This will End Badly Rook749 vs AirGriff

[rook749]

Now for the next question, can I bomb and level 0 port and level 0 airfield to prevent fort building, say at Ndeni?

Want to make sure he can't get any forts or fighters into play without flying from Guadalcanal.

[BBfanboy]

I'm not sure about that one. It might stop the fort building but not show any damage from the bombing or bombardment because
there is no port or airfield to damage yet.
If you do a ground attack on the troops you should get some casualties and disruption at least. I think that also stops
fort construction since the troops are cowering in foxholes.

[rook749]

15 May 42 - 18 May 42 Executive Summary

Lots of activity, Dora the Explore has started see details in separate post. He continues to take bases in his rear that I could use against him at a later time.

Raiding
No Activity worthy of noting.

Fleet of Doom.
USN CAR DIV 1, USN CAR DIV 2, USN CAR DIV 3, USN CAR DIV 4, Force H, Force Z are circling Canton to provide air cover. The USN 1st Bat Div and a CA Force are heading to Christmas Island to rearm and come back to bombard again.

KB and Mini-KB
Mini-KB (?) + KB (?) off the coast of Java not sure if one or both are present. Confirmed in the area CVL Shoho, CV Hiryu and CVL Ryujo.

Java
Further advances to split Java in half, he seems to be heading south first.

China
After looking at all of the options here we realize we still have 28k of resources in Wenchow. As we don't generate more resources in the hex while he is present --- my factories will consume the ones present and generate supply to allow the fight here to go on. While you can't run Japan out of resources I can work to make him ship them from a far away as possible to burn fuel whenever I can. The Chinese ACU with Twelve I15's at Wenchow finds nothing in the air. I am also hold Chuhsien and I am receiving resources over the road from here until he blocks the road or moves into Chuhsien. He did bombard the hex for two days to work to burn off my supplies, now down to 2.8K but 39K troops in the max stacking of 40K.

Dora the Explorer
Forces Loading at Fanning Island estimate I will Land in 1.5 days. One US Inf Div, One US Inf Reg, two Combat Eng Reg and three US Art Bat's ready to go with preparation in the low-30's to mid-50's and climbing. Will require the use of the Fleet of Doom. There are 71 Heavy Bombers out of Pago Pago and Savaii that have started bombing airfield, damage is at 70 and Port Damage is 52. He has a reported 7.2K of troops on the 6K island in seven units. Airfield Level 2 Port Level 3.

Ceylon
At this point this appears to be his next major area of advance or possibly an signal intelligence faint. Using Intel Monkey it shows the following prepping for Colombo: 61st Division, 67 Inf Bde and the 53rd Division. Right now I have four Indian Infantry Bde's on the Island once in each port with the forts at each 3 and climbing. I have the 22nd African Infantry Bde in route to Diego Garcia to help hold my flank. I am going to assume that Ceylon depends on the fall of Java to free up transports and his carriers.

The question is what do I do? I am tempted to move an Indian Division into Colombo and dig in. Right now I am stripping the island down to 60K total supply and moving all but 20K of fuel back to India to deny him an gains. I will also move all of the resources off the island. Anyone have any thoughts?

Burma
All is quite with only two units on the other side of the river from Pegu. Intel Monkey shows the 55th Infantry Bde, 33rd Division, 204th Ship Eng Coy, 21st Med FA Bn, 15th Army, 55th Eng Reg, 112th Infantry Reg and 14th Ind. Art. Mortar Bn prepping for Rangoon.

In Rangoon to oppose them I have the 1st Burma Infantry Division, the 17th Indian Infantry Division, three Burma Infantry Bn, three base force Bn, the Burma Corps HQc, 28K of Supplies, Fort 4-78%, one AVG ACU, two British fighter ACUs. In Mandalay I have 38K of supplies, three poorly equipped Indian Armored Cav Rgts, the 7th Armored Bde, three Burma Infantry Bn, two base force and Forts 3 - 65%. There is one Burma Inf Bn and one Burma Inf Bde that will fall back from the front to support Mandalay as needed. May need to fall back to India as supplies run out if he grabs Ceylon and prevents any sea supply, as the British Fleet Carriers are with the fleet of doom.

Operation Apple Jacks
One day late and a dollar short, so here is the new plan --- turn this into a battle of attrition to regain Ndeni. Port at Vanikoro is now level 1, working on the airfield now. Looking to scrounge up an AGP, ACM, PT boats and 150 mines.

