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

[witpqs]

Yeah, an opportunity to use up all his torpedoes with cruiser and carrier hulls!

"Captain, we just destroyed a torpedo amidships on the port side!"

"Good job men! Here comes another group - LEFT FULL RUDDER!!!. Let's see if we can get two at once this time."

[zuluhour]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

That is not an infestation, it is opportunity knocking. I have to tell you everything. Sheesh![:D][:D]

[:D][:D]

[Ian R]

Question about the 225 FA Btn at Daito Shoto.

"296% TOE"

Did that unit start with 75mm howitzers and keep its old guns as extras through a series of TOE upgrades or some such?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Question about the 225 FA Btn at Daito Shoto.

"296% TOE"

Did that unit start with 75mm howitzers and keep its old guns as extras through a series of TOE upgrades or some such?

The TOE quantities for the devices are 5, 12, and 14. Looks like they hit the equipment pool lottery.

[witpqs]

The 198th is also pumped up, Schwarzenegger style.

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

The 198th is also pumped up, Schwarzenegger style.

Some supply sergeants got it and some dont!!!

[Ian R]

Interesting. I have vague recall of some discussion as to whether this is a 'feature' and is WAD, i.e. if you have 8,000 155mm howitzers in the pool why not issue some extras.

While I was looking at for those units in the editor to check out their specs, I found something interesting. This is in the stock scenario 1.

The convoy in location - line 7919. Indpdt Sailings, arriving 450801 is set as withdraw type 1, not 2.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Interesting. I have vague recall of some discussion as to whether this is a 'feature' and is WAD, i.e. if you have 8,000 155mm howitzers in the pool why not issue some extras.

While I was looking at for those units in the editor to check out their specs, I found something interesting. This is in the stock scenario 1.

The convoy in location - line 7919. Indpdt Sailings, arriving 450801 is set as withdraw type 1, not 2.

I don't know what that means, or if it pertains to this PBM because we are using Babes 28-C (started in late 2011).

But I do know that over TOE is WAD. I am surprised by how much over TOE they are, but quite happy with it! [:D] I assume they were at one or more bases with big supply stockpiles, access to HQs (maybe even multiple ones of different levels). It's something I haven't bothered to track much. I suppose it could help to both do it on purpose and to know when/where it is happening so to tune upcoming target assignments (assign the biggest units to the toughest targets).

[Ian R]

It means is has very probably been fixed, because the convoys look to have been re-organised.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Interesting. I have vague recall of some discussion as to whether this is a 'feature' and is WAD, i.e. if you have 8,000 155mm howitzers in the pool why not issue some extras.

While I was looking at for those units in the editor to check out their specs, I found something interesting. This is in the stock scenario 1.

The convoy in location - line 7919. Indpdt Sailings, arriving 450801 is set as withdraw type 1, not 2.

I don't know what that means, or if it pertains to this PBM because we are using Babes 28-C (started in late 2011).

But I do know that over TOE is WAD. I am surprised by how much over TOE they are, but quite happy with it! [:D] I assume they were at one or more bases with big supply stockpiles, access to HQs (maybe even multiple ones of different levels). It's something I haven't bothered to track much. I suppose it could help to both do it on purpose and to know when/where it is happening so to tune upcoming target assignments (assign the biggest units to the toughest targets).

The only time I have seen a unit increase over TOE is when a unit is split (e.g. when there is not enough amphib lift to take the whole unit) and the remnant gets replacements up to the TOE of the unit while the main part gets to destination and starts taking replacements equal to the TOE shortfall from the original remnant.

[witpqs]

1944 November 02

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Tjilatjap is occupied by the Allies

There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments
Japanese Ships Bombarding Kwangchowan

Allied Naval Bombardments:
Allied Ships Bombarding enemy troops at Daito Shoto


Our subs achieved another ASW success near Okinawa.

A bombardment of Kwangchowan, but otherwise allied movement marked the day in China.

