Wild Sheep Chase - obvert (J) vs JocMeister (A)

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition

User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]DEI[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here the threat is imminent. As shown Darwin lost a significant number of troops overnight, down from 119k to 87k. I have no good intel on the make-up of Allied forces here and if this includes CV/CVE or not. Darwin shows only PTs and what look like LST/LSI TFs, plus a few SAGs. Surface forces supported by LBA will contend the Timor area and the subs and MTBs will be left to take on anything going for the SE islands.

Image
Attachments
8544dei.jpg
8544dei.jpg (316.86 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]MARIANAS[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The KB will move in over the next two days. I don't know yet what is coming. It could be a split portion of he Allied CV force, just CVE, or some other surface force without air support. All I know is that my E TF is at 10/10 in the middle of the ocean.

The goal here would be an engagement with a portion only of the Allied CVs and supported by our LBA in the Marianas. If this is not CVs then this mission would be about hitting whatever is moving here hard and getting out and back around to the PI area. I can't imagine he'd send something out without air cover, so at least some CVEs are likely, and that would be supported by the 10/10 DL on a two ship TF far from his closest base at Eniweitok. My guess? Simple reinforcement of Tinian with mining, PTs and lots of supply along as well.

Image
Attachments
8544mrn.jpg
8544mrn.jpg (394.84 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
Nemo121
Posts: 5838
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 11:15 am
Contact:

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by Nemo121 »

Several small 24cm guns

*chuckle* God help them when you get serious with your bombardments if you think 24cm arty is small calibre [:D].
John Dillworth: "I had GreyJoy check my spelling and he said it was fine."
Well, that's that settled then.
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]BURMA[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is perhaps the most interesting of the threats on the horizon. I can't help but think it's a feint and/or a simple CAP trap to make me shift focus here, take away and deplete LBA and generally provoke a frantic reaction. There is a 3 ship SAG listed and another TF that looks to be ASW, 4 ships showing DDs.

With this in mind I will only use forces in the area and will limit strikes to the range of the bases under threat, namely Rangoon, Pegu and Moulmein now, possibly the area around Tavoy later or the Andamans. Any threats further to the South will come under attack from multiple air nodes including Bangkok, Georgetown area, Medan and possibly Singapore.

The supply situation is not as critical as it may appear from the many flags on the bases in Burma. All have at least 5-7k supply and the big troop stack has 20k (with a 12k requirement and about 200+ squads/devices disabled). A big supply bump should happen in the next week as released piles from Khota Baru move NW and another 60k drop comes in at Bangkok (in 2-3 days).

250+ fighters are moved into Rangoon now that he can't see my icon before setting orders. I will pop them out again if nothing challenges tomorrow. About 100 fighters are in Pisanoluke to fly CAP for 50 on escort duties.

Image
Attachments
8544burm.jpg
8544burm.jpg (649.3 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
Several small 24cm guns

*chuckle* God help them when you get serious with your bombardments if you think 24cm arty is small calibre [:D].

Ha! [:D] I meant small as in the number of guns, only 6-8 for each unit.

Yes, these have proven well worth their trouble in Burma slugging it out with massed Allied artillery, but I'm curious to see if they'll add to coastal defenses in a useful way. There are about 3 groups with these guns, another with the 30cm guns, and I'm contemplating buying another with 27cm mortars. Not sure if the mortars would be useful at all against shipping.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
Captain Cruft
Posts: 3749
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 12:49 pm
Location: England

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by Captain Cruft »

I have all my big arty from Kwantung deployed at islands and atolls now. Not with the expectation of them doing anything against shipping though, it's the enemy troops that are the target. As I understand it the only shipping they will fire at is ships actually in the process of unloading.
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I have all my big arty from Kwantung deployed at islands and atolls now. Not with the expectation of them doing anything against shipping though, it's the enemy troops that are the target. As I understand it the only shipping they will fire at is ships actually in the process of unloading.

