We are up to December 20 now, here is the situation.
The Chinese slapped the 3 Japanese divisions on the map South East of Wuhan, they ran back to the city with their tail between thier legs. The Japanese are moving troops to Homan, which has over 100,000 defenders so I hope Blackwatch goes for it. I am preparing to go after Hysiang on the rail line but that attack will not come off until January. I will cut the RR before then but I would really like a fort on the middle of it.
The Japanese advance into Burma stopped in the same hex as the British blocking force. More Japs are coming up so I am going to bombard and see how strong he is. No serious action yet but its coming. In the North most of the Chinese 28th Division in unloaded and I am starting on the 29th, God bless those Dutch for sending thier transports.
India got its first squadron of heavy bombers, the 7th US bomber group arrived in Dacca and will soon go to work. I am moving large numbers of troops to certain areas I want to fortify, once the forts reach a decent level I will re-deploy to other important locations. I figure its better to have some really strong points and other really weak ones than to have a whole bunch of level 2 forts.
At sea the evacuation force for Georgetown is now a day or two out of the port. I have moved the AVG into Malaya to CAP this force, I think that will be enough to get most of the troops in the North out.
In Malaya Alor Star fell a few days ago. The Japanese army split some going to Georgetown and others to the base SE of it where I have more Brits waiting for them. I am not sure if either place will hold long enough but I hope they do. Georgetown has about 10,000 base force troops and a level 5 fort so its not just the 4 defeated brigades from Alor Star trying to hold it. Further South Mersing is strong, the Japanese will not break that postition but I will have to evacuate it soon.
Further South Palambang continues to hold out even against shock attacks. Guess the PoW sinking the first wave of transports really has wrecked Blackwatch's time table for the base there. A big force of Japanese BBs is bombarding Batavia, they are damaging some merchant ships and causing casualties but the air base is empty and it does not bother me much. Off Soerbaja the Allied torpedo bombers finally put a fish into Kongo, and I also dropped a bomb on Haruna. The bomb won't hurt much but the torpedo set a fire and I am hoping the damage will take a little while to repair.
Balikpapan is still allied and flying planes, I have Wirraways and Curtis Hawks bombing shipping in Samarinda every day. Otherwise the story in the NEI is grim, all the big airbases on the North side of the Java Sea are Japanese now, and he is killing shipping that fled the Philipines with LBA. I have to stay South of Java -- Timor to keep ships alive now. I have started moving some Wirraways into the area and they are hitting things from time to time. Japanese LBA and Zeros are in the area in strength but we have not had any big air battles yet. The longer we go before those happen the better, I don't want to feed Blackwatch planes at the top of the Zero bonus. Instead I am flying just about everything on Naval or other attack missions and scoring some hits if few kills.
The Japanese just moved into Clark Field in the Philipines, I am going to shock attack and see if I can push him back out. I have just about everything there, so maybe I will win. I have had some luck using the fighters in the Philipines on Naval attacks. I evacuated the B17s, but the P26s, P35s and some P40s are regularly hitting Japanese merchant ships with small bombs and machine gun bullets. Its not much but every little bit helps.
In the Solomons the Japanese just landed at Lunga. I have a base force at Luganville with a Squadron of Hudsons and some more stuff on the way but the whole area is weak. Wirraways based in Port Moresby are bombing everything they can find, partly to damage Japanese shipping and partly to get experience.
In Centpac KB is now just North of Canton Island. Enterprise just drained all the fuel from Pago Pago, the same way Lexington drained Canton. Tankers are on the way, the first West coast convoys are reaching Pearl in the next few days but its still shortage, shortage, shortage when it come to supply and fuel in the Pacific right now. Saratoga is at Christmas Island, she will link up with Lexington there. If I know where KB is, and its not near Tarawa I will raid that area again soon. Meantime Enterprise is going to cause some mischief in the Solomons, at Port Moresby or near Timor depending.
Looking at strategy I have decided to split the US CVs up in the early game and use them to make the Japanese advance expensive. I plan to be very careful with them, but I want them to be active to throw Blackwatch off plan. China is doing pretty well so I feel fine about moving more Chinese troops to Burma. I am also getting India ready as fast as possible. I want to get base forces and brigades out of Malaya to bolster the defense of India. I have a large convoy on the way, if it gets there in time I think I can get in, evacuate and then run before Blackwatch can get the Zeros he will need to escort the bombers forces in the area.
More generally I am trying to get forces into place to stop Blackwatch in Noumea, India North Oz and Canton Island. If I can cause a battle for Timor I will, but I am afraid its too late to hold it. I am also planning a hard fight for Java. Because Blackwatch is pushing hard in the Solomons and near Timor I am forced to move my defense to Java and Bali, and I have already managed to pull some Dutch forces back from the periphery to the big Island as well as get some additional aircraft in. I think I can make it a tough nut to crack, its already taking a sizable toll in Japanese shipping if I can keep it alive I can keep the attrition rate up.
The Imperialism, the war against Blackwatch
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
2 weeks of war
Dec 21-23 1941
India/Burma A force of 5 Brigades is blocking the Japanese advance into Burma. So far so good, the Japanese are stopped 2 hexes outside of Rangoon and so far the numbers are about equal so it shows no signs of movement. The Burmese Brigades that start the game on the Thai border have almost made it out of the Jungle and the Chinese have already flown in about a division in the North of the country. Burma is not getting re-inforced but its doing fine for now. Elsewhere in India the SE Asia HQ is in Ledo pushing the pace of airfield construction, other units are scattered around the country with their engineers construction forts and airfields. India is not ready, but its getting more ready every day. The first Hurricanes arrive in January and there is another big re-inforcement in mid January, plus a number of troops are coming from Malaya and all together that will help me build a solid defense.
In Malaya the new motto is Save Qui Peu! Georgetown fell just as the evacuation force arrived, the garrison held on for all of one day before this:
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 103488 troops, 1143 guns, 34 vehicles
Defending force 13201 troops, 73 guns, 2 vehicles
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese assault odds: 44 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Georgetown base !!!
Allied ground losses:
24977 casualties reported
Guns lost 129
All in all I lost 40,000 troops in the North, leaving me with about 50,000 in the whole of Malaya now. There is no way to stop the Japanese advance so I am getting as many people out as possible. On the 21st I hit the airfield at Alor Star with everything that would fly:
Allied aircraft
Sea Gladiator x 5
Buffalo I x 13
Blenheim I x 16
Blenheim IV x 16
Hudson I x 20
B-17E Fortress x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed
Ki-30 Ann: 4 destroyed
And I got 19 planes on the ground that day, between that and the AVG flying CAP the Japanese have been unable to hit my shipping. There is now a sizable TF at Kuala Lumpur that is loading 6 brigades of troops, base forces and Malay working girls for eventual delivery to India. Blackwatch has most of his really dangerous air units in the NEI and South Pacific if this stays true I will drop this force at Sabang and run back down the Malacca straight to get the rest of the army. If I see lots of Zeros and Betties show up I will head for India. The trick is to run one big convoy and get everyone out within a day or two.
Blackwatch’s strategy for Malaya got me a second time, he invaded Mersing to pin the troops in the South in place then built up in the North and came South with overwhelming force in the second week of the war. Now, in the third week Malaya is done, though it won’t fall for a while yet because of march time. I should have moved more troops North initially but I could not tell how much stuff would land at Mersing. My situation is not horrible, I will get a lot of troops out, but Blackwatch has already won this one.
China is in a maneuver stage. Japanese troops are at Ichang which has a small garrison now, but 5 divisions within a couple of hexes. Blackwatch is going to try to surround my troops that are North of Wuhan, I am going to try and surround him at Ichang. In the end a bunch of Chinese and Japanese troops will go away and we will be where we started.
In the Dutch East Indies Blackwatch continues to gain ground in Borneo, on the 22nd he invaded Sinkwang and on the 23rd Balikpapan fell to assault. Japan also took Palamebang on the 23rd after a battle lasting 16 days. The surviving defenders retreated North and they all deserve medals for holding off 15-20,000 Japanese with only 2,000 defenders for so long.
The Japanese have left the Java sea due to the many air attacks I was making. They are cleaning out the bases that I have been using to drop bombs on their merchant shipping so his ship loss rate is going down. I am trying to fly my planes on missions as much as possible to build up experience and it seems to be working. We have yet to have any big multi day air battles, which is good for the allies because it allows strength to be built up. The Dutch are also pulling in isolated base forces and battalions to strengthen Java, I hope to have a good reception ready when the Japanese come. There is also a powerful Cruiser TF forming up at Darwin and some US base forces that were cut off and isolated by the Japanese attack in the Philipines have been evactuated and are arriving at Darwin now. They need supply to build back up and that supply will be coming in from India soon so in a few weeks I will be able to fight back in the Timor area.
The Philipines are doing well. The Japanese are back in Clark Field after an earlier repulse, I deliberate attacked them and inflicted more losses than I took even at 0 to 1 odds. Next turn I will bombard. US fighters have been bombing and strafing Japanese shipping in the area, I put them all on Naval missions and I like the result:
Day Air attack on TF at 36,61
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 31
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
PC Ch 1, Shell hits 16
PG Chohakusan Maru, Shell hits 4
PG Kure Maru #5
PC Kyo Maru #13, Shell hits 4
PG Chiyo Maru, Shell hits 8
This is typical, a day later the same group caught a single AP and did heavy damage with 28 shell hits, sometimes they even drop a bomb or two. The P26s and P35s are also doing damage though their smaller numbers mean they don’t accomplish as much. In addition to damaging the Japanese ships the groups are getting more experienced, this fighter group is up to 65 xp now.
Further East and South in the New Guinea area things have gotten quiet. I have 3 groups of Wirrarys in Port Moresby that are bombing Buna for practice but there are no Japanese ships in the area. The Enterprise is in Noumea now, she is steaming around the Pacific sucking up all the fuel she can find, so far she has drained Pago Pago, Nandi and Noumea. I plan to have her do some mischief in the Solomons or near New Guinea in a week or two.
In Oz itself I am working up the position in the Townsville to Cooktown area. I have also started converting Hudsons to Beauforts. The Beauforts will go to the defense of Java and Timor in the hopes of putting some fish into the more valuable Japanese ships that I am sure will show up there soon.
In the Central Pacific the Japanese took the waterless, guano covered empty beaches of Baker Island with cover from KB on the 22nd. I have Saratoga and Lexington in the area with an AO and I may move in for a raid in a few days. I have lost KB at the moment but I think he has to refuel and re-arm after steaming from a position South of Midway to Baker at full speed and striking Pearl for two days and Baker for one. So I will wait a day or two and then see if there is anything to sink at Baker. If I time it right KB will come East in the Central Pacific and then Enterprise will hit in the South Pacific and pull off a nice little raid of her own. Alternately I may keep the Big E hidden and move her closer to Timor to provide a bit of extra punch in that area.
At sea the Repulse just picked up some MSW escort at Darwin and is now on her way to the West Coast ports. The PoW is about 3 days out from Darwin and will follow Repulse to Frisco for a new paint job and installation of a Jacuzzi in the Admirals cabin. There are submarines on the route but other than that threat nothing is between them and repairs except 45 days of steaming through the middle of nowhere.
On the convoy routes the first troops from the US West coast are reaching Canton Island and fuel tankers are a few days behind. Ships from Karachi are still two weeks from supplying Darwin and Koepang but once that supply arrives my units in the area will start to repair faster and we can begin the build up for the next round of Japanese offensives.
India/Burma A force of 5 Brigades is blocking the Japanese advance into Burma. So far so good, the Japanese are stopped 2 hexes outside of Rangoon and so far the numbers are about equal so it shows no signs of movement. The Burmese Brigades that start the game on the Thai border have almost made it out of the Jungle and the Chinese have already flown in about a division in the North of the country. Burma is not getting re-inforced but its doing fine for now. Elsewhere in India the SE Asia HQ is in Ledo pushing the pace of airfield construction, other units are scattered around the country with their engineers construction forts and airfields. India is not ready, but its getting more ready every day. The first Hurricanes arrive in January and there is another big re-inforcement in mid January, plus a number of troops are coming from Malaya and all together that will help me build a solid defense.
In Malaya the new motto is Save Qui Peu! Georgetown fell just as the evacuation force arrived, the garrison held on for all of one day before this:
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 103488 troops, 1143 guns, 34 vehicles
Defending force 13201 troops, 73 guns, 2 vehicles
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese assault odds: 44 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Georgetown base !!!
