Vignette AAR - AW1Steve and Onime (A) vs Mundy [No Mundy, please]

[Onime No Kyo]

Hi guys,

I'm going to try something new for me, so bear with me.

I discovered a while ago that writing, or pretending to, since I'm not actually a very good writer, helps me decompress.

I've decided to do a sort of AAR of the game I'm currently playing. I joined the game already in progress fairly recently, when Steve and Ed kindly agreed to let me be a third wheel after another game that Steve and I have been playing for a long while had fallen through.

This AAR is not intended to be the classic, comprehensive, "tell all about everything with pictures" sort of thing. Instead, I would like to write one or two vignettes about a particularly interesting episode per turn. As the AAR develops, I'm hoping that the reader will get a clearer picture of what is, or had been, going on. Think of it as a newspaper reader at home trying to piece together an accurate picture on the progress of the war from news stories.

Caveats. As Steve will readily attest to, I am pretty clueless about some very basic things where floaty and flighty things are concerned. And as many of you may know, the hardest part about writing historical or science fiction well, is knowing your topic well enough to be convincing. Well, I dont. So what I'm going to do a lot is wing stuff, avoid stuff and hope that it doesnt annoy too many people.

I heartily welcome any advice you guys want to share, both about the game and my writing.

I also dont have much against answering particular questions about the game, especially in the beginning, as long as it doesnt mean that I have to do a full AAR with miles of boring, copypasted combat replay text.

So join me for this attempt, and The Thread have mercy on our souls.

[Onime No Kyo]

12/26/42

The Japanese are silly and overconfident creatures. They have convinced themselves of their own superiority and will beat, stab or shoot anyone who dares to so much as think of disagreeing, but they are not nearly as clever as they think they are.

They certainly did not seem to be clever enough to take adequate measures against a cavalry corps on reconnaissance. All the trenches, pillboxes and ancient city walls could not stop the four groups of men, dressed as meek, cowering civilians, from sneaking into town 2 days ago. And the laughable “cannonade” of not-quite-a-battery of ancient 75mm field guns and two dozen mortars was only designed to distract the invaders enough to allow the men to sneak back out. Out, to deliver their news that the entire city of Hangchow was defended by two Naval Guard units and a laughably weak brigade of Chinese traitors.

This was information that high command will find useful.

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

Ground combat at Hangchow (90,55)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5272 troops, 55 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 191

Defending force 3442 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 148

Assaulting units:
1st Chinese Cavalry Corps

Defending units:
5th RGC Route Brigade
41st Naval Guard Unit
43rd Naval Guard Unit

[Onime No Kyo]

12/27

Remnants of the Dutch colonial air force. How sad and humiliating it was. The Dutch were among the first to meet the Japanese invaders face to face. They had struck the first blows against him. Their submarines has sunk the first Japanese ships and their cruisers had been the first to intercept a Japanese landing convoy.

For a year now the Netherlands forces had spent themselves in resistance. Losing base after base, ship after ship, plane after plane to hold back the horde. They had been evicted out of practically all their towns. Lost practically all their reserves.

Finally, what was left of several hundred planes, a hand full of american bombers, Mitchells and Havocs, had been sent to the absolute back of the farthest beyond the allied command could find. Canton. In China. China!

And what were they doing? Bombing the sad remnants of some Japanese units that have been cut off and seemed to be sitting like animals in some forest, waiting to die.

Would the Americans give them more planes? Would the British? No, they would not. So despite having some of the best trained pilots in all of the Pacific, the Dutch Colonial Army Air Force would fly their last planes until their wings fell off, and then...then they would just stop fighting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 20th RGC Division, at 74,57 , near Liuchow

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
DB-7B x 9
B-25C Mitchell x 9

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 7000 feet
Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
9 x DB-7B bombing from 7000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 66th Infantry Regiment ...
Also attacking 20th RGC Division ...

[Onime No Kyo]

12/28

Dark objects moved almost imperceptibly against the even darker background of land. The movement might have easily been missed by an untrained eye. But the bearded man in the brimmed cap who stood, staring intensely through his binoculars on the soggy wet conning tower was a wily and experienced hunter.

As the Japanese carrier force, and there was no doubt of this now, exited the Sunda strait into the Indian Ocean, its ships became readily visible against the lighter, starry sky.

