Rumble in the Southwest witpqs-A vs Andav-J 2011-11-29 to 2017-02-08

[witpqs]

Today's ships sunk.

[BBfanboy]

Nice job getting rid of that Anti-sub riff-raff! And you swept a few of his mines too! [;)]

[zuluhour]

If I may add some "spice".

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

If I may add some "spice".

Interesting!

Turn underway...

Furutaka rides - no more!

The Dutch Royal navy uses its ships to smash Japan's kamikazes!

Defenders at Lang Son are stubborn, but the progress is clear. Will they reinforce?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: witpqs
Defenders at Lang Son are stubborn, but the progress is clear. Will they reinforce?

Is that a joke? I would think you would be praying for them to reinforce.[;)]

[witpqs]

1944 October 01

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Malang

There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs conducted important oceanographic research.

Quiet in China.

The cleanup in SEAC and the drive into the Imperial SRA trap continues.

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Ground combat at Nakhon Si Thammarat (51,70)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 40987 troops, 581 guns, 1861 vehicles, Assault Value = 1998

Defending force 19369 troops, 210 guns, 39 vehicles, Assault Value = 334

Allied adjusted assault: 643

Japanese adjusted defense: 651

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

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

Japanese ground losses:
2282 casualties reported
Squads: 70 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 50 (28 destroyed, 22 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
365 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 58 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 42 (3 destroyed, 39 disabled)

Assaulting units:
18th Cavalry Regiment
268th Motorised Brigade
150th RAC Regiment
254th Armoured Brigade
Gardner's Horse Regiment
255th Indian Tank Brigade
26th Indian Division
20th Indian Division
50th Tank Brigade
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
5th Indian Division
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
11th/A Division
11th/C Division
4th Raiding Regiment
112th Infantry Regiment
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment
3rd INA Azad Regiment
63rd Inf Group Brigade
104th/C Division
13th Field Construction Battalion
29th Army
32nd Field AA Battalion
3rd Naval Construction Battalion
15th Army
18th Field Construction Battalion


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Ground combat at 59,53 (near Chiang Mai)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7600 troops, 108 guns, 61 vehicles, Assault Value = 206

Defending force 4803 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Allied adjusted assault: 107

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 107 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
morale(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
212 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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

Assaulting units:
2/17 Dogra Battalion
22nd (East African) Brigade
1st Burma Brigade
2/15 Punjab Battalion
2nd Burma Brigade

Defending units:
53rd Division


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They will rest a day before attacking again at Nakhon Si Thammarat. Meanwhile on Sumatra the 81st WA Div will attack tomorrow at Langsa.

The first attack at Lang Son goes well and shows the defenders' resolve.

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Ground combat at Lang Son (70,56)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 68273 troops, 1154 guns, 1775 vehicles, Assault Value = 2432

Defending force 42838 troops, 455 guns, 284 vehicles, Assault Value = 1361

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 1048

Japanese adjusted defense: 5137

Allied assault odds: 1 to 4 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1460 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 114 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 25 (5 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2100 casualties reported
Squads: 60 destroyed, 123 disabled
Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 59 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Guns lost 44 (12 destroyed, 32 disabled)
Vehicles lost 205 (33 destroyed, 172 disabled)

Assaulting units:
775th Tank Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/6th Armoured Regiment
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
5th Australian Division
706th Tank Battalion
711th Tank Battalion
96th Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/4th Armoured Regiment
1st Australian Division
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
192nd Tank Battalion
31st Infantry Division
9th Australian Division
134th (East Ang) Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
251st Field Artillery Battalion
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
163rd Light AA Regiment
12th Indian Heavy AA Regiment

Defending units:
59th Infantry Brigade
27th Division
15th Tank Regiment
37th Division
58th Infantry Regiment
8th Recon Regiment
34th/A Division
2nd Ind. Field Artillery Regiment
11th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
3rd Mobile AA Battalion
31st Mountain Gun Regiment