Luganville is safe with Forts Level 3, Two CD LCUs, one ACM and 125 mines. If I can come up with the PT boats I will also add some here but this may take a while as I have a bunch of them in the Line Islands.

In the next 30 days or sooner the following will occur to support the advance on Ndeni in Phase 2:
1) See notes above about Mines, PT Boats, ACMs, AGP, etc.
2) One Base Force deployed and one more in route from Pago Pago to Lugnaville for additional aviation support.
3) The medium range bombers from Pago Pago will deploy to Lugnaville to smash the airfields or Ports that are built on Ndeni.
4) Additional units will be found to add to the 7th Marine Reg, 641st Towed TD Bn and the 4th FA Bn that are now prepping for Ndeni (25% and counting).
5) As we have sufficient lift now at the Line Islands for our operations there all new invasion lift will deploy to Suva where the land units for the invasion shall gather.
6) A trickle down of fighters to the four Marine ACUs at Pago Pago has started. As ACUs with the F2A-2 Buffalo's are filled out they will be added to the air war over the Santa Cruz Islands.
7) There are two US 25 Figher ACU's located in Brisbane, Noumea, Lugnaville, Suva, Savaii and Pago Pago that can be rotated in as need to Vanikora for air cover.

The goal is to turn this into a front where we can bring the same amount or more force into play and drain him of planes, supplies and pilots. I want to see if I can use up my current model airplanes before they cannot be used on the front lines in early 1943. The 1st Marine Raider Bn and the 8th Marine Def Bn, 1st US Naval Construction Bn , 13th MAG HQ and the Del Monte AAF Base Force are at the base.

Operation Honeycomb
Planing for this operation is now underway. This operation will occur at the same time as Dora the Explorer or shortly there after. The 40th US Infantry Division, 110th Combat Engr Bn and the 223rd FA Bn will attack Baker Island from Christmas Island. All units are prepping and are at 29%.

Japanese Amphibious Landings:
None.

Japan Conquerors the Following Bases:
Nonouti
Nikunua
Djokjakarta
Madioen
Soerakara

Allies Amphibious Landings:
None.

Allies Conquerors the Following Bases:
None.

[FeurerKrieg]

Ceylon -

I'd be surprised if he went there this late. I went there and my opponent slowed me down for a while with the 6th & 7th Aus Div as well as the 38th UK. If you put those there then he'll need to bring at least seven divisions to take it quickly. If he takes to long you'll start getting enough fighters and bombers to probably keep him from taking it. Madras can field a lot of planes and hit everything on Ceylon.

[rook749]

Dora the Explorer
Seem to have taken him by surprise, also from the email exchange with AirGriff and the fact my landing forces are 1.5 days out and undetected I suspect he believes this was a raid and a bid to close the airfield and allow my bombers to stand down.

One US Inf Div, One US Inf Reg, two Combat Eng Reg and three US Art Bat's ready to go with preparation in the low-30's to mid-50's and climbing. Will require the use of the Fleet of Doom. There are 71 Heavy Bombers out of Pago Pago and Savaii that have started bombing airfield, damage is at 70 and Port Damage is 52. He has a reported 7.2K of troops on the 6K island in seven units. Airfield Level 2 Port Level 3.

Bombardment Intel shows Yokosuka 4th SNLF and the 5th JNAF AF units in the hex.

---------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 5
B-17E Fortress x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 6

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

Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 2
B-17E Fortress x 3

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

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

Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 3

Allied aircraft losses
LB-30 Liberator: 1 damaged

Runway hits 5

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

Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 9
B-17E Fortress x 11

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

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

Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3
LB-30 Liberator x 3

No Allied losses

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 5

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

Morning Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3
LB-30 Liberator x 3

No Allied losses

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

Morning Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 153,143

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 11
F4F-3 Wildcat x 13
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AMC Kinryu Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kasumi, Bomb hits 1

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

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Canton Island at 154,144

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 11
F4F-3 Wildcat x 13
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Ariake, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

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

Night Naval bombardment of Canton Island at 153,143

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
H6K4 Mavis: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
AS Yasukuni Maru, Shell hits 1
AV Kiyokawa Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
AKE Delagoa Maru, Shell hits 1
AD Shintoku Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Salt Lake City
CA Louisville
CL Nashville
CL Honolulu
DD Balch
DD Tucker
DD Cushing
DD Mahan
DD Fanning

