No fleet, no problem...

[Elladan]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Elladan,

one has to have something substantial to back up his own opinion against his opponent's

That's close but it isn't quite correct IMO. I would rewrite it to read, "One has to convince one's opponent that one has something substantial to support one's opinion." In other words what matters is NOT the presence or absence of the thing/the support/the 1000s of AV. What matters is the opponent's BELIEF in its presence.

If I make a move and my opponent believes that that move MUST be supported by reserves then they will behave as though it IS supported by reserves. In reality I may have judged that the time is ripe to conduct operations without reserves in order to create an operational tempo which bounces my opponent into losing the initiative and believing that my forces are much, much stronger than they are. In fact this is often what I do. In the case where the opponent believes the reserves are present they will ACT as though they are present -since that's militarily prudent, you plan based on enemy capabilities.

So, if the opponent ACTS as though the reserves are present then surely it is not necessary for them to actually be present. In fact I would argue that the most militarily efficient course of action is to paralyse an opponent through a maskirovka designed to create the perception of strength, depth etc whilst actually mobilizing all those forces at the front to be stronger at the front than you'd actually be able to be otherwise.

I tend to agree. Will just point out that when one's opponent calls the bluff (which is inevitable, especially in a game like this) it's a very useful thing to have a proper sized stick nearby. Helps with future bluffs as well.
Anyway, this argumentation is somewhat academical as I'm of opinion that it's always better to try and fail than fail without even trying and you seem to follow that line just fine. [;)]

I like your approach to the game, treating it as a game and not a historical simulation - a refreshing change from perhaps a majority of other active players here. Not that there is anything wrong with historical simulations, it's just that your way is more though provoking, so to say.

I have one request, if I may - next time you get a nice, bloody air combat result, involving your CAP, could you post your plane's and incoming raid's altitudes? I still struggle with fully understanding the proper way of setting layered CAP. Thanks in advance.

[Nemo121]

Elladan,

Sure thing re: CAP. It'll have to wait until he starts sweeping Akyab/Ramree though as right now I'm just massacring his escorts.

Aye, it is a game. I am in favour of making it as accurate as possible but it is a game and not a simulation of WW2 and so I'm happy to do whatever the game engine allows - whilst supporting changes to fix bugs and historical errors etc. Many people don't appreciate the nuance in those two positions and deem them to be in conflict, which, of course, they aren't.


So, onto the 24th August. The first waves went into Ramree. It seems Damian sensed that the moment had arrived as he ran a CA-led SC TF into Ramree overnight. It ran into one of the CLs and the DD I have ( 2/3rds of the RN in India ). My force crossed the enemy T and in return for a DD sunk and the CL damaged I managed to seriously damage an IJN DD and leave the CA burning. This enemy TF then turned back before getting in amongst the transports.

My amphibious TFs landed small portions of most of the formations I'm seeking to land. So, right now Damian can see multiple divisions, multiple Brigades and quite a few armoured units and engineers at Ramree. He will assume I will land the rest of those units there when, in fact, they will all be gathering to land farther south near Prome. In any case about 180 AV are ashore and facing about 200 men from the 1st Raiding Sentai. I should mention losses also. In total I lost 3 small xAKs to air attack so far. That's quite acceptable so far but will rise over coming days.

Tomorrow my ground forces will shock attack while my transports retreat to Akyab. My fighters will CAP akyab and hopefully lure the IJNAAF and IJAAF into action again ( I downed about 46 planes in return for about 20 of my own today ). Then I can begin the dance of reinforcing Ramree whilst avoiding his SC TFs. I plan to complicate his position with the deployment of Beauforts and Vildebeest to Akyab with naval attack orders.

If I guess wrong his DDs will rip my transports apart, if I guess right I can land more reinforcements at Ramree. Or I can just try outlasting him and play it safe.


Elsewhere.... About 100+ bombers which should be leveling Ramree are being diverted by the operation in China. I must have forgotten to cancel a Corps' attack orders so one of my Corps got pretty much annihilated when it attacked the IJA without any support. Live and learn. Another 800 AV have entered the hex and my efforts to supply the Chinese have borne fruit with every one of my units in the hex being fully supplied. Tomorrow the attack goes in again. I'm about 70% confident this will break the Japanese. If it doesn't then I'll just use it to attrition their tank regiments. The cost will be high but, economically, the Japanese don't produce a lot of vehicle points so destroying their tankettes is worth a lot more than destroying an equivalent number of infantry squads ---- in the long run I want to create some armoured OMGs for deployment in China and Korea in 12 to 18 months time. It is never too early to begin shaping the battlefield and to get started with reducing the units which will provide his only effective counter to those OMGs when the time comes.

