly, they claim some 11 ([X(])of the F4F-4s for small loss to themselves. The bomb run is underwhelming.

Allied heavy cruisers (New Orleans and Pensacola) and escorts pound Gasmata, west of Rabaul on New Britain. Moderate airfield damage results.

Air losses for the day: Japan: 10; Allies 13. This is the third day in a row of greater Allied airframe losses, after two previous days of greater Japanese losses.

HI: 1,949,142
Fuel: ??? (Forgot to write it down [;)])
Oil: 1,296,279

[Hanzberger]

Wow just found your AAR. I will have to review it at a later date but just wanted to say Thanks and what a great idea~! Looks like your doing quite well from what I have looked at. Already picked up one tip (common sense probably) that never occurred to me. So TY again and I will be posting and following.
D
[&o]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Hanzberger

Wow just found your AAR. I will have to review it at a later date but just wanted to say Thanks and what a great idea~! Looks like your doing quite well from what I have looked at. Already picked up one tip (common sense probably) that never occurred to me. So TY again and I will be posting and following.
D
[&o]

Thanks, Hanzberger. I'm always open to advice, so feel free to chime in yourself. [8D]

[Chickenboy]

September 1, 1943:

China:

Morning air attacks on the stack to the NE of Ichang resolve well, inflicting >300 casualties. In the afternoon phase, the shock attack follows. These two Chinese units were paper tigers. They suffer considerable casualties during their retreat:


Ground combat at 84,47

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 12375 troops, 104 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 459

Defending force 6800 troops, 65 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 206

Japanese adjusted assault: 389

Allied adjusted defense: 15

Japanese assault odds: 25 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
201 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2541 casualties reported
Squads: 94 destroyed, 58 disabled
Non Combat: 94 destroyed, 59 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
32nd Division

Defending units:
29th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps


An Oscar IIb unit has been bought out of the home islands. It will replace the N1K1 unit tasked with air cover over the Kweiyang / Tuyun region. The Georges will be relocated to the SoPac, where they can deal more effectively with Allied heavy bombers.

Burma/KB: Ground strikes are moderately effective against the Allied LCUs in the open. KB will tack wide to the West and return to Singapore. All aircraft are optimized for naval combat for the return trip. SigInt reports heavy radio traffic at Colombo. Wonder if it's worth a look? Probably not.

DEI: Allied cruisers bombard Saumluki island, SE of Timor during the night. I have a naval guard unit there. Afternoon Dauntless raids further the pounding. With the beating my opponent's carrier forces have taken, I consider an amphibious assault here unlikely for the time being-these efforts are for show.

Air raids on Lautem and Dili have these airfields moderately damaged. Dili is still supporting flight operations for the time being, but just.

Rabaul: Further beatings of the airfields on Rabaul and Manus. Scattered IJ CAP rises to meet the foe, but strikes go in regardless. Many damaged IJ planes on Rabaul are destroyed on the ground.

Production:

J2M2 and B6N2 production set today. The monthly production targets are 60 and 80 for these units, respectively.

Both run on the Misubishi Ha-32 engine, of which I have only 48 in stock. Production is insufficient to deal with the strain of full-throated production of these two craft. See below.

I intend to halt Betty production for the time being (274 already in pools)-that should free up some 100 engines / month. Also, I may halt production of the H8K2 for a bit and retrofit search units to the surfeit of H8K1 airframes (97) in stock already. That would save a bunch of engines monthly too.

Pilot training:

This is a pretty typical monthly pilot training report. Its nice to have the noobs pulled through ASAP. I'm exhausting IJAAF pilot pools every month and having to pull in poorly trained replacements.

I've learned to cycle through fighter units *first* at my monthly 'harvest', so as to replace trained pilots from the Kwangtung training units with IJAAF replacements with higher skills. The balance of the IJAAF replacements can then go in to Kamikaze trainees pools-I can train up a decent Kamikaze pilot within 1.5-2 months.