Allied ground losses:
24977 casualties reported
Guns lost 129
All in all I lost 40,000 troops in the North, leaving me with about 50,000 in the whole of Malaya now. There is no way to stop the Japanese advance so I am getting as many people out as possible. On the 21st I hit the airfield at Alor Star with everything that would fly:
Allied aircraft
Sea Gladiator x 5
Buffalo I x 13
Blenheim I x 16
Blenheim IV x 16
Hudson I x 20
B-17E Fortress x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed
Ki-30 Ann: 4 destroyed
And I got 19 planes on the ground that day, between that and the AVG flying CAP the Japanese have been unable to hit my shipping. There is now a sizable TF at Kuala Lumpur that is loading 6 brigades of troops, base forces and Malay working girls for eventual delivery to India. Blackwatch has most of his really dangerous air units in the NEI and South Pacific if this stays true I will drop this force at Sabang and run back down the Malacca straight to get the rest of the army. If I see lots of Zeros and Betties show up I will head for India. The trick is to run one big convoy and get everyone out within a day or two.
Blackwatch’s strategy for Malaya got me a second time, he invaded Mersing to pin the troops in the South in place then built up in the North and came South with overwhelming force in the second week of the war. Now, in the third week Malaya is done, though it won’t fall for a while yet because of march time. I should have moved more troops North initially but I could not tell how much stuff would land at Mersing. My situation is not horrible, I will get a lot of troops out, but Blackwatch has already won this one.
China is in a maneuver stage. Japanese troops are at Ichang which has a small garrison now, but 5 divisions within a couple of hexes. Blackwatch is going to try to surround my troops that are North of Wuhan, I am going to try and surround him at Ichang. In the end a bunch of Chinese and Japanese troops will go away and we will be where we started.
In the Dutch East Indies Blackwatch continues to gain ground in Borneo, on the 22nd he invaded Sinkwang and on the 23rd Balikpapan fell to assault. Japan also took Palamebang on the 23rd after a battle lasting 16 days. The surviving defenders retreated North and they all deserve medals for holding off 15-20,000 Japanese with only 2,000 defenders for so long.
The Japanese have left the Java sea due to the many air attacks I was making. They are cleaning out the bases that I have been using to drop bombs on their merchant shipping so his ship loss rate is going down. I am trying to fly my planes on missions as much as possible to build up experience and it seems to be working. We have yet to have any big multi day air battles, which is good for the allies because it allows strength to be built up. The Dutch are also pulling in isolated base forces and battalions to strengthen Java, I hope to have a good reception ready when the Japanese come. There is also a powerful Cruiser TF forming up at Darwin and some US base forces that were cut off and isolated by the Japanese attack in the Philipines have been evactuated and are arriving at Darwin now. They need supply to build back up and that supply will be coming in from India soon so in a few weeks I will be able to fight back in the Timor area.
The Philipines are doing well. The Japanese are back in Clark Field after an earlier repulse, I deliberate attacked them and inflicted more losses than I took even at 0 to 1 odds. Next turn I will bombard. US fighters have been bombing and strafing Japanese shipping in the area, I put them all on Naval missions and I like the result:
Day Air attack on TF at 36,61
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 31
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
PC Ch 1, Shell hits 16
PG Chohakusan Maru, Shell hits 4
PG Kure Maru #5
PC Kyo Maru #13, Shell hits 4
PG Chiyo Maru, Shell hits 8
This is typical, a day later the same group caught a single AP and did heavy damage with 28 shell hits, sometimes they even drop a bomb or two. The P26s and P35s are also doing damage though their smaller numbers mean they don’t accomplish as much. In addition to damaging the Japanese ships the groups are getting more experienced, this fighter group is up to 65 xp now.
Further East and South in the New Guinea area things have gotten quiet. I have 3 groups of Wirrarys in Port Moresby that are bombing Buna for practice but there are no Japanese ships in the area. The Enterprise is in Noumea now, she is steaming around the Pacific sucking up all the fuel she can find, so far she has drained Pago Pago, Nandi and Noumea. I plan to have her do some mischief in the Solomons or near New Guinea in a week or two.
In Oz itself I am working up the position in the Townsville to Cooktown area. I have also started converting Hudsons to Beauforts. The Beauforts will go to the defense of Java and Timor in the hopes of putting some fish into the more valuable Japanese ships that I am sure will show up there soon.
In the Central Pacific the Japanese took the waterless, guano covered empty beaches of Baker Island with cover from KB on the 22nd. I have Saratoga and Lexington in the area with an AO and I may move in for a raid in a few days. I have lost KB at the moment but I think he has to refuel and re-arm after steaming from a position South of Midway to Baker at full speed and striking Pearl for two days and Baker for one. So I will wait a day or two and then see if there is anything to sink at Baker. If I time it right KB will come East in the Central Pacific and then Enterprise will hit in the South Pacific and pull off a nice little raid of her own. Alternately I may keep the Big E hidden and move her closer to Timor to provide a bit of extra punch in that area.
At sea the Repulse just picked up some MSW escort at Darwin and is now on her way to the West Coast ports. The PoW is about 3 days out from Darwin and will follow Repulse to Frisco for a new paint job and installation of a Jacuzzi in the Admirals cabin. There are submarines on the route but other than that threat nothing is between them and repairs except 45 days of steaming through the middle of nowhere.
On the convoy routes the first troops from the US West coast are reaching Canton Island and fuel tankers are a few days behind. Ships from Karachi are still two weeks from supplying Darwin and Koepang but once that supply arrives my units in the area will start to repair faster and we can begin the build up for the next round of Japanese offensives.
- Attachments
-
- 2 weeks war.jpg (51.01 KiB) Viewed 221 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Christmas Presents for the Emporer
I am going to cover the US CVs first, then work my way round the Pacific.
On the 24th the Enterprise ran over a Japanese submarine that reported her position between Fiji and Noumea. The sub got pummeled by the Big E's escort group, and then sunk by another ASW group traveling in the same area. This showed Blacwatch a likely location for my CVs without any loss to me. At the same time I had Sara and Lexington moving towards Baker to clean up transports in that area.
On the 25th nothing much happened in the Central Pacific, but on the 26th the US CVs got into position and found a bunch of training targets provided by the Emporer:
Day Air attack on TF, near Baker Island at 94,92
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 15
SBD Dauntless x 48
TBD Devastator x 23
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
PG Ikunta Maru, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
PC Shonon Maru #11
AP Chifuku Maru
PC Kyo Maru #7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Toyotsu Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PG Daido Maru, Torpedo hits 1
PG Chokai Maru
AP Aratama Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PC Fumi Maru #3, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
There were multiple rounds of combat, 4 ships sunk on the first day, and then the two forces seperated. Not strategically significant but still fun to do, and my bomber groups on the CVs are climbing into the mid 80s in XP now.
India/Burma: There is a stalemate East of Rangoon where 17,000 Allied troops are confronting 33,000 Japanese. The allied troops are fortified and have good air support at the moment. More troops are on the way and the Chinese continue to put more stuff into the North of the country. I think Burma will be ok until some time after Singapore falls, then the Japanese can send a strong force and push me back into the North of the country. By then I should have 5-6 Divisions of Chinese up there, and I am not sure Blackwatch will expect that so maybe I can suprise him up there.
More base forces from SE Asia are coming off ships and into India. 18,000 men were evacuted from Malaya recently and they will head to various places along the Indian coast. The 18th Division is staying at Karachi for the moment while I see how much stuff gets out of Malaya but I will bring it forward to Ceylon or Calcutta if a big Japanese invasion does not materialize in South India.
The Malay house of cards continues to collapse, the only good news is that I am not losing troops any more because my evac TFs are in place now. I won't get everyone out, but it looks like the two Aussie Brigades and MAF avaiation will be on the next set of transports. Some RAF HQs and some base force components have already been flown to Sabang, in the end I will get 30,000 to 40,000 troops out, which is half the starting force there. Except for the Aussies they will all go to India to recover and defend. The Aussies will go to Java or Timor depending on the pace of Japanese advance. As of the 27th of December the Japanese are about to march into Malacca, and they invaded and took an empty Kuantan a few days ago.
In the NEI the lighting advance of the Japanese continues. I have pulled a few defense battalions in from outlying bases to strengthen Java, and I rested the allied air force for a few days but the pressure is definitely on.
On December 24th Sinkawang fell, on the 26th it was Pontianak's turn ending resistance in North Borneo. Japanese bombers have been visiting Batavia and Soerbaja in strength though casualties have been light because I have moved most of my planes out of Batavia and Soerbaja has a strong (by Dutch standards) CAP of Hawks, and I just added 20 P40Bs. There is a large group of P40Es that have been bombing and strafing Japanese shipping in the Philipines that I just flew out and is now at Timor, they will head for Java soon and I will pull back the P40Bs. Java is as ready as it can be, and Bali has been reinforced with troops evacuated from Borneo so I have multiple airfields ready to go with a fair number of bombers and fighters available. I am also going to send Beuforts from Oz but I don't have the PPs to transfer them yet.
Down at Darwin there is a group of 2 CAs, 4 CLs and 8 DDs ready for action. They will likely move to a position off the coast of Java somewhere near Bali and wait for an opportunity. I am going to put the 4 remaining Dutch PTs at Bali and have the big TF follow the PTs in, maybe the PTs cause the Japanese to burn ammo and fatigue themselves a bit before the real combat starts, worth a try any way.
Enterprise is at Noumea, sucking up all the fuel, the whole South Pacific is dry, tankers are coming in 2 weeks. So she will have to operate from Oz. Reinforcements to SouthPac are also 2-3 weeks away. The Japanese raided Port Moresby in force and blew up some Wirraways, I evacuated the rest, I am not moving into PM until I am much stronger, if I move in at all.
Finally in China Ichang fell on the 24th, it was lightly Garrisoned. There are 40,000 Japanese there, 35,000 Chinese just West of town, and another 40,000 Chinese South East on the rail line. We will see if I can cut him off and force a retreat or if the battle goes some other way.
Strategy wise I am trying to keep my P40Bs intact so that I can base them with strong 2 engine bomber groups at key locations like Noumea. If KB comes to play the bombers will not fly without escort and the 40B is the only escort with the range to reach KB. Last time around I did not understand this until it was too late and most of the P40Bs were shot down. This time I am preparing the LBA for KB right from the start.
Finally before I forget the Philipines have been active. The Japanese moved into Clark Field, stayed for 3 days and were thrown out by a shock attack:
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 34622 troops, 339 guns, 145 vehicles
Defending force 25535 troops, 203 guns, 143 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 7 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
1695 casualties reported
Guns lost 15
Vehicles lost 14
Allied ground losses:
767 casualties reported
Guns lost 26
Vehicles lost 6
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
That should slow Blackwatch down for a bit. Elsewhere on the island the Japanese defeated 2 Philipine divisions at Tuguegarao forcing them back to Apari. Once they are destroyed 20,000 additional Japanese will join the main army and the battle for Clark will start for real.
Japanese air raids on Manila have sunk a few remaining ships in the harbor. I actually got 3 base forces out of the Northern part of the island before Blackwatch realized what I was doing, they are in Darwin and Cooktown now. But now its too dangerous and most of the troops in the Islands are going to die there. At least I am hurting the Japanese some, if I am going to lose I want to either evacuate or cause casualties.
On the 24th the Enterprise ran over a Japanese submarine that reported her position between Fiji and Noumea. The sub got pummeled by the Big E's escort group, and then sunk by another ASW group traveling in the same area. This showed Blacwatch a likely location for my CVs without any loss to me. At the same time I had Sara and Lexington moving towards Baker to clean up transports in that area.
On the 25th nothing much happened in the Central Pacific, but on the 26th the US CVs got into position and found a bunch of training targets provided by the Emporer:
Day Air attack on TF, near Baker Island at 94,92
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 15
SBD Dauntless x 48
TBD Devastator x 23
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
PG Ikunta Maru, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
PC Shonon Maru #11
AP Chifuku Maru
PC Kyo Maru #7, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Toyotsu Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PG Daido Maru, Torpedo hits 1
PG Chokai Maru
AP Aratama Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PC Fumi Maru #3, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
There were multiple rounds of combat, 4 ships sunk on the first day, and then the two forces seperated. Not strategically significant but still fun to do, and my bomber groups on the CVs are climbing into the mid 80s in XP now.
India/Burma: There is a stalemate East of Rangoon where 17,000 Allied troops are confronting 33,000 Japanese. The allied troops are fortified and have good air support at the moment. More troops are on the way and the Chinese continue to put more stuff into the North of the country. I think Burma will be ok until some time after Singapore falls, then the Japanese can send a strong force and push me back into the North of the country. By then I should have 5-6 Divisions of Chinese up there, and I am not sure Blackwatch will expect that so maybe I can suprise him up there.
