The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[JeffroK]

Even getting JIII running around from pillar to post is worth the effort.

If you had a dummy invasion force ready, would it be a good time to show it to getting him running even more.
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At some time the Allies have to run a major invasion against a decent IJA defence, not sure if now is the time, lots of criteria to be answered.

But when you do decide, take a big stick and make sure it works rather than have 3-4 attacks, none of which are quite big enough.

[Canoerebel]

10/4/42

Arabian Sea: The two IJ merchant cruisers are between Socatra and the on-map base (on the map we're using) between Abadan and Aden. One of the enemy ships tries to fight, but isn't successful. Hermes is very close, but her SBD squadron didn't make a sighting or attack.

Bay of Bengal: Quiet again. Pensacola has passed Trincomalee and is probably four days from Colombo. All eyes on her, for I thought she'd never be able to run the gauntlet give her damage. I think the big Ceylon AA unit has discouraged John from hitting Ramree. No CAP there, but no air raids today either. A Chindit unit is moving via transport from Chittagong to Akyab. Lots more AV will be doing this over the next weeks.

Burma: Over the past week or so, the Japanese have left (or been pushed out) of all the original "key line of jungle hexes." 41st USA Div. has joined two UK brigades in a hex defended by five IJA units, including a weakened 56th Div. The Allies will attack tomorrow. It's probably going to take awhile, but should this hex fall the Japanese position is seriously weakened.

NoPac: The second dot hex west of Kodiak now has an airfield. I have lots of ships in position to create a feint, but at this point I don't think it would be cedible. So I don't want to waste it frivolously.

SoPac: The USN carriers will replenish roughly 17 hexes east of Dunedin over the next few days. I may hold them there - not sure yet where I want them to go.

SWPac: Patrols report enemy carriers (probably the Hiyo group) at Port Moresby. Enemy patrols snope an AO at Hobart (which is another important puzzle piece for John). Lots of Allied shipping at Sydney and Hobart - each base has roughly 100 fighters, which wouldn't be nearly enough against a full KB raid. That's one reason I'm considering sending the carriers this way...but I also like the idea of holding them back to shoot north to New Caledonia under certain circumstances.

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
it appears that this was Antietam and the Allies are the Union forces - they hold the field and the enemy retreated.

Isn't there some Reb analogy that you could trot out here? Comparing your play to the Yankee army is somehow...discomforting...to your readers. [;)]

Not to this Texas-born damnyankee. Excellent analogy, sez I!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: pws1225

Geez GJ, that's a creepy picture you got there. Worse than the penguin, if that's possible.

It's a very funny (and intelligent) Italian parody made by one of the most amazing comedy actors we have (Guzzanti). It is called "Fascisti su Marte" (Fascists on Mars) which is pictured as one of the many "denied victories" of the Fascism.... hard to describe it in words... it's made like a 1940 documentary with the speaker talking just like the use to do during the fascism (also using that very characteristic vocabulary).
Don't think it can be understood by a non-Italian unfortunately... however I wanna say that it is simply a parody and, for sure, not a apology of fascism or anything else.
it's basically a movie which features an anachronistic and heavily satirical plot about a group of Fascist militiamen attempting to colonize Mars (the red Bolshevik planet) during the Fascist era.

[Canoerebel]

10/5/42

Arabian Sea: SBD-1s from Hermes damage or sink one raider. The second, near Karachi, is cornered and probably toast.

Bay of Bengal: No menacing enemy ships. Pensacola is off Kogala. Heavy enemy bomber activity at Ramree with sweeps by alot of Tojos. No Allied CAP present. Heavy AA downs a dozen enemy bombers. Damage done is fairly light, but cumulative damage threatens to re-close the airfield. Okay by me for now - let the AA work its magic until further notice.

Burma: See map below. Allied attack at key hex comes off as high-end 1:1. Supply is low. Ordinarily, I'd rest for a day or two, but another Allied unit arrived, so I'm going to shock attack. Should the Allies win, Japan may suddenly find it's position in Burma crumbling. But if the Allies lose, four good units may be rendered combat unworthy. I'm going to risk it.

China: I'm monitoring reshulffing of IJA troops. I think I see where John's coming next - east of Kweilin.

Pacific: S-46 puts two torps in CV Junyo (massive ammo explosion) south of Rabaul. That carrier should be out of action for months. Allied carriers refuel and are stationary SE of Dunedin, NZ, until I figure out where they will go. Troop unloading at Hobart, Sydney and Port Kembla continues to progress nicely. Most of the combat units are safely ashore. I"m not as worried about a possible enemy carrier raid hitting this vulnerable mass of shipping since the Junyo TF was heading away from rather than towards the scene.

[paullus99]

John is really in deep doo-doo in Burma - you're already going on a limited offensive & it doesn't look like he has the time or position to push you back (or even stop you). With the AV you've already got in theater, along with what is coming over the next six - nine months, he's toast unless he can pull together a decent defensive line to the rear....