Accelerated training for 164 IJ Army pilots from month-cycle 9
Accelerated training for 48 IJ Navy pilots from month-cycle 10
Accelerated training for 13 IJ Navy pilots from month-cycle 8
IJ Navy instructors accelerate training of 8 pilots from month-cycle 8
IJ Navy instructors accelerate training of 394 pilots from month-cycle 6
IJ Navy instructors accelerate training of 308 pilots from month-cycle 4
IJ Navy instructors accelerate training of 89 pilots from month-cycle 3
IJ Navy instructors accelerate training of 196 pilots from month-cycle 2

[Chickenboy]

September 2, 1943:

ASW: A busy night. Three separate attacks on Allied submarines during the night by ASW TFs. In the Sea of Japan, Sc Ch48 damaged the Snook with 3 hits, including a penetrating shot. Off of Rangoon, the ASW TF that is leading KB attacked Haddock, hitting her four times-including a penetrating shot. Lastly, off of Singapore, an ASW TF beat up on SS KXIV, hitting her 8 times, including a penetrating shot.

All of these attacks were in shallow water hexes. All will likely result in some yard time for the damaged subs. I doubt the verity of the Ships Sunk list, which claims Haddock and KXIV as being sunk.

China:

Ongoing air attacks on the Chinese stack west of Changchow deliver 220 casualties. 8/B ID arrives tomorrow. Will consider a deliberate attack sometime later in the week.

Unwelcome Allied 4EB and 2EB attacks on Kweiyang cause some 386 Japanese casualties.

The IJAAF 25th Sentai (42 Ki-61a) is ordered from Patung to Tuyun. From Tuyun, it will LRCAP Kweiyang. At Canton, the IJNAF 261 Ku-S1 (27 A6M3a) is assembling. This unit was recently 'bought out' of the mainland and consists of mostly pretty green pilots. Perfect for China.

The crack N1K1 (George) unit that had briefly served in Tuyun is now in Davao, heading for the area around Rabaul. Likely it will be tasked with LRCAP to help break up some bomber formations.

West of Patung, a deliberate attack dislodges the Chinese on the trail to Chungking. The Chinese suffer heavy losses in their retreat.


Ground combat at 77,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 83972 troops, 1029 guns, 801 vehicles, Assault Value = 2952

Defending force 12371 troops, 67 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 462

Japanese adjusted assault: 1851

Allied adjusted defense: 883

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
602 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 88 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 87 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2639 casualties reported
Squads: 145 destroyed, 166 disabled
Non Combat: 67 destroyed, 170 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 6 (4 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 5


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
3rd Division
41st Division
3rd Tank Division
17th Division
116th Division
36th Division
35th Division
13th Indpt Infantry Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
4th Mortar Battalion
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
31st Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
7th Chinese Corps
17th Chinese Corps
18th Artillery Regiment
32nd Group Army
22nd Artillery Regiment


Burma:

Allied DB attacks, supported by preceding fighter sweeps and escort, wreck Magwe airfield.

IJAAF strikes on the 268th Motor Brigade (NW of Rangoon, manuevering behind Prome) are modestly effective, causing some 75 casualties and probably taking them out of 'move' mode. An IJA ID, antitank gun battalion and artillery support were ordered to greet the interlopers yesterday. They're 23 miles to the hex of the meeting engagement.

Supply for the theatre is loading at Palembang in an amphibious TF.

Another notification of 'heavy radio traffic at Colombo' today too. Interesting...

Rabaul: Fighter sweeps above Rabaul and Manus. More (yawn) bombing of Manus. Total air losses on the day are approximately equal, with a modest A2A advantage on the Allied side. Flak and OPS losses from ground strafing evened out the record for the IJ.

