Stopping the Juggernaut - Cruft vs Alikchi II (CHS)

[Captain Cruft]

14 Jan 1942

The 11th NLF took Singkawang at the first attempt. I will now ship in the 11th Special Base Force and some of the aircraft of the 22nd Air Flotilla. Next op is Pontianak using the 12th NLF.

--
Over in Neck Tie land the Maizuru 2nd's now have 15 ready squads. It's obviously going to take some time before they are ready to have another go at Pago Pago so I have re-directed the blockading carriers to the Suva region to help out there in the meantime. Speaking of which, the invasion force should arrive in two days time. Hudsons from Suva attacked them today but 5 out of 6 were shot down by Zeros from the CVs. No hits were achieved by the brave New Zealanders.

--
In Malaya I finally managed to pull off a 1 - 1 odds Deliberate Attack at Kuala Lumpur. Forts are now down to 2 so I will have another go tomorrow. As a bonus the Imp Gds have at last managed to extricate themselves from the jungle so they can now scoot down the rail line to help out too.

--
I was right about the USAAF pullout from the PI. Recon is now showing virtually no planes anywhere. This is good because it means I can move the 21st Air Flotilla from Aparri to Manado and start exerting control of the eastern DEI shipping lanes. Otherwise this would have had to wait until the invasion of Amboina, which is scheduled after the Tarakan op, which is itself delayed by waiting for the Shoho to arrive at Palau from the Home Islands ...

The 14th Army at Clark Field has recovered disruption to a reasonable level so I will risk another Deliberate Attack here next turn


Pilots

The IJN pool hit zero today. This is bad, but there is a silver lining in that I can now allow replacements or upgrades for all my transport, float plane and Home Defence air groups.

For reference, the IJA pool is still over 250.

Loss Ratios

Air: 2 - 1
Ships: 3 - 1

The first Allied sub casualty (SS Seal, caught to the NE of Kuching by the convoy carrying the 12th Special Base Force from Saigon) tips the ship ratio back in Japan's favour.

[Captain Cruft]

15 Jan 1942

No developments. Attacks at Clark and KL both got 0 - 1 as usual I suppose this shows it pays the Allies to stand and fight if nothing else.

The South Seas Det. will land at Nandi tomorrow. Lets's hope the 8th NZ Brigade is still at Suva ...


Loss Ratios

Air: 2 - 1
Ships: 3 - 1

[Captain Cruft]

16 - 17 Jan 1942

The South Seas Det. landed at Nandi with few casualties and took the unoccupied base today. Next stop Suva!

Moving the RNZAF Base Force to Suva is a classic example of Alikchi concentrating his forces BTW.

--
A couple of bad results in the air today.

First off, the Buffalos turned up at KL again. This time they did rather better, disposing of 4 Oscars and 3 Lilies for a loss of 5 of their own.

Secondly, I have of course been using my dive bombers in China to attack the helpless Chinese infantry out in the fields. Well, who should turn up today but another squadron of the AVG LRCAPing one such unit. Five Anns were shot down by the evil super-star mercenaries. Ouch.

--
The Imp Gds should arrive at Kuala Lumpur and the 4th Div at Clark Field very soon. Hopefully with these reinforcements I can finally clear the road blocks. Also, I have ordered the 16th Army to march to Manila in order to prevent the US commander stripping the city to defend the airfield ...


Aircraft Factory Upgrades

The Claude factory at Nagasaki has still not converted over.

Loss Ratios

Air: 1.9 - 1
Ships: 3 - 1

I will report fractions when the ratio is less than 2.


Neck Tie

[Captain Cruft]

18 Jan 1942

Something I had neglected to mention. A large Chinese army has been gathering at Kaifeng in central China. These were the troops I had been dive bombing until the AVG showed up.

Well, today they tried a shock attack against my poor little old single division there. Fortunately, odds were 0 - 1 and Chinese casualties were about 10 times greater. This was with forts at 4. Now despite this good result I can see more Chinese scurrying in from the countryside so I have ordered an additional two divisions and an arty unit to make their way to Kaifeng too. We cannot afford to lose face in this ancient Asian conflict ...

--
Elsewhere nothing of note happened. The South Seas Det. will probably take four days to march to Suva. In the meantime the KB is bombing the airfield on a daily basis since the weather is good. The Kates will switch to ground attack when it becomes time for the infantry to assault.

