Headhunter - Lokasenna (A) vs. mind_messing (J) - No MM yet

[Lokasenna]

Pulling the plug on Moresby. Noticed two things this turn - one that would be worrying for sending just 1 ID and supporting units in, essentially creating a time limit for capturing the base (which I can't guarantee that I'd meet), and two: I made an oops. Check this out:



I thought the 37th ID loaded pretty easily with just 2 AKs in the TF. Well, that's why. I'm not sending them in without these guys, especially since it seems the commander has reverted to the fragment at Pearl Harbor since it's now the biggest fragment, what with the rest all loaded up on APs... So the amphibs are heading back to Sydney to unload. The assault ships will go to Noumea to load up for Tabiteuea instead.

[Lokasenna]

Here's the first thing. He brought in what is probably about a division-equivalent, if not a smaller division itself from China. Notice the movement dot(s) at Buna. Buna had only about 4-5 units prior to now, and under 10k troops. So he's reinforcing Moresby, probably because I stung him at Milne Bay.

This is fine. I bungled the 37th ID anyway and need to wait for its support to arrive in SOPAC, and the 47th ID will join up from San Francisco in about 6 weeks once more xAPs convert (started today at San Fran). This also opens me up in the air a little bit in this area. I had been hesitant to do too much here, lest he catch on early enough to bring in KB before I was even sighted. I bombed Buna's AF at night yesterday, getting 8 planes on the ground for the loss of 3 of my 2Es to flak. Also swept Tassafaronga to attempt to keep his eye on the Solomons (positive trade against A6M2s and Nicks - 12:1 in A2A and 17:2 in total). Tomorrow I'll sweep Buna with 50 P-38s, expecting to come up against Zeroes/Nicks/Oscars on CAP. I'll also resume bombing the Lunga complex periodically, and the port at Milne as well as Port/AF at Moresby, to keep his attention here.

In the meantime, my amphibs will go dump at Sydney and the assault ships will move back over to Noumea. The CVs will hold just south of Milne Bay for now - I am contemplating a dagger-thrust shipping raid there, or at Buna. The CVEs will follow the assault ships to Sydney then Noumea.

Then I'll load up my forces for Tabiteuea from Noumea/Luganville, and the forces for Tarawa at Pearl, and head out. Look for a landing in early-mid February. I'll come back for these mooseknuckles in PNG in March, I think.

[Lokasenna]

Burma snapshot

Visible here is the aftermath of Operation Dino Droppings. Chindits are back at Chittagong - 1 brigade of them, anyway. The 77th Chindits are up at Rawalpindi... I plan to airdrop them to the other side of the Himalayas in a couple of months to mess with MM.

Mostly, I am setting up shop here in the Imphal-Ledo area to rebuild my Chinese LCUs. I get 700 squads per month through the end of June - 350 each of 1941 and 1943 squads. Kohima and Dimapur need a few Chinese LCUs to bulk out their defenses, but as of now every base in the theater has at least a brigade-size LCU to defend against paradrops. With few exceptions, forts are at level 4 or higher.

The hexes with green dots will be sentry locations for Chinese LCUs that withdraw, and therefore won't be rebuilt. Just there as speedbumps in case MM gets adventurous.

The IJA megastack was last sighted moving SE to Myitkyina, though it's entirely possible that it's still at Warazup (and not 5 units as reported) and I don't know it. But if I had to guess, I'd say he's going to fortify the Burma area with them, and possible down the Malaya coast from Bangkok on down. He may transport a few to the Pacific. I don't expect him to continue pushing offensively from here on out.

Overall, Dino Droppings was a great success. Things got really hairy for a time, and I was concerned that about 30-40 Chinese LCUs were going to be butchered, but MM delayed attacking until his full stack was present (a mistake, IMO) and everything was able to make it out. 1 Chinese Corps and the Carabiniers Regiment are in trouble down near Shwebo, but they might yet live as he hasn't been very active in pursuing them.

He also appears to be falling back slightly near Akyab, down to 18 units sighted to the east from a high of 25 or 27 at one point.



Total tally of Chinese units saved (Unit / AV):
including those moved to India before the start of Dino Droppings, except 79th Chinese Corps which is on garrison duty and won't rebuild.
* signifies that unit withdraws.