Production:

HI: 1,909,198
Fuel: 2,007,336
Oil: 1,204,779
Resources: 17.578 MM

Ships:

12 DDs refitted at Singapore, Soerbaja, Hiroshima or Manila. Several more DDs are due for upgrade from the TFs currently at sea and will upgrade at their earliest convenience.

CVL Chiyoda arrives tomorrow. Other CVL conversions will arrive in 25 days (Nishin), 27 days (Mizuho) and 72 days (Chitose). CV Katsuragi arrives in 19 days. She's the last of the quite capableUnryu class carriers to arrive until mid-1944. The next few months should be the high water mark for the IJN KB. Still, it will be nice to go into 1944 on a high note and these should be a nice addition to the carrier strike forces' capabilities.

In the next month, Escort (E) class vessels Kanju and Mikura will arrive. Though not "super E"s (these seem to routinely have ASW ratings above 12), these two vessels do sport ASW values of 7 and 9 respectively. Mikura is leader of a class of escort vessels, so it will only get better for ASW capabilities from here.[8D] First priority-kill Allied submarines operating within 200 nm of the home islands.

Miscellaneous: I replaced some H8K2 search aircraft with H8K1 or H6K5 (Emily). Will pause H8K2 production for a month and use these reserves to build Mitsubishi Ha-32 engine pools.

Edited to fix a few typographical errors...

[Chickenboy]

Page *3* purgatory...ugh.

Well, that's what I get for not updating in almost a month.

Quick explanation: Been busy with vacation travel, work travel, work and 'real life' (family visiting) for the 4th of July holiday week. Back to a more 'normal' pace for the balance of July at least.

I've run 3 turns in the last 21 days of real time. Brief updates follow.

[PaxMondo]

Welcome back!!!

[Chickenboy]

September 3, 1943:

SS and ASW: I-165 surfaces and, with deck gun, sets LCT-326 and 327 afire off of New Britain's west coast.

China: IJAAF aerial bombardment of Chinese troops near Ichang yields 147 casualties. Bombardment of the stack near Chengchow results in 299 Chinese casualties.

SoPac: Allied sweeps of Manus and Rabaul result in modest IJNAF and IJAAF losses. Heavy airstrikes (B17 and B24) heavily damage Namanatei (E of Rabaul). This is a float plane (Jake) base. 8 Jakes are destroyed or damaged by the bombing.

SigInt: Useful and actionable SigInt! Radio signals detected at hex 227,94. This is an open sea hex West of San Diego and the Panama Canal that likely represents an entry sea hex onto the map for his convoys. This bunch appears to be heading towards PH, based upon the vector of their movement.

I dispatch a submarine from Truk to sniff around this hex for future incoming convoys. So far, this has worked well for other submarine intercepts.

Production: A notice that B6N1 production at Hiroshima has 'upgraded' to B6N2. [&:] WTF? The B6N1 uses a different engine model than the N2. I was under the impression that these didn't auto-upgrade at all!

This creates a problem for me now, as I have B6N1 engines being made en masse, yet no airframe to couple them to...[:@]

HI: 1,909,483
Fuel: 1,975,129
Oil: 1,261,257
Res: 17.68MM

[Chickenboy]

September 4, 1943:

SS and ASW: SS Trigger attacks and sinks Sc CHa-47 off of Chichi Jima. Newly arrived SC CH-65 is en route from Kagoshima to fill the void in the ASW picket between Tokyo and Chichi Jima.

Using a deck gun, I-155 fires LCT 174 off of New Britain.

China: IJAAF aerial bombardment continues to wear on exposed Chinese troops. 120 casualties are reported on the pocket west of Chengchow.

Large numbers of Allied B-25s attack IJA troops at Kweiyang, resulting in some 290 casualties. 9 Ki-61a are detailed for LRCAP at Kweiyang and damage several B-25s for their effort.

SoPac: Allied B-24s are preceded by fighter sweeps of Corsairs over Boela. Moderate to heavy airfield damage results. The N1K1 Rex float fighters present here are overmatched by the Corsairs and suffer disproportionate losses.

