I apologize if my pictures are to big - first try in a long time to include pics.
May 1st, 1943
Its been 2 months of real time and nearly 4 months of game time since my last post. Not sure if many people are reading / following this AAR. I know its a bit dull but not sure how to spice it up for you few that are following.
Economy:
Aircraft Production:
Carrier Fighter: A6M5c Zero x210 (size 60 x3, size 30 x1)
Carrier DB: D4Y3 Judy x120 (size 30 x4) [Just got these] [End game plane]
Carrier TB: B6N2 Jill x90 (size 30 x3) [Just got these] [End game plane]
LR Bomber: G3M3 Nell x60 & G4M1 Betty x60 (1 size 60 each) [keeping numbers up until G4M2 comes available]
Naval Recon: E14Y1 Jake x30
Army Fighter: Ki-44-IIc Tojo x270 (size 60 x4, size 30 x1)
Army Bomber: Ki-49-IIb Helen x120 (size 30 x4) [End game plane]
Army Recon: Ki-15-II Babs x30 (size 30 x1) [End game plane]
Transports: Ki-49-II KAI Helen x60 (size 30 x2) [End game plane]
Other: H8K2 Emily x30 (size 30 x1)
Aircraft R&D Update:
My Aircraft R&D is going good - not fast enough for my tastes after the last turn but going good I believe.
A7M2 Sam - 5 Factories repairing. Don't expect this anytime before 44.
B7A2 Grace - 2 Factories repairing.
G4M2 Betty - 3 Factories repairing. Want to keep the LR Torpedo threat to keep his future offenses
honest. Small TFs on their own without air cover I want to be able to hit.
J2M3 Jack - 5 Factories repaired - 1 month advancement every 10 days (3 per month)
ETA: 7/43
Ki-100-I Tony - 6 Factories repaired - 1 month advancement every ~ 8 days (3.75 per month)
ETA: 8/43
N1K2-J George - 4 Factories repaired & 1 repairing - 1 month advancement every 12 days.
ETA: 10/43
P1Y2 Frances - 2 Factories repaired & 1 repairing. ETA: Early 44
War Material Stockpiles:
HI: 671,237 NS: 1,081 Jap Points: 30,913
ARM: 151,003 MS: 2,207 Allid Points: 10,074
Veh: 33,386
I am thinking of halting Armaments to continue stockpiling HI as long as I hover around 150k. My Hi is roughly increasing 4k a day but every month I lose 40k HI to training costs - basically a third of my surplus.
I have roughly a year of fuel sitting in Japan plus around 180 days of oil to process. I am mostly hauling fuel to Japan but an occasional TF of oil arrives as well. Resources are another issue - only around 2 months supply on hand. I have completely restructured my convoys recently and am hoping it will not only increase my delivery of resources, but lower my fuel costs too.
India/Northern Burma:
I have just moved my last fighter unit into the theater and realistically cannot pull anymore without risking a sneak attack on an important logistical or staging base. I have the bulk of my men sitting in Rangoon just doing nothing but sucking down supplies and waiting for Rob to make his move. As per the attached pic you can seen our battle lines. in the marked hex I have 6 units with roughly 800 combat strength. Rob has 15 units with roughly 1500 combat strength. He hasn't done much attacking on the ground here, and my troops have level 2+ forts prepared in the Jungle hex. He will need a lot more men to force
me out of this hex.
The problem in Burma is the air power. He has multiple large airfields and what seems like endless numbers of fighters (P-40s and Hurricane Trops) and medium bombers. He has most of his fighters based around the front, and most of his bombers in Calcutta which is out of reach.
My fighters will hold their own a bit, and then he will sweep with 60+ fighters and kill 20+ fighters in one turn. I will honestly say I am not using my best pilots here, in fact any that get good Air Skills I am pulling out for use when I have better planes. But I still don't like losing the airframes (36 HI per fighter). So I am thinking since I can't really hit his bomber airfields at Calcutta, what if I make him move them closer ? I am thinking of abandoning Cox's Bazaar and pulling back to Akyab. of the two, Akyab is easier for me to reinforce and has more forts already built. If he moves into Cox's he will need to base fighters there to keep me from bombing it flat, thus his planes become vulnerable to naval bombardment - which I have had good luck with in killing allied planes.
By giving up Cox willingly I can save all my men there, reduce my need for fighters (by 1 base) and consolidate my AA units in Akyab -- and they actually seem to do decent against his medium bombers !! What do you guys think ?
