Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

8 Jun 43

Sub War

I know what I've been doing wrong with my subs. I've been playing into his hands. I need to go back to finding his SLOCs and planting subs along there. I rearranged a lot of my subs to play into their strengths, not Teds.

Well, I found the sub with my DDs at Adak. The S-47 put a torpedo into the Yudachi. She's badly damaged at 22-74(54)-36(33)-0 and a hex away from Adak. I'm sending her back to Adak and will disband her in port. Keeping fingers crossed. Anyway, the S-47 ate one DC. I don't see her now. Hopefully it was enough damage to send her home.

I'd spotted a resupply TF leaving Dutch Harbor and put a couple of subs in front of where I thought it might go. I got lucky and sank an empty xAK a couple hexes SE of Cold Bay.

A few hexes from Naha, the E Susuki (Momi class) ate a torpedo from Plunger and went down. Some ASW ship she was. [8|]

At Canton Island, I had a Glen sub a few hexes to the east keeping a lookout for some bad guys. The I-15 got lucky and happened to be sitting on a SLOC. She found an unescorted convoy of xAKs hauling fuel and sank one of them.

5 Fleet

I did another shock attack today. Each attack is more effective than the last, but those pesky Americans just refuse to give up. The 17:1 shock attack killed 945(73) American troops to 834(4) Japanese. I'm doing another shock attack tomorrow, minus the 4 Garrison unit (fatigued and disrupted) and the 23 Tank Regiment (primarily disabled tanks). I think I'm pretty close to finally killing them off. At least 2 of the 4 US units are still there but totally combat ineffective.

No B-17s came today. 4 of the 14 Tojo IIcs are flying. I hope they can protect the crippled Yudachi when she comes into port. I have no confidence in the Oscars.

I converted the training chutai, 90 IF chutai to Helens and changed it to 5 Fleet HQ. It had been training ASW and the pilots were ready to go. When the planes repair (they're in Tokyo so it shouldn't be long) they'll fly to Adak and take up duty there. That's necessary to cover a gap I had there and didn't realize.

4 Fleet

My SNLF shock attack took Canton Island! The 110 US BF surrendered 2880(319). I'm sending an engineer company to build a few forts for the SNLF. I believe there now is a hole in his naval search coverage. I'm not sure how to take advantage of it, but I'll ponder it.

The TF that did this marvel [;)] is composed of 4x xAKs escorted by CA Ashigara and 4 DDs. The Ashigara is almost out of main gun ammo but has plenty of secondary ammo left. Two of the DDs have just about all their ammo, and everyone has all their torpedoes. I detached the Ashigara and the two DDs with lots of ammo to go hunting for fuel laden xAKs currently only 3 hexes away. It should be fun if they can catch them. It won't take much to set them ablaze. [:D]

SE Fleet

Ted focused his air campaign on Tassafronga and the Madang garrison. I can see his carriers now and believe it may be 3 CVs. I'm sending my carriers to the NE of Rabaul, out of his naval search radius. If he goes for Gasmata, I'll get within range (on the north side of the island) and try to hammer it.

Rabaul and Gasmata have repaired all damage.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I upgraded my one Zero unit to the George. I don't expect much to happen until the monsoon is over.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
42 FA Regiment, 42 Recon, 42 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create the 42 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
9 Inf Reg, 47 Cav, 47 Mtn Gun Reg, 47 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create 47 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
30 FA Regiment, 30 Recon, 30 Engineers - at Keijo, will combine with 3x infantry regiments in Burma to create the 30 Division. They're taking on replacements and will eventually be shipped to Rangoon.

[BrucePowers]

Mike, I started playing against the AI as the allies. I just did this to an IJN task force a little east of Tarakan on Dec 13, 1941.

[Mike Solli]

Ouchie! Damn Boise. I consider the game won if I sink the Boise.

[ny59giants]

Reinforcements:
42 FA Regiment, 42 Recon, 42 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create the 42 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
9 Inf Reg, 47 Cav, 47 Mtn Gun Reg, 47 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create 47 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
30 FA Regiment, 30 Recon, 30 Engineers - at Keijo, will combine with 3x infantry regiments in Burma to create the 30 Division. They're taking on replacements and will eventually be shipped to Rangoon.

Are you sure you want to keep these divisions in the Home Islands? Depending on your PP pool, you can buy them out cheaper before their TO&E is filled out. If not these troops, do you have some seriously damaged divisions in China that you could buy out in a few weeks/months??

