Moses vs WITP_Dude--China AAR

[moses]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/18/42




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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 289510 troops, 2844 guns, 17 vehicles

Defending force 290582 troops, 1592 guns, 76 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
100 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Kweilin

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 34030 troops, 353 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 89155 troops, 456 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Chungking

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 205037 troops, 1468 guns, 76 vehicles

Defending force 312728 troops, 2844 guns, 17 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 ---No way you're going to drive me out of Chungking now that I am dug in. It did cause my heart to beat a litle faster though whrn I saw the shock attack.

Japanese ground losses:
991 casualties reported
Guns lost 41

Allied ground losses:
1564 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 9---very low losses for a shock attack. Must be the fact that both of us are pretty beaten down now.
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Ground combat at Kweilin

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 50518 troops, 317 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 53476 troops, 536 guns, 0 vehicles



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Ground combat at 39,35

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 6955 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 7833 troops, 87 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 --The shock attcaks don't always work!![:D]


Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
299 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

[WiTP_Dude]

We will see if Kweilin falls on the next turn. The Chinese need breathing space.

[moses]

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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 308283 troops, 2807 guns, 18 vehicles

Defending force 288411 troops, 1579 guns, 64 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
18735 casualties reported
Guns lost 287
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
2333 casualties reported
Guns lost 88

Obviously I won't be trying this again. Now that there is clearly a problem with small unit attacks I don't know what to do. Clearly, to me anyway some sort of capabilty is needed to reduce forts. IRL armies just do not impale themselves on the fortifications as I just did here. But attacking with just the engineers now appears to be gamey. I'll try adding an infantry division to my next attack and see what that looks like.

The battle at Kweilin is still unclear. The initial Chinese shock attack failed. They have 12 corps vs 2 Div and 2 Ind BDE's but my guys are dug into wooded terrain. I don't know why a second attack would succeed but who knows. There does appear to be some randomness to the combat results so its possible that he could drive me out.

[WiTP_Dude]

The Chinese need to win somewhere to buy more time. A victory at Kweilin will give them access to the rail line plus they can steal whatever supply you've got stored there. If it ends up being only Chungking left it is only a matter of time before the Japanese can get enough forces there to win.

[moses]

26 May 1942

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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 309463 troops, 2259 guns, 24 vehicles

Defending force 269022 troops, 1537 guns, 72 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
3114 casualties reported
Guns lost 80
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
2745 casualties reported
Guns lost 75


I'm still attacking with my 4 Eng units but am now adding a division to the assault to try and avoid any gameyness. This is the first decent deliberate attack that I have had in Chungking.

China is showing signs of wearing down. He seems to have pulled his bombers out of the country and his offensive at Kweilin seems to have run out of steam. Where 10 days ago it looked like I may have overreached now everything appears to be under control.

I've been bombing his cities steadily for the whole war and now have him down around 300 resourse centers. I don't see how he can long continue.

[WiTP_Dude]

The situation around Chungking. The Japanese hold the eastern approaches while the Chinese control the roads to the west.

[WiTP_Dude]

The Chinese counter-offensive is using 12 Corps to attack Kweilin. A Japanese force approaches Kweiyang from the east.

[moses]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/28/42



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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 288326 troops, 2170 guns, 24 vehicles

Defending force 266783 troops, 1474 guns, 73 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
310 casualties reported




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Ground combat at Kweilin

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 73696 troops, 825 guns, 7 vehicles

Defending force 100721 troops, 432 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
103 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Kweilin

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 91001 troops, 432 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 77236 troops, 825 guns, 7 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)


Japanese ground losses:
879 casualties reported
Guns lost 20

Allied ground losses:
727 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

The counteroffensive is halted
29 May1942
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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 309762 troops, 2208 guns, 27 vehicles

Defending force 267712 troops, 1506 guns, 73 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
3034 casualties reported
Guns lost 119
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
2013 casualties reported
Guns lost 46

[moses]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/06/42

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Day Air attack on Chengtu , at 41,29

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
Ki-21 Sally x 55
Ki-15 Babs x 6

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 8 destroyed, 10 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
C-47 Dakota: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged


Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported

Resources hits 10
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
13 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 6000 feet




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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 272163 troops, 2024 guns, 21 vehicles

Defending force 265832 troops, 1470 guns, 74 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
205 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Chungking

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 183078 troops, 1336 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 311994 troops, 2068 guns, 21 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported


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Ground combat at 39,35

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3304 troops, 14 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 7971 troops, 90 guns, 0 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
2 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


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Ground combat at 39,35

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7971 troops, 90 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 12705 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 12 to 1 --A strange battle between half of a Japanese Bde against a Chinese division and a corps in the wooded hes nest to the road to Kumming. These units have been bombarding each other here for a week or two and the fact that I was able to retreat them at 12 to 1 in a wooded hex was surpriseing.

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!


By my estimate the total Chinese production is 268 sp per turn. I have been in Chungking for over a month and have begun enveloping operations there. Ultimately what matters is at what point the Chinese will run out of supplies. WITP_DUDE pulled his bombers out in the last week and suddenly his fighter force has dropped in size. Too bad because he was just beginning to get good kill ratio's against my zero's and Sallies.