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Ground combat at 62,66 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4458 troops, 156 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 98

Defending force 1608 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

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

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/C Division
30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
27th Indian Field Artillery Battalion
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Division


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Ground combat at 61,65 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6093 troops, 92 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 187

Defending force 2541 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/A Division
11th Airborne/B Division

Defending units:
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade


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One or two days of rest is called for at Lang Son. The Empire placed strong CAP over Lang Son, but our escort & LRCAP blasted it aside without the aid of sweepers. The first Chinese Army unit has arrived at Hanoi. A small unit, the 2nd Reserve Division with only 85 AV will head straight NE past Lao Cai and take up a blocking position in the jungle just beyond the road. This will lengthen the journey of units retreating from the Lao Cai area, including one defeated SW of Mengtze. The 2/5th Arm Rgt and 1st Army Tk Rgt have caught up to and passed the 4th Arm Bde heading into Lao Cai. The 4th was not struck from the air today and is beginning to recover disruption. There were no air strikes on our troops at Lang Son, so I figure that the extremely heavy CAP we have up kept them from venturing in.

The USN destroyers were caught on the surface. Too bad for the hunters! The Dutch had a worse day of it than I hoped.

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Oyodo, Shell hits 5

Allied Ships
DD Aulick
DD Conner
DD Conway, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Albert Grant, Shell hits 1
DD Irwin, Shell hits 3
DD O'Bannon
DD John Rodgers, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Trathen

Improved night sighting under 100% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 100% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 18,000 yards...
Range closes to 12,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conner at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD John Rodgers at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD O'Bannon at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Albert Grant at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conway at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conner at 8,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Aulick at 8,000 yards
Range closes to 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conner at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD John Rodgers at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Albert Grant at 4,000 yards
DD Albert Grant engages CA Furutaka at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD John Rodgers at 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD O'Bannon at 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Irwin at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Albert Grant at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Aulick at 4,000 yards
Araki, Tsutao orders Japanese TF to disengage
Range closes to 2,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conway at 2,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Irwin at 2,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Irwin at 2,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Conway at 2,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Aulick at 2,000 yards
Range increases to 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD Trathen at 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD John Rodgers at 4,000 yards
CA Furutaka engages DD O'Bannon at 4,000 yards
DD Irwin engages CA Furutaka at 4,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Aulick at 4,000 yards
Range closes to 3,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Trathen at 3,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD O'Bannon at 3,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Albert Grant at 3,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Conway at 3,000 yards
Range increases to 6,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD John Rodgers at 6,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Albert Grant at 6,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Conner at 6,000 yards
Range increases to 8,000 yards
DD Trathen engages CL Oyodo at 8,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD John Rodgers at 8,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Conway at 8,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Aulick at 8,000 yards
Range increases to 13,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Trathen at 13,000 yards
CL Oyodo engages DD Irwin at 13,000 yards
Task forces break off...


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Morning Air attack on TF, near Terempa at 54,82

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 19 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Banckert, Kamikaze hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Evertsen, Kamikaze hits 2, and is sunk
DD Van Nes, Kamikaze hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL De Ruyter, Kamikaze hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Van Ghent, Kamikaze hits 1, and is sunk
DD Piet Hein

Aircraft Attacking:
42 x Ki-43-IIIa Oscar flying as kamikaze
Kamikaze: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring an Allied CL


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Another USN DD TF is on the way to protect Kuching while this one repairs. Only Piet Hein escaped. She will be joined by another Dutch DD in a few days at Saigon to continue operations. I think there is at least one more in the Indian Ocean, but the proud Dutch fleet is almost gone.

Malang threw off their Yoke. The commandos are moving on to Tjepoe to hold the port for a Rgt to land there.

Remaining units for Daito Shoto are already in the process of loading and moving to space available in the Marianas to stage for amphibious loading. Still waiting for the additional assault transport to arrive for the Okinawa invasion.

Indochina.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

Java Sea.

[witpqs]

Today's ship losses. A little present has shown up!

