Castles in the Sand - Spidery(J) vs MrKane(A) no MrKane please

[Lowpe]

You don't mention it, so I will. The B5N2 gets MAD and N-6 Radar.[:)]

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

You don't mention it, so I will. The B5N2 gets MAD and N-6 Radar.[:)]

Nice, I hadn't noticed that, I'll probably put them on the CVE and move them close to detected sub activity. Still, the MAD isn't available until 6/44 and the N-6 until 10/44 so a long way off.

[FeurerKrieg]

The Ki-49-Ia have MAD too. I kept one factory of those so I can have an army ASW plane when the MAD becomes available.

[Spidery]

December 21st 1943

Allied carrier planes bombard Truk from 10 hexes away, extended range, without escort, he is playing fast and loose, I need to fly some float fighters in. Costs him 6 Helldivers, 4 flak, 2 ops[:)]. I wonder if he made a mistake and forgot to cancel the secondary target when his carriers went to Kavieng for re-supply.

Otherwise, quiet.

Allied sub activity in South China Sea seems to have been cut back.

B6N2a to 3/44. Change the factory to work on the J7W1.

[Spidery]

December 22nd 1943

More Allied task forces approaching Truk from the South. Carrier planes hit my troops for negligible effect.

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 233
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 92
SBD-3 Dauntless x 29
SBD-5 Dauntless x 58
TBF-1 Avenger x 112
TBM-1C Avenger x 16

Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 7 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

No fragments, impressive co-ordination.

Land attack reduces forts to 5, but look at those vehicle losses inflicted. 32 Land VP gained so that is 96 devices eliminated. I've seen a suggestion that motorized support losses are reported both as non-combat and vehicles so suggests might have eliminated 60 vehicles, probably means I mauled one of the tank regiments.

Attacking force 30431 troops, 474 guns, 641 vehicles, Assault Value = 1147

Defending force 22010 troops, 249 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 375

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Allied adjusted assault: 451

Japanese adjusted defense: 3115

Allied assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 5)

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

Japanese ground losses:
843 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 72 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
920 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 96 disabled
Non Combat: 31 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 22 disabled
Guns lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Vehicles lost 116 (100 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Catch some transports at Myitkyina by LRCAP from Paoshan and down 3 Dakota III.

[Spidery]

December 23rd 1943

Another quiet day.

Allies take Katha, shame, it is a level 8 airbase I never got much mileage out of.

"Pilot Hori I. is reported as to have escaped capture". Went missing in action some 140 days ago, at that time was fighting over Java. I guess he managed to escape from a PoW camp, make his way to the Sunda strait and sneaked over to Oosthaven. Did he swim the 30 or so km?

[Spidery]

December 24th 1943

Allied attack at Truk again and reduce forts to 4. Lots of disabled squads may delay the next attack as the marine divisions need to recover. Supply is holding up with 17,000 supply left at Truk it is unlikely to run out before he takes the base.

Japanese ground losses:
926 casualties reported
Squads: 16 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3103 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 221 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 70 disabled
Guns lost 37 (6 destroyed, 31 disabled)
Vehicles lost 11 (3 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Shoot down a couple of C-47 over Shwebo.

[Spidery]

December 25th 1943

Fly about 20 N1K1 Rex into Truk. They trade 3 planes lost for 3 B-24D1 and 1 Mitchell II. I hoped for a better result but the planes just couldn't get through the defensive fire. In the afternoon, a single N1K1 tries to hold off the carrier planes, with over 200 Hellcats on escort, and is promptly shot down. 7 N1K1 are still flight capable and will fly back to Guam. The remainder will be junked. Need to check, does junking planes cost VP?

I like having the N1K1 Rex to fly into devastated, but still supplied, bases but only have the 3 groups flying them. I only produce 15 a month so will take a while to replace losses.

Send some supply in to Billiton and lost a PB, should have enough supply for a month or so. Very disappointing this:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Billiton at 52,93

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 11
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 13

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 8

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PB Kamitu Maru, Shell hits 15, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level
Naval Attack: 6 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
381 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 11 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
24th Sentai with Ki-43-IV Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 13 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes

Interception time was less than the raid warning, altitude wasn't far off, so why no successful air-air?

Down another 3 C-47 at Shwebo.

Bandjermasin falls.

