Rook749 vs Lam0ttePicquet (DBB028-C)

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I am unclear about where you want to bombard and where you want to use your amphibs.
If you are talking about the coastal hex above the word "Prome", by all means have your BBs go and bombard the Japanese. I doubt the AI would let you do that in one turn though - just a little to far to sprint to, bombard and get away again. If the AI does not carry out the bombardment it should at least move part way there to set up for the next day (probably 3 hexes out). Start reconning the IJA Unit immediately and if you can assign some recon to night to maintain DL. You need a very good DL to bombard a non-base jungle hex.

Seem the wrong image was loaded (fixed), so yes we are talking about that hex.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
You can use Amphibs to load troops at a coastal hex, but I think they suffer the same kinds of losses as dropping off troops at a coastal hex - losses of troops and equipment, severe disruption. Fast transport does not try to lift much equipment and uses boats to bring the troops off the beach, so losses are much less in the loading. Of course you lose the stuff left behind.

I am not sure if Bassein has a port - if it does the BBs cannot go up river to reach it and it is a very risky place to go with amphibs - too easy to get bottled up there by the IJN.

Pretty Sure Bassien does not have a port just the airfield.....

[BBfanboy]

Yeah I checked - no port there.
As for the AP dropping supplies - it could do it but unloading in a coastal hex would be extremely slow - maybe 100 supply per day. Meanwhile your AP is exposed to attack. Better to just run in and extract troops. The ones left behind only need supply if they are going to fight - they won't starve instantly, it takes weeks. And if the enemy are stronger than them it won't matter how much supply they have.

[rook749]

BBfanboy,

Thanks for the input. I decided to pull back the Amphibs and Bombardment fleet. While he did not attack last turn at Akyab my detection levels shot to 10/10. Right now we are fighting an air battle over Magwe to see if I can't hit the remaining oil.

[rook749]

From
CIC-SWPAC
to
CIC-PAC

Darwin

As if the 4th of September Japanese forces have started the landing at Darwin and Darwin fell on the 5th. At this time it is not expected that forces in the area will be able to hold....

We are now reporting up to five enemy land units in Portland Roads.....

[rook749]

Idaho

I must admit that Lam0ttePicquet is doing very well off the coast of Austria with his submarines, on the 3rd of September he hit the Idaho with two torpedo's. In three days she will make a run for Sydney from Brisbane. Sydney has 659 Naval support to repair in Pier Side mode.

In about 21 days I should have enough ASW to run the submarines off but short term it may be an issue.

[rook749]

The Problem with Aggressive Commanders.....

Is that they are well aggressive, so a funny thing happened to the 1st Allied Battle Fleet when it tried to bombard Cairns from Townsville.

1st it Intercepted a Fleet
Day Time Surface Combat, near Cairns at 92,140, Range 20,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PC Sumire, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
PB Edo Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
PB Kinsyo Maru #4, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
PB Takuna Maru #7, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
SC Ch 11, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PB Kamitu Maru, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
xAK Yae Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
xAK Kyokko Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia
BB Pennsylvania
BB California, Shell hits 4
DD Sims
DD Hughes
DD O'Brien
DD Lang
DMS Lamberton
DMS Trevor

Combat ends with last Japanese ship sunk...

2nd it Bombarded in Daylight!!!!
Naval bombardment of Cairns at 92,140

Allied Ships
BB California
BB Pennsylvania
BB West Virginia
DD Lang
DD O'Brien
DD Hughes
DD Sims
DMS Trevor
DMS Lamberton

Japanese ground losses:
107 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Runway hits 3
Port hits 4

3rd as it was Thunderstorms in most of the area the LR CAP did not arrive
Morning Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 92,140

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 13 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia
BB California, Torpedo hits 1
BB Pennsylvania, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
23 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
---------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 92,140

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 22 damaged
G3M2 Nell: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia
BB California, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
26 x G3M2 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

---------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 92,140

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 95 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 7 damaged

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia
DD Hughes

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 9000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

[FeurerKrieg]

Ouch - Pennsylvania not looking so hot, but then again you have that wonderful Allied Damage Control, so the lack of fire should help lots.

[LargeSlowTarget]

Yes, she would look much hotter WITH fires. [:'(]

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg
Ouch - Pennsylvania not looking so hot, but then again you have that wonderful Allied Damage Control, so the lack of fire should help lots.

She would have been fine but she ran across SS I-173 and is now a feature for the local aquatic life.