32nd Chinese Corps, 239
95th Chinese Corps, 345
53rd Chinese Corps, 544
94th Chinese Corps, 545
87th Chinese Corps, 552*
7th New Chinese Corps, 41*
4th Chinese Corps, 268
31st Chinese Corps, 65*
75th Chinese Corps, 365
6th Chinese Corps, 39
2nd Chinese Corps, 44
63rd Chinese Corps, 49
3rd New Chinese Corps, 53
50th Chinese Corps, 165* (withdraws in 1946...)
8th Chinese Corps, 185
62nd Chinese Corps, 193
18th Chinese Corps, 240
68th Chinese Corps, 322
73rd Chinese Corps, 380
78th Chinese Corps, 196
71st Chinese Corps, 214
44th Chinese Corps, 235
26th Chinese Corps, 327
24th Chinese Corps, 248
67th Chinese Corps, 87*
2nd Prov Chinese Corps, 50
56th Chinese Corps, 63
60th Chinese Corps, 189
10th Chinese Corps, 199
54th Chinese Corps, 347
5th Chinese Corps, 567
65th Chinese Corps, 76
72nd Chinese Corps, 331
25th Chinese Corps, 547
21st Chinese Corps, 550
9th Prov Chinese Corps, 366

5th Chinese Cav Corps, 155

1st Chinese Base Force
2nd Chinese Base Force
3rd Chinese Base Force
7th Chinese Base Force
9th Chinese Base Force
10th Chinese Base Force
11th Chinese Base Force
13th Chinese Base Force
16th Chinese Base Force
17th Chinese Base Force
18th Chinese Base Force
20th Chinese Base Force

5th Const Rgt
6th Const Rgt
7th Const Rgt
16th Const Rgt

3rd Heavy Mortar Rgt
4th Heavy Mortar Rgt
41st AA Rgt
49th AA Rgt
56th AT Rgt
57th AT Rgt

China Air TaskForce
NCAC
Red Chinese Army
Central Reserve
--1st Group Army
3rd War Area
--10th Group Army
--23rd Group Army
--30th Group Army
4th War Area
--9th Group Army
--11th Group Army
--16th Group Army
-2nd Group Army (5th)
-3rd Group Army (5th)
-31st Group Army (5th War Area)
6th War Area
--26th Group Army
-12th Group Army (7th)
9th War Area
--27th Group Army
--29th Group Army
--30th Group Army
-4th Group Army (Jingcha War Area)
-34th Group Army (Jingcha War Area)

About 9000 AV currently present in the Imphal area in Chinese units [:D]. 8000 Support squads in the pool, and 2134 Chinese '41 squads in the pool (with another 1866 coming = 4000). 224 Chinese '43 squads in the pool, with 700 already upgraded - though I should have waited. Getting 11.67 squads per day. So by the end of June, assuming I can burn through the pools, I should have ~15000 Chinese squads. I'll never be able to upgrade them all to 1943 squads, so I'll be judicious in choosing those LCUs with the best leaders and best experience before I set them to upgrade. Many of my Chinese units are already at 50+ Exp.

Support arrives at 40 per day. I want to retain a "reserve" of about 2000 squads of support in case I need to rebuild a couple of USA/USMC or Indian IDs, but otherwise I plan to burn this pool on Chinese units.

[Lokasenna]

The Silent Service

Now that I have semi-working torpedoes, I've sent my subs after merchant lanes with a bit more gusto. There are somewhere between 10 and 15 subs working the South and East China Seas. One sub fired 4 torpedoes at Tonan Maru #3 in mid-January, getting one hit and setting her on fire. I had hoped she'd sink to fires, but MM confirms that she did not.

Still, I'm getting reasonable results in this area without getting dinged much on DL - he appears to be concentrating on the island fortress areas like the Kuriles, Marianas, and Marshalls with his aerial ASW.

In the South China Sea, I've tried to stay as much in the middle as possible. I suspect he is hugging the Indochina coast at least past C.R. Bay, and then proceeding almost directly NE to either Hong Kong or the Formosa Straits.


Confirmed and possible sinkings since August, 1942 below. As you can see, I've mostly been using my subs for intel on fleet movements and some supply/minelaying operations up to this point.

