Islands of Destiny: RA 5.0 Japanese Side

[John 3rd]

January 19, 1943

I begin to feel a little bit of momentum in Sumatra:

1. Troops loading for Great Nicobar, Trinkat, and two other locations.

2. A STF of CAs Ashigara/Haguro and 3 DDs test the waters around Sabang. They find the Allies full of fight and ready to go. A series of 7 surface encounters occur and they are wild and crazy! At the end of it, Ashigara goes down along with the 3 DDs (crap...) but they sink CL Helena, CL Achillies, CL Caradoc, 9 PT boats and damage 7 DDs.

3. Subs sink two AK approaching Sabang.

4. Nells--flying from Port Blair--show the AF is operational and sink two more AK.

5. Three Inf Div and a Corps HQ enter the hex just south of Langsa. They'll bombard next turnt o see what is present there.

6. Hundreds of Japanese Naval Fighters begin to fill the AF ringing Sabang...

[ny59giants]

Naval attrition is NOT your friend. [:-]

[John 3rd]

January 19, 1943

Burma
The situation is desperate. Looks like the Allies will finally cut the Railroad north of Mandalay. About time I guess. There has only been a divided Thai ID hold the three hexes leading to Katha for about the last 6-8 weeks.

I have every belief that the Allies will take the hex just north of the jungle south of Magwe next turn. That Aussie Corps has a lot of firepower in it. Two ID and an HQ enter the hex due west of there (west side of the Irrawaddy and I hope to distract Dan. There is only one Allied unit there and we're attacking it. IF that hex is taken then the Aussies are nearly cutoff with only one hexside that isn't Japanese. Would be cool to achieve but I doubt if he'll let that happen.

REINFORCEMENTS:
1. A full strength, FRESH ID begins unloading in Rangoon along with 50,000 supplies. These are the first reinforcements and supplies to arrive in since the whole Sumatra--Malaya Invasion. NICE!
2. Have APs heading to Port Blair to load the full strength Imperial Guards. This will leave a CD and Inf Brigade (behind Sz-5 Forts) to hold Blair.

These two ID MIGHT be enough to hold Burma. I doubt it but we'll have to see.

Air
It is not safe to be a bomber pilot in this theatre presently. The two of us are catching un-escorted bombers left and right. Am resting mine and bringing in my first Tony Interceptors. They will try to defend Magwe.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Naval attrition is NOT your friend. [:-]

The war will be decided here within the next two months. It is all PsyOps presently. Need to sweep the TFs present a bit before sending in the BBs. IF we can get a decent result then nearly 1,500 planes will hit that base and port and--HOPEFULLY--freak out my opponent.

It is a plan...course CUSTER had a PLAN...

[John 3rd]

January 20, 1943

Got a bonus turn in today with Dan.

Burma
Lots of action:
1. As expected the Allies cut the Railroad between Mandalay and Katha at hex 60,44. There isn't much there but they are plenty to drive out 1/3 of a Thai ID.

2. In the sky above that lop-sided fight, nearly 40 Japanese Fighters MANGLE un-escorted Allied bombers and destroy nearly FIFTY of them. NICE!

3. Taung Gyi is threatened by a weak Chinese unit. Presently there is only a small Base Force defending it with a massive AV of 9! Bring in 60 Topsy to Magwe and they will fly in a Paratrooper Regiment. Might be enough to hold out. Forts are at 2 so roughly 50 AV MIGHT hold there.

4. In hex 56,48 (west of Irrawaddy and directly across from the Australian Army) the Japanese BLAST the 14th British Brigade out of the hex with a 39-1 attack. That unit is no longer fit for action and five sides of the Australians are now Japanese. Order an advance of one more hex to surround the Allied Army. Only 1 battered unit holds that hex and (I think) it is also a Brigade.

5. Aerial reinforcements fly into Rangoon and Moulmein. Another 80 Fighters (from CVs) and 100 Bombers (from China).

Sumatra
1. We bombard the Allies just below Langsa and see nothing less then 4 Inf Div, 3 Regiment-sized units, 2 Tank units, and some artillery. The hex limit is 55,000 men. Can you say over-stacked? HOPE he attacks. have recently experienced the 'joys' of attacking when over-stacked in a jungle hex against Michael. NOT Pretty!

2. Load a portion of the 48th ID by a Fast TF run to get Langkawai back. There is already an element of the 48th present versus a piece of the Brit 18th ID.