[rook749]

The Singapore Issue
From VADM James Somerville
to Office of the Prime Minister

Burma Corps

General Robert Cassells and the Burma Corps have yet again stunned the world, at this time the 1st Burma Division has opened and held a line of retreat for the pocketed forces. We are not sure how long this path will remain open but all forces and making all do haste north.

"A"
7th Armoured Bde

"B"
1stBurma/A Div (18 pounder guns)
1stBurma/B Div (25 pounder guns)
1stBurma/C Div (25 pounder guns)

"C"
16th Aus Bde
17th Aus Bde
17th Indian Div
2nd Burma Bn
22nd Light AA Rgt
85th British AT Rgt
Burma Crops HQc
221 Group RAF HQa
Plus 8 Bases Forces

"D"
35th Light AA Rgt
48th Light AA Rgt
106th RAF Base Force

[rook749]

From
CIC-SWPAC
to
CIC-PAC

Western Australia

Enemy Forces have come ashore at Geraldton, their strength is not great at this time but we can expect more forces ashore soon to overwhelm the defenders. The 1st Australian Army HQ was already in route and should arrive in the next seventy-two hours and all forces in the area will fall under its command. At this time the one US Army Infantry Division and two Australian Brigades in the reserve are in route.

South Pacific will release the 23rd Aus Brigade, the 31st US Infantry Rgt and 112th Cavalry Rgt as soon as shipping can be found to get them to Australia. At this time limited air units will move to the front but the 5th Air Forces has been ordered to embark immediately to assist.

More details will follow as the size and scope of the landings is known. The advance in the east will continue but one American Division will be pulled from the front to be added to the reserve.

Recommend the South Pacific launch Warpath ASAP to relieve pressure.......

[rook749]

Geraldton Holds for a Day.....

The questions are --

(A) How much force does he really have and what is he willing to commit?
(B) Can he bring enough air to make a difference?
(C) Can he move in and cut the rail line at Kalgoorlie? If not I think this will not go well for him. As long as I can shift forces and supply from the East he is in trouble....


Ground combat at Geraldton (49,141)
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4021 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 125
Defending force 1226 troops, 21 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 58

Japanese adjusted assault: 79
Allied adjusted defense: 24

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 3)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
257 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
349 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 21 (1 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
20th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
9th LH Motor Regiment
Geraldton Fortress

[FeurerKrieg]

Well, you have plenty more where that BB came from.

[rook749]

From
CIC-PAC
to
POTUS

Operation Warpath has been approved on an expedited timeline. The landing forces are in place on Wallis Island and the Combined Allied Carrier Fleet is at Pago Pago. The required lift in in route to Wallis Island and we should begin loading in the next six days, expected to land in the next 15 to 21 days.

The allied heavy bomber forces (157 4E Bombers) from Aoba Island will start to close the airfield at Tulagi before shifting to ground support at Ndeni.

[rook749]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg
Well, you have plenty more where that BB came from.

Yes [:D] and while it might hurt I am more then willing to trade ships for dictating the pace of operations.

[rook749]

From
Military Advisory Committee on China
to
POTUS

At this point the Chinese Theater of Operations is as stable as possible. Over the last week the Japanese army has opened a drive on Sian and a push for Wenchow.

Sian "Drive"
This drive is going well for the Japanese army after several attacks they have paused to regroup. At this point forces are being redeployed to form a new line and hold the road that leads to Sian. There is a chance Sian could fall but this would be months away at this point in time.

Wenchow "Pocket"
The drive outside of Wenchow is going well for the Japanese army and all of the roads into and out of the city should be closed in the next sixty days. The combat in the city again has gone very much against the Japanese army. Unless substantially reinforced with land, air and massive shore bombardment the city can hold for an extended period of time.

Supply....
With a corridor open for the supply to the forces, the shifting of air transport back to China is critical. At this time the 50 C-47's and 20 DC-3 are all that allow supply situation from becoming a disaster. It is our understanding that one small air unit of 13 C-33's will soon be added to support this effort as well.

-----
Ground combat at Wenchow (89,58)
Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 63829 troops, 525 guns, 150 vehicles, Assault Value = 1884
Defending force 36446 troops, 115 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1123

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 737
Allied adjusted defense: 5431

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 7 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
15549 casualties reported
Squads: 319 destroyed, 407 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 97 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 57 disabled
Guns lost 93 (17 destroyed, 76 disabled)
Vehicles lost 22 (6 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
528 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 46 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
15th Division
116th Division
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
17th Division
22nd Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
13th Army
4th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
86th Chinese Corps
28th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps
25th Group Army
14th Chinese Base Force

[rook749]

From
CIC-SWPAC
to
CIC-PAC

Western Australia

Enemy Forces have come ashore at Geraldton and are advancing south. Currently we estimate there are two units ~5400 men marching south. A large number of units are preparing for Perth including the 14th Army. At this time it is not clear if we can hold the line as noted in the attached map, only the 16th LH MG Rgt and the 4th LH Cav Rgt have reached the line. Additional units are in route to include the 41st Infantry Division.