A TF of small TKs was collecting oil from Boela when it was attacked. TK Azuchisan maru is attacked by Darwin-based B-25D1 aircraft. A single bomb hit fires her and she sinks. The rest of the TF is ordered to return to Davao with their load.

Air: The usual Allied sweeps of Manus and Rabaul are complemented by IJAAF sweeps over Prome (Burma). 27 Allied planes are lost on the day for some 29 Japanese.

Production: Good news regarding R&D! N1K2-J airframe research has been advanced by one month! BANZAI!

HI: 1,909,752
Fuel: 1,950,726
Oil: 1,267,702
Res: 17.59 MM

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Welcome back!!!

Thanks, Pax. I've been able to visit the forums, but hadn't been able to put time into the game. It's like reacquainting oneself with an old friend. [8D]

[Chickenboy]

September 5, 1943:

SS and ASW:

An active day...

SS Skate has managed to sneak into the Sea of Japan. There, she sinks xAK Ada maru NE of Tsushima, near Matsue. It's slender good news, but at least it took two full spreads of torpedoes for Skate to finish the job.

South of the Deboyne islands (Coral Sea), I-26 fires a spread of 6 torpedoes at DD Aaron Ward. All fish go astray. The I-26 escapes unharmed.

South of Tokyo SC CHa-3 is sunk by SS Albacore. The light coastal vessel disintegrates with the Mk. 14 hit.

Deep in the Yellow sea (off Tsingtao), SS Bowfin hits xAK Ryusei maru with a torpedo. Ryusei maru is badly damaged and will probably not make port.

China: Hex 71,48 is several hexes due West of Chungking and is a road intersection heading west. Two days ago, the IJA 12th Tank regiment arrived at the road junction as a means of spoiling supply movement from Western China into the capitol. Allied B-25s have gotten into the act and ground attack the armored unit today. Some 13 vehicles are disabled (only 2 destroyed).

Chinese reinforcements arrive on the scene and attempt to evict the armored unit, but are unsuccessful:

Ground combat at 71,48

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9175 troops, 47 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 346

Defending force 744 troops, 0 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 73

Allied adjusted assault: 154

Japanese adjusted defense: 100

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Allied ground losses:
177 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
54th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
12th Tank Regiment

Elsewhere, hex 75,49 (1 hex E of Kweiyang) is the site of a heavy Allied losses. Chinese troops had been attempting to pass through this hex in order to cross the river and proceed to Chungking. Caught in 'move' formation on the road, they're put to rout and slaughtered. To add insult to injury, they retreat 1 hex SE, from whence they came. They're unlikely to ever see Chungking again...

Ground combat at 75,49

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 74870 troops, 598 guns, 151 vehicles, Assault Value = 3135

Defending force 16167 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 522

Japanese adjusted assault: 3334

Allied adjusted defense: 262

Japanese assault odds: 12 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1804 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 163 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 114 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled


Allied ground losses:
6332 casualties reported
Squads: 145 destroyed, 138 disabled
Non Combat: 321 destroyed, 308 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 3


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
6th Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
69th Infantry Brigade
51st Recon Regiment
53rd Infantry Brigade
15th Tank Regiment
61st Infantry Brigade
13th Division
15th Division
60th Division
115th Infantry Regiment
37th Division
12th Indpt Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
74th Chinese Corps
9th War Area
29th Group Army


2 hexes south of Chungking, the East IJA pincer attacks the Chinese:

Ground combat at 76,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 80648 troops, 1003 guns, 802 vehicles, Assault Value = 2835

Defending force 21272 troops, 163 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 718

Japanese adjusted assault: 2172

Allied adjusted defense: 1477

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
879 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 80 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 87 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled


Allied ground losses:
1920 casualties reported
Squads: 76 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 81 destroyed, 69 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)


Assaulting units:
35th Division
3rd Tank Division
17th Division
116th Division
36th Division
3rd Division
41st Division
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
4th Mortar Battalion
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
31st Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
17th Chinese Corps
7th Chinese Corps
1st New Chinese Corps
18th Artillery Regiment
32nd Group Army
22nd Artillery Regiment



The Japanese deliberate attack is unable to force the retreat of the Chinese in the stack. Chinese forces here are 'not at all well' and are suffering severe supply shortages. Japanese troops will rest a turn or two, resupply and attack anew.

