Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

[apbarog]

19 Jul 42

Hyuga and Ise bombarded Broome, hitting the size 3 airbase there. Moderate base damage. The only unit defending is a base unit. Same for Derby. I had thought Derby was empty, but it is not. Derby was then invaded. It will be attacked today and should be captured.

Triton spotted a big cargo task force for the third day in a row. On the first day, it sank a big xAK. Yesterday, it missed one. Now it missed another one.

The Chinese unit that took Mengtze yesterday shows movement to chase down the 2 Japanese units that it defeated. I don't think it will leave Mengtze, as it is the only unit there. I'd be happy to drop more paras on an empty Mengtze if it leaves. I think OPilot is just showing movement to get me to bomb his troops, while he puts a LRCAP from Kunming, 2 hexes away, using the Flying Tigers. Mind games. Instead, I'm sweeping Mengtze with my Tojo IIa unit, and where going in at 32k.

[IdahoNYer]

How's the industry holding up apbarog?

Fuel/Oil/Supply stocks?

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: IdahoNYer

How's the industry holding up apbarog?

Fuel/Oil/Supply stocks?

I can only compare my numbers to my own experience, so I'm not sure. My feeling is that I'm doing good on fuel and oil and resources in Japan. I may not be doing so good with supply. I've approached 1 million supply in Japan, but never gotten there. China is a big supply sink when you are going with an all-out offensive like I am. If I can permanently cut off Burma from China, I think it will be worth it. If not, maybe not. We'll see.

I've been efficient with sending fuel and oil back to Japan. I have no huge stockpiles waiting to be picked up. Rangoon's fuel and oil is growing, and I'm waiting to see if any of it moves on it's own to Singapore. If it does not, I'll need to send tankers there. I've only tried to send one so far, and it didn't make it. With resources, I'm sending just enough to Japan to get things going. I need to increase that and build a buffer.

My aircraft production is more limited than most games I've seen. I play a game with limited air losses, and so does OPilot, so I'm saving HI for later. I'm not building more than 90 of any type of aircraft. I plan on doing so with Franks, later on.

All in all, I'm executing my industry plan. Whether or not my plan is a good one, we'll see.

[IdahoNYer]

Thanks. You give me some metrics to go by. You're a bit ahead of my PBEM with L_S_T, we're still in March. As you said, no idea if the industry plan is working, time will tell. For comparisons, you can see my industry totals on the monthly summaries in the AAR.

[apbarog]

20 Jul 42

Grunion sank DMS W-16 at Tulagi with a working torpedo hit. OPilot's non-dud run continues. I have mines at Tulagi. Not very many, but there are some, with an ACM. But enemy subs continue to come and go at will. I have DDs and SCs patrolling the Guadalcanal area but they've been awful so far.

2 Japanese DDs found mines at Tarawa. They were looking for subs. They cleared a few mines and didn't hit any, fortunately.

It's a paper, scissors, rock game at Ningsia in northern China. OPilot has P-40s and SB-IIIs at Lanchow. I have Oscars at Ningsia. He either flies P-40s high on sweep, flies P-40s high on sweep and SB-IIIs low to bomb, or just flies SB-IIIs to bomb. I guessed that the P-40s would be high and flew the Oscars high. Just SB-IIIs showed up low and bombed and weren't intercepted.

Nells from Midway spotted a DD and an AVD at Laysan Island to the southeast. 6 Nells dropped bombs but missed both ships. The 4 Japanese minelaying subs will drop their mines at Midway tonight.

S-46 sank xAK Daiyo Maru at Attu. TB Kiji failed to find the sub. Typical. I'm trying to get more supply into the Aleutians. The cargo ship strategy isn't working. More supply but slow to unload in the small ports, and there are subs just waiting there. The Aleutians aren't a high enough priority for me to send ASW aircraft. So I'm going to start running fast transport task forces with destroyers carrying supply.

Derby was captured, the first base on Australia to be captured by the Japanese. No interference. Port Hedland is next, with Broome and Carnavon to follow. Mini-KB is escorting and KB is lurking to the north, just in case.

[apbarog]

21 Jul 42

Sub Triton has been in the right place at the right time for 4 days in a row. It fired 4 torpedoes at big tanker San Clemente Maru but missed. This was southwest of Okinawa.

Dutch sub KXVII fired 2 torpedoes at xAK Brasil Maru near Phuket but missed. I'm using the shallows for movement to Rangoon. This task force has part of the components of a tank division going to Rangoon. I have patrol boats and minesweepers working the shallows but so far they've just become targets themselves. Later in the day, KXVII hit AMc Jokuja Maru with 2 torpedoes, sinking the minesweeper.

