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

[Mike Solli]

10 Aug 43

Sub War

The RO-37 was looking for wounded ships but found the DD Phelps instead and got hit by 3 DCs. Her damage is severe but she’ll try and make it to Truk.

SW of Prince Rupert, the I-29 surfaced and shot up an xAKL. Almost not worth the effort…

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

No luck finding any damaged ships. All I’m getting for the effort is damaged/sunk subs.

SE Fleet

Talasea was visited by the Allied bombers today. Too bad. The base was close to receiving fighters for defense. Such is life in 1943 Japanese controlled lands.

SRA
Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The Ki-43-IV Oscar R&D advanced to 4/45. It will become operational in 2/44. I have 4x30 R&D factories allocated.

Even though I had a pretty nice victory, I have quite a bit of sys damage on a lot of my ships, mainly from sailing all over the place for so long. Capital ships can gain normal wear and tear damage pretty quickly, and it takes quite a while to repair it. When a bomb hits one, well, that’s a whole different story. Truk is rapidly filling up with damaged ships. I’m trying to allocate to different types of repair most efficiently. Hopefully, Ted is in the same boat.

[Mike Solli]

11 Aug 43

Sub War

The badly damaged RO-37 was caught on the surface (yeah, she was that badly damaged) by 4x DEs and put under for good.

Off Prince Rupert, the I-178 caught a convoy and hit a nice, big xAK in two separate attacks, sinking her.

Near Kavieng, the Gato caught and sank an xAKL trying to sneak supply into Rabaul.

In the best news of the day, the RO-104 found the badly wounded CA Wichita and put 2 torpedoes into her, finishing her off. This was the only wounded ship I have seen in some time. Wonder what happened to the carriers. I suspect if they survived, they got out to the south.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Talasea was the main target again today.

I had sent a sentai of Tojos to Manus where they shot down 10x P-40Ks and a couple of SBDs for one loss.

Nothing going on in this AO except for the daily Allied bombing.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
TK Ryoei Maru, Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)
SC Ch-47, ASW

[Mike Solli]

12 Aug 43

Sub War
5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Today’s target: Manus.

The sentai of Tojos did good work against overwhelming odds. For the loss of 3 Tojos shot down and another on the ground, they shot down 19x 2E and 3x 4E bombers. The airfield suffered moderate damage but is (barely) still open.

SRA
Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Well, I did a deliberate assault against Chungking to see what I was up against. A lot. The 1:15 attack with level 6 forts caused me about 40 squads destroyed and a bunch disabled. The report said the Chinese lost 150 squads destroyed and a bunch disabled. One of my divisions took 20 squad losses with the rest scattered among the remaining divisions. Let’s see how long it will take to recover the 2500 disablements.

Now I know what I’m up against. It’s going to be awhile. At least the losses were light. I need to dump more supply in China. I’m going to need it. When the units gain some supply back, I’ll have the artillery bombard some more.

Good news is 2 units were destroyed, an artillery regiment and a Corps.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

13 Aug 43

Sub War

I’ve been noticing a clump of Allied ships at a little base south of Tabiteuea called Vaitupu. What’s significant is that there is no airbase there or nearby. I’ve had about half a dozen subs surrounding it (loosely) thinking some of the damaged ships from the carrier battles had stopped there to repair damage. I now know that is not the case. I had sent in I-5 on a (somewhat) suicide mission to get some intel and maybe fling a torpedo or two. What she found was very interesting. There are at least 2 convoys there. One is a single DM TF and the other is a fully loaded TK TF. The DM went after the I-5, but she has no ASW ammo! The I-5’s skipper thumbed his nose at her. Then the I-5 launched on a TK and missed. Not to be stopped, she launched on the big TK Tide Penn, hitting her with 2 torpedoes and watching her do a very nice impression of a torch before slipping beneath the waves. Later in the day, she found the AV Chandeleur there and put a torpedo into her, heavily damaging her. I’ll bet she was maintaining some flying boats that were doing naval search. The I-5 will remain and be joined by 2 other subs tomorrow. Could be fun.