Note: I am in danger of running out of air sorties here. However, for once I planned well and a convoy with supplies and fuel (and AVs) is heading for Nandi about three days out. I will deposit a little stuff there and do a one-off "Replenish TF from port" with both Air Combat TFs to get their Max Sorties back up.


Loss Ratios

Air: 1.9 - 1
Ships: 2 - 1 (an AP hit a mine at Singkawang and had to be scuttled)

[Captain Cruft]

19 - 20 Jan 1942

I am going to reduce the frequency of postings here since I am feeling "time pressure". Basically, unless something happens I won't post.

Current situation:-

Clark Field is under siege.
Kuala Lumpur is under siege.
Landing at Pontianak soon.
Landing at Tarakan soon (supported by CVLs).
South Seas Det. will reach Suva soon.

I have moved the three Yokahama Chutais of Mavises to Nandi. Two AVs arrive tomorrow to support them.


Loss Ratios

Unchanged.

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

I am going to reduce the frequency of postings here since I am feeling "time pressure". Basically, unless something happens I won't post.

Does this mean no more helpful hints? [:(]

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

Does this mean no more helpful hints? [:(]

I wouldn't follow any hints on this thread

Verbosity will still exist at times I'm sure ...

[Captain Cruft]

21 Jan 1942

The South Seas Det. has arrived at Suva and attempted a bombardment attack today. No casualties caused. For some reason they are somewhat disrupted and fatigued. Presumably this is just a result of having marched from Nandi though since Fiji is "Temperate".

--
Despite the arrival of the Imp Gds Div the roadblock at Kuala Lumpur is still holding. Maj Gen Alikchi has awarded all troops the Most Excellent Order of British Stubborness ...

--
Clark Field still holds too. However I hope that the next Deliberate Attack will succeed. Currently I am just waiting for the troops to recover from the last one.

--
The 12th NLF has been landed without interference at Pontianak. Of course they have no supplies so I am going to have to wait before attacking. ROFL.

--
Meanwhile, over in the eastern DEI, I am trying to build up Manado as an offensive base but am (as usual) short of supplies. US and Dutch bombers have attacked the base for two days now, causing a bit of damage and losing quite a few planes to the Zeros of the 21st Air Flotilla. What is interesting though is that recon is showing Amboina to possess some 14,000 troops. Where have they come from? I can only presume that Gull Force and/or Sparrow Force have been shipped in from Darwin. Regardless, this requires a change of plan since I had only allocated three normal NLFs to take Amboina.

--
Finally, there was an interesting sub action today. A long-range I boat successfully sank an AK on the West Coast -> PH route, causing the Allied TF to "retrieve survivors from the 71st Aviation Unit". However, the escort this time was some 6 DDs, as opposed to the 2 or so experienced previously. Surprisingly, despite facing a veritable fusillade of depth charges the sub only took one hit and will survive. However this has led me to order all the boats back to safer waters. There is no margin in head-butting against convoys like that, I just got lucky this time ...


Loss Ratios

Unchanged but have gone up slightly in Japan's favour at the micro level.

[Captain Cruft]

23 Jan 1942

Finally, we make some progress.

Most amazingly, Kuala Lumpur fell. Odds were 9 - 1 and the British/Indian troops retreated to Malacca, which is a bit of a "hole" on the CHS map (on the coast and connected only by roads). I got lucky in that for once the weather allowed all the Lilies and Sallies to take off and perform a Ground Attack.

The Imp Gds will proceed to Johore Bharu, where it will meet up with the 18th Div, while the 5th Div will just sit in KL for a bit until the 4th Mixed Regt can get there to perform garrison duty. The future Malaysian capital is completely destroyed BTW with 599 out of 600 Resource points being damaged ... Ouch.

--
The landings at Tarakan were a textbook success with the Kure 2nd SNLF taking the base at the first attempt. We even managed to sink SS Sculpin on the way in too, which was nice.

--
In contrast the 24th NLF had been struggling at Kavieng. Not only were they suffering from the usual no supplies problem but the Aussie Independent Coy on defence performed well. I managed to solve this by using a fast transport TF (CLs & DDs) to get some supplies there quickly and then converted it to a bombardment TF immediately after they were delivered. The Independent Coy has retreated towards Samo, which is a dot base two trail hexes south on the New Ireland land mass. I'm betting they never get there (malaria + no supplies).

