Notes from a Small Island

[JeffroK]

I had a read of the manual, you are right.

Any HR against ignoring japanese bases and occupying the rest of the Home Islands[:'(]

Plus, if I read correctly, he can only change 1 unit per turn.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: The night begins with enemy subs laying mines, fresh Allied DDs trying to engage tuckered out enemy CAs, and other little items of note.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

Strategic Bombing: All B-29-25s (the nighttime version) target the Jack factory at Maebashi. This is only the second raid of the war against that base, the first strat bombing raid in perhaps ten days, and the first max effort raid...but naturally Erik has his defenses in place.

The raid nets a single hit on the Jack factory. I probably will have lost a half-dozen or so of these bombers.

Erik will have the aircraft and engine factories protected, so I'll have to consider other targets.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44


L+6: Confound it, Erik has found another stash of subs to deploy. Here he's targeting the hex Death Star is heading to (I hope). Kill these buggers, boys! Kill 'em!

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: This bombardment TF is fully replenished (bear that in mind) and does a decent job in targeting enemy ground units, a prelude to the ground attack to take place at the end of the day.

P.S. Erik forgot to turn on Combat Messages again, so the screen shots will be haphazard during this turn.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: In contrast, the Missouri TF cleans up during its bombardment run. That's ironic, because these vessels had expended a lot of ammo yesterday in fighting off enemy air attacks - not main gun ammo, but 5" and smaller. So much ammo was gone that I debated sending the TF back to Shikuka to replenish without bombarding. I'm glad I didn't.

Dice rolls are apparently huge.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: More effective ASW work bookending an enemy SC hitting a mine near Sapporo.

I think all my US naval mines (sub, DM, CM) are low now. I have four DMs fully stocked and on the scene, in case there's an opportunity. But my minelaying activity is going to be limited for awhile.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Nasty nest of enemy subs.

Cumberland TF just formed at Shikuka and reported to Death Star to bolster the combat TF presence. At least I know that DS is where it's supposed to be.

In the past four days, IJN subs have put two TTs each into BB Alabama and CA Cumberland. Both ships will require yard time at Seattle.

Overall, the sub war has gone pretty well...I think. Erik has lost a lot of subs beginning Sept. 1. If his stockpile is running low, the what's going on has been worth it. But if he still has large stores of subs....well, darn it, will the shelves ever become empty?

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: The morning search phase generates lots of messages that Allied search aircraft have spotted and bombed IJN subs at and near Wakkanai.

There are also lots of messages of IJ search aircraft downed over Death Star.

At this point, it's pretty clear that Erik isn't committing his surface forces today.

And the lingering thought for me continues to be: What happened to that TF carrying 77th Div.?

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Erik sends in a dozen or more sizeable sweeps by excellent fighters against CAP over the wooded hex. So his crack LBA fighters are tangling with Death Star CAP. It's Georges and Jacks and Franks and Ki-83s against Corsairs and Hellcats. The latter generally aren't up to the task.

The fighting is fierce and lasts a long time. I think Eric comes out ahead about 1.1:1 or perhaps 1.25:1. I'll post overall losses later today.

This makes consecutive days that DS fighters are heavily engaged by excellent enemy fighters. I've taken enough losses that I don't think I want to risk a third day. That's why I'm so bumfuzzled by the apparent absence of 77th Div. I need to find it and get it ashore, but I don't want to commit DS to another day of CAP.

Too, Erik is getting a better and better feel for my CAP and his capabilities of penetrating for a strike. A few strikes try this turn, including one fairly large one by escorted Jills that gets chewed up (and thus should help balance overall air losses on the day).

I'm going to be giving a lot of thought to what this means, when I open the turn file.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Good to handle this raid....and, yet, some bombers get through to drop on CVLs. I can imagine what deductions Erik will draw from this. I don't want Death Star caught up in enemy sweeps tomorrow.