Oz: Thanks to those who answered about withdrawals. I've never played with withdrawals on before as I always found it a bit fiddly for the Allies and didn't want to deal with it/force Allied opponents to deal with it. He definitely has his CVEs/CVLs hanging around west of Carnarvon. This is just within sprint range of my DDs so I'm going to sprint DDs out and see if I can't force some surface combats to scare him off. I really want to sealift a Bde and some supplies to Carnarvon.


Aleutians/Kuriles: The airlift into Attu is doing well delivering about 40 AV per day now. Large troop convoys are beginning to arrive at Dutch Harbour and the DDs which were lightly damaged in the aborted Kuriles op are repairing well at Dutch Harbour ready to defend Attu if called upon.


In other news I've decided that I'll restrict myself to using CVEs, CVLs and CVs purely for air transport. They won't fly offensive or defensive missions. Essentially I'll fight the war as though the US didn't believe in ship-based airpower and only built the CVs as VERY large AKVs [:D]. That should keep things more interesting in the Pacific and elsewhere.


Lastly: A map of Burma. You can see his 2 SC TFs, his concentration of airpower at Magwe- he REALLY fears me hitting his OIL there. It would seem OIL to fuel conversion is his biggest economic weakpoint in this mod.

[Nemo121]

25th August 1942: Things are beginning to heat up.

An IJN SC TF interdicts the landings at Ramree. I had pulled all of my transports out under cover of CAP at Akyab so this IJN SC TF only ran into some MGBs and HDMLs I had left behind as a speed bump.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
CL Sendai
DD Asagumo
DD Kikuzuki
DD Hayate
DD Akikaze
DD Yakaze
DD Hokaze
DD Wakatake
DD Kuretake
DD Tsuga
DD Yomogi
DD Karii

Allied Ships
HDML Panglima, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
HDML 1100, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
HDML 1101, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
HDML 1103, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
HDML 1104, Shell hits 2, and is sunk


As part of the landing force I'd dumped about 200 mines overboard to cause trouble for IJN SC TFs seeking to contest the landing. One of my mines scored a nice hit.
TF 5 encounters mine field at Ramree Island (54,48)

Japanese Ships
CL Sendai
DD Wakatake
DD Akikaze
DD Tsuga, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

3 mines cleared


The IJAAF and IJNAF attempted to intervene with my transports. Unfortunately for them I had gathered most of my fighters in India to ward them off and the day ended with some 40 Allied planes destroyed for about 90 Japanese planes including 40 Helens, 20+ fighters and a similar number of Sallys. None of my shipping was hit although when they make for Ramree again that will change.

The RAF sent two squadrons into Ramree on naval attack missions. Each unit suffered approximately 50% casualties but I landed a 500lb bomb directly through the deck armour of the CL Sendai. So far the IJN has lost or had damaged 1 CA, 1 CL and 2 DDs. If I keep whittling away I may eventually be able to remove most of the surface threat to additional littoral landings. I should note i'm also sending a BB TF ( complete with escorts ) up towards India from Oz. I have about 6 BBs and a couple of dozen DDs sitting around in Oz doing nothing while I only had 2 CL and a DD in India. That has to change.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ramree Island at 54,48

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A5M4 Claude x 1
E13A1 Jake x 2
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 1
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 6

Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest III: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Vildebeest III: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Suzuya

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Vildebeest III bombing from 2000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb


And here's the free look I wanted Damian to have at portions of the first wave. Note the armoured units. I want him to think I'm commiting armour to the jungle fight so as to discount the possibility of an armoured landing in the plains further south.