A couple hexes east of Shortlands Island, the RO-110 caught up with a TF that I thought may be damaged ships, but I was wrong. She found some DDs that sank her. Ah, well.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied bombers finally put Manus’ airfield out of commission.

I see an Allied CV TF hanging out south of Rabaul. From the number of aircraft, I think it’s probably the TF that trashed MKB (2 CV, 2 CVL). There’s nothing for them to go after other than bases. All of my warships are tucked away safely at Truk. I may send a few DDs to pop them if the opportunity presents itself. The moonlight is increasing though, so it would have to be a really good opportunity.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Today, Ted sent a bunch of British bombers to hit my tank regiment at Warazup. They managed to destroy the 2 damaged tanks. I noticed that there were no fighters present. My air force in this AO is pretty much grounded from the lack of supply due to the monsoon but I’ll try to put some fighters on his bombers. I flew my most elite fighter sentai to Lashio to try and LRCAP Warazup tomorrow. There’s not much supply there but I put all my transports in the area on supply missions to Lashio. We’ll see if they can fly. It’ll probably only be for a single day, but they could wreak havoc. Keeping fingers crossed that they fly. Could be fun!

China

I goofed today. I forgot to take the artillery off bombardment, so they did it with little ammo. The result was negligible, but I did learn that the Chinese AV dropped about 1000 (15k to 14k gross) from the attack yesterday. With only 180 supply gained in Chungking a day, I don’t expect much of it to recover. Disabled squads need supply to recover, right?

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

21 Air Defense AA Battalion, Western Army
67 Field AA Battalion, Southern Army
13 RF Gun Battalion, 15 Army, to Burma
14 RF Gun Battalion, 15 Army, to Burma
65 Field AA Battalion, 8 Area Army
66 Field AA Battalion, 8 Area Army
12 RF Gun Battalion, Southern Army
59 Construction Battalion, 23 Army (China), converted to Southern Army
60 Construction Battalion, 13 Army (China), converted to Southern Army
61 Construction Battalion, 11 Army (China), converted to Southern Army
62 Construction Battalion, General Defense Force
63 Construction Battalion, General Defense Force
64 Construction Battalion, General Defense Force
65 Construction Battalion, Southern Army
66 Construction Battalion, Southern Army
67 Construction Battalion, Burma Area Army
69 Construction Battalion, General Defense Force

Lots of engineers!

The Ki-84a Frank finally became operational. Initial production is just under 120 a month. I’m bringing the size 55 factory to 60 and the other 2 factories (27 and 22) to 60 as well. In about a month I’ll be at 180 and then make a decision on further increases. I may increase the large factory to 90 right away so I’ll be at 210 in a month. Exciting stuff!

There are 6x30 R&D factories working on the Ki-84r. That model will become operational in 2/44.

I pulled some air units off some of the carriers that had really high aircraft fatigue and you guys are right, the fatigue drops much faster on land than on the carrier. Thanks! I’ll rotate them as the fatigue levels drop off. The issue is that I have too many planes stationed at Truk and not enough AS. I need to find a nice sized air HQ to bump up the AS there.

[ny59giants]

South of Pearl a good 6 hexes plus, I would send about 6 I-boats to patrol in parallel paths to the south to try to get cripples before they make port.

Truk - Besides Naval Support, 2 to 4 ARs will help repairs

OT - Haven't heard from AcePylut since Friday. [:(]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

11 Aug 43

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

I didn't know there was a rail line between Burma and Rabaul. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

11 Aug 43

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

I didn't know there was a rail line between Burma and Rabaul. [:D]

Wise guy! [:D] I do that all the time.

[Mike Solli]

14 Aug 43

Sub War

The RO-100 found a TF with 5x AKAs west of Buka, but never got a shot in. She was driven off by a DD.

