Aussies v Aussies - Clubbing baby seals (no AOFFEN or Mark)

[jrcar]

04 May 1944
Sumatra
Andrew sends in his BB's to cover the withdrawel of the damaged ships. They do good destroying three xAKL convoys loading fuel and doinga good smackdown on the airfield at Oosthaven:

Night Naval bombardment of Oosthaven at 48,96

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 17 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 30 damaged
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed on ground
N1K2-J George: 60 damaged
N1K2-J George: 4 destroyed on ground
B6N2a Jill: 26 damaged
B6N2a Jill: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Richelieu
BB Iowa
BB Alabama
BC Renown

Japanese ground losses:
165 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Airbase hits 25
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 70

one of our search aircraft put a bomb into the Wasp II (she shows up as sunk but I doubt it). Our subs and aircraft go after the damaged CVL/E's. Bad weather wrecks coordination, we loose a lot of strike aircraft when not escoted, but when they are....

Sub attack near Oosthaven at 47,97

Japanese Ships
SS I-173, hits 15, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CVE Prince William, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
DD Rotherham

Sub attack near Pagai-eilanden at 42,89

Japanese Ships
SS I-43, hits 4

Allied Ships
AO Millicoma, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
AM Swallow
AE Lassen
DD Paladin
DD Gillespie

Morning Air attack on TF, near Enggano at 45,94

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 103 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 24
D4Y3 Judy x 16
Ki-84r Frank x 61

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 12
Seafire IIC x 12
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 1
F6F-3 Hellcat x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 3 destroyed
D4Y3 Judy: 5 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 2 destroyed by flak
Ki-84r Frank: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair II: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVL Bataan
CVL Unicorn, Bomb hits 1

Morning Air attack on TF, near Oosthaven at 46,96

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 48 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B5N2 Kate x 8

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
TBF-1 Avenger: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Battler, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Morning Air attack on TF, near Oosthaven at 47,97

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 32 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 12
A6M5b Zero x 21
B6N2a Jill x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2a Jill: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Morning Air attack on TF, near Enggano at 45,94

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 110 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 41
B6N2 Jill x 10
B6N2a Jill x 6
D4Y3 Judy x 8

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 5
Seafire IIC x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 4 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
B6N2a Jill: 1 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair II: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVL Bataan, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CVL Unicorn

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Enggano at 45,94

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 106 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 6
A6M5b Zero x 39
B6N2 Jill x 3
B6N2a Jill x 22
D4Y3 Judy x 5

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 6
Seafire IIC x 5
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed
B6N2a Jill: 7 damaged
B6N2a Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVL Unicorn, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Bataan



His B-29 go against Palembang and run into a heavy CAP, his fighters are busy trying to LRCAP his Tf's off the coast. We claim 22 B-29 shot down, unlikely but still a good result.

Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 80

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 4 destroyed, 15 damaged

Oil hits 5

Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 44

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 41

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 3 damaged

At the end of the turn we claim:
In Game:
CVE Battler, Prince William, Sangamon
CVL Unicorn, Battler
CV Wasp II

Tracker shows:
CVE St. Lo
CVL Unicorn, Bataan
CV WaspII

The turn before we appear to have sunk 1 CVE.

All for the loss of some xAKL and aircraft.

Thailand
We sweep against light CAP and bomb the USMC Bn, which is in poor shape. We also hit hard the 3rd Carabiniers Regiment.

[jrcar]

Sitting behind Java and "sniping" with a small KB (3 CV, 1 CVL) has been quite succesful to date. With support from land based CAP and strike from multiple bases. Another 2-3 weeks will see another 2 CV added to KB. All our BB's are being repaired, Yamato should be the first out in about 30-40 days.

Here is the current situation, looks like Andrew is rushing forward two large Cv TF to help stop our strikes. Our subs will try to pick up a few more ships. KB will retire to replenish.

[Cribtop]

Great couple of turns!