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Night Naval bombardment of Kwangchowan at 73,60

Japanese Ships
E No.7
E Nomi
E Amakusa

Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

E No.7 firing at 7th Australian Division
E Nomi firing at 7th Australian Division
E Amakusa firing at 2nd Australian Division


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Pakhoi is now a size 6 airfield and sports 10 squadrons of P-47D2 and P-47D25 fighters covering the Allied formations advancing in open country. AA units are also deployed and more are moving out of Pakhoi cover the march route.

Tomorrow will see the next attack at Alor Star (a shock attack) and possibly a cross-river attack on Sumatra. Rawlings pulled out, which escaped my notice yesterday. So he is ordered back to make another carrier strike on TFs near Singapore.

Lang Son recon still shows almost 47,000 troops in the jungle.

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Ground combat at Lang Son (70,56)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2634 troops, 236 guns, 220 vehicles, Assault Value = 1799

Defending force 28027 troops, 262 guns, 47 vehicles, Assault Value = 299

Japanese ground losses:
226 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
II Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
96th Chinese Division
27th Australian Brigade
111th LRP Brigade
88th Chinese Division
23rd LRP Brigade
8th New Chinese Corps
I Corps Engr Grp
22nd Australian Brigade
3rd New Chinese Corps
36th Chinese Division
9th Australian Division
417th Base Group
251st Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Regiment
14th RAAF M/W Sqn
II Australian Corps
2nd Medium Regiment
312th Base Group
87th Medium Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
134th (East Ang) Regiment
IV Indian Corps
2/11th Field Regiment
18th SP Field Artillery Regiment

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


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A couple of our units need another day or two of rest, while more artillery will begin arriving in about 3 days. Imperial fighters continued with heavy sweeps over Lang Son, met with small and even results. More squadrons are being moved in to enforce the no-supply zone. 4x P-51B squadrons from Hanoi and Haiphong will sweep Kweilin tomorrow, one of the enemy fighter nests.

On Java, Kalidjati will be seized tomorrow by units that have found the place empty. Tjilatjap was taken control of today. Soerabaja port has maxed out at size 8.

It was a bit of a crazy day in the Okinawa battle area. I have no idea where this came from.

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Night Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,64

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
OS2U-3 Kingfisher x 3

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kisaragi

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x OS2U-3 Kingfisher bombing from 6000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb



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Our bombardment at least kept the enemy troops ejected from the base awake.

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Night Naval bombardment of Daito Shoto at 98,69

Allied Ships
CA Ramree Island

Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for CA Ramree Island
CA Ramree Island firing at 36th Ind.Mixed Brigade


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Our troops - the infantry that is - are nowhere near ready to attack again. They did get the runways cleared and we moved into 2x squadrons of P-47D25. They are ordered to LRCAP Naha at 15,000 ft, but I do not know if that works from a size 1 airfield. Well over 300 Avengers bombed the troops at Daito Shoto compared to over 200 yesterday, so either I miscounted yesterday or today. A couple of raids hit enemy positions at Naha, but the flak was tough. The B-29s made their noise, too. Our carriers went hunting again, but so did the Imperial kamikaze corps.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,65

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84a Frank x 2

Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 59
SBD-5 Dauntless x 26
TBM-1C Avenger x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 4 damaged
TBM-1C Avenger: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Shiranui
DD Kisaragi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yunagi

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
18 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22.4in Mk 13 Torp.
9 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
246th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(2 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 19000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 19000.
Raid is overhead

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kisaragi


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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Naha at 95,66

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y2 Judy x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y2 Judy: 7 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Bradford
DD Black, Kamikaze hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x D4Y2 Judy flying as kamikaze
Kamikaze: 1 x 500 kg GP Bomb



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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Naha at 95,66

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 54 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 7 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DD McKee
DD Bradford
DD Black, Kamikaze hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

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



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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,65

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 33 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84a Frank x 2

Allied aircraft
F6F-5 Hellcat x 37
SB2C-3 Helldiver x 24
TBM-1C Avenger x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
TBM-1C Avenger: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Yunagi, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Shiranui
DD Kisaragi, heavy fires, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
17 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22.4in Mk 13 Torp.
2 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
12 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
246th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(2 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 19000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 19000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Yunagi
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kisaragi


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Destroyer Black was scuttled today. On land, the respective bombardments on Daito Shoto seemed to both be own-goal affairs.

