The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

8/8/44

24th Division: Elements scattered across the map. The division will likely never reconstitute. Only 19th RCT is likely to be used in the medium term for combat purposes; the other two likely to remain in garrison capacity, at least for awhile.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

John is right about the low cost of Peep Show, to this point. Here's the balance sheet:

Credits: Foochow and Tsinkiang taken, Amoy about to be; Foochow airfield built from level 3 to 7; Foochow within Normal B-29 range of Tokyo and all points south; two mixed brigades and a rebuilding enemy division (6th) beat up; enemy pulling divisions out of Indochina and weakening Chinese MLR in response to threat; all Formosa airfields damaged or closed; many hundreds of enemy aircraft destroyed in the air or on the ground; a smattering of enemy riff-raff ships sunk; Japanese Empire nearly cut in two now; pressure increasing on John.

Debits: Two excellent transports [an APA and and LSI(L)] sunk; several hundred Allied fighters and bombers lost during the air war over Formosa (the Allies had a small advantage in numbers until naval bombardments of Formosa commenced, which tipped things decisively in favor of the Allies.

By my reckoning, Peep Show has been a tremendous success to this point. But this has been Peep Show, Part I. Part II will be the invasion of Formosa.

Don't even know if you need Formosa now. Maybe a base.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

John is right about the low cost of Peep Show, to this point. Here's the balance sheet:

Credits: Foochow and Tsinkiang taken, Amoy about to be; Foochow airfield built from level 3 to 7; Foochow within Normal B-29 range of Tokyo and all points south; two mixed brigades and a rebuilding enemy division (6th) beat up; enemy pulling divisions out of Indochina and weakening Chinese MLR in response to threat; all Formosa airfields damaged or closed; many hundreds of enemy aircraft destroyed in the air or on the ground; a smattering of enemy riff-raff ships sunk; Japanese Empire nearly cut in two now; pressure increasing on John.

Debits: Two excellent transports [an APA and and LSI(L)] sunk; several hundred Allied fighters and bombers lost during the air war over Formosa (the Allies had a small advantage in numbers until naval bombardments of Formosa commenced, which tipped things decisively in favor of the Allies.

By my reckoning, Peep Show has been a tremendous success to this point. But this has been Peep Show, Part I. Part II will be the invasion of Formosa.

Don't even know if you need Formosa now. Maybe a base.

Big haul of IJ LCU and good bases for strategic bombing.

[Canoerebel]

witpqs hit the main two reasons on the head; that's why I'm going for Formosa.

Another reason is my LOC. Formosa in enemy hands would pose risks to my ships, even if I worked to keep the airfields suppressed. I already deal with that situation at Mindanao - I have to overprotect every ship moving to/from the DEI and Luzon. At this point it's more helpful to consolidate my positions and throttle enemy ground units than to bypass John's strongholds.

[Lecivius]

Just thinking. If you can get a small tanker group hauling from Miri to Manila, Manila and some of the surrounding country will start producing supply on it's own (or am I missing something?). It won't be much, but it would help take some of the logistical strain off. Plus, you can start stockpiling fuel in a naval base. It would mean protecting it from air attack, but there are a few short legged AO's that would be ideal for this.

[Canoerebel]

8/9/44

SEAC: The Allies take Phnom Penh.

At this point, there are three fronts: (1) Saigon, where I don't think John has a major army present, but I'm not yet positive; (2) Vinh/Hanoi, where I think John did have a major army (at least three divisions) but is currently pulling out at least two of them for duty in China; and (3) Malaya, where I'm simply going to establish an MLR SW of Bangkok, waiting until later to move on Singers.

[Canoerebel]

8/9/44

Peep Show: Death Star retiring in good order, Formosa's airfields battered, and good progress towards taking Amoy.

[Canoerebel]

8/9/44

KB & DEI: The great game of Chicken seems to be at an end, at least for now. The Allies came out on top in the little staring match, and now KB is reduced to serving as escort for supply TFs inbound to Mindanao.

A short campaign without a lot of action but decisive nevertheless.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

Just thinking. If you can get a small tanker group hauling from Miri to Manila, Manila and some of the surrounding country will start producing supply on it's own (or am I missing something?). It won't be much, but it would help take some of the logistical strain off. Plus, you can start stockpiling fuel in a naval base. It would mean protecting it from air attack, but there are a few short legged AO's that would be ideal for this.

Unless this mod is different, the PI has no HI anywhere, so no fuel is needed to produce supply.

[Canoerebel]

8/10/44

KB & the DEI: KB moved a bit east of Davao today. I'm shifting my carriers strongly SE, hoping to either put a scare into John, forcing him to react strongly. There is also a slim chance that John will lose track of my carriers as they "slip into the shades," setting up the possibility of an ambush the day after tomorrow.

Even if neither of those things happen, this course will put DS in position to do what needs to be done next.

[Canoerebel]

8/10/43

Peep Show: Amoy falls to the Allies today. Some of John's Formosa airfields are making progress on repairs, suggesting he has a lot of engineers and supplies there.

My highest priority now is to get the supply TFs to Luzon from DEI; but my second highest priority is to keep Formosa suppressed. That should be pretty easy unless John brings up KB. If he does, I'll respond by posting DS up here.

[witpqs]

I imagine John would fight for Hong Kong but if you do take it there is a nice repair yard there and it has a low garrison requirement for the Allies.

[T Rav]

California living has it's ups and downs. Today's ups are B-25s and P-51s in the pattern at old Mather AFB. I live in the pattern for Mather, so I get a free air show every once in a while. Today was one of those days.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

I imagine John would fight for Hong Kong but if you do take it there is a nice repair yard there and it has a low garrison requirement for the Allies.

No garrison requirement for Japan.

[Canoerebel]

Why would John fight for HK? He hasn't used the shipyard in months due to HK's proximity to big Allied airfields. And he didn't put up much of a fight for Manila, which has a bigger shipyard.

Is there an attribute of/importance to HK that suggests he'd fight for it and that I'm overlooking?

[Lowpe]

Who can speak to John's motivation better than you?

But I can't think of anything super special about HK. Make someone happy in #10 Downing I think.

[Canoerebel]

(Actually, HK has a slightly larger shipyard than Manila's).

I confess that I don't know why John would fight for Hong Kong. It's no more valuable at this point than many other bases, either from a utility (shipyard/airfield) standpoint or from a VP standpoint. Manila was far more important. So is Foochow. So I don't think he'd react to a move on HK.

I still think there's a decent chance he'll move to intercede in the Formosa campaign.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

(Actually, HK has a slightly larger shipyard than Manila's).

I confess that I don't know why John would fight for Hong Kong. It's no more valuable at this point than many other bases, either from a utility (shipyard/airfield) standpoint or from a VP standpoint. Manila was far more important. So is Foochow. So I don't think he'd react to a move on HK.

I still think there's a decent chance he'll move to intercede in the Formosa campaign.

HK is the door to Canton. I think Canton is industrially important. A JFB might disagree.

[Lowpe]

Surely, HK is much stronger than Canon with respect to industry.

[Bearcat2]

HK starts with 160 HI and 220 LI in this scenario, it is a lot bigger than Canton.