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

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Then the invasion of Umnak happened. I was hoping for a nice, clean invasion, but it wasn’t to be. The 19 ID and 23 Tank Regiment landed taking pretty bad disruption in the process.

It is November in the Aleuteans. Game is programmed to freeze your attackers with the winter surf

Aha! Never thought of that. Well, they're slowly thawing out. [:D]

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Then the invasion of Umnak happened. I was hoping for a nice, clean invasion, but it wasn’t to be. The 19 ID and 23 Tank Regiment landed taking pretty bad disruption in the process.

It is November in the Aleuteans. Game is programmed to freeze your attackers with the winter surf

Aha! Never thought of that. Well, they're slowly thawing out. [:D]

Amazing the detail in the game …. [8D]

[Mike Solli]

Very true, Pax.

21 Nov 43

Sub War

The I-157 caught an xAK just east of Wessel Island (a few hexes east of Darwin) and put a torpedo into her. She caught her later in the day and put her under with 2 more torpedo hits.

The I-7 left an xAK burning and heavily damaged off Vava’u. No confirmation that she sank.

A midget sub tried to sneak into Mili to do some damage, but was caught by a DD and sunk.

I had a PB performing ASW duties in the shallow hex just SE of Kwajalein. The Swordfish sank her. [8|]

Sadly, the I-3 caught up with US CV TF East but never got past the screen. She was driven to the surface and blown to pieces. I think it was worth the risk. A torpedo in a CV will take her out of the battle.

5 Fleet

The morning began with Yamato and Musashi bombarding Umnak killing/disabling a few troops and causing some damage to the airfield and port.

The Sallies hit Umnak’s troops.

My invasion troops continue to rest.

4 Fleet

Right now, there are 2 US CV TFs ranging in on the Marshalls. CV TF East (unknown carrier component but estimated to be 4 CVs) is now 5 hexes east of Roi-Namur and CV TF South (4 CVs) is about 6-7 hexes SE of Roi-Namur.

As it turned out, CV TF South decided to watch the proceedings.

The first attack by CV TF East was 16 Dauntlesses that caught and sank an xAKL at Kwajalein. My fighters at Roi-Namur were set at 0 range so did not respond. Too bad. They could have butchered them. [8|]

CV TF East launched full deck loads of dive bombers (I suspect the Avengers were reserved for naval attacks only). A very large force of 51 Dauntlesses and 67 Helldivers escorted by 27 Hellcats met a very nice CAP of 27 A6M5c Zeros, 18 Ki-84a Franks and 36 N1K2-J Georges. It was a turkey shoot. My fighters shot down 23 Hellcats before burning through to the bombers. They got 17 Dauntlesses and 22 Helldivers before their attack and another 10 and 18 respectively after the attack. 90 enemy planes shot down for the loss of a single George (pilot WIA). Reports said an additional 2 Hellcats and 5 Dauntlesses went down on the way back to their carriers. 97:1, I’ll take it! [:D]

At the end of the day, Roi-Namur’s airfield damage stood at 0-11-34. The airfield is still open!

SE Fleet

It wasn’t nearly as exciting down here. The Allied bombers rested.

SRA

Two each Wildcats and Beauforts were shot down by my Rex chutai in a couple of raids on Saumlaki that were driven off.

The 65 Bde and special base force are completely at Saumlaki. There is no damage to the infrastructure and the forts are nearing level 6. Life is good!

Both side's carriers are still doing their dance. No action between them.

Burma

My bombers hit Akyab increasing the airfield damage there.

Franks shot down 2 of 3 Warhawks over Ledo.

Yeah, I know, really exciting.

