Cruft vs. szmike, Babeslite Scen 1 with 3-day turns

[BBfanboy]

Yes- Singapore is an island and JB is across a strait so it is reachable by large ships. BTW the limit for travel up an estuary is 15K tons displacement.

[Captain Cruft]

30 Dec 1943

The British/Commonwealth armies have crossed the river at Singapore.

This is a much larger force than my bombardment at Johore Bahru had indicated. Still, they should take a while to recover from this assault before having another pop.

He has not attacked Singapore from the air yet, apart from Sweeps by P-38s and P-47s which we just about managed to survive.

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Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 114290 troops, 1905 guns, 2667 vehicles, Assault Value = 3819

Defending force 75417 troops, 682 guns, 395 vehicles, Assault Value = 1984

Allied adjusted assault: 647

Japanese adjusted defense: 20591

Allied assault odds: 1 to 31 (fort level 8)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1858 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 129 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 76 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Guns lost 61 (4 destroyed, 57 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
19692 casualties reported
Squads: 270 destroyed, 858 disabled
Non Combat: 128 destroyed, 306 disabled
Engineers: 58 destroyed, 364 disabled
Guns lost 331 (66 destroyed, 265 disabled)
Vehicles lost 572 (195 destroyed, 377 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
6th British Brigade
9th Indian Division
2nd Recce Regiment
11th (East African) Division
254th Armoured Brigade
5th British Brigade
11th Indian Division
5th Indian Division
XXXIII Corps Engineer Battalion
Gardner's Horse Regiment
4th British Brigade
26th Indian Division
267th Armoured Brigade
25th Indian Division
150th RAC Regiment
70th British Division
9th Australian Division
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
India Command
6th Medium Regiment
XXXIII Indian Corps
77th Heavy AA Regiment
35th Light AA Regiment

Defending units:
5th Division
56th Division
2nd Guards Division
55th Division
Southern Fleet
27th JAAF AF Bn
29th Army
Singapore Det
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
20th AA Regiment
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th JAAF AF Coy
5th JAAF AF Coy
7th Field AF Construction Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
5th Field AF Construction Battalion
3rd Air Division
36th JAAF AF Bn
84th JAAF AF Bn
12th Base Force

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[Captain Cruft]

Camranh Bay is now part of the British Empire

The French are displeased ... I had a single division there, to be resurrected of course.

Also in Indochina, Vinh cannot hold out much longer, which opens the way to Hanoi and Haiphong. Being clear hexes these are totally indefensible. So it will likely only be a month or so (however long it takes to march) before he will be knocking on the gates at Canton. This is way earlier than I had hoped.

On the positive side, the doings at Singapore are giving me a Baldrick moment. More to be revealed later ...

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[Captain Cruft]

02 Jan 1944

It's 1944!

I have despatched the Battlecruiser fleet to Singapore to help keep the Brits awake at night. These bombardments of troops outside bases or in your own bases do not generally seem very effective so I class this as a half-decent result.

The Cunning Plan alluded to last turn will be set in motion.

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Naval bombardment of Singapore at 50,84

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba
DD Minegumo
DD Yamagumo
DD Natsugumo
DD Michishio
DD Oshio
DD Hamanami
DD Okinami

Allied ground losses:
825 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 102 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 50 (1 destroyed, 49 disabled)
Vehicles lost 39 (6 destroyed, 33 disabled)

BB Kirishima firing at 5th Indian/C Division
BB Hiei firing at 5th Indian/A Division
BB Haruna firing at 11th (East African)/ Division
BB Kongo firing at 9th Australian/A Division
CA Kako firing at 2nd British/C Division
CA Furutaka firing at 11th (East African)/ Division
CA Kinugasa firing at 11th (East African)/ Division
CA Aoba firing at 11th (East African)/ Division
DD Minegumo firing at 70th British/A Division
DD Yamagumo firing at 70th British/A Division
DD Natsugumo firing at 5th Indian/C Division
DD Michishio firing at 5th Indian/B Division
DD Oshio firing at 70th British/B Division
DD Hamanami firing at 70th British/B Division
DD Okinami firing at 11th (East African)/ Division

[Captain Cruft]

Kamikaze Activation

I should add that I now have the capability to form Kamikaze units. This is because Saigon has fallen (the rules are not exactly that, but it's the simple version).

Not sure I need to use this right now, but it's a useful option to have.

[RangerJoe]

Kamikaze Activation

I should add that I now have the capability to form Kamikaze units. This is because Saigon has fallen (the rules are not exactly that, but it's the simple version).

Not sure I need to use this right now, but it's a useful option to have.

Actually, any Allied airfield within 21 hexes of certain bases that are named in the manual.

[Captain Cruft]

Build-up at Biak

There is a lot of activity around Biak, and the base is maxed out on both port and airfield.

He is flying Recon over Babeldoab and Peleliu.

So perhaps he favours this route rather than coming straight at the Marianas from Ponape/Eniwetok?

Not much I can do to stop this if Ye Olde Deathstar is deployed.

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[Captain Cruft]

Truk is a wasteland

After the visit by the lovely US Carrier Fleet he has continued to pound Truk with both 4E bombers and Battleships.

As a result the place is completely shagged (technical term).

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[PaxMondo]

30 Dec 1943

The British/Commonwealth armies have crossed the river at Singapore.

Allied ground losses:
19692 casualties reported
Squads: 270 destroyed, 858 disabled
Non Combat: 128 destroyed, 306 disabled
Engineers: 58 destroyed, 364 disabled
Guns lost 331 (66 destroyed, 265 disabled)
Vehicles lost 572 (195 destroyed, 377 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

That's a lot of vehicles, even if 2/3 are MotSupport, that still leaves about 65 armored vehicles (tanks) that were destroyed. I don't know what the replacement rates are in this mod, but I would suspect that is several months of replacements ... ditto the guns, the brit replacement rates on those are usually pretty slow ...

[PaxMondo]

Build-up at Biak

There is a lot of activity around Biak, and the base is maxed out on both port and airfield.

He is flying Recon over Babeldoab and Peleliu.

So perhaps he favours this route rather than coming straight at the Marianas from Ponape/Eniwetok?

Not much I can do to stop this if Ye Olde Deathstar is deployed.

To me it would suggest an attack on the PI ... Mindanao first, followed by Luzon ... far more dangerous to you than the Marianas ...

[Captain Cruft]

05 Jan 1944

He has still not attacked Singapore from the air. I had been expecting Sweeps and 4E bombing to accompany the river crossing.

Most other areas are quiet. Truk continues to be unnecessarily bombarded.

Operation Soggy Biscuit will commence in two turns.

Note: For American viewers a "biscuit" is a cookie. We like to immerse ("dunk") these in tea to create a lovely soggy texture. Yes it's weird.

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