Excel Empire - F Krieg vs Great Went - DBB-C 28

[FeurerKrieg]

September 5th, 1942

India/Burma
Diamond Harbour expands airfield to size 5 - how nice of the Allies to expand this airfield for us.

Our attack against the 70th British today gets 413:1 odds and the British surrender! Always a joy to destroy a British division. We bag 8,000 men, 92 guns and 163 vehicles.

We now have a uninterupted rail route from Chittagong to Jessore which mean supplies and reinforcements can get to the front much faster.

Our attack on Dimapur only gets 1:2 odds today.

[center]
The 70th British Division surrenders[/center]

DEI/N Australia
We begin our assault on Katherine. Today we get a 1:1 result and drop forts to level 2. Casaulties look good, so hopefully it won't take long to secure the base.

[center]
We start our attack on Katherine[/center]

Pacific
Two reported submarine hits from Sallys near Milne Bay.

China
Today we sweep near Chungking and take out 6x P-43 for the loss of 1x Oscar. That helps even things out a bit from yesterday.

Other
CV Soryu beginning refit in shipyard at Yokohama/Yokosuka

[FeurerKrieg]

September 6th, 1942

India/Burma
We get unexpected bonus today. Our 14th Tank Regiment, en route to Asansol, stumbles across an enemy unit on the rail intersection northeast of Asansol, between Patna and Asansol. We attack and get 50:1 odds which is enough for the 16th Light Cavalry Regiment to surrender. We get 24 vehicles and one more enemy unit destroyed.

Pacific
Another sub hit reported near Milne Bay.

China
We sweep near Chungking today but lose two Oscars and only kill one Lancer. All the Oscar pilots are getting some nice experience from these A2A combats though.

The 22nd Division marches out of Chengtu and for the first time in many many months goes on the offensive. Southwest of Chengtu, the 22nd bounces the 2nd Chinese Cavalry Corp out of the hex. They will continue their march on Neikiang.

We get 18:1 on our daily Pakhoi attack today, and then at the end of the replay we get a message: Allied Unit(s) surrounded at Pakhoi. Hopefully this means the enemy units are about to surrender.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 7th, 1942

India/Burma
Jessore expands airfield to size 4. This is nice, we can bring in some more fighters.

9x Vengeance dive bombers make a night attack on Chittagong's port. No hits are scored. In the daytime, 22x P-40E Warhawks and 19x P-39D Airacobras sweep Chittagong ahead of a bombing run of Blenheims and Wellingtons escorted by Hurricanes. The sweeps had worn down our CAP so most of the bombers get through. All of the bombers are on port attack and two of our xAK's in port take a bomb each. They will be fine and I will send them down to Rangoon and then Singapore for repairs.

Over the course of all the fighting, we lose 10x Nicks, 5x Oscars, and 2x Tojos (17 planes) while we take down 6x Blenheims, 3x P-40E, 1x P-39D, 1x Hurricane IIc, and 1x Wellington (12 planes). Not great, but not terrible. Pilot losses are low at 5 pilots lost.

We attack at Dimapur again and get 1:1 results, and drop forts to zero.

[center]
Allied air attack on Chittagong port results in two xAK damaged[/center]

China
Ten A-29A Hudsons attack our troops at Chihkiang. If they continue we'll CAP the base and see if we can shoot some down. The Chinese there also try a deliberate attack and get 1:1 results, dropping our forts to level 2. I'll bring in a another unit to make sure they don't manage to retake the base, although given they are showing a supply negative already, I doubt they have the supply for consecutive attacks.

The message about surrounded units at Pakhoi yesterday seems to have indicated four units were dissolved or surrendered because there are only three unit left there when we attack today. We get 163:1 odds and they all surrender. So we get 4,700 enemy POWs today, and a few thousand yesterday appartently. Now the Yokosuka 4th SNLF will go to Liuchow to garrison the base, which will relieve an element of the 104th Division so I can reform that unit. The /A portion of the 104th is also at Pakhoi, so it will march to Liuchow as well. The 23rd Tank Regiment will head up to eventually join the fighting at Kweiyang when we get there.

Other
TK Ceram Maru arrives at Maizuru

[FeurerKrieg]

September 8th, 1942

India/Burma
An Allied submarine is reported to be hit near Colombo.

