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

[Mike Solli]

9 Nov 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The Sallies bombed Umnak again. A couple of C-47s were damaged. Transports there?

4 Fleet

I caught Ted with his pants down at Mili. At Roi-Namur, I have some Emilies, Nells, Franks and Zeros. I launched a day raid on shipping sitting at Mili. Here's the result:

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mili at 136,121

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 62 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 17
G3M3 Nell x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 7 damaged

Allied Ships
APA Wayne, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
APA Harry Lee, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APA President Hayes
APA La Salle
AKA Alchiba, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
1092 casualties reported
Squads: 39 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 48 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 25 (23 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
21 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

Was he dropping off or picking up troops? I think picking up, but I'm not sure. Anyway, some unit(s) is/are out of action for awhile. [:D]

I have subs to the east so hopefully I'll catch some of the damaged ships.

His supporting carriers have vanished, probably to the east. Interesting that they fled leaving the juicy transports with no air cover. There aren't any fighters stationed at the base either. Interesting. Anyway, easy victory. I don't expect it to last, but I'll try again tomorrow. [;)]

SE Fleet

Same 'ole bombing of Hollandia and Aitape, but no Allied ship movement.

SRA

I sent a CA and 2 DD to bombard Darwin:

Night Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 damaged
Beaufort VIII: 2 damaged
Beaufort VIII: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
CA Atago
DD Asagumo
DD Minegumo

Allied ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 17

E15K1 Norm acting as spotter for CA Atago
CA Atago firing at 2nd RAN Base Force
2nd RAN Base Force firing at CA Atago
DD Asagumo firing at Darwin
DD Minegumo firing at Darwin

Just a nuisance raid.

I posted a chutai each of Tojos and Rexs at Saumlaki to see if they could do anything irritating. Yep, they did! [:D]. A total of 8 Rex and 11 Tojos caught 15 Beaufort VIIIs and shot them all down. Then, 6 more showed up and all of them were shot down too. [:D] Not a war winner by any means, but maybe it'll get him to react to me instead of the other way around.

Burma

My Helens blasted Cox's Bazaar's airfield. Akyab's airfield is still down and no Allied fighters will fly against my sweeps.

China

My bombers toasted 22 squads.

Still preparing for the next assault.

Other Stuff

Soryu left Ulithi to head to Kobe for final repairs. It'll take 5 days. Her current damage is 7-28(28)-0-0. Zuikaku, at Ulithi, is still ~14 days from heading out. Her damage is 21-51(51)-21(9)-0. I may pull her out early.

Akagi is still at Truk and will leave in about 15 days. The Chitose, Chiyoda, Taiyo and Chuyo are either at Soerabaja or Singapore and in various state of disrepair. They will start coming back to service over the next couple weeks (or longer).

The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 12/44 (will become operational 5/44).

[Mike Solli]

10 Nov 43

Sub War

I can see the US carrier force hovering around a couple hexes south of Manus. I sent a couple of subs in those DD infested waters to try and get a shot at a carrier. The RO-105 ran into an ASW TF and torpedoed and sank the DE Paul Jones and got away free and clear!

5 Fleet

The Sallies hit Umnak once again causing light airfield damage and destroying 1 and damaging 3 more C-47s. It's really weird that he's got transports there.

4 Fleet

Well, Ted posted fighters at Mili today, and they are VF-2, from the Lexington. Odd. Was the Lex part of the carrier TF and he flew them in? No clue but I think it's a pretty good guess.

I sent in 22 Nells escorted by 35 Franks and 17 Zeros (A6M5c variety). 18 Hellcats opposed them. My fighters held the Hellcats off the Nells but lost 3 Franks and 6 Zeros doing it (killing 3 Hellcats in the process). Two Nells were lost to flak, but they sank the AKA Almack. I see Mili becoming an isolated Allied outpost. [:-] [;)]

In the afternoon, 3 Georges (stationed at Maleolap) swept Mili shooting down 2 more Hellcats. Wish that chutai was bigger than 3. [:D]

SE Fleet

Hollandia and Aitape were the targets of the Allied bombers once again. I still see the US carriers and am attempting to catch them with some subs.