[witpqs]

Today's air losses.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: witpqs
Defenders at Lang Son are stubborn, but the progress is clear. Will they reinforce?

Is that a joke? I would think you would be praying for them to reinforce.[;)]

Not a joke; the defense went well enough that DAW HQ might decide to strengthen or eventually rotate in fresh defenders. The biggest mitigation against that is the 4 divisions moving past Lang Son through the jungle.

Yes, I would like them to reinforce. I can bring more air power to bear than is currently striking. More Imperial troops would be farther forward when later events take place. Our fighter strength is growing, despite USA P-47 models being out of production.

[Drakanel]

Well, Lang son seems a not trivial obstacle. Nice

Air war went really well these last two turns. A pity for the dutch fleet instead, but he's probably going to miss the VP of his own sunk ships more. I wonder how many ships are still at Singapore... And which ships too. Do you have some recon/report or anything?

It seems instead that the Java sea is now completely empty. Juicy VP targets ready for picking, if only you did have the transports and troops to do it Guess it will take a while

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Drakanel

Well, Lang son seems a not trivial obstacle. Nice

Air war went really well these last two turns. A pity for the dutch fleet instead, but he's probably going to miss the VP of his own sunk ships more. I wonder how many ships are still at Singapore... And which ships too. Do you have some recon/report or anything?

It seems instead that the Java sea is now completely empty. Juicy VP targets ready for picking, if only you did have the transports and troops to do it Guess it will take a while

I am guessing that he has some pretty good troops at Lang Son. Hopefully we can destroy that tank regiment.

Yamato looks like it sunk from wounds inflicted by Richelieu. Surprised it made it all the way to Singapore to sink, but maybe one of those bombing raids put the finishing touch on it?

I took a chance in letting the whole Dutch TF try to get out while protecting the two cripples. Bad idea!

Singapore port is down to showing 28 ships in port (was 40 for a long time, before some recent battles), with a bunch showing as "BB". Not terribly helpful, that. I do suspect there might be a damaged Kongo there, but I'm going from memory and would really need to look up what is on the sunk ships list, last battle reports in the Indian Ocean, and so on. Additional cruisers... maybe. I do see several CA indicated at Formosa, waiting to sprint to Okinawa I'm sure. Where the IJN gets a very limited number of CA with no new construction, there might not be any more at Singers. Or maybe something with heavy damage? I'm not going to hit the shipyard there any more because I want to capture it and repair it.

I've got plenty of small (landing craft and APD) transport available for Java, and non-assault ships ('x' AP, AK, and AKL) are bringing in the following on forces quite nicely. I will have at least 3 regiments on Java plus a bunch of 105 mm artillery. With air support that should be plenty. A chunk of the Rgt that took Dili is landing now at Probolinggo.

About 12k troops at Soerabaja and 6k at Batavia, plus some smaller places we haven't seen yet. Plus we have supply and they don't (only a little production).

Still slow loading up the conquerors of Ternate because the port is trashed.

[Lowpe]

Nice boost at Lang Son, adjusting the IJA troops upwards.

Pity the forts are only 2. I am thinking, that Andav must have built some pretty impressive forts somewhere, & I am hoping the somewhere turns out to be Okinawa.[:)]

Vinh, Lang Son are all pretty predictable choke points, and really should have had better forts.

Unopposed Kamikazes are pretty darn good. What is left of the Dutch ships?

[witpqs]

1944 October 02

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Tambelan-eilanden
Langsa

There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:
Phuket

Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs are keeping the fish hopping along the China coast.

Quiet in China.

Finally! And Langsa, too.

