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

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: jwolf

In other news, Fresno has built level 9 fortifications. We're safe.

[:D] I know you get points for developing your bases, but I thought it was for ports and airfields only. Do forts count?

No points for forts, but I keep my engineers working to build their experience. I don't know if that is witpqs' rationale or if he has another one.

I didn't even think of that! I just do it for the ambiance.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Drakanel

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: jwolf



[:D] I know you get points for developing your bases, but I thought it was for ports and airfields only. Do forts count?

No points for forts, but I keep my engineers working to build their experience. I don't know if that is witpqs' rationale or if he has another one.

A very valid reason can also be: I have the supply and it does not cost me anything, and they are units I can't / won't buy. So why not?

Just because turning every single little village in an impregnable fortress capable of withstanding a full assault of the Axis is cool! [:D]

It's a little of the movie 1941. [:D]

BTW, building fortifications and bases does cost a bunch of supply, but repairing bases does not cost supply.

[witpqs]

We should see a turn this evening. I do not anticipate attacks until the fleet is closer. The only real action I expect is the sweeps over Nagasaki/Sasebo.

[witpqs]

In other news, there is some kind of war going on between about 8 or 10 ravens and a smaller number of birds that are literally about 1/10 their size. They move so fast I can't even tell what they are - finches or something else that size. The ravens are not winning.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

In other news, there is some kind of war going on between about 8 or 10 ravens and a smaller number of birds that are literally about 1/10 their size. They move so fast I can't even tell what they are - finches or something else that size. The ravens are not winning.

Many times I have seen blackbirds do that to hawks - zoom in from behind their heads give the a peck on the way by and zip away before the hawk can respond. It doesn't stop until the hawk is far away from their nests. I don't think hawks raid the nests per se, but any fledgling that fell out of one would be fair game for a hawk.

[witpqs]

1945 February 08

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Sepandjang is occupied by the Allies
Allied forces CAPTURE Batangas !!!

There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs are conducting secret activities.

Left the bombardment on by mistake at the main spearhead, and that has cost us some supplies which would have been ready to support tomorrow's assault.

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Ground combat at 89,54 (near Wuhu)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2916 troops, 290 guns, 243 vehicles, Assault Value = 1774

Defending force 26135 troops, 205 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 588

Japanese ground losses:
72 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
711th Tank Battalion
II Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
192nd Tank Battalion
2/6th Armoured Regiment
2/4th Armoured Regiment
Provisionl Tank Brigade
1st Army Tank Regiment
7th Australian Division
2nd Australian Division
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
5th Australian Division
208th Coast AA Regiment
251st Field Artillery Battalion
2/9th Field Regiment
2nd Australian Hvy AA Regiment
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment
56th Australian Lt AA Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
134th (East Ang) Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
18th SP Field Artillery Regiment
X US Corps
134th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
111th Division
1st Ind.Infantry Brigade
25th Division



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Ground combat at Chuhsien (88,56)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5919 troops, 232 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 140

Defending force 3134 troops, 29 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 112

Allied adjusted assault: 51

Japanese adjusted defense: 91

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
73 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
205 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Assaulting units:
45th Indian Brigade
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
32nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
20th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
27th Indian Field Artillery Battalion
70th Coast AA Regiment
31st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
33rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Raiding Regiment
2nd Mobile Infantry Regiment


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Main assault tomorrow as noted. Wait for more guys at Chuhsien.

Batangas is free!

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Ground combat at Batangas (79,78)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 19944 troops, 219 guns, 275 vehicles, Assault Value = 655

Defending force 9713 troops, 68 guns, 65 vehicles, Assault Value = 138

Allied adjusted assault: 346

Japanese adjusted defense: 12

Allied assault odds: 28 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Batangas !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
4407 casualties reported
Squads: 159 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 138 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 35 (34 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 48 (48 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Allied ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Torres Strait Battalion
12th NZ Brigade
2nd Regiment
29th British Brigade
Fiji Brigade
1st Regiment
11th NZ Brigade
50th Indian Para Brigade

Defending units:
79th Brigade
102nd Infantry Regiment
39th/B Division
27th Tank Regiment
13th Ind.Mixed Regiment


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

Nice casualty haul, too.

The sweeps over Nagasaki/Sasebo went pretty well, but extreme overcast kept the P-51D groups from flying at all so it was just P-47D25 groups. Likely things would have been better with the additional groups. All B-29 airframes have been moved from the Marianas to Formosa. The B-29-25 groups at Naha have moved there also, with Naha now housing all the B-29-1 aircraft. Some empty groups are still at Saipan. More air support is still being brought into the newer bases in the Okinawas. In a few days we will be able to bring in more P-47 and P-51 groups from the Asian mainland and some B-24J groups.