First A7M2 Sam factory fully repaired which guarantees December 1944 but with two factories only 2 and 3 from completing expect to do a lot better than that.

31st Army, Corps HQ appears at Truk. I doubt I will hold long enough to get preparation up to a level to use the HQ bonus. On the one hand this gives me a large excess of support (895 for 551 required), that should help recovering disabled devices, but it also puts me over 10% over-stacked.

I am finding a lot of demand for PP at the moment as I keep getting restricted reinforcements in China. With little need for extra troops in China (withdrawals from Burma should defend the mountain road), I am buying them out to send to Japan, Luzon, etc.

[Spidery]

December 26th 1943

More quiet.

Allied carriers seem to have retired South-East from Truk.

I-5 sinks TK Buccinum near Karachi (5300 tons, 15VP).

Allied forces in Burma seem to have been railed from Myitkyina to Shwebo.

[Spidery]

December 27th 1943

I-26 is damaged near Kavieng and will return to yards.

Liberators hit Tarakan at night (Moonlight 0%) and 8 (of 36) Ki-84a on CAP are lost for no damage scored and no damage to the oil wells. With only 26 8cm AA guns, flak is light.

Allied carriers have vanished.

At Truk, both sides are bombarding for little effect. I can see from the combat replay that 2 out of 3 tank regiments are trashed and one of the marine divisions is a lot worse off than the other.

SS I-184 is commissioned.

[Spidery]

December 28th 1943

More quiet times.

Near Karachi, a glenn reports sighting a BB and the task force shows as having a CV and 3 auxiliary craft. The task force is co-located with the sub but no luck and no attack.

Local fuel shortages reported for the HI at Chengtu and Chungking, don't really matter.

Damage SS Triton near Tarakan.

[Spidery]

December 29th 1943

Liberators hit Tarakan at night again. A few A6M5d-S get their first action. No damage to the oil wells. 7 Ki-84a and 2 A6M5d-S lost for 2 Liberators to flak and ops. The A6M5d-S seem to be scoring quite a bit of damage on the Liberators so may have contributed to losses.

Ki-74-I to 4/45.

[Spidery]

December 30th 1943

Notice that in Burma his tanks have moved ahead of his supporting AA so send some bombers and fighters in to bomb at 2000 feet. Negligible damage inflicted.

At Sampit I send some P1Y1 and G3M3 to hit at night from 10000 feet. No damage and lose 8 planes. Then during the day sweeps strike and find no defenders and the bombers from Miri fail to arrive. Altogether a waste of time and planes and I now need to move the fighters back into Miri to protect it.

Ki-46-III KAI to 2/44.

[Spidery]

December 31st 1943

More quiet.

Ki-45 KAId Nick Night Fighter enters production at a rate of just 30 because I plan on using the Ki-46-III KAI Dinah for the army mostly and that will be available from later in January. There are two current groups that upgrade to the Ki-45 NF, 4th and 5th Sentai. I'll upgrade 5th Sentai (42 aircraft) in thirds, then upgrade 4th Sentai but immediately change it to the Ki-46 NF. So, by end February, should have 4th Sentai (36), 81st IF Chutai (12), 9th IF Chutai (9) flying the Ki-46 and 5th Sentai (42) flying the Ki-45 with the 53rd Sentai (49) arriving April and will, probably, also get the Ki-46.

G4M2 Betty available but I will stick with the G3M3 Nell for the navy bomber.

Ki-67-Ia Peggy available for the army. I think I will produce some of them as the extra range may compensate for the loss of some bombs relative to the Ki-49-IIb and the increased SR. Looks like I have enough of the engines to keep producing N1K1-J, Ki-84r, B7A2 and still produce KI-67-Ia at a rate of 30 for at least the year.

[Spidery]

December Overview

Allies took Bandjermasin, Hollandia, landed on Truk and have pushed forward in Burma and have secured some abandoned areas in Papua New Guinea. Only at Truk did I oppose the Allies; they have suffered losses but established a beachhead that should be able to take the base this month.

In the air I have mostly held my own, on land the army is doing well at inflicting losses and at sea about evens (might have been better if I hadn't experimented with SSX and MTB).

Japanese losses: 9 SSX and 12 MTB as I experimented with defenses around Truk. 6 SS lost in the Truk area. 2 Ansyu class PB lost to Allied Assault Bombers in re-supply efforts/failed CAP traps around Billiton.