Following aerial attack (resulting in 271 Chinese casualties) Japanese deliberate attacks on the Chinese stack west of Chengchow result in inconclusive 1:1 odds. Japanese disruptive losses ensure that this attack won't be attempted in the near future. However, combat reports confirm the disruption of the Chinese units is substantive.

See attached screenshot for the Chinese hotspots.

Air: The usual Allied sweeps of Manus and Rabaul. No Japanese fighters rise to meet them. Damaged Japanese groups are repairing at Aitape, Manus and Shortlands.

Allied heavy bombers heavily damage Aitape's airfield and destroy several aircraft on the ground.

In Burma, combined Allied air forces continue a second day of bombing Magwe's airfields. I still don't understand why my opponent has not disabled oil production here...there's nothing in our HRs to prohibit such strategic bombing at this point in the war...[&:]

For the day, Allied air losses from all causes are 10, Japanese 17.

KB: In the straits of Molucca NW of Singapore now. Should arrive at Singapore tomorrow. Several DD and BB units support of KB are due for upgrades, which they will unfailingly accept at Singapore.

An AO TF is loading 110,000 tons of fuel at Palembang. The TF should be full in two days and will proceed to the SWPac TO to support KB movement.

HI: 1,910,455
Fuel: 1,908,549
Oil: 1,285,512
Res: 17.61MM

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Welcome back!!!

Thanks, Pax. I've been able to visit the forums, but hadn't been able to put time into the game. It's like reacquainting oneself with an old friend. [8D]

Understood. I only get to look at a turn once/week (maybe). Each time it takes a while to refocused ...

[obvert]

In Burma, combined Allied air forces continue a second day of bombing Magwe's airfields. I still don't understand why my opponent has not disabled oil production here...there's nothing in our HRs to prohibit such strategic bombing at this point in the war...

This is kind of amazing! In my game Magwe has about two wells creaking along amidst the blackened hulks of the others after multiple raids throughout the middle of 42. Having had another solid oil center for these first two years has to be a major boon for your economy.

Is he pushing forward on the ground in Burma yet?

[Cribtop]

Great to see this AAR back, CB! Good job on the Hornet.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: obvert
Is he pushing forward on the ground in Burma yet?

Nibbling around the edges down south, manuevering (but not attacking) to bite off rail in the North. Thanks for the reminder, obvert-I'll try to remember to post a Burma screenshot next turn with captions.

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

I mentioned a large carrier battle which occured in May 1943 earlier. I'll try to find more on it (screenshots) later, but here was the approximation of damage done immediately after the fact.


Ship: Torpedoes: Bombs: Sunk?:
CV Hornet 1 2
CV Enterprise 4 0 Yes
CV Lexington 3 2
CV Wasp 4 Yes
CVE Suwanee 4 Yes
CVE Chenago 6 Yes
CVE Long Island 1
BB South Dak. 1 2
BB Washington 5 3 Yes
BB North Carolina 3
BB Massachusetts 2
CA Louisville 3
CL Leander 3
DMS Hovey 7 Yes
DMS Trevor 5 Yes
DMS Lamberton 4
DMS Hamilton 1
APD Crosby 2
APD Waters 5 Yes
AKA Virgo 4
xAP Van Neck 5 Yes
xAP Ilios 3
xAP Siberg 4
LST 461 3
LST 463 4

Formatting is a bit wonky, but you get the idea. This occured just Northeast of Darwin-near Tanna and Taberfane islands. North Carolina is, I believe, sunk at this point.