Ground combat at Ramree Island (54,48)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 3815 troops, 112 guns, 128 vehicles, Assault Value = 202

Defending force 121 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 7

Allied adjusted assault: 123

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 123 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Ramree Island !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
108 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
7th Hussars Rgt /2
6th Aus Div Cav Rgt /1
16th Light Cavalry Rgt /1
16th British Brigade
19th Australian Bde /4
23rd Indian Div /2
254th Armoured Bde /3
44th Indian Brigade
2nd Recce Rgt /2
Sikh Const Bn /1
6th Medium Rgt /1
35th Light AA Rgt /1
12th Indian Engineer Battalion
8th Medium Rgt /2
24th Indian Engineer Battalion
1st Madras Const Bn /1
1st Indian Heavy AA Rgt /1

Defending units:
1st Raiding Rgt /1


Meanwhile, in China:
Ground combat at 87,44 (near Chengchow)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 86841 troops, 537 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2538

Defending force 23661 troops, 156 guns, 623 vehicles, Assault Value = 911

Allied adjusted assault: 908

Japanese adjusted defense: 766

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3750 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 184 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 32 (7 destroyed, 25 disabled)
Vehicles lost 62 (12 destroyed, 50 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4356 casualties reported
Squads: 137 destroyed, 336 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 79 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 44 disabled

2:1 losses in his favour. I just may still be able to break through here. I'll rest a day and try again. He obviously fears this thrust as he has rushed another Tank Regiment in to reinforce.... yet another opportunity for me to write down his tanks.

Assaulting units:
87th Chinese Corps
36th Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
40th Chinese Corps
82nd Chinese Corps
1st Chinese Cavalry Corps
89th Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps
47th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
38th New Chinese Division
51st Chinese Corps
4th Group Army
3rd Group Army
39th Group Army
24th Group Army
5th War Area
Jingcha War Area
57th AT Gun Regiment
14th Group Army
22nd Group Army
1st War Area
20th Artillery Regiment
56th AT Gun Regiment

Defending units:
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
23rd Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
12th Tank Regiment
36th Division
1st Recon Regiment
5th Tank Regiment
8th Recon Regiment





In the Aleutians the first significant portions of forces from Hawaii and CONUSA have arrived and are being parcelled out to Attu and other islands in the chain. I have delivered another dozen PT boats from Dutch Harbour to Attu but, unfortunately, the TK I had sent to drop 5,000 tons of fuel at Attu ( to refuel my SC TFs ) was torpedoed overnight.

Submarine attack near Kiska Island at 159,48

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
TK Esso Durban, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

TK Esso Durban is sighted by SS I-17
SS I-17 launches 2 torpedoes

I'm organising another convoy with better escorts and am routing it via the coastal hexes in between Dutch Harbour and Attu so as to avoid submarines.


Tomorrow my transports pull back to Chittagong and I try to draw more of his bombers into my CAP. I'm happy to leave him to interdict Ramree until such time as I have a Level 1 airfield there and can provide proper CAP for my shipping. Once I can provide that CAP I'll be happier to send transports in to offload again.

Why am I not in a huge rush? Well, 2 reasons:
1. I have 1,000+ AV marching overland from Imphal and I want to give them time to get into the road network of northern Burma and lure IJA formations north before I land the amphibious punch aimed at Prome.

2. I also want to give Damian time to commit a large force to stop my advance from Ramree. Rushing now would simply mean fewer IJA troops trapped at Ramree and in northern Burma when I do land west of Prome.

[Nemo121]

Well, things have moved along. We're now on 29th August. From my point of view the main news is as follows:

China:
Another enemy tank regiment moved in to help out the enemy stack I was attacking and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. I've ordered other forces in China to manoeuvre and bring pressure to bear in the centre and the south of the country and am redeploying the units I was using to attack in the north in order to invite an enemy attack I can then manoeuvre against for advantage. Damian has begun bombing HI in China. Well, at least he can't complain when I start bombing his back [8D]. The supply situation in China is currently reasonable insofar as I am able to maintain armies in the field and in action for short bursts of activity. The next step is going to be clearing the southern coastal hexes and occupying the bases there in preparation for the littoral campaign in 12 months time. I'm committing slightly over 2,000 AV to this operation.


Burma:
The enemy's surface raiders mean I cannot bring slow supply convoys into Ramree for fear of night-time surface attack since I only have a single CL in all of India. In 3 weeks time I will have the majority of the surface fleet from Australia in the Indian theatre ( they have been underway already for 5 days ) and that will boost my force with 5 BBs, several CAs and CLs and approximately two dozen DDs. I have one BB and one DD just 3 days out after they used almost all their fuel sprinting to Colombo from down near the Cocos islands where they were doing something, although god alone knows what that might have been.

Myitkina seems to be the focal point for an effort by Damian to push my forces across the border into India ( this is, I presume, a defensive effort to remove my toeholds in Burma ). I am responding by marching/airlifting an Indian division across the border into Myitkina while bringing in about 900 AV to the west near Wazarup to dislocate half of the enemy force moving on Myitkina.