More base forces from SE Asia are coming off ships and into India. 18,000 men were evacuted from Malaya recently and they will head to various places along the Indian coast. The 18th Division is staying at Karachi for the moment while I see how much stuff gets out of Malaya but I will bring it forward to Ceylon or Calcutta if a big Japanese invasion does not materialize in South India.
The Malay house of cards continues to collapse, the only good news is that I am not losing troops any more because my evac TFs are in place now. I won't get everyone out, but it looks like the two Aussie Brigades and MAF avaiation will be on the next set of transports. Some RAF HQs and some base force components have already been flown to Sabang, in the end I will get 30,000 to 40,000 troops out, which is half the starting force there. Except for the Aussies they will all go to India to recover and defend. The Aussies will go to Java or Timor depending on the pace of Japanese advance. As of the 27th of December the Japanese are about to march into Malacca, and they invaded and took an empty Kuantan a few days ago.
In the NEI the lighting advance of the Japanese continues. I have pulled a few defense battalions in from outlying bases to strengthen Java, and I rested the allied air force for a few days but the pressure is definitely on.
On December 24th Sinkawang fell, on the 26th it was Pontianak's turn ending resistance in North Borneo. Japanese bombers have been visiting Batavia and Soerbaja in strength though casualties have been light because I have moved most of my planes out of Batavia and Soerbaja has a strong (by Dutch standards) CAP of Hawks, and I just added 20 P40Bs. There is a large group of P40Es that have been bombing and strafing Japanese shipping in the Philipines that I just flew out and is now at Timor, they will head for Java soon and I will pull back the P40Bs. Java is as ready as it can be, and Bali has been reinforced with troops evacuated from Borneo so I have multiple airfields ready to go with a fair number of bombers and fighters available. I am also going to send Beuforts from Oz but I don't have the PPs to transfer them yet.
Down at Darwin there is a group of 2 CAs, 4 CLs and 8 DDs ready for action. They will likely move to a position off the coast of Java somewhere near Bali and wait for an opportunity. I am going to put the 4 remaining Dutch PTs at Bali and have the big TF follow the PTs in, maybe the PTs cause the Japanese to burn ammo and fatigue themselves a bit before the real combat starts, worth a try any way.
Enterprise is at Noumea, sucking up all the fuel, the whole South Pacific is dry, tankers are coming in 2 weeks. So she will have to operate from Oz. Reinforcements to SouthPac are also 2-3 weeks away. The Japanese raided Port Moresby in force and blew up some Wirraways, I evacuated the rest, I am not moving into PM until I am much stronger, if I move in at all.
Finally in China Ichang fell on the 24th, it was lightly Garrisoned. There are 40,000 Japanese there, 35,000 Chinese just West of town, and another 40,000 Chinese South East on the rail line. We will see if I can cut him off and force a retreat or if the battle goes some other way.
Strategy wise I am trying to keep my P40Bs intact so that I can base them with strong 2 engine bomber groups at key locations like Noumea. If KB comes to play the bombers will not fly without escort and the 40B is the only escort with the range to reach KB. Last time around I did not understand this until it was too late and most of the P40Bs were shot down. This time I am preparing the LBA for KB right from the start.
Finally before I forget the Philipines have been active. The Japanese moved into Clark Field, stayed for 3 days and were thrown out by a shock attack:
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 34622 troops, 339 guns, 145 vehicles
Defending force 25535 troops, 203 guns, 143 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 7 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
1695 casualties reported
Guns lost 15
Vehicles lost 14
Allied ground losses:
767 casualties reported
Guns lost 26
Vehicles lost 6
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
That should slow Blackwatch down for a bit. Elsewhere on the island the Japanese defeated 2 Philipine divisions at Tuguegarao forcing them back to Apari. Once they are destroyed 20,000 additional Japanese will join the main army and the battle for Clark will start for real.
Japanese air raids on Manila have sunk a few remaining ships in the harbor. I actually got 3 base forces out of the Northern part of the island before Blackwatch realized what I was doing, they are in Darwin and Cooktown now. But now its too dangerous and most of the troops in the Islands are going to die there. At least I am hurting the Japanese some, if I am going to lose I want to either evacuate or cause casualties.
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Statistics
Here is the Intel screen
10% of the Allied ships sunk are PT boats, another 10% are Battleships, on the Japanese side nearly 20% are PCs or PGs. Our CL losses are about the same, and our DD losses are close as well, only one CA has been sunk so far in the war.
10% of the Allied ships sunk are PT boats, another 10% are Battleships, on the Japanese side nearly 20% are PCs or PGs. Our CL losses are about the same, and our DD losses are close as well, only one CA has been sunk so far in the war.
- Attachments
-
- Intel Dec3041.jpg (65.39 KiB) Viewed 229 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: Statistics
Damn fat fingers, here we are.
- Attachments
-
- IntelDec3041.jpg (65.39 KiB) Viewed 221 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Bye Bye 1941
A very bad year for the US battle fleet.
The most important developments in recent days occurred in Java and Malaya.
Malaya is easy to describe, another 12,000 troops got onto transports at Johore Baru and Blackwatch has not started bombing my evacutation fleets. This means that 31,000 troops have escaped so far and some more will get out by sea or air if Blackwatch does not stop them.
In Java things are more complex. The Dutch have been pulling units in from the smaller bases so I have 2 or 3 extra battalions here and there, and one extra regiment. The island is also full of aircraft, just about every airbase is full, some are overly full.
As you can see in this screenshot Blackwatch invaded Kragen in Dec. 28th. He continued unloading on the 29th, 30th and 31st and then left the area on the 1st of January 42. On the 31st a fleet of Japanese BBs visited the waters off Soerbaja. The BB fleet is the ships in the Soerbaja hex, the invasion fleet is in Kragen. I have no naval assets on the map though there is a cruiser force off map South of Bali. That force has 8 DDs with no torpedos so I need to run them into Soerbaja for a reload. Here is the map, by Janaury 1 there are no Jap TFs near Java, this is Dec 31, 1941:
When the Japanese showed up at Kragen some bombers were on Naval but most were on rest here are 6 bombing attacks on the 28th of December, all are off Kragen:
Japanese Ships
AP Sanura Maru, Bomb hits 1
CL Kashii, Bomb hits 1
AP Neikai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
I put a minefield there expecting an invasion of the undefended location and it scored:
Japanese Ships
AP Ryoyo Maru, Mine hits 1
I responded by putting everything that can fly on Naval. But I did not shorten the ranges, and the Japanese BB TF showed up on the 29th and attracted most of my planes. My bomb aimers were blind that day and did not hit a thing in spite of attacks by 36 aircraft:
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro
BB Mutsu
BB Ise
BB Hyuga
Some LBA went back to Kragen, this was the damage they did:
AP Neikai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yamakisan Maru
AP Koei Maru
CL Kashii
AP Miyako Maru, Bomb hits 2
Not very good considering I flew 182 Sorties against the fleet there. On the bright side an O boat got into the landing area and put a fish into an AP:
AP Koei Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Still I was dissapointed by the split strike (my fault, but not what I wanted) and the lack of hits. I shortened the range on my planes and flew them again on the 30th, I also brought in more planes for Oz. I am spending PPs to get Wirraways and Beauforts into Java right now, and leaving the remaining US airforce in the Philipines, more on them later.
The Japanese sailed into Soebaja (see the map above) and found another mine field:
TF 18 encounters mine field at Soerabaja (22,65)
Japanese Ships
AK Kaisyo Maru, and is sunk
DD Yakaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
And then my aircraft finally score:
Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 3
Wirraway x 7
Hawk 75A x 9
Brewster 339D x 8
Vildebeest IV x 7
T.IVa x 6
Martin 139 x 6
Beaufort V-IX x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 20
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 2 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed
Vildebeest IV: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
T.IVa: 5 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Hyuga, Torpedo hits 1
BB Ise
BB Fuso, Torpedo hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1
DD Sanae, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
They also hit the Kragen invasion force again as well:
AP Koei Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Blackwatch decides that is enough damage at sea and pulls away from the area. On his way out he runs over a submarine and a little insult is added to his injuries:
BB Hyuga, Torpedo hits 1
Much to my distress the IJN turned the tables on me and put a torpedo into the Repulse off Australia briging her sys damage to 80 and her speed down to 5 knots.
During this time he bombed Batavia, Bali, Lautem, Baoedung, and Soerbaja. I moved my airforce around a lot, or was out flying strike mission on his shipping so my bomber losses on the ground were in the teens each of the days I just covered. That loss rate hurts but I have too many bases for him to shut me down completely. Also bombing seem to be slightly weaker in 1.5 than before. Blackwatch is flying 70-90 planes at each target and doing 20-35 hits to the runway.
Up North in the Philipines I am getting good milage out of a small number of P35s and P26s that I have set to naval attack. Some days they don't hit anything other days look like this:
Allied aircraft
P-35A x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Arimasan Maru, Bomb hits 1
I want to punish Blackwatch for bypassing the Philipines so it a few days I am going to fly some larger two engine bombers into the area, and I may eventually send one of the large formations of B26s. On land I have a strong grip on Clark Field and I have thrown the Japanese army out twice with Shock attacks. My next move is to take my army in Clark to one of the weaker bases that Blackwatch has taken a take it back.
The most important developments in recent days occurred in Java and Malaya.
Malaya is easy to describe, another 12,000 troops got onto transports at Johore Baru and Blackwatch has not started bombing my evacutation fleets. This means that 31,000 troops have escaped so far and some more will get out by sea or air if Blackwatch does not stop them.
In Java things are more complex. The Dutch have been pulling units in from the smaller bases so I have 2 or 3 extra battalions here and there, and one extra regiment. The island is also full of aircraft, just about every airbase is full, some are overly full.
As you can see in this screenshot Blackwatch invaded Kragen in Dec. 28th. He continued unloading on the 29th, 30th and 31st and then left the area on the 1st of January 42. On the 31st a fleet of Japanese BBs visited the waters off Soerbaja. The BB fleet is the ships in the Soerbaja hex, the invasion fleet is in Kragen. I have no naval assets on the map though there is a cruiser force off map South of Bali. That force has 8 DDs with no torpedos so I need to run them into Soerbaja for a reload. Here is the map, by Janaury 1 there are no Jap TFs near Java, this is Dec 31, 1941:
When the Japanese showed up at Kragen some bombers were on Naval but most were on rest here are 6 bombing attacks on the 28th of December, all are off Kragen:
Japanese Ships
AP Sanura Maru, Bomb hits 1
CL Kashii, Bomb hits 1
AP Neikai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
I put a minefield there expecting an invasion of the undefended location and it scored:
Japanese Ships
AP Ryoyo Maru, Mine hits 1
I responded by putting everything that can fly on Naval. But I did not shorten the ranges, and the Japanese BB TF showed up on the 29th and attracted most of my planes. My bomb aimers were blind that day and did not hit a thing in spite of attacks by 36 aircraft:
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro
BB Mutsu
BB Ise
BB Hyuga
Some LBA went back to Kragen, this was the damage they did:
AP Neikai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Yamakisan Maru
AP Koei Maru
CL Kashii
AP Miyako Maru, Bomb hits 2
Not very good considering I flew 182 Sorties against the fleet there. On the bright side an O boat got into the landing area and put a fish into an AP:
AP Koei Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Still I was dissapointed by the split strike (my fault, but not what I wanted) and the lack of hits. I shortened the range on my planes and flew them again on the 30th, I also brought in more planes for Oz. I am spending PPs to get Wirraways and Beauforts into Java right now, and leaving the remaining US airforce in the Philipines, more on them later.
The Japanese sailed into Soebaja (see the map above) and found another mine field:
TF 18 encounters mine field at Soerabaja (22,65)
Japanese Ships
AK Kaisyo Maru, and is sunk
DD Yakaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
And then my aircraft finally score:
Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 3
Wirraway x 7
Hawk 75A x 9
Brewster 339D x 8
Vildebeest IV x 7
T.IVa x 6
Martin 139 x 6
Beaufort V-IX x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 20
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 2 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed
Vildebeest IV: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
T.IVa: 5 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Hyuga, Torpedo hits 1
BB Ise
BB Fuso, Torpedo hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1
DD Sanae, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
They also hit the Kragen invasion force again as well:
AP Koei Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Blackwatch decides that is enough damage at sea and pulls away from the area. On his way out he runs over a submarine and a little insult is added to his injuries:
BB Hyuga, Torpedo hits 1
Much to my distress the IJN turned the tables on me and put a torpedo into the Repulse off Australia briging her sys damage to 80 and her speed down to 5 knots.