Substantial damage to two other CVs (Hornet and Lexington), BB Massachusetts and CA Louisville will keep them in the yards for some time.

Return damage from the Allies was minor. Two Japanese CVLs with one bomb hit apiece which was repaired within a month.

ETA: All hits on everything below CA Louisville were bomb hits-the formatting is off on those.

Although belated.... Great job on your CV engagement Andre!!

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: SuluSea
Although belated.... Great job on your CV engagement Andre!!

Danke, dude! The effects of that setback are still permeating the Allied amphibious schedule, I reckon. Other than the recent torpedoeing of Hornet (see previous page) near Brisbane, I haven't seen or heard much of the USN CVs since this May 1943 engagement.

[SuluSea]

I see, I see...[X(] Superb! That's a dangerous area for Allied CVs when it comes to the sub scourge and I guess the same could be said south of Rabaul for Japanese CVs.

[Chickenboy]

September 6, 1943:

Yes, this game is still active. I travelled a lot in June and earlier this month. My opponent had an unusually hectic time at work and with real life over the last two months. So, we've had a hiatus. I'm pleased to announce that that has ended and it's back to the war. [:)]

China: Lots of action here. Four sharp actions, detailed below:



1. IJA tank regiment holds off a Chinese infantry corps in the mountain passes for three days running. Heavy B-25C raids accomplish little against the stalwart IJ defenders. Still, the sole tank regiment is disrupted and fatigued. It will be withdrawn tomorrow by combat movement.

2. South of Chungking, the Japanese eastern pincer continues to force the retreat of Chinese troops caught in the pocket. After a turn of rest, the Japanese forces will resume the march towards the intersection just south of Chungking. Chinese left in the pocket will be in rough shape soon.

Ground combat at 76,47

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 79422 troops, 1003 guns, 802 vehicles, Assault Value = 2739

Defending force 19405 troops, 161 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 647

Japanese adjusted assault: 1729

Allied adjusted defense: 850

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1626 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 95 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 94 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled


Allied ground losses:
6115 casualties reported
Squads: 170 destroyed, 142 disabled
Non Combat: 231 destroyed, 84 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 24 (14 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
3rd Division
17th Division
36th Division
3rd Tank Division
35th Division
116th Division
41st Division
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
4th Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
6th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
31st Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
7th Chinese Corps
17th Chinese Corps
1st New Chinese Corps
32nd Group Army
18th Artillery Regiment
22nd Artillery Regiment


3. West of the Shaoyang/Siangtan/Hengyang triangle, the Chinese 91st corps attempts to cut off road traffic. They are forced back into the forest to the NE after sustaining heavy losses.

Ground combat at 79,52

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6698 troops, 52 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 232

Defending force 11529 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 479

Japanese adjusted assault: 261

Allied adjusted defense: 43

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
488 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2364 casualties reported
Squads: 134 destroyed, 87 disabled
Non Combat: 137 destroyed, 60 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
62nd Infantry Brigade
22nd/C Division

Defending units:
91st Chinese Corps

4. Two regiments clear the Liuchow-Tuyun rail line of Chinese interlopers. The chinese retreat across the river with massive losses:


Ground combat at 73,52

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 11803 troops, 88 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 432

Defending force 1798 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 35

Japanese adjusted assault: 796

Allied adjusted defense: 10

Japanese assault odds: 79 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
277 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
897 casualties reported
Squads: 35 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 3 disabled
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
72nd Chinese Corps


In China today, I count 399 Chinese squads, 412 noncombat squads, 21 engineer and 25 guns destroyed outright. Even at the Chinese "discount" of VPs, such losses add up eventually. 66 VPs (an Allied CA & Cl or two large tankers) is a nice reminder by the game engine that 'you're doing something right'. [8D]