I have successfully sucked Damian's strike groups in several times and am generally achieving 2 or 3 to 1 kill rates in the air overall. Today, for example, I shot down 29 Kates and 9 Oscars/Zeroes over Akyab in return for damage to 5 xAKs, only one of which is in danger of sinking.


Oz:
I'll post a picture from here some other day but basically it looks to me like Damian is using his CVLs/CVEs to cover FT TFs evacuating his division from Carnarvon. He is keeping the airfield closed with bomber attacks and there's very little I can do until I can open the airfield again.

Elsewhere I'm gathering the shipping in Oz at Perth and will decide where it needs to go from there afterward. Most probably I'll just keep the shipping there while I clear the route to Darwin, move the USN surface fleet from the Pacific to Oz and push north with the USN from OZ while pushing south through Burma with the RN. In the north Pacific I shouldn't need heavy units, just light FT TFs and convoy escorts while in the central pacific I plan to use paratroops and fast light units in the face of his aerial superiority ( which I plan to lessen through distraction/attrition on other fronts ).


Aleutians:
Well, you can check out the picture below. Frantic effort and the acceptance of losses to subs as I sent unescorted ships into the area because time was so important I couldn't wait to mate them with appropriate escorts has paid off.

Attu now has almost 400 AV from 2 US Army and 1 USMC Regiment, 2 AAA units, 500 mines and just under 30 PT boats. Its stacking limit is 32,000 tons of supply and I have just over 30,000 tons there. A TK I was sending with 5,000 tons of fuel was sunk en route. The lack of fuel and the fact that it is only a Level 2 airfield are the only two major deficits remaining. I have another dozen PT boats from Hawaii due to arrive in the next 5 days. I need to bring in more engineers and aviation support also but that's in hand.

I have just today occupied Amchitka Island and Adak Island. The black box onscreen shows the troops offloading from the convoy I sent to Adak Island. As you can see the force comprises an aviation HQ element, 2 Base Forces, a AAA Regt and 2 Engineer units. My plan is to use transports to fly the 34th Combat Engineer Regiment into Attu island if it is invaded or directly into Shimishiru Jima once I have sufficient supplies on hand to support fighters.

Amchitka has fewer forces at present but, obviously, this was an operation I had to throw together on the first day I took over using whatever was at hand. It will be built up to a similar level ASAP.

I also plan to take one of the islands around Attu and build up its airfield to provide redundancy should the enemy try to bombard Attu out of existence.


Dutch Harbour is a TERRIBLE choice to build up in-game. I know the port size looks enticing ( it can be built to a Size 6 port ) but the difficulty building the airfield means that the port is relatively useless since you cannot CAP it appropriately unless you invest huge numbers of engineers - who have better uses elsewhere until mid-42. I MUCH prefer building up Umnak Island but in this case I have to use what was already present.

I have designated Prince Rupert as the main base for shipping troops and supplies to the Aleutians and currently have over 1,000AV + a commensurate level of engineers etc there waiting to move into the Aleutians and Kuriles. Today Prince Rupert became a Level 6 Port and I will keep expanding it to its full size.

I have prioritised the ASW effort along CONUSA and now have an interlocking series of search zones running all the way from San Diego to Prince Rupert along the coast ( I have all my shipping to Prince Rupert set to use COASTAL ZONES when moving to Rupert). This should reduce my losses in the move to Rupert to pretty much nothing ( this is important as I'll have to be sending newly arrived ships to Rupert or San Fran without escorts). Rupert and San Fran are the gathering ports for my escorts and as the emergency missions are completed and ships move to Rupert ( to support operations in the north ) or San Fran ( to support the Central Pacific ) I will allocate escorts commensurate with the convoy's importance. I'll post a picture of the ASW cover off CONUSA some other time.

Right now you can see the beginnings of my ASW efforts in the Aleutians. As SBD-3 units are trained up in Naval Bombing Skills I will put them on Naval Search missions in order to:
a) spot subs and
b) build up their naval search skill - which helps them find and hit targets at sea.

Sure, it costs me a few fully trained pilots a month but my pilot training programme ( which I established from a very low baseline given how crucial it is ) can more than replace those numbers.