Those are the ships I'd like to hit. [;)]

The trouble with CD guns is they are hit in bombardments and DP guns are disrupted by air strikes. Maybe if some arty are there as well they will still be around to fire at the unloading troopships and incoming troops.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]5 July 1944[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]DECEPTION: [/font] Either Jocke is doing a good job of creating confusion and feinting around the map, or I am starting to imagine things.

Either way his recent moves have been effective in making me react but have also crystallized my defensive philosophy for the coming months. I don't want to take on the US CV fleet head on when it's got LBA support. I want the troops in place to delay his progress. I want to try to take something away with every one of his pushes forward, and I'll use the KB only to protect the areas I think are most vulnerable and where I would have the LBA advantage. Deep in the DEI, the Marianas and the area around Sumatra and Malaya would fit those criteria, as well as the PI should he venture so far soon.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SUBS: [/font] The line of US subs has moved ahead around the Moluccas and beyond. I'm guessing this is a tripwire for the KB. Which is actually well North and behind the line. [:)]

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]S/SW PAC:[/font] The US CV fleet is near Biak and a growing number of ships is seen in the area. Just through the search reports this looks like the main CV fleet but not the CVEs, unless they are still lagging behind with transports. Sweeps of Sorong still did well, but we got about 1:2 against massed P-47s this time. Much better. I can keep this up as 2/3 of the groups are okay, but if he is coming for Sorong and begins a bombing campaign, it could get ugly and these groups could be stuck here. Decisions, decisions.

CAP SETTING: At Sorong I had the CAP set to 80% at 0 hex. I usually don't use this high a CAP % setting, in fact I almost never have, but I wanted to have a bunch of planes in the air when his dives came since he's been getting cooperating sweeps here with almost 100 P-47s. In this instance NO fighters were up in the air when the strikes came in. I don't think I've ever seen this, especially not for all different parts of the battle. Wouldn't they be up when the second and third waves came in?

What happened?

[font="Trebuchet MS"]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 5, 44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on 4th Brigade, at 95,118 (Aitape)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3
B-24D Liberator x 3
B-24D1 Liberator x 11
B-24J Liberator x 34
F4U-1 Corsair x 8
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 20

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Sorong , at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 45,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 12
J2M3 Jack x 47
N1K2-J George x 43
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 38

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 3
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 2

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

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed


CAP engaged:
S-302 Kokutai with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
256 Ku S-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
S-601 Hikotai with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 18 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
341 Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
S-407 Hikotai with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
77th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (0 airborne, 26 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Sorong , at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 47,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 12
J2M3 Jack x 47
N1K2-J George x 43
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 36

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
J2M3 Jack: 11 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 4 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed


Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed


Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P-47D25 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet
7 x P-47D25 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet
2 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Sorong , at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 48,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 6
J2M3 Jack x 27
N1K2-J George x 35
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 29

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
J2M3 Jack: 2 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 3 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed


Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

CAP engaged:
S-302 Kokutai with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 16000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes
S-601 Hikotai with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 14000 and 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
S-407 Hikotai with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 2 on standby, 0 scrambling)
15 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
77th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
16 plane(s) not yet engaged, 7 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
256 Ku S-1 with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 2 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 16000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
341 Ku S-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
11 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 14000 and 45000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 41 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[/font]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Just waiting for the hammer to fall and hoping I can take a chunk out as it comes down. [/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attachments
8644ngdei3.jpg
8644ngdei3.jpg (289.27 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]5 July 1944 (continued)[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]S DEI: [/font] So is this a feint as well? He takes troops out and puts them on ships, bombs the heck out of every base in range in the DEI. He has a number of SAGs at Darwin.