I have no way of knowing when the final collapse will occur. Once he runs out of free supply in his cities he will not be able to maintain fighter cover. The destruction of his remaining industry will follow quickly and the destruction of his armies will not be far behind. On the other hand if he has 20K of free supply we could be fighting like we are for months.

[moses]

22 June 42:

Battle has settled into a stalemate with the Chinese dug into Chungking and Kweiyang and with my forces unable to dig them out. I have stopped trying to reduce the Chungking fortifications as all it does is produce casualties to my forces. We just trade bombardments now.

WITP_Dudes air force has stiffened considerably and for a week or so contolled the skies over its bases. For the first time my zero's were getting shot down by P-40's and spitfires at a 2-1 or 3-1 ratio. He has not maintained this air cover continuously however and I was able to reduce his supply point production to 259 sp per turn. I have not seen a Chinese bomber for a couple weeks.

[WiTP_Dude]

Not much happening right now. The Chungking fortifications are slowly rebuilding since attacks have stopped. Supply stockpiles have decreased for the Chinese but units still have enough for defense.

[moses]

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Ground combat at 42,31

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 25046 troops, 160 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 41695 troops, 445 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
207 casualties reported
Guns lost 15

Allied ground losses:
578 casualties reported
Guns lost 18


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!


My envelopment operation at Chungking fails due to a follow command problem. My troops had been marching for several weeks but arrived peacemeal and were retreated befor the entire force arrived. I stopped my southern pincer as its units had separated and would have suffered the same fate.

The truth is that the operation would probably have failed even had the units arrived together. The defensive position based on Chungking and Kweiyang is very tough. I can only hope that my supply calculations are correct and his position is not supportable long term. It is doubtful that his poition will be cracked before 43 if he has enough supply. Still I will start planning my next operation and see what happens.

[WiTP_Dude]

The Chinese high command is currently reorganizing and preparing for a long siege. I think if you ever want to take Chungking you will have to encircle it. There are a lot of Japanese reinforcements coming over the next several months, they should help.

[moses]

3 July 42.

The stalemate continues I have a plan for my next offensive but it will take a while to get going and in the meantime we just bombard in Chungking. I did get in one good city attack which reduced Chengtu to 110 resourses. I'm estimating his production at 240 SP per day now.

He has brought in a bunch of fighters now and has them spread all over. He even based some at Kweiyang and shot up some Ann's that had been bombing that city.

Its all about supply now. If Dude had 100K of free supply in one of his cities he could last forever. I don't see though how he can be bringing in more than 300sp per day by air which gives him a monthly supply of under 20,000 supply points. Now the starting Japanese army needs over 50,000 sp per month while at rest. So he has to be running a deficit.

[WiTP_Dude]

I think if I can make it to 12/42 you will be in trouble. The Chinese infantry squads' anti-soft value goes from 13 to 18. It's another year until the Commando upgrades; then you are really cooked. Of course I'll probably be dead by then.

[moses]

OK I have a plan. But I did a lot of damage with my experiment in Chungking. No way to take that city directly. I'm having to rebuild parts of my army and then move all the pieces to the right place. This is where we need to be able to switch to 3 day turns.

[moses]

1 August 1942:

Fot the month of July the main action was at Kweiyang where it has proved very difficult for WITP_DUDE to stop my bombing atacks against that city. KEY LESSON: Range is very important in air battles. The P40 matches up well with the zero when the zero is at range 6 against a P40 flying CAP. At range 3 against a P40 flying LRCAP from 3 hexes the zero is tough. Of course everyone knew range was important but this battle has been a striking illustration of how important. He had basically stopped my air offensive until I shifted to the closer target. Now even though he pretty muchknows where I am going to attack its hard for him to do much about it. By bombing Kwieyang I get a lot of supply hits, force him to keep repairing that airfield( its at 65 damage right now) and keep all his troops there drawing combat supply. Plus I keep them a little bit disrupted which means morale cannot inprove. His flak has been non-existant for weeks now so often my planes get a moral boast every time they attack. (Successful mission/no losses=high morale.)

Other than this the battle at Chungking continues with both sides bombarding pointlessly each turn. It looks as if Dude may be attempting an offensive now as 6 or 7 corps are advancing south and 10 corps or so north of Chungking. I'll have to watch this. He has pulled troops out of Kwieyang and there are now 34 units there. Strange thing about recon is outside of the cities you send a couple recons and you get a number of troops. In cities all you get is a number of units. For all I know Kwieyang is just a graveyard for all his worthless units. Or it could be 25 corps there.

[WiTP_Dude]

Mid-August and I have moved most units out of Kweiyang. Chungking is still strongly held.

[moses]

Late August. His units never really moved out of Kwieyang. He just moved the bulk of them one hex down the road. As I approached he moves more back in. I'm guessing this reduces the amount of supply in Kwieyang and so my supply hits are less effective.

The big breakthrough around Chungking may finally be at hand. My troops have crossed the river in strength north of Chungking. If nothing else some serious fighting should be at hand. But it seems possible that a decisive result could be at hand. It is also possible that I could get a large force cut off and destroyed so I need to be careful.

[moses]

29 August 42:

Chungking is now effectively surrounded although it is unclear if I will be able to maintain the blokade. His bombardments have suddanly seemed less effective lately.