Wonder if he's unloading troops? Picking them up wouldn't fit within his MO this game. His use of Lolobato here is relatively recent, too. We'll see what we catch with this group of Fletchers, now that they're no longer needed at Sorong itself.
I knew there was another post I wanted to do before I left work, but couldn't remember what it was until I got in the car. Force allocations, at least as planned in this initial load. There's lots more at Colombo, though little if any of it is earmarked for here. I may be better served by landing the Sibolga stuff at Sabang on Day 3. We'll see. I wasn't kidding around on the AA prep for this one.
Sabang - 2030 AV + base forces, 171 AvSupp
INF - 25th USA Division (391)
INF - 36th Indian Division (514)
INF - 475th USA Regiment (115)
INF - 5th Indian Division (409)
INF - 81st West African Division (350)
ARM - Provisional Tank Brigade (134)
ENG - XV Corps Cbt Engi (48)
ENG - II Aus Corps Cbt Engi (38)
ENG - 209th Cbt Engi (31)
AA - 7th Marine AA Bn
AA - 8th Marine AA Bn
AA - 607th Coastal AA
AA - 612th Coastal AA
AA - 101st Heavy AA
AA - 200th & 515th Coastal AA
BF - 122nd RAF Base Force
BF - 113rd RN Base Force
BF - 114th RN Base Force
BF - 293 Wing
No wonder his aircraft losses have been twice yours! [:)]
I don't quite follow [:'(]. He actually hasn't used many kamikazes, maybe only 4-5 attacks with them so far. It's the large Jill groups that get decimated, really.
I was going to post some screenshots of my aircraft pools. They aren't exactly dire, but they are hurting. I have to be careful right now.
No wonder his aircraft losses have been twice yours! [:)]
I don't quite follow [:'(]. He actually hasn't used many kamikazes, maybe only 4-5 attacks with them so far. It's the large Jill groups that get decimated, really.
I was going to post some screenshots of my aircraft pools. They aren't exactly dire, but they are hurting. I have to be careful right now.
I was referring to your AA you have and a snippet a couple of posts above:
Allied a/c: 765 lost
Japan a/c: 1456 lost
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
Sent the Fletchers to Lolobato to catch some xAKs/xAPs, but encountered DDs instead. Also contacted CL Oi and 3 DDs in the daytime phase and traded a few shell hits. They may have been trying to go back to Sorong to hit my stuff, but got turned back.
These are attacked a couple of times during the day by Frances from Manado, but all torpedoes/bombs miss.
Attachments
LolobatoF..81244.jpg (142.77 KiB) Viewed 351 times
No wonder his aircraft losses have been twice yours! [:)]
I don't quite follow [:'(]. He actually hasn't used many kamikazes, maybe only 4-5 attacks with them so far. It's the large Jill groups that get decimated, really.
I was going to post some screenshots of my aircraft pools. They aren't exactly dire, but they are hurting. I have to be careful right now.
I was referring to your AA you have and a snippet a couple of posts above:
Allied a/c: 765 lost
Japan a/c: 1456 lost
Oh. Most of his losses have actually been in the air - over 14,000 of them. Only about 1200 to flak so far. I haven't brought a lot of AA, and he seems to prefer attacking ships with his planes, which means my CAP gets more of a workout.
We sent about a dozen DDs down from Little Andaman - some to stand off north of Sabang, and others to bombard Sabang (and scout out that minefield). 3 of them hit big Type 88 mines, but hopefully "locating" the minefield means fewer losses tomorrow.
An air strike finishes one of the damaged DDs, and another is hit. All 3 will probably be lost.
Spotting reports to the west have a handful of invasion TFs in each hex spotted, but the northern CV group is not spotted. He sees a few "destroyed by CAP" messages, so he knows they're there. Unsure if he knows exactly how strong the CV forces are.
Southern Army is at Lautem? A bit forward for the Command HQ right?
Good move to get the mines "seen" by your DDs. You do have some DMS/AM with the family here right?
Every TF has at least one AM, DMS, or YMS type. The bigger amphibious TFs have multiple DMS.
And yeah, I don't know what's going on with the Southern Army HQ. My only guess is that he really wanted to kill my LCUs back when he was attacking, and so did the whole prep thing. I actually don't know if that would ever even apply when he's attacking at a base that he controls?
On the other hand, where else would he use it? The only real use I've found for Southern Army as Japan in this part of the war is for the magical "pool up to 75k supplies here" thing, which isn't even really that useful except to create a pseudo-stockpiling effect.
Alright, our paradrop targets are pretty much officially exhausted at this point, unless future recon shows Battambang and Siem Reap un/underdefended. We'll use C-47s from Rangoon to fly in reinforcements to Prachuap, that nifty little base SW of Bangkok.