At Vaitupu, the I-5 missed another big TK. The other two subs sent there must have been looking the other way.

Overall, a pretty useless day by my subs, but none were sunk or damaged so I have to call it a win.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

I’m sending a small TF to visit Vaitupu, composed of 1 CA, 2 CL, 5 DD. It’ll take 3 days to get in position. I’m keeping my subs there to harass the ships, and hopefully damage or sink some. If the enemy ships are still there when my little surface fleet arrives, I’ll go in. By the way, it’s currently 100% moonlight, so it’ll be down some when the potential surface action happens.

SE Fleet

Kavieng’s airfield is totally repaired, so I tried a layered defense with Tonys, Nicks and Oscars. A dozen Wildcats showed up and five were shot down for no loss. Then, 4x B-24s came in and destroyed an Oscar on the ground but did little damage that was easily repaired. They got away.

Then the fun began. I’ve had a 45 Betty unit on naval attack orders out of Truk for eons. They found a TF of APAs and went to work. The TF was at Namatani, the dot hex one hex east of Rabaul at the south end of the island where Kavieng is located. 22 Betties went after the TF and hit two APAs with 2 torpedoes each. One was confirmed sunk and the other was left burning and heavily damaged. They were loaded! According to intel, 2613 troops were lost:
Squad: 155(65)
Non: 96(64)
Eng: 14(0)
Gun: 169(0)
Veh: 21(0)

Not sure what it was but it’s hurting. A division maybe?

Interestingly, the US CV TF and another TF, probably CVE, was about 5-6 hexes to the south. They weren’t providing any cover for the troop transport TF. If they had, the Betties would have been decimated.

I don’t have much in the way of infantry at Kavieng, unfortunately. I’ve been moving an SNLF unit there by air. That unit has been moving overland south to take what I thought was just a partial para battalion. That SNLF unit is currently 1 hex south of Kavieng. They incurred the wrath of the Allied bombers today. My layered air defense was set (stupidly) at 0 hexes so watched wave after wave of bombers attack the infantry. There was no fighter escort. They could have chewed them up. *Sigh*

I reset their range to 3 hexes. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Current damage to bases in this AO:

Manus: 81-59-90
Kavieng: 83-0-0
Rabaul: 44-100-10
Talasea: 0-97-85

Rabaul is running out of supply (3-4k left). I have a TF with ~18k supply ready to head down there, but they’ll need air cover to have a chance at making it. In a day or two, I’ll have 3x CVs (plus other carriers possibly) fully repaired and ready to go. I’m going to move all my available fighters on those carriers so they can support the convoy.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My Tojos intercepted the British bombers attacking my tank regiment at Warazup. Of the 80 bombers, 8 were shot down (by 8 Tojos) for no Japanese loss. They harassed the bombers enough that they didn’t hit anything. LGEN Anma got his 15th and 16th kills, making him the leading ace of both services.

The 5 Division will reach Mytikyina to debark from its trains tomorrow. The two tank divisions finally completed embarkation at Rangoon and will reach Mytikyina in 2 days. My Panzer Armee is moving!

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

AM Wa-105
AM Wa-106
AM Wa-107
SC Cha-64

I got confirmation that the Saratoga sank on 8/7/43 near Ontong Java, a dot hex in the middle of nothing east of the Solomons. The intel report of sunk ships shows Lexington sunk but the report said Sara. No matter, that’s my first confirmed CV kill. [:D] Two others are badly damaged or sunk with 6 more out there somewhere. The odds are being whittled down a bit.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

11 Aug 43

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

I didn't know there was a rail line between Burma and Rabaul. [:D]

Wise guy! [:D] I do that all the time.

It would be a lot easier to supply Rabaul if there was a dimensional portal to Burma. Something for the modders to work on. [;)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

11 Aug 43

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

Why bother sending such great units there? Who cares? Unless there is adequate supply next door, you risk loosing morale of some of you best units to beat on some Chindits.