[Cribtop]

I concur. Burma is falling apart from the IJA perspective. Push him hard and fast here, he is ready to collapse. Don't forget the number of IJA units in theater that you mauled and thus rendered into paper tiger status. Even if he sends a bunch of reinforcements, the best hope he has now is to stabilize on the Prome-Toungoo-Taung Gyi line, and committing his whole army here will open everything else up. The initiative in this war is swinging ever faster to the Allies.

[paullus99]

John seems to have very little appreciation for the land aspects of this game - he's been caught flat footed & his responses thus far have been sub-par at best.....it'll be interesting to see if he truly realizes his position.

[JohnDillworth]

S-46 puts two torps in CV Junyo (massive ammo explosion) south of Rabaul. That carrier should be out of action for months. Allied carriers refuel and are stationary SE of Dunedin, NZ, until I figure out where they will go. Troop unloading at Hobart, Sydney and Port Kembla continues to progress nicely. Most of the combat units are safely ashore. I"m not as worried about a possible enemy carrier raid hitting this vulnerable mass of shipping since the Junyo TF was heading away from rather than towards the scene.

This class of CV is converted liners I believe. He has extra flight decks in this mode but this class can't really take a punch. If it's not FOW this ship could be in trouble

[Cribtop]

Yeah, how far is Junyo from Rabaul? She may be going under with that kind of damage.

[Canoerebel]

10/6/42

Arabian Sea: The Hermes SBD-1s kill the second armed merchant cruiser. Not sure what this was all about - the only thing that makes the least sense would be a scouting mission, but that don't make sense. John can't spring his carriers into this Sea without triggering patrol reports from Diego or Addu. As far as I can tell, this AMC-raider mission served no purpose. But now Hermes is a hero.

Bay of Bengal: Totally quiet today. Even the Japanese airforce was absent working over Allied ground units. Pensacola is a couple of days away from Colombo. Boise is off Trincomalee. Four damaed cruisers are repairing at Colombo, with New Orleans to be ready in 16 days and the others from 20 to 30 days.

Burma: Today was as bad as yesterday was good. Japanese bombers worked over the Allied army despite CAP, which performed decently but was too small. The Allied shock attack came off at 1:7, cause minor destruction to both armies, but disabled 250 squads for the Allies. So this army is out of commission for awhile. To make things much worse, two Aussie divisions are two hexes NE. Although I solely possess all three hexes, the Aussie refuse to move SW. For reasons unknown the hexside is closed. This means the Aussies have to march back through at least two jungle hexes. This may make it impossible to do anything substantive for weeks to come. All is not lost, though. More reinforcements are coming and the main purpose of Burma is to efficiently fight the Japanese on sea, in the air and on the ground.

Paciifc: No sign of Junyo or her TF today. She was only four or five hexes from Rabaul. I doubt two torps would finish her off, but who knows. I've decided on an odd strategy in SWPac. John's spidey senses are obviously going gang busters, so I'm ramping things up even more. I started reconnaissance of Horn Island today with PM to follow tomorrow. I resumed base building and both Cairns and Cooktown airfields increased by one level today (that should have John's full attention). SigInt that 5th Div. is inbound to Port Moresby. I want to take on and further bloody the Japanese army, but I don't want to face the KB. So I'm going to make lots of noise for two weeks and then suddenly "disappear." I'll give John two weeks to wonder what happened and where I've gone. Then I'll commit sizeable feints in a couple of places - including NoPac. Then I'll move on either New Guinea or New Caledonia. I think there's a good chance I can persuade John to act similarly to what we just went through in the "the Allies are coming for NoPac...no they're not...so where are they going?....Oh, they're going to New Guinea!" kind of routine. Only, this time I really will hit the original target, hopefully after I've gotten him to stand down and look elsewhere.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
As far as I can tell, this AMC-raider mission served no purpose.

Dan, you're venturing down the repeated "what could he possibly have been thinking?!?" path again. Just thought you'd like a heads up on it.

Raiding Allied tanker routes with AMCs makes a ton of sense to me. If you happen upon one of them, typically it's underescorted. A decent AMC can fire most of the tankers before the convoy can break off and get away. A fired tanker is (usually) a dead tanker and is a very worthwhile goal for the Japanese.

In my current PBEM game, I happened upon an Perth-bound convoy of a half dozen large xAKs relegated to hauling fuel. My AMC sank 3, damaged another 1 or 2 and beat feet. The one that I sent in as a replacement to double down got sunk for its troubles by an SCTF led by POW.

So I made him patrol his sealanes with big ships (eats fuel), sank 3 fuel-laden xAKs (eats fuel) and damaged 1-2 more (fired them-eating fuel). That was a worthwhile effort.

You can't blame John for trying deep interdictional raids with his AMCs. That's what they're for.

[Canoerebel]

I know AMCs can be useful, but I saw these coming - patrols gave solid reports for three straight days as they passed Diego. So I'm just wondering why he continued - raiding usually needs surprise to be effective. I was simply surprised he kept on once he lost surprise.