During this time he bombed Batavia, Bali, Lautem, Baoedung, and Soerbaja. I moved my airforce around a lot, or was out flying strike mission on his shipping so my bomber losses on the ground were in the teens each of the days I just covered. That loss rate hurts but I have too many bases for him to shut me down completely. Also bombing seem to be slightly weaker in 1.5 than before. Blackwatch is flying 70-90 planes at each target and doing 20-35 hits to the runway.
Up North in the Philipines I am getting good milage out of a small number of P35s and P26s that I have set to naval attack. Some days they don't hit anything other days look like this:
Allied aircraft
P-35A x 3
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Arimasan Maru, Bomb hits 1
I want to punish Blackwatch for bypassing the Philipines so it a few days I am going to fly some larger two engine bombers into the area, and I may eventually send one of the large formations of B26s. On land I have a strong grip on Clark Field and I have thrown the Japanese army out twice with Shock attacks. My next move is to take my army in Clark to one of the weaker bases that Blackwatch has taken a take it back.
- Attachments
-
- JavaDec3141.jpg (97.61 KiB) Viewed 224 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: Bye Bye 1941
Now its time to look at strategy, Blackwatch's and mine. Its clear that Blackwatch is trying to expand quickly to avoid the big attrition battles of our last game. He has already taken the Solomons and Borneo and Malaya is a cake walk for him. He bypassed the Philipines, and he has also grabbed the Central Pacific as far as Baker. In Burma a new Japanese division just showed up on the border but Burma is clearly a low priority while he is still taking Singapore.
To the best of my knowledge the Japanese army is deployed as follows:
60,000 men in the Philipines, fighting inconclusive actions with the US and Philipine troops there.
110,000 men in Malaya rapidly rolling up the country.
Another 40,000 troops in the NEI, 5-10,000 ashore at Kragen, others in the other bases around Borneo, Palambang, Ambonia etc.
30,000 men in the Rabaul-Solomons area
5,000 men in the Central Pacific at Baker, Tarawa etc.
30,000 men identified in Burma with another Division (I think) on the way, bringing hist force to 50,000.
On the Allied side I decided to evacuate Malaya after a 100,000 man army blew through Alor Star and took 23,000 prisoners in Georgetown. I am going to get more than 30,000 men out most of which are heading for India. India is building a defense in depth because I am concerned that Blackwatch may go for it. In our last game he took Burma and Malaya but ignored India and North Sumartra. His reward for that was a series of damaging raids by the Royal Navy in the Java and Timor area followed by a full scale invasion of Malaya by over 6 divisions and 300 aircraft in September 1942. I am sure he does not want a repeat of that and he might even go all the way in India. So I am preparing defenses as rapidly as possible. I am also moving CHinese into Burma in a big way. I think I can have my cake and eat it too if I use the Chinese troops to make Burma strong, and the Malaya army to re-inforce India.
There was no chance to delay the conquest of Borneo for more than a few days. I did fight a series of naval battles off Balikpapan and that delayed Blackwatch for about a week. We both lost a number of ships in the process but nothing critical on either side.
Java is a different story. It already has over 100 aircraft defending and evne though most of them are junk they are still doing damage. The numbers are going up as well, and modern aircraft such as P40s and Beauforts are coming online in greater numbers. I have also got 30 Wirraways there which I am using as bombers with some success. The Japanese effort to gain air superiority with long range bombing attacks failed in the end of December and Blackwatch pulled his navy out of the hornets nest with some damage. I plan to continue pushing air assets into Java and I may take the Australian Brigades that escaped Malaya and drop them in Java. Every day that Java fights is a good day for the Allies.
I know I want to defend Java and make the Japanese bleed for it. The big strategic question is where will the 100,000 in Malaya go?
The place I want them to go is the Philipines. So I have been launching those small air attacks, and I am about to launch my first ground offensive. I am going to try and sneak some additional supply in but Clark has not been occupied so there is 35,000 supply there now, and smaller amounts in Manila and Battan. If I can get a sizable force of 2 engine bombers attacking the shipping lanes I think Blackwatch will have to send more stuff to the Philipines.
Blackwatch wants to finish off Java, and soon after, Timor. He would like to keep those 100,000 moving South. He may be able to do that but my Java airforce has been shooting him up pretty good. Of course he can bring KB down there and murder all those planes, and if he does I have a plan...
...Which is raid the Central Pacific with Lexington and Saratoga. I have already sunk a bunch of ships there, all small and none important but the only good Jap ship is a sunk Jap ship. I will also take the big E into action to see what mischief she can perform. I can only do that when the Japanese CVs are elsewhere, but if they go to Java I have to respond elsewhere.
I am also building up in the South Pacific but its a long way from where I am to a strong position.
So that is the plan, build up India, fortify Burma with Chinese, fight hard in Java, try to increase the pressure on Japan from the Philipines and raid where the enemy is not.
What do you think?
To the best of my knowledge the Japanese army is deployed as follows:
60,000 men in the Philipines, fighting inconclusive actions with the US and Philipine troops there.
110,000 men in Malaya rapidly rolling up the country.
Another 40,000 troops in the NEI, 5-10,000 ashore at Kragen, others in the other bases around Borneo, Palambang, Ambonia etc.
30,000 men in the Rabaul-Solomons area
5,000 men in the Central Pacific at Baker, Tarawa etc.
30,000 men identified in Burma with another Division (I think) on the way, bringing hist force to 50,000.
On the Allied side I decided to evacuate Malaya after a 100,000 man army blew through Alor Star and took 23,000 prisoners in Georgetown. I am going to get more than 30,000 men out most of which are heading for India. India is building a defense in depth because I am concerned that Blackwatch may go for it. In our last game he took Burma and Malaya but ignored India and North Sumartra. His reward for that was a series of damaging raids by the Royal Navy in the Java and Timor area followed by a full scale invasion of Malaya by over 6 divisions and 300 aircraft in September 1942. I am sure he does not want a repeat of that and he might even go all the way in India. So I am preparing defenses as rapidly as possible. I am also moving CHinese into Burma in a big way. I think I can have my cake and eat it too if I use the Chinese troops to make Burma strong, and the Malaya army to re-inforce India.
There was no chance to delay the conquest of Borneo for more than a few days. I did fight a series of naval battles off Balikpapan and that delayed Blackwatch for about a week. We both lost a number of ships in the process but nothing critical on either side.
Java is a different story. It already has over 100 aircraft defending and evne though most of them are junk they are still doing damage. The numbers are going up as well, and modern aircraft such as P40s and Beauforts are coming online in greater numbers. I have also got 30 Wirraways there which I am using as bombers with some success. The Japanese effort to gain air superiority with long range bombing attacks failed in the end of December and Blackwatch pulled his navy out of the hornets nest with some damage. I plan to continue pushing air assets into Java and I may take the Australian Brigades that escaped Malaya and drop them in Java. Every day that Java fights is a good day for the Allies.
I know I want to defend Java and make the Japanese bleed for it. The big strategic question is where will the 100,000 in Malaya go?
The place I want them to go is the Philipines. So I have been launching those small air attacks, and I am about to launch my first ground offensive. I am going to try and sneak some additional supply in but Clark has not been occupied so there is 35,000 supply there now, and smaller amounts in Manila and Battan. If I can get a sizable force of 2 engine bombers attacking the shipping lanes I think Blackwatch will have to send more stuff to the Philipines.
Blackwatch wants to finish off Java, and soon after, Timor. He would like to keep those 100,000 moving South. He may be able to do that but my Java airforce has been shooting him up pretty good. Of course he can bring KB down there and murder all those planes, and if he does I have a plan...
...Which is raid the Central Pacific with Lexington and Saratoga. I have already sunk a bunch of ships there, all small and none important but the only good Jap ship is a sunk Jap ship. I will also take the big E into action to see what mischief she can perform. I can only do that when the Japanese CVs are elsewhere, but if they go to Java I have to respond elsewhere.
I am also building up in the South Pacific but its a long way from where I am to a strong position.
So that is the plan, build up India, fortify Burma with Chinese, fight hard in Java, try to increase the pressure on Japan from the Philipines and raid where the enemy is not.
What do you think?
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Stopping the Japanese
Over on the newer "Japanese steamroller thread" I said I would write about this, here in my AAR.
I am going to focus on stopping Blackwatch because it makes the example real, I can get specific and we all get to see if it works. As I posted above Blackwatch is soon going to have 100,000 men freed up from Malaya and I better start stopping him somewhere.
Right now I am trying to stop him in Java. I have over 100 planes there, 4 regiments of Dutch troops, 3 additional battalions brought back from outlying bases and numerous base forces and airbases. I also had the chance to mine some of the most likely landing sites and several Japanese ships have already found mines.
My air tactics are designed to keep the Japanese suface fleets from succeeding in their mission. I am flying very little CAP, instead I move out of airbases regularly. For example on the 1st of January a Japanese TF including Hiei and sereral CAs showed up at Bali and bombarded it but only got a couple of grounded Beaufighters for thier trouble. Hiei took a pair of bombs in return. I understand I did not hurt Blackwatch much but he did not hurt me much either. I just spotted a transport TF in the Java sea and took a large number of planes that had been stood down and put them on Naval Attack. They will start shooting up transports tomorrow.
I don't expect to save Java this way, Japan is too powerful in January. But I will slow his operations down. His units will arrive with components missing, supply will go to the bottom before reaching port, some ships will turn around instead of unloading. If the supply seperates from the invasion I can drag out a siege for months.
At the same time I am trying to use every Dutch asset I have to make Java stronger. I have supply on the way or even in some of the ports. I have spent PPs to pull isolated combat units back, leaving the base forces to wither on the vine. These forces are not going to defeat Japan but they can mess up Blackwatch's calculations about how many troops and supplies he needs to win. Correcting that kind of mistake can take two weeks, and that puts his time table off by two weeks more.
Its the same in the air, I have 4 air groups still left in the Philipines. I am not using PPs to pull them out, I am using PPs in Australia to send more planes to Java. So far my bombers and fighters are doing a fair job of sinking Japanese shipping, Blackwatch has lost more ships than I have though he is way ahead on points.
Finally I have a powerful 14 ship suirface TF lurking on the safe side of Java. I need to get them to Soerbaja to load torpedos on the DDs but their real goal is to raid merchant convoys.
The whole point is to throw Blackwatch off schedule so that I can prepare even stronger forces to fight elsewhere. I am buying time. In 11 days I get the first big round of new ships, aircraft and troops. Soon the planes that I loaded onto ships at the start of the war will arrive in the South Pacific. If Blackwatch is busy with Java those planes can be used to build up another set of defenses, or they can go to the Philipines to strike at his merchant life line.
All of these forces are placed at risk, many of them will be lost. But a fabian strategy opens up the door to India and places Noumea at risk as well. If I can hold Blackwatch up in Java for long enough I may even be able to fight for Port Moresby.
Early in the war picking your battles is very important for the Allies. I am also aware that KB could come to Java and spoil my party in short order. But that does not mean I should just roll over there. I want Japan to fight and bleed for every hex and when he bypasses strong positions like the Philipines I want to use those positions to launch counter attacks on any vunerable asset I can reach.
The alternative gives the Japanese the initiative and as many others have remarked in this game the Japanese can ship a 200,000 man army just about anywhere they want in the first year of the war. The Allies have a lot of say in where that army goes. I want it in the Philipines, but I will settle for Java. I don't want it in India and in January 41 the defense of India starts in Batavia and Manila not in Dacca or Trimcomalee. Any player who lets the first two go without a hard fight is opening up options for the Japanese, one of which is to go into India very early in the game.
In my case if Blackwatch does go for India he will not be ready until late spring or early Summer 42, because I am not going to let him be ready. If others choose to pull back and save strength for later don't be suprised if, or complain that, the Japanese invade some place you did not think they could reach. The Harder you fight them the less they reach in the end.
I am going to focus on stopping Blackwatch because it makes the example real, I can get specific and we all get to see if it works. As I posted above Blackwatch is soon going to have 100,000 men freed up from Malaya and I better start stopping him somewhere.
Right now I am trying to stop him in Java. I have over 100 planes there, 4 regiments of Dutch troops, 3 additional battalions brought back from outlying bases and numerous base forces and airbases. I also had the chance to mine some of the most likely landing sites and several Japanese ships have already found mines.
