Speedy vs Fabertong - time to smack back the Penguin

[BBfanboy]

In Burma, can you go deep for Chiang Mai? The road from Taun Gyi inland goes almost to Chiang Mai - only one jungle hex to hack through IIR. If he is not reconning that route you can arrive unannounced. From there the road goes to Pisanluoke and Raheng, which are on his supply routes. You could also do a paratroop drop from Chiang Mai on Pisanluoke and Raheng.
The thing I am not sure about is how much supply you can draw through the jungle hex to Chiang Mai.

If you are prepared to go strategically deep, consider the route from Kunming [on the Burma road] SW to the Chinese dot base, over one or two mountain hexes to the Japanese dot base [Cao Lai or something like that] and down the road to Hanoi, Haiphong. Again, it may not be sustainable but it cuts off ALL of Indochina and is sure to make him redeploy a lot of strength. I would sit a unit on the rail line through Hanoi for several days and when he got units in the adjoining hexes, pull them back out to the north.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi BBfanboy:

Re: Chiang Mai. I've thought about that and the route is an option (just a few Thai units in the way). However, I haven't seriously considered it due to the factor you mentioned: supply! It would be a massive problem. Supply is an issue for me in lower Burma. Toungoo for example is in the Red and almost always is. This situation will only get worse come mid-May due to Monsoon.

Re:Cao Lai: Interesting. I hadn't considered this one. I'll look into it. From memory though don't the Japanese receive activation units if Indochina is invaded?

Other interesting tidbits as Faber and I have been discussing various things. Faber's view is that I'll win an auto-victory in early 1945. I'm unsure and, obviously, the next 4 months invasions will be crucial.

Faber also stated that he believes the attrition air war in Burma suits me not him. Now, I haven't played the Japanese in AE yet but I always assumed and have read that Japanese can out produce the allies in plane numbers. As such I would have though the opposite would be the case? It's part of the reason I hadn't engaged in this air war type until now where I've got enough quality plane types in enough quantity!

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

Burma:

A sweep over Rangoon found no enemy fighters in the air! Interesting. Tomorrow an AF attack is planned for Rangoon and a sweep for Pegu.

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

Sumatra:

The skies clear and a mass or air raids and sweeps are launched over the contested ground south of Djambi. The sweeps work well with 18 x P47D2 being lost for 49 enemy fighters.

The bomber raids get through fine but cause very little damage against the enemy in the jungle.

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

SoPac:

Part of the Americal Division has reached Noumea and recon and artillery attacks will be launched tomorrow.

The Luganville Invasion is on with elements of 2 x NZ Bde's ashore. They'll also launch recon attacks tomorrow against a reported 2 enemy units.

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

Submarine Warfare:

2 x dud/missed attacks.

SS Haddock located the (not sunk) TK Hakko Maru that was hit by 2 torpedoes yesterday. She's definitely sunk now with 4 more torpedoes slamming into her.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A big day of air combat!

Burma:

Sweeps go in over Pegu. 10 Friendlies are lost for 35 enemies. Job done.

I was lucky at Ramree Island. A supply convoy carrying 165K tonnes of supply arrived and Faber snuck in 4 x DD. I had no escorts with my TF which fortunately escaped before Faber could engage! Lucky. I have a SC TF heading down from Diamond Harbour now.

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

Sumatra:

Faber launched his first attacking air raid here for a long time. A series of large but fragmented fighter sweeps appeared over Padang from Singapore. My boys were outnumbered overall, throughout, but scored heavily.

My sweeps went off heading for the Djambi area and the AF was bombed there as well by Havocs for little effect.

I've attached a breakdown of the losses but in summary 140 Jap fighters were claimed for 30ish friendlies. Only 9 pilots were lost as well [8D] Faber surely can't take these losses?!?

Additional reinforcements are about to leave the US - Filipino and 164th (Sep) US Rgt's are leaving accompanied by 2 x ARM Bn's.

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

SoPac:

Recon of the Jap positions at both Noumea and Espiritu Santo indicate they're ready for taking. Attacks will go in tomorrow. Provided they succeed that's Phase 1 of this Operation complete. Ships will return to Aus to re-arm, refue land re-load for Phase 2! More soon......