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Ground combat at Daito Shoto (98,69)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4091 troops, 58 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 167

Defending force 55502 troops, 843 guns, 684 vehicles, Assault Value = 1496

Japanese ground losses:
413 casualties reported
Squads: 46 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
11th Tank Regiment
6th Tank Regiment
37th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Daito-jima Naval Guard Unit
36th Ind.Mixed Brigade
25th Special Base Force
1st Amph.Bde Tank Battalion
Kure 6th SNLF
30th Field Artillery Regiment
16th Field Construction Battalion
59th Field AA Battalion
2nd Medium Mortar Battalion
30th Special Base Force
19th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
4th Marine Regiment
22nd Marine Regiment
93rd Infantry Division
29th Marine Regiment
1st Arm Amphib Battalion
3rd Marine Division
2nd Arm Amphib Battalion
112th Cavalry Regiment
1st Marine Division
102nd Cmbt Engineer Regiment
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
198th Field Artillery Battalion
III Amphib Corps
225th Field Artillery Battalion
4th Pioneer Battalion


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Ground combat at Daito Shoto (98,69)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 420 troops, 104 guns, 35 vehicles, Assault Value = 1496

Defending force 14774 troops, 182 guns, 52 vehicles, Assault Value = 167

Allied ground losses:
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
112th Cavalry Regiment
2nd Arm Amphib Battalion
93rd Infantry Division
3rd Marine Division
1st Arm Amphib Battalion
4th Marine Regiment
29th Marine Regiment
102nd Cmbt Engineer Regiment
1st Marine Division
22nd Marine Regiment
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
198th Field Artillery Battalion
225th Field Artillery Battalion
III Amphib Corps
4th Pioneer Battalion

Defending units:
6th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
37th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Daito-jima Naval Guard Unit
1st Amph.Bde Tank Battalion
36th Ind.Mixed Brigade
25th Special Base Force
30th Special Base Force
59th Field AA Battalion
16th Field Construction Battalion
30th Field Artillery Regiment
Kure 6th SNLF
2nd Medium Mortar Battalion
19th JAAF AF Bn


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We have about 90,000 tons of supply on the island and more is being landed. With so many more personnel and equipment on the way, the division hardest hit in the landing is being pulled off. That's the 6th USMC Div, the one still broken down into regiments (4th, 22nd, 29th). We are also pulling out the 1st USMC Div, which is the largest in terms of stacking cost. Once they are recovered, the remaining combat units should have no trouble cleaning out the 167 AV enemy in the trees. I think we have well over 50,000 stacking cost in support units heading to DS, so we have to get moving! After further consideration, I have decided to order an armor only attack for tomorrow at Daito Shoto to keep up maximum pressure and ensure the quickest collapse of the remaining enemy troops. Two units of amphibious tanks and one unit a mix of Sherman V, Stuart VI, and Daimler will attack with artillery support. A PB2Y-5 Coronado group has moved in from Iwo Jima and started long range naval search north into the Yellow Sea. The automatic 4 hex radius around the base searched will help ASW also. The sub menace has thinned somewhat.