3. Load an SNLF unit to capture Great Nicobar and begin AF construction. They will also be delivered by Fast TF.

Eastern DEI
Dan makes a nice move bringing in four DDs to Balikpapan. WOW! I get so tremendously LUCKY. He sinks two small TF for a total of 1 PB, 5 AK, and 2 AKL. He could have had NINE Tankers that were only two hexes away. Wow--that is a bit of good luck.

In the craziness of this all-or-nothing fight in Burma--Sumatra I have stripped aircraft from everywhere to fight. Got to correct that. Since re-starting the game, I have barely even looked at other regions. With three matches going, family, and work, this is fairly understandable but definitely sloppy. Shall work on that.

South Pacific
Having just destroyed three Allied Brigade-sized units at Noumea, I begin to withdraw from New Caledonia. It is mid-43 and time to contract the perimeter some. We'll perform a phased withdrawal from New Caledonia, then Efate, and finally Luganville. The troops, engineers, CD, and Base Forces will then be spread around to buttress the South and Central Pacific.

[John 3rd]

Rumors of an incredible Allied victory over Singapore are GREATLY exaggerated:




This shot doesn't show Hiyo which took several bombs. Her SYS Damage was 29 when she got to Port. The hits raised that to 57. Not good but not too bad. The odd thing is that NONE of it was Major Damage. Strange. Wonder if that was the effects of 500lb bombs?

[John 3rd]

...and here are the heavies...

The service damage is all minor. EVERYTHING can be repaired. There are 4 AR at Batavia and that is where we'll sit for a while. All Fighters and most of the Kates/Jills have been flown to AF preparing for the attack up north.

Dan made a brilliant move attacking with 20 Liberators but made a HUGE mistake by coming back to the well for a second day. ASK HIM how that went! [:D]

[John 3rd]

Any Civil War students out there?

I have decided that the Irrawaddy resembles the Shenandoah Valley. It is time to release my inner Stonewall Jackson. Going to get out my Peter Cozzen's Valley Campaign book and start reading up...

We are going to defeat a series of small enemy armies in detail while preparing to score a decisive victory south of Magwe. Dan will be SURROUNDED as of tomorrow. Two fresh Inf Divisions move into position at Mandalay and Shwebo. They will throw back the two small armies coming in towards them then combine to move in on the surrounded Aussie Army. Up the west bank of the Irrawaddy troops move to blast the last Allied unit on that side of the river back to the jungle. There will be no help OR SUPPLY coming from there.

Two More ID are now en route and will arrive within a week. We have pulled three ID from Sumatra to accomplish this move. Dan will suspect NOTHING like this and--hopefully--we shall turn the tables in Burma and then come back to Sumatra.

[John 3rd]

Dan is going to see the damage done to KB as a chance to move more into Sumatra. I just formed up three strong STF that will move into the waters just off of Sumatra. One of these is the Invasion Force for Grand Nicobar. They should land tomorrow and will then re-purpose to STF and catch some shipping.

Have now got 25 SS redeploying between Sumatra and Ceylon. Am literally placing them one to a hex. My SS have had an amazing campaign and Dan has admitted he is short of DDs so I have high hopes to continue watching the sunk tally rise quickly...

[John 3rd]

Here is a screenshot of the area.

I just landed 5,000+ troops at Phuket so that can be cleared of Allied troops. The Great Nicobar Fast TF will move and then land the day after tomorrow (don't understand why he hasn't taken this location). A Trinkat TF is moving up from Singapore to finish the fight for that contested Island. Engineers are prepared to move to these bases for AF expansion to complete the ring around Northern Sumatra.

Moving air back into Langsa provides a great opportunity for the destruction of a good number by bombardment. My 4 Kongo's and Yamato were disbanded in Medan waiting for more ships to provide cover with the bombardment of Sabang. Here is much closer opportunity. They form-up with 6 DD and 6 DMS for a quick swing at Langsa. He moved 150 planes into this base and it would be great o smack them hard!

[John 3rd]

OK. Time for a small confession. I am leaving some ships in ports PURPOSEFULLY to draw American bombers. Came to this conclusion the turn after the Singers Port Strike.

Reasoning:
1. Draws bombers away from the real areas of importance.
2. Allows for my fighters to fight over home turf and beat-up his bombers.
3. Gives me continuous attrition of his carrier-based air.

Yesterday this policy cost him between 30-40 bombers plus fighters.

Today the enemy struck at some shipping left at Singabang. The dozen or so ships were small AKs/AKLs of minimal value. The Americans send in dozens of carrier SBDs as well as others and they are met by 50+ Zeros. The AF went to Sz-1 yesterday so I maxed out the field with 50 fighters.