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

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attack.

[BBfanboy]

OK, I had the game open and looked at the map again - the Chinese dot base is Mengtze, and there is a road to nowhere running one hex SE. From that road it is one MT [mountain, timber?] coded hex over to Lao Cai, and the winding road down to Hanoi. No river crossings for the attack there!

I am not sure if British units trigger the Viet-Minh reinforcements or only Chinese units. I think they get four units, partial TOE with little anti-armour ability and about 36 experience, if I recall. Unless Indochina has lots of supply those units can be easily destroyed before they fill out. I believe one of them spawns in Hanoi, one in Hue, the other two I can't recall. Note that these are different from the Thai militia reinforcements.

About the air attrition battles - you are certainly destroying lots of his older planes but he may be hoarding most of his Georges, which only late-model P47s, P51s and P38s seem able to handle. I would be concerned about P47D25 pools!
He may not be concerned about fighter losses but I think engine production is a bottleneck for the Japanese. If you can destroy lots of bombers, he may have trouble producing enough engines to replace both bombers and fighters. Either way, the aircraft replacements drain a lot of HI which cannot be used to produce other devices. It's all good![:)]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi BBfanboy:

Yes I checked this out as well. Thanks for the info. Taking Hanoi would still involve a river crossing though. I'm going to check out the rules re: Thai activation to see if Brits would activate it. I would assume they would. It would take a long while for me to move Commonwealth units over there though so I may not go for it. It all depends what happens in Burma over the next month or so.

Re: air attrition. I have destroyed 492 x N1K1-J George if these are the model you're thinking of? You're right though in that it's only the Thuds, Lightnings and Mustangs I can really rely on. The rest are fodder to varying degrees. I've attached a list of my current fighter pools.

A further question to Japanese players. Can the Empire survive without access to Palembang's oil? It's been cut-off for 2 months now and there won't be any access o it for the remainder of the war for Faber.

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

Burma/Sumatra:

Air raids on Pegu (Burma) and Jap troops south of Djambi (Sumatra) were attacked by 30-40 enemy fighters. Unfortunately my sweeps stayed home so losses were 40 Allied for 21 Japanese.

A further African Divisions is 40 miles out from the frontline near Djambi. Once we're in supply there we'll attack again.

Faber launched a small night raid by 3 x Zero's over Padang which torched a Havoc.

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

SoPac:

Noumea is re-taken:

Ground combat at Noumea (115,160)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 20622 troops, 390 guns, 761 vehicles, Assault Value = 833

Defending force 4485 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 75

Allied adjusted assault: 397

Japanese adjusted defense: 37

Allied assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Noumea !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1258 casualties reported
Squads: 61 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 41 disabled
Engineers: 17 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
156 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Luganville resisted but reports indicate it will fall soon:

Ground combat at Luganville (120,150)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7394 troops, 84 guns, 54 vehicles, Assault Value = 311

Defending force 2273 troops, 18 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Allied adjusted assault: 45

Japanese adjusted defense: 19

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
298 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
115 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled


Assaulting units:
15th NZ Brigade
14th NZ Brigade

Defending units:
82nd Naval Guard Unit
17th Naval Construction Battalion

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

Submarine Warfare:

SS Surf reported sinking AK Mito Maru with a torpedo whilst unloading at Toboali.

SS Lionfish sank PB Uruboko Maru south of Saigon.

[BBfanboy]

D'oh! You are right about the river crossing at Hanoi.! I was thinking of the other road across the river that leads straight in there. That introduces another risk that would make me reconsider whether to try a raid there. I don't like shock attacks across rivers unless I know the opposition is very weak.

You fighter pools are certainly healthy! Many other AARs have been lamenting the lack of P-47s at this stage. You must have managed your air units well!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi BBfanboy: the good aircraft pools are largely down to a relatively inactive 2nd half of 1943. This was down to the fact a large number of my CV's were undergoing repairs following the 2 major CV clashes we had.

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

Burma:

The attrition war continues with daily sweeps over Japanese held bases netting 70ish planes for the loss of 35 friendlies.