[Mike Solli]

9 Jun 43

Sub War

I had the RO-106 just SE of Gasmata hoping to catch an invasion fleet. Did Ted send an invasion fleet? Of course not. He sent DDs. [8|] The sub ate 2 DCs and is limping to Rabaul in hopes of surviving. Her damage is 16-61(39)-1-0.

A couple hexes SE of Taihoku, the Flying Fish sank a big Kyushu class xAK hauling resources and oil and got away free and clear. My ASW really sucks.

5 Fleet

Today's shock attack against Adak was the best yet. The 19:1 attack killed 1030(53) Americans for 410(3) Japanese casualties. The 151 Combat Engineer regiment and 58 SEP Infantry regiment are no more. [:)] Another shock attack is in the works for tomorrow to try and finish them off for good. My guys are a little tired, but they smell the blood.

I've upgraded 2/3 of the fighter sentai to the Tojo IIc. Yeah, the range is shorter, but they should do better against the B-17s when they decide to reappear.

The Yudachi is repairing her damage in Adak's port: 22-54(54)-36(33)-0. I really want to get the sys damage repaired so she can get the heck out of Dodge.

4 Fleet

I didn't catch that unescorted fuel TF with Ashigara. They're 3 hexes SW of her. I'll try one more time tomorrow then the Ashigara will have to return to Truk.

SE Fleet

Very nice day here today. Ted did something I am always reluctant to do. He sent carrier planes to a base known to have a good fighter defense. I think his carrier force in this area may be 3 CVs. The plane numbers there keep increasing. You think that the Japanese use Pinkerton for intel? [:D] Bad joke. Anyway, Ted launched 104 SBDs escorted by 33 Hellcats against 92 Japanese fighters: 8 A6M5 Zero, 31 N1K1-J George (in their debut), 20 Ki-44-IIa Tony, 17 Ki-44-IIc Tony and 16 Ki-45 Nick. The Georges performed admirably. When it was all said and done, 9 Hellcats and 36 Dauntlesses were shot down vs. 1 Tony IIc. My pilots gained massive experience. He went after my port, which was curious. Maybe he thought there were ships there (there were none). I don't understand the attack, but it caused just a bit of damage that was easily repaired.

His bombing was focused on my former Madang garrison, now mere remnants.

SRA
Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
I-21 Chutai - rebuilt when the sub was sunk. I'll increase it to size 9 and use it for ASW.
xAP Oryoku Maru

The Ha-43 R&D advanced to 5/45 (will become operational 9/44 and there's nothing I can do to change that [8|]).
The N1K2-J George R&D advanced to 7/44 (will become operational 9/43).
The B6N2a Jill R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational 12/43).

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Reinforcements:
42 FA Regiment, 42 Recon, 42 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create the 42 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
9 Inf Reg, 47 Cav, 47 Mtn Gun Reg, 47 Engineers - combined with some infantry to create 47 Division. Split it and am building it to full strength. Restricted Home Island garrison.
30 FA Regiment, 30 Recon, 30 Engineers - at Keijo, will combine with 3x infantry regiments in Burma to create the 30 Division. They're taking on replacements and will eventually be shipped to Rangoon.

Are you sure you want to keep these divisions in the Home Islands? Depending on your PP pool, you can buy them out cheaper before their TO&E is filled out. If not these troops, do you have some seriously damaged divisions in China that you could buy out in a few weeks/months??

The two divisions in the Home Islands are in pretty good shape. The infantry units are at full strength and the engineers, cav and artillery are all =>75% strength. My intent is to buy out beat up divisions in China after some combat in Chungking.

[Mike Solli]

10 Jun 43

Sub War

Allied subs are flooding the area around Truk once again. I have 3-4 ASW TFs and 100+ bombers on ASW there. I get multiple plane bomb hits a day, probably all FOW (apparently it's dangerous being a whale near Truk) and finally got a DC hit on Haddo. Hopefully, she'll head home because of it.

5 Fleet

Another shock attack against the US visitors at Adak again. This one was 55:1 and the losses were 585(2) Japanese to 1515(161) US. Still the 41 Division and 153 SEP Infantry regiment remaining. I'll continue to attack, resting those that are too fatigued to continue. It's can't be long now (famous last words).

The BB TF is heading to the Home Islands (some ships can upgrade) and MKB is heading for Truk.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted got some revenge today. He piled all of his 2 & 4E bombers on Manus. I didn't even bother to count them, but there were a lot. I had 27 Betties, a few Emilies and half a dozen Babs there. When it was done, the airfield was totally closed down, a dozen Betties and 1 Emily were flaming hulks. No pilots lost though, which is the important thing. One interesting note is that Betty daitai has now lost over 100 bombers on the ground.