What do you think he was up to with the CVEs? Just raiding, or is he probing before making a move on "southern" Sumatra and Java?

Also it looks like you were right and I was wrong about Wake. Still, I'd keep an eye open as IMHO he just can't win the war in time without a deep move to get in range of Japan. Even if he shuts down the Oil entirely y'all can scrape by until time's up; and although he could gain Chinese or Philippine bases for strat bombing, at his present rate of advance it won't be soon enough.

[jrcar]

Thanks Cribtop, what happened was he moved his BB TF down under cover of the CVE and CVL Tf. They were then going to run in, bombard, then retire to under cover of the CVE/CVL... he forgot to turn of "Follow TF" so the CVL/E Tf came right in as well...

Probably wouldn't have made much of a difference, as where he started his run in from was still in strike range, he may have recived more cover from LRCAP though... but both of the strikes that hurt were well escorted... the key difference would have been day 2 where he may have gotten back without being hit again.


The bulk of his forces are in the Indian Ocean, didn't feel he had enough left to seriously threaten beyound Wake... although I did expect Wake to last a little longer than it did. The next lot of islands in, all have 200-300 AV behind 6-8 forts with mutual support, that is a major undertaking that he doesn't have the troops or ships for...


Overall starting to feel more confident again, holding him in Thailand for the moment and pulling out troops in reasonable time, keeping him out of Southern Sumatra / Java for the moment as well...

In the air losses are manageable at 2-3:1 against. It is when we suffer 5-10:1 that things rapidly go downhill.

It is still going to be very close to hold him to historical timeline though... if he manages to break though then we are in real trouble.

[ny59giants]

Kamikazes - Isn't one possible trigger for them being 25 "sea hexes" away from Saigon? How close is he to making this happen??

[jrcar]

NY59 the trigger from Michaelm is"

Base must have an AF 1+. This would exclude the 'dot' bases unless they are built up.
There is no limitation such that the base has to have been occupied by the Japanese and re-captured.

If the base is in range (21 sea hexes) of TOKYO (base #252), TAKAO (base #330) or SAIGON (base #435), is not located in China/Tibet and controlled by Allied player and 1944+, then the kamikazes (converting groups to kamikaze mode,as distinct from the occasional plane turning into a kamikaze prior to 1944 due to damage) are activated.

So southern Malya, North Borneo or "inside" coast of Malaya... which has just occured in that Prachuap Khiri Khan has just changed over... so maybe next turn.

[jrcar]

Yes Kamikaze are now active Any good hints on their use, better at high or low level?

05 May 1944
I feel for Andrew he hasn't had many breaks, this turn also isn't good. The CVL Belleau Wood takes two torps and goes under (34 Dauntless, about the right complement, are on the ops report). He gets 3 tankers and damages 2 CM's with B-25 as a consolation...

Indicators and Warnings

Subs

Sub attack near Benkoelen at 44,90

Japanese Ships
SS I-16, hits 3

Allied Ships
CVL Belleau Wood, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK?]
BB Indiana
CLAA Reno
DD Picking
DD McKee
DD Young
DD Wickes
DD Thatcher

Sub attack near Groot Natoena at 60,84

Japanese Ships
TK Otoriyama Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage [SUNK]
TK Noshiro Maru
PB Syozui Maru

Allied Ships
SS Pompano

Sub attack near Pagai-eilanden at 42,89

Japanese Ships
SS I-43, hits 12, heavy damage [SUNK]

Allied Ships
DD Penn

Thailand
I think we have destroyed the USMC Tank Bn as all our attacks kill (not disable) and no unit is in the hex at the end of the turn...

He heavily bombs Uttradit, which we are slowly pulling out from, however due to forts and Jungle damage is light.