Japanese ground losses:
624 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 39
Port hits 6
Port fuel hits 10
Port supply hits 1

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

Naval bombardment of Canton Island at 153,143

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
H6K4 Mavis: 13 damaged
H6K4 Mavis: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
AS Yasukuni Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Kyo Maru #6, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Kiyokawa Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
AD Shintoku Maru, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Delagoa Maru, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Fumi Maru #3, Shell hits 1, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Warspite
BB New Mexico
BB Pennsylvania
BB Arizona
BB Colorado
CL Tromp
DD Banckert
DD Van Nes
DD Witte de With
DD Evertsen
DD Vampire
DD Voyager
DMS Southard
DMS Long
DMS Dorsey

Japanese ground losses:
1385 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 34 destroyed, 88 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 38 (10 destroyed, 28 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Airbase hits 13
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 65
Port hits 22
Port fuel hits 7
Port supply hits 7

[BBfanboy]

Nice bombardment result! I think AD and AS types take Japan about six months to build via conversion. Taking those
out will hurt them.

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Nice bombardment result! I think AD and AS types take Japan about six months to build via conversion. Taking those
out will hurt them.

Yes, I suspect he was using this as a forward base for this CS/CA/Sub/AMC raiding that was annoying me.

[rook749]

19 May 42 - 20 May 42 Executive Summary
Edit error, due to an attack from the 18 month old, this at one point noted the activity at this time but this post was lost.

The highlight was the landing at Canton and the taking of the island.

[rook749]

Dora the Explorer
Again another case of overkill, but I don't see that as issue as it's all about using the biggest hammer. All of the combat forces unloaded in one day so again we judged the transport requirements correctly.

The plan is to unload the supplieS (40K) in the next two days and then take four to six days to load up all the units except for one US Army Art Bn. All other units will withdraw to Pearl for Rest and Resupply. Pearl will dispatch two base forces and one MAG HQ to the island once the lift returns. Fanning Island will dispatch one US Infantry Bn to help hold the island.

Repair the damage and build out the forts and the base. Use this forward base to scout out the other island for where to move next after Operation Honeycomb.

I also captured 7K of fuel when the island fell.

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

Amphibious Assault at Canton Island (153,143)

TF 377 troops unloading over beach at Canton Island, 153,143

Allied ground losses:
1192 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 189 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 134 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 67 (0 destroyed, 67 disabled)
Vehicles lost 62 (1 destroyed, 61 disabled)

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

Invasion Support action off Canton Island (153,143)

17 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Idaho
BB Tennessee
BB Maryland
CA Indianapolis
AMC Hector
AMC Chitral
AMC Corfu
AMC Kanimlba
AMC Manoora

Japanese ground losses:
174 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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

Invasion Support action off Canton Island (153,143)

12 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
AMC Hector

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

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

Pre-Invasion action off Canton Island (153,143)

52 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Idaho
BB Tennessee
BB Maryland
CA Indianapolis
AMC Hector

Japanese ground losses:
386 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

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

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

Ground combat at Canton Island (153,143)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 13517 troops, 308 guns, 208 vehicles, Assault Value = 389

Defending force 3452 troops, 71 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 39

Allied adjusted assault: 142

Japanese adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 35 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Canton Island !!!

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
H6K4 Mavis: 5 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
4598 casualties reported
Squads: 69 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 184 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 36 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 75 (75 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (19 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 5

Allied ground losses:
1054 casualties reported
Squads: 27 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 48 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 15 (9 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (5 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Assaulting units:
34th Cmbt Engineer Regiment
27th Infantry Division
34th Infantry Regiment
134th Cmbt Engineer Battalion
168th Field Artillery Battalion
181st Field Artillery Battalion
198th Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
Yokosuka 4th SNLF
11th RF Gun Battalion
7th Base Force
47th Field AA Battalion
5th Naval Construction Battalion
5th JNAF AF Unit

[rook749]

21 May 42 - 24 May 42 Executive Summary

Not much going on, other then the Enterprise completes its repairs and sails fro Sydney to Peal Harbor to join the Fleet of Doom.