My concern for Gasmata and Rabaul is that they're both getting low on supply. I'm sending in single Ansyu PB fast transport TFs to dump supply. That's relatively safe for Rabaul, but not sure about Gasmata yet. We'll see what happens there.

SRA
Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Yudachi is slowly repairing at Adak: 20-54(54)-36(33)-0
RO-106 is still crawling toward Rabaul and repairing a bit in the process: 16-59(39)-0-0

[Mike Solli]

11 Jun 43

Sub War

East of Perth, the RO-33 finally found a target (instead of being a target). She put a torpedo into the fuel laden TK Strix. No report of her sinking but she was 10 hexes from Perth, so I'd lay odds that she doesn't make it.

A couple hexes SW of Kobe, Ch-44 hit the Seadragon with a DC. Doubt she sank but hopefully she goes home.

The RO-106 made it to Rabaul, but the darn computer put her into pier side mode. Now she's stuck there. She's repairing, but she's going to be there a few days. Keeping fingers crossed that she makes it out of there.

5 Fleet

Three B-17Es hit Adak's airfield today. The Tojo IIcs couldn't down any, but threw off their aim so no damage was done. Intel reports one crashed on the way home.

Today's shock attack killed off another 162 Allied steps. The 41 Div and 153 SEP IR are still there, but a mere shadow of their former selves. I'll try again tomorrow...

Yudachi is still in port repairing: 18-54(54)-36-(33)-0

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I had set (and forgotten about) a sentai of Tojo IIas to LRCAP Gasmata. Today, they ran into a squadron of Spitfires and downed 3 for no loss.

Ted has been trying to close Rabaul's airfield with aircraft at great cost to him and little to me. Finally, he sent in some ships: 6 CA, 4 DD, 2 DMS. In the process, he found and sank a midget sub. The ensuing bombardment did a number on the airfield: 11-40-63. It's still useable but won't be should some of his bombers get through. Damn mines did nothing. [:@]

A slice of the 1 Australian Parachute Battalion (never knew that unit existed) dropped on Buka taking it. It was an undefended dot hex.

KB is still hanging around, a few hexes east of Rabaul. They caught a 4 DD TF (probably ASW) just SE of Gasmata. 36 each Kates and Vals sank the Witte de With and damaged the Van New and Nicholas, with the lucky O'Bannon getting away. No loss to my planes other than 2 Kates written off. I'm moving KB to the NW of Rabaul exactly 6 hexes from Lae. There are a multitude of small TFs hanging around there that I would like to trash. I just want to make Ted a little more cautious and slow him down.

SRA
Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

12 Jun 43

Sub War

Nothing to report (meaning lots of torpedoes and DCs used, but nothing was hit).

5 Fleet

Today's shock attack netted 112 US squads destroyed. Over half were combat squads with no combat squads disabled. I think (actually hope) the end is near. Another attack planned for tomorrow.

Almost all of the Helen ASW chutai is repaired. I moved the repaired planes to Paramushiro-Jima. Tomorrow they'll move to Adak and begin their duties. There currently is one sub that I can see in the base hex. Hopefully, it won't stay long. (Actually, I hope it stays forever, on the bottom.)

Yudachi is slowly repairing: 16-54(54)-36(33)-0

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

With the successful bombardment of Rabaul by the US ships - yesterday, Ted sent every 2 and 4E bomber he could scrape up at Rabaul today. And it worked pretty well:

There were a total of 6 attacks, with the first by far the largest with ~75% of the sorties. Here's the breakdown:

113 Japanese fighters - 6 shot down - IJN: 2 WIA, IJA: 3 KIA, 1 WIA
4 planes destroyed on the ground

113x 4E bombers - 7 shot down
46x 2E bombers - 15 shot down

Rabaul's damaged increased to: 11-57-92

A handful of bombers were probably op losses. ~16% loss rate. Eventually, he'll have to rest the bombers and I'll repair the airfield. 300+ engineers and ~30 engineer vehicles at Rabaul.

RO-106 still hanging out in Rabaul's port and trying desperately to patch up the holes and damage: 16-39(39)-1-0

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Swept Akyab and shot down a couple of Hurricanes. I'm sending in the bombers tomorrow, about 130 of em (if they fly).

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[ny59giants]

Mindset of a Japanese player when it come to ASW....nothing getting hit or sunk today is a good day. [:D] Anything more is just a cherry on top!

