The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[CaptBeefheart]

Ouch. That'll take a decent amount of ARD time to get back in action.

Cheers,
CC

[palioboy2]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Its very hard over here to find anyone who thinks WWII beyond Spitfires, Dunkirk and D-Day.

If you are very lucky, they might have heard of the fall of Singapore.

I shudder to think what the knowledge will be like after the last veteran passes away

Probably the way the last survivors of the Boer War or the Crimean war feel about you!

[Bif1961]

Looks like your version of the USS Franklin as it survives and makes a slow painful journey to the west coast for repairs that will take a very long time maybe beyond the end of the war.

[Canoerebel]

5/3/43

Burma: The Allies push a beaten-up stack back a hex, destroying 500+ squads. IJA 18th Div. is in bad shape. John probably can't save Rangoon.

Fun House: Legaspi airfield will reach level 9 tomorrow. That will make things much easier, as I can then bring in enough good fighters to provide Uber CAP, giving the option of disbanding the carriers in port when necessary or helpful.

[Lowpe]

How good is your recon of his bases?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Naskra

Schoolkids are kids. Kids don't fully grasp the adult world. History is the story of adults acting among other adults with adult aspirations and constraints.
So I'm not convinced of the value of trying to teach them something they're not suited to understand. Let them read the story of the past if and when they grow curious about it.

Being a teacher I can tell you they are very interested when you make it relevant to them. [:)]

You're right that kids don't fully grasp the adult world, but education is their preparation to do just that. Anyone only becomes curious about anything when someone else they trust and value makes it seem important and interesting. Luckily in the school where I teach history teachers relate the past to current situations. They're also people of strong and diverse character that students look up to.

Kids will grasp more than you can ever imagine if they're supported, encouraged and given active learning tasks they feel a part of rather than feeling like it's all about (and for) someone else.

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Such teachers are rare here sadly, especially regarding history. I understand that we cant devote 2 hours to battleships but couldnt we at least talk a bit about history and context ?

[Lecivius]

I know your focus is the Japanese Navy. Now that Rangoon appears to be on the cusp of falling, do you plan a serious land war in China, too?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

Such teachers are rare here sadly, especially regarding history. I understand that we cant devote 2 hours to battleships but couldnt we at least talk a bit about history and context ?

Both Germany and Britain nearly bankrupted themselves building battleships after 1906. The aim of both was to secure colonies that would improve their trade and wealth, and to do that they had to have sea power, which at the time was thought to require battleships.

So the naval race was on and in the end it brought ruin to both countries when they became embroiled in war to deny the other side a share of world trade.

How much better would it have been to decide trade zones through diplomacy and build cargo ships rather than battleships. That sort of question should get kids thinking about what the nature of human interaction is or should be - take or trade, power or sharing, fear or trust.

EDIT: Thus the need for a broad understanding of history - not just battles but why and what the times were like.

[paullus99]

You can blame Mahan for that.....his writings were hugely influential on all the major powers, who believed that if they did not have the strongest blue water navy, that they'd put cut out of international trade and colonization.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: paullus99

You can blame Mahan for that.....his writings were hugely influential on all the major powers, who believed that if they did not have the strongest blue water navy, that they'd put cut out of international trade and colonization.

Having only "read" Mahan second-hand (summaries and quotes and the like), I have to ask... did Mahan actually say that, or was it just a battle doctrine? I didn't think it was political in any way, at least not directly. There are implications that lead to real world consequences, of course, such as the naval arms races.

[Jellicoe]

Mahan essentially said that the Royal Navy was able to dominate during the french and napoleonic wars due to its pre-eminent battlefleet. It permitted the movement of mercantile trade, created new trade and allowed for the deployment of the army to take colonies at will. The lack of a decent blue water fleet reduced its opponents to guerre de course and as such ceded control of most of the globe beyond the eurasian land mass to the Royal Navy.

So in essence he said 'be like Nelson and have a big battlefleet if you want to be a global player' anything less and you are a continental bit part.

Kaiser Bill was said to have memorised the Influence of Seapower on History

[Canoerebel]

5/4/44

Fun House: Legaspi airfield to level 9 today and CA Kumano takes a torp near Manila. See map for details.

Burma: The Allies push back the Japanese right flank into open terrain. See second map for details.

[Canoerebel]

Burma: Breakthrough on the Japanese right flank.

[Lokasenna]

I vote: Rangoon -> Blair -> Victoria Point while you maintain just enough pressure/frontal contact around Moulmein.

[Canoerebel]

That requires ships.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Lecivius
I know your focus is the Japanese Navy. Now that Rangoon appears to be on the cusp of falling, do you plan a serious land war in China, too?

China has always been a long-term objective. I have a generally idea what's going to happen when and where and with what units. But, like most of my plans it is highly dependent on what happens with KB.

[BBfanboy]

If you want to outflank John's new line, march a couple of units down the road that leads SE from Taung Gyi and ends up just below the words "Chiang Mai".
When you reach the end of the road you are on the rail line, his best supply route (if ships are not in use in the area). He will have to respond in some way there, reducing the troops he has somewhere in his line.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

That requires ships.

Well, yes it does.


In that case, I second BBF's suggestion. March down the road from Taung Gyi (even if you have to first march over to it), although I would modify it by saying you should enter Chiang Mai from the NE on the dirt road while you also cut the rail line to it via the major road. It's possible he might take that river crossing NE of Chiang Mai first if he sees you coming, in which case I'd just ignore Chiang Mai altogether and march down the rail line. You might be able to keep your forces sufficiently supplied with shipments from Taung Gyi, or if he cuts that route then via air transport. If he cuts the supply route by moving out of Chiang Mai/etc., though... that opens options as presumably you've left a brigade or two behind.

I know you don't have the typical immense ground army here, so maybe that's not an option, but it's what I'd do. Only suggesting this because the forced shock attack to Moulmein is almost always a trap, or at the very least a potential theater-stalling disaster.

[Canoerebel]

When the campaign began on New Years Day, I didn't expect to press to Moulmein, for the very reason you suggest.

But the Japanese army in Burma seems to be in tatters now. I think the Allies can force Moulmein unless John brings in plenty of reinforcements. I want him to do so, so I'll towards Moulmein unless information develops that it's strongly held by fresh Japanese units.

The primary objective in this theater is still to draw enemy units forward. I'll take what I can, but in some ways it's counterproductive to push John backwards right into territory I might want to invade from the other direction.