Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A))

[Lowpe]

On the homefront, lots of heavy rains last Thursday and today. Downed trees, flooding, power interruptions...going slow on doing my turns and keeping up the AAR. Sorry.

[JohnDillworth]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

June 19th, 1942

Finished off a previously damaged Iboat...

Clark AFB falls...but most of the troops had evacuated to Bataan. Not sure if this was the right move, but I thought I would experiment a bit.

Finally got Japan enticed into attacking the Rboat at Cochin again, an aerial strike...will see if we can surprise him this turn with something unexpected.

Coincidentally, IRL, the I-4 was sunk by a submarine: from Wikipedia :

"The submarine USS Seadragon (SS-194), alerted to I-4′s presence by Ultra intelligence information, sighted I-4 at the southern entrance to St. George's Channel off New Ireland, heading north on the surface at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), at 06:21 on 21 December 1942.[2] Misidentifying I-4 as an I-168-class submarine, Seadragon described her as painted black and with the number "4" painted on her conning tower.[2] At 06:37, Seadragon fired three Mark 10 Mod 3 torpedoes at a range of 850 yards (780 m).[2] I-4′s lookouts apparently sighted the approaching torpedoes because I-4 turned in an apparent attempt to comb their wakes.[2] Seadragon′s first torpedo suffered a gyroscope failure and missed ahead and her second torpedo detonated prematurely after running for only 18 seconds.[2] Her third torpedo struck I-4′s stern, resulting in a ball of flames and much smoke.[2] Seadragon saw I-4′s bow rise vertically as she sank by the stern at 05°02′S 152°33′E with the loss of all 90 men on board.[2]

On 5 January 1943, the Imperial Japanese Navy officially declared I-4 to be presumed lost with all hands off Rabaul.[2] She was stricken from the Navy list on 1 March 1943.[2] "

[RangerJoe]

The Seadragon fired Mark 10s? I thought that they fired the Mark 14s . . .

Don't tell me that Wikipedia is WRONG!

[JohnDillworth]

Wikipedia is often wrong because it's only as good as what people put into it. As for the Seadragon, it was a Sargo class sub so it was a post S-boat, pre Gato class sub. The torpedo exploded, so that lends credence to the Mark 10 theory [:D] Anyway, the Sargo class sub served throughout the war so presume they would use the latest and greatest torpedoes. I don't know much about subs. Were the Mark 10 and Mark 14 torpedoes interchangeable or were boats locked into a certain type?

[RangerJoe]

The boats were locked into type, at least as far as the S-boats were concerned. The length was different. I never heard of any fleet boats using the Mark 10.

As for the Mark 14, one veered off due to a gyroscope failure, one premature, and one hit. The gyroscope failure may have lead to the circular runs . . .

[Lowpe]

June 20th, 1942

Boring day...expecting the IJA tank juggernaut to cross the river out of Ankang today...they will run into 31 or so Stuarts, that actually have full ammo, and about 80K troops without that much ammo (twice the stacking limit). It will be a bit less since some of the troops will leave the hex hopefully.

Chinese supply starting to climb...had to pull 8 B17s off supply drops to remove them from the game...





Up to 2k supply in Burma, from a low 3 weeks or so ago of 219.[:)]

[Lowpe]

June 21, 1942

And the tanks cross the river....our forces did well I think, since only one Corp and the Armor had more than 0 supplies.[;)]


Ground combat at 81,42 (near Ankang)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 21776 troops, 140 guns, 499 vehicles, Assault Value = 791

Defending force 53473 troops, 214 guns, 44 vehicles, Assault Value = 1126

Japanese adjusted assault: 628

Allied adjusted defense: 805

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
1272 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 73 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Vehicles lost 182 (14 destroyed, 168 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1585 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 132 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 18 (4 destroyed, 14 disabled)

[Lowpe]

She showed up today.

In looking at the devices and placements, I think the game engine really favors her. It is difficult to get rear turrets to fire.

Her AA gets stronger and stronger. 20 five inch guns to start with...

Have to be careful with her while the crew experience is so low.

[ny59giants]

She needs a new captain with better Inspiration and then some 'milk runs' of bombarding some by passed Japanese island or one where Ms Nell and Betty are not.

[RangerJoe]

Wait until she gets her 40mm guns . . . [8D]

[Lowpe]

Sometimes, I could just hit myself.

The 43rd put up a really good fight, for the first time during the war. Climbing experience and enemy disruption helped, mostly enemy disruption.

[CaptBeefheart]

Good luck with that Northern Marianas adventure. I'm guessing in '42 the garrisons will be light. You'd know better as an avid IJ player, but I'd expect Saipan and Tinian would be lightly held as well.

One thing I noticed is that naval support doesn't help re-arming at zero-level ports, even after they've been built up to 1, 2 or 3 (there's a thread somewhere on this known issue). I had a fun tussle with the AI in that area and found it was quite hard to top up my AKEs until I had Tinian or Saipan in hand. Just something to keep in mind.

Cheers,
CB

[Lowpe]

June 21, 1942

Nail a DMS at Canton...

IJA attacks on the mountain road north of Sian and is repulsed in a 1-4 even without supplies.

[JohnDillworth]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

June 21, 1942

Nail a DMS at Canton...

IJA attacks on the mountain road north of Sian and is repulsed in a 1-4 even without supplies.

I don't suppose that TF was there to evacuate the garrison? [:D] So, what is he bringing in? Supplies, troops or engineers? Can't see risking an engineer group here

[Lowpe]

He has three units there now...will try for a sub raid today, and maybe SAG raid tomorrow.

Up to 29k+ supplies in China...the air lift is working...but the supplies still need to get to the front lines which isn't happening yet.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Up to 29k+ supplies in China...the air lift is working...but the supplies still need to get to the front lines which isn't happening yet.

Maybe some of the supplies are getting to the front lines but not enough to the point where the units can build up reserves.

[jdsrae]

I’ve got a front line base that didn’t look like it was getting supply, but now i think the supply is just being loaded straight off the trucks into the AA guns!

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

I’ve got a front line base that didn’t look like it was getting supply, but now i think the supply is just being loaded straight off the trucks into the AA guns!

That says a lot for keeping up the pressure with air strikes.

[Lowpe]

June 23, 1942

Another fight on the Ankang road...I forgot to put our armor in reserve, no pursuit mode and they got demolished again.

Also, I should have had two corp dug in here with forts 4...my bad.

Supply not moving toward the front...dropped 1k overall in China.

[Lowpe]

We are marching on Broome and Darwin, and as I crank thru the turn a growing sense of slowness/delay is happening.

I feel a huge need to move forward, supplies, fuel, troops and planes. The need to pressure Japan across the entire perimeter is a daunting task given my current level of assets. Prep is needed for opposed landings...all leading to delays.

Conversely Japan is amazed that the AA guns are still firing over Bataan...and Singapore still holds out.