My air tactics are designed to keep the Japanese suface fleets from succeeding in their mission. I am flying very little CAP, instead I move out of airbases regularly. For example on the 1st of January a Japanese TF including Hiei and sereral CAs showed up at Bali and bombarded it but only got a couple of grounded Beaufighters for thier trouble. Hiei took a pair of bombs in return. I understand I did not hurt Blackwatch much but he did not hurt me much either. I just spotted a transport TF in the Java sea and took a large number of planes that had been stood down and put them on Naval Attack. They will start shooting up transports tomorrow.
I don't expect to save Java this way, Japan is too powerful in January. But I will slow his operations down. His units will arrive with components missing, supply will go to the bottom before reaching port, some ships will turn around instead of unloading. If the supply seperates from the invasion I can drag out a siege for months.
At the same time I am trying to use every Dutch asset I have to make Java stronger. I have supply on the way or even in some of the ports. I have spent PPs to pull isolated combat units back, leaving the base forces to wither on the vine. These forces are not going to defeat Japan but they can mess up Blackwatch's calculations about how many troops and supplies he needs to win. Correcting that kind of mistake can take two weeks, and that puts his time table off by two weeks more.
Its the same in the air, I have 4 air groups still left in the Philipines. I am not using PPs to pull them out, I am using PPs in Australia to send more planes to Java. So far my bombers and fighters are doing a fair job of sinking Japanese shipping, Blackwatch has lost more ships than I have though he is way ahead on points.
Finally I have a powerful 14 ship suirface TF lurking on the safe side of Java. I need to get them to Soerbaja to load torpedos on the DDs but their real goal is to raid merchant convoys.
The whole point is to throw Blackwatch off schedule so that I can prepare even stronger forces to fight elsewhere. I am buying time. In 11 days I get the first big round of new ships, aircraft and troops. Soon the planes that I loaded onto ships at the start of the war will arrive in the South Pacific. If Blackwatch is busy with Java those planes can be used to build up another set of defenses, or they can go to the Philipines to strike at his merchant life line.
All of these forces are placed at risk, many of them will be lost. But a fabian strategy opens up the door to India and places Noumea at risk as well. If I can hold Blackwatch up in Java for long enough I may even be able to fight for Port Moresby.
Early in the war picking your battles is very important for the Allies. I am also aware that KB could come to Java and spoil my party in short order. But that does not mean I should just roll over there. I want Japan to fight and bleed for every hex and when he bypasses strong positions like the Philipines I want to use those positions to launch counter attacks on any vunerable asset I can reach.
The alternative gives the Japanese the initiative and as many others have remarked in this game the Japanese can ship a 200,000 man army just about anywhere they want in the first year of the war. The Allies have a lot of say in where that army goes. I want it in the Philipines, but I will settle for Java. I don't want it in India and in January 41 the defense of India starts in Batavia and Manila not in Dacca or Trimcomalee. Any player who lets the first two go without a hard fight is opening up options for the Japanese, one of which is to go into India very early in the game.
In my case if Blackwatch does go for India he will not be ready until late spring or early Summer 42, because I am not going to let him be ready. If others choose to pull back and save strength for later don't be suprised if, or complain that, the Japanese invade some place you did not think they could reach. The Harder you fight them the less they reach in the end.
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
January 1-4 1942
Going round the map as usual.
India/Burma Japanese continue to build up in Burma, by the 4th of January the usual bombardment attack revealed 55,190 Japanese troops, up from 30,000 the day before. I have ordered the brigades in the hex to retreat, they are headed to Mandalay where they will join some additional Burma army troops and also a division of Chinese. Rangoon will be evacuated within the next 5-10 days.
In Malaya the final evacuations are under way as the Japanese take Johore Baru with 100,000 men. Much of my army got away, in the end I will get close to 40,000 troops out. Many are on their way to India where they will plan for their return. Malaya was doomed from the start, what do your expect from a place defended by a general who's nickname is Rabbit? Next time we send someone with a manly name, like Biggles.
Java continues to be bombarded by the Japanese airforce. They have done serious damage to Batavia, Madoien and one other location. US P40s and some Hawks just turned back a raid on Soerbaja so that place is intact. In addition to a fair sized airforce there is now a 14 ship cruiser TF in Soerbaja with 2 CAs, 4CLs, and 8 DDs. I have spotted a large Japanese TF coming towards the toehold they established at Kragen, it looks like battle is about to be joined once again. If the air grinds down the Japanese warships some I will sortie for battle, if not I may sortie anyway, or I may head South around to the back side of Java to await a better opportunity. Either way the DDs now have torpedos which makes the force much more dangerous.
In the Philipines I just won a fair victory by pushing the whole US army into Can Marcelino and shock attacking. 348 Japanese casualties to 549 allied but he lost another 2-4,000 in the retreat and the 21st division is disrupted for the next few days at least. Blackwatch has 30,000 men clearing the Northern part of the Island, when they come South the battle for Clark will start in ernest. I am also routing small numbers of supply ships towards Davao and Manila to support operations there, keep the planes bombing his shipping and make the conflict last longer. I have had good luck getting transports from the Philipines out by passing near the Volgelkopf (the birds head, the Western end of New Guinea) so I am trying to slip some individual transports back the other way with 13,000 or so supply. If it works I will send more, and I will fly those 2 engine bombers I have been thinking about up there as well.
In New Guinea Blackwatch is carefully bombing Port Moresby, the place is trashed and I am not reinforcing.
In the South Pacific Japanese submarines have done some damage and sunk some merchants on the run from Fiji to Noumea. I jsut sent 2 ASW groups out to stop them before they do me serious harm.
Central Pacific is quiet
China is anything but quiet, I will post a map and comments soon.
India/Burma Japanese continue to build up in Burma, by the 4th of January the usual bombardment attack revealed 55,190 Japanese troops, up from 30,000 the day before. I have ordered the brigades in the hex to retreat, they are headed to Mandalay where they will join some additional Burma army troops and also a division of Chinese. Rangoon will be evacuated within the next 5-10 days.
In Malaya the final evacuations are under way as the Japanese take Johore Baru with 100,000 men. Much of my army got away, in the end I will get close to 40,000 troops out. Many are on their way to India where they will plan for their return. Malaya was doomed from the start, what do your expect from a place defended by a general who's nickname is Rabbit? Next time we send someone with a manly name, like Biggles.
Java continues to be bombarded by the Japanese airforce. They have done serious damage to Batavia, Madoien and one other location. US P40s and some Hawks just turned back a raid on Soerbaja so that place is intact. In addition to a fair sized airforce there is now a 14 ship cruiser TF in Soerbaja with 2 CAs, 4CLs, and 8 DDs. I have spotted a large Japanese TF coming towards the toehold they established at Kragen, it looks like battle is about to be joined once again. If the air grinds down the Japanese warships some I will sortie for battle, if not I may sortie anyway, or I may head South around to the back side of Java to await a better opportunity. Either way the DDs now have torpedos which makes the force much more dangerous.
In the Philipines I just won a fair victory by pushing the whole US army into Can Marcelino and shock attacking. 348 Japanese casualties to 549 allied but he lost another 2-4,000 in the retreat and the 21st division is disrupted for the next few days at least. Blackwatch has 30,000 men clearing the Northern part of the Island, when they come South the battle for Clark will start in ernest. I am also routing small numbers of supply ships towards Davao and Manila to support operations there, keep the planes bombing his shipping and make the conflict last longer. I have had good luck getting transports from the Philipines out by passing near the Volgelkopf (the birds head, the Western end of New Guinea) so I am trying to slip some individual transports back the other way with 13,000 or so supply. If it works I will send more, and I will fly those 2 engine bombers I have been thinking about up there as well.
In New Guinea Blackwatch is carefully bombing Port Moresby, the place is trashed and I am not reinforcing.
In the South Pacific Japanese submarines have done some damage and sunk some merchants on the run from Fiji to Noumea. I jsut sent 2 ASW groups out to stop them before they do me serious harm.
Central Pacific is quiet
China is anything but quiet, I will post a map and comments soon.
RE: January 1-4 1942
As always your AAR is excellent. Very nice format and well-thought out on your part. [:)]
One question. What are you going to do about the Kragen beachhead? Leave it alone or try to drive them back into the sea? It seems to me that if you leave it, he'll be able to build up forces easily..
One question. What are you going to do about the Kragen beachhead? Leave it alone or try to drive them back into the sea? It seems to me that if you leave it, he'll be able to build up forces easily..
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: January 1-4 1942
I wish I could do something about it. The problem is the only troops I have are Dutch and I would need just about all of them to defeat the 5,000 + Japanese at Kragen and that would take days, if I won at all.
In the mean time he could land at take Batavia or Soerbaja and I would be SOL.
So I am trying to blockade them and keep them out of supply while I build up the forts on the Island and get ready for the big invasion that will come after Singapore falls.
The one possible way of dealing with them is to move the Aussies from Malaya to Java and then attack. I might do that. I expect Blackwatch to hit Batavia first and then roll West along the island to Soerbaja. He will use the Kragen force to stop the troops from Batavia before they get to Soerbaja which aslo has a big fort. If I can use the Australians to hold the Kragen troops in place then I can keep Soerbaja fighting a good while longer.
In the mean time he could land at take Batavia or Soerbaja and I would be SOL.
So I am trying to blockade them and keep them out of supply while I build up the forts on the Island and get ready for the big invasion that will come after Singapore falls.
The one possible way of dealing with them is to move the Aussies from Malaya to Java and then attack. I might do that. I expect Blackwatch to hit Batavia first and then roll West along the island to Soerbaja. He will use the Kragen force to stop the troops from Batavia before they get to Soerbaja which aslo has a big fort. If I can use the Australians to hold the Kragen troops in place then I can keep Soerbaja fighting a good while longer.
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: January 1-4 1942
Another very important point, Java is defending India and the South Pacific. Blackwatch can't go to either of those places until the battle for Java is over (unless he wants to lose). So even if my defense of Java has fatal flaws a hard fight for Java is still a vital part of my over all strategy, it buys me time.
The really interesting question for me right now is what can I do with the Philipines. I suspect Blackwatch thought that bypassing them would be painless, but they just kicked one of his divisions over a hex line for the third time and air based in the islands is taking a constant (if light) toll on his shipping. If I can get more supplies in and fly in some good twin engine bombers I believe I can start to do some real damage.
The really interesting question for me right now is what can I do with the Philipines. I suspect Blackwatch thought that bypassing them would be painless, but they just kicked one of his divisions over a hex line for the third time and air based in the islands is taking a constant (if light) toll on his shipping. If I can get more supplies in and fly in some good twin engine bombers I believe I can start to do some real damage.
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
China Update
A major battle is developing in the area around Ichang. The Japanese moved in with 40,000 men at the end of December, pushed the Chinese out and took the city.
The Chinese response can be seen on the map. The hex between Ichang and Hsyinyang has 35,000 Chinese and 27,000 Japanese trading artillery shells. There are now 50,000 Chinese just West of Ichang and the next time they enter the hex they will all come in together, the last advance was poorly coordinated.
The rail junction has 140,000 Japanese and 87,000 Chinese but I suspect the Japanese have supply problems, they are bombarding but not launching attacks designed to force the Chinese out. South of Homan 2 Chinese divisions just cleared a Japanese Brigade out of the hex:
Allied Deliberate attack (Jan 3, 1942)
Attacking force 15932 troops, 100 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 4427 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 4 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
234 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Allied ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
This is important because it keeps the supply line from Homan open for the Chinese at the rail junction and also assures the Chinese of a retreat route. This helps secure the Northern part of the Ichang battle. Next turn I will start troops moving South from Yenan to threated the Japanese in the North. If Blackwatch keeps his Northern garrison in place that will allow me to keep the North-South rail line cut which helps me control the battlefield and also creates some supply problems for the Japanese troops in the center of the country.
On the 4th a large Chinese army crossed the Yangtze moving North. A totally inadiquate force of Japanese attempted to stop it:
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 91256 troops, 666 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 1581 troops, 18 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 3343 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
1049 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Allied ground losses:
291 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Not many survivors coming back to Wuhan from that unit.[:D] Those are the highest odds I have seen in the game by the way.
The Chinese now have 180,000 men in the Ichang area, the Japanese have somewhat fewer. If I can get the 96,000 men to the Ichang - Hsiyang road and chase the Japanese back to Hsiyang then I will be doing pretty well.
Farther South Chunking is getting a build up of troops as the divisions that started the game near Vietnam begin to arrive. I can certainly defend the place, and my ideal outcome would be Blackwatch sending the Wuhan army to Chunking where I can use a smaller force behind a fort to hold his army in check while we fight it out up at Ichang.
