See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

ARD Discussion Continued:

ABSD-1 is now at Gove. It is the ARD that has 55,000 ton ship lift capacity. Gove is a size 5 port. Saratoga has 5 flotation damage. And "Repair Ship" cannot be toggled for Saratoga, nor any other ship, when ABSD-1 is the only ARD at Gove.

Could it matter that ABSD-1 has 1 SYS damage, and cannot repair something else until it is fixed?

I also have a smaller ARD at Gove, YFD-2, that has 20,000 ton ship lift capacity. When I remove the bigger ARD from the port (ABSD-1), Saratoga cannot use YFD-2, but this is to be expected, as Saratoga is too big. However, other ships can choose Repair Ship using YFD-2. A destroyer with just 1 SYS damage can choose to repair using the repair ship.

So there's still something preventing use of ABSD-1. It's not supply at the base. The other ARD works. It could be the 1 SYS damage on ABSD-1. Or it could be the size of the port, but this would be stopping just a bigger ship, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

I will repair the repair ship completely, and hope that is the problem.

Any thoughts?

[apbarog]

I posted this issue in the War Room, and got a quick response from Lokasenna, saying that it is the 1 point of SYS damage to the ARD that is preventing it from repairing Saratoga.

I will wait for that repair to take place, and then get on with repairing the carrier.

Thanks again Lokasenna!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

ARD Discussion Continued:

ABSD-1 is now at Gove. It is the ARD that has 55,000 ton ship lift capacity. Gove is a size 5 port. Saratoga has 5 flotation damage. And "Repair Ship" cannot be toggled for Saratoga, nor any other ship, when ABSD-1 is the only ARD at Gove.

Could it matter that ABSD-1 has 1 SYS damage, and cannot repair something else until it is fixed?

I also have a smaller ARD at Gove, YFD-2, that has 20,000 ton ship lift capacity. When I remove the bigger ARD from the port (ABSD-1), Saratoga cannot use YFD-2, but this is to be expected, as Saratoga is too big. However, other ships can choose Repair Ship using YFD-2. A destroyer with just 1 SYS damage can choose to repair using the repair ship.

So there's still something preventing use of ABSD-1. It's not supply at the base. The other ARD works. It could be the 1 SYS damage on ABSD-1. Or it could be the size of the port, but this would be stopping just a bigger ship, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

I will repair the repair ship completely, and hope that is the problem.

Any thoughts?

Yes - one measly point of damage of any kind will render the ARD unusable.

[apbarog]

5 Aug 43

My recent sub minefields have not been successful. Walker is now clearing the mines south of Osaka, and he immediately found the new field dropped at Bataan, and found it with a small minesweeper. So he is actively looking for them at the likely locations.

22 P-47s swept Ternate. About 8 Tojos downed, for the loss of about 4 P-47s. I could tell that these Tojos are still manned by good pilots.

Another sweep occurred at Madang, on New Guinea. 22 P-47s found 5 Zeros and 14 Oscars, and did very well, downing over 10 planes for no loss.

There were two big stories today. The first is that the Japanese started strategic bombing in China. This hadn't happened before. The entire Chinese air force is in India, where many units have trained. This has also helped preserve the supply in China. Now a number of units are back in China.

A Japanese strategic bombing campaign in China will hurt Chinese supply. I've managed to keep China almost adequately supplied. A couple of cities are undersupplied. The capital is always supplied, with a level around 15,000 supply. I'm doing just enough with transports flying the Hump. Now I'm increasing my supply flights. I do start to wonder if Walker has a ground offensive planned in China. I have seen heavy activity in SigInt at Shanghai, but I thought nothing of it. I know from playing the Japanese that it is tempting to have an offensive in China when you've pretty much run out of offensive options anywhere else. I will be watchful.