China

Finally, another Deliberate Assault on Chungking:

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 169276 troops, 1929 guns, 1722 vehicles, Assault Value = 6007

Defending force 352748 troops, 640 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 10995

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 2061

Allied adjusted defense: 11695

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
24119 casualties reported
Squads: 35 destroyed, 2048 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 129 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 277 disabled
Guns lost 178 (6 destroyed, 172 disabled)
Vehicles lost 118 (6 destroyed, 112 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10833 casualties reported
Squads: 268 destroyed, 1670 disabled
Non Combat: 171 destroyed, 480 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 40 (6 destroyed, 34 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Forts are down to 1. Good. I’m noticing a distressing thing here. New units keep appearing periodically. Is it the dead units coming back at 1/3 strength? I suspect it is that. I’m killing steps and the overall AV and total manpower keeps decreasing. Guess I’ll have to just keep it up. *Sigh*

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: RO-114, target, uh, I mean, sub

[ny59giants]

Invasion TF set up: As Japan, I would have loaded your APs without any extra supply. I would have loaded xAK/AKs with just supplies. Merged the two TFs. Make sure there is enough escorts to be able to divide them again. After hopefully one or two days of unloading, the APs are empty and can be split off and sent to safer waters. Leave the AKs to finish unloading. If you load that supply on APs, then after the troops unload they have to hang around to unload the supply. Add in your invasion TF should included BF with Naval Support to speed up the unloading process.

Signed,
Allied Admiral

[Mike Solli]

Hey Mister Allied Admiral, that's how I usually do it, but was in a rush this time. All of the transports had troops and supply. They were completely unloaded in 2 days and got the heck out without issue. Didn't think of the base force though. I'll have to remember that for the next game. I really don't expect to do many more invasions in this one. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

22 Nov 43

Sub War

Lots happened today, but none of it concerning subs. That comes in a later entry. [;)]

5 Fleet

Relative quiet here too. Sallies bombed the US troops on Umnak and the Japanese troops rested some more (or should I say, they thawed out a bit more). Keep reading...

4 Fleet

Multiple sweeps by the US carriers on Roi-Namur, but it wasn't so one sided this time. There's something about 8 US fleet carriers unloading on a little island with ~90 fighters trying to hold them off. [X(]

The nice thing about it was Allied carrier aircraft against LBA over my airbase. My pilot losses were pretty low with mainly wounded vs. KIA. They'll most likely be back, eventually.

There were multiple Hellcat sweeps (and a single Corsair sweep from Mili) against 90 Georges, Franks and Zeros. In the end, he lost 36 Hellcats (and another dozen or more in op tempo losses) and a few Corsairs to about a dozen Japanese fighters.

Actually, this wasn't the big event. Keep reading. [:'(]

SE Fleet

Ted decided to go after Truk again.

But first, I had 28 Nells and 17 Betties hit Kavieng's airfield in a rare, large night raid. They destroyed about a dozen planes on the ground, and damaged another 30 or so. Yesterday, my intel said there were over 300 bombers at Kavieng.

Then he sent wave after wave against Truk. Eventually, he wore down my fighters, but not without serious losses to his bombers. See the screen shot below.

Final damage to Truk's infrastructure was 0-23-7. All the damage will be repaired tomorrow.

It looks to be even overall, but I lost a lot of planes on the ground, which I can live with. Also, the battles were entirely over my bases so my pilot losses were low. Ted was surprised that he did "so well" but that was because some of my fighters had been sent to Roi-Namur for those battles. I have several fresh fighter units heading to Truk to bolster the defense.

Tomorrow, my intel will say there's ~200 bombers at Kavieng. [:D]

SRA

Nothing happened. Our carriers continued to do their dance. Nothing flew against Saumlaki.

Burma

My bombers hit Chittagong's airfield (flak took a toll as you can see below) and Franks shot down 3 of 4 Warhawks over Ledo.

China

My bombers destroyed 4 and disrupted 97 squads.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
1, 2, 3 &5 South Seas Detachments, will go to various small islands needing infantry.
TK Taiei Maru, Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)
MTB G-157

Akagi left Truk today doing a full speed move north, headed to Kobe. She'll drop to mission speed tomorrow. She should make Kobe in 5 days baring any issues. Her damage is: 1-7(7)-0-0 so it won't take her long to repair and get back into the fray. She and Soryu should both leave Kobe around the same time, in about 16 days.

