Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[apbarog]

30 Jan 43 - Part One - Kusaie Island

[apbarog]

30 Jan 43 - Part Two - Burma

Quincy and Pensacola, along with 5 US destroyers, bombard Port Blair. 176 casualties and minor base damage. Enemy troops are starting to be destroyed in bombardments, not just disabled. A good sign.

British cruisers Hawkins, Dorsetshire and Caradoc and 2 destroyers also bombard. 267 casualties and very minor base damage. There was the bonus of hitting already damaged I-156 with a shell in port.

Then cruisers Frobisher, Birmingham and Durban bombarded with 3 destroyers. 78 casualties and minor base damage. Followup support troops then started to unload at Port Blair. May look like I'm reinforcing but really I'm just unloaded less-than-prepped base support and engineers. If KB is coming, the window will close quickly for this.

Quincy and Pensacola headed southwest out of Port Blair to eventually join up with the US carriers southbound from Ceylon. I-160 was waiting at the exit to the west, and hit Quincy with a torpedo. Quincy is SYS 14/FLOT 36-24/ENG 1-0/FIRE 0. It's still making 6 hexes a day, which is what my armada from Ceylon to Australia is doing, so the ships will still join up.

26 B-25s bombed Port Blair from Rangoon, hitting the port and troops. I-156 was hit with a bomb and probably sunk later in the day.

Sallys bombed the Chinese east of Moulmein. Tojos swept but found no fighters.

Blens hit the 3rd Tank Divison near Ningsia in far northern China. 19 casualties. It didn't help. The enemy division crossed the river and attacked.

Ground combat at 83,34 (near Lanchow)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 5522 troops, 102 guns, 332 vehicles, Assault Value = 245

Defending force 4299 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 167

Japanese adjusted assault: 290

Allied adjusted defense: 91

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1541 casualties reported
Squads: 34 destroyed, 48 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
3rd Tank Division

Defending units:
8th New Chinese Corps
36th Group Army

The Chinese won't be able to stop the tank division from taking Lanchow and cutting northern China, and all of the oil, off from the rest of China. The only thing that will slow down the tanks is that Ningsia is a long way from another base, and pulling supply will be difficult. I'm trying to bomb the tanks and Ningsia, and I'm switching the Chinese fighters to LRCAP over the tank division. OPilot has to be flying supply to it by air. I'm resigned to the fact that China will be divided soon. It's not the Chinese to blame; it's the lack of supply. I'm keeping a few Chinese nearby astride the road that the enemy is using. It'll force OPilot to keep a unit on each hex of the road as the armor advances. He won't go into the mountains to clear the Chinese out. But he has 6 units at Ningsia, and he doesn't have far to go to Lanchow.

Another Allied attack at Port Blair, after multiple bombardments and some bombing:

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10175 troops, 174 guns, 77 vehicles, Assault Value = 259

Defending force 6563 troops, 47 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 125

Allied adjusted assault: 128

Japanese adjusted defense: 239

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
476 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
125 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
17th Australian Brigade
276th Cst Art Bn /1
111th RN Base Force
2/1st Lt AA Regiment
16th USN Special Const Bn /1
112th RN Base Force /1

Defending units:
1st Raiding Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
1st Base Force
303rd Ship Eng Coy
34th Field Const Co
302nd Ship Eng Coy
5th JAAF AF Coy

This is a good result. I'm not able to touch the forts, but I'm destroying enemy squads. It would help if the base went out of supply, but there's no telling if that will happen. OPilot may be flying supply in. I have no counter for that until nearby Little Andaman builds an airfield, and it's only about a third of the way to level 1.

Good news. KB is spotted still at Soerabaja. The AOs are still there with it. The big battleship force is not seen there today though. I have a sub between Soerabaja and Singapore, and another near the southern tip of Sumatra, in case something goes west of Batavia and heads north, to the west of Sumatra.

[apbarog]

Funny one, no, the troops aren't heading to Madrid. Madras. Good one.