I think this raid comes from KB. That's important too, as that information will be helpful in coming days.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Some Allied strike aircraft (mainly LBA) set to ranges that would allow them to take a crack at damaged enemy ships retiring to Sapporo. I knew Erik would employ LRCAP and figured I might take more heavy losses. But only a few strikes sortie and losses are manageable.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Erik doesn't post CAP over Wakkanai today. Allied sweepers find no targets, but the escorted bombers come in and, undisturbed, hammer the enemy garrison. This is a good sign, given the pending ground assault.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: This is the sub that torpedoed CA Cumberland.

A patrol aircraft spotting BB Yamato during the PM search phase. That mighty ship took 7 torpedo hits yesterday, plus plenty of gunfire hits, albeit small caliber.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Allied tank unit still blocking the hex south of the woods hex. It should fold tomorrow, which will allow Erik's army to advance to the wooded hex. It should be about five days before his army can attack, perhaps longer.

I will do whatever I have to do to hold the wooded hex, preventing Erik from reinforcing Wakkanai by land. He may pull out all stops to win. But yesterday's action went a long way towards limiting what he can do and what he's willing to do.

The odds favor the Allies, but I won't rest easy until Wakkanai falls...and until I know where 77th Division went today.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

Uruppu-Jima: Enemy resistance collapsing now.

The Uruppu campaign sent a shiver through the Japanese high command, I think. Erik did a superb job setting up his Kuriles defenses - big garrisons, lots of forts, good defensive terrain. But in just two months, Ketoi and Uruppu fell. The latter despite 3x terrain. It became clear that Allied bombardment TFs and 4EB are sufficient to batter even strongly entrenched defenses, at least in the absence of Japanese CAP.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Allied attack comes off at 3:1 and drops forts to 4. The Japanese suffer higher losses, but the figures seem a bit distorted.

It's clear that Wakkanai is going to fall. How will Erik interpret that?

I'd really like to get a reinforcing division to Wakkanai to seal the deal. I'll evaluate my options as soon as I know where 77th Div. is and how Death Star fighter squadrons look.

P.S. I tried to get a screenie of final IJA unit AVs, but missed-clicked. The drops were pretty dramatic.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: 77th Division is aboard ships at Toyohara, unloading! The TF was correctly set (IE, Unload was properly set) and set to unload at the wooded hex, but for some reason retired...and is now mostly unloaded! Augh!

How to reinforce the wooded hex? 2nd Marine Division is freshly loaded at Toyohara aboard assault shipping. It can reach the beach tomorrow, though I have to think through things - do I keep DS on station? If I don't, there's a chance Erik will order an all-out strike, hoping to score vs. DS.

I will also order APDs forward to Toyohara. Tomorrow, they can begin loading 77th Div. to make the run.

I think I'll figure something out to get the troops to the wooded hex. Unfortunately, they won't have as much time to rest up and dig in before the enemy arrives. And whatever ships are lost will be as a result of this snafu.

[Canoerebel]

Well, good news: none of 77th Division came ashore. The transports show about 28% capacity loads, but that's because I ordered "load troops only" in order to speed up things, a few days ago at Shikuka. So there's that.

[Canoerebel]

12/27/44

L+6: Allied army at Wakkanai has 1700 AV post attack. The Japanese army is probably down to about 800. So Allies maintain that key 2:1 advantage in raw numbers.

25th Div. landed at the wooded hex three days ago and is 20 miles towards Wakkanai - probably three days out. A big combat engineer unit is the same.

If 77th Div. and/or 2nd Marine Div. comes ashore in the wooded hex in the next two days, then I'll allow 25th Div. to vacate the hex to reinforce the attack at Wakkanai. But if those divisions don't come ashore, 25th will remain in the hex to anchor the defenses against the likely coming storm.

Allied bombardment TFs and 4EB will continue their work in reducing Wakkanai's defenses. Next attack probably in two days (or possibly I'll wait for 25th Div. to arrive).