Near Howrah, the 19th Indian division is stubborn and our 2nd Division only gets 1:2 results today. Casualties are in our favor though, so baring reinforcements, this one is just a matter of time. We outnumber them 15k to 6k and have much higher experience as well.

The 22nd East African Brigade chases our paratroopers another hex farther away from Jamshedpur. These few squads won't last much longer, but he still hasn't cleared the western hexside of Jamshedpur.

[center]
The jungles make fighting tough[/center]

DEI/N Australia
We attack Katherine today with a DA and get 1:1 results, dropping forts form 2 down to 1. The enemy 2/9th Armoured Regiment is destroyed in the fighting.

Other
Aircraft Ki-43-IV Oscar advances R&D to 11/44.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 9th, 1942

India/Burma
Blenheims and Vengeance bombers attack Dacca at night for no effect.

SS Swordfish hits with a dud on one of our xAK's near Rangoon.

We attack Dimapur again and today the base falls with with a 3:1 result against forts level 1. The 44th Indian Brigade is destroyed, and the 1st Assam Rifles Bn surrenders. The remaining six units retreat southeast into the jungle. It will take them a while to walk back to the road line, so both our fighting units will march east immediately to take Ledo. We have some anti tank gun units that will move into Dimapur and Kohima to prevent those bases from flipping back to enemy.

China
We notice that several Chinese units move east out of Tienshui after being cut off there since the early days of the war. So we attack at Tienshui and sure enough there are only six units left, which we easily cause to retreat thus taking heavy casualties. Thankfully one of the units was a pretty strong unit still. These all retreat east and join the rest of the stack. So the good news is that we finally have Tienshui under the Japanese flag. The bad news is there is a big Chinese stack on our road line from Sian to Keinko. There are supply paths around it at least. In any case, there were already several units coming from the north so I will try to get this stack of Chinese surrounded once and for all so that we can keep them pinned while we wear them down.

[center]
Action in India and China[/center]

Other
Aircraft A6M8 Zero advances R&D to 11/44

[PaxMondo]

OR just keep pushing the stack ... once their morale is gone even a high AV will not stand under fire as you saw at Tienshui. That's been my experience from both sides. Maybe some others can chime in as to what they have seen ...

[FeurerKrieg]

Normally I would agree, but this stack is about 150,000 Chinese strong. My attacks aren't strong enough to make them retreat. The picture is deceptive because you can't see that most of the stack already left the hex (moving east) the turn before.

What I don't want is for those 15-20 enemy units to all split up and roam around my backfield. So I'll try to get them pinned down until I can spare some units to come and wear them down, similar to what I did at Pakhoi.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 10th, 1942

DEI/N Australia
We shock attack Katherine today because it looks like an enemy armor unit is making a run to reopen a hex side. We win the fight, with a 2:1 result, but the enemy armor makes into the base and most of the enemy troops retreat instead of surrender. The Katherine RAAF Base Force surrenders at least. We still capture 3,300 men, 94 guns and 109 vehicles, so the retreating units are notably weaker now. We also capture four B-339-23(PR) planes on the ground.

Katherine is only lightly damaged (5 runway, 2 service). We will start building some forts while waiting for the 33rd Division to arrive. There are some troops starting to build up south of Katherine, so I want to leave a strong garrison here while we go attack Darwin.

[center]
An important step in the Darwin campaign[/center]

Other
Aircraft Ki-100-I Tony advances R&D to 12/44

[FeurerKrieg]

September 11th, 1942

India/Burma
No air attacks in this theater at all today.

The 2nd Division attacks the 19th Indian again, and still only gets 1:2. A stubborn unit that is for sure.

Pacific
Eleven P-40E from Canton Island attack our ships at Enderbury. This time we have our Rufes on CAP and the P-40's have to jettison their bombs. We only shoot down one P-40E and lose two Rufes, but the ships don't get bombed.

[center]
Air skirmish in the Pacific[/center]

China
We are attacking three areas from the air. Mainly because they are open terrain then anything else. Sallys from Sian are hitting enemy troops in the Chungking plains, whereas our centrally based planes are hitting Ichang and the enemy troops at our base of Siangtan. I have some Oscars bombing as well to push up their experience a bit.