[CaptBeefheart]

My experience with para drops is prepping doesn't seem to be much of a factor. On a zero prep drop I'll see a high disruption number, which will quickly disappear, but the number of disabled squads will be low.

Cheers,
CB

[apbarog]

I have several para units in Burma now, so there are possibilities.

31 Jan 43

Amusing fight near Ponape. S-44 spotted AG Katsura Maru fleeing Ponape to the northwest. The sub attacked on the surface, and landed one shell on the ship. The captain, J.R. Moore, decided to submerge S-44 due to damage. Well, the ship didn't hit the sub, and the "damage" of the sub is SYS 2 and ENG 1. I finally spotted an unescorted ship and this happens! Found it funny, actually. Sounds much like a pre-war sub captain, of which many were replaced during the war.

Near Rangoon, I-154 spotted cruiser Chicago headed to Port Blair to bombard. 6 torpedoes were fired and one hit. Chicago is SYS 27/FLOT 35-33/ENG 27-26/FIRE 0. It has a destoyer escort and will slowly make its way to Colombo. It's moving too slowly to catch up to the US carriers. That's 2 US heavy cruisers in 2 days.

Subchaser E Kamo went after British sub Trusty near Phuket, and did minor damage to the sub. A bit later, Trusty returned the favor with a torpedo hit on the E boat, possibly sinking it.

Salmon hit a patrol boat near Sangi, sinking it.

S-28 fired 4 torpedoes at huge transport xAP Rakuyo Maru between Timor and Kendari. One torpedo hit. Busy day for the subs.

Tojos and Oscars swept over the Chinese east of Rahaeng. Rahaeng is shown to now have 84 enemy fighters based there. 54 Sallys and 30 Nicks attacked the 50th Tank Brigade moving with the Chinese. Nicks strafed and were badly damaged by flak. Allied losses were low.

20 P-38s swept Magwe, finding 26 Oscars. About 4 Oscars were downed.

Enemy bombers with escorts went after Lanchow, seeing that the Chinese were basing aircraft there. Moderate damage to the airfield, and a visiting Blen was destroyed.

Allied heavy bombers hit Kusaie Island. In the afternoon, the enemy went after the escort carriers.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 126,118

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
G4M1 Betty x 17

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 54

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

One Betty got through, dropping one torpedo, and it hit. The Allied fighter pilots were just adequate, not nearly as good as the pilots on the big carriers. It showed. They had a lot of trouble with the Zeros. Sangamon is SYS 12/FLOT 37-29/ENG 17-7/FIRE 0, and will retire to the southwest with a destroyer.

Ponape was hit by B-17s. The Roi Namur missions weren't flown. That's where the Bettys came from.

Kusaie Island was invaded. Most of the US 37th Infantry Division unloaded in just the afternoon phase. Today, they'll continue to unload. One US slow battleship will bombard. 3 others will wait and move directly to Kusaie with the CVEs. So all shipping will be at Kusaie. CVEs were one hex east today. I want to get more fighters in the air today, instead of relying on range 1 CAP. There's some risk. If the enemy comes running into Kusaie from Truk, like that 6 battleship group that was in the Solomons a few weeks ago, Kusaie will become very ugly, with most of the nice US APs at risk, not to mention all those CVEs. I do have a surface group there, mostly cruisers. And 4 slow US battleships. The CVEs just have cruiser escort. If things go as planned, unloading will finish today, and we'll attack tomorrow and the shipping will leave. No ground attack today because the US infantry had 42 fatigue, from the long trip from Suva.

Port Blair will be attacked today, after more bombardments.

[apbarog]

31 Jan 43 - Additional

Air losses over the CVEs yesterday were 18 Bettys and 17 Zeros, for the cost of 9 F4F-4s. The combat didn't look that good, but more Zeros were ops losses going back to Roi-Namur.

I forgot to mention that KB and the accompanying AO task force were not spotted at Soerabaja, after being there for 2 days. The battleship task force left a day before the carriers. No idea if they are heading into the Indian Ocean or back east. With my Kusaie activity, and obviously only using CVEs, there's a chance that KB could go back east. But I still plan on KB showing up to confront the Burma situation.