If this were a feint I would imagine he would have the ships hanging out a few hexes from OZ and LR CAPed, he would be sending PTs on missions to Saumlaki, and generally rattling swords more. It feels to me like he's trying to hide his intentions here a bit. I still have a Jake unit operating from Bathhurst island and they haven't seen any APA or CVE in the area, yet. I'm moving a 20 plane Jake unit to Saumlaki tomorrow to get more info.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]BURMA: [/font] Here I feel I was wrong completely. Those ships yesterday must have been a CAP trap attempt. I haven't seen much of that over here, so it felt like it could have been more. Now the two TFs have pulled back, and there is the kind of shipping around Ramree that seems 'normal' rather than invasion material. It doesn't look like a bunch of fast moving big transports and a ton of convering combat ships. One includes a sighting report of two AMC with some DDs, but it's only 10 ships and could easily be a SAG or just reinforcements. Anyway, all is prepared as best we can make it.

He didn't go for Rangoon yesterday, but that might have been weather. It seems as if there is no DL on the base today either. That is very odd. There was no air action anywhere in Burma in fact, maybe for the first time in years. I kept the 250+ fighters there for now.

All bases in the area jumped to 10-15k in supplies with the release of the unintended storage dump at Khota Baru! [:)]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Trebuchet MS"]As this shows Rangoon is back in business again, and the ships at Ramree just don't feel like anything too exciting could happen.[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attachments
8644brm.jpg
8644brm.jpg (843.16 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]5 July 1944 (continued)[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CENTRAL PACFIC:[/font] The KB moves SE and announces it's presence with about 10 attacks on subs. Doh! Oh, well. I can't afford to move in stealth mode at this stage, especially if CV/CVE were moving to the Marianas. As it is I'm still not sure. There are clouds about, so I can't be sure of seeing everything, but 2 x 12 Emilys, Bettys, 24 x Jakes from Truk found a grand total of ONE TF SW of Marcus with a grand total of 2 ships listed in it.

The KB will take up position near Pagan and see what happens. I'm hoping to avoid contact with the two lit up subs W of Pagan and we'll have another look around out there with the search planes.

I put the naval planes on TT/airfield and the Helens on strait airfield at 10k over Tinian. Still looks to have decent damage.

Reinforcements: A lot coming in a few days, and quite a bit more leaving in terms of IJN air groups.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Device NE turbojet advances R&D (8/45)[/font]

Losses: none.

Ships Sunk: none.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Looks empty. Is it?[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attachments
8644mrn.jpg
8644mrn.jpg (405.13 KiB) Viewed 279 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]QUESTION[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Above in the section on S/SW PAC I detailed a bit of what happened to CAP at Sorong. No planes up during any of the attacks until after the sweeps were already overhead. I assume this is the reason for my high losses both this day and the last.

So I asked about why this might have happened? I need some help!

Anyone out there?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
koniu
Posts: 2763
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:19 pm
Location: Konin, Poland, European Union

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by koniu »

ORIGINAL: obvert

Above in the section on S/SW PAC I detailed a bit of what happened to CAP at Sorong. No planes up during any of the attacks until after the sweeps were already overhead. I assume this is the reason for my high losses both this day and the last.

So I asked about why this might have happened? I need some help!

Anyone out there?

First.
High 80% CAP mean that You theoretically can have more planes in air but not always. With bad luck most of them can be currently on ground refueling. So numbers of planes in air in reality can be lower that when you use 40 or 50% CAP.
I think it can by impacted by plane numbers on AF, numbers of AV support, AF size or damage to AF infrastructure etc.
Higher CAP % mean more planes refueling at once so less planes in air and on standby


Second.
Do You have radar in base. Look at detection times. 11, 11 and 5 minutes and most of planes need between 20-40 minutes to get in position

"Only the Dead Have Seen the End of War"
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: obvert

Above in the section on S/SW PAC I detailed a bit of what happened to CAP at Sorong. No planes up during any of the attacks until after the sweeps were already overhead. I assume this is the reason for my high losses both this day and the last.

So I asked about why this might have happened? I need some help!

Anyone out there?