I'll soon start the latest push towards breaking the Japanese lines on the ground again.

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

Sumatra:

Attrition sweeps continue in the Djambi/Palembang area. 50ish enemy planes have been claimed for the loss of 30 friendlies.

4E and Mediums continue to bomb enemy positions daily south of Djambi including an Egr Rgt moving up from Palembang on the 30th. The Rgt was not in combat mode and sustained over 200 casualties and damage to many vehicles.

A downer was I'd forgotten to limit my SBD group range at Padang to 5 hexes. As such they attacked a small convoy at Singapore and I lost 30ish planes. I did manage to sink a PB though [;)]

As per Burma. I'll try attacking the Japanese again soon once my other division reaches the frontlines in the next 6 days or so.

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

SoPac:

The Japs were cleaned out near Noumea by the 30th.

Luganville fell on the 30th as well. Now just to mop up the enemy.

Phase 1 is now complete with virtually no losses.

Phase 2 will start over the next 2 weeks or so.

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

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attack.

SS Blackfish sank E W-15 off Mindanao on the 29th.

SS Paddle sank TK Marifu Maru off the Japanese coast.

SS Runner sank TK Butsu Maru near Palawan on the 30th.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

On the ground both Sumatra and Burma have been stalemates. In the air though it's been a vicious month of attritional battles. Phase 1 of Operation Snowbell was a success with New Caledonia and Espiritu Santo easily secured with no substantial loss.

May will hopefully see progress on the ground in Burma and Sumatra. Phase 2 of Operation Snowbell will also commence. I'll detail that in a following post.

As for reinforcements......Thunderbolt I's are the highly for the Brits. SB2C-3's and P61A's are also a welcome addition. CA Chicago II, 6 x CVE and 10 x Subs are the naval highlights.

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

Points:

Allies: +2211 points
Japanese: +1055 points


Bases:

Allies: +4 (+452 points)
Japanese: -4 (-75 points)


Planes:

Allies: +875 lost
Japanese: +1187 lost


Troops:

Allies: +215 lost
Japanese: +219 lost


Ships:

Allies: +4 (+40 points. All subs by ASW escorts).
Japanese: +38 (+334 points. Mainly sub kills).

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

Sub Kills:

38 of 61 attacks were successful = 62.30% success.

Dutch Boats:

PB - 5 (1 mine)
AK - 35 (+1)
TK - 7
CM - 6
DD - 4
TB - 1
DMS - 4 (1 mine)
E - 1
APD - 1
ACM - 1
AP - 1
AMC - 1

= 67 ships
-------------------------------

British Boats:

DD - (1 mine)
AK - 7 (1 mine) (+1)
SC - 1
PB - 1
TK - 1
AO - 1
SS - 3 (2 mine)

= 15 ships

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

Fleet Boats:

AK - 224 (+10)
SC - 17 (+3)
AP - 10 (+1)
PB - 43 (+2)
TK - 61 (+5)
AKE - 1
CM - 6
ACM - 2
E - 18 (+8)
APD - 2
DD - 5 (+1)
CL - 2 (Oi, Kashima)
AO - 5
PC - 1
AMC - 1
AV - 1
AM - 1 (1 mine)
SS - 1
DMS - 2

= 403 ships
--------------------------------

S-Boats:

AK - 21
AP - 2
CM - 1
PB - 5
DMS - 1
SC - 5
TK - 3

= 38 ships

= 523 ships = 54.22% of reported sunk ships total.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Burma/Sumatra:

The attrition continues with Allied fighter sweeps roaming over Sumatra and Burma. Heavy battles though cost 80 Allied and 120 reported Japanese aircraft.

The latest Burma attempt on the ground is on again with over 2000 AV moving south from Toungoo to the frontlines. It's doubtful I'll break through but I can hope!

I'm hoping My B29's will enter the fray in Burma. They're based at Chittagong and I've tasked the 100 or so of them to hit Pegu's AF's.