[apbarog]

1 Feb 43

All troops landed at Kusaie, without interference. A battleship task force didn't bombard as planned, but stayed in place 3 hexes to the southeast. I'd left a minesweeping task force following the battleship, and the sweepers were still at Ocean. I guess the battleship decided to wait. It will bombard today, as will a 3 battleship task force already at Kusaie. All ships, including CVEs, will move to the southwest towards Tulagi for one day. I did this to avoid enemy subs, and hopefully get the battleships to retire after bombardment into the same hex that the CVEs will be in. And the troops will attack at Kusaie, after more heavy bombers hit.

Two cruiser task forces bombarded Port Blair, doing good work, and hitting I-156 with 3 more shells in port. That sub just won't die. Bombers hit enemy troops there.

US heavy bombers hit Magwe. 40 Oscars there and a few bombers are lost. Moderate damage to the airfield. There isn't as much flak there now as there was. No reason for OPilot to protect the oil. He can't get it out of Burma. I didn't bomb any of it, so it's just accumulating for me. Not that the Allied need it compared to the Japanese.

B-24s from Tarawa hit Roi-Namur, finding 18 Zeros. A couple of bombers were lost, as were a couple of Zeros. Minor damage to the airfield. I'll concentrate on Kusaie today.

Large numbers of enemy aircraft in action over China. Also almost 200 enemy aircraft over the advancing Chinese near Rahaeng. Good thing the troops are in the jungle.

And then the highlight for the day:

Sub attack near Oosthaven at 46,97

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CA Chikuma
CL Abukuma
CS Chiyoda
DD Shiranui
DD Suzukaze
DD Umikaze
DD Kawakaze
DD Yamakaze

Allied Ships
SS Sealion, hits 1

Ammo storage explosion on CV Shokaku
SS Sealion launches 4 torpedoes at CV Shokaku

Sealion was patrolling just west of the Sunda Strait. I thought that KB might come through and head north, west of Java, to flank all the activity between Ceylon and Burma, and I thought a sub might give me some early warning. Sealion did better than that. Now OPilot knows that I know where KB is and where it is going. Unless he changes his mind. Shokaku probably won't sink, being so close to Batavia, but you never know with fires.

Allied attack again at Port Blair. The odds keep getting worse, despite heavy naval bombardments, bombardments which will cease after the ones coming today and tomorrow, as everything move back to Ceylon, anticipating KB's appearance.

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10224 troops, 175 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 255

Defending force 6296 troops, 48 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Allied adjusted assault: 132

Japanese adjusted defense: 557

Allied assault odds: 1 to 4 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
483 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
154 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
17th Australian Brigade
112th RN Base Force
111th RN Base Force
276th Coastal Artillery Battalion
2/1st Lt AA Regiment
16th USN Special Construction Battalion

Defending units:
1st Raiding Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
303rd Ship Eng Coy
1st Base Force
34th Field Const Co
302nd Ship Eng Coy
5th JAAF AF Coy

[BBfanboy]

All hail the captain and crew of Sealion! [&o][&o]
Amazing what an increase of 30% in torp effectiveness can do![:)]
The two torps alone would be unlikely to sink her but the Ammo Storage Explosion is usually equivalent to about three hits by 1000 lb. bombs. IJN damage control struggles to handle flooding and fire at the same time, so that may be enough to sink her. Let us know if there are any ground losses of IJN aircraft!

[apbarog]

Port Blair is a problem. If I don't take it in the next few days, I won't for quite awhile, and I may end up losing the 3 regiments plus support already there. The supporting British cruisers have to leave. I can continue bombing, but only until KB arrives and covers the base, and allows the base to repair and re-base enemy fighters there.

I wonder if a big para drop, with completely unprepped paras, could be enough, combined with a shock attack for the rest of my troops. There's still level 3 forts. I haven't touched them. The good news is that my combat troops there have lots of supply, maybe 10 times what they require. If I drop paras, they won't have that surplus after dropping.