Forgot the screen shot:

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Forts are down to 1. Good. I’m noticing a distressing thing here. New units keep appearing periodically. Is it the dead units coming back at 1/3 strength? I suspect it is that. I’m killing steps and the overall AV and total manpower keeps decreasing. Guess I’ll have to just keep it up. *Sigh*

Previous attempt's AV was 11010 with losses of <Squads: 153 destroyed, 1473 disabled>
Now AV is 10995. Assuming that CK does not have supply (are you sure no airlifts are coming?) the disabled losses could not recuperate, so 153+1473-15 AV (and more for hunger losses) should come from reviving units. If this is a steady state, that is he has reviving queue stable from siege losses and not some influx from recent land defeat, then it is bad news for you and you should try ramp up the frequency of assaults.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Forts are down to 1. Good. I’m noticing a distressing thing here. New units keep appearing periodically. Is it the dead units coming back at 1/3 strength? I suspect it is that. I’m killing steps and the overall AV and total manpower keeps decreasing. Guess I’ll have to just keep it up. *Sigh*

Previous attempt's AV was 11010 with losses of <Squads: 153 destroyed, 1473 disabled>
Now AV is 10995. Assuming that CK does not have supply (are you sure no airlifts are coming?) the disabled losses could not recuperate, so 153+1473-15 AV (and more for hunger losses) should come from reviving units. If this is a steady state, that is he has reviving queue stable from siege losses and not some influx from recent land defeat, then it is bad news for you and you should try ramp up the frequency of assaults.

Yes, it is going to be the returning units at 1/3 (free) strength. At least that is my experience. And at this point I believe that there are some new units appearing as well.
If you think that there are quite a few still to come (depends upon how many you killed before you took on CK. I try to minimize that …) then you are going to need to get the forts to zero, calc up your required AV for a successful 2x assault and load that up.

Trust you have a Command HQ at 100% prep by now ... along with Area and Corp HQ's ... those bonuses are critical to negate the CHI HQ bonuses.

Good Luck!

[rustysi]

Could he be lifting in supplies? Are you still doing artillery bombardments? Are you hitting the airfield?

it is going to be the returning units at 1/3 (free) strength.

Isn't that infantry only? Not sure.

Overall though it is my understanding that the whole process of reducing the place can take quite a while. IIRC someone around here said it took four months from start to finish. Is that the norm?

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Could he be lifting in supplies? Are you still doing artillery bombardments? Are you hitting the airfield?

it is going to be the returning units at 1/3 (free) strength.

Isn't that infantry only? Not sure.

Overall though it is my understanding that the whole process of reducing the place can take quite a while. IIRC someone around here said it took four months from start to finish. Is that the norm?

I was at Chungking by March '42 and it had fallen by October. If the Chinese have a valid retreat path it might change the dynamic...

[Mike Solli]

The manual says infantry only, but I've seen non-infantry return from the dead. Unless the replay list of participating units isn't necessarily accurate...

I'm starting a bombing campaign against Ledo. I've been working on the fighters there, but there are some 3 dozen aux aircraft. He may be sending supply in, but it can't be that much. Anyway, I'm shutting down that airfield.

John, I do have a valid retreat path, into the clear hex to the NW of Chungking.

[inqistor]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

John, I do have a valid retreat path, into the clear hex to the NW of Chungking.

Aren't all Allied Nations surrender, when Base falls, and there is no retreat path? Japanese troops will stay at the Base (well, unless banzai charge is ordered), but what about Chinese?

[ITAKLinus]

ORIGINAL: inqistor

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

John, I do have a valid retreat path, into the clear hex to the NW of Chungking.