Today Kates bombed Kukong, hitting resources.
Jills and Sallys bombed Liuchow, hitting light industry and resources.
Sonias also bombed Kukong, knocking out more resources.
Helens hit Kweilin, hitting light industry.
Sonias hit Changsha, hitting light industry.
Sallys bombed Shaoyang, causing 11758 fires and hitting 43 manpower.

There were no escorts and no sweeps with any of these surprise attacks.

Back in Burma, Wellingtons and Mitchells bombed the enemy stack on the road east of Cox Bazar. Zeros were on CAP, but no bombers were lost. 3 Zeros were.

Then more Wellingtons arrived with P-40 escorts, downing more Zeros.

Heavy bombers hit Coz Bazar and Akyab. Akyab had Zeros over it, and Zeros destroyed on the airfield.

Heavy bombers hit Boela, then others hit Ternate. Tojos were still over Ternate after the P-47 sweep, but fewer, and they weren't effective.

I tried a surprise port strike at Rangoon with B-24s, but it had good CAP, with Zeros, Oscars, and Nicks. A bunch of bombers downed with no port hits.

Artillery attacks continued at Koepang and Kendari.

Then came the big attack in Burma. The Japanese tank division lasted just 2 days.

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33269 troops, 475 guns, 736 vehicles, Assault Value = 1101

Defending force 13434 troops, 195 guns, 427 vehicles, Assault Value = 339

Allied adjusted assault: 845

Japanese adjusted defense: 323

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
2651 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 119 destroyed, 102 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 79 (53 destroyed, 26 disabled)
Vehicles lost 159 (87 destroyed, 72 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Allied ground losses:
214 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
9th Indian Division
14th Indian Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
268th Motorised Brigade
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
255th Armoured Brigade
26th Indian Division
XXXIII Indian Corps
78th Light AA Regiment

Defending units:
1st Tank Division
Imperial Guards/A Division
5th Field Construction Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
8th RF Gun Battalion
15th Army /1

One more unit to clear from that hex, then on to Cox Bazar. I do see enemy movement coming north from Akyab now. I will try to bomb these troops on the move today.

With the ARD question now answered, I put the ARD into pier mode repair, and it should be ready to start repairing Saratoga tomorrow. Americal Division and support starts to load at Darwin, to invade Boela shortly. Troops at Fenton and Katherine start to move to Darwin, to be ready to load for Manado and Ternate.

[apbarog]

No turn from Walker today.

He did comment on how frail his Japanese tank division was. I did expect it to hold up a bit better in the jungle terrain. But I did send a bunch of Allied armor to attack, and much better armor at that.

I wonder now if this will be the start of the collapse of the Japanese front in Burma, or if it will trigger more reinforcements being sent this way. I'll take either.

[apbarog]

6 Aug 43

Another sub attack on the Borneo to Manila oil run. Sub Skate torpedoes a patrol baot that was escorting at least one tanker.

P-38s sweep Sorong from Dobo, and do rather poorly. 19 Zeros and 27 Oscars on CAP. Some bombers then hit the airfield, then another P-38 sweep that does better.

The new enemy air offensive in China continues. Kates and Sonias hit Kukong, and many bombers (about 120) hit Hengyang, stoking the fires there. Some of those strikes had escorts. But another strike at Liuchow did not. And I had moved in some Chinese fighters. 21 Sallys met 12 P-43s, and many Sallys were downed. I now have a Chinese fighter ace with 7 kills.

I'd like to CAP Hengyang, but it has no air support, and there won't be anything left of the city by the time support could arrive.

I do move fighters around some, and now CAP Changsha and the capital.

I think that this air offensive is just being done because it can be done. My opinion is that if it isn't followed with a ground offensive, then it is almost pointless. It will drive down Chinese supply, but at a cost to Japanese supply.

Medium bombers hit ground troops at Akyab, troops that show movement north toward Cox Bazar. A tank regiment, artillery regiment, and an infantry regiment are identified.

Heavy bombers hit the airfield at Cox Bazar. Others hit Akyab's airfield and port.