Looks like he started movement SW from Bangkok last turn in response to the Sumatra kickoff. But we just closed the rails, so he's not going to be getting to the southern part of Malaysia by train anytime soon. Assuming he's now forced to march regularly to Prachuap, it will be a few weeks before he even arrives. I'm not sure, but I think if he already set to Strat mode and set the destination to points south, they might move via rail until they reach Prachuap anyway... or just outside of it? That's what the westward movement says to me, anyway, with the assumption that he set them into Strat mode before setting the movement order. Who knows...
We should reach Hue with our Burmese infantry battalion in a couple of days. I think it might be empty, as well as Tourane. Since kamis are already active, these actions have no bad consequences for me.
I'm finding the dates I'm putting up top to be a bit weird. Since I am doing the screens "ahead of time", such as it is, what I'm labeling D minus 1 for August 13 is actually a D-day of August 13, but they landings haven't occurred yet and won't until I take the August 14 shots. But you get the idea...
A peak up north, where I have recently sent subs. They are finding a target-rich environment, with few or sometimes even no escorts (!) for the xAKs. Subs are not being detected via air search at all. More subs on the way.
We have reconned the easternmost Kuriles periodically. Onnekotan is defended by a division plus supports, and Paramushiro maybe is also. Shimushiri is weaker, with what looks like a brigade. SIGINT confirms some of the force allocations. I can't see much past Shimushiri with my existing planes.
He's built some of the bases, but not much. He likes to build to the SPS and then stop and move the engineers somewhere else.
So I do have the combat replay and text file for the 13th. Here's the text file, which I have thus far skimmed. Good bits pulled out. We'll try some obvert-style coloring here since it's such a pile of text. Haven't even watched the replay yet to get the full details... hopefully I'll have the turn itself by tomorrow sometime.
August 13, 1944
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 83,105, Range 4,000 Yards 2 hexes due N of Sansapor, so our DDs are doing their job
Japanese Ships
CL Oi
DD Isonami
DD Sagiri
DD Amagiri
DD Ushio
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Night Air attack on Medan , at 46,76 Finally, our stuff flies. They didn't fly yesterday.
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
Liberator GR.VI x 7
B-29-1 Superfort x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground
Allied aircraft losses
Liberator GR.VI: 2 damaged
Liberator GR.VI: 1 destroyed by flak
B-29-1 Superfort: 1 destroyed by flak
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Night Air attack on Chumphon , at 52,66 Just in case he had brought in some planes in reaction to yesterday's sweep, although I don't think there is any AvSupp present here. Just a Const Bn.
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 4
No Allied losses
Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 10
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Submarine attack near Sapporo at 119,50 Example of the kinds of attacks I'm getting lately. I think I've sunk 5-6 ships so far.
Japanese Ships
xAK Yamayuri Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Blackfin
xAK Yamayuri Maru is sighted by SS Blackfin
SS Blackfin attacking xAK Yamayuri Maru on the surface
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TF 367 encounters mine field at Sabang (44,70) Doing their jobs... between today and mines hit/cleared yesterday, it's somewhere around 60 mines cleared.
Allied Ships
DMS Chandler
11 mines cleared
TF 376 encounters mine field at Sabang (44,70)
Allied Ships
AM Fidelity
YMS BYMS-2168
YMS BYMS-2061
39 mines cleared
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TF 369 encounters mine field at 51,84 Just dropped 40 Dutch mines 1 hex E of Singapore this turn using SS O20. Pays off right away.
Japanese Ships
PB Showa Maru #5
TK Daihaku Maru, Mine hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
2 mines cleared
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Morotai at 80,102 Lucky there wasn't leaky CAP up here
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 15 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Allied aircraft
SBD-5 Dauntless x 2
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Maikaze
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on 56th Division, at 72,115 (Lautem) One of our raids here. No casualties, but hopefully causing disruption. Not really eating up any supplies from AA, though... might drop my altitude a bit.
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 10
F4U-1A Corsair x 42
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 11
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 9000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 9000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
Also attacking 38th Division ...
Also attacking 5th Division ...
Also attacking 103rd Division ...
Also attacking 56th Division ...
Also attacking 38th Division ...
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sabang at 44,70 CAP is not as heavy as I would have liked, but it doesn't matter...
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 115 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 20
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 9
Allied aircraft
Hellcat I x 15
FM-2 Wildcat x 18
F4U-1A Corsair x 17
F6F-3 Hellcat x 87
Aircraft Attacking: 1 x Ki-49-IIb Helen flying as kamikaze
Kamikaze: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sansapor at 84,106 This TF was ordered to bombard Sansapor from Biak, a distance of 6 hexes. They didn't get there and didn't bombard. I thought Michael had fixed this in the .10 patch, but I guess it's still occurring. Won't know details until I receive the turn. Either way, it's still a few months more than likely...