On the road to Neikiang, the 22nd Division and 116th Division, which had set out SW and SE from Chengtu, meet up and together attack the stack that is blocking our entry into Neikiang. We win with a 10:1 result and the 18,000 Chinese retreat, losing 5,200 men in the process. Our two divisions will move into Neikiang next.

Other
Cam Ranh Bay expands port to size 7

Aircraft Ki-44-IIc Tojo advances R&D to 9/43

[FeurerKrieg]

September 12th, 1942

India/Burma
I-122, I-123 and I-124 lay some mines in the three hexes that surround Karachi.

Pacific
I-121 lays some at Tahiti and then takes a shot at DMS Hopkins but misses. I-121 evades the ASW and sets course back to Suva.

At Johnston Island, midget sub Ha-20 takes a shot at DD Farenholt but misses and is sunk by ASW counter attack.

The Warhawks at Canton Island get some revenge and sweep Enderbury taking out six of our Rufes.

We attack at Terapo and only get a 1:4 result, but at the end of the combat report, six of the enemy units are "wiped out by attrition!!!" and gone.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 13th, 1942

DEI/N Australia
We run some armored units up to Fenton for a quick grab and take the base easily with 66:1 results. The 2/1 NAOU Detachment surrenders.

Submarines
Surprisingly we find an enemy sub far from home lurking in our shipping lane. SS Pompano gets past our escorts and attacks a big tanker. Thankfully it misses. A few more of these sightings and I'll have to get more aerial ASW going in the heart of the Empire.

[center]
A harbinger of things to come[/center]

Other
Device Mitsubishi Ha-43 advances R&D to 5/45

[FeurerKrieg]

September 14th, 1942

India/Burma
Several night air attacks on the port at Chittagong from Vengeance dive bombers and Wellingtons, no hits though.

In the morning, Bettys from Colombo respond to sightings of enemy ships at Addu. 24x Bettys attack but none of them score hits. They do spot two destroyers, one minelayer, one xAP and CL Dauntless. However, one of our smaller subs, RO-63, on station at Addu, uses the distraction the air attacks caused to put two torpedoes into CL Dauntless, heavily damaging the ship and likely sinking her. Certainly a big score for an RO boat.

[center]
Go go RO![/center]

Further inland, nine Wellingtons attack Jessore with no escorts. We have 71x Tojos on CAP, but the Wellingtons manage to mostly get away.

China
Since it has been a while, and based on the success at Keinko, I try a deliberate attack on Siangtan supported by most of the air power I have in China. Surprisingly, our attack gets a 2:1 result and the big enemy stack of 62,000 troops retreats northeast the road the leads northwest out of Changsha. We will follow along and see if we can't secure that roadway which would fully isolate Changsha. Just having Siangtan clear is a nice step forward, not to mention the 16,000 casualties suffered by the Chinese during the retreat.

[center]
A pleasant surprise[/center]

Meanwhile, the Chinese send nine unescorted A-29A Hudsons on an attack mission to Chihkiang where we have some Oscars on LRCAP. We manage to take out all the Hudsons for no losses.

At Neikiang we launch our first assault and get 3:1 results against fort level 3. Not quite enough, but forts drop to two so hopefully the next attack will do better.

The enemy stack from Kweilin makes its way onto the small road southeast of Kweilin. We had placed a single unit, the 58th Infantry Regiment there, just in case they moved that direction. The enemy stack arrived yesterday and shock attacked us today. They outnumber us 4:1 but still only get a 1:6 result, so our small unit is able to hold. I'll bring in some more units soon so we can wear this stack down. I may also move a unit in behind this one so it can't retreat back into the non-road hex.

Other
Good news: SS KIX is reported to have been sunk near Trivandrum on May 12, 1942

[FeurerKrieg]

September 15th, 1942

India/Burma
Jessore airfield goes to size 5, allowing us to bring in some more fighters.

Some bombardment at Jamshedpur but otherwise it is quite.

