Japan invading India - Advice needed

[alexvand]

So, Japan in my game is getting a little desperate. It's N/D 1942. The Allies have built every single sub they can, including 2 French ones. (Even the crappy ones that get sunk get rebuilt.) They've put all of them in the South China Sea operating from India and keep sinking Japanese CPs. Between that and the early Oil Embargo Japanese production has been subpar. The Japanese have done as much as they can to protect the convoy lines. 6 escort carriers, 2 dozen CAs and CLs, and 5 or 6 NAVs are on convoy escort duty, but it isn't enough.

Since the Southern Resource area has been secured they've decided that they are going to eliminate the source of the subs by invading India.

This may prove to be a bad idea as the Japanese don't actually have naval superiority in the Pacific. The US has 10 fleet carriers including 5 Essex class carriers, when the Japanese have four class 4s, two class 3s, 4 class 2s, and a bunch of class 1s. The Japanese are even having trouble getting enough carrier planes on the CVs. It's possible that Rabaul may fall while the Japanese are off attacking India, but they're going to try it anyway. (Only way to learn! Plus somewhat historical to what they Japanese tried to do.)

The first advantage the Japanese have are interior lines of communication. This turn N/D 42 they have got the ships they need ready to rebase into Singapore and environs. They will have 2 loaded Amphibs, 2 Marines on transports and a couple of divisions for invasions, plus 2 transports loaded with an HQ and an Inf ready to follow on. The slow and fast battleships will be in theatre. The carriers will include all the 5 movers. 2 class 4s, 2 class 2s, and a few class 1s. (The six mover carriers are remaining in Truk with a bunch of the best cruisers to try to keep the Americans occupied. Hopefully without getting sunk.) There will also be a couple of land based fighters to help control the sea zones.

The second advantage is that the Suez is on the verge of falling and the Italian fleet looks to break out into this area. It will include the Italian Marine and the German Marine plus divisions for them to invade with.

The CW fleet in the area consists of 8 cruisers and 2 carriers. Plus lots of Allied subs. This picture shows the units they have deployed in the area.

However, I have never invaded India before.

What should I be watching for? Where should the Japanese be focusing their efforts? What do they need to succeed?

Their goals are:
1) Disrupt the allied Sub campaign.
2) Maintain the strategic initiative by forcing the allies to respond to their attacks.
3) Draw allied forces into this theatre. It's a lot better to fight the allies here than in the South China Sea, The Bismark sea, or even next to the home islands.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I would go for Ceylon - first the major port, then overland to the minor port/capital. You might be able to put all of Ceylon OOS which will make your attacks much easier.

Calcutta is the other obvious destination, but that is much, much harder. Invade into a clear hex (you want to take zero losses invading) and assemble units for the land attack. An engineer would be very helpful for attacking across the river(s). Depending on what the Commonwealth has defending, it might take several attacks to wear down the defenders.

Be aware that your own supply lines are vulnerable to being cut (e.g., by the US naval forces).

If you can take out those two major ports, and the Italians are doing well around Suez, it will be difficult for the Commonwealth to counter attack. The US on the other hand, ...

[paulderynck]

Since Ceylon is a minor country with its own capital, the attacks can be made no easier then any other time - except for the Surprise impulse.

Edit: Although whatever unit is in Ceylon is not a unit of that country, so ground struck and OOS, it would be easier to take on.

[Klydon]

Pretty much what Steve said. In addition, Calcutta and Ceylon have a victory location.

While the Japanese may be able to chase the subs out of the Bay of Bengal, the subs can either relocate to the Arabian Sea (and the west side of India) or to Australia (same distance to the South China sea as from bases in Western India). Making the subs go the extra sea zone will help, but I am not sure how much relief it will bring.

[Centuur]

If the Italians break out of Suez, than it would be wise first to take out Ceylon, Aden and Birma. The latter is even more important if you've conquered China, since that gives you another major port which is very difficult to put out of supply (Rangoon), since supply goes up through the Birma road right through China. This might come in handy.

From Ceylon, you can walk the MAR over into India and than along the coast towards Calcutta (which is a very, very difficult hex to take. It's even stronger than Leningrad...).

Now, if the Italians can take Aden and invade India from the West, the CW is in some trouble. However, all depends on the US. If they can sink your remaining carriers in the Pacific and retake Rabaul, the SUB's can get out of that port into the South China Sea and start pounding on you precious convoys after all. If I'm the US and see the Japanese going for India, I'm going to be very, very aggressive. The US is that far away from India, that to get reinforcements there for the US is very difficult...

Also, it's very difficult to conquer India... Delhi is a long, long way inland...

[Ur_Vile_WEdge]

What's the situation in China? To do a decent attack on India with the goal of conquest, you'll usually need 8-10 corps and some planes to support them, although that was based on the old map, which is probably a little tougher for the Japanese, all things considered.


But the only way you're going to free up a large number of land units like that is if China's either been conquered or is on the ropes. So how is the war against the Middle Kingdom going?

[alexvand]

The Japanese don't really expect to conquer India. (They've got a stalemate in China so there are no more troops to spare. They had China on the ropes, but months of bad weather and one hold out Chinese city on a critical supply line gave China time to recover.)

They are hoping to eliminate the sub bases and perhaps grab an objective or two and keep the Allied attention away from more critical areas.

It's actually a move of desperation. The Japanese could sit back and try to defend what they have, but that hands the strategic initiative to the Allies. The Japanese already feel that the Allies are about to gain superiority in the Pacific. They're hoping to get lucky and maybe buy a few extra months this way. Of course, it could all blow up in their face if the US manages to get through their defenses around Rabaul.

(I'm exploring new play styles and options. One of the things I love about having MWiF is that it is possible to explore these options that I've never seen in actual play.)

[alexvand]

So, the Japanese invasion of India was going reasonably well. Ceylon fell, a MARdiv was moving up the coast. The Marines were at sea and ready to invade near Calcutta.

The Japanese even had something of a chance of taking Calcutta. (Defended by 9 factors in swamp. 6 Japanese corp available to attack, including 3 Marines, plus shore bombardment.) The German and Italian Marines had landed near Aden, although the CW had managed to get an HQ and 4 corps there plus 2 fighters. But that's why there are so few troops in India.

Then it all went down the tubes. The Americans moved into the Bismark sea to threaten Rabaul. The Japanese fleet with LBA intercepted. The Japanese forces were almost equal to the US. (3 land based fighters led by a 6 factor facing a 7 factor Hellcat. The US did have quite a few more low level CVPs.) They even got a 1-10 split on the surprise! Then the Air combat dice went the Allies way. Both sides had a CV sunk and one damaged. The Japanese ended up fleeing the sea zone as their LBA had been aborted. When the Americans attacked Rabaul they rolled an 18. (Two white print high value INF and a div still face up get wiped out.)

Realizing that taking on India would be futile now, the Japanese settled for invading Burma. They'll take Burma out which will weaken Chinese production.

In the meantime the fleet and some of the corps have to head back and defend the Philippines.

So close, perhaps if Rabaul had held.