SRA

All quiet today.

Burma

A single Hurricane rose against my Tojo sentai sweeping Cox's Bazaar and was promptly shot down. My bombers plastered Cox's Bazaar again.

China

16 squads were killed by my bombers. The divisions are almost back to attack again.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
SC Ch-54, ASW
MTB G-154, target [:D], I shouldn't say that. I had a torpedo boat torpedo a BB (and survive!) at Adak a while back. You never know. [:-]

The AK Arcturus was confirmed sunk at Dutch Harbor on 2/10/43 by KB.

The Ki-84r Frank R&D advanced to 10/44 (will become operational 2/44).

[Mike Solli]

11 Nov 43

Sub War

One of the subs I had hunting for the US carriers was the I-9, and guess what?! She found them:

Sub attack near Manus at 100,121

Japanese Ships
SS I-9

Allied Ships
CV Hornet
CA Baltimore
CA San Francisco
CL Cleveland
CL Nashville
DD Schroeder
DD Eaton
DD Dunlap
DD Frankford
DD Bailey
DD Thatcher

SS I-9 launches 2 torpedoes at CV Hornet
DD Dunlap fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Frankford fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Bailey fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Thatcher fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Dunlap fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Thatcher fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Thatcher fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

2 torpedoes?! [X(] Turned out she had only 4 left. So you'd launch only 2 at CV keeping the last two for something better?! What's better?! [8|] Sheesh!

The other sub, RO-105, was caught by an ASW TF and hit by a DC. Her damage isn't bad but she'll head home for repairs: 21-24(12)-0-0.

5 Fleet

Same 'ole bombing of Umnak causing a little bit more damage to the airfield.

4 Fleet

Only the venerable Georges swept Mili today, shooting down 2 more Hellcats. [:D]

SE Fleet

Hollandia was hit by 30x 4E bombers. The rest of the Allied bombers rested today.

SRA

I should have pulled my fighters out of Saumlaki yesterday. Multiple attacks against this island pummeled the airfield. At a cost of 1 Tojo, I ended up shooting down a B-24J and a Beaufort. But my planes won't be flying tomorrow. [:(]

Burma

Bad weather so nothing to report.

China

Bombers got 9 squads today. The deliberate assault goes in tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

12 Nov 43

Sub War

The I-18, hovering a couple hexes east of Mili caught the AKA Alchiba and 2 torpedoes later, down she went. The Allies may have captured Mili, but it is costing them.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report. Probably weather.

4 Fleet

Three Fubukis arrived at Mili hoping to catch the US carriers there, but they had fled. They did catch an ASW TF of a DMS and 3 AMs sinking the AMs and damaging the DMS while incurring no damage.

The DDs then bombarded Mili for light damage to the airfield, then caught the DMS further damaging her.

The US carriers are definitely gone. I have decent FB naval search coverage and don't see them anywhere.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers hit Aitape again.

SRA

The Allies focused their 4E bombers on Saumlaki. Better that than an oilfield. I lost a couple of fighters on the ground. One issue here. I have a Garrison Unit here that is being withdrawn in a few days. I'm shipping the 65 Bde there (by sea and air) to replace it. About half of it is on ground with more arriving every day.

I have a small bombardment force composed of 2 CA and 2 DD scheduled to hit Darwin tomorrow. They were spotted and attacked by SBDs, but fortunately there were no hits.

Burma

Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar each received the attention of 2x Helen sentai. I lost a few to flak.

Akyab's airfield is closed, Cox's Bazaar is hurting, but Chittagong's is still open.

China

The day began with the bombers softening up Chungking's defenders, killing 15 squads.