With Rangoon being built to a size 7 port, do any of you see a point in having an AS or AR in theater ?
Malaya:
Malaya is nothing but a place to build forts and rest units. Georgetown and Singapore are the only places of activity - both building forts. Singapore is my major shipping hub handling all of Malaya's resources as well as all oil and fuel shipments from Palembang. Oil / Fuel / Resources from Palembang are hauled to singapore on smaller ships and then crossloaded onto larger ships for delivery to Japan. Fuel / Oil from Medan is moved to Georgetown and then by road / rail to singapore.
Java:
A small inconvenience has popped up in this theater. The British 18th Division has popped up on Christmas Island IO. A CA-led TF smashed another troops TF heading there (death toll was high in engineers and support so I'm guessing base units and Av support). But now he has at least part of a divison sitting there. The base can definately be built up high enough level to threaten both Palembang and Soerbaja so I think I will need to cleanse the island. That will request at least a division of troops. Should I clense the British stain from my empire or let the fester and rot ?
Soerbaja is building some forts and using its size 7 port to support my naval actions on the northern coast of Australia. I currently have 2 BBs, 3 CAs, 1 CL, 6 DDs and numerous smaller ships assigned to this area. CarDiv 3 (sho and Zui) crippled the Prince of Wales months ago and it is still sitting in Port Hedland. I routinely raid Port Hedland with my warships flattening the airfields there as he has medium and heavy bombers based there to harrash my troops in norther Australia. here is the results from my last bombardment:
Night Naval bombardment of Port Hedland at 57,129
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 7 damaged
Kittyhawk III: 2 destroyed on ground
Catalina I: 4 damaged
Catalina I: 1 destroyed on ground
SBD-3 Dauntless: 12 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed on ground
P-43A-1 Lancer: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
CA Takao
CA Chikuma
CA Tone
CL Natori
DD Uruyuke
DD Uranami
E Yaeyama
E Kuretake
E Wakatake
Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 1, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
232 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 35
Port hits 9
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 4
I am thinking I need to send a couple of CVEs or CVLs over here for fighters and Kates to finish off the Prince of Wales - I bet he is crippled enough to never leave that dinky little port, but I want the VPs for him.
Australia:
I have roughly 5-6 Divisons of troops in northern Australia currently holding all the bases shown in the above pic. Australian troops (32 units) just moved into Daly Waters but I am not sure they have the firepower to push my 560 combat strength out from behind the lvl 3 forts. His troops in Oz have proven to be numerous but low on supplies.
I have a brigade at 70% moving to cut off the trail south of Daly to completely block supplies moving to his troops. His major power here (as in Burma) is air power. Fighters based at Tennant Creek (including dreaded P-38s) and his bombers are at Cloncurry out of reach. My zeros (stuck full of rookie pilots) seem to be keeping the bombers at bay (losses are fairly low) but that will change as his P-38s are beginning to clear the skies of my fighters. I have 1 plan in the works and another one on the drawing board.
Plan: Surprise Surprise Surprise
This plan is straight and simple and I'm surprised he hasn't thought of it. Recon of Tennant Creek shows minimal troops there. And I just happen to have 80 Combat Strength of paratroopers at Katherine prepping for an airborne assault. The goal is to fly LR CAP over Tennant for a turn and land as much of the 80 Combat strength I can - I have roughly 100 transports assembling for this. I hope to take the base, destroying the fighters units there. I don't plan on holding the base, so once I take it, I will withdraw most of the troops leaving just a few behind to hold the base until he comes and takes it. The entire
time I control it all of his troops to the north starve.
Plan: On drawing board.
Land at Normanton with a small force to take the base, and engineers. Build an airfield and bomb the nearby allied bases until he forces me out. Even the threat of me being that close may force him to pull his bombers out of Cloncurry, which will leave my troops to the north free to smash the allied troops they face. Even if he bombs Normanton flat and keeps it smashed, it diverst his bombers away from what I care about - keeping northern OZ as long as I can with minimal investment. Does this sound like a possible plan ?