All of our Diamond Harbor/Calcutta assault force is in place at Jessore, they just need to unpack from the train. We will have a strong force consisting of: 4th Div, 5th Div, 18th Div, 48th Div, 38th/A Div, 1st Tank Div, and 2nd Tank Div. They will be lead by the 2nd Area Army HQ. All the infantry units are at 99-100% TOE and they all have XP in the 90's. The Tank units are not quite as filled out, but they have just shy of 300 AV each, and since they are better devices, I'm sure they will help. My hope is the 2nd Division can bounce the 19th Indian and secure that road, then there will be no chance of the enemy troops at Jamshedpur somehow reinforcing Calcutta before we can cross the river. (Our map/pwhex file doesn't have the fix, so Calcutta is still an island - river crossings all around).

DEI/N Australia
Wyndham airfield goes to size 4, which is where we will stop.

Three weakened Australian armored units arrive in Katherine yesterday, so we attack today and get an 487:1 result, causing all three to surrender. Not sure why they entered the base, but the 754th Tank Bn, 2/10th Armoured Regiment and 2/11th Armoured Car Regiment, are out of commission for a while.

Submarines
SS Pompano attacks DD Yugure which is part of an AO group sailing near Okinawa. The enemy sub misses thankfully.

Other
Previous report of sinking of SS S-41 incorrect. Intelligence reports ship is still in service

[FeurerKrieg]

September 16th, 1942

India/Burma
The 2nd Division finally forces the 19th Indian to retreat. It retreats southeast to Howrah.

This might not seem like it, but this is an important win. With this, the 2nd Div will split off one third to go northwest and flip the hexside the covers the road from out of Jamshedpur towards Calcutta. This means it will take many many days for any reinforcements to get from Jamshedpur to Calcutta. The rail hexside to the west is still under our control from our Para excursion, so he can not rail troops out at this moment. The other two thirds of the 2nd Div will march southeast and time their arrival to coincide with another third of division that has been sitting in the clear hex to the northeast from Howrah for sometime. After they are in Howrah, the 1st third of the 2nd will return via the road from Jamshedpur, the 2nd will reform and the other 3rd will cover the hex this battle just occurred in to prevent any capture by jungle incursion from the west. Once 2nd is reformed, it will assault Howrah. TL;DR - see map below.

[center]
Movement near Howrah[/center]

China
We launch another attack on Neikiang, and although the forts are lower than before, we get worse result. 2:1 against fort level 1 isn't quite enough. Next attack should do it based on modifiers and casualties.

The Chinese southeast of Kweilin shock attack again and get a 1:16 result against our lonely Regiment. More enemy troops had arrived, making the battle 21,000 Chinese versus 3,400 Japanese. Thank goodness for low enemy supply and terrain on our part.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 17th, 1942

India/Burma
Quiet for a change in India.

Pacific
We attack at Terapo (on New Guinea) again and another unit is destroyed.

China
We attack Neikiang today and get a 4:1 result causing the four Chinese units present to retreat to Chungking. We capture all 20 light industry completely intact! The enemy loses about 2,400 men and 12 guns in the retreat.

[center]
One step closer to Chungking - and more supply production as well[/center]

Farther north, near Sian, we attack the big stack the recently left Tiensui. We get a 1:2 result which isn't too bad given the terrain and that we are outnumbered 5 to 1. The enemy takes 1,800 casualties.

Submarines
At Tahiti, APD locates our little Ha-26 and DD henley proceeds to score some hits with deptch charges. The little sub can't take much and is destroyed.

[FeurerKrieg]

September 18th, 1942

India/Burma
After yesterday's silence, things pick up today.

A Helen at Colombo gets a hit on an enemy submarine.

Near Calcutta, the change in the balance of air power looks like it is swinging our way. Enemy Wellingtons and Blenheim's attack the partial division near Howrah that is marching southwest into Howrah. Our leaky CAP from Jessore puts up about 30 planes against each enemy wave and we do a good job disruping raids. Only 20 enemy bombers and 10 fighters attack. We take down 9x Hurricane IIc and 3x Blenheims, while losing only 1x Tojo and 1x Nick.