Faber sent a DD Sqn to patrol off Ramree Island and a pointless battle ensued:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Suzunami, Shell hits 1
DD Okinami, Shell hits 1
DD Hayashimo, Shell hits 2
DD Samidare

Allied Ships
BC Renown, Shell hits 3
CA Australia
CA Exeter
CLAA Van Heemskerck
DD Saufley
DD Stanly
DD Strong
DD Taylor
DD Gwin
DD Walke
DD Quiberon
DD Quickmatch
DD Isaac Sweers
DD Jupiter, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Napier
DD Nestor
DD Nizam
DD Queensborough
DD Quilliam

Allied airpower made itself felt in Sumatra by wiping out the 2nd Mobile Engineer Rgt moving north from Palembang. Recon identified an ART unit moving north on the 2nd. Allied LBA will attempt to wipe this out tomorrow as well.

An Aussie Bde is loading up at Perth and will head to Sumatra.

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

CentPac:

I'd sent a sneaky CV TF west of Marcus Island to try and attack any enemy shipping. They succeeded but it was very anti-climatic:

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Iwo-jima at 109,82

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes


Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 27


Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Hofuku Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Shiranesan Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire
xAK Sekino Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
E Chiburi, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

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

Submarine Warfare:

5 x dud/missed attacks.

SS Albacore sank AK Shirotae Maru near Saishu To.

On the other side SS Trident was heavily damaged by ASW vessels near Singapore.

[crsutton]

Hi Speedy, If you develop Ramree Island on the Burma coast to as big a base as you can and then use LSTs to run supply there, the supply will flow right to your troops in central Burma. LSTs are the best ship but change a base to American control and create some LCTs and they can run supply down the coast as well. Anyways pump supply into Ramree and you will not have to worry about supply in central Burma...

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi crsutton - yup. Ramree is currently at Port - 3 and AF - 6. I have 680K tonnes worth of supply shuttling between Aden and the region. I just need more! Good idea on using the LST's though.

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

Burma/Sumatra:

B29's entered the fray on the 3rd May! Sweeps cleared the way whilst they destroyed over 40 enemy fighters on the ground at Pegu.

They lost their first plane on the 4th whilst bombing enemy troops south of Toungoo, lost to AA. A 2nd B29 was lost on the way home due to damage from enemy CAP.

Additional troops have moved into position south of Toungoo and the men will go in on the 5th:

Ground combat at 56,51 (near Toungoo)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 109909 troops, 2150 guns, 2288 vehicles, Assault Value = 5160

Defending force 58007 troops, 610 guns, 409 vehicles, Assault Value = 1912

Japanese ground losses:
106 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled


Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Usual sweeps over Sumtra.

80 friendlies were lost vs 140 Japs.

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

CentPac:

My CV TF moved SE back towards Wake. I may route them towards Kwajalein or back to PH.

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

SoPac:

All necessary shipping is nearly back to Sydney and then we'll begin Phase 2.

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

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attack.

SS Amberjack sank AO Kazahaya east of Soerabaja. In return the escorts sank her.

SS Bluefish sank PB Fukui Maru off Mindanao.

SS Puffer was also lost with all hands off Balikpapan.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Burma:

Oh Burma!

I hate Burma it's official [;)]

The attack south of Toungoo failed again. Miserably. I really see no way through this 'Brick Wall' in the jungle north of Rangoon. Looking at the options I believe it makes sense to forget going through Burma on land. Faber has too much AV on the ground there (4000+ in the region) and the jungle defence boosts AV too much and negates any real effect bombing can have on troop casualties.

Ground combat at 56,51 (near Toungoo)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 132329 troops, 2402 guns, 3242 vehicles, Assault Value = 5160

Defending force 58079 troops, 610 guns, 409 vehicles, Assault Value = 1920

Allied adjusted assault: 2397

Japanese adjusted defense: 5303

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1976 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 160 disabled
Non Combat: 48 destroyed, 88 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 68 disabled
Guns lost 51 (8 destroyed, 43 disabled)
Vehicles lost 202 (156 destroyed, 46 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
8321 casualties reported
Squads: 62 destroyed, 1100 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 216 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 220 disabled
Guns lost 217 (20 destroyed, 197 disabled)
Vehicles lost 104 (13 destroyed, 91 disabled)

The challenge is what to do with these troops. I have most of my naval assets in So/CentPac for obvious seaborne invasions.