South Pacific:
Well its finally started the allies' advance. For several days the US Carriers have been pounding Baker Island and then Tabiteuea. Then the BBs came in and the marines and tanks. My naval guard units succumbed in one day and were wiped out the next. My Cvs were resting around Rabaul and come over to play as I knew
the allied CVs were low on fuel and ordnance - easy prey. So I packed for big game - mostly Kates and fighters and came over to play. Unfortunately the CVs fled, but even though they moved some Marine Corsairs to the airfield the amphibs there were easy game.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tabiteuea at 137,134
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 90 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 43
B5N2 Kate x 74
D3A1 Val x 26
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 26
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 6 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
xAP Mount Vernon, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kilty
xAP West Point, Bomb hits 1
xAP Perida, Bomb hits 1
xAP Hong Peng, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Santa Elena, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Poelau Bras, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Hermitage, Bomb hits 1
xAP Klipfontein, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PG Charleston, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Hong Kheng, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Van den Bosch, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Monticello
xAP Mariposa, Bomb hits 2
Allied ground losses:
76 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
--
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tabiteuea at 137,134
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 113 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 48 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 39
B5N2 Kate x 112
D3A1 Val x 50
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 18
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 5 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
xAP Hermitage, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CM Oglala, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Van den Bosch, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Kilty
xAP Mariposa, Bomb hits 1
AK Castor, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Henry Dearborn, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Santa Elena, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Perida, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Poelau Bras, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PG Charleston, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Monticello, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAP Mount Vernon, and is sunk
Allied ground losses:
3365 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 226 destroyed, 85 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 85 (79 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
---
Day Two:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tabiteuea at 137,134
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 32
B5N2 Kate x 58
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 5 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
DD Kilty
xAP Hermitage, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Perida, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Mariposa
xAP West Point
Allied ground losses:
2598 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 123 destroyed, 143 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 37 (36 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
In all I lost 31+ Zeros to the Marine Cap and managed to shoot down 2-3 of them only. Only a handful of actual bombers were shot down. The only good result was the massive loss of troops suffered to what I hope were be AV Support units - and hopefully any CD guns he was moving in. Another advantage (got to look at the bright side) is I sunk 10 xAPs and 1 xAK in the failed interception. That number of lost xAPs has to diminish his troops landing capacity at least a little bit. Right ?
Now he has a base nearby he cannot support without naval forces, my major surface ships (9 BBs plus CAs) will be able to bombard the hell out of the place. I sunk his CM there as well, so its likely there are no mines yet either. I have a bombardment TF already forming and moving over.
The problem I see here is now he has begun to bypass all the islands I have in the south pacific - Noumea, Efate, etc... I am scrambling to beging withdrawing units from there while I can. I am sure his CVs are heading back to Pearl to refuel / rearm and will be back and I don't want nothing in the area when they do. I don't have enough bases in the area to provide adequate LBA cover for an adventageous CV engagement.
CV Fleet:
After the failed CV engagement near Tabiteuea I am thinking of sending my CVs to port for their 4/43 refit. This will give me a month to build up stockpiles of new Jills and Judys for the inevitable CV engagement. I will also get 3 new CVs in late June / July.
I have stripped all my CVEs of their air groups and they are sitting in Japan training pilots. I am thinking of finding a nice safe port somewhere and parking them for the rest of the war to avoid them being sunk - they are fairly useless with the lack of aircraft they can carry. Even my CVLs are aircraft less right now except for Ryuho and Ryujo which were operating as LR CAP for KB near Tabiteuea.
General Ramblings:
The allied sub offensive keeps getting on my nerves. Roughly 1 ship a day gets hit or sunk from enemy subs no matter what I try. I have started converting some of the baby xAKLs into PBs with only 1 DC rack, but at least they can help by absorbing a torpedo or such. Its very frustrating when his subs attack with impunity even when faced with a bunch of escorts. Is there anything Japan can do to make ASW more effective ? I don't mind losing ships if I would occasionally damage one of his subs in return. It should be another month before my ASW air patrols are fully training and placed so I have a while to go.
I have noticed a lot (if not all) of my little AMcs can convert to PBs. The PB version is nearly worthless but its still another escort. Should I convert the load or keep the AMcs. Developers have said that an AMc in a port will automatically conduct mine sweeping missions which, which not important now, may be important later when he starts air mining ports in Japan.
I have a feeling I will be needing to remove a few fighter units from training duty in Japan and move them to the front soon to help counter the allied offensive. With Tabiteuea in his hands, Baker is dead. Tarawa will be next and I'm not sure how much to invest in its defense. It currently has level 5 forts so I'm thinking of dropping a regiment or two there for defense. I know it won't hold, but it will force him to bring a couple divisions to take it and I don't think he can easily assemble that many troops yet.
Truk has been isolated by enemy subs for months now - I can still move some ships in and out but don't want to risk any high-value units. Kavieng and Rabaul are now my main bases in the theater. I have multiple AKEs positioned there for rearming duties.