I am also going to split up a division or two and send it for a walk into Eastern China. As soon as Singapore falls I will be taking the Dakota squadron on evacuation duty out of that area and into China to fly supplies. If those units get air supply they can run all over the place cutting rail lines and its difficult for the Japanese to tell which units are strong and which are not, so he may either send to little and get ambushed, or too much and leave the frontline weak.
I am happy with China so far, its one of the few really bright spots for the Allies in the early war, and I doubt that a large number of Japanese troops will be leaving China any time soon.
The Chinese response can be seen on the map. The hex between Ichang and Hsyinyang has 35,000 Chinese and 27,000 Japanese trading artillery shells. There are now 50,000 Chinese just West of Ichang and the next time they enter the hex they will all come in together, the last advance was poorly coordinated.
The rail junction has 140,000 Japanese and 87,000 Chinese but I suspect the Japanese have supply problems, they are bombarding but not launching attacks designed to force the Chinese out. South of Homan 2 Chinese divisions just cleared a Japanese Brigade out of the hex:
Allied Deliberate attack (Jan 3, 1942)
Attacking force 15932 troops, 100 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 4427 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 4 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
234 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Allied ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
This is important because it keeps the supply line from Homan open for the Chinese at the rail junction and also assures the Chinese of a retreat route. This helps secure the Northern part of the Ichang battle. Next turn I will start troops moving South from Yenan to threated the Japanese in the North. If Blackwatch keeps his Northern garrison in place that will allow me to keep the North-South rail line cut which helps me control the battlefield and also creates some supply problems for the Japanese troops in the center of the country.
On the 4th a large Chinese army crossed the Yangtze moving North. A totally inadiquate force of Japanese attempted to stop it:
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 91256 troops, 666 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 1581 troops, 18 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 3343 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
1049 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Allied ground losses:
291 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Not many survivors coming back to Wuhan from that unit.[:D] Those are the highest odds I have seen in the game by the way.
The Chinese now have 180,000 men in the Ichang area, the Japanese have somewhat fewer. If I can get the 96,000 men to the Ichang - Hsiyang road and chase the Japanese back to Hsiyang then I will be doing pretty well.
Farther South Chunking is getting a build up of troops as the divisions that started the game near Vietnam begin to arrive. I can certainly defend the place, and my ideal outcome would be Blackwatch sending the Wuhan army to Chunking where I can use a smaller force behind a fort to hold his army in check while we fight it out up at Ichang.
I am also going to split up a division or two and send it for a walk into Eastern China. As soon as Singapore falls I will be taking the Dakota squadron on evacuation duty out of that area and into China to fly supplies. If those units get air supply they can run all over the place cutting rail lines and its difficult for the Japanese to tell which units are strong and which are not, so he may either send to little and get ambushed, or too much and leave the frontline weak.
I am happy with China so far, its one of the few really bright spots for the Allies in the early war, and I doubt that a large number of Japanese troops will be leaving China any time soon.
- Attachments
-
- ChinaJan4.jpg (76.1 KiB) Viewed 197 times
RE: China Update
Halsey's Chinese hordes gave a NLF of mine an 11,000 to 1 bunnystomping near Homan a couple of months back....Those are the highest odds I have seen in the game by the way.
Fear the kitten!
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Up to Jan 9th 1942
Lots happened from the 5th to the 9th
In Burma the Japanese caused 5 of my brigades to retreat to Moulmein. I had started them moving West and North but something happened with the set all to March order and only 2 brigades actaully made the move when I ordered it. As a result Blackwatch was able to retreat the remaining forces in the wrong direction.[:@]
This hurts my Burma defense a lot. I can get all the troops out, I have large evacuation convoys ready, but I did not want to evacuate Burma, I wanted to defend in the North with Chinese and Burmese troops. I was going to have a Division of Chinese and 5 Brigades of Empire troops defend Mandalay now it is a Division of Chinese and 2 Brigades, or 5,000 Imperial troops and 10,000 Chinese instead of 20,000 Imperial Troops and 10,000 Chinese. With the 30,000 troops I think I could have stopped Blackwatches 50,000 attackers, or at least delayed them long enough to let the 3 divisions of Chinese that are walking in arrive. Now I am not sure I can buy enough time. I have also started Indian troops to North Burma but they may not arrive fast enough either. No matter how you look at it the news from Burma is bad.
In Malaya Singapore fell and 22,000 troops surrenederd. This gives me a loss of about 50,000 troops and 35,000 to 40,000 evacuated. The Aussie Brigades are going to Java for the moment we will see if they arrive in time, and the rest is heading for various places in India.
Java continues to get pounded by air, Blackwatch has knocked out Belkonen and Batavia the two Northern most airbases with lots of bombing. He has also brought a convoy to Kragen, I tried to move my cruiser force into the Java sea to smash it but baby KB is in the area and caught me with air attacks:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N Kate x 26
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 17
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
B5N Kate: 4 destroyed, 13 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed
Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Torpedo hits 1
CL Perth
CA Louisville
DD Le Triomphant
CL Leander
My long range CAP did its job, the Torpedo hit is the only damage I took on the 8th but I can't stay around without a great risk of losing the whole TF. Its the only surface force I have in the area so I am not going to risk it, by the morning of the 9th it will be South of Java.
The Japanese also bombarded Bali again, they are working hard to keep it shut. In the process they caught some merchant shipping unloading supplies:
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
CA Takao
CA Chokai
CA Myoko
CA Nachi
CA Suzuya
DD Natsushio
DD Amatsukaze
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze
DD Asashio
DD Murasame
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma
DD Otori
DD Hayabusa
Allied Ships
AK Empire Lake, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
AK Needwood, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK Ravnaas, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Much of the supplies were unloaded before the ships were sunk but Bali will remain untenable as long as Blackwatch keeps this up.
In response I am changing my defense set up, 3 Dutch Regiments are coming West towards Kragen and Soerbaja to join the 2 regiments there already. I am also moving the big Dutch Avaiation unit out of Batavia to Tjiliap or maybe even Malang. I want more avation support at the bases that Blackwatch is not suppressing. Batavia has some base forces, AA to shoot at Blackwatch's bombers and a couple of battalions brought back from outlying bases.
In recent days my bombers have not been flying so I moved them around as well, concentrating air in Soerbaja which is undamages and has 86 air support. I am hoping this will cause more of them to fly next turn. There is a pretty formidable airforce in Java, but its mostly sitting around drinking beer inspite of being rested and having moral in the 50-70 range.
At Timor the Japanese sent in a big air raid and sunk some transports at Lautem, I just moved P40Es down from the Philipines and they are waiting for thier chance to hit the next raid. Hopefully it will give the Japanese a bloody nose.
In the Philipines the only air unit I have left bombing is the P35s. All the others have left, the P26s are down in Darwin waiting for the P39D number to hit 24 so I can upgrade them and put the group in action. The P40Es are at Lautem and Soerbaja, and the B17s are at various bases. Right now 4 ships in three convoys are moving past to Vogelkopf to bring supplies into Manila and Davao. Its 4,500 for Davao and 13,500 for the main island. Right now Leyte has about 20,000 supply on it and Clark is still producing but we have burned up 10,000 supply bombing the Japanese ships and kicking thier infantry around so we badly need more. I have seen little sign of Japanese air in the Philipines so I think they will get through, and more are on the way if they do.
Further East the NE coast of Oz continues to build up, and Port Moresby continues to be pounded, I am suprised he has not invaded it.
In Noumea I had bad news on the 7th, KB reappeared West of the Island and launched a huge strike that caught the Enterprise in Port and sunk her. I just can't seem to keep that ship alive. The Big Es air group counter attacked and reports bombs on two Japanese CVs but its definitely a victory for Blackwatch. I have been moving air units into the area but most of the planned defenses are not there yet though some are only a day or two away. On the 10th a group of Buffalos and a group of P40Bs will arrive, maybe that will be enough escorts to let the bombers based there fly. KB is hanging around, that also makes me wonder if Blackwatch is planning an invasion, rather than just a raid. If he does invade he is going to take the place pretty easily, the Marine division allotted for defense there is still East of Suva on transports. On the flip side if Blackwatch does go into Noumea I will not lose much and my response will be very rapid since many convoys are now approaching Fiji.
Cenpac was quiet. The two remaining US CVs are at Pearl, ironically they are well covered with CAP, bombers and long range fighters to hit back at a Japanese carrier strike. I though Blackwatch might try and do a Pearl round two to sink my CVs and smash the rest of my fleet so I have kept the forces at Pearl stronger than I did last game.
China continues to be a swamp but its a successful swamp for me, troops from Yenan are moving towards Chenting and troops from the interior continue moving into Changsha. The big army on its way to the Ichang area continues to move North. I am thinking about blasting the Japanese off the Ichang-Hsinyang road and then continueing North instead of turning West to liberate Ichang. If I go North I might be able to push the Japanese off the rail Juntion near Homan and then advance on Chenting from the South. That would put 140,000 Chinese on Chenting which is likely garrisoned with much less than that, and it would leave a string of battered Japanese forces in Wuhan, Hsinyang, Kweiyang and a battle at Ichang. At the same time the Chinese would have the interior armies arriving at Changsha and be able to pressure Wuhan or Nanking leaving the Japanese off balance. As of today that is the plan for China, though its likely that events will overtake it and force changes.
Here is a map of the India/Burma area:
Notice the troops in Jamshedpur and Anasol, they are building up forts and air bases to support the (potential) frontlines at Calcutta and Dacca. If Blackwatch comes I will probably not try to hold the coast against shore bombardment, but I want swarms of bombers flying in from safer bases in the interior. I also want forts back there so that I can draw him into the country away from the power of his fleet and into the loving arms of my bombers and fast moving land units like the tank formations and Carbineers. I am preparing a similar defense down in the Bangalore-Hyderabad area to support Madras.
I will point out that I don't actually have to build permanent garrisons for all these places. Instead I am putting a bunch of units into the base, expanding the airbase, building up the fort and then moving on to the next one. This process is already started and will speed up when the Malaya evacuees arrive. I think this is much smarter than putting 5 base forces into 5 locations and watching them slowly improve. If Blackwatch hits India early I will have some strong points ready and can fight him there, abandoning the weak areas. The other way means India has no strong points in the early war which is unwise in my opinion.
A special note about the Carbineers. They are a recon units that moves pretty fast, much faster than a IJA division. If Blackwatch does invade and move into the center of India I will split them into 3, give them air supply and send them running all over the rail lines in his rear. He can't catch them very easily and it will make a mess of his supply.
Blackwatch has repeatedly said that he will not invade India but I still think its worth putting a lot of thought into the area. The British are powerful by they lack depth. If the Japanese can inflict a lot of casualties on the Brits early in the war it takes them a long time to come back, which is what happened historically by the way. If I can get India through the first half of 1942 with much of its strength intact then I can start to use the Imperial troops to push on the Japanese in the later part of the year.
In Burma the Japanese caused 5 of my brigades to retreat to Moulmein. I had started them moving West and North but something happened with the set all to March order and only 2 brigades actaully made the move when I ordered it. As a result Blackwatch was able to retreat the remaining forces in the wrong direction.[:@]
This hurts my Burma defense a lot. I can get all the troops out, I have large evacuation convoys ready, but I did not want to evacuate Burma, I wanted to defend in the North with Chinese and Burmese troops. I was going to have a Division of Chinese and 5 Brigades of Empire troops defend Mandalay now it is a Division of Chinese and 2 Brigades, or 5,000 Imperial troops and 10,000 Chinese instead of 20,000 Imperial Troops and 10,000 Chinese. With the 30,000 troops I think I could have stopped Blackwatches 50,000 attackers, or at least delayed them long enough to let the 3 divisions of Chinese that are walking in arrive. Now I am not sure I can buy enough time. I have also started Indian troops to North Burma but they may not arrive fast enough either. No matter how you look at it the news from Burma is bad.
In Malaya Singapore fell and 22,000 troops surrenederd. This gives me a loss of about 50,000 troops and 35,000 to 40,000 evacuated. The Aussie Brigades are going to Java for the moment we will see if they arrive in time, and the rest is heading for various places in India.
Java continues to get pounded by air, Blackwatch has knocked out Belkonen and Batavia the two Northern most airbases with lots of bombing. He has also brought a convoy to Kragen, I tried to move my cruiser force into the Java sea to smash it but baby KB is in the area and caught me with air attacks:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N Kate x 26
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 17
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
B5N Kate: 4 destroyed, 13 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed
Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Torpedo hits 1
CL Perth
CA Louisville
DD Le Triomphant
CL Leander
My long range CAP did its job, the Torpedo hit is the only damage I took on the 8th but I can't stay around without a great risk of losing the whole TF. Its the only surface force I have in the area so I am not going to risk it, by the morning of the 9th it will be South of Java.