First.
High 80% CAP mean that You theoretically can have more planes in air but not always. With bad luck most of them can be currently on ground refueling. So numbers of planes in air in reality can be lower that when you use 40 or 50% CAP.
I think it can by impacted by plane numbers on AF, numbers of AV support, AF size or damage to AF infrastructure etc.
Higher CAP % mean more planes refueling at once so less planes in air and on standby


Second.
Do You have radar in base. Look at detection times. 11, 11 and 5 minutes and most of planes need between 20-40 minutes to get in position


Thanks koniu. I'm aware of the lack of radar. The airbase was included as a big fragment with the radar left in the Solomons, and it regrettably has not yet been destroyed to be rebuilt here. Still, in the early going without radar I would get much better CAP numbers up than this. NONE in the air out of 140 planes is pretty odd. The point as I saw it was to get a larger percentage of CAP in the air so the radar detection times wouldn't matter so much at the expense of pilot fatigue since I assume this will be a short stand before the eventual abandonment of the base.

It's a level 5 base with 170 AS, an HQa and a base force. It has no damage.

Just still curious how over three consecutive sweeps NO planes were in the air. I'll lower the CAP numbers again to 50%, but if this is just a radar thing it's really strange that it didn't function in this way pre-radar in 42. If CAP is set I've always seen CAP in the air with a percentage scrambling and getting into position. They are on 0 hex range also.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
zuluhour
Posts: 5246
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:16 pm
Location: Maryland

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by zuluhour »

Ive had great success with 30% using to different alts
User avatar
PaxMondo
Posts: 11130
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:23 pm

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by PaxMondo »

Obvert,

I have to say congrats to you. Here you are mid44 and you are in pretty good shape. The allies still have no access in the DEI, and only a toe hold in the Marshalls. Hopefully you are scavenging every ton of oil/fuel there is and getting it back to the HI. If so, you should be ok through war's end here.

Suggestions:
Start prepping your defenses for the SOV activation now. Get your MLR, 2nd, and 3rd lines established. Sure, SOV activation is sitll a year away, but it is only a year away. You want your units prepped and dug in well in advance. Your air units will be key here as they are the only thing you have that will stop the SOV armored units. Be sure that you have enough air units ear marked for this defense.

I think most IJ players attempt to defend Burma/Thai/Malay too long into the game. This stretches their perimeter and creates the potential for a lot of units being isolated in SE Asia when the allies take the PI. Consider that any unit west of HK when the allies are in Manila are probably not in a position for your advantage. If so, then be sure that you are planning for the retreat of all of these units. This is a lot of AV for your overall defense, and you want to be sure you have a plan to integrate them into it.

Just a few random thoughts. Great game. Gonna enjoy reading the next 2 years of it!

Pax
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Obvert,

I have to say congrats to you. Here you are mid44 and you are in pretty good shape. The allies still have no access in the DEI, and only a toe hold in the Marshalls. Hopefully you are scavenging every ton of oil/fuel there is and getting it back to the HI. If so, you should be ok through war's end here.

Suggestions:
Start prepping your defenses for the SOV activation now. Get your MLR, 2nd, and 3rd lines established. Sure, SOV activation is sitll a year away, but it is only a year away. You want your units prepped and dug in well in advance. Your air units will be key here as they are the only thing you have that will stop the SOV armored units. Be sure that you have enough air units ear marked for this defense.

I think most IJ players attempt to defend Burma/Thai/Malay too long into the game. This stretches their perimeter and creates the potential for a lot of units being isolated in SE Asia when the allies take the PI. Consider that any unit west of HK when the allies are in Manila are probably not in a position for your advantage. If so, then be sure that you are planning for the retreat of all of these units. This is a lot of AV for your overall defense, and you want to be sure you have a plan to integrate them into it.

Just a few random thoughts. Great game. Gonna enjoy reading the next 2 years of it!