If it just a dot base, Allied control isn't much of a threat, and you can bomb it every now and then to prevent any engineers, if any present, from building it up.

Now, LRCAPing it from next door makes a lot of sense as you might bag some transports in addition to the bombers.

1st and 2nd Tank Divisions are your best land units. You need to use them with care. Having them in Burma isn't bad, but don't ever risk them getting cut off there as it is starting to get late. Generally speaking being in Burma after 1944 is pretty risky, as the whole theater can get cut off and isolated -- especially true in a scenario one game without stacking limits.

What would you do if the Allies landed 5 divisions at Tavoy for example? Come early 1944 they will be able to muscle in and do that and they probably will only need 2-300 fighters to CAP the invasion force, even if you have port blair, especially if they lure the KB to the eastern perimeter. Once the Allies get tanks into the central plains of Thailand the line of defense moves far to the east and Vietnam.

The game is rapidly changing for you...Allied TOE improvements are absolute killers. Allies will have almost 100 percent knowledge of your troop dispositions from sigint...be careful.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

11 Aug 43

Burma

The 14 Tank Regiment attacked the Chindits at Warazup today. Either 45 light tanks can’t do much or more Chindits arrived. (I suspect both.) I lost a couple tanks disabled to about half a dozen Chindit squads disabled. There is no way that tank regiment will be able to oust the Chindits and I can’t just leave them there. Reinforcements are on the way! I’m sending most of my reserves at Rabaul there by train: 1 and 2 Tank Divisions and 5 Division. That should do it. It’ll take over a week to get them into position though. The only potential issue is a lack of supply from the monsoon season.

Why bother sending such great units there? Who cares? Unless there is adequate supply next door, you risk loosing morale of some of you best units to beat on some Chindits.

If it just a dot base, Allied control isn't much of a threat, and you can bomb it every now and then to prevent any engineers, if any present, from building it up.

Now, LRCAPing it from next door makes a lot of sense as you might bag some transports in addition to the bombers.

1st and 2nd Tank Divisions are your best land units. You need to use them with care. Having them in Burma isn't bad, but don't ever risk them getting cut off there as it is starting to get late. Generally speaking being in Burma after 1944 is pretty risky, as the whole theater can get cut off and isolated -- especially true in a scenario one game without stacking limits.

What would you do if the Allies landed 5 divisions at Tavoy for example? Come early 1944 they will be able to muscle in and do that and they probably will only need 2-300 fighters to CAP the invasion force, even if you have port blair, especially if they lure the KB to the eastern perimeter. Once the Allies get tanks into the central plains of Thailand the line of defense moves far to the east and Vietnam.

The game is rapidly changing for you...Allied TOE improvements are absolute killers. Allies will have almost 100 percent knowledge of your troop dispositions from sigint...be careful.

+1

As someone this happened to in my game against Jocke, I can say it's good to be wary. A staged retreat, hopefully enticing some combats in favourable conditions to you, might work.

[Mike Solli]

Hmmm.... Something to ponder today at work. As I've said, I've never gotten this far in this game. It's really hard to think about withdrawing. Your collective comments are eye opening, and frightening. The vast majority of my forces here are holding the line. More comments later. Gotta hit the road for work now.

[ny59giants]

A look under the hood of what the "Indian Infantry" looks like with recent squad upgrades. From mid-43 on, you need to defend with a combined arms stack of troops.

[ny59giants]

The really scary Infantry squads are the USA troops in '44 and beyond. There is a reason those Marines are just plain 'nasty' by '44. [:-]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
The vast majority of my forces here are holding the line.

A few notes.[;)]

Having several types of reserves is super important for Japan. Given that the Allies have perfect knowledge of your troop dispositions, they invariably attack where you are lightly defended. If not, they eventually punch thru your lines with massed troops and aerial and naval bombardments. Your front line troops will be shattered and need a solid month to recover.

You need:

Several divisions, easily concentrated, with support troops and shipping to act as reserves.