Then the deliberate assault went in:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 137766 troops, 1582 guns, 1385 vehicles, Assault Value = 4830

Defending force 348485 troops, 677 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11010

Japanese adjusted assault: 1982

Allied adjusted defense: 11679

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
24434 casualties reported
Squads: 58 destroyed, 1593 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 78 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 200 disabled
Guns lost 180 (5 destroyed, 175 disabled)
Vehicles lost 47 (1 destroyed, 46 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
13905 casualties reported
Squads: 153 destroyed, 1473 disabled
Non Combat: 128 destroyed, 696 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 35 (10 destroyed, 25 disabled)
Units destroyed 9

The fort level didn't go down, but I'll take the number of destroyed infantry squads. Also, 6 of the 9 units that were destroyed were infantry units. We're getting there.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: 42 Independent AA Gun Company rebuilt

Ryuho's air units arrived! The Ryuho was at Singapore. Finally!

Taiyo completed her repairs at Soerabaja and will head back to Ambon to begin reconstitution of MKB2.

Akagi, Soryu, Zuikaku, Chitose, Chiyoda and Chuyo are still being repaired.

[PaxMondo]

Amazing, I've never attempted CK this late, and it looks as though you will be able to take it.

[&o][&o][&o]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Amazing, I've never attempted CK this late, and it looks as though you will be able to take it.

[&o][&o][&o]

I hope so, Pax. I keep buying out divisions for the real front. I should be able to buy another after the next attack. There are two other starving Chinese armies, one 100k and the other 50k. I'll move out everyone who is eligible after Chungking falls and use the remaining troops (about 2/3 of the divisions) to take out the rest.

[Mike Solli]

13 Nov 43

Sub War

An xAKL that was moving supply to the frontier was caught by the Swordfish in the shallow hex just south of Kwajalein. I don't have any ASW assets there. I'm going to move the 3 Fubukis there to sink or drive the sub off.

5 Fleet

Sallies added to the airfield damage at Umnak.

4 Fleet

More Hellcats showed up at Mili. They shot down 3 Franks then 4 Nells. The remaining Nells withdrew, due to low morale. Later in the day, the 3 Georges shot down two more Hellcats.

SE Fleet

Hollandia and Aitape again.

The US CV TF is sitting at Manus. With the 80 fighters on the TF and another 95 at Manus, I can't attack them by air, but I will risk a sub. I sent one to drive through the hex (this one has a lot of torpedoes) tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

SRA

My CA bombardment TF (Maya and Chokai, escorted by 2 DD) steamed into Darwin overnight catching and sinking 2 LSTs then bombarding Darwin:

Night Naval bombardment of Darwin at 76,124

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort VIII: 11 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 24 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 21 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed on ground
Catalina I: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Chokai
CA Maya
DD Yamagumo
DD Natsugumo

Allied ground losses:
206 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 86 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Airbase hits 13
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 26

E8N2 Dave acting as spotter for CA Chokai
CA Chokai firing at Darwin
E15K1 Norm acting as spotter for CA Maya
CA Maya firing at 3rd Australian Division
DD Yamagumo firing at Darwin
DD Natsugumo firing at Darwin

A lot of planes were damaged, but that's just temporary.

37x 4E bombers hit Saumlaki further trashing the airfield. That's ok. Those fighters did their damage and will live to fight another day.

Burma

My fighters decided not to sweep today, and my Helens paid the price. Ted put a partial squadron of Beaufighters at Chittagong and they had a field day against the Helens. I ended up losing 10 and a couple more to flak.

China

Most of the bombers didn't fly. Those few that did caused little damage.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
9 Fleet HQ, Truk
70 Field AA Battalion, Burma Area Army, not sure if it'll stay in Japan or move out.
68 Field AA Battalion, 2 Area Army, not sure if it'll stay in Japan or move out.
69 Field AA Battalion, 2 Area Army, not sure if it'll stay in Japan or move out.
1 Independent Mixed Regiment, 8 Area Army, will garrison Mergui, along the Burma coast.
26 Special Base Force, Southern Fleet, will go to Kendari replacing the special base force that was there that is moving to Saumlaki.

The Ki-102b Randy R&D advanced to 10/44 (will be operational some time prior to 6/44). There are 3 R&D factories, 1x30, 26(4) and 22(8).