Aren't all Allied Nations surrender, when Base falls, and there is no retreat path? Japanese troops will stay at the Base (well, unless banzai charge is ordered), but what about Chinese?

Yes they are supposed to surrender.


Personally, I find terribly difficoult to make Allied troops surrender unless they are encircled.


For example the enemy 18th British Division has been mauled near Calcutta in June and now that I am in September they went, defeat after defeat under heavy air attacks, from Caltutta to Hyderabad mostly in offroad without surrendering.

Same applies to other units that are roaming in the jungles and refuse to surrender even if they have suffered terrible defeats in a dozen of consecutive battles.



So, yes, the only reliable way to make an Allied unit surrender is to encircle it.

I feel for some reason that Chinese are more prone to retreats if they see a viable retreat path. I do not clearly see the same behaviour for other factions though.

[Lokasenna]

The retreat code is the same, regardless of nation. There are just more likely to be valid retreat paths on the continent than elsewhere, and the most likely units to be defeated there are Chinese... until later.


As for Chinese respawn, michaelm fixed something about it a short number of years ago. The units were not properly respawning. If you can find that thread (perhaps in Tech Support), I think from 2014 or 2015, I think there is also some discussion about which units are respawning.

[ITAKLinus]

I feel that Allied units are fare more resilient because they have better base statistics than Chinese.

At least, that's the explanation I have been giving to myself for months.

[Mike Solli]

Someone suggested that I leave an escape route to a clear hex because there's a getter chance that the Chinese will retreat there rather than sit in the Chungking hex. Also, Chungking may be getting some supply from Ledo. I'm focusing Burma's Helens on Ledo now to beat that base down and close off that avenue should it be happening.

I have several turns to post, but I want to finish my turn to Ted first. They'll come later tonight.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: ITAKLinus

I feel that Allied units are fare more resilient because they have better base statistics than Chinese.

At least, that's the explanation I have been giving to myself for months.

Well, we're assuming a defeat to begin with... in a defeat, Chinese units will retreat just like other Allied units will.

Surrender, on the other hand, may be tied to morale - in which case, the Chinese units typically start with really low morale and so may be more likely to surrender, but not intrinsically because they are Chinese (or any other nation).

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Someone suggested that I leave an escape route to a clear hex because there's a getter chance that the Chinese will retreat there rather than sit in the Chungking hex. Also, Chungking may be getting some supply from Ledo. I'm focusing Burma's Helens on Ledo now to beat that base down and close off that avenue should it be happening.

I have several turns to post, but I want to finish my turn to Ted first. They'll come later tonight.

I did this recently, and captured Chungking. Honestly, I'm wishing I'd closed it. I only got ~110 VPs for dying Chinese when Chungking fell, out of 100K+ troops. I'm now spending weeks (months?) chasing down Chinese in the woods and plains.

I wish I'd closed all the sides.

[Mike Solli]

23 Nov 43

Sub War

I believe this we the worst day for the IJN Sub Service since the war began. I sent subs after known Allied CV TFs knowing the toll would be high. I lost I-170 and I-185 from the escorts of US CV TF East. I also lost I-157 from the escorts of the Allied TF near Darwin.

But, it wasn’t all one sided. Before I-170 was sunk, she put a torpedo into CL Helena.

I-25, also going after US CV TF East, torpedoed and sank DD Anthony.

The Cero sank an Aden class off Taihoku.

Off Babeldaob, the E Hato sank the Tamvor

Finally, I-15 sank an xAK SW of San Francisco.

Yeah, it was a busy day for subs.

5 Fleet

The only action here today was the Sally sentai bombing Umnak’s troops.

4 Fleet

Roi-Namur was attacked by carrier aircraft and land based Corsairs. I had 38 fighters defending and they once again did good work.

A total of 14 Corsair and 9 Hellcat sorties flew in 3 sweeps costing them 8 Corsairs and 4 Hellcats for one Zero and a George op loss. I hope this keeps up for a while. Burning through his carrier planes makes me smile.