NB: The SC TF hanging out around the Bering Sea is a DD flotilla I have waiting to pounce should any amphibious TF attempt to land at Attu before I'm ready. I'm rotating DDs in and out of that flotilla as they get repaired at Dutch Harbour.

Now onto Dutch Harbour:
I'm expanding the port as rapidly as possible and am dumping all my engineers etc there to help this effort. Dutch Harbour is almost at its supply limit of 110,000 tons and has successfully refueled the survivors of the USN SC TFs and transports with about 100,000 tons of fuel to spare.

I have multiple AGs, AEs, ADs, AS and even all three of my ARs at Dutch Harbour. Right now that harbour can resupply anything I have in the fleet and is busy bringing all of my DDs, BBs and cruisers back into action. I am choosing to repair them slowly using ordinary repair so that they can sail out to resist an invasion of Attu at a moment's notice while only the more heavily damaged ships ( which cannot fight at all ) are reserved for the ARs. Essentially I'm trading efficiency for combat power again.


In terms of airpower. When I took over there were 3 squadrons of fighters, some PBYs and remnants from the sunk carriers in the north. As of today I have roughly 800 planes in the region with more to come ( mainly heavy bombers on their way from Oz ). I certainly cannot defeat the IJN's surface forces or KB BUT with the force I have available in the Aleutians I can bloody them and inflict significant attritional losses as well as forcing them to burn a LOT of fuel ( fuel seems to be a sore point for Damian in this mod. I'm not sure of the exact economic changes but I think he changed the ratio of oil to fuel or oil to HI or somesuch. In any case the economy is the weak point and I've had success luring Japanese players into burning fuel before so will try it again.). Doing the same around Oz and in Burma will hasten that time at which a culmination point is reached for Damian where the correlation of forces flips and becomes favourable to the Allies and he no longer has sufficient force available to counter each of my thrusts.


In terms of air power he is using naval bombers to bomb my forces in the Kuriles. I'm delighted with this since using his IJNAF bombers in this way imposes operational losses on his trained pilots AND prevents those groups being used to train up another cadre of IJNAF torpedo attack pilots. I think we're going to reach an aerial culmination point very, very rapidly and that I will soon rule the air. At present he has greater numbers of planes, a higher quality of plane and better and more pilots BUT I sense that his reserves weren't deep and, unlike me, he doesn't have the capacity to expand his training programme. I've gotten well over 1,000 pilots enrolled as we speak and that gives me a depth he lacks.

I expect things to be relatively quiet for another week until Ramree opens up and I have some RN ships in the area. I also wonder if he is going to attack Attu. I'd have expected him to be there by now if he was going to attack it. Maybe he's just slow as he had to wait for PP. Floyd left me with something like 5,900 PP points when I took over while Damian has bemoaning his lack of them. Maybe he just had to wait a week in order to have enough to buy his counter-invasion force out from the Home Islands?

[BBfanboy]

+1 on the undesirability of Dutch Harbour as a main base. I have left the starting BF on there for six months and still have not been able to build a level 1 AF. Yes, there is lots of supply.

I try to get Adak and Amchitka as mutually supporting bases where I can build quickly and control the whole area. Attu can be built later for extended search. Kiska can be built up between Amchitka and Attu. Anything with a (0) Standard Potential Size for port or airfield is only to be built in desperation.

If the Japanese take Attu while the Allies have Adak and Amchitka, they will have a hard time supporting it unless they bring the whole IJN, or declare war on Russia and take Petropavlovsk.

[Nemo121]

BBfanboy,

Aye, my thinking precisely. These are being built to make Attu defensible. One cannot underestimate the importance of having an air bridge into an island the enemy invades. It allows for much easier flow of supplies and troops if necessary.

Today was the 30th August.
There was only one action of significance which is that Damian hit a TF of ships unloading at Akyab. He sank about 10 ships as they ran through the single remaining CL I had in all of India and destroyed about 700 squad equivalents. About 150 infantry, 300 or so support, 200 guns, 100 vehicles. These losses were spread across about 30 units so it really isn't nearly as bad as it seems. Most of the infantry came from one of the Indian Infantry Divisions though so that division is hurting. Everything else is pretty much fine.

It looks like I'll be sitting back in Chittagong and only running in small transport TFs to Ramree until such time as I can get BBs and escorts into position.


This is the price I pay for the entire RN being completely out of position pinned in Perth. Ah well, c'est la guerre. Onwards and upwards.