Tonight 47x B-29-1 from Naha will hit Manpower at Nagasaki/Sasebo from 10,000 ft. Tomorrow 154x B-29-25 from Taihoku and 76x B-29-25 from Takao will do the same but from 13,000 ft. Additional aircraft might come ready before strike time. 4x P-51D groups at Nago will sweep (hopefully) ahead of the daylight bombers, and 5 groups of P-38 (various marks) will fly from Amami Oshima to escort the bombers. That should leave a mark!

The invasion fleet was not attacked today but search plane contacts were frequent. Two TF are seen at Kushiro but I think they are small ships. Tomorrow the transports will be 4 hexes from Kushiro, the fleet carriers 3 hexes, and some cruisers 2 hexes. Action is possible but they might be holding out to see the whites of our eyes.

China west.

[witpqs]

China east.

[witpqs]

Philippines.

[witpqs]

Home Islands west.

[witpqs]

Home Islands east.

[witpqs]

Air losses. The P-38 and P40 are from actions near Hankow as are some of the Imperial fighters. The great bulk of Imperial fighters were encountered over Nagasaki/Sasebo.

[RangerJoe]

Action is possible but they might be holding out to see the whites of our eyes.

Just tell your men to keep their visors down or their sunglasses on so they wont be attacked!

Good luck on the invasion.

Are you going to try some strategic bombing when the invasion happens to try and divide the enemy fighter force?

If you aren't going to invade someplace else soon, are you going to combine shore bombardments with air bombing at the same target? That could really hurt the defenses there. Some of the carriers could hold nothing but fighters to provide some nice CAP protection.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Action is possible but they might be holding out to see the whites of our eyes.

Just tell your men to keep their visors down or their sunglasses on so they wont be attacked!

Good luck on the invasion.

Are you going to try some strategic bombing when the invasion happens to try and divide the enemy fighter force?

If you aren't going to invade someplace else soon, are you going to combine shore bombardments with air bombing at the same target? That could really hurt the defenses there. Some of the carriers could hold nothing but fighters to provide some nice CAP protection.

[:D] I think you missed this part:

Tonight 47x B-29-1 from Naha will hit Manpower at Nagasaki/Sasebo from 10,000 ft. Tomorrow 154x B-29-25 from Taihoku and 76x B-29-25 from Takao will do the same but from 13,000 ft. Additional aircraft might come ready before strike time. 4x P-51D groups at Nago will sweep (hopefully) ahead of the daylight bombers, and 5 groups of P-38 (various marks) will fly from Amami Oshima to escort the bombers. That should leave a mark!

As far as naval bombardment in conjunction with strategic bombing, I mulled over that idea regarding Nagasaki/Sasebo, but I suspect the defenses would make it less than worthwhile. Especially when air attacks on the battleships are also considered (in spite of CAP).

I do have other invasions coming up. With Hokkaido the first is Kushiro, then Hakodate, then Muroran. For operations after Hokkaido, I don't have anything fleshed out yet but I definitely plan to use those battleships to support invasions! Anyway several of them are looking pretty tired and need some yard time. I don't want to lose them when I still have most of the Home Islands to invade.

[RangerJoe]

Sorry, I did miss that![:@]

But still, keep the sunglasses [8D] on so they can't see the whites of your eyes.

Are you planning on hitting some of the airfields as well?

Would varying the altitudes of your bombers be effective in neutralizing some of the enemy CAP?

Do night fighters flying escort help at night?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Sorry, I did miss that![:@]

But still, keep the sunglasses [8D] on so they can't see the whites of your eyes.
[8D]

Are you planning on hitting some of the airfields as well?
No. He has a whole lot of fighters around. I really don't have enough bombers to spread out the mission, so all are on the primary strategic bombing target.

Would varying the altitudes of your bombers be effective in neutralizing some of the enemy CAP?
I really don't think so, but I've never heard that discussed as a tactic.

Do night fighters flying escort help at night?
I don't think so. I have a fairly modest number of night fighters, so they are going to stay on CAP. Night sweeps might be an option later on. Not sure if they have fantastic range, though.

[RangerJoe]

Against the computer, at Singapore, if I set the CAP at 10,000 feet to defend against the Bettys/Nells on torpedo attacks, my CAP has difficulty going up to attack the level bombers at 18,000 feet. If I set the CAP at 20,000 feet, they would tear the level bombers apart but would not touch the Bettys/Nells on their torpedo attacks. I am sure that the climb rate for the fighters would make a difference.

In real life, the Zeros at the battle of Midway had this situation. They went down to attack the US torpedo bombers but then were out of position when the US dive bombers finally showed up.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Against the computer, at Singapore, if I set the CAP at 10,000 feet to defend against the Bettys/Nells on torpedo attacks, my CAP has difficulty going up to attack the level bombers at 18,000 feet. If I set the CAP at 20,000 feet, they would tear the level bombers apart but would not touch the Bettys/Nells on their torpedo attacks. I am sure that the climb rate for the fighters would make a difference.

In real life, the Zeros at the battle of Midway had this situation. They went down to attack the US torpedo bombers but then were out of position when the US dive bombers finally showed up.