My current view is to withdraw all but a containing force (2000 + 1000 Chinese AV) and to use this force in Sumatra and either onto Borneo or Malaya IF Sumatra is secured. That would require less naval assets and LBA could support the advance.

Thoughts?

Have to give credit to Faber for a sterling defence in Burma in terms of positioning and force allocation.

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

Sumatra:

Usual air battles costing 35 friendlies and 50+ enemies.

My additional African Division has reached the front south of Djambi (1900 Allied AV vs 730 Jap AV) and the men attack tomorrow with heavy LBA support.

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

CentPac:

My 3 x CV/2 x CVL TF will head SE towards Kwajalein tomorrow and attempt to attack shipping in the harbour and bomb the AF.

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

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attack.

SS Dace sank the troop filled AP Kashima Maru west of Luzon. Nice one.

[witpqs]

Presume you've been pouring on the air strikes? All squads updated to the best standards available? Tanks updated too? Leaders the best available? All helpful HQ units within range?

It's a little tough to offer suggestions now that 1,100 squads have to get fixed, but... increase your 4EB presence. It's '44 I think I saw in your game, so use those SEAC theater B-29 units to add to the pounding. Any complaint about using the B-29 this way is balanced by the stacking issues.

[BBfanboy]

I don't think your attack went off quite as bad as it first looks. Assuming about half your stack is support troops, you still had about 5000 infantry squads and lost only 62 destroyed. The 1100 disabled can come back if you have enough supply. He did not lose much infantry destoyed but he lost 156 vehicles, most of them probably AFVs at one AV each. That is a much bigger proportion of his AV lost than yours.

And your attack came off at 1-2, which means it isn't far from a 1-1 if you can grind him some more. I'm not advocating an immediate second attack, but keep bombing, bombarding and reinforcing and try again in a week or so. He may not be as well supplied as your troops are, and need longer recovery from disablements.

[V I Lenin]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Thoughts?

Often it is forgotten - land units not in base hexes make their own fortifications if they have engineers! Probably most of these Japanese had effective forts 3 or 4 if they have been in position for a long time. Also probable that last attack reduced it, so next attack will suffer less and so on. But, there is no indication of this on reports screens, I think. So, if you are willing to spend aircraft, time and unit rotations to evict Japanese, it can be done. If China is not in a panic (Burma Road is nice, but compared to supply from built up Mandalay etc is not critical) and you already have access to Sumatra, that is ok to send troops there (= "closer to cutting Japan from oil") but beware that Japanese can send their troops in Burma to Palembang also as quickly as you can send from Bengal to Djambi, or even quicker, if they deduce you are doing it.

[Speedysteve]

Morning all,

Thanks for the comments guys.

Let's discuss.

witpqs: I've oodles of airpower in Burma. In active duty I have:

450 Fighters
200 x 4E (100 of which are B29's)
300 x 2E

The problem is as the Japs are in the Jungle bombing raids cause so few casualties. They obviously cause disruption but that didn't have a meaningful effect on the modified AV as the recent attacks have shown.

All the rest of the stuff is a yes. All bar 1 unit has the latest and greatest squads. Some of the Engineer squads are NOT the latest. Tanks are all Grant, Shermans etc. Leaders changed. HQ's in range. To be fair some of the units are relating to different HQ's but 2/3 of the units are within relevant Corps and Army HQ range.

I really feel I have sufficient airpower in theatre. My other 4E units are in use in Sumatra and in NE Australia for use in Phase 2 of Operation Snowbell.

As mentioned above airpower just doesn't seem to have significant effects on combat ready units in jungle hexes.

Looked at the modified AV Faber has across recent months in Jungle fighting = As a minimum every Jungle battle has always had at least doubled Jap AV. In Burma the modified AV has always been at least 2.5x. Based on pure numbers I'm needing to achieve a Modified AV of at least 5500 in ANY DEFENDED hex to get parity. The challenge with that is I only have 6000 AV across all of the frontline!