August
Trout hits AO Shiriya outside Saipan (probably survived)
Silversides sinks an xAK outside Yokohama
S-33 sinks a CM at Tulagi
SS KXVI sinks an empty xAP outside Manus
2 dud attacks

September
S-33 sinks a big PB at Tulagi
3 dud attacks

October
Guardfish sinks an xAKL outside Truk
S-34 sinks an xAK outside Toyohara
Guardfish sinks a PB outside Truk
Pickerel cripples an xAK outside Sapporo
Gurnard sinks an xAKL outside Sasebo
SS Triton lost to 250kg bomb outside Saipan
Trusty sinks an xAKL outside Medan/Georgetown
S-34 cripples an xAK outside Toyohara
5 dud attacks

November
Trigger cripples a large PB outside Rabaul
4 dud attacks


December
SS O20 sinks a PB tuna boat outside Exmouth
S-27 cripples an xAK outside Kushiro
4 dud attacks

January, 1943
Pollack sinks a PB outside Emirau Island
Hake cripples an AO outside Torishima (fuel on board)
Sawfish cripples an xAK outside Amami Oshima
Gar hits Tonan Maru #3 in the South China Sea. Gar takes 2 hits + 8 near hits, crippled.
Tunny cripples an xAK outside Batan Island
Porpoise sinks an xAKL outside Medan
Stingray sinks an xAKL on the surface outside Wenchow
Pompon sinks an xAKL outside Amami Oshima

[Lokasenna]

People who have HRs against night bombing are going to hate this one...

For days and days and days, I've had recon going against Lunga. I assume DL 9/14 is about 4 levels better than DL 9/10, right? So I decide to swap 4 of the 10 units at Luganville to VII Bomber Command (the most common HQ) in the hopes of a fully coordinated night strike, just for the sake of beauty.

Well, that doesn't happen. But what does happen is tremendous:



Needless to say, MM is not pleased. But I think this will work to counter some of those 81-plane fighter groups. Some of the losses are at Milne Bay, at least 10 and maybe as many as 20. 6 Allied 4Es lost on the day, plus others out of the zone of action.

MM says Lunga is out of commission. AF damage 50? Not sure about out of commission, but definitely hurting. I don't think I'll hit it again, and instead give my guys a well-deserved day off. I don't get any more B-17s until 1945 anyway.

[Lokasenna]

This was just the latest in several days of night airfield bombing recently, including at Buna and Milne Bay. On top of the sweeps at Tassafaronga and Buna in the last 4 days, we have destroyed 134 Japanese aircraft in exchange for 73 Allied aircraft....49 of those yesterday, when my CV escorts failed to intercept the CAP at Buna and I lost almost 40 SBDs/TBFs from Yorktown/Saratoga. I was attempting to catch his troop ships unloading at Buna.

[JocMeister]

Hehe, that loading mistake kind of sucks. I´ve taken to habit to never leave port straight after loading. That way I can always check if/how much was left behind, load the fragments on other ships and then merge it with the first TF. [:)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Hehe, that loading mistake kind of sucks. I´ve taken to habit to never leave port straight after loading. That way I can always check if/how much was left behind, load the fragments on other ships and then merge it with the first TF. [:)]

Ah, but I loaded up at Sydney. I didn't notice right away that a large piece of the support got left at Pearl.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
Ah, but I loaded up at Sydney. I didn't notice right away that a large piece of the support got left at Pearl.

Yes, but I ALWAYS do that. Its a good practice as it seems to happen most the time. So I would have noticed at PH. [:)]

[pontiouspilot]

Good raid!! I agree with the chicken over the lemon. I think the lemon is simply a little sour! I had assumed this type of raid was feasible with a little luck. This should stand as an example of the havoc a bold allied player can dish out if the Jap player wants to fish too far afield with all his carriers. May it deter some of the wild Jap thrusts into the Indian Ocean and Australia that we have seen. Against most Jap players the only real problem would be from Betties with torps. Many Jap players at this stage have virtually no search assets in home islands. All you have to do is sail a ship from Seattle to Wenchow to find out.

I had planned a similar early '42 raid using 2 carriers carrying only fighters to protect a 6 battleship bombardment force. (in 1 of my PBEM games I had very little damage to BBs at Pearl but for the 2 sunk outright). My proposed targets were solely in Hokaido however.

[Lokasenna]

Well, change of plans RE: Tabiteuea.

Look what we have here:



Operation All Along the Watchtower shall commence as soon as the second string LCUs arrive from Pearl Harbor and whatnot, pending recon of Tassafaronga and Tulagi. However, Tulagi has been a second line base for him, not built up, so I expect resistance there to be light. I may be able to bring enough to do a historical landing at both Lunga and Tulagi on the same day. He'll see me coming 1-2 days out, but that's more attractive than Tabiteuea, where he will likewise see me 1-2 days out...but here, I have LBA coming out of my ears.