Sumatra / Malaya
B-25 Make a nuisense of themselves. Have a couple of units set to random LRCAP, which pays off.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 50,84

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 20 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 9
N1K1-J George x 36

Allied aircraft
B-25H Mitchell x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25H Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
LB-165

Morning Air attack on TF, near Tandjoengpinang at 52,86

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 6

Allied aircraft
B-25H Mitchell x 4

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CM Tsugaru, Bomb hits 1, on fire [only light damage]
CM Okinoshima, Shell hits 8 [only light damage]

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 48,91

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 47

Allied aircraft
B-25H Mitchell x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25H Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
TK San Luis Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]
TK Ogura Maru #1, Shell hits 3, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 50,84

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 9
N1K1-J George x 36

Allied aircraft
B-25H Mitchell x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25H Mitchell: 3 destroyed

East DEI
He bombs Sorong, Boela and Dili, only the later has some defence...

Morning Air attack on Dili , at 71,115

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 57 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 16

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Runway hits 1

OZ

Pacific

China
Sinning falls destroying a stack of units. This makes our long supply line quiet secure.

Ground combat at Sining (80,32)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24825 troops, 256 guns, 111 vehicles, Assault Value = 808

Defending force 11101 troops, 121 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 128

Japanese adjusted assault: 525

Allied adjusted defense: 187

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Sining !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
124 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
16096 casualties reported
Squads: 412 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1118 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 48 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 152 (152 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 11

Assaulting units:
27th Division
37th Division
11th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
12th Chinese Corps
48th Chinese Corps
1st Chinese Cavalry Corps
6th Chinese Base Force
8th Chinese Base Force
8th War Area
56th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Base Force
40th Group Army
9th Separate Brigade
3rd Heavy Mortar Regiment

[Cribtop]

Hey, my grandfather fought at Belleau Wood!

As for kamis, read Nemo's various Downfall AARs. He demonstrated, IIRC, that the keys were: 1) LOTS of kamis at once; 2) multiple altitudes to force CAP to pick its poison; and 3) crap but fast escorts as ablative armor. Factor 3 is probably lessened if you are playing a scenario or mod where the firing passes limit bug has been squashed, but the overall principle is still sound, IMHO.

[ny59giants]

I lost my first CVE as the Allies in October '42. Then, I went in my reinforce list and saw I got another 94 by the end of the war. [X(] Only the sinking of the big CVs will slow the Allies down.

Following up with what Cribtop said, the Oscar IV (I think) carries 2x 250kg bombs which is nice, but Nemo used them as their max ceiling is "above" the Hellcat to get by some of the CAP. Then, he would use his faster bombers to come in at 1k or 2k. I briefly played Nemo in Downfall and I had to layer my Allied CV CAP to cover all possibilities. He did use them in mass and that did work.

You might start using your Home Island restricted FPs to train up pilots for Kami missions.

[obvert]

Captain Cruft also pointed out that massed small planes bombing low will often produce quite a few kami attacks after being hit once kamis are activated. He mentioned that it seemed better to him to get a few kamis to go while keeping the remaining pilots and planes, plus getting any normal bomb hits they would produce. Maybe some mix of this plus high dedicated kami groups might produce interesting results?

[obvert]

Captain Cruft also pointed out that massed small planes bombing low will often produce quite a few kami attacks after being hit once kamis are activated. He mentioned that it seemed better to him to get a few kamis to go while keeping the remaining pilots and planes, plus getting any normal bomb hits they would produce. Maybe some mix of this plus high dedicated kami groups might produce interesting results?

[jrcar]

Thanks gents, as the trigger happened unintentionally, and Andrew was trying to be careful NOT to trigger the Kami just yet we will hold off using them for a bit.

We have been building a lot of Oscar IIa (carries 2 x 250kg bombs) to act as Kami's, and have been trying up pilots in low naval and naval bombing.

Obvert have been training up Helen and fighter units in low naval, one Oscar unit did real good smashing an LST Convoy at Sabang, but getting them to fly was a challenge...

Main problem is not enough IJAAF units to train "normal" pilots, Kami's and for frontline service. As a consequence we will have to be really selective about what bases we try to defend from the air.