Nearby Little Andaman is building an airfield, slowly. I think it's about 75% complete. That will help, partly by helping fight against Port Blair, partly by being another target for the enemy to have to hit.

Interesting predicament. I think I need to start a plan "C", just in case I lose everything there, for retaking the base after KB leaves. Prepping new units.

[apbarog]

2 Feb 43 - Part One - Kusaie Island

Kusaie is bombarded:

Night Naval bombardment of Kusaie Island at 125,118

Allied Ships
BB New Mexico

Japanese ground losses:
322 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 13
Port hits 5
Port supply hits 4

and

Night Naval bombardment of Kusaie Island at 125,118

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi
BB Tennessee
BB California
DD MacDonough
DD Porter
DD Gillespie
DD Caldwell

Japanese ground losses:
785 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 21
Port hits 8
Port supply hits 4

Good results. BBs back to Nauru to rearm and repeat bombardments.

Heavy bombers hit the island also.

Ground combat at Kusaie Island (125,118)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 11591 troops, 202 guns, 125 vehicles, Assault Value = 375

Defending force 9947 troops, 68 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 219

Allied adjusted assault: 241

Japanese adjusted defense: 167

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
187 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
509 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 51 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 7 (4 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Assaulting units:
37th Infantry Division
5th US Naval Construction Battalion
214th Coast AA Regiment
1/542nd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
2nd Base Maint Engineer Battalion
10th US Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
Sasebo 6th SNLF
48th JNAF AF Unit
7th Naval Construction Battalion
3rd Naval Construction Battalion
54th JNAF AF Unit

This looks a bit better than Port Blair has looked. Forts down one. But the 37th Infantry does not have much excess supply. No attack today; will wait for more bombardments, and at least a day of rest. Kusaie needs to fall. If enemy battleships start bombarding US troops on Kusaie, this attack is going to fail. I'd have to recommit the CVEs more aggressively near Kusaie. I do have Yorktown and Hermes on the way, but there a number of days out.

[CaptBeefheart]

Hindsight is 20-20, of course, but you may need to prep a few more units for the Kusaie invasion as well. I found that tank and arty battalions seem to recover fairly quickly from low-prep amphib assaults. You'll get some disablements, but they'll recover more quickly as a percentage than larger units.

I'm not sure if a para drop would help on Pt. Blair or not. I've never tried anything like it.

Cheers,
CB

[apbarog]

An interesting thing about Kusaie is that all of the Allied units there were at Kusaie before, when it was lost. I had extracted fragments of all of the units, some more than others. Now they are all back, plus. Originally I had a regiment and a half of US division there when they were lost. Since then the full division formed and is now attacking at Kusaie.

The exception is an armor unit that was completely lost at Kusaie earlier. It reformed at San Francisco and is enroute to Tabiteuea, but isn't close to getting there.

Tanks would certainly have helped this time. I just didn't have any nearby to prep. All were earmarked for something else.

My plan, whether Kusaie becomes a stalemate or not, is to load up at Tabiteuea for Kwajalein and Roi Namur. I'll also load some supply for Kusaie. All ships will approach Kusaie, and it will look like a reinforcement mission. Supply will be delivered, but the armada will break off and head NE to Kwajalein. Ponape will come after that.

2 Feb 43 - Part Two - Burma

Supply unloaded at Port Blair. Still just strong ASW activity down by Phuket, no combat ships seen yet. Port Blair is bombarded by 3 Brit cruisers. 189 casualties and minor base damage. 27 B-25s hit enemy troops, doing little in clear sky.

South of Singapore, Dutch sub O20 hit xAK Eli Maru with a torpedo. O20 just dropped mines at the base just SE of Singapore. O20 did take a depth charge hit in the shallow waters and will now make the long trip to Gove.