OPilot has been on a good run of luck with not getting dud torpedoes. I had the luck today. Saury fired 4 torpedoes at CV Hiyo near Broome. One hit but it was a dud.

Tuyun's airfield was pounded by Japanese bombers. There must be a lot of Chinese engineers there, judging by the rate of repair. The engineers were undoubtedly building the forts.

Blens and B-17s hit Paoshan. I didn't have any CAP there. I do now, and they will stay.

The Allies did a probing artillery attack at Myitkyina. They hold the base, and the Thai troops in the area weren't enough to take it. A weaker Thai division moved one hex to the west to guard the flank and rest. The Japanese paras moved out of the area.

Ground combat at Myitkyina (64,42)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3396 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 289

Defending force 5493 troops, 55 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 189

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

Assaulting units:
96th Chinese Division
200th Chinese Division
36th Chinese Division
BFF Brigade
88th Chinese Division
101st RAF Base Force

Defending units:
6th RTA Division
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment

[apbarog]

22 Jul 42

The big enemy task force off of northeastern Australia turned out to be an Australian task force with 4 cruisers and 6 destroyers. It bombarded Port Moresby, causing moderate base damage, lots of planes damaged, but just 1 Jake destroyed. A handful of Zeros were still flying when B-17s appeared later in the day, and the fighters shot down one bomber.

S-32 hit a mine at Midway. The sub is presumed sunk from audio. 160 mines had been dropped just 2 days ago. It would have been better for the minefield to have been discovered by an invasion force, giving the chances for more ship hits. Just means that OPilot will include sweepers when he comes.

Seal sank AMc Awa Maru northeast of Singapore, in the shallows.

Blens appeared over Myitkyina. Zeros were on LRCAP from Lashio. 35 Blens were shot down, possibly every one in the strike. 59 Zeros swept Myitkyina afterwards, as there had been enemy fighters based there, but none seen.

This was an intricate planning turn. Shipping was sorted out for the Darwin landing. Troops are coming from Palembang, Kendari and Koepang. It will be big and success is not guaranteed.

[apbarog]

22 Jul 42 - Mengtze

[apbarog]

22 Jul 42 - Northern China

A new offensive begins. OPilot has stripped troops away from this area.

[IdahoNYer]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

This was an intricate planning turn. Shipping was sorted out for the Darwin landing. Troops are coming from Palembang, Kendari and Koepang. It will be big and success is not guaranteed.

Darwin directly may prove challenging - a number of coastal batteries and probably well fortified by now. Supply is the issue...can you land at Wyndham and isolate first?

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: IdahoNYer

ORIGINAL: apbarog

This was an intricate planning turn. Shipping was sorted out for the Darwin landing. Troops are coming from Palembang, Kendari and Koepang. It will be big and success is not guaranteed.

Darwin directly may prove challenging - a number of coastal batteries and probably well fortified by now. Supply is the issue...can you land at Wyndham and isolate first?

I can land at Wyndham. I do plan on landing there at the same time as the Darwin landing. Going to Wyndham first would mean walking along the long and slow trail to the east, and getting bombed the whole way. Katherine is built up and already has bombers. It is an option though. I think the direct route with 2 divisions and a big brigade, with armor and artillery, KB supporting and 3 battleships for bombardments is the way to go.

[apbarog]

23 Jul 42

TB Kamo hit a mine at Phuket and sank. Kamo was escorting an AA unit, one of the components of the 1st Tank Division, and the unit is on a single xAK that is now traveling without escort. Good luck!

Exemouth was invaded. It is undefended and will be captured today. Broome and Port Hedland were captured.

B-17Es bombed Noumea, in two groups, but interestingly they targeted ground troops. They focused on the AA Battalion there and didn't hit it. Bombing ground troops could mean than an invasion is imminent, or it's an attempt to identify what units are there, or it is a ruse to make me think an invasion is imminent. Zeros shot down 5 B-17Es.

The opening of the new offensive southeast of Yenan was successful.

Ground combat at 89,39 (near Taiyuan)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 34413 troops, 246 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 1119

Defending force 9500 troops, 45 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 300

Japanese adjusted assault: 910

Allied adjusted defense: 139

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
636 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 106 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4002 casualties reported
Squads: 93 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 81 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 9 (7 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
13th Tank Regiment
40th Division
23rd RGC Temp. Division
110th Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Mongol Garrison Army

Defending units:
19th Chinese Corps
23rd Chinese Corps
6th Group Army

The defenders retreated up the trail into the woods, where there was a single Chinese unit of unknown size already there. The Japanese should smash through.

Now for the interesting fight in the mountains of western China. The Chinese corps attacked the already defeated Japanese just southeast of Mengtze. Doesn't look good here.