In the contested hex, Allied troops clear the last unit just east of Cox Bazar. It was a part of the 15th Army HQ, and it now no longer exists.

Most of the stack now moves to Cox Bazar. Other troops follow on from the north. The trail to Chittagong must still be defended, as there are enemy units adjacent to the east. Parts of the Imperial Guard Division are in the area.

Today the Boela invasion kicks off with shipping leaving Darwin and carriers leaving Gove. With ARD ABSD-1 now successfully repaired, it can now repair Saratoga's flotation damage. The 5 points of damage are projected to take about 20 days.

Allied troops will attack Kendari, preceded by a cruiser bombardment.

Troops at Koepang will attack and continue to clear the enemy outside the base.

I got SigInt of heavy activity northwest of Rabaul. I had other notice of activity by Guam. I wonder if something big is heading south. I got no visual confirmation today, but the hex it is in is within range of hitting anywhere on the east coast of New Guinea tomorrow. Or this could be just a big task force pulling troops out of Rabaul.

My big CVE and slow BB task force is approaching Townsville from the southeast. It will support future landings in the Solomons.

[apbarog]

6 Aug 43 - China

The second day of the enemy strategic bombing campaign. Mostly resource hits, some light industry. Chinese fighters continue to position to intercept.

[apbarog]

7 Aug 43

Sub Scamp spots a tanker convoy southwest of Manila, probably the same one that has been engaged recently. 2 torpedoes miss a patrol boat. Scamp then finds the ships again, and fires 2 torpedoes at a tanker, but misses.

4 Allied cruisers bombard Kendari prior to a deliberate attack.

In China, Walker pauses his strategic bombing, and sweeps Liuchow with 22 A6M3a Zeros. This was where the Chinese P-43s caught an unescorted raid of Helens yesterday. 4 Lancers are downed, with 2 Zeros shot down.

B-25s bombed troops at Kendari.

2 squadrons of B-24s bombed Babo. No CAP.

Allied troops attack isolated troops at Koepang, get 5-1 odds, cause 1509 casualties, losing just 89. There were 19 units, or at least parts of units, outside of Koepang. Lots of enemy units evaporate due to isolation after the combat. Only 3 units remain. Allied troops will rest a day or two to recover disruption. The enemy is almost done here.

At Kendari, the Allied attack is at 2 to 1, reducing the forts to 2. 548 enemy casualties and 245 friendly. Allied troops need to rest as almost all are now needing supply, which has to be drawn from Kolak. The base will fall soon.

Allied carriers will catch up with the invasion shipping for Boela. The armada will stop 3 hexes south of Boela, with the invasion following the next day.

Troops for Ternate and Manado move to Darwin from inland bases to the south, where they were waiting due to stacking limits in Darwin.

I've decided that I will launch the Java invasion from Port Hedland, so lots of troops at Perth start to load up to move there. The Java invasion will follow after Ternate and Manado, and Balikpapan.

[apbarog]

8 Aug 43

Sub Narwhal gets a dud torpedo hit on a patrol boat just south of Mindanao. PBs are doing ASW work here. Then Narwhal spots xAK Taizin Maru with a patrol boat, fires 2 torpedoes at the cargo ship, and gets 2 good hits. The ship may sink, and it does have troops loaded.

P-38s sweep Sorong but find no CAP. Heavy bombers hit the airfield.

In China, Helens hit Kukong, then Sallys do the same with Nates and Tojo escorts. Both attacks get zero hits on the city in thunderstorms.

B-25s hit troops at Boela and Ambon. Others hit troops at Manokwari. Heavies hit Boela and Babo.

Near Phuket, sub Trident spots an xAK task force, apparently headed north. 2 torpedoes miss a cargo ship. Could be going to Rangoon, or could be going to Akyab.

The Japanese tank division has moved south out of Cox Bazar, and at least one unit is moving north from Akyab toward Cox Bazar. Allied troops continue movement into Cox Bazar. Will get there in a few days.

