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

[BBfanboy]

In stock scenario 1, Ishigaki or Iriomote has a small fortress with 0 AV. If that is still the case, the paras would be a great way to take it.

[apbarog]

31 Dec 43

The guns at Pescadores are tough.

TF 341 encounters mine field at Pescadores (84,63) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

9 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
YMS-115, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
YMS-386, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Peng Hu Fortress firing at YMS-115
Peng Hu Fortress firing at YMS-386
25 mines cleared

Both ships sank on the way home. Allied cruisers bombarded Pescadores and did minor damage. US destroyers bombarded Amoy again, and did light damage. All of the enemy planes had left Amoy.

Hellcats from Djambi swept Singkawang, on northwestern Borneo. No CAP. Lots of B-24s bombed, and enemy transport aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The Mersing armada will move towards Singkawang, implying an invasion there, but will continue on past towards Mersing afterwards.

BBfanboy speculated that increased enemy search in the Solomons could mean enemy troop evacuations coming. He was right. 4 destroyers showed up at Vella Lavella, a dot base with an enemy unit. 12 Beauforts launched from Lunga but all torpedoes missed. I had moved 2 divebomber squadrons and a fighter squadron to Munda, adjacent to Vella Lavella, but the bombers didn't attack. Probably weather at Munda. If I had left them at Lunga, they probably would have sunk the 4 enemy ships.

A third US division marched into Taihoku, so US troops will attack the last enemy base on Formosa today.

Marine Raiders and Fiji Commandos attacked the I/124th Infantry Battalion at Baybay in the Philippines. 1 to 1 attack but more Allied lossed. I want to clear the islands in the Philippines. OPilot is seeing my fleet movements past Mindanao, either by Glens or from one of those remaining isolated islands.

It's now a new year. Time for a region by region update.

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Alaska

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Burma and Thailand

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Marshalls and Truk

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Northern China

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Northern New Guinea

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Philippines

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Solomons and Southern New Guinea

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Southern China and Formosa

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Sumatra and Singapore

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44 - Summary

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44

No Allied CVs or BBs have been lost.

Haruna is most probably not sunk.
Japanese losses include:

3 CS
13 CA
9 CL
55 DD
62 SS
14 midget subs
12 AOs
53 TKs

Allied losses include:
2 CA
2 CLAA (Dutch and Canadian)
10 CL
22 DD (1 FR, 3 Brit, 2 Aust, 16 US)
10 SS (1 Brit, 3 Dutch, 4 US fleet boats, 2 S-boats)

[Lowpe]

Pescadores is nothing compared to Tushima...but is certainly better than DP guns and on par with the mobile CD units Japan has.

[apbarog]

I don't look in the editor for this type of intel. I'd rather be surprised. I know that OPilot was surprised with the additional Allied guns in DBB as compared to stock. Now it's my turn.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I don't look in the editor for this type of intel. I'd rather be surprised. I know that OPilot was surprised with the additional Allied guns in DBB as compared to stock. Now it's my turn.

I can't remember what is there in DBB, I was referring to stock. I always try to lure Allied Task Forces under the guns. Amazing how often it works.

[apbarog]

Once you know, you know, of course. Even though I played out a DBB game to September 1945, as the Japanese, my opponent didn't get close to Japan, so I didn't pay any attention to the nearby fortresses. I really don't know what is where. I'm ok with that.

I'm bringing a battleship in for Pescadores. That won't help clear the mines, though. Hopefully.

[BBfanboy]

I love it when Japan puts lots of troops on Paramushiro Jima. It is easily bypassed and suppressed. Two other reasons to bypass it:

- it has a small naval fortress
- unless it has been changed from game version 1124, PJ has a different country code from the other islands in the Kuriles. Taking PJ will trigger reinforcements on the main islands (the Depot Divisions mostly) while the other Kuriles do not.

[apbarog]

1 Jan 44

Destroyer Fullam hit a mine at Pescadores. SYS 12/FLOT 30-28/ENG 1-0/FIRE 0. 5 YMS swept mines there. All mines were cleared, but 3 of the YMS were sunk by the Peng Hu Fortress. Allied cruisers then bombarded the base, causing moderate damage. CA Australia was hit by a shell, causing SYS 28/FLOT 8-8/ENG 6-4/FIRE 0. I didn't see the shell size but it had to be a big one.

Just north of Saipan, submarine Hake hit xAK Hakonesan Maru with a torpedo.

Allied cruisers bombarded Swatow, damaging some planes and destroying a few. Minor base damage done. It is noted that the 102nd Infantry Regiment is there. US destroyers bombarded Amoy, causing light damage. Other destroyers bombarded Taihoku, causing moderate damage. The AKEs at Takao are getting a lot of business.

Allied fighters swept Ayuthia. I noticed about 50 enemy fighters there, more manageable than the 100+ regularly seen at Bangkok. Thunderbolts and Mustangs swept, doing good work. I sent the B-24s to Bangkok on a city raid. Unfortunately, Franks were there. I should have sent my sweepers to where my bombers were going, regardless of not seeing any planes there yesterday. That was yesterday. Total air losses were 20 Oscars and 17 Tojos for the cost of 6 B-24s, 3 P-51As, 3 P-47s and 2 A-36s.

The Mersing armada moved towards northwestern Borneo, and torpedo bombers launched against small targets at Singkawang. No enemy CAP.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 33
TBF-1 Avenger x 27

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAKL Raizan Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Kembu Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Yusen Maru #10, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PB Fuji Maru #3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

All bases on Formosa are now in US hands. Cleanup still needed at Taihoku.

Ground combat at Taihoku (87,63)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 40697 troops, 632 guns, 680 vehicles, Assault Value = 1316

Defending force 9706 troops, 130 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 267

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 1110

Japanese adjusted defense: 46

Allied assault odds: 24 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Taihoku !!!

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1863 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 20 destroyed, 67 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 38 (31 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (14 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
671 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 83 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Assaulting units:
7th Infantry Division
3rd Marine Division
1st USMC Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
766th Tank Battalion
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion
XI US Corps

Defending units:
Keelung Fortress
34th Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Ind.Mixed Bde /1
66th Const Bn /1
33rd Field Const Co /1
13th JAAF AF Coy
51st Air Defense AA Battalion
25th Air Flotilla /1
55th JAAF AF Bn
5th Air Div /2

My goal was to be on Luzon by January 1944. That was achieved, and most of Luzon was cleared. I didn't imagine being on Formosa that quickly, and clearing it on the first of the year. It was a good idea to move to Formosa without waiting for Luzon to be finished. It would have been reinforced more, no doubt. Since the troops prepping for Formosa were not the ones on Luzon, it worked out.

The next big show is on Malaya. Lots of paras dropping today.

[BBfanboy]

Nice progress! Well played. [&o]
Agility of action is one of the under-appreciated things in the game. Having long range plans is good to guide you, but you have to always be ready to seize opportunities, even if you don't have fully prepped troops to go there.

apbarog:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 33
TBF-1 Avenger x 27

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAKL Raizan Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Kembu Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Yusen Maru #10, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PB Fuji Maru #3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

What a waste of torpedoes. Bombs could have taken out those small ships. I know there is no detection of enemy major warships in the area, but there could be. I hope you have some torps left, just in case.