Allied losses, hard to tell: 2 xAP, 1 xAK, 1 TK, 4 AM, 9 YMS, 3 or 4 DMS, and about another 50 VP worth, could contain a sub or two, some DD, maybe some LST, claimed sinkings of cruisers, BB and CV seem highly unlikely.

Code: Select all

        Japan    Allies
 Total:  +188      +683
 Base:   -473      +121
 Air:    +321      +357
 Land:   +222       +93
 Sea:    +118      +112
 

[Spidery]

December Industry

Damage to Palembang is showing. Usage was in line with expectations but less damage to oil wells than I expected. Djambi was knocked out but only lost 94 oil wells over the month. Magwe, Medan, Bengkalis and Northern parts of Borneo remain in production and also still getting some out of Balikpapan/Samarinda (though I am using inefficient small tankers to get the fuel out). Expect I will abandon Magwe next month and lose at least half of the remaining oil wells in the SRA.

I've also reduced fuel in ship bunkers by about 25,000 over the month as I am getting transports back to the home isles pretty empty, in some cases allowing them to cover the last few miles with empty bunkers. Also have moved some of the more extravagant tankers back to Nagasaki as the efficient ones can cover most needs to move the reduced fuel/oil production. I'm then using some of these on the Fusan-Fukuoka run on "Do Not Refuel" until their bunkers are empty.

Total Equivalent Supply: -58,000

Code: Select all

 Oil:       -65,534
 Fuel:     -133,045
 Supply:   +133,660
 HI:       +122,779
 Vehicles:   +2,887
 Arms:       +1,555
 

[Spidery]

Defenses in Bonin Islands

Just level 2 airfields at Chichi and Iwo -Jima and level 1 at Haha-Jima. Not that much artillery present. Looking to send another brigade to each of Chichi and Haha -Jima when have the PP to be able to afford it.

[Spidery]

Defenses in Marianas Islands

Guam and Saipan have level 8 forts. Pagan has level 7 nearly 8, Tinian 6 will be 7 soon, Rota 6 but needs the engineers from Pagan to reach level 7 soon.

Guam level 8 airfield, Rota, Tinian and Saipan are level 4 and Pagan is level 3.

All the main bases are over-stacked by up to 10%, all these bases have 30,000+ supply.

Main defending forces:

Guam(650 AV): 3rd Tank Division, 2nd Amphibious Brigade, Kure 7th SNLF, 3rd Special base Force, 4 30cm Howitzers.

Rota(930 AV): 116th Division, 38th Division, 14th Tank Regiment, Det 3rd Special Base Force,

Tinian(840 AV): 57th Division, 12th & 18th Garrisons, Wake Coastal Guns, 1st Ind Tank Co.

Saipan(650 AV): 54th Division, 21st Special Base Force, Saipan Naval Fort, 18th & 19th Tank regiments

Pagan(670 AV): 1st Division, 25th Ind Mixed brigade, Combined 8th SNLF.

All bases have some CD or DP guns and some mines.

Guam has 380 aviation support with about another 300 on the other bases.

The three dot bases have forts 3 and about 30 AV, enough to deter cheap submarine invasions but any serious bombardment would probably wipe the troops out.

[MrBlizzard]

The Mariana defences seem very strong. I'm just really surprised the strongest defence is on Rota and the weakest on Guam[&:]
Shouldn't be Guam the more protected? It's the only AF that can be builded till level 8 so doubling the number of planes.

[Spidery]

ORIGINAL: MrBlizzard

The Mariana defences seem very strong. I'm just really surprised the strongest defence is on Rota and the weakest on Guam[&:]
Shouldn't be Guam the more protected? It's the only AF that can be builded till level 8 so doubling the number of planes.

Guam needs all those aviation units to use that space. About 8 AF units gives the needed aviation support and has a stacking cost of 1500 or so each so that is almost a divisions worth.

However, the real thing is that it has units with high firepower. For example, the unit of 4 30mm Howitzers has a stacking cost of 1200+ and no AV whereas an infantry division has about 400 AV in 14000 stacking cost. Truk is clearly showing that he can't get an AV advantage so firepower is what will matter.

Rota has ended up with more than I expected because I have been lifting troops from Ponape.