Hmm.

I V Lenin makes a salient point regarding field Fortifications. There's no doubt that Faber's Jungle hexes will have level 3/4 forts and if I knock them down in an attack I need over a month to recover before I can attack again allowing the forts to re-build.

BBfanboy you make some good points regarding the Jap situation. We don't know Faber's supply situation. I've not noticed any supply deficiencies but it's an unknown. That's a helpful analysis in terms of squad numbers. I'm still very concerned about the lack of ability I have in forcing a high pace of grinding attacks. With Faber having a relatively high amount of AV in the theatre he can continue to rotate units out of the frontline into Rangoon for example just as easily as I can to Toungoo or Prome. I can only conduct an all out attack every 4-6 weeks once the troops have recovered. I'm very aware that with it being May 1944 I have to make a choice.

I either stick all in Burma and HOPE I wear him down and breakthrough back end of 1944 or early 1945 OR I move out NOW (it will take a month-6 weeks or so to get what I need to Ramree to begin loading). If I wait a few months there's not much I can do to move troops out to be able to get to where they're needed to haven impact until late 1944.

I still feel it's a hope rather than a certainty in Burma. There's no additional troops I can bring in locally. All local airbases are stocked with the planes (mentioned above). I've gained air superiority over the region but so what. Bombing in Jungle has negligible effects on casualties.

As such I'm still leaning towards moving the troops elsewhere where I can have more control and actually influence a theatre rather than rely on hope.

Good to discuss though? [:)]

Thanks guys.

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

Burma:

A quiet day over the theatre as I rested my planes and pilots for a day.

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

Sumatra:

Usual heavy sweeps by Thuds over the Djambi/Palembang region encountering the usual 20-30 enemy fighters. This is a much reduced amount compared to a month or so ago when Faber would field 80ish fighters daily.

Heavy bombing by 4E over Jap troops south of Djambi.

A small Jap DD TF ventured west of Singapore and was attacked by my SBD's from Padang:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 49,84

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
A6M5b Zero x 5
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 4
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 5
Ki-61-Ib Tony x 3
Ki-84a Frank x 2



Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 8
F4U-1 Corsair x 11
F6F-3 Hellcat x 22
SBD-5 Dauntless x 21


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed by flak
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Suzunami
DD Okinami, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Hayashimo

AND

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singapore at 49,84

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3



Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 15
SBD-5 Dauntless x 15


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
DD Hayashimo, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Suzunami, Bomb hits 1, on fire

The troops south of Djambi did well when they attacked:

Ground combat at 47,89 (near Djambi)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 55423 troops, 1151 guns, 686 vehicles, Assault Value = 1892

Defending force 19593 troops, 269 guns, 651 vehicles, Assault Value = 730

Allied adjusted assault: 1003

Japanese adjusted defense: 1397

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1377 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 96 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 56 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 33 (4 destroyed, 29 disabled)
Vehicles lost 76 (7 destroyed, 69 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
1369 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 151 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 51 (1 destroyed, 50 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)


Assaulting units:
81st (West African) Division
22nd (East African) Brigade
28th (East African) Brigade
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
2nd British Division
11th (East African) Division
82nd (West African) Division
29th British Brigade
23rd Chindit Brigade
76th Coast AA Regiment
608th Coast AA Regiment

Defending units:
3rd Tank Division
36th Infantry Regiment
34th Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd Amphibious Brigade
32nd Ind.Mixed Bde /1
31st Tankette Co

Happy with this. Equal losses in raw casualties and Faber lost a larger proportion of his AV. I need to rest to allow the limited supply to trickle through. When it does I'll attack again.

More troops are on their way to Sumatra from the US - 11th Airborne Division and a Canadian Bde are loading up at San Fran.

As the screenshot shows I'm expanding across Sumatra with engineers building an airbase NE of Padang and more troops heading to Benkoelen on the SW coast.

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

So/CentPac:

SoPac ships will all be at Sydney tomorrow. Ill then move north to load troops and begin Phase 2 of Operation Snowbell. More on that then.