The Japanese also bombarded Bali again, they are working hard to keep it shut. In the process they caught some merchant shipping unloading supplies:
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
CA Takao
CA Chokai
CA Myoko
CA Nachi
CA Suzuya
DD Natsushio
DD Amatsukaze
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze
DD Asashio
DD Murasame
DD Akatsuki
DD Inazuma
DD Otori
DD Hayabusa
Allied Ships
AK Empire Lake, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
AK Needwood, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK Ravnaas, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Much of the supplies were unloaded before the ships were sunk but Bali will remain untenable as long as Blackwatch keeps this up.
In response I am changing my defense set up, 3 Dutch Regiments are coming West towards Kragen and Soerbaja to join the 2 regiments there already. I am also moving the big Dutch Avaiation unit out of Batavia to Tjiliap or maybe even Malang. I want more avation support at the bases that Blackwatch is not suppressing. Batavia has some base forces, AA to shoot at Blackwatch's bombers and a couple of battalions brought back from outlying bases.
In recent days my bombers have not been flying so I moved them around as well, concentrating air in Soerbaja which is undamages and has 86 air support. I am hoping this will cause more of them to fly next turn. There is a pretty formidable airforce in Java, but its mostly sitting around drinking beer inspite of being rested and having moral in the 50-70 range.
At Timor the Japanese sent in a big air raid and sunk some transports at Lautem, I just moved P40Es down from the Philipines and they are waiting for thier chance to hit the next raid. Hopefully it will give the Japanese a bloody nose.
In the Philipines the only air unit I have left bombing is the P35s. All the others have left, the P26s are down in Darwin waiting for the P39D number to hit 24 so I can upgrade them and put the group in action. The P40Es are at Lautem and Soerbaja, and the B17s are at various bases. Right now 4 ships in three convoys are moving past to Vogelkopf to bring supplies into Manila and Davao. Its 4,500 for Davao and 13,500 for the main island. Right now Leyte has about 20,000 supply on it and Clark is still producing but we have burned up 10,000 supply bombing the Japanese ships and kicking thier infantry around so we badly need more. I have seen little sign of Japanese air in the Philipines so I think they will get through, and more are on the way if they do.
Further East the NE coast of Oz continues to build up, and Port Moresby continues to be pounded, I am suprised he has not invaded it.
In Noumea I had bad news on the 7th, KB reappeared West of the Island and launched a huge strike that caught the Enterprise in Port and sunk her. I just can't seem to keep that ship alive. The Big Es air group counter attacked and reports bombs on two Japanese CVs but its definitely a victory for Blackwatch. I have been moving air units into the area but most of the planned defenses are not there yet though some are only a day or two away. On the 10th a group of Buffalos and a group of P40Bs will arrive, maybe that will be enough escorts to let the bombers based there fly. KB is hanging around, that also makes me wonder if Blackwatch is planning an invasion, rather than just a raid. If he does invade he is going to take the place pretty easily, the Marine division allotted for defense there is still East of Suva on transports. On the flip side if Blackwatch does go into Noumea I will not lose much and my response will be very rapid since many convoys are now approaching Fiji.
Cenpac was quiet. The two remaining US CVs are at Pearl, ironically they are well covered with CAP, bombers and long range fighters to hit back at a Japanese carrier strike. I though Blackwatch might try and do a Pearl round two to sink my CVs and smash the rest of my fleet so I have kept the forces at Pearl stronger than I did last game.
China continues to be a swamp but its a successful swamp for me, troops from Yenan are moving towards Chenting and troops from the interior continue moving into Changsha. The big army on its way to the Ichang area continues to move North. I am thinking about blasting the Japanese off the Ichang-Hsinyang road and then continueing North instead of turning West to liberate Ichang. If I go North I might be able to push the Japanese off the rail Juntion near Homan and then advance on Chenting from the South. That would put 140,000 Chinese on Chenting which is likely garrisoned with much less than that, and it would leave a string of battered Japanese forces in Wuhan, Hsinyang, Kweiyang and a battle at Ichang. At the same time the Chinese would have the interior armies arriving at Changsha and be able to pressure Wuhan or Nanking leaving the Japanese off balance. As of today that is the plan for China, though its likely that events will overtake it and force changes.
Here is a map of the India/Burma area:
Notice the troops in Jamshedpur and Anasol, they are building up forts and air bases to support the (potential) frontlines at Calcutta and Dacca. If Blackwatch comes I will probably not try to hold the coast against shore bombardment, but I want swarms of bombers flying in from safer bases in the interior. I also want forts back there so that I can draw him into the country away from the power of his fleet and into the loving arms of my bombers and fast moving land units like the tank formations and Carbineers. I am preparing a similar defense down in the Bangalore-Hyderabad area to support Madras.
I will point out that I don't actually have to build permanent garrisons for all these places. Instead I am putting a bunch of units into the base, expanding the airbase, building up the fort and then moving on to the next one. This process is already started and will speed up when the Malaya evacuees arrive. I think this is much smarter than putting 5 base forces into 5 locations and watching them slowly improve. If Blackwatch hits India early I will have some strong points ready and can fight him there, abandoning the weak areas. The other way means India has no strong points in the early war which is unwise in my opinion.
A special note about the Carbineers. They are a recon units that moves pretty fast, much faster than a IJA division. If Blackwatch does invade and move into the center of India I will split them into 3, give them air supply and send them running all over the rail lines in his rear. He can't catch them very easily and it will make a mess of his supply.
Blackwatch has repeatedly said that he will not invade India but I still think its worth putting a lot of thought into the area. The British are powerful by they lack depth. If the Japanese can inflict a lot of casualties on the Brits early in the war it takes them a long time to come back, which is what happened historically by the way. If I can get India through the first half of 1942 with much of its strength intact then I can start to use the Imperial troops to push on the Japanese in the later part of the year.
- Attachments
-
- IndiaBurmaJan942.jpg (114.04 KiB) Viewed 199 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
War War War
Its January 12th 1942
The bad news is that Allied bombers still can't hit anything. This raid:
Which has 91 planes dropping bombs and Torpedos, scored this:
Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest IV: 1 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Shikinami
DD Amagiri
DD Usugumo
DD Asagiri
DD Ayanami
DD Uranami
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Murakumo
DD Shirakumo
DD Shirayuki
DD Fubuki
Somewhere in Italy Blackwatch is laughing his ass off. A bunch of the same planes came back later in the day and they finally hit something:
Japanese Ships
DD Shirakumo
DD Uranami
DD Murakumo
DD Hatsuyuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Shikinami
DD Ayanami
DD Asagiri
DD Shirayuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Amagiri
This is the second day of huge air attacks on Blackwatch's convoys coming into Java and its the first time my aircraft have hit much of anything. I have managed to keep the airforce in Java alive, its quality is mostly in the 60s but the planes are not doing much damage.
This all happened on January 12, there were earlier attacks on the 11th. In comparison here is a port attack by Kates on the 11th, notice that they were intecepted by CAP though I was flying 4,000 feet above them, and they still scored a bunch of hits:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65
Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 9
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 2
CL Perth, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Sigli, Bomb hits 1
CL Leander, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B5N Kate bombing at 5000 feet
This attack did enough damage to cause me to sortie my surface fleet and run it away. Damage varies though nothing is going to sink but it does mark the end of Allied surface TFs in the NEI. Most of these ships will have to go to dockyard either in Columbo or Sydney and they will not be back in action until March or April after transit time is factored in.
Other than the inability to hit Japanese warships the defense of Java is going pretty well. As can be seen there are a lot of planes in the area and they are flying. I have been able to hop from airbase to airbase in a way that has kept my losses low. The fighters have all been set on escort missions or naval attack, increasing thier experience level and scoring a few bomb hits without losing the groups. Dutch troops continue to fly in and I will soon have 3 regiments in place near Kragen.
There is more good news in Burma, exceptionally good news in fact. Last time I posted I was concerned that Burma would fall quickly because the Japanese had forced most of my Burma garrison troops towards Moulmein, preventing them from linking up with the Chinese in the North.
All those troops still had movement orders for Mandalay so the day after they arrived in Moulmein they got on express trains, ran past the Japanese and are now on thier way North. The 28th Chinese division is just North of Mandalay and the 29th Chinese has almost finished flying in to Mytikiyna. 3 More Chinese divisions are on the road, one is 60 miles from Mytikiyna, the other two 80 or so.
With only 50,000 Japanese Blackwatch is not going to break the Mandalay postion that quickly and maybe I can hold it indefinitely.
Elswhere in India the first rush of reinforcements is in. I am sending them all to build forts at Hyderabad that will give me a strong postion in the Hyderabad-Bangalore-Madras triangle. Some Singapore troops are going to Trimcomalee, others are on Ship to Daimond Harbor to strengthen those areas as well. SEAC HQ is at Ledo pulling supplies and pushing completion of the airbases in that corner of the country. The first Hurricanes are also in so India is looking stronger by the day.
China is all about bombardment attacks right now. In a few days my large bodies of troops will arrive in Ichang and on the Ichang Hysinyang road. The arrival of 150,000 Chinese should upset the status quo. I also have 50,000 attackers going after 17,000 Japanese defenders at Chengting, if I am lucky maybe I can take the place.
I have definitely created a stragic dillema for Blackwatch, and I think I will post another map to show it
The bad news is that Allied bombers still can't hit anything. This raid:
Which has 91 planes dropping bombs and Torpedos, scored this:
Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest IV: 1 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Shikinami
DD Amagiri
DD Usugumo
DD Asagiri
DD Ayanami
DD Uranami
DD Hatsuyuki
DD Murakumo
DD Shirakumo
DD Shirayuki
DD Fubuki
Somewhere in Italy Blackwatch is laughing his ass off. A bunch of the same planes came back later in the day and they finally hit something:
Japanese Ships
DD Shirakumo
DD Uranami
DD Murakumo
DD Hatsuyuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Shikinami
DD Ayanami
DD Asagiri
DD Shirayuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Amagiri
This is the second day of huge air attacks on Blackwatch's convoys coming into Java and its the first time my aircraft have hit much of anything. I have managed to keep the airforce in Java alive, its quality is mostly in the 60s but the planes are not doing much damage.
This all happened on January 12, there were earlier attacks on the 11th. In comparison here is a port attack by Kates on the 11th, notice that they were intecepted by CAP though I was flying 4,000 feet above them, and they still scored a bunch of hits:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65
Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 9
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 2
CL Perth, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Sigli, Bomb hits 1
CL Leander, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B5N Kate bombing at 5000 feet
This attack did enough damage to cause me to sortie my surface fleet and run it away. Damage varies though nothing is going to sink but it does mark the end of Allied surface TFs in the NEI. Most of these ships will have to go to dockyard either in Columbo or Sydney and they will not be back in action until March or April after transit time is factored in.
Other than the inability to hit Japanese warships the defense of Java is going pretty well. As can be seen there are a lot of planes in the area and they are flying. I have been able to hop from airbase to airbase in a way that has kept my losses low. The fighters have all been set on escort missions or naval attack, increasing thier experience level and scoring a few bomb hits without losing the groups. Dutch troops continue to fly in and I will soon have 3 regiments in place near Kragen.
There is more good news in Burma, exceptionally good news in fact. Last time I posted I was concerned that Burma would fall quickly because the Japanese had forced most of my Burma garrison troops towards Moulmein, preventing them from linking up with the Chinese in the North.
All those troops still had movement orders for Mandalay so the day after they arrived in Moulmein they got on express trains, ran past the Japanese and are now on thier way North. The 28th Chinese division is just North of Mandalay and the 29th Chinese has almost finished flying in to Mytikiyna. 3 More Chinese divisions are on the road, one is 60 miles from Mytikiyna, the other two 80 or so.
With only 50,000 Japanese Blackwatch is not going to break the Mandalay postion that quickly and maybe I can hold it indefinitely.
Elswhere in India the first rush of reinforcements is in. I am sending them all to build forts at Hyderabad that will give me a strong postion in the Hyderabad-Bangalore-Madras triangle. Some Singapore troops are going to Trimcomalee, others are on Ship to Daimond Harbor to strengthen those areas as well. SEAC HQ is at Ledo pulling supplies and pushing completion of the airbases in that corner of the country. The first Hurricanes are also in so India is looking stronger by the day.