Thanks Pax. It feels less and less like I'm doing well as the Allies push forward, but as you say the going has been somewhat slower of late for them. The latest push which I'll write up today is scary, but at least not as comprehensive around the map as I initially feared. I'm still very worried about oil/fuel reserves, btu the fact he hasn't bombed much of it out yet is a plus and I should be able to keep drawing from Palembang/Miri for a good amount of time still based on the vectors it appears he is taking. With coastal routing, even getting to the PI doesn't necessarily mean he can cut everything off right away.

About the SOV date, I've chosen to defend only a portion of Manchuria in good terrain, from Yingkow to Changchun to Yenki to Rashin. That'll be my first MLR. Then from Antung along the river and mountains to Seishin.

In China I'll likely not defend much before the Nanking-Shanghai area and up to Hangkow-Wuchang other than garrisons in place. He'll chose which way he wants to go and if he wants to free the Chinese finally that'll be an option for him.

The sole reason I'm still in Burma is that he can bomb Palembang/Miri if I let him get closer, btu can only reach Medan now. I'd like to keep a good force there and only slowly pull that back. Currently a division, about 2-3 brigades, a regiment, 5-6 base forces, several engineer units and 2 HQa are pulling back. They'll go to Malaya and to the PI.

This does mean there is a lot of scrambling going on trying to get other troops into the PI. About 800 AV just arrived on Mindanao and another 400 AV is on the way. About 400 AV is on Luzon now, and I'm rushing more in the next month as well as arty, a tank division and lots of engineers. The KB will likely swing from it's current position North of the Marianas to get in position to defend the PI within 2-3 weeks. I'll keep surface forces in the Bonins moving down to continue bombarding Tinian and hopefully keep the field closed. All big Marianas bases are now reaching close to 700-800 AV and near level 6 forts. Although Tinian was not much lower in AV it's forts were only level 3.9 when invaded and it's fairly new units hadn't filled out or fully prepped. I also didn't have CD guns or arty there. All other bases now have those extras. I'd really like to stall anything in this area for as long as possible.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
PaxMondo
Posts: 11130
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:23 pm

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by PaxMondo »

ORIGINAL: obvert

[About the SOV date, I've chosen to defend only a portion of Manchuria in good terrain, from Yingkow to Changchun to Yenki to Rashin. That'll be my first MLR. Then from Antung along the river and mountains to Seishin.

In China I'll likely not defend much before the Nanking-Shanghai area and up to Hangkow-Wuchang other than garrisons in place. He'll chose which way he wants to go and if he wants to free the Chinese finally that'll be an option for him.
Fairly typical choices here, and for good reasons: terrain.

Given these, now look at all of your units beyond these locations. They all have to move within this or be abandoned. Each unit abandoned represents a lot of HI in addition to the AV loss. An ID is worth +100,000 HI ... that is a lot of oil. Takes a many days worth of production even at Palembang/Miri to come up with that. Make sure that you are not throwing away more than you are taking is all I am suggesting here. I can tell you historically the IJ did not retreat fast enough, and most IJ players fall into the same traps. Once the allies get going, everything up to Formosa can fall FAST. DEI/PI is no more defensible in '44 than it was in '42.
Pax
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: obvert

[About the SOV date, I've chosen to defend only a portion of Manchuria in good terrain, from Yingkow to Changchun to Yenki to Rashin. That'll be my first MLR. Then from Antung along the river and mountains to Seishin.

In China I'll likely not defend much before the Nanking-Shanghai area and up to Hangkow-Wuchang other than garrisons in place. He'll chose which way he wants to go and if he wants to free the Chinese finally that'll be an option for him.
Fairly typical choices here, and for good reasons: terrain.

Given these, now look at all of your units beyond these locations. They all have to move within this or be abandoned. Each unit abandoned represents a lot of HI in addition to the AV loss. An ID is worth +100,000 HI ... that is a lot of oil. Takes a many days worth of production even at Palembang/Miri to come up with that. Make sure that you are not throwing away more than you are taking is all I am suggesting here. I can tell you historically the IJ did not retreat fast enough, and most IJ players fall into the same traps. Once the allies get going, everything up to Formosa can fall FAST. DEI/PI is no more defensible in '44 than it was in '42.