I did have 23 gazillion ships in Arabian Sea, mostly running routine supply and fuel. I changed course for the loaded stuff and left the empties to continue about their business. The raiders caught a couple of TFs and did 20 SYS damage to an empty xAP, but that was it. The Allies didn't expend any extra fuel (other than the little spent by Hermes and two small escorts going from Bombay to Karachi and back).

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

those of us who flew on the IL2Sturmovick (and successors) on full-switch servers know that the P-39, if piloted in the right way (using its great high speed rolling at low altitudes and keeping it fast), it's a great plane, far better than the P-40.

Essentially you have to pilot the P-39 like a FW190A. Keep the speed up, never turn, only roll, boom&zoom a bit and then rely on your great frontal firepower.

I remember how i could easily deal with the zeros in the zeke/vs/Wildcat server in the NG maps... Those zekes want you to follow them in a turn&burn fight where they excel...NEVER! keep on running straight...fire...don't turn...keep your speed and energy...just like in a 190...

I also had pretty good results using the field modified russion version of the P-39 against the Me109G-6 over Leningrad...

It's a great plane at low alt... believe me

Yeah, but when you put it into a flat spin the smartest move was to bail out....[;)]

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Yeah, how far is Junyo from Rabaul? She may be going under with that kind of damage.

Hard to say. The MK 10 torpedo is reliable but does not carry much punch at all. Depends on the ammo explosion effect but the damage from two of those fish could be very little.

[Canoerebel]

10/7/42

Bay of Bengal: Tojo sweep of Akyab goes Japan's way today, as my best fighters (P-40K and P-38F) were busy elsewhere. The F4F-4 cannot stand under these circumstances, so I'll have to be careful. No other enemy contact, as Pensacola draws night to Colombo.

Burma: All enemy bombers concentrate on the 41st USA Div. stack. 7th Indian Div., up north, bombards to find the hex is held by little more than one-third of a division. Shock attack tomorrow preceded by strikes (I hope) by 2EB and some Vindicators. I assume that John will shift his bombers to hit this hex. If so, the attack will fail. John makes a big deal via his email about counting 75 units in Burma. I haven't counted. I don't know. But the majority of those are at Ramree Island and Akyab, and therefore include lots of engineers and base forces.

Pacific: Recon seems to show at least one division at Horn Island, perhaps another at Port Moresby. Recon tomorrow at Terapo, followed by Meraukee the day after. Lots of enemy shipping in this area. Also, some enemy units appear to be moving overland from Normanton up towards Coen and Portland Roads. They bumped into an Allied armor unit that was scouting. Brisbane airfield goes up a level. John is getting an eyeful.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

those of us who flew on the IL2Sturmovick (and successors) on full-switch servers know that the P-39, if piloted in the right way (using its great high speed rolling at low altitudes and keeping it fast), it's a great plane, far better than the P-40.

Essentially you have to pilot the P-39 like a FW190A. Keep the speed up, never turn, only roll, boom&zoom a bit and then rely on your great frontal firepower.

I remember how i could easily deal with the zeros in the zeke/vs/Wildcat server in the NG maps... Those zekes want you to follow them in a turn&burn fight where they excel...NEVER! keep on running straight...fire...don't turn...keep your speed and energy...just like in a 190...

I also had pretty good results using the field modified russion version of the P-39 against the Me109G-6 over Leningrad...

It's a great plane at low alt... believe me

Yeah, but when you put it into a flat spin the smartest move was to bail out....[;)]

That's an F-14, Maverick. Poor Goose. [:(]

[CaptBeefheart]

Sorry this is a month late, but just read the part about the Glorious Glosters. A good friend of mine, Andy Salmon, recently wrote a very interesting book on the Battle of the Imjin River, "To the Last Round," which concentrates on personal stories. I've been on that battlefield a few times with him and veterans of 29th Brigade (and hoisted a few pints with them later), some of whom come out every year on the anniversary. It's a great story of ordinary men doing extraordinary things.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Cheers,
CC

[Cribtop]

Thanks, Cody. I'll try to find it.

[Canoerebel]

10/8/42

Bay of Bengal: Mostly quiet again - one Helen raid vs. Ramree Islands does modest damage (net decrease in damage for the day). Pensacola should arrive at Colombo tonight.

Burma: 7th Indian Div. attacks one-third of an IJA div. up near Katha. Comes off at 1:2 with small losses for each, but high disablements for the Allies. I think the attack might have succeeded had the 2EB (mostly B-25s) flown from Cox's Bazaar, but they took the day off. 18th UK Div., late of Diego Garcia, is ashore at Coshin and will begin the long journey to the front lines.

Pacific: Lots of Allied base-level increases in Oz. The American carriers are sliding past the south cape of NZ now. Patrols give strong sightings of IJN subs, and probably those subs get enough info to alert John. Most of my transports are at Hobart and Sydney unloading. Re-loading is going to take awhile - especially at Hobart - but I have time. As mentioned a few days ago, the plan is to really make things loud for about another week, then go quiet for awhile, hopefully leading John to believe the actual targets are elsewhere. The plan is to then feint towards western Oz and NoPac. I really want a crack at the IJA divisions at Horn Island and Port Moresby, but I don't want the KB sitting right there to contest the invasions.