Raiding
Sub attack near Ta'u SS I-172 vs ACM YP-284, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damag (later sinks)
Submarine attack near Izu Oshima xAK Tamon Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage vs SS Flying Fish

Fleet of Doom.
USN CAR DIV 1, USN CAR DIV 2, USN CAR DIV 3, USN CAR DIV 4, Force H, Force Z are moving to cover the USN 1st Bat Div from Canton to provide air cover. The USN 1st Bat Div heading to Baker Island for Bombardment and then it will fall back to Peal.

KB and Mini-KB
Mini-KB (?) + KB (?) last seen off the coast of Java six days ago not sure if one or both are present. Location Unknown at this time.

Java
Further advances to split Java in half, he seems to be heading south first.

China
The Chinese ACU with Twelve I15's at Wenchow finds nothing in the air. He did bombard the hex for four days to work to burn off my supplies, supplies stand at 2.9K. We also have 39K troops in the max stacking of 40K. I am going to swap the one corps in Chusien with the one in Wenchow that is 3/4 disabled.

Dora the Explorer
All of the supplies are unloaded(55K, in one day all the invading units will be loaded except for one US Army Art Bn. All other units will withdraw to Pearl for Rest and Resupply. Pearl will dispatch two base forces and one MAG HQ to the island once the lift returns. Fanning Island has one one US Infantry Bn to help hold the island.

Airfield Level 2 - 100% Service Damaged, 61% Runway Damage and Port Level 3 - 55% damaged

Ceylon
At this point this appears to be his next major area of advance or possibly an signal intelligence faint. Using Intel Monkey it shows the following prepping for Colombo: 61st Division, 67 Inf Bde and the 53rd Division. Right now I have four Indian Infantry Bde's on the Island once in each port with the forts at each 3 and climbing. I have the 22nd African Infantry Bde in route to Diego Garcia to help hold my flank. I am going to assume that Ceylon depends on the fall of Java to free up transports and his carriers.

The current operational plan is to see if I can turn this into a tar baby if he lands. One Indian Infantry Division will be moved to Colombo, One Ari HQ will be moved to Madras. We currently have one Indian Infantry Division is in Bombay and one is in Madras as a reserve.

Right now I am stripping the island down to 60K total supply and moving all but 40K of fuel back to India to deny him an gains. I will also move all of 100K of resources off the island. The air force can be moved to Madras as needed from the Indian/Burma boarder where it sits now.

Burma
All is quite with now four units on the other side of the river from Pegu. Intel Monkey shows the 55th Infantry Bde, 33rd Division, 204th Ship Eng Coy, 21st Med FA Bn, 15th Army, 55th Eng Reg, 112th Infantry Reg and 14th Ind. Art. Mortar Bn prepping for Rangoon.

In Rangoon to oppose them I have the 1st Burma Infantry Division, the 17th Indian Infantry Division, three Burma Infantry Bn, three base force Bn, the Burma Corps HQc, 28K of Supplies, Fort 4-87%, one AVG ACU, two British fighter ACUs. In Mandalay I have 38K of supplies, three poorly equipped Indian Armored Cav Rgts, the 7th Armored Bde, three Burma Infantry Bn, two base force and Forts 3 - 69%. There is one Burma Inf Bn and one Burma Inf Bde that will fall back from the front to support Mandalay as needed. May need to fall back to India as supplies run out if he grabs Ceylon and prevents any sea supply, as the British Fleet Carriers are with the fleet of doom.

Operation Apple Jacks
One day late and a dollar short, so it is now a battle of attrition to regain Ndeni. Port at Vanikoro is now level 1, the Airfield 1-57% and the Fort 1-86%. Looking to scrounge up an AGP, ACM, PT boats and 150 mines.

Luganville is safe with Forts Level 3, Two CD LCUs, one ACM and 118 mines and four crappy DDs. If I can come up with the PT boats I will also add some here but this may take a while as I have a bunch of them in the Line Islands. The island has 284 Aviation Support and one Air HQ.