Lots of enemy air activity in China, like most days. 6 Chinese light bombers tried to hit the 3rd Tank Division but got chewed up by 5 Oscars on super long range cap. Blens did cause 10 casualties to the division, going up against just one Oscar. Liberators from Ledo hit Ningsia doing minor damage to the airfield. Ningsia is the nearest enemy base to the tank division, and is a long way from any other enemy base. Helens hit the Chinese troops somewhat isolated east of the enemy tank division.

Yesterday I determined that the enemy had evacuated Chiang Mai. They had not.

Ground combat at Chiang Mai (58,53)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 114 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 8

Defending force 5620 troops, 34 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 235

Allied adjusted assault: 0

Japanese adjusted defense: 85

Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), morale(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Allied ground losses:
83 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
1st USMC Parachute Bn /1

Defending units:
4th RTA Division

Allied Unit(s) Wiped Out at Chiang Mai by attrition!!!!!!

I don't know if they actually left and came back or what. They were in some kind of movement mode. I had 9/10 on the base yesterday and saw nothing. Odd. It's fortunate that the paras unit was small and that I only moved in a dozen or so transports for the drop, so losses weren't terrible. I explained to OPilot what happened, as it had to look odd to him. I didn't want him to think that I'd suicide a unit, for recon or some other reason. And I wasn't dropping a small fragment; I intended to drop the whole unit. I just didn't have enough transports there to do so in one day. It looked fishy and I didn't intend it to be.

Right now, there's a good chance that the US carriers are west of KB, as KB goes north to the west of Java, and the US ships go south further west. Of course, if KB is heading further northwest instead of north, the carriers could run into each other. I have all of my search aircraft down, not wanting to alert my presence to subs. I don't know what would happen if KB finds the US carriers and we aren't searching. I believe that carrier strikes are reciprocal regardless, in that the enemy is spotted because of launching.

[BBfanboy]

The Japanese got an Op Mode - at Chiang Mai; that makes me guess they railed in.

[apbarog]

No turn from OPilot today, but I did get a response about my para drop at Chiang Mai. He intentionally moved the Thai division out of Chiang Mai, then back in, figuring I'd do a para drop. Wow. I'm impressed. He may know me as much as I think that I know him. Quite an unorthodox but effective move. Kudos to my opponent.

[jwolf]

That's a gutsy and clever move. Kudos to OPilot on that.

[Lowpe]

Chiang Mai should be held, it is on the rail line, the closest air bridge to Burma, good terrain.

Japan should definitely fight for it until the beasts show up and definitively close the the runway.

Having said that, Japan is not prepared at all to defend this area...as the dot base in the Rahaeng triangle shows. And air drop to cut the rail line there might pay dividends.

[apbarog]

An additional email from OPilot states that he left Chiang Mai and then changed his mind and went back. Either way, it worked for him.

I don't think I'm going to be able to force my way into Rahaeng. And I've done no recon of the dot base nearby. With my use of paras, though, I'd guess that the enemy has at least something there. More units have appeared at Rahaeng recently. I will be considering what kind of defensive line to build around Moulmein.

Taking Chiang Mai, on the other hand, opens up possibilities for either units to move south to flank Rahaeng, or to move northeast and further cut off Burma. The second option was my original plan, and will probably be implemented. I know that at some point, maybe very soon, the enemy will have brought in more troops into the area around Rahaeng than I can handle.

If I can make the long, slow retreat from Burma, longer and slower, it'll be worthwhile to move northeast from Chiang Mai. So far, though, I'm not seeing a headlong retreat of the enemy from northern Burma. Maybe OPilot thinks that the situation can be rescued, or maybe that it's not salvageable at all and he'll defend in place.

[apbarog]

3 Feb 43 - Part One - Kusaie Island

28 B-17s hit Japanese troops on Kusaie. 121 casualties.

Naval bombardment of Kusaie Island at 125,118

Japanese Ships
BB Musashi
BB Yamato
CL Tatsuta

Allied ground losses:
346 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

BB Musashi firing at 37th Infantry Division
BB Yamato firing at 37th Infantry Division
CL Tatsuta firing at 37th Infantry Division

The enemy battleships did not arrive at night, so they were rushed to Kusaie, and stayed during the day. They probably saved the day. The 37th can't attack at this point. They have supply but are disrupted, and the fight was marginal at best beforehand. They'll wait for friendly battleship help.