Looking forward to tomorrow. I get 9 infantry brigades and mortar/tank units to make 4 more, and best of all, none of them is restricted.

[mind_messing]

What's the experience like now on your IJA China divisions?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

What's the experience like now on your IJA China divisions?

High 80s to 90s. Very nice. I am feeding fresh divisions in as often as I can free them up to help build their experience as well.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

What's the experience like now on your IJA China divisions?

High 80s to 90s. Very nice. I am feeding fresh divisions in as often as I can free them up to help build their experience as well.

Very nice indeed. That will give you the experience edge on just about every Allied LCU. Pity they'll have vastly superior artillery and firepower values, but such is life in the IJA. You're the craftiest combat soldier around, but the other guys get the better boomsticks.

[Mike Solli]

Here is one of the attack forces:

[Mike Solli]

And the second. Note the experience. Ignore the 1 Cav Bde. It's just a garrison. I'm moving others in with lower experience to give them a boost as well:

[ElvisDaKing]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Amazing, I've never attempted CK this late, and it looks as though you will be able to take it.

[&o][&o][&o]

I hope so, Pax. I keep buying out divisions for the real front. I should be able to buy another after the next attack. There are two other starving Chinese armies, one 100k and the other 50k. I'll move out everyone who is eligible after Chungking falls and use the remaining troops (about 2/3 of the divisions) to take out the rest.

How many divisions do you have currently besieging Chungking ?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ElvisDaKing
How many divisions do you have currently besieging Chungking ?

Currently, I have 1 tank and 21 infantry divisions split into 2 assault forces. I figure 2x 5k AV assault forces is better than 1x 10k AV assault force because they attack twice as often.

There are more divisions headed there as I rearrange garrisons to free up divisions.

Edit: My R&R facility is the base 2 hexes west of Chungking where I have the CEA HQ (for supply draw) and the 1 Army HQ (corps sized unit) for assistance with recovery. That HQ has the leader with the best admin skill.

[Mike Solli]

As an aside, I've begun rereading the amazing AAR, Small Ship, Big War, by Cuttlefish. Is anyone still in touch with Cuttlefish? He hasn't logged in since 2012. I hope he's well.

[mind_messing]

I'm reposting this as it's became pretty salient to me why I considered it important, and the original post got glossed over in the dust a few pages back.

Don't forget to factor fort/airbase expansion into the supply consumption equation. That fairly eats up the supplies.

In no particular order, you need to consider for the Home Islands developing the following:

- Hexes with static aviation support. These need to the AF 8 or 9 to benefit from the x2 aviation support. The JNAF static unts get a nice TOE upgrade in '44, but even the IJA ones give you 180 aviation support without you having to move any units around.
- Major HI/LI centers need at least level 7 forts. Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto and Nagasaki/Sasebo all could do with level 9 forts.
- Airbase expansion in undeveloped industrial bases. A few bases fall in this category as they've aircraft industry but either an undeveloped or no airbase to provide CAP. These bases are Maebashi, Gifu, Okayama, Hamamatsu and Tsu. Might be some others I've missed.
- Clear terrain bases that are likely invasion sites. These need to be 8+ to fend of the extreme naval and air bombings.
- Likely invasion sites that are x2 or x3 terrain. You can probably get away with level 5 or so forts here, but the higher the better.
- Airbases in "out of the way" bases: bases devoid of much industry that the Allies won't bother to recon. They'll serve as R&R stations for combat groups and bases for training groups. You want your aircraft mechanics in the major airbases working on the combat fighters, not making sure the Nate in hanger five is ready for the 15 y/o schoolkid to take on a practice flight.

For Manchuria:

- Level 6+ forts in the interior to absorb the Soviet '45 offensive: Yenki, Mutankiang, Harbin, Changchun, Mukden and Anshan. The bigger the better here, especially for Yenki and Mutankiang.