Today the heavy bombers return to Magwe. P-40s will sweep. I hope to take out the rest of the oil. There is about 80 undamaged oil there now.

Boela will be invaded. There haven't been mines there, but DMSs will sweep just in case. Cruisers will bombard, others will guard the beaches. APAs and AKAs will be used. Carriers will move to just west of Boela to support. A follow-up task force is moving with the carriers.

After Boela, ships will return to Darwin and load for Ternate and Manado. I wonder if those bases are beyond a "red line" for Walker. I'm guessing, no. I think that he is digging in on Mindanao.

A deliberate attack will take place at Kendari. Most of the attackers have supply today. The base may fall.

[apbarog]

8 Aug 43 Continued

It is interesting to note that I have a task force with CVL Independence, 10 CVEs, and 3 slow BBs at Townsville. Most of the CVEs are new arrivals, some were repaired at Pearl Harbor. About half of the CVEs have no planes, as I'm using their squadrons at the front, more or less.

It's interesting that just as the task force got to Townsville, they were spotted. Probably by a Glen sub.

I was going to wait at Townsville. I will use the carriers when I invade Buin and Torokina. Now that they are spotted, I will move them south to wait at Rockhampton. I don't think I need these carriers for Ternate, Manado, Balikpapan, or Java. I do think I'll need them for the jump to Mindanao. But that's in the future.

I do wonder what Walker is thinking, seeing so many carriers at Townsville. Probably not a bad thing to have him think something is imminent in the Coral Sea.

[apbarog]

9 Aug 43

3 Allied cruisers and 4 destroyers bombard Boela, do good damage to the troops and lots of base damage. Even hit some resources and oil. I have plans to ship the oil here to Australia eventually. Might as well use it. Have to capture the base first.

Sub Trident anticipates that the previously spotted xAK task force was northbound, and gets another sighting. 2 torpedoes miss a cargo ship.

Boela is invaded. No interference.

Between Formosa and the Philippines, sub Whale spots an xAK task force, fires 2 torpedoes at xAK Syohei Maru, gets 2 hits, but one is a dud. Whale has done very well. I haven't kept track, but it's done very well in the South China Sea.

P-40s sweep Magwe, finding Zeros and Oscars, but only about an equal number. More enemy losses than friendly. This helped clear the way for heavy bombers, which targeted the oil. Working oil went from in the 80's down to 72, so a little progress.

Enemy bombers hit Kukong again in China. All that was left here were resources, and now they are all destroyed. Supply keeps me from moving fighters here. Now there is no need. Walker does have good recon, and sees where my Chinese fighters squadrons are. They are on likely strategic bombing targets, but there are others unprotected. I expect sweeps where I am and bombing where I'm not.

Medium bombers hit enemy troops at Cox's Bazar. Imperial Guard/A and 14th Division is here.

Medium bombers also hit Boela, doing little in heavy rain.

The news for today is that Kendari was captured. In addition to over 2000 enemy casualties, a bunch of Zeros and a couple of Vals were destroyed, having been unable to fly out from the badly damaged airfield. No enemy units were destroyed, but they are now isolated.

I attack again at Kendari. I choose not to attack at Boela. The Americal Division is disrupted and needs some rest first. The defense here is a bit too much for one division to handle quickly, with about 2/3 of the 8th Infantry Division here.

Transports will move to Dobo and pick up the infantry division there, which is prepped for Boela to about a 35 level. Carriers move south to cover.

A Fletcher task force had moved to Sorong yesterday, was spotted, but not attacked in any way. It will now move due east, hoping to disappear. If it is not spotted, it will then move south and raid enemy ports on the east coast of New Guinea. If it is spotted, it will head back to safety.

There's a dot base north of Sorong. It isn't built in any way, but I got a port symbol there. A squadron of B-25s will hit the port.