[BBfanboy]

Or in the case of some unlucky ships and aircraft, onwards and downwards.[:(]

[Nemo121]

True but Ramree is worth at least a couple of divisions. To be honest I thought I'd take more than these losses in the initial landing so, at this stage, the operation has just moved from being almost cost-free to just being well-worth it. I'd need to take at least quadruple these losses to get to a point where the Ramree landing would break even with the cost of slogging it through the jungles in northern Burma.

Nothing I've lost prevents the littoral campaign continuing although, obviously, it would be better to lose nothing and avoid bolstering Damian's morale [:'(]

[princep01]

Nemo, I sincerely hope I am not out of line asking, but perhaps you have said elsewhere and I just missed it.  Are you a citizen of the UK?  I ask because I am due to make my first real foray to the mother country May 17 thru the end of the month, starting in Edinburgh and moving steadily southward.  While I have passed thru that great land several times, it has been limited to airports heretofore.  I look forward with great anticipation to the visit.
 
As to the game, it is the sort of challenge that a player like you must relish.  Good luck.

[Nemo121]

princep01,

No, not out of line at all. No I'm not British, I'm Irish although, obviously, we're all Europeans now with our socialism, our green subsidies and faltering economies [:)]. We're uniting just in time to slip into senescence [:D].

If you're in London you have to pass by the Imperial War Museum ( it is currently closed for renovation ;-( ). Inside it is very crowded and there isn't enough space to, in my mind, show the exhibits off to best effect but it is cool to see the He-162 and, most importantly, the naval guns outside. The one on the right - as you stand in front of them - is a 15 incher that came from HMS Ramillies which is cool as it is in-game. You can also visit HMS Belfast (in-game CL ) in London and Duxford is cool if you like planes .If tanks are more your bag then Bovington's the place to be.

[floydg]

Agreed on Dutch Harbor as well. No idea why I didn't build up the other bases, but you see my pattern.

At least I left you a decent position in China and lots of PP...

[Cribtop]

Imagine if Nemo could actually play a game AS the Soviets. His style would be even more terrifying if he had the expendable Eastern Hordes at his disposal.

I will second his recommendation of the Imperial War Museum. My college roommate and I broke off from a planned tour of something dreadful to hit the museum for a day. Truly awesome! Even better was lunch at a nearby pub. A roaring fire, Bitters, Bangers and Mash, Leather high back chairs, and a bar with actual sailors caps from the freaking Battle of Trafalgar hung behind it. Wow.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

princep01,

No, not out of line at all. No I'm not British, I'm Irish although, obviously, we're all Europeans now with our socialism, our green subsidies and faltering economies [:)]. We're uniting just in time to slip into senescence [:D].

If you're in London you have to pass by the Imperial War Museum ( it is currently closed for renovation ;-( ). Inside it is very crowded and there isn't enough space to, in my mind, show the exhibits off to best effect but it is cool to see the He-162 and, most importantly, the naval guns outside. The one on the right - as you stand in front of them - is a 15 incher that came from HMS Ramillies which is cool as it is in-game. You can also visit HMS Belfast (in-game CL ) in London and Duxford is cool if you like planes .If tanks are more your bag then Bovington's the place to be.

There is also a regimental museum in Edinburgh Castle with lots of AFVs, guns and captured enemy equipment.

Princep could also check when the Farnbourgh Air Show is on - it's one of the biggest in the world.

As for GB in general, you could spend five years there and barely scratch the history that surrounds you. E.g. in London there is a functioning hospital that was initially constructed in the 1400s! That is amazing to North Americans whose buildings are usually replaced every 50-100 years.

[Nemo121]

Hehe, yeah the university I lecture in was founded in 1592 and my childhood home was a three storey house built in the 1880s complete with a bullet hole from the 1916 rising. We know from the records but also from the fact that when we were stripping back the paintwork we found graffiti from workmen dated from the 1880s. My medical school was used as a redoubt during the 1916 rising and in honour of the rising the bullet holes on the facade and within the outermost rooms facing the square the rebels retreated across have never been repaired.

LOTS of history everywhere in Europe.

And now onto the alternate history of 30th August 1942.

Aleutians:
Quiet, too damn quiet. Attu is up around 400 AV, Adak has about 150 AV with a US Army Regt 3 days out. Adak island is 67% of the way to a Level 1 airfield after just 1 day of construction ( It has about 200+ engineer equivalents there now ) and Amchitka is building more slowly as it is less crucial and received fewer troops.