The troops at Naha look bad, worse than yesterday as the Empire redirected all attacks there at the expense of ineffective attacks near Nago. There are 41 bombers seen at Naha, and 17 fighters at Nago, no doubt kamikazes the lot. A CA TF is tasked to bombard Naha while a CL TF gets the job at Nago. A convoy of AKE and other support vessels will arrive the day after tomorrow, so the cruiser TFs bombarding tonight (including Daito Shoto) will call DS home port. Also tomorrow, 2x fleet carrier TF and 2x CVE TF will take up station 1 hex SW of Naha. The supply convoys for Naha are being moved up but that will take several days. And the old battleship TFs are being moved up from Iwo Jima to near Naha. The Colorado, with 16 inch guns, will home port at Daito Shoto to see if the AKE moving there can reload her guns. Three 5,400 ton capacity AE are also moving to DS from Guam, just in case.

Tokunoshima will be the next Okinawa operation target. It does not require a landing shock attack.

China. Notice the Allied units flying down the coastal plain.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

Java Sea.

[witpqs]

Okinawa.

[witpqs]

Troops at Daito Shoto. Only the three armored units will attack tomorrow.

[Rafid]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

It was a bit of a crazy day in the Okinawa battle area. I have no idea where this came from.

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Night Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,64

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
OS2U-3 Kingfisher x 3

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kisaragi

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x OS2U-3 Kingfisher bombing from 6000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb



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Float planes automatically set their mission to naval attack, when you switch to night operations. You most likely wanted to set this group for spotting duties (night/recon) and either forgot to press recon or set recon before pressing night operations (my personal favorite).

I have on occasion found my float plane groups on night/naval attack for this reason, I have just never seen one actually go for it.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Rafid

ORIGINAL: witpqs

It was a bit of a crazy day in the Okinawa battle area. I have no idea where this came from.

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Night Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,64

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
OS2U-3 Kingfisher x 3

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Kisaragi

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x OS2U-3 Kingfisher bombing from 6000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Float planes automatically set their mission to naval attack, when you switch to night operations. You most likely wanted to set this group for spotting duties (night/recon) and either forgot to press recon or set recon before pressing night operations (my personal favorite).

I have on occasion found my float plane groups on night/naval attack for this reason, I have just never seen one actually go for it.

Dang it, it must have been a group that already had 'recon' orders but for days and I just switched and moved on. Now I'll have to go back and find it! Thanks for the tip.

[Lowpe]

Getting a kick at seeing how China pans out...and your flying attack down the coastline. Very predictable, but can
Andav stop it?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Getting a kick at seeing how China pans out...and your flying attack down the coastline. Very predictable, but can
Andav stop it?

I think it's predictable too! Basically 'Nanning or bypass Nanning'. The obvious reason to bypass Nanning is to get Canton and Hong Kong more quickly. And by choosing 'bypass', that spreads out the defenses and does so (I think) more than it spreads out the offensive forces (because at this stage the Allies can augment defense with air power as needed). If this were mid-1943 then maybe Nanning would be a stronger candidate because of the road net, etc.

So the move is reasonably obvious, but can it be stopped? If Nanning is weakened to free units to defend against it, then I can grab Nanning somewhat cheaply. And he might not be able to stop it anyway. IMO, the woods in front of Wuchow are the lynch pin. He seems to have at least 5 units there (recon varies) so the area has not been neglected at all. There is at least one unit just over the river nearer to Nanning and Liuchow (not named on the map graphic), but moving it might create a hole for a river crossing that compromises Nanning. So can - or "will" - more defenders be brought into the woods before Wuchow before I can overwhelm the defenders already in place?

I don't know. What do you think?

[witpqs]

This is the approach. Heavier markings indicate more units/strength.

The armor column heading close to Hong Kong and Canton (currently a single unit) is both to confuse enemy assessment and to undermine the defenses in the woods if it is allowed freedom of movement.

The rest of the armor will stay on the road and move into the woods more directly.

Most of the infantry will move into the woods just below the river.

Two infantry divisions will move into the woods at the same entry point as the main body of the armor, but without marching along the road.

Two Australian divisions at Kwangchowan are not allocated movement yet. And there are some more forces dealing with Lang Son and recovering in Hanoi.