[center]
More IJA, less Commonwealth[/center]

China
25x P-43A-1 Lancers catch our Ki-21's without escort and take several down. We lose 9x Ki-21-IIa and 4x Ki-21-Ic. At least we still get through and inflict about 250 casualties. The Ki-21 pools are both getting near empty. I have been very conservative on these early model builds since I don't want to waste HI on planes I'll never use. I will probably need to turn on some of the idle Ki-49 factories soon so that I can get some of these Ki-21 units upgraded. I may need to downgrade a unit or two in China to Lily's to keep the pilots training until the Ki-49 production catches up.

Our forces from Kweilin that have been marching towards Kweiyang finally meet some resistance and easily defeat the roadblock with 9:1 odds. One enemy unit surrenders and the other four retreat to Kweiyang. The enemy loses 3,400 casualties and 8 guns in the retreat. Onward to Kweiyang.

[center]
One step closer to Kweiyang[/center]

With some reinforcements in place, we try an attack on the isolated stack from Kweilin. We only get 1:4 results so I'll probably wait a bit for more reinforcements.

Other
Pilot Degawa B. is reported as to have escaped capture

[FeurerKrieg]

September 19th, 1942

DEI/N Australia
Sallys at Koepang score a hit on an enemy submarine. Seems they are venturing forth a little more these days. Either that or we're getting better at finding them.

In Australia, Nicks fly sweep over Daly Waters and then Sally escorted by Zeros bomb the airfield there destroying one Kittyhawk IA on the ground.

Pacific
A small xAK hauling an engineer unit to Kwajelein gets attacked by SS Halibut near Eniwetok. The enemy sub manages to connect with a working torpedo. Our escorts look but the enemy sub gets away. The damage transport falls out of the TF and later in the day, Halibut finds the ship again and hit with another torpedo and a couple deck gun shots. The transport is sunk and we lose two guns.

[center]
Allied subs seem to becoming more noticable[/center]

China
We send one tank regiment from the stack that is marching on Kweiyang down to Tuyun to close their exit hexside. This should slow any supplies that are trickling in to Tuyun.

Other
Aircraft A6M8 Zero advances R&D to 10/44
Aircraft D5Y1 Myojo advances R&D to 8/45

[FeurerKrieg]

September 20th, 1942

India/Burma
Enemy continues to sweep over the clear areas east of Howrah. Today is more even - we down 4x P-40E and lose 3x Nicks and 1x Tojo.

China
We attack the troops that retreated from Neikiang and get a 1:1 result.

Other
Singapore expands airfield to size 8

[FeurerKrieg]

September 21st, 1942

India/Burma
An enemy unit finally marches to Sambalpur and the base flips to the Allies.

China
The Chinese put up a healthy CAP of 19x P-43A-1 Lances and 11x P-66 Vanguards over the hex west of Chungking and catch our planes off guard. We have some Oscars escorting the Sallys, but they don't fight well due to the escort mission and the high altitude of the enemy CAP. We lose 10x Oscars and 9x Sallys and only kill one of each of the Lancers and Vanguard. Yuck. The Silver lining is that of the 19 planes we lost, only 4 pilots were KIA.

[center]
A bad day in the air[/center]

The Chinese at Chihkiang, which are isolated, do a deliberate attack on our smaller holding force but they only get 1:6 results and take heavy casualties.

Other
Aircraft J2M3 Jack advances R&D to 3/44

xAK American Leader is reported to have been sunk near Manila on Dec 10, 1941

Fusan expands airfield to size 9

[FeurerKrieg]

September 22nd, 1942

India/Burma
Our troops continue to march on Diamond Harbor and I think they are still not detected. With luck, we will capture the base on the initial assault before any enemy airplanes can get away.

Tomorrow we cross the river into Ledo.

Pacific
At Terapo we finally force the last enemy unit, the 224 Group RAF to surrender. We capture 1,200 men.

China
The Chinese get another air victory today. I had sent some Sonia to bomb enemy troops near Changsha and 15x P-43A-1 Lancers show up on CAP. They take down 19 of the old dive bombers. We lose 7 pilots, but they were all rookies. At least they were old planes.

Northwest of Changsha we try an attack on the enemy troops there in the forest guarding the road. We only get a 1:2 result and see that there are 66,000 enemy troops. We will wait a bit to attack again.

We attack at Kweiyang and get a 1:1 result and drop forts to 2. So far so good.

Other
Aircraft Ki-100-I Tony advances R&D to 11/44