[Zorch]

Will the US troops on Adak launch a Banzai charge?

What % of losses are real, as opposed to FoW? When the combat report says "46x 2E bombers - 15 shot down", is it more like 10 shot down?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Mindset of a Japanese player when it come to ASW....nothing getting hit or sunk today is a good day. [:D] Anything more is just a cherry on top!

Ain't that the truth! [:D]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Will the US troops on Adak launch a Banzai charge?

What % of losses are real, as opposed to FoW? When the combat report says "46x 2E bombers - 15 shot down", is it more like 10 shot down?

Not really sure, Zorch, but I think it's pretty close. I always watch air battles and track the losses by type. It's always accurate for me. That's not to say the enemy numbers are FOW. I do know that the air loss screen shows crazy numbers most of the time. For example, this last day I counted 5x B-24D1s shot down and the air loss screen showed 13. I use that screen to get an idea of op losses. The other interesting number is in the intel screen where it shows the total number of air losses to date. I track that number daily (among a host of others) and find it to be accurate, for me anyway. I believe it is accurate overall because of the ship loss and ship VP number in that same screen. That is how I know if a ship really sank or not. I believe those numbers to be accurate. When you get a comment about a certain ship having sunk on a previous date, it always shows in that screen, along with the correct number of VPs added for that ship.

Edit: The ship # and VP value are added on the day it is confirmed sunk, not the day it actually sank. Also note that if a ship is reported sunk on a specific date, if it didn't sink, it isn't added in the running total.

[Mike Solli]

I don't think Allied troops perform Banzai charges.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Will the US troops on Adak launch a Banzai charge?

What % of losses are real, as opposed to FoW? When the combat report says "46x 2E bombers - 15 shot down", is it more like 10 shot down?

Not really sure, Zorch, but I think it's pretty close. I always watch air battles and track the losses by type. It's always accurate for me. That's not to say the enemy numbers are FOW. I do know that the air loss screen shows crazy numbers most of the time. For example, this last day I counted 5x B-24D1s shot down and the air loss screen showed 13. I use that screen to get an idea of op losses. The other interesting number is in the intel screen where it shows the total number of air losses to date. I track that number daily (among a host of others) and find it to be accurate, for me anyway. I believe it is accurate overall because of the ship loss and ship VP number in that same screen. That is how I know if a ship really sank or not. I believe those numbers to be accurate. When you get a comment about a certain ship having sunk on a previous date, it always shows in that screen, along with the correct number of VPs added for that ship.

Edit: The ship # and VP value are added on the day it is confirmed sunk, not the day it actually sank. Also note that if a ship is reported sunk on a specific date, if it didn't sink, it isn't added in the running total.

Has anyone compared the Air Loss screen numbers to actual enemy losses over a time period?
You'd think that experienced pilots would be more accurate. The Japs had massive over reporting problems with green pilots attacking ships.

[Mike Solli]

Zorch, the only way I can think of to check is to play both sides and compare. I've never done that (and probably never will).

[Mike Solli]

13 Jun 43

Sub War

Lots of action today...

First, the Tambor caught my TK fleet that moves either oil or fuel from Cam Ranh Bay to the Home Islands. This comes from Miri by 1250 capacity TK. This fleet is composed of 4x Type-1 TL, the 11.6k capacity TKs. Tambor put a torpedo into the San Clemente Maru. Fortunately, she was empty and made port with just a hole in her side: 2-43(35)-2-0.

Next, in the Etorofu area, the Drum sank an Ansyu PB, which was returning from a fast transport mission.

Finally, the Grampus found KB 3 times! The first time she launched at a DD and missed. The second time she missed against CA Kumano and the last time she hit the Zuikaku with 1 torpedo. It wasn't a dud, but it may as well have been one. Zuikaku's damage was negligible at 1-5(1)-0-0. Whew!

That turn could have been very, very bad. I lucked out.

5 Fleet

The only thing to note in this AO today was the attack on the US troops. This time I lost nothing at all (yay!) and killed off another 89 US squads. Here's the report:

Ground combat at Adak Island (162,52)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 29244 troops, 438 guns, 179 vehicles, Assault Value = 905

Defending force 7017 troops, 120 guns, 227 vehicles, Assault Value = 6

Japanese adjusted assault: 588

Allied adjusted defense: 7

Japanese assault odds: 84 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Allied ground losses:
725 casualties reported
Squads: 46 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 85 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 38 (38 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 33 (1 destroyed, 32 disabled)

Assaulting units:
4th Garrison Unit
Maizuru 3rd SNLF
71st Division
19th Division
23rd Tank Regiment
67th Naval Guard Unit
1st Mortar Regiment
35th Const Co
39th Field AA Machinecannon Company
38th Field AA Machinecannon Company
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
20th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
4th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
7th Base Force
2nd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
20th Medium FA Rgt /1

Defending units:
41st Infantry Division
153rd(Sep) Infantry Regiment

No clue what's keeping them fighting. No matter. I'll just continue to pound them.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bombers rested for the most part. This allowed Rabaul to repair the airfield somewhat: 11-57-80.