In the next 30 days or sooner the following will occur to support the advance on Ndeni in Phase 2:
1) See notes above about Mines, PT Boats, ACMs, AGP, etc.
2) The medium range bombers from Pago Pago will deploy to Lugnaville to smash the airfields or Ports that are built on Ndeni.
3) Additional units will be found to add to the 7th Marine Reg, 641st Towed TD Bn and the 4th FA Bn that are now prepping for Ndeni (25% and counting).
4) As we have sufficient lift now at the Line Islands for our operations there all new invasion lift will deploy to Suva where the land units for the invasion shall gather.
5) A trickle down of fighters to the four Marine ACUs at Pago Pago has started. As ACUs with the F2A-2 Buffalo's are filled out they will be added to the air war over the Santa Cruz Islands.
6) There are two US 25 Figher ACU's located in Brisbane, Noumea, Lugnaville, Suva, Savaii and Pago Pago that can be rotated in as need to Vanikora for air cover.

The goal is to turn this into a front where we can bring the same amount or more force into play and drain him of planes, supplies and pilots. I want to see if I can use up my current model airplanes before they cannot be used on the front lines in early 1943. The 1st Marine Raider Bn and the 8th Marine Def Bn, 1st US Naval Construction Bn , 13th MAG HQ, 2nd USMC Parachute Bn and the Del Monte AAF Base Force are at the base.

Operation Honeycomb
Planing for this operation is now underway, target date June 18th or when the KB/Mini-KB is spotted. The 40th US Infantry Division, 110th Combat Engr Bn and the 223rd FA Bn will attack Baker Island from Christmas Island. All units are prepping and are around 58%. The plan is to put the Lexington and Saratoga in for their June Upgrades (42 days). Then swap the airframes and pilots around to best use on the remaining carriers. While this will cost me the two carriers, I will add the arriving Wasp, the repaired Enterprise and the Illustrious in their place. All of the US carriers will be flying the F4F-4 and most of the Marines will be in the F4F-3 or F4F-4s. Two of the US Carriers will be using the Avenger Diver Bombers, all others will be maxed out with Devastators.

Japanese Amphibious Landings:
Amphibious Assault at Samarinda (65,96)

Japan Conquerors the Following Bases:
Japanese forces CAPTURE Kalidjati !!!
Japanese forces CAPTURE Samarinda !!!
Japanese forces CAPTURE Cheribon !!!

Allies Amphibious Landings:
None.

Allies Conquerors the Following Bases:
None.

[rook749]

Operation Mr T
Forces from Fiji will attack and take Vaitupu and Funafuti in the Ellice Islands. Not sure right now what forces but we will start looking. I want pressure him both towards Guadalcanal (Apple Jacks) and towards the Central Pacific.

I think I am going to fall into a very historical Left-Right attack along the MacArthur and Nimitz lines of advance.

[rook749]

As we wait....
Is there an easy way to find a listing of the CV/CVL/CVEs Japan has and when the future ones should arrive assuming "normal" building speeds.

Granted "normal" is not usually what occurs, but it would give me a nice base line to understand what the maximum effort CV force he could throw at me is.

[FeurerKrieg]

Fire up a new game as Japan using the same scenario you are playing. Save it to a slot you don't use. Then you can always open that to look at their ship queue. Against a competent player, take all the ETA times for Japan carriers and cut them in half.

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

Fire up a new game as Japan using the same scenario you are playing. Save it to a slot you don't use. Then you can always open that to look at their ship queue. Against a competent player, take all the ETA times for Japan carriers and cut them in half.

Thanks, I ended up creating a new Tracker installation and then loading the turn 1 as Japan for I can look at all the starting data from their perspective as needed.

[FeurerKrieg]

That's even better. I've been too lazy to go that far.

[rook749]

25 May 42 - 28 May 42 Executive Summary

Not too much going on here, continue to wind down at Canton and getting ready for the next island hop.

Raiding
ASW attack near Mare' SS I-28 vs APD John D. Edwards, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy dama (later sinks)
Sub attack near Noumea SS I-153 vs AG Spica, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage (later sinks)

Fleet of Doom.
USN CAR DIV 1, USN CAR DIV 2, USN CAR DIV 3, USN CAR DIV 4, Force H, Force Z are moving to cover the USN 1st Bat Div from Canton to provide air cover. We did a quick bombardment at Barker Island as the USN 1st Bat Div as withdraws to Pearl.

KB and Mini-KB
Mini-KB (?) + KB (?) last seen off the coast of Java w ahile ago. Location Unknown at this time could be anywhere.

Java
He is now at Soerabaja and within two hexes of Batavia --- with overwhelming force.