It's funny, as just from thinking about it as I worked on the turn, based on your note, I already earmarked another 5-6 engineer and another 4 base forces to head back and started to think about what to do at the MLR to ease some units to the rear. It'll take some finessing.

The other thing though is that I'm still occupying a very large number of Allied troops in Burma that could be used elsewhere. I'd much rather have them there than in Sumatra, Java or Indochina. At 55, 51 now, after a withdrawal of some, he still has 7500 AV to my 4200 AV! Once I see his reserves moving out of Prome and somewhere else I can likely start removing some divisions and big gun units from the front.

The Thais are about to withdraw. I thought of using them on one chance river crossing to Bassein. I've got all still in Burma heading to Rangoon, and two IJA divisions sitting there prepping for Bassein as well. He has 12 units but only 21k troops, 85 guns and 112 AFVs there. I'm thinking a lot of base forces and engineers, not many troops. It should have level 6 forts, but I could get 1500-1800 AV of IJA/Thai troops (and it's a clear hex) to see if they could smack it. Might be a fun way for them to go out.

Foolish or fun? [;)]
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
PaxMondo
Posts: 11130
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:23 pm

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by PaxMondo »

Using Thai's however you want = fun

You precisely articulate every IJ players conundrum: "I'm still occupying a very large number of Allied troops in Burma that could be used elsewhere..."

Just remember that when the PI is occupied those troops of yours are now effectively out of the war, if not actually lost. The allies can pick theirs up much easier. I have always felt that '44 is the most diifficult time of the war for the IJ. It isn't the losses (yet), but rather the choices that are so hard. When to give up good positions?
Pax
User avatar
obvert
Posts: 14051
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:18 am
Location: PDX (and now) London, UK

RE: Wild Sheep Chase

Post by obvert »

[font="Times New Roman"]6 July 1944[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]SUBS: [/font] Lots of subs making contact with Allied ships, a few being sunk. No hits. Got another Allied sub in the Sulu Sea though.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]S/SW PAC:[/font] The big fleet is now two hexes off Sorong and several DD groups hit the base to clear subs and MTBs. Those didn't go down easily and two MTBs are left wandering the area, hopefully ready to slow things during the night, but all it will cause is a potential ship collision as no air strikes or naval interdictions are planned. This is up to the ground troops now.

Aitape falls and a bunch of refugee units are struggling through jungle to Vanaimo. Wewak will go soon. I'm hoping Nabire will hold out for a while.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]S DEI: [/font] Still in the building phase here. Ships have moved out from Darwin, looking like three SAGs, but not in our air strike range and probably preparing to charge in and try to remove our naval assets in the area. I'll send the BBs in closer to around Dili.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]BURMA: [/font] Still no sweeps at Rangoon. The previous threat posed by ships in the IO has evaporated and now it's back to a locked MLR and sporadic air battles. I probably should pull my fighters out of Rangoon as the DL went up again today, so he knows they are there. I'm just curious how they will do if sweeps come in, and I'd like to keep wearing down the pools of P-47s, even at a loss of 2-3:1.

[font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]CENTRAL PACFIC:[/font] No major combat ships or CVs located in the Central Pacific, but something is happening as there are a few TFs out in the middle of nowhere below Marcus, including one with 10 ships listed as AK. I'll pursue at mission speed with the KB to see what happens there, and then pull back to refuel and if nothing else of note occurs, head around to the PI area.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 6, 44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Submarine attack near Manokwari at 85,107

Japanese Ships
SS RO-43, hits 16, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB Queen Elizabeth
BB Mississippi
BC Renown
DD Downes
DD Crane
DD Kennison
DD Nepal

SS RO-43 is sighted by escort
DD Crane fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Kennison fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Nepal attacking submerged sub ....
SS RO-43 forced to surface!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Talaud-eilanden at 82,96