It looks like he's pulled some of the planes back to Shortlands, which he thinks is out of range of my bombers...it's not, if I base them at Ndeni. I may hit them there a couple of days before the landing, try to destroy a bunch on the ground as before.

Once I take the Lunga Complex from him, I should be able to approach Tabiteuea from the southwest with only 1-1.5 days of warning. I suspect his naval search is running from the Russell Islands, or perhaps Tulagi.

[Lokasenna]

Tell me...ever seen one of these?

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 01, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Saipan at 112,100

Japanese Ships
xAP Kobe Maru
APD Fuji

Allied Ships
SS Harder

SS Harder launches 4 torpedoes at xAP Kobe Maru
Harder diving deep ....
APD Fuji attacking submerged sub ....
SS Harder eludes ASW attack from APD Fuji
APD Fuji cannot establish contact with SS Harder
SS Harder eludes ASW attack from APD Fuji
APD Fuji fails to find sub, continues to search...
APD Fuji fails to find sub, continues to search...
APD Fuji fails to find sub, continues to search...
APD Fuji fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

<-- END OF FILE -->

[BBfanboy]

Yeah. APDs often attack subs. The Allies have to use them as ASW vessels early on because they have so few.

[Lokasenna]

I mostly meant that was the entire combat replay for that day [:D].

[Mike McCreery]

I may be mistaken but occasionally I start re-playing the wrong turn and instead of waiting patiently I control alt destruct...

I think that can cause the file to be incomplete...

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I mostly meant that was the entire combat replay for that day [:D].

I thought you meant that the game had added "End of File" and I'd never seen that. Had a flash-back to COBOL for a minute there.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I mostly meant that was the entire combat replay for that day [:D].

I thought you meant that the game had added "End of File" and I'd never seen that. Had a flash-back to COBOL for a minute there.

In retrospect, I should've just uploaded the file.

No, this game has been having a lot of lull in the action lately. This is our shortest combat replay to date, but we had a couple of others that had less than 5 actions occur.

As an aside, I didn't realize I got my APA upgrades in March. I thought they were 9/43. I was pleasantly surprised when a couple of them started upgrading, and I've sent the others off to upgrade. What few I have...

However, knowing that I can land >1K "points" of Troop load per phase means I can step up my invasion schedule, and perhaps pull something off that I thought was going to have to wait until October...we'll see.

[Bullwinkle58]

Yep, March. And the first P-47s in about 45 days or so.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

Yep, March. And the first P-47s in about 45 days or so.

I'm having trouble making that first leap. Once I have some momentum on an advance, I think I can push through to the finish. I'm just feeling like I have ADD when trying to select where I'm going to push first. As I see it, there are no really obvious spots and so I end up second-guessing every decision.

Since it's still early, I suppose I'm just going to probe and see what comes of it.

Another thing I'm finding helpful is to prep Corps HQ units for targets that I know I'll need, and as I don't have as many of those as I do little combat-ready LCUs... well, I just discovered a few turns ago that I can use their prepped targets to help keep me organized and my eye on the prize.


As for the P-47s... I haven't even started using my Corsairs yet. I upgraded a couple of squadrons, after sorting USMC units by highest EXP and then air skills, but haven't actually put them into combat.

I have about 150 TBFs in the pools - how does anyone ever use them all?!? I wish more VMSB squadrons were able to upgrade to them, even with PDU On. Only about 45 days until I can upgrade a VF unit to Hellcats, too... can't wait.

Also have over 500 P-40s in the pools and no use for them. Maybe soon, when I have airbases closer to his... I do have enough pilots trained in Air/Strafe to use them in a handful of units. The P-40K is as good as any at this role, I guess.

[BBfanboy]

I like P-40s in the ground support and low nav attack roles. I once sank CA Maya with 500 lb bombs from P-40s. Got about 15 penetrating hits from two squadrons.

Have you considered doing a review of the SIGINT on his unit preps/moves to decide what places NOT to attack?

Re: the TBFs - don't some of the land-based Kingfisher squadrons have the option to upgrade to TBs? My Kingfishers are busy training naval pilots but if you don't need them for that they could go to the front after the upgrade.