“Destroyer....destroyer...two more...cruiser....another....probably a battleship there in the distance...carrier”, said the lookout next to the bearded man, likewise peering through binoculars.

The last word caused an instant reaction from the small knot of men standing on the wet deck in the balmy night. Another minute or two of visual verification were followed by a set of technical instructions via the intercom to the bridge below.

“Fire one through four”, said the bearded man. With a rush of air four torpedoes sped into the night ahead. Seconds passed heavily. Disappointment loomed. Finally, with the last conceivable tick of the stopwatch, a blinding column of fire lit the horizon.

“Comms, send 'one hit on a Junyo', conn, take her down, depth -100” said the bearded man as he and the other occupants of the wet deck began to scramble down into the small, round hatch.

The subsequent depth charge attack dented some nerves, but could not overtake the elation of a job well done.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Oosthaven at 47,97

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Torpedo hits 1
BB Nagato
CA Myoko
CA Chikuma
DD Kuroshio
DD Akizuki
DD Yudachi
DD Shiranui
DD Maikaze
DD Natsushio

Allied Ships
SS S-36, hits 1

SS S-36 launches 4 torpedoes at CV Junyo
S-36 bottoming out ....
DD Yudachi fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Shiranui attacking submerged sub ....
DD Maikaze fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shiranui fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shiranui fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Shiranui fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Natsushio fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Onime No Kyo]

12/29

The pre-war residents of the sleepy seaside village of Banda Aseh could not have imagined its transformation in their wildest dreams. In its current state, their town presented a picture of nothing so much as an armed, international gypsy camp.

Certainly the town was no stranger to military men. Even before the war there was a permanent post of the Dutch colonial army troops, topping out at several hundred men, and even some guns. But most of the men were either local or had at least “acclimated”, all spoke the same language, and could be fairly reliably counted on to adhere to the same code of behavior.

The men and equipment that flooded the town after the war started were as different as different can be.

The first additions were other Dutch colonial forces from the Palembang area. They were haggard and defeated, tattered and bruised from their interminable slog over miles of jungle roads. Their morale was at rock bottom. They had seen one of the most heavily defended towns in the colonies be taken by a horde of Japanese, and they knew that the Dutch colonial army had nothing, absolutely nothing, that could stop such a Juggernaut.

But then, in dribs and drabs, the “international gypsies” began to arrive.

In the first batch were two divisions of Indians and their British officers. These units were being rebuilt from those that were destroyed in Malaya, and were well understrength when they arrived. Most of the soldiers who made them up had not yet fought against the Japanese, but most were poor provincial boys, away from the village for the first time, completely unprepared for war. As the units continued to be rebuilt, the men marched, paraded, drilled, practiced shooting and did other things that soldiers do to get ready for battle. They also dug trenches. Many long trenches. Around the town and in the surrounding hills. Among the trenches they put pillboxes and covered them with tree trunks and camouflaged them with greenery.

With them came Indian engineers, with bulldozers and concrete mixers. Besides pouring concrete pillboxes, they also expanded the little grass landing strip in the river valley. They added more and more feet of runway, covered it with things like a metal mesh, dug shelters for aircraft on the sides of the runways and built metal hangars.

They also began to work on improving the harbor. New, large jetties were built, then a seawall had been created, then the harbor was dredged.

Then came more Indians, and more British and Australian engineers, and Indian anti aircraft gunners who had set up their small, vertically-pointed guns all over the town and hills, British anti-tank units that set up on the hills, artillery units that dug their positions on the reverse side of the hills, and the British armored brigade, whose hundreds of vehicles made a terrible noise. There were now several dozen big guns defending the shore and entrance to the harbor.

Then came the British navy, with its cruisers, destroyers and huge, proud battleships. They had left after their battle with the Japanese, however. While the Japanese had not sunk any of them, they did damage all, and the sight of the smoking, listing and torn hulls the morning after the battle, was not encouraging.

The bombardment that came several days later was even less so. The huge Japanese ships had stood about a mile off shore and sent shell after shell at Banda Aseh and the village of Sabang on the island at the entrance to the harbor. The coast guns tried to respond, but could only reach the smaller ships that came closer to shore. They hit some of them, but they could not stop the terrific bombardment.