Japanese Ships
E No.13, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
E No.3

Allied Ships
SS Haddo, hits 3

SS Haddo launches 2 torpedoes at E No.13
E No.3 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E No.3 attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Jolo at 73,87

Japanese Ships
E No.12
E Yomogi
E Nomi

Allied Ships
SS Flounder, hits 7, heavy damage

SS Flounder is located by E No.12
Flounder diving deep ....
E Nomi fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Nomi attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tinian , at 108,94

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 31
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 18
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 3 damaged
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 18

Aircraft Attacking:
18 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 10000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tinian , at 108,94

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
P1Y2 Frances x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y2 Frances: 4 damaged
P1Y2 Frances: 1 destroyed by flak

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x P1Y2 Frances bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Biak at 89,110

Japanese Ships
SS I-17, hits 13, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Talbot
DE Sederstrom
DD Quality

SS I-17 launches 2 torpedoes at DD Talbot
I-17 diving deep ....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tinian , at 108,94

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 22
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 6 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 8

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tinian , at 108,94

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 18
G4M1 Betty x 27
Ki-84a Frank x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 10 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
20 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Tinian , at 108,94

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 18
P1Y1 Frances x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y1 Frances: 4 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x P1Y1 Frances bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

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

Ground combat at Aitape (95,118)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34530 troops, 703 guns, 760 vehicles, Assault Value = 1284

Defending force 10932 troops, 131 guns, 22 vehicles, Assault Value = 170

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 585

Japanese adjusted defense: 105

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Aitape !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3692 casualties reported
Squads: 147 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 191 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 123 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 55 (54 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (23 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Units retreated 4

Allied ground losses:
192 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled

Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 50 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
102nd Combat Engineer Regiment
38th Infantry Division
1st Marine Division
24th Infantry Division
5th USMC Tank Battalion
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Regiment
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
6th Guards Inf. Regiment
Maizuru 1st SNLF
4th Brigade
Yokosuka 1st SNLF
52nd JNAF AF Unit
2nd Naval Construction Battalion
44th Road Const Co
23rd Field AF Construction Battalion
58th JNAF AF Unit
12th JAAF AF Coy

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

Ground combat at Derby (64,127)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 720 troops, 0 guns, 106 vehicles, Assault Value = 59

Defending force 786 troops, 8 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 36

Allied adjusted assault: 54

Japanese adjusted defense: 10

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), leaders(+), leaders(-), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
340 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 14 disabled

Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
2/7th Armoured Regiment

Defending units:
Sasebo 3rd SNLF

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

Ground combat at Kiriwina Island (102,131)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 391 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 25

Defending force 1295 troops, 0 guns, 87 vehicles, Assault Value = 3

Allied adjusted assault: 2

Japanese adjusted defense: 13

Allied assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 4)

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

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

Assaulting units:
2nd Fiji Commando Battalion

Defending units:
22nd Ind. Engr Rgt /1
8th Area Army /1
51st JNAF AF Unit /1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[/font]

Reinforcements:

[font="Trebuchet MS"]LST T-135 arrives at Nagoya
MGB G-878 arrives at Hiroshima/Kure
[/font]

Losses: None of these did much to slow anything down at Sorong.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Loss of SSX Ha-5 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of MGB G-875 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of MGB G-876 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of E No.13 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of MGB G-4 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of SS I-17 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
Loss of SS RO-43 on Jul 06, 1944 is admitted
[/font]

Ships Sunk:

[font="Trebuchet MS"]AK Serpens is reported to have been sunk near Hollandia on May 03, 1944[/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Guess what will happen in the night? Sorong and probably some other bases in the North New Guinea area should be invaded tonight. The difference is that there will be no air strikes aiming for these fleets. I'll conserve for now while the entire Allied fleet is there. [/font]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Attachments
saipanfla..ansports.jpg
saipanfla..ansports.jpg (101.89 KiB) Viewed 281 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Post Reply

Return to “After Action Reports”