In CentPac my CV's reached a position to attack Kwajalein. No enemy fighters were found and 2 x SS were sunk. We'll stick around to finish off ships tomorrow and then retire to Wake:

Afternoon Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 73
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 83
TBM-1C Avenger x 81


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
SS I-17, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
ACM Daido Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Tama Maru #3, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SS I-8, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
ACM Shonan Maru #8, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

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Submarine Warfare:

SS Flounder sank the troop filled AK Ikutagawa Maru SE of Formosa with 2 torpedoes.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Burma:

Not a lot to report in Burma on the ground as I'm still unsure how to proceed here. Wanted to continue the discussion with fellow forumites [:)]

In the air an AF attack on Pegu by B25's from Ramree was jumped when one Sqn lost it's way from the escorts and lost 12 of 16 B25C's.

'Fortunately' sweeps in the afternoon redressed the balance by shooting down dozens of enemy aircraft including a reported 20 x Tojo IIB's.

Reported losses over the day were 37 x Allied vs 67 x Japanese.

Whilst the ground units await orders from the Supreme Commander I'm planning to use my B29's to flatten some industry in the region. I'll focus on HI, Oil Production and Refineries. I'm conducting some recon on likely targets to ascertain fighter defences.

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

Sumatra:

Quiet here in the air as my boys rested for a day.

Tomorrow will be normal service resumed with Fighters sweeps around Djambi and bombing runs against enemy troops.

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Cent/SoPac:

Bad weather prevented my CV's attacking Kwajalein again. We'll stay around for 1 more day to try again and then head back to wake.

Lots of activity at Sydney as 400 ships manoeuvre into TF's, some heading to Townsville to load combat troops, and others loading support troops and supply at Sydney. I'll detail Phase II of Operation Snowbell in the following post.

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

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attack.

SS Batfish was attacked by ASW vessels near Formosa and sunk.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Burma:

Heavy air battles in Burma as I now attempt to keep Rangoon, Pegu and Moulmein constantly closed/heavily supressed. All AF's have damage reported above 50. It's been costly though -70 Allied planes vs 110 Japanese.

I'm still undecided what to do on the ground. Units are still crawling back to Prome and Toungoo anyhow.

Recon has been out and F7A's recon'd Bangkok and Pnomh Penh so far. B29's have been tasked with hitting Bangkok's HI tomorrow. No enemy CAP as reported.

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

Sumatra:

Bad weather prevented most flights over the past 2 days.

Troops have now reached near Benkolen and reported n enemy unit over the river. Looking at it's troop strength it's a Division. I'll await further troops and then move via Benkolen so as not to shock attack. An Aussie Bde should be landing there in the next 10-14 days or so.

I've a Runway at Pakanroe (NE of Padang) now. I'm awaiting aviation personnel (arriving from Cape Town in the next 3 weeks or so.) Then I'll base more planes here to begin to supress and dominate Singapore.

Still awaiting more supply for more troops to arrive then I'll attack again south of Djambi.

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

Cent/SoPac:

Bad weather again prevented my CV's from attacking Kwajalein. It seemed silly hanging around to sink 3 more ships so I've headed back to Wake before reaching out again.

Off Australia my ships are still moving towards Townsville.

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

Submarine Warfare:

No dud/missed attacks.

SS Albacore claimed AK Koshu Maru sank near Formosa.

[crsutton]

Speedy, Have your bombers taken out all of his oil facilities? I found that Siboret Island was a gold mine. Once I got the superforts, I was pretty much able to take out all of his DEI oil production.

Any JFB better take note and fortify Siboret big time...

[Speedysteve]

Hi crustton,

It's a VERY good point. I haven't as yet as I've been needing Siberoet to base bombers to supress Palembang and Djambi. Now I have Padang and Sawalohento fully functional and Djambi/Palembang supressed I should make a judgement call.

Taking out his DEI oilfields had totally slipped my mind as I've been so focussed on breaking through his lines on the ground south of Djambi!

Hmm. Choices choices. Maybe when I have secured and built up Benkoelen I can base bombers there to do ground support and keep 4E at Siberoet to take out the oilfields? That will take about a month for me to be in this position.

Good point crsutton