At Kendari, a big port support unit will move there and start to unload. The task force is in transport mode, and Kendari's port is 100% damaged, so unloading will take awhile. If it is too slow, I'll leave and return when I can put some CAP up from the airfield.

2 B-24 squadrons moved to Waingapoe to bomb the base at the eastern tip of Java. I want to encourage Walker to move some CAP there to dilute the strong CAP he has at Soerbaja. I'm considering a big strike there soon.

[apbarog]

10 Aug 43

Battleship Yamato TF is spotted by Leyte. Sub Balao misses destroyer Yugure with 2 torpedoes.

During the night, an Allied sub laid mines at Cagayan, on Mindanao. I'd gotten SigInt that there is lots of activity here. xAK Eizan Maru immediately hits a mine and is badly damaged. Just a nuisance, I know, but a nuisance that I like.

Light cruisers Helena and Concord and 6 destroyers bombard Boela. Good results.

Southwest of Manila, on the Borneo to Manila oil route, sub Searaven spots a tanker convoy but misses a subchaser with 2 torpedoes. Sub Salmon then spots the same convoy, and hits small tanker Sanju Maru with one torpedo. It isn't loaded but it is burning.

I tried something different an Aleutian bases sub. I wanted it to go to the Maizuru area on the north coast of the main island of Japan. I knew that it had to pass through Hakodate, a big base. It hit a mine there, and has 17 SYS/59-39 FLOT/34-29 ENG damage. It may or may not make it back to the Aleutians.

Today the enemy's strategic bombing campaign in China targeted Changsha. This was a big surprising to me. Most of the targets there start the war damaged. There's better pickings elsewhere. I had no CAP. Some manpower losses with some fire started. I haven't been immediately reacting to strikes by moving in CAP, but today I do, moving in 3 Chinese fighter squadrons. The bombers did have some escort, but a lot of bombers were used, and the strikes fragemented, so I'm hoping for a nice ambush today.

Medium bombers hit Cox's Bazar. 14th Infantry Division and Imperial Guards/A there.

The port strike at Waigeo, just north of Ambon, didn't find any ships.

P-39s struck a lone xAKL at Akyab, sinking it. The pilots are highly trained in Low Naval and Strafing. There was no CAP. Other P-39s swept after the strike. Just as well.

Allied attack at Koepang caused another 1000 enemy casualties. And another attack at Kendari caused 1079 losses, and now there are only 2 enemy units left at Kendari.

APAs still need to unload supply at Dobo before picking up the infantry division to reinforce Boela. Carriers slide to the east of Dobo to protect.

The Fletchers that I had run to the east of Sorong only went 4 hexes, and were spotted. Walker probably can't figure out what I'm up to here. The ships will now RTB. I'm up to nothing, now that I was spotted.

I moved a cruiser TF to Mataram. I hoped that it would be spotted, and it was. It will now bombard a base on the southern part of Java. Heavies (if they fly) will bomb the tip of Java. Just a show of strength here, nothing imminent. I want to show interest.

A commando unit will load at Roti and invade Bima. There's a small enemy unit there. It may or may not be enough to take the base.

[apbarog]

11 Aug 43

Walker is already working on clearing the mines at Cagayan. One ship hit by mines is the best you can ever hope for.

Southeast of Cam Ranh Bay, sub Runner spots a big xAK task force, but misses a cargo ship with 2 torpedoes.

Boela is bombarded by Allied cruisers. Good results again. Other cruisers bombard Loemadjang, on the south coast of the eastern end of Java. There appears to be no troops or air units there. Good base damage. Just showing interest here.

Walker shifted his Chinese strategic bombing offensive one hex west of Changsha, to Siangtan, so my fighters at Changsha didn't catch anything. I leave the fighters there today, and expand the CAP range to 1. I predict that Walker will continue hitting the towns west of Changsha. Not much worth trying for me there, with no air support units.