China
The Chinese ACU with Twelve I15's at Wenchow finds nothing in the air. He did bombard the hex for four days to work to burn off my supplies, supplies stand at 2.7K. We also have 47K troops in the max stacking of 40K. We swapping the one corps in Chusien with the one in Wenchow that is 3/4 disabled - this will fix the stacking limits in the next two days.

His army is also prepping for a 42/43 offensive once Wenchow falls. Moving units to hold the areas he is prepping to attack and protect against any Flanking maneuvers. See the image below for the locations from signal intelligence.

Dora the Explorer
One US Army FA Bn and One US Army Inf Bn hold the hex. One Base force in route from Pearl. One MAG HQ will also be sent from Pearl soon.

Airfield Level 2 - 100% Service Damaged, 61% Runway Damage and Port Level 3 - 55% damaged

Ceylon
At this point this appears to be his next major area of advance or possibly just a signal intelligence faint. Using Intel Monkey it shows the following prepping for Colombo: 61st Division, 67 Inf Bde and the 53rd Division. Right now I have four Indian Infantry Bde's on the Island once in each port with the forts at each 3 and climbing. I have the 22nd African Infantry Bde in route to Diego Garcia to help hold my flank. I am going to assume that Ceylon depends on the fall of Java to free up transports and his carriers.

The current operational plan is to see if I can turn this into a tar baby if he lands. The 23rd Indian Infantry Division is in route now to Colombo. In reserve we have One Air HQ and Indian Infantry Division at Madras. There is also one Indian Infantry Division is in Bombay.

Right now I am stripping the island down to 60K total supply and moving all but 40K of fuel back to India to deny him an gains. I will also move all of 100K of resources off the island. The air force can be moved to Madras as needed from the Indian/Burma boarder where it sits now.

Burma
All is quite with now four units on the other side of the river from Pegu. Intel Monkey shows the 55th Infantry Bde, 33rd Division, 204th Ship Eng Coy, 21st Med FA Bn, 15th Army, 55th Eng Reg, 112th Infantry Reg and 14th Ind. Art. Mortar Bn prepping for Rangoon.

In Rangoon to oppose them I have the 1st Burma Infantry Division, the 17th Indian Infantry Division, three Burma Infantry Bn, three base force Bn, the Burma Corps HQc, 28K of Supplies, Fort 4-87%, one AVG ACU, two British fighter ACUs. In Mandalay I have 38K of supplies, three poorly equipped Indian Armored Cav Rgts, the 7th Armored Bde, three Burma Infantry Bn, two base force and Forts 3 - 69%. There is one Burma Inf Bn and one Burma Inf Bde that will fall back from the front to support Mandalay as needed. May need to fall back to India as supplies run out if he grabs Ceylon and prevents any sea supply, as the British Fleet Carriers are with the Fleet of Doom

Operation Apple Jacks
One day late and a dollar short, so it is now a battle of attrition to regain Ndeni. Port at Vanikoro is now level 1, the Airfield 1-93% and the Fort 2-22%. Looking to scrounge up an AGP, ACM, PT boats and 150 mines.

Luganville is safe with Forts Level 3, Two CD LCUs, one ACM and 133 mines and six crappy DDs. If I can come up with the PT boats I will also add some here but this may take a while as I have a bunch of them in the Line Islands. The island has 284 Aviation Support and one Air HQ.

In the next 30 days or sooner the following will occur to support the advance on Ndeni in Phase 2:
1) See notes above about Mines, PT Boats, ACMs, AGP, etc.
2) The medium range bombers from Pago Pago will deploy to Lugnaville to smash the airfields or Ports that are built on Ndeni.
3) Additional units will be found to add to the 7th Marine Reg, 641st Towed TD Bn and the 4th FA Bn that are now prepping for Ndeni (25% and counting).
4) As we have sufficient lift now at the Line Islands for our operations there all new invasion lift will deploy to Suva where the land units for the invasion shall gather.
5) A trickle down of fighters to the four Marine ACUs at Pago Pago has started. As ACUs with the F2A-2 Buffalo's are filled out they will be added to the air war over the Santa Cruz Islands.
6) There are two US 25 Figher ACU's located in Brisbane, Noumea, Lugnaville, Suva, Savaii and Pago Pago that can be rotated in as need to Vanikora for air cover.