Chees

Rob

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: jrcar

Main problem is not enough IJAAF units to train "normal" pilots, Kami's and for frontline service. As a consequence we will have to be really selective about what bases we try to defend from the air.

Hi Rob. Interesting dilemma you have. Granted I'm still in mid-42 in my game, but I'm finding the opposite is true. I have plenty of units to train IJAAF frontline and am already training LowN as well. It's the IJNAF where I have a challenge training enough pilots, especially fighter pilots. What level do you train your pilots to?

[jrcar]

G'Day Mike, in late 1943 and early 1944 a stack of IJNAF units arrive, however almost no IJAAF. We got to the point we stopped pulling forward inexperianced pilots, and lefet several units empty for a couple of months. About Mar / Apr 1944 pilot numbers increased, so now we have about 500 IJNAF pilots waiting for a seat in the training squadrons, and about 2000 IJAAF.

Our target for training was 50 Exp, 70 skill in the discipline they will be deployed to and 50 skill defensive.

Late 1943 that changed to whatever exp, usualy in the mid 40's(and then usually rotate through rear area protection units if possible), 68-70 in ther primary skill and 68-70 defensive (which means having moderate capababilities in a secondary skill - usually low naval attack).

Having a higher base defensive skill has appeared to help reduce our losses... In fact our airforce overall probably is probably in the best shape it has ever been. Only fighting air battles we can achieve parity or win has also helped reduce numbers and build expertise.

We have rotated pilots (in particular bombers) through China, have a good surplus of ground attack bomber pilots. In part as we deployed about 1/3 of the Southern Army Helen units here as their effect in Burma was minimal, but it was significant in China.

A few times though we have had to pull real rookies into front lin service, then when the crisis was over pull them out again.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: jrcar

Main problem is not enough IJAAF units to train "normal" pilots, Kami's and for frontline service. As a consequence we will have to be really selective about what bases we try to defend from the air.

Hi Rob. Interesting dilemma you have. Granted I'm still in mid-42 in my game, but I'm finding the opposite is true. I have plenty of units to train IJAAF frontline and am already training LowN as well. It's the IJNAF where I have a challenge training enough pilots, especially fighter pilots. What level do you train your pilots to?

[jrcar]

06 May 1944
Hit and sunk? a CLAA. The CVL's are now reported as not sunk. Looks certain the USMC Tk Bn is destroyed, now working on thge other unit. Have moved up more bombers to join in the fun...

Indicators and Warnings
Enemy CV TF siting behind Sibolga on the Sumatra coast.

Subs
Our subs have been doing good although we lost one. Have moved 3 more into the area.

ASW attack near Pagai-eilanden at 42,87

Japanese Ships
SS I-28, hits 10, on fire, heavy damage [SUNK]

Allied Ships
CLAA Van Heemskerck, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Evans

SS I-28 launches 6 torpedoes at CLAA Van Heemskerck
I-28 diving deep ....
DD Evans fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Evans attacking submerged sub ....
Large oil slick appears over area of attack!
Escort abandons search for sub

Thailand
Here is one attack on his troops trying to flank our position into central Cambodia.

Morning Air attack on 3rd Carabiniers Regiment, at 60,61 , near Udon Thani

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 72

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 19 (7 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Sumatra / Malaya
Sent some George in in a low level attack on the damaged CVE/L's, most are shot down, enemy CAP at 16k even though we were supposed to be on the deck.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Pagai-eilanden at 43,90

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 18

Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

Banzai! - Fujita F. in a N1K1-J George is willing to die for the Emperor

A TF with 36k in supplies arrives under heavy CAP at Singapore. Shipping out troops. Once we're finished moving stuff around Singapore will have 3 Divs defending behind level 6 forts, about 1600AV total. More supplies are on the way. Have turned off reinforcements.