Oscars swept Kendari. I had no CAP, as the airfield is still badly damaged. I have a big Fletcher task force here, guarding a transport task force which is slowly unloading a big port unit. I put some P-47s on LRCAP over Kendari today.

At Koepang, another Allied attack causes 5717 casualties for no loss, destroying 4 more enemy units. 2 remain, with at least one unit in the jungle to the east headed this way. Walker just wants me to get rid of these units entirely, and more quickly, than letting them starve in the jungle. I will oblige.

Another attack at Kendari causes 1175 enemy casualties. 2 enemy units left.

An Allied probing artillery attack at Cox's Bazar shows a combat value advantage of 1374 to 489. Lots of friendly armor though. Allies attack today, supported by bombers.

I have 3 destroyers off the coast of Burma, hoping that Walker brings more cargo ships into Akyab. He may not, though, since P-39s just destroyed one yesterday. I also have a minelaying sub ready for Akyab also.

The enemy tank division moved south from Cox's Bazar to Akyab, and I believe it is now moving further south, not waiting for shipping to get it out.

Back at Dobo, the US infantry division is being loaded to reinforce Boela. Allied carriers move one hex to continue covering the loading. One enemy sub spotted in the area.

[jwolf]

The enemy tank division moved south from Cox's Bazar to Akyab, and I believe it is now moving further south, not waiting for shipping to get it out.

It takes a very long time for armor to move from Akyab to the road network E or SE of there.

You've been making great progress in the DEI and things look really good for you. It's especially impressive how well prepared you are logistically, always ready with the next invasion so the Japanese never get a chance to regroup and catch their breath.

[apbarog]

My Burma activity isn't a high priority for me. I'm just curious if I can do enough along the coast to either convince Walker to pull back the line, or force him to commit reinforcements. If I'm fortunate enough to take Cox's Bazar, and maybe Akyab, that would be about as far as I could advance, given what I'm working with.

I do like the looks of things in the DEI. My thinking all along has been to expand in a way that gives me so many possible directions to go that Walker can't defend everything. And if I decide to start a strategic bombing offensive against his oil, I have the bases to do so. I'm definitely not bombing Balikpapan, as I'm going to invade it soon. I will probably bomb the oil on Java, and on the north coast of Borneo. That would leave him with Palembang. I haven't counted the hexes, but I think I can hit Palembang from Balikpapan. For that matter, I may be able to do so from bases on Celebes. Regardless, he's in trouble, in my opinion. Even if I don't go to Mindanao soon.

Logistics is the key, especially for the Allies. For Japan, you have to pay extreme attention to detail for the first month. After that, each invasion requires work. But once the advance stops, most of the work is just keeping the resources, fuel, and oil moving. And that's much less work than what the Allies have to do.

I do like the planning involved. I am much better at the logistics in the game than I am with the combat. I didn't want to use Darwin as the main staging base for my big push. I'd read that it can be difficult to do. But things worked out that Walker was weak north of Australia. I've moved many units to Darwin, so many that a number of them moved south to Katherine and Fenton just to avoid overstacking. I've been loading my invasions at Darwin, for the most part. When the ships are loaded, the next wave of troops for the next invasion moves north to Darwin and awaits the APAs to return.

Boela is happening now. Ternate and Manado will be done simultaneously. Then Balikpapan. Then the eastern tip of Java.

One thing I do is when a conquered base is safe, I immediately start prepping for the next invasion with my units there. An example is my two divisions at Koepang. Once I took the base, the 24th Infantry Division started prepping for Jolo, and the 1st Marine Division started prepping for Zamboanga. Keep the line moving.

One downside of things is that I think that Walker has been getting a big discouraged. We averaged about 5 or 6 turns a week, and now we're at a pace of about 1 turn every other day. Sometimes 4 a week. I know that he is involved in another game, and I fear that his other game may have become more interesting.