In other news I am now happy with the minefields around Attu and am beginning to build minefields around Amchitka.

I've stood down all my PBYs as I wish to use them to airlift in my airmobile units and they need 3 days for all their planes to be repaired. I'm just guessing but I have a feeling that the Aleutians are about to be hit. I have very carefully NOT searched the most obvious route for the IJN ( south-west of Attu ) but as of tomorrow am devoting a single Catalina squadron to searching this area. If the Japanese are there being spotted should trigger their run-in to their target.

The USN is still in terrible shape with very little of the damage from the disastrous naval massacre 10 days ago having been repaired but I've concentrated my efforts on getting cumulative damage down to under 10 points per ship. Anything with less than 10 points of cumulative damage is at sea and waiting for the IJN while other ships are waiting at the pierside in Dutch harbour having already refuelled and resupplied so that they can slip anchor at any moment ready to race to Adak --- and from there to either Amchitka or Attu.

So, battle-damaged US ships vs more, better and undamaged Japanese ships + CVs. Should be fun. Either way I should get to do a lot of damage to KB. I've got a LOT of fighters in the Aleutians.


In a very Soviet way I'm a HUGE fan of airmobile forces and thus I brought along a US cavalry regiment, a USMC parachute regiment and whatever raider units I could find. When the time comes I should be able to fly a Regiment a day into whichever base is invaded. This means that if I can hold for the first day then I have a very good chance of just swamping the invaders in airmobile infantry. Attu and Adak should survive the first day but Amchitka will fall if attacked. That's ok as Amchitka is sandwiched between two of my bases and would make good bombing training AND a nice lure to use up the IJN's fuel.

Today I have sent back the first empty xAKs to Prince Rupert where they will begin picking up the remaining forces in CONUSA for deployment in the Aleutians.


Oz:
the IJA is shock attacking at Carnarvon trying to retake the town so it can send in transports to extract the 1.5 divisions there. I'm just trying to hold on to the town. In the long run the IJN will extract this 1.5 divisions to safety as I have sent the entire navy to Burma via Colombo. The key is Darwin where I am beginning to concentrate forces from all over Australia and build a much larger ground army than had hitherto been employed in this sector. Darwin is pretty much doomed.

One of my DDs did its job. It was trapped between PM and Darwin in an isolated allied base so on its way out I had it show its snout around Darwin. It stayed out of Val range and survived the inevitable Betty sortie - DDs on their own usually do while Vals kill them with ease - and is now on its way out of the area and back to the safety of Melbourne. This should force Damian to keep surface combatants in the DEI and Darwin to prevent my raiders slipping in and it cost me nothing. Win, Win!


China:
Damian slaughtered 3 Corps of Chinese units in move mode *DOH!*. Elsewhere my plans for southern China are moving along nicely. He is strategic bombing more heavily now - which is fine since the Burma road should be open soon enough.


Burma:
I sacrificed 6 xAKLs in order to land more supplies at Ramree. I got enough supplies ashore that all of my ground units are now fully supplied and the base has a little extra. That's Ramree sorted until it gets a Level 1 airfield. When it hits Level 1 he'll bomb it to dust and I will get to pick and choose the days I LRCAP from Akyab. He'll have to escort every day while I'll get to pick and choose when I intervene. I've been testing it recently and I normally do quite well vs his Oscars plus every Oscar lost is also a lost pilot ( since they are lost over my base ).


Central Pacific:
I'm about two weeks away from having a suitable airmobile island hopping force ready in the Central and Southern Pacific. My plan is to combine USMC parachutists with sub-landed raiders and airmobile Combat Engineer Bns + Aviation support only Aviation Engineer units to create an extempore airmobile Regiment which I will use to:
a) take isolated IJA bases which he has left unoccupied by airdrop/sub landing and
b) rapidly fly in combat engineers and the aviation support build them up so they can house fighters, bombers etc
c) under cover of the fighters I can then slip shipping in to bring more troops, supplies etc.
d) repeat the "great leap forward" using vertical envelopment.

Ideally I'll use these airmobile infantry units in very doctrinal roles to vertically envelope the enemy thus dislocating their front and allowing me to use manoeuvre to advance against a far stronger enemy whilst actually largely avoiding direct confrontation. This would, IMO, be a doctrinally sound example of the application of Deep Battle to the Pacific albeit on a small scale.