China is all about bombardment attacks right now. In a few days my large bodies of troops will arrive in Ichang and on the Ichang Hysinyang road. The arrival of 150,000 Chinese should upset the status quo. I also have 50,000 attackers going after 17,000 Japanese defenders at Chengting, if I am lucky maybe I can take the place.
I have definitely created a stragic dillema for Blackwatch, and I think I will post another map to show it
- Attachments
-
- Airraid.jpg (32.61 KiB) Viewed 199 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Dillema in China
The picture is worth a 1,000 words
But I feel the need to add some.
Blackwatch now has 2 fires that are going out of control, one in the Ichang area and the other at Chengting. He as the Homan RR junction under control and he has a good number of troops at Wuhan, less at Nanking. He can come North from Wuhan but that leaves the Changsha army uncovered. He can go from Wuhan to Changsha but that leaves Ichang outnumbered. If he leaves the RR junction to save Chengting he frees up 80,000 Chinese to move either East or South.
I am not saying that he is helpless or going to get crushed but I think its a serious dilemma and I suspect that the solution involves losing a battle somewhere. This will take a month to play out but its interesting.
The other important note about China is that its got a lot of supply. The Burma road is working and all the Chinese production centers are pumping it out. I have 27,000 supply in Chunking, guess I should move Peanut towards the action, huh? and over 10,000 in several other locations. Some cities are bieng used to build Chinese troops up to full strength so in a month I will have another wave of 300 assualt point units going into action.
I have lost some RR battles here and there, but Blackwatch has been forced to retreat more often than I have, and I am only losing Chinese, there are always more. Finally its worth noting that because I occupy the Northern RR junction the Japanese supply situation in the center of the country is stressed. I don't think Blackwatch is out of supply, but some of it has to move over long routes and he may not be getting all he needs.
But I feel the need to add some.
Blackwatch now has 2 fires that are going out of control, one in the Ichang area and the other at Chengting. He as the Homan RR junction under control and he has a good number of troops at Wuhan, less at Nanking. He can come North from Wuhan but that leaves the Changsha army uncovered. He can go from Wuhan to Changsha but that leaves Ichang outnumbered. If he leaves the RR junction to save Chengting he frees up 80,000 Chinese to move either East or South.
I am not saying that he is helpless or going to get crushed but I think its a serious dilemma and I suspect that the solution involves losing a battle somewhere. This will take a month to play out but its interesting.
The other important note about China is that its got a lot of supply. The Burma road is working and all the Chinese production centers are pumping it out. I have 27,000 supply in Chunking, guess I should move Peanut towards the action, huh? and over 10,000 in several other locations. Some cities are bieng used to build Chinese troops up to full strength so in a month I will have another wave of 300 assualt point units going into action.
I have lost some RR battles here and there, but Blackwatch has been forced to retreat more often than I have, and I am only losing Chinese, there are always more. Finally its worth noting that because I occupy the Northern RR junction the Japanese supply situation in the center of the country is stressed. I don't think Blackwatch is out of supply, but some of it has to move over long routes and he may not be getting all he needs.
- Attachments
-
- Dillema.jpg (74.75 KiB) Viewed 197 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
And the rest of the war, too
In the South Pacific I am closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Noumea how has a P40B group and a Buffalo group stacked with the LBA. If Blackwatch does come back the bombers will fly. I have the same arriangement at Pearl as well.
The Marine division is about a week away from Noumea, that will also do a lot to help the place. I am also boosting Luganville and Fiji with troops supplies and fuel. Over the next month the area will get pretty strong and a flood of air and ground units arrive.
Central Pacific is quiet I just started the Yorktown towards Pearl. Once she arrives I will probabley plan a raid.
In the Philipines 4500 supply is 2 days out of Manila. Another 9,000 is heading for Legaspi in the hopes that it will unload without bieing noticed. Supply on the island is down to 19,000 or so despite the fact that Clark is working so I badly need more. Sadly the Japanese jsut sank two other ships trying to sneak 14,000 past their bases in the Celebes. Another 4500 is heading to Davao to boost air operations. I acidentally allowed my P35 unit to upgarde to P40s so no air attacks while they get organized. I am also going to fly B18s to Davao in a turn or two to increase Japanese merchant attrition in the area. Those planes are organizing in Darwin, and I may be able to convert them to B25s soon which would be really great. Java aside I am getting an airforce that can hurt the enemy together slowly but surely.
The Marine division is about a week away from Noumea, that will also do a lot to help the place. I am also boosting Luganville and Fiji with troops supplies and fuel. Over the next month the area will get pretty strong and a flood of air and ground units arrive.
Central Pacific is quiet I just started the Yorktown towards Pearl. Once she arrives I will probabley plan a raid.
In the Philipines 4500 supply is 2 days out of Manila. Another 9,000 is heading for Legaspi in the hopes that it will unload without bieing noticed. Supply on the island is down to 19,000 or so despite the fact that Clark is working so I badly need more. Sadly the Japanese jsut sank two other ships trying to sneak 14,000 past their bases in the Celebes. Another 4500 is heading to Davao to boost air operations. I acidentally allowed my P35 unit to upgarde to P40s so no air attacks while they get organized. I am also going to fly B18s to Davao in a turn or two to increase Japanese merchant attrition in the area. Those planes are organizing in Darwin, and I may be able to convert them to B25s soon which would be really great. Java aside I am getting an airforce that can hurt the enemy together slowly but surely.
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
China Triumphant!
The Chinese won several major battles over the last two days. In a way this is good for Blackwatch, he nolonger has to worry about Chengting
Because its now Chinese[:D]
It fell on January 13:
Ground combat at Chengting
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 50945 troops, 418 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 17779 troops, 217 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied forces CAPTURE Chengting base !!!
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-15 Babs: 6 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 11 destroyed
Japanese ground losses:
342 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Allied ground losses:
219 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
About 2,000 Japanese were killed in the retreat as well. The Chinese are in pursuit and have 11,000 supply in the city we will see how far they can roll.
On the 14th Chinese strategy of moving the war to the North took another step forward when the Ichang - Hsinyang road was cleared of Japanese troops:
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 97737 troops, 747 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 41470 troops, 514 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 4 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
866 casualties reported
Guns lost 32
Allied ground losses:
836 casualties reported
Guns lost 33
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Count on another 2-6,000 casualties for that retreat as well. The Chinese army is moving towards Hsinyang if I can take it on the fly I will, but what I really want to do is move past it and get more troops up to the Peking area. If I can push the Japanese troops between Hsinyang and Peking out of the way then I think I can retake much of North China before Blackwatch can react.
Further South I am moving more divisions to Changsha. Its very possible Blackwatch will go for Changsha to try and take pressure off the North. I hope he does because I think I can hold him there. If it looks dangerous I can turn around and hit Wuhan, and if Changsha holds well then I can just keep going and take Peking.
South and East of Wuhan 30,000 Japanese are trying to destory 1/3 of a Chinese division. I have 3 divisions coming to the rescue, Blackwatch has 1 division holding the cordon so I think I will get another small victory when I smack up the encircling force. As long as the division fragment gets away I really lose very little. The unit SW of Nanking is on its way to the coast to run along the rail lines and mess up supply. In a short time I will have C47s flying in air supply for those troops which should complicate things a bit more for Japan.
There are still 12+ Divisions in the interior of China on their way to various locations or building up to full strength. Even if Blackwatch tries a counter attack I have a lot of reaction ability.
Because its now Chinese[:D]
It fell on January 13:
Ground combat at Chengting
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 50945 troops, 418 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 17779 troops, 217 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 3)
Allied forces CAPTURE Chengting base !!!
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-15 Babs: 6 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 11 destroyed
Japanese ground losses:
342 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Allied ground losses:
219 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
About 2,000 Japanese were killed in the retreat as well. The Chinese are in pursuit and have 11,000 supply in the city we will see how far they can roll.
On the 14th Chinese strategy of moving the war to the North took another step forward when the Ichang - Hsinyang road was cleared of Japanese troops:
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 97737 troops, 747 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 41470 troops, 514 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 4 to 1
Japanese ground losses:
866 casualties reported
Guns lost 32
Allied ground losses:
836 casualties reported
Guns lost 33
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
Count on another 2-6,000 casualties for that retreat as well. The Chinese army is moving towards Hsinyang if I can take it on the fly I will, but what I really want to do is move past it and get more troops up to the Peking area. If I can push the Japanese troops between Hsinyang and Peking out of the way then I think I can retake much of North China before Blackwatch can react.
Further South I am moving more divisions to Changsha. Its very possible Blackwatch will go for Changsha to try and take pressure off the North. I hope he does because I think I can hold him there. If it looks dangerous I can turn around and hit Wuhan, and if Changsha holds well then I can just keep going and take Peking.
South and East of Wuhan 30,000 Japanese are trying to destory 1/3 of a Chinese division. I have 3 divisions coming to the rescue, Blackwatch has 1 division holding the cordon so I think I will get another small victory when I smack up the encircling force. As long as the division fragment gets away I really lose very little. The unit SW of Nanking is on its way to the coast to run along the rail lines and mess up supply. In a short time I will have C47s flying in air supply for those troops which should complicate things a bit more for Japan.
There are still 12+ Divisions in the interior of China on their way to various locations or building up to full strength. Even if Blackwatch tries a counter attack I have a lot of reaction ability.
- Attachments
-
- ChinaJan1542.jpg (95.66 KiB) Viewed 198 times
-
Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Other areas
India/Burma: Continues to build up, most Burma troops are now in Mandalay, Blackwatch advances on Moulmein but not Rangoon, I guess he can't believe its empty. Rangoon is now held by two oil tankers and 10 disabled C47s. The place has 25,000 supply in it that will not move North, this is driving me nuts but I can't do anything about it.
The rest of India is building up as planned some of the Malaya troops have arrived already. I have been convoying supply to Diamond Harbor, Chadpur, Madras and other places, I don't trust the rail lines to do a great job of getting supply across India. A unit of 48 B17s is also on the way flying in from Oz with a stop at Sumatra in between.
Speaking of Sumatra Blackwatch has already started bombing the hell out of Medan, Bankha and Kuala. I am sure he will take the place pretty soon, I doubt he wants to lose Malaya in 42 again. Most of the Malaya troops are on ships now, there are a bunch of fragments waiting for the next convoy at Sabang and that is about it.
In Java the Japanese are trying to knock out Soerbaja as an airbase. My other bases that he bombed such as Bali and Batavia have not recoverd yet so this is starting to hurt. On the bright side CAP over Soerbaja actually won, 5 Jap planes went down Vs. 2 Allied. No changes on land, just a steady flow of additional units from outlying bases, flying in to strategic points around the Island.
The Philipines is going to get more interesting. 8 Hudsons moved up to Manila, 5 B18s moved to Davao. Two 4500 capacity AKs are unloading at Davao and Manila respectively to support the bombing effort. Another 9,000 supply will start unloading at Legaspi soon. The Philipines seem to use about 1,000 supply more per day than they are producing, so these ships will keep things running until mid February if they unload completely. I have more on the way but don't know how many will get through.
No other big news, as January comes and goes the South Pacific continues to build up but it has a long way to go.
The rest of India is building up as planned some of the Malaya troops have arrived already. I have been convoying supply to Diamond Harbor, Chadpur, Madras and other places, I don't trust the rail lines to do a great job of getting supply across India. A unit of 48 B17s is also on the way flying in from Oz with a stop at Sumatra in between.
Speaking of Sumatra Blackwatch has already started bombing the hell out of Medan, Bankha and Kuala. I am sure he will take the place pretty soon, I doubt he wants to lose Malaya in 42 again. Most of the Malaya troops are on ships now, there are a bunch of fragments waiting for the next convoy at Sabang and that is about it.
In Java the Japanese are trying to knock out Soerbaja as an airbase. My other bases that he bombed such as Bali and Batavia have not recoverd yet so this is starting to hurt. On the bright side CAP over Soerbaja actually won, 5 Jap planes went down Vs. 2 Allied. No changes on land, just a steady flow of additional units from outlying bases, flying in to strategic points around the Island.
The Philipines is going to get more interesting. 8 Hudsons moved up to Manila, 5 B18s moved to Davao. Two 4500 capacity AKs are unloading at Davao and Manila respectively to support the bombing effort. Another 9,000 supply will start unloading at Legaspi soon. The Philipines seem to use about 1,000 supply more per day than they are producing, so these ships will keep things running until mid February if they unload completely. I have more on the way but don't know how many will get through.
No other big news, as January comes and goes the South Pacific continues to build up but it has a long way to go.