Fire Brigades...mobile fast troops to plug gaps to buy a few days.

Air mobile reserves...infantry and AT guns and ART that can be flown to a hotspot in a moments notice.

Pick x2 and x3 and river crossings to defend. Each defense needs 15cm+ artillery, forts, AA guns, radar, and preferably IJA 43 infantry (you only have a dozen or so these heavy divisions - make sure they aren't in Manchuko or China). If you mass several AA rgts you can even defend in clear terrain if you have enough troops to absorb the bombing.

Type 1 Medium Tanks are simply great. In June of 44 they upgrade to Type 3 Medium Tanks which are even better...make sure you can upgrade to Type 3 ASAP.

In fact, you have several huge events coming up: Huge expansion of IJAAF fighter squadrons (1st qtr 44); IJNAAF fighter withdraw (mid to 3rd qtr 44), NF radars in June 44 for the Irving Sa, AA reinforcements to counter the B29 1st qtr 44, large infantry reinforcements of generally very poor infantry 1st qtr 44.

As Michael mentions, you need combined arms to defend against the Allies. Attacking becomes a super rare event.

Look now at the map and pick where you will defend...Bangkok is a good choice, Vietnam another along the rail line, Lang Son is an important base as it is rail connected to Vietnam and outside of malaria belt. Formosa, Luzon, Mindanao?, Marianas, Bonins, Okinawa, Singers, upper Malaya invasion sites. The Raheng triangle on the rail network.

Examine the rail network...you can rail into a contested base, but not out of. Pick your fighter defenses based on rail networks where possible.

Create supply dumps on bases with no wastage on rail lines safer from bombing, create R&R bases with HQ and support for shattered divisions to recover.

Defending off bases where forts don't get destroyed is usually best...supply moves better to non base hexes in Burma during monsoon season.

I am sure I have missed a lot...you have interior lines (use them), you are buying time, you don't have to fight everywhere...in fact that will destroy your economy most likely.

[Chickenboy]

Pfft...

Mike, don't listen to all the haters. YOU are getting reinforcements too. Take SC Cha-64 for example: That oughta be worth one or two MarDivs in and of itself!

BANZAI!






[;)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Pfft...

Mike, don't listen to all the haters. YOU are getting reinforcements too. Take SC Cha-64 for example: That oughta be worth one or two MarDivs in and of itself!

BANZAI!






[;)]

I think the Marine division even outweighs it in tonnage, counting men only.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Pfft...

Mike, don't listen to all the haters. YOU are getting reinforcements too. Take SC Cha-64 for example: That oughta be worth one or two MarDivs in and of itself!

BANZAI!






[;)]

I think the Marine division even outweighs it in tonnage, counting men only.

14,000 men x 175#/man= 2.45 million man-pounds. Divide by 2,000= 1,225 tons.

Wikipedia's got the SC Cha-64 at 130 'long tons' or 132 tons standard.

So, yeah. [:D]


ETA: Hater. [;)]

[rustysi]

Question I've been meaning to ask. When I put Chitose and Chiyoda in for conversion, I didn't leave the air units aboard. They're still FP units.

Yeah, its not that big a deal. I've got mine with the converted air groups on board. FYI... The other two don't convert their air groups to CV type planes, they remain float planes. So they'll be used as you wish. I've resized 'em to 4 x 24 float planes and will use them accordingly.

[rustysi]

4 Fleet

No luck finding any damaged ships. All I’m getting for the effort is damaged/sunk subs.

A couple hexes east of Shortlands Island, the RO-110 caught up with a TF that I thought may be damaged ships, but I was wrong. She found some DDs that sank her. Ah, well.

I'm not saying to stop looking, but I still think those CV's can be marked 'paid'.[:D] I've been wrong before, but I just can't see how they'd survive the damage levels you've inflicted. Even more so because you can't find 'em. They can't have much speed at with all those hits, and two with aviation fuel explosions.