Ground combat at 68,51 (near Mengtze)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6797 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 256

Defending force 2177 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 73

Allied adjusted assault: 98

Japanese adjusted defense: 160

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
340 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
135 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
81st Chinese Corps

Defending units:
18th Naval Guard Unit
Yokosuka 3rd SNLF

However, OPilot left Mengtze itself undefended, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cause more mischief. Paras dropped in and took the dot base. Now, the Chinese corps may have some difficulty getting supply, which may slow down the destruction of the Yokosuka 3rd SNLF paras and the 18th Naval Guard Unit. I now expect another unit to come from Kunming to clear out Mengtze, again. I have some artillery and a base unit just to the west of Mengtze, moving in, but it's all mountain terrain, and it will take too long for them to get there to help in the fight. If I had sent a division for the Mengtze offensive, I'd be holding the base indefinitely. But I didn't want to use one of my precious divisions walking through bad terrain for a couple of months to get anywhere.

And there's interesting activity in the South Pacific. OPilot probably knows that my carriers are far away, and he's smartly making some kind of move. He can take any of the undefended islands easily. Luganville will be a challenge. Of course, I haven't seen a single US division anywhere on the map yet, and OPilot will be bringing the hammer in sooner or later.

[apbarog]

I had another thought. What if OPilot left Mengtze undefended on purpose, with the intention of taking it back and capturing whatever supply that I pull to it? I'm sure that he got some supply when he captured it from my paras. What a plan that would be! He certainly has the forces in the area to retake it. He probably can do it just with the Chinese corps that left it to the southeast. Did I fall for such a smart plan or am I paranoid?

Allied China has to really be hurting for supply. I still hope to take those mountain bases and make that hurt permanent, but I'm just not sure it is going to happen. The last component of the tank division that will assist at Tuyun is now just a few days from joining up with the other components. Maybe that will be enough to help a second wave take Tuyun.

[pontiouspilot]

Are you hearing voices in your head??

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot

Are you hearing voices in your head??

No voices, just the knowledge that the first 6 months of the war is over and that there is plenty of pain to come.

[apbarog]

24 Jul 42

2 Japanese sub chasers went after Swordfish at Port Hedland. They hit the sub with 2 depth charges and numerous near misses, sinking the sub. A rare US sub sinking.

Chinese corps southeast of Mengtze was bombed. It is moving back to Mengtze. Supply was dropped to the Japanese units in the hex with that corps. Supply will be dropped to the paras at Mengtze. All but the engineers for the paras were dropped at Mengtze. Just can't get the engineers to the dot base.

2 task forces seen 16 hexes west northwest of Rangoon. They are a threat to go after the shipping at Rangoon. Naval bombers with Zero escorts are readied. Important troop convoys are unloading, with other ships at Moulmein waiting there turn at Rangoon.

The US task forces northwest of Suva disappeared. They probably went back to Suva. They may have headed north or northeast, headed to who knows what. Or they could be close to Luganville and just in the weather.

HA-45 engines research advanced again, moving up production to July 1943. This is an important engine. Franks use it, and I'm going big on Franks. No advance yet in Frank research. It's still slated for January 1944, with a lot of factories working on the research.

[apbarog]

25 Jul 42

Further cleanup in the Philippines. Cebu is finally invaded. Attack today.

Almost 50 B-26s and 10 B-17s pulverize Port Moresby's airfield. Zeros had been moved out to what looked like an incoming invasion from Suva. With the airfield badly damaged, OPilot may leave it alone or try to increase the damage, knowing that there won't be any fighters there. So I moved fighters to Buna to range CAP Port Moresby, and fighters to Lae to LRCAP it.

Another attack on two Chinese corps northeast of Yenan. The enemy is out of supply but outnumbers the attackers. Wearing them down but wearing ourselves out first. These enemy troops may be flanked by my new offensive heading towards Yenan from the southeast.

Glen sub spots the US Navy heading to Midway.

[apbarog]

26 Jul 42

Japanese sub just east of Midway has D/L, so the enemy is closing on Midway. I pulled out the Nells that were searching from there, so I don't have naval search near Midway. They are coming. I-8 missed DD Gwin in one of those TFs.

Pompan found xAK Chihaya Maru arriving at Guam, without an escort. An escort is on the way but is a couple of days away. The ship and sub exchanged gunfire, with both getting hit twice. Several torpedoes missed the ship.

12 Sonias with 27 Oscars attacked Lanchow, finding 4 P-66s on CAP. A couple of Sonias and Oscars were lost. Minor damage done to the base. First offensive action out of Ningsia.