East DEI
Tried a couple of CAP traps but none came off. He is supressing the airfields at Dili and Ambon, too many engineers (250) at Sorong, it stays open.

OZ

Pacific
All quiet. Pulling back troops, in particular CD equipped units to the Marianas chain.

China
He has sent in some more fighters against our aircraft bombing his troops, an annoyance mainly.


Regretted not escorting the Georges, or sending something better, the CAP was much less than expected

There are a lot of ships siting in Sabang, including damaged CVE. Sending in a night attack by Emily with 50-60 exp ground attack to see if we can hit anything.

[jrcar]

07 May 1944
Mostly quiet.

Indicators and Warnings
Several attacks on a convoy taking troops out of singapore, the supply convoy coming in managed to run the gauntlet without issue.


Subs

Sub attack near Tioman Island at 52,84

Japanese Ships
xAK Hokuan Maru
xAK Kasuga Maru #2
PB Kosin Maru #3

Allied Ships
SS Pompano, hits 2

Our subs try to intercept the damaged ships off the coast of Java, but get hammered by ASW instead. Mining here has been very productive.

Another sub trying to break into the inner arc of the DEI.

TF 198 encounters mine field at Merak (48,97)

Allied Ships
SS Cabrilla, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage



Thailand
We put a lot of hurt onto this unit, it is getting close to being destroyed.

Morning Air attack on 3rd Carabiniers Regiment, at 59,61 , near Nakhon Ratchasima

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 3 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 27

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 14 (9 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Morning Air attack on 3rd Carabiniers Regiment, at 59,61 , near Nakhon Ratchasima

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 104

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 4 damaged

Allied ground losses:
68 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 34 (29 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Morning Air attack on 3rd Carabiniers Regiment, at 59,61 , near Nakhon Ratchasima

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 5 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Morning Air attack on 3rd Carabiniers Regiment, at 59,61 , near Nakhon Ratchasima

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 4 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 11 (11 destroyed, 0 disabled)



He attacks our forces pulling back from Uttradit causing light damage due to the Jungle.

Sumatra / Malaya
The B-29 hit the undefended oil facilities at Djambi a few hex north of Palembang. It is now 4/5ths destroyed.

Continuing to pull fuel though from Oosthaven.

East DEI
He sweeps Koepang with P-38, finding some zero's on CAP and geting about 8 for 2 losses.

OZ

Pacific

China
His fighters in China are getting more annoying, going to have to do something about it. Will rest for a day or two then begin an air campaign.

[jrcar]

8-9 May 1944

Mostly quiet all over.

In Thailand we destroyed the Carabiners regt trying to outflank us, that is two armoured units done for now. Andrew is now building up forces at Ayuthia (near bangkok) and clearing central Thailand. We are slowly pulling out of Uttradit. We launch 120 fighters and about 200 Helen at Uttradit shooting down about 30 P-40N and 10 P-47 and putting a fair bit of hurt onto the 7th Indian Div.

All the supplies unloaded in Singapore and troops evacuated to Manila under strong CAP. another 50k of supplies on the way. Singapore hits level 6 forts. We are pulling troops back to Sinkawang and redeploying combat troops around Borneo. A convoy with 2 AA regts, AFunit and AA Bn and 30k supplies unloaded at Miri, continuing to repair the oil there. Have sent two AFunits from Saigon to Jessleton to help in the defence of North Borneo.

Defences back to the Chinese Border really starting to take shape. Fairly confident we can withdraw through a series of prepared positions now...

In China we are now well to the north and starting to suround Urmchi. Need more AF units to provide fighter cover before we take the place, no point in having it immediately blown away.

Lots of bdes arriving over the next few weeks, most will be sent to the DEI.

Armaments still over 100k and 10k in armour points so we are about on the mark being able to repair shattered units, service the new units and maintain our reserve.

[obvert]

How long will you keep building armament and vehicle points to maintain these levels? I wonder if I'm not putting too many points in those pools, and if I'll really need them all? I'm At 91k armament and 32k vehicle. I've slowed both to a trickle, but I do want to make sure I can rebuild stuff into the late game.