He sent carrier raids to Wotje, Maleolap and Kwajalein, causing a couple points of airfield damage that was easily repaired and costing him 2 SBDs and an Avenger.

The carriers are still hanging around to the east and south. I have more subs moving to intercept.

Roi-Namur’s damage is down to 0-11-24.

SE Fleet

Nine Betties made a night bombing run on Kavieng’s airfield destroying a couple of B-24s.

Aitape was visited by 59x 2E sorties causing little damage to the troops there, probably because most of the troops are gone.

Still no sign of an invasion fleet heading there.

Truk is fully repaired.

SRA

Saumlaki was visited by 14x PB4Y-1s. My fighter cover shot down 1 and the bombers caused no damage.

I’m still sending Fast Transport TFs to Saumlaki to increase the supply there.

My carriers are still doing a dance with his carriers. No contact so far.

Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

CVL Chiyoda completed repairs at Soerabaja and is headed to the Ambon area to merge with MKB. She’s carrying 21 Zeros and 9 Jills.

The B6N2a R&D advanced to 12/43 and is completed. The 3 R&D factories have switched to the Ki-115a. Yeah, I know, you are probably going crazy and think I should have converted them to a fighter but Kamikazes are going to play a part in the future and I will have the Ha-35 engines to spare. I want a nice pool of those planes for late war. I will free up 10 more R&D factories in the next 2 months. Many of them will probably become R&D fighter factories, mainly J7W1.

[Mike Solli]

24 Nov 43

Sub War

My sub force made amends for the debacle of yesterday. I-17 found US CV TF East and put 2 torpedoes into Bunker Hill! Banzai!!! The sub got away without incident and her last view of Bunker Hill showed her as heavily damaged. I’m sure she didn’t sink, but she has a long way to go to safety and I’m sure she can’t go very fast. I’m vectoring subs from all around to ensure her demise.

I-17, at the same location, couldn’t get through the screen and took a depth charge for her trouble. Heading home for repairs….

I-15 sank a fuel laden xAK headed out of San Francisco. Still not enough TKs? I don’t think I’ve sunk many of them.

In retaliation, the O23 sank an xAK just off Soerabaja and the Cero sank the Ch-8 near Amboy.

5 Fleet

Sallies bombed Umnak. My troops there rested some more.

4 Fleet

Roi-Namur was the Allied focus today. The day began with a bombardment of 3 BB, 2 CA, 2 CL and escorts. They destroyed 2 fighters and damaged another dozen. Then came the bombers…

A Corsair sweep followed by 2 carrier air raids succeeded in hitting the airfield, but at a cost. Only 26 Japanese fighters flew and they gave good account of themselves. Five Georges were shot down (and another op loss) vs. 118 fighter and 256 bomber sorties. The Allies lost 3 Corsairs (+2 op losses), 9 Hellcats (+8 op losses) and 3 carrier bombers. Japanese pilot losses were only IJN: 2 KIA and 2 WIA. Final damage to Roi-Namur was 20-30-76. The airfield is in poor shape. Most of the damage was from the bombardment.

SE Fleet

Truk was the target of Ted’s 2 and 4E bombers again today. I had 29 Tonys, 17 Nicks and 53 Tojos defending. There were multiple Allied bombing runs totaling 151x 4E and 68x 2E sorties, but no fighters. The final tally was pretty nice:

Japan

15 fighters shot down with another 11 op losses.
25 of all types destroyed on the ground.
Pilots lost: IJA: 5 KIA, 8 WIA

Allied

28x 4E shot down + 9 op losses
33x 2E shot down + 5 op losses

Truk’s final damage was 0-21-0. The airfield is still in business!

SRA

Saumlaki was visited by 15x 4E bombers. They did 1 point of port damage which was easily repaired.