The goal is to turn this into a front where we can bring the same amount or more force into play and drain him of planes, supplies and pilots. I want to see if I can use up my current model airplanes before they cannot be used on the front lines in early 1943. The 1st Marine Raider Bn and the 8th Marine Def Bn, 1st US Naval Construction Bn , 13th MAG HQ, 2nd USMC Parachute Bn, 2/7 Commando Bn and the Del Monte AAF Base Force are at the base.

Operation Honeycomb
Planing for this operation is now underway, target date June 18th or when the KB/Mini-KB is spotted. The 40th US Infantry Division, 110th Combat Engr Bn and the 223rd FA Bn will attack Baker Island from Christmas Island. All units are prepping and are around 62%. The plan is to put the Lexington and Saratoga in for their June Upgrades (42 days). Then swap the airframes and pilots around to best use on the remaining carriers. While this will cost me the two carriers, I will add the arriving Wasp, the repaired Enterprise and the Illustrious in their place. All of the US carriers will be flying the F4F-4 and most of the Marines will be in the F4F-3 or F4F-4s. Two of the US Carriers will be using the Avenger Diver Bombers, all others will be maxed out with Devastators.

Operation Mr. T
The retaking of the Ellice Islands: Vaitupu and Funafuti. I want to make sure we keep the pressure on him from both the Southwest and Central Pacific. I think I am going to fall into a very historical Left-Right attack along the MacArthur and Nimitz lines of advance.

Forces TBD from Nadi in Fiji will attack Funafuti. The 754th Tank Bn, Americal Inf Div and the 205th FA Bn will attack from Koumac and take Vaitupu - 24% prepped and climbing.

Japanese Amphibious Landings:
Amphibious Assault at Culion (76,80)
Amphibious Assault at Busuanga (77,80)
Amphibious Assault at Rennell Island (113,140)

Japan Conquerors the Following Bases:
Onotoa
Busuanga
Culion
Rennell Island

Allies Amphibious Landings:
None.

Allies Conquerors the Following Bases:
None.

[FeurerKrieg]

Wow - looks like you are doing terrific in China.

[rook749]

As We Wait....
AifGriff has a couple of long days so it may be a bit before we get a turn or two going but as I am at home for a bit I will have all the time in the world minus the honey do list so...

As the Saratoga and Lexington make port in Pearl shortly they will be sent for their June 1942 upgrade taking 42 days. This will increase their fuel by 1500 and drop the AA value by 191. This is a drop in the raw AA number --- as there is a drop of guns. The AA will actually be far more effective as the quality, damage, range and accuracy on the newer guns will gain a significant increase. We are upgrading the CXAM surface and AA Radars for the far more effective SC radar.

Once these two carriers make port, we will swap all of the 70+ Skill pilots for the less skilled pilots from the other carriers/reserve. This should leave all of the other carriers with nothing but 70 skill pilots. We will also upgrade the F4F-3's on the Hornet to F4F-4's from the pool. Two of the torpedo Squadrons will also upgrade to Avengers (currently all are devastators). This should allow me to upgrade two of the Marine ACU's to the F4F-3s from the F2A-3 Buffalo's (will be used for Apple Jacks).

I have also added an update on the available aircraft in the reserve pools.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: rook749

Now for the next question, can I bomb and level 0 port and level 0 airfield to prevent fort building, say at Ndeni?

Want to make sure he can't get any forts or fighters into play without flying from Guadalcanal.

Didn't see where anyone answered this one. That's a big negatory.

I find it extremely difficult to follow these AARs where the blokes change all combatants to the same color.

How on earth can anyone tell your forces from your opponents?

[rook749]

US 1st Bat Div
Given his poor results with the Pearl Harbor raid I have been flush with the older BBs. I have been working them hard to grind out EXP with bombardment missions at Christmas Island, Canton and Baker Island. Currently commanding this force is RAMD Wilhelm Friedell. Over time I hope to build several of these Battle Divisions each built around four slow BBs. Right now I have six slow BBs in the USN 1st Bat Div (5 US and 1 UK).

I have lost none of the slower BBs and only have two out of action --- one under repair and the other is in the middle of an upgrade. However, in June five of the BBs will be pulled for upgrades. This will leave me with four US and one UK BB for use. I will hold one in reserve and assign the rest to the USN 1st Bat Div.

Once the North Carolina arrives with the Wasp in the middle of June, the North Carolina will join Force Z and become my main surface escort for the CVs. Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr (by far my best Surface Admiral) will command this force.