Keeping Dan HONEST I swept Sabang with roughly 80 Tojos and they really pasted his Carrier Wildcats.

Here are the results:

[John 3rd]

As stated in my earlier Posts, three Japanese STF are ready to smash into his reinforcements. I KNEW he would want to take 'advantage' of my CVs being 'out' of action.

Three STF:
1. 1 CL and 5 DD
2. 1 BB and 4 DD
3. 1 BB and 4 DD

Two Fast TF will land at their designated targets tomorrow. Hitting those SBDs should really help. Great Nicobar landing will come from just DDs who will then retire towards Pt Blair. Cruisers and DDs will land to the morth of that.

Through this planned chaos I HOPE to fling a Fast AP TF carrying a full Brigade destined for Rangoon. Risky but we HOPE it works.

[John 3rd]

I see all the Posting over in Dan's AAR. Who is reading this? I know that the responsible readers are always careful about OPSEC I don't ask for anything just curious as to who is involved.

[Panther Bait]

I read both so comment very little on either. Nothing more than "Nice Job" occasionally.

Mike

[BillBrown]

As always, I read both sides and make few comments.

[kjnoel]

I read both sides do try to avoid comments, but really enjoy your updates.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

As stated in my earlier Posts, three Japanese STF are ready to smash into his reinforcements. I KNEW he would want to take 'advantage' of my CVs being 'out' of action.

Three STF:
1. 1 CL and 5 DD
2. 1 BB and 4 DD
3. 1 BB and 4 DD

Two Fast TF will land at their designated targets tomorrow. Hitting those SBDs should really help. Great Nicobar landing will come from just DDs who will then retire towards Pt Blair. Cruisers and DDs will land to the morth of that.

Through this planned chaos I HOPE to fling a Fast AP TF carrying a full Brigade destined for Rangoon. Risky but we HOPE it works.

Are your ships spotted? This looks really neat!

[John 3rd]

Just sent this to Dan with January 25th Turn: "This is absolutely, DELIGHTFULLY insane! Can hardly keep up with the play-by-play."

What a turn. The Japanese Fighters REALLY get a solid twist on the Allied Bombers in Burma.

I am the DUTCH boy holding with twenty four fingers in the dike. WE need just something to give--in a POSITIVE WAY--and the Allied offensive is in true trouble:

1. The Japanese absorb a 1-2 attack by the Australian Army. Everyone READY? PREDICTION: If Dan does not try to bust out within 2-3 days then he will be surrounded and cutoff. This army is toast. All that firepower and it barely scraped together an Assault Value of 300. His 1-2 was helped by a few bombers getting through and hitting my troops.

2. The Chinese achieve a 1-1 at Taung Gyi and drop Forts to 1. ALL Bombers will hit this unit tomorrow to prevent a second attack. A Brigade arrive the day after and then this threat is stopped.

3. The Chinese arrive at Mandalay and it is only an Inf Div with AV of 100. It shall be BLASTED out!

4. The first of that northern stack arrive at Shwebo and it doesn't look too bad. I only have 100 AV present but it is behind Lvl-3 Forts. It SHOULD absorb the first attack or two. As long as they hold ONCE then reinforcements will arrive from Mandalay to crush this set of units.

The WEST side of the Irrawaddy will be all Japanese as of tomorrow.

If he does not panic and immediately begin to withdraw then I have him...

Screenshot of air losses:

[John 3rd]

Naval Action saw the massed bombardment of Langsa take the AF from undamaged to 90-95% in ONE DAY! At Langsa (NO MINES!) the Japanese swat aside and sink nearly a dozen PT Boats.

BANZAI!

Four Japanese DDs encounter Five American near Sabang and CRUSH two Dds with Long Lances at 2,000 Yds. The remmaining three get damaged and run away. No serious damage to the Japanese quartet. They head on to Port Blair.

The Japanese STF (operating off of Sumatra consolidate into a TF with 2 BB and 8 DDs and go hunting. Lordy I PRAY not to find Allied CVs...

The Landing at Great Nicobar goes without issue. Island is mine tomorrow.

The Fast AP TF makes it through the contested area and is now on its way to Rangoon with a full strength Brigade.


CONFUSED? Clear as mud--RIGHT??!! It is wild-and-crazy...

[John 3rd]

Want to try to get a comprehensive layout of Burma done but it will take some serious time and it is pure chaos! Will try if possible...