Burma

The Frank sentai shot down 3 of 5 Warhawks over Ledo for no loss.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Another big day of bombing which resulted in heavy loss of planes, with the Allies taking the brunt of the losses. Yeah, I lost quite a few on the ground, but my pilot losses were very low.

An interesting observation: On 21 Nov, intel showed enemy 300+ bombers on Kavieng. On 22 Nov, it was down to 200 and now it’s showing 100. He may have the planes to cover the losses, but it’ll take a while to get them in the squadrons. Also, I suspect their morale is dropping. No enemy bombers aborted, but if he keeps it up, they may start.

I suspect Ted is trying to do a pincer movement to cut off Truk. One up the coast of PNG and the other through the Marshall Islands. Eventually, both will succeed, but we’ll see what the cost will be.

[Mike Solli]

25 Nov 43

Sub War

Three hexes east of Darwin, the I-158 caught a transport convoy and badly damaged an empty xAP.

5 Fleet

A total of 17 Sallies, 31 Jills and 13 Judies bombed Umnak’s troops. I’m still waiting for my troops there to thaw.

4 Fleet

I tried a high risk operation again. I sent DDs Akatsuki, Inazuchi and Inazuma to the point where US CV TF East was located to try a night torpedo attack. There was only 3% moonlight. Anyway, the carriers moved to be near US CV TF South and only 3x DEs were there. My DDs sank all three and got away. Unfortunately, they steamed due west and were in range of the US carriers at dawn. A horde of Avengers sank 2 of the 3 DDs. Too bad!

During the day, both carrier TFs launched bombing runs against Roi-Namur’s airfield, adding to the destruction there. Yesterday, I had moved out all the aircraft that could fly, so there was no CAP. A total of 220 Allied bomber sorties flew. A few were lost to flak and a few more were operational losses, but they destroyed 7 planes on the ground and added a little to the damage. Current damage to Roi-Namur is 20-68-99. The airfield is shut down. Most of my operational fighters are scattered around the Marshalls at the small islands. We’ll see how they do.

I did notice a 2 ship TF that is 4 hexes to the NE from where US CV TF East was yesterday. That’s got to be Bunker Hill and a DD escort. I’ve vectored about half a dozen subs to hunt her down. One that that may play into my favor is that the escorting DDs from that TF have used a LOT of their depth charges in the past few days and I know that some of the DDs are out of them. I hope the escorting DD has few or no depth charges. If that is the case, Bunker Hill is doomed. One can only hope. We’ll see in the coming days.

Also note that while the two US CV TFs have a lot of bombers remaining, they have taken significant Hellcat losses. If my estimates are correct, they have 8 CVs combined, or 288 Hellcats at the start of this operation. I estimate they have taken somewhere between 75 and 110 losses, plus whatever is stuck on Bunker Hill. While my carriers are not in the area, at some point they will have to withdraw to replenish and refit. Then I will be able to resume my operations against Mili.

SE Fleet

Heavy air raids again occurred against Aitape. In addition, there is a surface TF that includes BBs (but no carriers) a few hexes to the SE of Aitape. KB3 (Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi, 108 Zeros, 45 Judies, 36 Jills) is making a high speed run south to engage anything that nears Aitape. I don’t believe Ted is aware of the existence of this TF. Unless he got some intel, he doesn’t know those 3 carriers exist.

SRA

KB2 launched against the hex where the xAP was torpedoed. It turns out Princeton was the target, but only 18 Jills arrived. (21 missed the target.) They were escorted by 36 Zeros and opposed by 39 Hellcats and a smattering of Wildcats and Kittyhawks. Four Zeros were lost before burning through to the Jills. 15 were lost and flak got 2 of the remaining 3. Only 7 pilots were lost fortunately. 2 subs were in the hex.

Burma

Two of 3 Warhawks were shot down over Ledo.

China

Eleven squads were destroyed and 69 were disabled. The forces for the next deliberate assault are almost all assembled.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: RO-41, heading to Truk

Not much else, really.