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Ground combat at Langsa (46,74)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10689 troops, 144 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 377

Defending force 395 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 357

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 357 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Langsa !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), leaders(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)

Japanese ground losses:
521 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units destroyed 1

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

Assaulting units:
81st (West African) Division

Defending units:
8th Indpt SNLF Coy


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Ground combat at 59,53 (near Chiang Mai)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9924 troops, 128 guns, 73 vehicles, Assault Value = 208

Defending force 4499 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Allied adjusted assault: 134

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 134 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
morale(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3780 casualties reported
Squads: 58 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 476 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units destroyed 1

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

Assaulting units:
1st Burma Brigade
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2/15 Punjab Battalion
22nd (East African) Brigade
2nd Burma Brigade

Defending units:
53rd Division


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Another day of rest is needed at Nakhon Si Thammarat.

An accidental bombardment at Lang Son.

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Ground combat at 61,65 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6079 troops, 92 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 185

Defending force 2527 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Japanese ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/A Division
11th Airborne/B Division

Defending units:
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade


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Ground combat at Lang Son (70,56)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2640 troops, 241 guns, 220 vehicles, Assault Value = 2166

Defending force 41781 troops, 455 guns, 282 vehicles, Assault Value = 1238

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

Allied ground losses:
Guns lost 26 (14 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (4 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/4th Armoured Regiment
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
96th Infantry Division
1st Australian Division
31st Infantry Division
711th Tank Battalion
5th Australian Division
706th Tank Battalion
192nd Tank Battalion
2/6th Armoured Regiment
9th Australian Division
2/9th Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
163rd Light AA Regiment
134th (East Ang) Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
12th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
251st Field Artillery Battalion
2/1st Med Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
18th SP Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
58th Infantry Regiment
59th Infantry Brigade
15th Tank Regiment
27th Division
8th Recon Regiment
37th Division
34th/A Division
11th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
3rd Mobile AA Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Field Artillery Regiment
31st Mountain Gun Regiment


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Ground combat at 62,66 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4743 troops, 178 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 99

Defending force 1542 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/C Division
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
32nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
27th Indian Field Artillery Battalion
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Division


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Damn staff! From the looks of things, at least two more days of recovery required at Lang Son. The Empire swept the skies over our troops SE of Lang Son, then sent in clouds of bombers. Few will fly again. So many came that some got through, but the two divisions attacked only switched out of move mode and were not otherwise affected. See air losses below. The two Arm Rgts have arrived at Lao Cai and the 4th Arm Bde should arrive tomorrow but will need additional time to recover.

Elements of the 30th Aus Bde are moving from Probolinggo to Malang. They will wait there until the remainder of the brigade is lifted to Java and joins them.

Indochina.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

Java Sea.

[witpqs]

Air losses.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Nice boost at Lang Son, adjusting the IJA troops upwards.

Pity the forts are only 2. I am thinking, that Andav must have built some pretty impressive forts somewhere, & I am hoping the somewhere turns out to be Okinawa.[:)]

Vinh, Lang Son are all pretty predictable choke points, and really should have had better forts.

Unopposed Kamikazes are pretty darn good. What is left of the Dutch ships?

I am 100% certain Okinawa has top fortifications. That's one reason why I planned the whole area to be taken while any given island battle is still underway.

As for the rest, every place the Empire decides to build forts is a number of other places where they decide not to build forts. Sure Vinh and Lang Son are predictable choke points, but only if you predict the Allies are going to break through to them within a certain time frame when they matter as choke points. I had a good bypass plan for Vinh and an even stronger one for Lang Son to mitigate the time impact.

Only one Dutch DD from that TF, and with no damage. Another is joining her at Saigon in a week or so. There is at least one other with the British, maybe two. I think there is also a CLAA repairing at Colombo. Not much left, but good ROI on those guys!

[Drakanel]

Terrible day in the air for japan [X(] I wonder how Andav feels about that. I mean, he obviously risked it, but he probably didn't think he'd find so much CAP!

It will be nice when all those jungle pockets are actually cleared. They are distracting... Though probably they take little of your time, it's us readers that perceive them a bigger entity than they are in truth.

Now if only this pace can be kept, then we can have a nice christmas present in the form of an Okinawa invasion. I know, I know not going to happen. but it sure would be cool [:D]