In the far, far north of China, the 15th Tank Regiment attacked the 9th Separate Brigade 2 hexes east of Kiuchuan. The attackers are outnumbered but the Chinese can't handle the tanks. With a 1 to 2 attack, there are 29 Allied casualties and no Japanese losses. The enemy here is supply as much as enemy troops. I'll need to airdrop supply to the tanks to be able to continue. I see 2 units in Kiuchan. With a dedicated recon set for there today, I'll get a better idea whether to continue attacking here.

We almost, but not quite, took Cebu.

Ground combat at Cebu (80,86)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3818 troops, 37 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 124

Defending force 3905 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 91

Japanese adjusted assault: 59

Allied adjusted defense: 15

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
230 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
Kure 5th SNLF
Sasebo 5th SNLF

Defending units:
81st PA Infantry Division
Cebu Constabulary
1st Port Maint Engineer Battalion

Learned something new. I had 3 factories building Ki-43-Ic Oscars. A week or two ago, the research for the Ki-43-IIa moved up a month to July 1942, which is now. 2 of the size 30 factories converted quickly to IIa's, but the bigger size 60 hasn't converted yet. So I manually converted it, with a save done just in case, and it appears to have converted successfully and with full production. I thought you had to wait for the auto-convert or the factory would be completely damaged.

[apbarog]

27 Jul 42

3 US DMS's swept 8 mines at Midway. There are over 140 more. US cruiser force bombarded Midway, causing minimal losses. I-3 fired 4 torpedoes at cruiser Chicago SE of Midway, but missed. This is where multiple carrier TFs were. I-3 was then engaged multiple times by ASW forces, getting hit with a depth charge and multiple near misses. Lost forward tubes. The brave crew of I-3 then fired 2 torpedoes at destroyer Anderson, in the Chicago TF, but missed. Morris, Walke, O'Brien and Mustin all took their shots at the sub, causing more damage. I-3 is SYS 65/FLOT 54/ENG 1/FIRE 0 and will try to get to Kwajalein for temporary repairs.

Midway was invaded by US Marines and taken.

Ground combat at Midway Island (158,91)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 4648 troops, 29 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 167

Defending force 2726 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 46

Allied adjusted assault: 45

Japanese adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 11 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Midway Island !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
3652 casualties reported
Squads: 69 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 176 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 32 (32 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Allied ground losses:
426 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Assaulting units:
5th Marine Rgt /1
1st AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
21st Port Maint Engineer Battalion
23rd MAG

Defending units:
83rd Naval Guard Unit
36th JNAF AF Unit

It was quick and easy work by OPilot. He didn't use any battleships, but I had spotted some nearby. He also didn't fly any ground support. Time to start worrying about Wake and Marcus. Too late if OPilot is aggressive and is ready to continue on directly to either. I'm not reacting with my carriers unless I see that occur. I need to take Darwin, and the loading for that is in progress.

I did take Cebu as the cleanup in the Philippines continues.

[apbarog]

28 Jul 42

I made a big fighter effort over Kunming. 70 to 80 enemy fighters were to be expected, and they were there, and they appeared to be all Flying Tigers. 40 Zeros swept first, very high, and did very well against the Warhawks. 28 Tojo IIa then swept, also very high, and also did well. Total air losses were 21 Warhawks for the cost of 6 Zeros and a Tojo ops loss. I am going to try and press the advantage with similar sweeps, but I'm also committing the many Japanese bombers that had been based at Canton. I'm going after Kunming's airfield, to get the Warhawks but also to get the runways. Shutting down the runways would shut down any C-47s coming into Kunming. And they can only reach Kunming and Tsuyung from Ledo. Restricting supply here would help my upcoming attack at Tsuyung.

I rested my fighters on New Guinea, and once again, the many B-26s and B-17s showed up at Port Moresby. Bad timing again. The airbase is in very bad shape, and I have only around 12 engineers at Port Moresby. Fighters at Buna and Lae are ordered over Port Moresby.

Southeast of Tuyun, the new offensive continues. One enemy corps had been defeated before, the other was fresh. Both were out of supply, which probably describes most of the Chinese in northern China.

Ground combat at 89,38 (near Yenan)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33302 troops, 241 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 1050

Defending force 14896 troops, 76 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 342

Japanese adjusted assault: 901

Allied adjusted defense: 199

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1090 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6763 casualties reported
Squads: 140 destroyed, 85 disabled
Non Combat: 166 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 15 (5 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
13th Tank Regiment
40th Division
110th Division
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Mongol Garrison Army

Defending units:
19th Chinese Corps
42nd Chinese Corps
6th Group Army

Even better, the enemy retreated northwest into Yenan, leaving the western road only defended by one small Chinese unit. The advance will continue.

Elsewhere, the 1st Tank Division has been formed at Rangoon. The 2nd Tank Division formed recently at Liuchow in China.