This is understandable. I've played the Japanese side many times, and to be discouraged is part of the job description. It's going to happen. The key is to change your idea of what "success" is as the game goes on. I hope that he doesn't lose interest. This is my first real AE game as the Allies, and I'd like to see it go to the end. But the fun of the game is the journey, not the destination, so when the journey isn't fun any longer, it's time to stop.

[apbarog]

12 Aug 43

Sub Trout finds a tanker convoy near the west coast of Mindanao. This must be a new tanker route from Borneo to Manila. 4 torpedoes are fired at tanker San Diego Maru, hitting it once, but it's a dud.

P-40s sweep Cox's Bazar, finding no CAP. Bombers hit enemy troops there.

The enemy Chinese strategic bombing offensive moved to Sian today, finding no CAP, and destroying most of the oil. I juggle the Chinese air units again. Looks like we have to play the game of "guess the next bombing target". Tojos did escort the Sallys, so it won't be an easy time of it for the Chinese, should I guess right.

Koepang's enemy troops are attacked and eliminated, causing 1159 casualties. There is still at least one enemy unit in the jungle to the east, and it is headed to Koepang to suicide itself.

Kendari's enemy troops are attacked and eliminated, causing 2326 casualties. Engineers and base support start to move to Koepang from Kolaka.

Allied troops attack at Cox's Bazar, capturing the base easily. All enemy troops had just evacuated, except for the 17th JAAF AF Battalion, which is destroyed. 1140 casualties. It looks like Walker plans to defend the jungle hex to the south of Cox's Bazar, as another unit has moved north to there from Akyab.

Since Cox's Bazar is the last stop still in Burma, the restricted Indian units will guard the base, and others will move back east and northeast to guard the road from Chittagong. Unrestricted Allied units will move toward Akyab, including some that hadn't reached Cox's Bazar yet.

No sign of any enemy withdrawal of frontline units in the interior of Burma.

The ships carrying the division that will reinforce Boela will move to 2 hexes east of Boela, feinting a move elsewhere. Carriers escorts, along with a cruiser task force and subchasers.

Bima will be invaded by a small Allied unit.

The 2 divisions and other units at Kendari begin to prep for other targets: Cotabato and Dadjangas on Mindanao.

[Crackaces]

Next month ..

In September 1943, all torpedoes with an adjusted dud rate greater than 20 have their
dud rates lowered to 10.

Happier hunting [;)]

[Bif1961]

My dud rates for the America torpedoes of all types is currently 69%,40 duds out of 58 hits. That means the Mk-10s are probably closer to 33% and the Mk-14s over 80%. The joys of early war American sub warfare.

[apbarog]

13 Aug 43

Allied cruisers bombard Bima. Bima has been a small enemy base with Allied bases all around, and was defended by an air support unit. A small Allied unit landed today, and found the base empty.

Heavy bombers hit Akyab's airfield and port. No CAP. Bombers also hit Shortlands, and no CAP there. Same for Babo. And Sorong.

A B-25 squadron hit an artillery regiment at Banjoewangi, at the eastern tip of Java. There were 2 Zeros on ranged CAP from Soerbaja, probably. Bombing results were good. There were 3 units here yesterday, just 1 today. I'm guessing that my naval bombardment of the next base west on the south coast caused a reshuffling of defenders. That base was empty.

Today will be interesting. My war is generally methodical, but every so often I throw in something unpredictable (hopefully). US carriers are going to make a full speed run toward Babeldaop. They have to cover 12 hexes, and I hope that they have the ops points left to do something. Cruiser and destroyer task forces guard. The ships with the infantry division go to Boela, as planned, and will have LRCAP with P-38s from Dobo.

The reason I'm taking this risk is that I spotted 2 task forces at Babeldaop, both with cruisers or bigger, and a CVE disbanded in the port. Time to have some fun and take a chance.

[BBfanboy]

I wonder if the sudden absence of CAP in several places means that he is starting to conserve his fighters and pilots to defend the homeland later? What are the relative air losses his/yours?

Hope your naval/port strike works out.