How Can I stop Shock Attacking?

[Rogue188]

Game date: 11APR 42

The first amphibious assault of my campaign is not going well. The AI captured Baker Island and I thought I could slip in and take it back. Long story short, I didn't time things out very well and I am now stuck in the mud. To the attack I committed:

-2nd Marine Regiment
-249th FA Battalion
-102nd Combat Engineers

Since the island had only one Japanese unit, and is small, I figured it would be enough of a force.

I thought wrong.

So I ran the 19th Infantry Regiment in to reinforce the Marines, but they aren't doing well either. Given how early in the war it is, high landing casualties were to be expected, but my forces have been completely unable to dislodge the Japanese. Even though everything is set to bombard/defend, they keep shock attacking on their own. This has resulted in even higher casualties when I all I want is for my guys to stop, regroup, then shock attack.

Frankly my Engineers are doing the best with (77/98) strength and, AV of 34, and low disruption and fatigue.
The infantry is not doing well.

The Marines are (37/70), the disruption has come down from a high of 85 to 2, but their AV is now 21.
The Army is almost done landing, but are (25/80), disruption is 81, and AV 5.

The auto shock attacks are making things worse and I don't know what to do. Should I just keep adding more and more troops?

[Platoonist]

The auto shock attacks are making things worse and I don't know what to do. Should I just keep adding more and more troops?

The problem is that units that do not own the base on an atoll being invaded (i.e., American forces invading a Japanese-held atoll) will mechanically continue to launch shock attacks, which always means higher casualties for the attacker. Given the tiny real estate nature of your average atoll it can't be helped. There's no quiet rear area to pull back to and regroup save the invasion fleet you came in on.

Attacking even a lightly defended atoll is not something you want to improvise or do spur-of-the-moment. What sort of preparation points for Baker Island do the units you are using have? Having those at 100 or close is critical in taking atolls. Did you at least send some ships to do a bombardment in support?

Frankly, I'd just withdraw if you can and let the AI have its little prize of Baker Island. With a port value of zero and an airfield to match and little potential for development it's not that important a location. Then I'd build up the airfield at nearby Canton Island and use that Japanese unit at Baker for bomber practice. At some point it'll become so badly attritted you could probably just walk in and take the place.

[RangerJoe]

The Army is almost done landing, but are (25/80), disruption is 81, and AV 5.

This may be the problem. They will shock attack even when just one squad or device is being landed. Try to unload just supplies and see if it continues. Next time, try landing an armored battalion as well but also have the units properly prepared. Paratroopers being air dropped do not need the preparation to the extent that a sea borne landing needs the units prepared.

[Sardaukar]

Atolls and river crossings cause automatic shock attack.

Bring in tanks and combat engineers next time.

[btd64]

I did the same thing years and years and years ago . Stop your TF from landing more troops and equipment as RJ said and set your troops to defend.. then figure out how much you want the island. If you want it bring in supplies only and once you're ready attack. Or just pull out the troops and use the island for bombardment training..
Curious, what ships did you use? xAK's and xAP's or AK and AP's?....GP

[Rogue188]

I used a mix bag of ships for the assault. The transports were:

Marines- AP, xAP, xAK, and APD. Supporting CAx3, CL, APDx6
Army- AP, xAP, AK, and xAK. Supporting BB and DDx6

There is a Surface TF in the area to cover the landings, but I mistimed the invasion and my bombardment didn't happen. Instead the landing happened first and the TF refused to bombard.

Planning levels (note: they were less when I invaded a week ago)-
Marines: 59
Artillery: 35
Engineers: 37
Army: 29 (they were a rush reinforcement)

It may be cheating but I took a look at the Japanese forces. Somehow some reinforcements were slipped in, but they are all very weak units that have the same or lesser AV. I'm sure the experienced players understand how to be patient, but the AI is very aggressive and I felt that I needed to do something to slow their advance. That is the only reason I invaded.

[RangerJoe]

You are probably overstacked. Withdraw the weakest unit, leave the rest but do not overstack while the remaining units rest/defend, do not attack other than bombard but only if the disruption and fatigue is low. Bombard by ships, bring in lots of supplies. When I state bombard, plan on bombarding at least once per day for one week. The next time that you attack, arrange a massive bombardment with many heavy ships. When you attack, your units should have most if not all of their devices available plus your bombardments should also be getting kills to disablements on a 1:1 ratio or better. Also for your bombardment task forces, group the ships by type including weapons. That is, 6 inch CLs separate from 8 inch CAs, 14 inch armed battleships separate from 15 inch battleships separate from 16 inch battleships. The reason for that separation is each main gun has different minimum and maximum ranges. Include destroyers in each bombardment TF, have ASW TFs as well for minisubs, and minesweeping TFs as well.

As far as invading atolls, there are posts about those attacks.

[Platoonist]

I'm sure the experienced players understand how to be patient, but the AI is very aggressive and I felt that I needed to do something to slow their advance. That is the only reason I invaded.

I can understand wanting to blunt the AI's advance, but Baker seems like the kind of location you just let the AI have as it is so exposed and limited in what it can become. Given its distance from good supporting Japanese bases you could make the place a real liability to the enemy by aerial bombing and hit-and-run bombardment raids with little fear of retaliation. Great for training your forces. Maybe send in the odd minelayer. I recall an old AAR in which a player described Baker as well as a few other tiny atoll locations as becoming Japanese POW camps with time.

Baker.jpg (16.18 KiB) Viewed 748 times

[Sardaukar]

Just asking...why worry about place that size.

Let them have it.

[Rogue188]

It seemed like a quick and easy battle. Something to practice on without much fear of reprisal. Plus I was a little bored as there are few battles the Allied player can initiate early in the war to stop the Japanese expansion into the Pacific.

[RangerJoe]

Well, you can either pull out completely and come back later when you are better prepared, or make sure that your units are not overstacked and with sufficient supplies while you pound the enemy with bombardments.

Again, I suggest that you read about atoll invasions. Because of the limited stacking on atolls, the supply wastage is high so you need to keep bringing in supplies if you are overstacked.

[dcpollay]

Don't invading units On an atoll lose their supply at the end of each day?
If so, they will not be able to build up any additional supply.

Or was that rule changed in some update?

[btd64]

Don't invading units On an atoll lose their supply at the end of each day?
If so, they will not be able to build up any additional supply.

Or was that rule changed in some update?

I don't believe so....GP

[Sardaukar]

They don't lose the supply, but it's consumed at very accelerated rate.

[CaptBeefheart]

The main thing is to stop landing troops, as that will cause your forces to shock attack. Just land supplies. Then figure out if your troops are recovering faster than he's doing damage to them. If they are, then you can stick around, recover while doing shore bombardments, and then attack again. Also, if you are significantly overstacked (say more than 6500) you should probably pull your least effective regiment. It depends how much supply you have in the pipeline.

If you could show us a couple of pictures of your troops and his that would be helpful.

EDIT: For early amphib assaults, like in 1942, you need to use a lot of xAPs, xAKs and xAKLs, the smaller the better, to spread your troops thin so they'll land quickly. You want to land them in one turn if possible. Also, have plenty of small ships with just supplies nearby.

Cheers,
CB