[jrcar]

Good question. We have 535 armament factories and 259 vehicles. I think keeping 100k armaments and 10 k in vehicles in the pool gives enough of a buffer to ramp things up. Having said that about a month prior to having a lot of new units expected to arrive, and expecting heavy losses coming up we ramped up production (which had been reduced by about half or more). Glad we did that and at full production we are keeping above the threshold, rebuilding about 5 divs plus about 3-4 divs arriving.

I'd suggest you can shut off some vehicles (we went up to about 25k) but keep the armaments going for a bit. Depends on what losses you expect.

Cheers

Rob

ORIGINAL: obvert

How long will you keep building armament and vehicle points to maintain these levels? I wonder if I'm not putting too many points in those pools, and if I'll really need them all? I'm At 91k armament and 32k vehicle. I've slowed both to a trickle, but I do want to make sure I can rebuild stuff into the late game.

[jrcar]

10 May 1944

Indicators and Warnings

Subs
Not going so great. The second sub went down fighting though.

ASW attack near Pagai-eilanden at 42,87

Japanese Ships
SS I-185, hits 5

Allied Ships
DE Crouter
DE Carlson
DD Remey
DD William Porter

Submarine attack near Taberfane at 83,121

Japanese Ships
SS I-55, hits 16, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DE Wileman
PF Barcoo
AM Starling
LST-451
LST-167
LST-43
LST-24
DD Talbot, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Drayton

Sub attack near Orchid Island at 87,68

Japanese Ships
xAK Miyadono Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage [SUNK full of supplies]
xAK Kaimei Maru
PB Kenan Maru

Allied Ships
SS Growler

Lots of subs are reappearing around the Home Islands, they come and go in waves as our ASW aircraft damage them.

Thailand

Uttradit is heavily swept and bombed for light damage. Then the enemy cross:

Ground combat at Uttaradit (59,56)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 34557 troops, 630 guns, 1395 vehicles, Assault Value = 1486

Defending force 42746 troops, 508 guns, 219 vehicles, Assault Value = 1470

Allied adjusted assault: 826

Japanese adjusted defense: 5899

Allied assault odds: 1 to 7 (fort level 6)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), preparation(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1125 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 162 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 24 disabled
Vehicles lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3616 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 451 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 99 disabled
Guns lost 106 (5 destroyed, 101 disabled)
Vehicles lost 94 (10 destroyed, 84 disabled)

Assaulting units:
41st Infantry Division
254th Armoured Brigade
I Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
268th Motorised Brigade
2/6th Armoured Regiment
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
193rd Tank Battalion
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
Gardner's Horse Regiment
9th Indian Division
2/13th Field Regiment
148th Field Artillery Battalion
XXXIII Indian Corps
2nd RAA Jungle Regiment

Defending units:
24th Division
1st RTA Division
3rd RTA/B Division
3rd RTA/C Division
14th Tank Regiment
RTA/C Cavalry Division
19th Tank Regiment
6th RTA Division
10th Division
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
23rd Ind. Engr Rgt /1
14th RF Gun (Pack) Battalion
63rd JNAF AF Unit
3rd Mortar Battalion
64th JNAF AF Unit
5th Mortar Battalion
46th Const Co
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
55th Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Army
55th Const Co
54th Construction Battalion
1st Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
26th Ind.Mixed Bde /2

Almost tempted to shock attack back, but some of the key divs are almost out of the hex. Still flying stuff out through the enemy CAP with light losses.

Our air attacks are stopped by bad weather.

Sumatra / Malaya
Rebuilding and moving air units around.

East DEI
Dili and Kendari are hard hit by 4E, no aircraft are lost.

OZ

Pacific
Pulling out more troops.

China
Moving AA units and AF units around. Getting ready to try to deal a blow against the Allied fighters.