The US CVE task force has a couple of squadrons of SBDs and fewer than 20 TBFs. Not enough to risk a fight to go after the battleships at Kusaie, battleships that will probably bombard again today and leave anyhow.

I stick to my plan. Yorktown will join up and troops will load for Kwajalein and Roi Namur when the APs get there. The armada will move towards Kusaie and support an unloading of supply there, but will then dart off to the northeast for the new invasion.

I'll use the 4 slow US battleships to bombard Kusaie, but if the enemy battleships are still around, we'll fight.

[jwolf]

In the movie, Rockwell Torrey only had to fight the Yamato (I think they called it "Amato" or something like that). Even Rock would have trouble against both of the IJN super battleships. Maybe it will work if they are really low on ammo.

[apbarog]

3 Feb 43 - Burma

Three task forces bombarded Port Blair: Repulse and 2 other cruiser task forces. Results were poor. All task forces will retire to Trincomlee.

Lots of Allied light and medium bombers hit Akyab's airfield. No CAP and good results. Flew at 15k due to lots of flak.

Enemy air activity over China and Burma, typical numbers:

27 Oscars over Lanchow
38 Tojos near Rahaeng
25 Helens and 20 Sallys over Lanchow
48 Sallys near Rahaeng
20 Sonias near Ichang
26 Sallys and 30 Oscars over Hengyang
36 Sonias near Kukong
12 Oscars over Ningsia

Enemy attacked the Chinese stack east of Lanchow. The enemy armor is between Lanchow and the Chinese, somewhat cutting them off. They didn't have supply anyhow, but did well. It's possible that the enemy unit advanced ahead of other units and attacked alone. Or it was just unwise.

Ground combat at 84,34 (near Ningsia)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6750 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 211

Defending force 30696 troops, 196 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1019

Japanese adjusted assault: 38

Allied adjusted defense: 805

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 21

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

Japanese ground losses:
1643 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
149 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
57th Chinese Corps
38th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
81st Chinese Corps
56th AT Gun Regiment

Another Allied attack at Port Blair. Equal casualties this time. What a slugfest! Just a matter of time till KB and some battleships show up to save the day here too.

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10139 troops, 175 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 241

Defending force 5828 troops, 49 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 91

Allied adjusted assault: 84

Japanese adjusted defense: 113

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

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

Japanese ground losses:
364 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
379 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Assaulting units:
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
17th Australian Brigade
276th Coastal Artillery Battalion
112th RN Base Force
2/1st Lt AA Regiment
111th RN Base Force
16th USN Special Construction Battalion

Defending units:
1st Raiding Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
1st Base Force
303rd Ship Eng Coy
34th Field Const Co
302nd Ship Eng Coy
5th JAAF AF Coy

Indian LRP paras at Toungoo prepare to rail to Rangoon (3 days till Strat mode). Figure another 3 days to go to Combat mode, and we will drop on Port Blair in about a week. Barring enemy naval interference, that could be enough to take the base.

Northeast of Myitkyina, an Indian division is victorious and will move to Myitkyina.

Ground combat at 64,41 (near Myitkyina)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 9334 troops, 59 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 353

Defending force 1566 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 49

Allied adjusted assault: 139

Japanese adjusted defense: 25

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
725 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 33 disabled
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
17th Indian Division

Defending units:
55th Engineer Regiment

And one of my biggest snafus of the war so far. I forgot to unassign the 12 transports at Toungoo. So they loaded up more of the 1st USMC Parachute Battalion and took them to Chiang Mai, same as yesterday. Another 100 troops or so to be lost. To make it almost laughable, I did reset the para unit itself and Toungoo, and put the troops in Rest mode. So the paras today dropped in Rest mode. Very nice. Don't try this at home.