Eventually, the Japanese left, and left behind destruction, fear and hatred. The airfield and most of the planes on it was in shambles. The port, shorefront warehouses, shore batteries, and the adjoining roads and structures were either burned or heavily damaged.

But terrible as the bombardment had been, neither a landing, nor an enemy column over the road from Medan ever came.

[Onime No Kyo]

12/30

The bombings had become a daily occurrence. Every day since the 1st Cavalry Corps had begun moving back down the narrow dirt roads to Chuhsien, 18 to 20 twin engined Japanese bombers would appear at around noon and attack the column.

The worst casualties were suffered on the first day, when Hangchow was still in sight. But in the subsequent days the men had more or less learned to take cover in the nearest handy ditch as soon as they heard the telltale droning overhead.

The planes were too high up to shoot at but the altitude also impeded their accuracy.

Of course either through bad luck, or lack of agility, every attack caused some damage. Today the corps was leaving behind 9 fresh graves and half a dozen wrecked supply echelon carts.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 1st Chinese Cavalry Corps, at 90,55 (Hangchow)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 11
Ki-48-IIa Lily x 20

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
20 x Ki-48-IIa Lily bombing from 7000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb

[Onime No Kyo]

12/30

It has long been an open secret that a young lady seeking a dinner date in Australia has a choice of young men from half the world. Aside from the local Australian lads, there are also New Zealand engineers in Brisbane, Englishmen from all over blighty in Sydney and even Dutch pilots in Canberra.

But the arrival of fresh American forces is threatening to upset the chances of all the other hopefuls. The Yanks are arriving in such numbers that they will soon overwhelm the entire country.

The latest arrivals are the naval construction units in Brisbane, who are here to help local forces complete the building of the new harbor.

[Onime No Kyo]

12/31

“Three...two...one...mark” said the rating standing next to Commander de Back. “plus one...plus two..plus three”.

“Stront”, muttered the submarine commander, looking longingly at the dark silhouette of the Japanese heavy cruiser, which was disappearing behind Pulau Lingga.

The escorting destroyers were already on the way.
--------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Lingga at 52,88

Japanese Ships
CA Maya
DD Mutsuki

Allied Ships
SS KX, hits 2

SS KX launches 4 torpedoes at CA Maya
KX bottoming out ....
DD Mutsuki attacking submerged sub ....
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mutsuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Onime No Kyo]

1/1

“Bloody fools!”

The office door opened, then slammed shut with such force that those in the vecinity automatically assumed that either the hinges or the frame had suffered some damage.

“Bloody fools and bungling idiots!” repeated Brigadier General Beresford-Peirse, striding into the office and paying no attention to the sufferings of the innocent portal.

“The would not rescind the order?” ask the chief of staff tentatively.

“No, they would not”, replied Beresford-Peirse, throwing himself heavily into the chair behind his desk. “Stripping all the Burmese forces and half the Indians out of the 39th Division, and turning the 44th Cavalry into a bloody support unit...it might be the worst decision Command has made yet. Restructuring of forces, they called it. The Burmese need to be retrained and reequipped, they said. And who will defend the bloody frontier while they are doing that?”

-----------------------------------------------------------
39th Indian Division's TOE was upgraded to Training Division at Pegu
44th Cavalry Engineer Regiment's TOE was upgraded to Brit Tank Transport Engineer Regiment at Rangoon

[Onime No Kyo]

1/1

“Happy new year, sir!”, said the Lt.Commander, placing the latest patrol reports on the desk of the Subron commander.

Although not, strictly speaking, a proper form of address, the senior officer had learned that the mischievous semi-smirk the younger man wore while handing over the folder generally meant good news. He picked up the papers with a certain sense of anticipation, and skimmed through the overnight radio receipts.

“Hey, now! Three hits. One sunk and one probable! Maybe we really have been good boys this year and Santa had finally brought us some working torpedoes.”