I won't launch this until Damian is well and truly stuck into the Aleutians, Darwin and Ramree Island as I wish to wait until he is involved in a multitude of fronts, each of which requires major commitment of the IJN, before I open up this new front and complicate his strategic picture. These vertical envelopments are my asymetrical way of pinning the IJN in the south and central Pacific. The IJN surface combatants and KB are his arm of decision and thus must be negated as per Deep Battle.

At roughly the same time ( although perhaps a little later ) the threat in southern China should become evident - this is my symmetrical pinning of his strategic reserves. I envision this as being the culmination of the doctrine of engaging him through his operational and strategic depth and pinning his strategic reserves such that they cannot interfere with any breakthrough operation.


I estimate that everything else he has in the IJA is going to be scrambling to create a cohesive defensive line and will, at best, be sent to create local and operational reserves. So, if I pin the IJA in China and prevent him pulling troops out I can rob him of the ability to form a strategic reserve of sufficient mass to achieve strategically decisive results through counter-invasion/reinforcement of threatened sectors.

Obviously there's some mixing of scales etc there and one cannot quite divide the IJA and IJN capabilities/reserves so easily but I put the equivalences down in order to demonstrate how this is all really Deep Battle, again.... and to provide a framework for people to follow the thinking.

[desicat]

Since you don't plan on using your CV's offensively it would be a legendary accomplishment if you took out the KB in a surface engagement. ADM Oldendorf would volunteer to lead....

[Nemo121]

It would but it is so unlikely it isn't something I'd bother trying to bring about. No, my plan is to use manoeuvre to negate his CVs most of the time and sneakiness and a land-based CAP shield to negate them whenever I have to operate where they are.


Quick question: I have an RN CV that has to be withdrawn in a few days but it is sitting in a harbour in Australia with something like 70 flotation damage. As such there's no way I can get it to wherever it needs to be to withdraw for several months and I don't want to pay the cost in PP to keep it.

As far as I can see my only way out is to scuttle the ship to avoid the cost in PPs - this is one reason I dislike playing with withdrawals on. It leads to crazy, stupid binary decisions like this. ANyways, just wondering if anyone is aware of some other way around this.

[bbbf]

She can withdraw from Sydney - but I believe you need to get below 50 total damage to do so.

[Capt. Harlock]

As far as I can see my only way out is to scuttle the ship to avoid the cost in PPs - this is one reason I dislike playing with withdrawals on. It leads to crazy, stupid binary decisions like this.

If it helps, think of this as scrapping a ship too heavily damaged to be worth repairing. It actually did happen historically.

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

It would but it is so unlikely it isn't something I'd bother trying to bring about. No, my plan is to use manoeuvre to negate his CVs most of the time and sneakiness and a land-based CAP shield to negate them whenever I have to operate where they are.


Quick question: I have an RN CV that has to be withdrawn in a few days but it is sitting in a harbour in Australia with something like 70 flotation damage. As such there's no way I can get it to wherever it needs to be to withdraw for several months and I don't want to pay the cost in PP to keep it.

As far as I can see my only way out is to scuttle the ship to avoid the cost in PPs - this is one reason I dislike playing with withdrawals on. It leads to crazy, stupid binary decisions like this. ANyways, just wondering if anyone is aware of some other way around this.

Yeah, that was a tough one for me. I tried to get her sunk, since it would take too long to get her to Cape Town. I was trying to build up Perth so you can withdraw from there, but not with that level of damage.

And I agree, the withdrawal rules led to me getting several other British ships intentionally sunk.

[:(]

[Nemo121]

1st September 1942:

Well, I'd say this is it. My B-17s spotted a gaggle of ships including at least one CV. Sure their naval search skill is pretty crap but this makes sense. The location is interesting. It looks to me like he might be going for Adak in order to isolate Attu.

I'm responding by beginning to airlift the US Cavalry Regiment and USMC Parachute Battalion into Adak. I've decided not to reinforce Amchitka further. I'd rather be sure of holding Attu and Adak than try to hold all three and lose Amchitka AND Adak. I can lose EITHER Amchitka or Adak and still maintain my airbridge to Attu but if I lose both I lose everything west of Dutch Harbour - which is now a bit over 1,000 AV - and I can't afford that.

So, reinforcements to Adak, including a horde of fighters as that base has just become a Level 1 airfield. I'm overstacking but brute strength is more important than efficiency right now.