For Korea:
- Level 9 fort for Keijo as the last ditch defensive line for the Kwantung Army.
- Airbase at Chinhae for the static base force.
- Airbases at Taikyu and Taiden for the only inland airbases in South Korea (Read: no naval bombardments)
- Level 9 fort at Rashin to block soviet advance from Vladivostok.
- Level 6+ fort at Seishin to block Soviet advance from Vladivostok.

Keep in mind, this is just what I'd like to have, let alone what you can actually manage.

While it's expensive in terms of supply consumption, just remember that forts are a permanent bonus to defending AV. Forts, when combined with good terrain can go a long way to mitigate the "out of supply" penalty. In my view, 1 million supply invested in forts is better than 1 million supply sitting at a base: the base supply can be bombed, the forts are only going down to Allied units attacking them.

[rustysi]

And I meant to respond to your above suggestions, and thought I did. Who knows, maybe it was just in my head.[:D]

At any rate I'm already doing most of it. The remaining few I will consider.

Good points and info though, certainly food for thought. Thanks.[;)]

[Lokasenna]

Not everybody will go through Yenki and Mutankiang. Maybe I just went there to tarpit you [;)].

[rustysi]

Not everybody will go through Yenki and Mutankiang.

Maybe not, but you still need to be prepared in those locals as they're direct to the heart of things.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

I'm reposting this as it's became pretty salient to me why I considered it important, and the original post got glossed over in the dust a few pages back.

Don't forget to factor fort/airbase expansion into the supply consumption equation. That fairly eats up the supplies.

In no particular order, you need to consider for the Home Islands developing the following:

- Hexes with static aviation support. These need to the AF 8 or 9 to benefit from the x2 aviation support. The JNAF static unts get a nice TOE upgrade in '44, but even the IJA ones give you 180 aviation support without you having to move any units around.
- Major HI/LI centers need at least level 7 forts. Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto and Nagasaki/Sasebo all could do with level 9 forts.
- Airbase expansion in undeveloped industrial bases. A few bases fall in this category as they've aircraft industry but either an undeveloped or no airbase to provide CAP. These bases are Maebashi, Gifu, Okayama, Hamamatsu and Tsu. Might be some others I've missed.
- Clear terrain bases that are likely invasion sites. These need to be 8+ to fend of the extreme naval and air bombings.
- Likely invasion sites that are x2 or x3 terrain. You can probably get away with level 5 or so forts here, but the higher the better.
- Airbases in "out of the way" bases: bases devoid of much industry that the Allies won't bother to recon. They'll serve as R&R stations for combat groups and bases for training groups. You want your aircraft mechanics in the major airbases working on the combat fighters, not making sure the Nate in hanger five is ready for the 15 y/o schoolkid to take on a practice flight.

For Manchuria:

- Level 6+ forts in the interior to absorb the Soviet '45 offensive: Yenki, Mutankiang, Harbin, Changchun, Mukden and Anshan. The bigger the better here, especially for Yenki and Mutankiang.

For Korea:
- Level 9 fort for Keijo as the last ditch defensive line for the Kwantung Army.
- Airbase at Chinhae for the static base force.
- Airbases at Taikyu and Taiden for the only inland airbases in South Korea (Read: no naval bombardments)
- Level 9 fort at Rashin to block soviet advance from Vladivostok.
- Level 6+ fort at Seishin to block Soviet advance from Vladivostok.

Keep in mind, this is just what I'd like to have, let alone what you can actually manage.

While it's expensive in terms of supply consumption, just remember that forts are a permanent bonus to defending AV. Forts, when combined with good terrain can go a long way to mitigate the "out of supply" penalty. In my view, 1 million supply invested in forts is better than 1 million supply sitting at a base: the base supply can be bombed, the forts are only going down to Allied units attacking them.

Hi John. Yeah, I did see that but you're right, it got lost in the "dialogue" that was happening at the time. I had meant to copy it but forgot. Thanks for reposting it. I do a lot of it, but there are some gems in there that I hadn't considered. This is the farthest I've ever gotten in this darn game, so a lot of end game strategies are lost on me due to ignorance. I really haven't experienced the fury of the late game US military power. I'm beginning to see glimmers of it, but there's definitely a lot more to come.