Mischievous semi-smirks now adorned the faces of everyone within earshot.
-------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Nagoya at 110,61

Japanese Ships
xAK Uga Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Trigger

xAK Uga Maru is sighted by SS Trigger
SS Trigger launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Uga Mar
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Izu Oshima at 113,63

Japanese Ships
AMC Kiyosumi Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Akiura Maru
xAK Arizona Maru
xAK Hawaii Maru
DD Akebono

Allied Ships
SS Tunny

SS Tunny launches 4 torpedoes at AMC Kiyosumi Maru
DD Akebono fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Akebono fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Akebono attacking submerged sub ....
DD Akebono fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Akebono fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Sangeli]

You should post combat snippets for the readers. The story is a nice addition but there is no replacement for the battle reports.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

You should post combat snippets for the readers. The story is a nice addition but there is no replacement for the battle reports.

Because I'm lazy. [:D]

How's this? [edits]

[Onime No Kyo]

1/2

The familiar islands of the Vanuatu archipelago began to appear ahead and to the right. A chain of smallish island stretching roughly SE to NW.

The islands, the route, the altitude, the approach, all were becoming second nature for the flight, as it was probably intended to be. During the fierce battles on land and in the waters around New Caledonia, the supporting Japanese landing on Espiritu Santo had gone as something of footnote. After the Japanese defeat, however, the smallish base at Lugainville began to be used by the bomber command, as well as the navy, to give their trained, but not yet combat tested bomber crews a taste of combat against live targets.

It was macabre in a way. The Japanese on Santo have been trapped, bombed and shelled into a prehistoric existence. Their continued resistance, or presence on the island seemed to serve no further strategic end. But the Japanese continued to supply them by submarine and possibly flying boat, while the army and navy continued to use it for target practice.

In truth, there was more danger to the new pilots from their own navigational, landing and other errors stemming from inexperience, than there was from the Japanese. But such is war.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Luganville , at 120,150

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-26 Marauder x 6
B-26B Marauder x 9

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 1 damaged

Port hits 4
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing from 20000 feet *
Port Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb
5 x B-26B Marauder bombing from 20000 feet *
Port Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 20000 feet *
Port Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb

[Onime No Kyo]

1/3

Green fields of the Chinese countryside ended rather abruptly, signaling the approach to the more built-up coastal region of the Yangtze delta. There were still no fighters or opposition of any sort to the two flights of large, olive drab bombers as they began to cross into the urban zone.

The industrial area of Shanghai drew near. The bombers formed, approached and released on the objective in textbook fashion. As they winged over, seeking the return course, fires were already raging down below among the factories and brick smoke stacks.

As usual, not everything went according to plan, despite the lack of enemy interference. A group of planes took a longer time to form up after take off, and ended up approaching the target area several minutes after the initial strike, when the Japanese AA gunners were already “awake”, and one of the planes suffered minor damage from a near airburst.

All in all, however, it was a good day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Shanghai , at 92,55

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 9
B-17F Fortress x 18

No Allied losses

Heavy Industry hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-17F Fortress bombing from 15000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
9 x B-17F Fortress bombing from 15000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
9 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 15000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Shanghai , at 92,55

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 4 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 9

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Heavy Industry hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 15000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

You should post combat snippets for the readers. The story is a nice addition but there is no replacement for the battle reports.

Because I'm lazy. [:D]

How's this? [edits]

It's less work to copy and paste from the combat report than it is do a full writeup.

[bradfordkay]

Onime... I for one appreciate your approach to an AAR. There are far too many that just cut and paste the whole daily combat report, which to me is quite tedious to read. I much prefer ones that give a narrative - and your expressed wish to just give little vignettes of the war is interesting. Kudos to you.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

Onime... I for one appreciate your approach to an AAR. There are far too many that just cut and paste the whole daily combat report, which to me is quite tedious to read. I much prefer ones that give a narrative - and your expressed wish to just give little vignettes of the war is interesting. Kudos to you.

I think a good mixture of both is the way to go. Words to back up the facts so to speak.

But if I had to pick only one, I always pick facts [:D]

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

Onime... I for one appreciate your approach to an AAR. There are far too many that just cut and paste the whole daily combat report, which to me is quite tedious to read. I much prefer ones that give a narrative - and your expressed wish to just give little vignettes of the war is interesting. Kudos to you.

Thank you, Brad!

[Onime No Kyo]

I'm very sorry for the interruption, guys. My wife and I welcomed our first child on Monday and returned from the hospital earlier today.

I'm hoping that in the next few days I will be able to harness enough synapses to resume writing.

[bradfordkay]

Congratulations on your first born. I hope that you drink coffee...