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 52 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 6 damaged
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied Ships
CL Mobile
CA Salt Lake City, Torpedo hits 1
CA Pensacola, Torpedo hits 1
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Naval bombardment of Sabang at 44,70 It seemed like all of the BBs I had present to mix in with the landing TFs were going to be extreme overkill for the resistance I was going to get on the beaches, so I went ahead and used BB Valiant with 1 DD to bombard, with remain on station set. Daytime bombardment here. Not too bad. Looks like only Jakes (maybe already damaged) are left at the base?
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 damaged
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground
Landings begin here - lots of them, and I've included all of them. Combats are at the bottom, somewhat truncated. All forces with 100% prep and yet some stuff still lost in the water. I wonder if that's a side effect of using xAPs/xAKs for pretty much every force, particularly the West African division? Perhaps simply because of the sheer numbers - I used many more xAPs than necessary so that the troops would be ashore faster.
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
104 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
PG Soerabaja
LST-120
LST-203
Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
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Amphibious Assault at Sabang (44,70)
TF 353 troops unloading over beach at Sabang, 44,70
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
57 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
BB Queen Elizabeth
CL Hedeby
DD Petard
APA Pierce
DD Quality
Japanese ground losses:
301 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
12 troops of a Ind Inf Section 44 accidentally lost during unload of 36th Indian Div /4
10 troops of a Brit Inf Section 43 lost in surf during unload of 36th Indian Div /9
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
36 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DMS Boggs
AM Revenge
DD Mertz
AKA Aquarius
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Amphibious Assault at Sabang (44,70)
TF 400 troops unloading over beach at Sabang, 44,70
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 114th RN Base Force /3
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 114th RN Base Force /4
12 Support troops lost overboard during unload of 113th RN Base Force /5
12 Naval Support troops lost in surf during unload of 114th RN Base Force /5
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 122nd RAF Base Force /5
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
65 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
PF Albuquerque
AM Velocity
AM Requisite
AKA Athene
37mm M3 AT Gun dropped into water during unload of 475th USA Rgt
13 troops of a USA 44 Rifle Squad lost overboard during unload of 475th USA Rgt /3
13 troops of a USA 44 Rifle Squad lost from landing craft during unload of 475th USA Rgt /4
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost overboard during unload of 81st (West African) Div /1
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div /4
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div /5
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost from landing craft during unload of 81st (West African) Div /6
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd accidentally lost during unload of 81st (West African) Div /7
12 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div /7
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 81st (West African) Div /8
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost overboard during unload of 81st (West African) Div /9
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost in surf during unload of 81st (West African) Div /10
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd accidentally lost during unload of 81st (West African) Div /11
12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd lost from landing craft during unload of 81st (West African) Div /11
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
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Amphibious Assault at Sabang (44,70)
TF 406 troops unloading over beach at Sabang, 44,70
12 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 293 Wing
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 293 Wing
12 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 293 Wing
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Pre-Invasion action off Sabang (44,70)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force
18 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Worden
xAK Dominion Park, Shell hits 1
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Amphibious Assault at Sabang (44,70)
TF 411 troops unloading over beach at Sabang, 44,70
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Ground combat at Sabang (44,70) Shouldn't have any trouble taking the place in a single attack, I think. From the IJA casualties, forts look low. And look how many of my guns made it ashore - go go AGC/HQm bonus.
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 9014 troops, 58 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 323
Defending force 41810 troops, 676 guns, 587 vehicles, Assault Value = 1624
Japanese ground losses:
113 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Defending units:
Provisionl Tank Brigade
25th Infantry Division
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
XV Corps Engr Bn /1
6th RAA Cst Art Rgt /2
36th Indian Div /1
475th USA Rgt /2
81st (West African) Div /2
113th RN Base Force /2
114th RN Base Force /2
293 Wing /1
122nd RAF Base Force /2
118th Light AA Rgt /1
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Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107) Should be ours next turn.
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 12896 troops, 244 guns, 246 vehicles, Assault Value = 510
Defending force 7671 troops, 65 guns, 45 vehicles, Assault Value = 41
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Ground combat at Lautem (72,115) Assuming my supplies can hold up, I'm going to keep this up. A new unit moved into the hex this turn, hoping that's what my guys hit. I'm not terribly concerned by my casualty numbers, because my AV doesn't matter right now but his supplies do. The 1st Ind.Mixed Regiment moved into the hex for him this turn.
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 24678 troops, 530 guns, 653 vehicles, Assault Value = 1319
Defending force 70246 troops, 742 guns, 581 vehicles, Assault Value = 1970
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Ground combat at Cam Ranh Bay (64,72) Almost! I think I will try again next turn, since he has no AvSupp here and therefore CAP is not as likely.
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 255 troops, 1 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 9
Defending force 96 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1