KB launched its Vals but decided, for whatever reason, to withhold the Kates. It turns out, that was probably for the best. In 2 attacks, the Vals went after only 2 ships, but they were nice targets. First, 9 Vals found the xAP President Madison and hit her with 8x 250kg bombs! No report of her sinking, but I'm confident she went down. I always like killing off those President xAPs. They're nice, big ships.

The second target was the xAP John Hart, who was attacked by 18 Vals and hit by 11x 250kg bombs. She went down. I don't know what they were carrying, but it was only vehicles. Tank unit maybe? *Shrug*

I lost no planes. KB is heading north back to Truk. Ted won't know this (I hope) and maybe he'll think KB is lurking in the shadows and that will slow him down.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Well, my big air attack on Akyab was a flop. Neither of my 2 sweeps flew. Only a partial sentai (of 5) flew. So, it was 17 Helens with Oscar escort met 18 enemy fighters. I lost 3 Oscars and a Helen to no enemy losses and did moderate damage to the airfield. Overall, waste of pilots and supply. [8|]

China

Another Chinese Corps out in the middle of nowhere was hit and pushed closer to Chungking, causing 82 squads lost, probably forever.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

xAK Kinshu Maru - Std-B, will convert to a TK
3 Mortar Regiment - Central Army
1 Machine Cannon AA Bn - Eastern Army
2 Machine Cannon AA Bn - Central Army
3 Machine Cannon AA Bn - Western Army
2 Mortar Regiment - 4 Army (Kwantung)
64 Field AA Bn - 8 Area Army
78 Naval Guard - SE Fleet
90 Naval Guard - SE Fleet

The A6M5c R&D advanced to 9/43 (will become operational in 7/43).

[ny59giants]

Burma- Are your fighter groups assigned to same HQ? Probably the 3rd. Is the 3rd in command range? It doesn’t guarantee sweeps or coordinated sweeps but it does help. I do this for George, Tojo, and Frank that do my sweeps. Assign to Air Div and Fleet Air as they have command range. Get good leaders for them.

[ElvisDaKing]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

9 Jun 43
The B6N2a Jill R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational 12/43).

Like most of japanese players, I follow with great attention your AAR, especially information related to the Production
So i have a question after your a/m report :

Why are you researching B6N2a Jill ?
B6N2a is similar to B6N2 but equipped with N6 Radar which will be only available in October 1944...
So even if you get B6N2a in December 1943, it will not make any difference with B6N2 Jill before October 1944...

Wouldn't it be better to invest R&D on B7A2 Grace (December 1944) instead ?
What is advantage of N6 Radar ?: if i am correct it will help to improve detection, so it is useful only if you use the Jill for Naval Search...

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: ElvisDaKing

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

9 Jun 43
The B6N2a Jill R&D advanced to 9/44 (will become operational 12/43).

Like most of japanese players, I follow with great attention your AAR, especially information related to the Production
So i have a question after your a/m report :

Why are you researching B6N2a Jill ?
B6N2a is similar to B6N2 but equipped with N6 Radar which will be only available in October 1944...
So even if you get B6N2a in December 1943, it will not make any difference with B6N2 Jill before October 1944...

Wouldn't it be better to invest R&D on B7A2 Grace (December 1944) instead ?
What is advantage of N6 Radar ?: if i am correct it will help to improve detection, so it is useful only if you use the Jill for Naval Search...

I can't speak for Mike, but there's a few reasons for keeping the Jill in production rather than moving everything over to the Grace.

Mostly it's to do with IJN air-frame needs as the war progresses. The Grace is well-suited for carrier operations (both as a dive-bomber and torpedo bomber), and converting the KB airgroups over is a tall order. Beyond that, there's the need for a healthy stockpile of replacement aircraft in case of carrier engagements. With losses due to racket up in the late-war, it's often the best plan to have a couple months extra production of an inferior plane than to try to make do with fewer, abet better airframes.