Eastern Australia

The first attack into Cairns favored the enemy, heavily with the 15th Australian Bde taking the burnt of the casualties. At this time we are going to continue the daily aerial and artillery bombardment. The West Virginia and New Mexico are now both on-station at Townsville and will provide naval bombardment every other day. Once the 15th Australian Bde has been replaced in the line we should be able to achieve better odds as the bombardments take there toll.

-----
Ground combat at Cairns (92,140)

Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 26810 troops, 559 guns, 397 vehicles, Assault Value = 809
Defending force 26079 troops, 267 guns, 256 vehicles, Assault Value = 680

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 311
Japanese adjusted defense: 5896
Allied assault odds: 1 to 18 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
271 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 24 (3 destroyed, 21 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2539 casualties reported
Squads: 149 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 61 disabled
Engineers: 24 destroyed, 45 disabled
Guns lost 40 (17 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (1 destroyed, 28 disabled)

Assaulting units:
15th Australian Brigade
34th Cmbt Engineer Regiment
5th Australian Brigade
27th Infantry Division
6th Cav Recce Regiment
6th Australian Brigade
198th Field Artillery Battalion
16th Fld RAA Regiment
1st RAA Med Arty Regiment
204th Coast AA Regiment
2nd RAA Med Arty Regiment
22nd Fld RAA Regiment
13th Fld RAA Regiment
Australia Command
168th Field Artillery Battalion
Aus I Corps
21st Fld RAA Regiment
4th Field Artillery Battalion
Aus II Corps
2nd Australian Army
21/22 Field Arty Regiment

Defending units:
8th Tank Regiment
38th Division
146th Infantry Regiment
2nd Engineer Regiment
11th RF Gun Battalion
16th AA Regiment
11th Port Unit
16th Army
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Field Artillery Regiment
41st JNAF AF Unit

[rook749]

From
CIC-PAC
to
POTUS

We are at D-4 for the landings in support of Operation Warpath.

[rook749]

From
CIC-SWPAC
to
CIC-PAC

Western Australia

Enemy Forces have come ashore at Geraldton and are advancing south. A large number of units are preparing for Perth including the 14th Army. We are moving to block the forces marching south from Geraldton, At this time the enemy's strength marching south is unknown and we can expect a landing anytime at Perth from the sea. While a large number of engineer units are now in route, we will need may need massive additional combat forces.

Eastern Australia

The simple truth of the matter is that we are stalemated for the present. The West Virginia and New Mexico are now both on-station at Townsville and will provide naval bombardment every two of three days but until we can both prevent resupply and force him to use the supply on-hand we will not be able to dig the Japanese army out of their positions for a cost the Allied forces are prepared to pay.

Air and Naval bombardment will continue, a group of PT boats will also sortie from time to time to intercept shipping. A combined US/OZ/NZ Light Cruiser and Destroyer force will also raid Cairns.

Given that we are less than a year into the war, we need to time to bring the preponderance for our production/forces to bear if we are to eject the Japanese for these shores. My command recommends allowing our forces to "fix" the Japanese ground forces in place while the more mobile South Pacific command advances along the lightly defended space between Tarawa and Rabaul.

--------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Cairns at 92,140, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
APD Tade, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
APD Tsuta, Shell hits 7, heavy fires

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia
BB New Mexico
DD Sims
DD Hughes
DD O'Brien
DD Lang
DD Piet Hein
DD Kortenaer
DMS Lamberton
DMS Trevor
--------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Cairns at 92,140 Typical of my Results to Date

Allied Ships
BB New Mexico
BB West Virginia
DD Kortenaer
DD Piet Hein
DD Lang
DD O'Brien
DD Hughes
DD Sims
DMS Trevor
DMS Lamberton

Japanese ground losses:
92 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 5
Port hits 2

[rook749]

Well this is Peachy...

He might be able to cut the rail line but there is at least there is still a road open to Perth. Plus the 41s US Infantry Division may have something to say about how long the rail line stays cut.....

This is why I am very happy I brought some recon to the area, it may not be great but some warning is far better than none.