Back and Better Than Ever Vettim 89(A) vs Greasylake(J)

[RangerJoe]

Depending upon the pressure on your Australian units, you can increase the pace of the conversions and have a possibly supply of replacement devices in your pools. Just make sure that you fill out the units with the militia devices before you upgrade up to the infantry devices so you don't have a pile of militia devices in your pools just waiting to slowly convert 6 months after they have been discontinued.

[vettim89]

IJN TF east of Kendari. Anticipate invasion next turn.

And Bataan falls rather unceremoniously. I included the full combat report so you can see the reason for the early demise was the shear force applied by Larry. He will need to clear Manilla of mines before he can start moving these units to other locales. Time will tell if they make it before the end of April

Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 76622 troops, 931 guns, 696 vehicles, Assault Value = 2469

Defending force 38408 troops, 469 guns, 645 vehicles, Assault Value = 681

Japanese adjusted assault: 1075

Allied adjusted defense: 141

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Bataan !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
5395 casualties reported
Squads: 86 destroyed, 189 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 40 (11 destroyed, 29 disabled)
Vehicles lost 42 (16 destroyed, 26 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
20347 casualties reported
Squads: 1436 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2463 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 211 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 427 (427 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 355 (355 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 44

Assaulting units:
20th Division
47th Infantry Regiment
18th Division
9th Infantry Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
38th Division
10th Division
4th Tank Regiment
5th Division
7th Tank Regiment
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
2nd Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
21st PA Infantry Division
71st PA Infantry Division
31st PA Infantry Division
4th Marine Regiment
1st PA Infantry Division
41st PA Infantry Division
57th PS Infantry Regimental Combat Team
91st PA Infantry Division
31st Infantry Regiment
4th PA Constabulary Regiment
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
Provisional GMC Grp
192nd Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
2nd PA Constabulary Regiment
2nd/45th PS Inf Battalion
14th PS Engineer Regiment
2nd PA Constblry HW Regiment
11th PA Infantry Division
Asiatic Fleet
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
PAF Aviation
51st PA Infantry Division
Manila Bay Defenses
Bataan USN Base Force
202nd PA Construction Battalion
1st/45th PS Inf Battalion
USAFFE
I Philippine Corps
II Philippine Corps
Cavite USN Base Force
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
Far East USAAF
Subic Bay Defenses
301st Construction Battalion
1st/43rd PS Inf Battalion
Manila USAAF Base Force
Clark Field USAAF Base Force
3rd/45th PS Inf Battalion
803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion
1st USMC AA Battalion
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
201st PA Construction Battalion
301st PA Field Artillery Regiment

[vettim89]

Larry indicated it took a long time for him to prepare the turn. Suspect lots of troops are either loading or moving to embarkation points.

Kendari is indeed invaded. That's more than what will be necessary to dislodge the defenders but better to bring a little extra vs not enough. Of course he brought AS so expect the ability to move stuff around DEI will be inhibited a bit more going forward

Ground combat at Kendari (70,106)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 596 troops, 6 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 29

Defending force 8807 troops, 99 guns, 105 vehicles, Assault Value = 225

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

Assaulting units:
Kendari Garrison Battalion
Kendari Base Force

Defending units:
146th Infantry Rgt /4
32nd Special Base Force
16th AA Regiment
11th JAAF Base Force

I was a little surprised by the lack of significant surface units here. I had to displace some of my Dutch PBYs so there was a one turn gap in the coverage between Ambon and Kendari. Perhaps there is a SCTF and/or CVTF lurking south of Manado

Pre-Invasion action off Kendari (70,106)

21 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
CL Natori
SC Ch 5
AMC Saigon Maru
E Hashidate

Japanese ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

[vettim89]

There was a CVTF right in the air search gap I noted in my last post. RNN SCTF dodges the bullet of a rather puny air attack

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ruteng at 64,111

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
B5N2 Kate x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CL Tromp
CL Java
CL Sumatra

Kendari falls. No surprise there. No other invasion TF spotted.

[vettim89]

IJN is in the Java Sea. Likely chasing the Dutch SCTF. Not much I can do but this could be done so much more effectively. Everything is heading south or east.

Chase part 2.jpg (288.58 KiB) Viewed 31 times

A day of arrivals. Large convoy arrives at Melbourne with BF, ENG, and most importantly bomber squadrons. Large convoy arrives at Auckland with BF, AAA, and most importantly fighter squadrons. I am beginning to feel more secure in the PM/NE OZ region and around Noumea. Now can start building up around those bases

[vettim89]

Once again the IJN pulls back towards Manadao.

Larry had been bombing Palembang with unescorted Sallies. I snuck a Dutch Hurricane squadron in there hoping for a nice ambush. Guess he saw it coming

Afternoon Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 34

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 4 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
30 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar sweeping at 18000 feet

AN I-boat sinks an AVP off east coast of Oz. The four DDs escorting it did not even attempt a counter attack

Air assault takes Puerto Princesa on Palawan. In three games with Larry I am pretty sure this is the first use of paras

Ground combat at Puerto Princesa (73,83)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1149 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 62

Defending force 184 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 48

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 48 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Puerto Princesa !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Yokosuka 1st SNLF
1st Raiding Rgt /1

Defending units:
2nd PI Base Force