True, and those things are modeled in-game as you saw. In this situation, the defense knows that during daylight the bombers almost certainly won't be coming in low due to the large flak concentration. Don't know how many are flak, but recon shows >600 guns. I've bumped the altitude up to 13,000 ft in an effort to reduce flak losses and flak interference with bombing accuracy. The higher they go the less accurate the bombing will be, so I've chosen to keep them all together. This time - the first for a strategic raid in this contest - they will (should!) have some fighter escort, too.

I didn't look closely enough at the details of the battle reports of the fighter sweeps to try and see the altitudes that he's assigned CAP to fly, but I assume it is somewhat layered as an anti-sweep measure. Even so, your idea might work. Definitely give it a shot and let us know!

[witpqs]

1945 February 09

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:
Subic Bay is occupied by the Allies
Allied forces CAPTURE Bikini !!!

There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:
Bikini

Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs are conducting secret activities.

Our main spearhead failed to break the Imperial defenses one hex from Wuhu.

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Ground combat at 89,54 (near Wuhu)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47314 troops, 823 guns, 1780 vehicles, Assault Value = 1790

Defending force 26199 troops, 203 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 596

Allied adjusted assault: 1102

Japanese adjusted defense: 1030

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1661 casualties reported
Squads: 41 destroyed, 54 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
460 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 45 disabled
Non Combat: 25 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 10 (6 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 172 (78 destroyed, 94 disabled)

Assaulting units:
775th Tank Battalion
Provisionl Tank Brigade
1st Army Tank Regiment
2/6th Armoured Regiment
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/4th Armoured Regiment
II Aus Corps Engineer Battalion
7th Australian Division
192nd Tank Battalion
711th Tank Battalion
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
2nd Australian Division
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
5th Australian Division
2nd Australian Hvy AA Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment
X US Corps
2nd Medium Regiment
134th (East Ang) Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
85th Medium Regiment
87th Medium Regiment
2/1st Med Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
18th SP Field Artillery Regiment
251st Field Artillery Battalion
56th Australian Lt AA Regiment
208th Coast AA Regiment
134th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
1st Ind.Infantry Brigade
111th Division
25th Division


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We have four more divisions a hex back and we are bringing up two of them. There were also enemy air strikes aimed at slowing movement of our secondary armoured spearhead near Hankow, but only one unit was slowed. We now have two armoured units in Hankow (stopping RR movement out) with infantry support just behind, and a number of armoured units poised to block the road/rail to the NE. Our strong forces to the west of Chengtu are now moving to cross the river into that town. Two Chinese Army units will remain behind to keep four Imperial units that are cut off from aiding the defense. An armoured car unit is now at Kienko and will attack tomorrow in concert with air support. As far as I can tell they are opposed by 1 unit with 980 troops, 3 guns, and 0 AFV.

More dot-base cleanup, today at Bikini.

The strikes on Nagasaki/Sasebo were successful, but we are not seeing much damage yet on recon. I noticed something that did not reveal itself to me before. The Fires figure went up in each attack, with very small later attacks showing a higher Fires figure than much larger earlier attacks. I have concluded that the Fires figure shown in each battle in the combat report is the Fires state at that time, not the Fires caused by that specific battle. Can anyone confirm or debunk that notion?

Strategic points went up only by 146 if memory is serving me well (to 4,802). There were many night fighters on duty, and the night strikes scored only 1 hit but did start 170 Fires. The P-51D sweepers found no opposition but they came late. The P-38 escort groups either did not fly or did not make it to target. Losses were very light, 2x B-29-1 and 1x B-29-25. It looks like there were 387 total Manpower hits. Fires peaked at 98,533. All the B-29 groups will go again tomorrow, with the B-29-1 groups switching to daytime operations and increasing to 13,000 ft. Fires are 34,387 so maybe with that start we can get them up really high.

An eventful day for the invasion fleet, with a number of air strikes and MTB sorties under cover of 7% moonlight. No hits were scored against our ships while our dive bombers sank 3x coastal mine layers. But tonight's moonlight will be 3%, as the landings go in. Dozens of Imperial aircraft were shot down attacking our fleet. Let's hope that softens the attacks against us tomorrow.

Recon is up for Kushiro and shows 4 units, 3,940 troops, 45 guns, and 11 AFV, with a DL of 9/10. If that information holds we should seize the base quickly after landing.

Tomorrow is D-Day, the convoys proceeding in from 4 hexes out with orders to unload. I am not sure how many troops will be unloaded in just the part of tomorrow that they are offshore, or even if all convoys will begin to unload, but any units that do unload will be able to receive attack order for the following day. The train of follow on convoys, many now holding 23 hexes from Kushiro, will move forward in anticipation of quick capture. The Hakodate invasion force will do likewise.

The Empire also made a motor torpedo attack at Amami Oshima that was repulsed.

China west.

[witpqs]

China east.

[witpqs]

Philippines.