A conventional transport convoy will now move the 24th Special Base Force to Kavieng. The Hudsons, Wirraways & (recently arrived) Beauforts at Rabaul will no doubt try to intervene but so far they have had no success. I am glad that in the CHS Rabaul starts as a level 3 airfield so the Beauforts cannot use torpedoes ...

--
Neck Tie will start to move again soon. Both carrier TFs have now replenished their sorties at Nandi. Akagi & Kaga are stationed just off Suva and will re-commence ground attacks on the 8th NZ Brigade once the weather has cleared. The main force of Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku & Zuikaku is on the way back to Pago Pago with the ocean liners where it will help support the Maizuru 2nd SNLF in their second attempt at a landing. The marines are recovering well now and are up to 30 live squads.


Loss Ratios

Air: 1 - 1
Ships: 3 - 1

The air losses keep slowly getting worse. I didn't calculate it this turn but I'm guessing 1.8 - 1 or so.

[Captain Cruft]

Cruft's Log, Star Date Unknown

It's 2 or 3 game days after the last report.

Clark Field fell, finally. The US and Philippine troops have retreated to Bataan, where we will let them fester for a while (until Manila is taken).

Elsewhere, progress continues in its slow fashion. First deliberate attack at Suva tomorrow, hopefully supported by Kates from Akagi and Kaga on ground attack.

[Captain Cruft]

2 Feb 1942

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. I have little time at the moment and it gets allocated to actually playing the turns first ...

Anyway, little has changed to be honest.

The South Seas Det has performed two miserable 0 - 1 Deliberate Attacks at Suva so far. I have had major problems getting the planes from Akagi & Kago to fly Ground Attack in support. However, over at Pago Pago the Maizuru 2nd SNLF (now luxuriating in 43 live squads) will land again in two days time. This time they will be accompanied by two BBs and two CAs in synchronous bombardment support. Hopefully this time enough squads will survive the coastal guns to take out the minimal garrison.

Assuming they succeed I can then transport them over to Suva (via Nandi) to help out.

--
In Malaya I have started attriting Singapore air base with reasonable success. Next assault is at Johore Bharu where preparatory bombardment attacks are currently in progress.

--
Bataan and Manila remain in Allied hands. It's just a matter of marching the troops to the right places now.

--
My subs are continuing to have great success against undefended or lightly defended convoys. Some of this has been in the Society Islands region, where Papeete has both sprouted an aircraft symbol and increased port size to 2. Probably my opponent is trying to build up here ASAP in response to my activities in Samoa and Fiji. I know I would ...


Heavy Bombers

After several airfield attacks on both Bataan and Manila I am temporarily withdrawing the G5N Liz's from active service. For some reason they seem very vulnerable to flak, even worse than Nells 'n' Betties. Both Takao groups will return to their namesake base to pick up some rookie pilots and embark on a few month's training. I am determined to find a use for these planes but for now I don't really need them.

Loss Ratios

Not sure of numbers but air ratio has been going down and ship ratio has been going up.

[LargeSlowTarget]

ORIGINAL: irrelevant

This is where another Crufty idiosyncracy comes in. I like to only convert ships with non-Japanese names so I can distinguish them easily. The only such available at Osaka this turn was the London Maru - it is now in the build queue as a Large MLE. The Paris Maru and Penang Maru are on their way from other Home Island ports for the same treatment

Crufty, this cracked me up; I did exactly the same thing for the same reason.

Coming late, but I just discovered this AAR... I do exactly the same, LOL!


EDIT: Ok, finished reading this nice AAR - took quite a few notes on do's and don'ts for future games [:)].

[Captain Cruft]

4 Feb 1942

LOL LST, that makes three of us! I now have about 6 ARs and 6 MLEs building at accelerated. Merchant Shipyards are struggling though, so more AKs and APs were halted today.

--
Bataan and Johore Bharu are now ours. Manila should follow quickly but there is a slight problem with Malaya in that Malacca is still in Allied hands. Therefore I cannot send all 3 divs into Singapore because that would leave Johore empty. There are no spare LCUs to bring in to solve the problem.

Maybe the Imp Gds and 5th Divs + tanks + arty will be enough ...

--
Over at Upolu it is taking forever for the ocean liners to load up enough supplies to support the Maizuru 2nd SNLF in their Pago Pago mission. Perhaps next turn I can finally give the order to proceed.


Aircraft Factories

The Claude factory at Nagasaki has still not converted over. Zeros are in abundance though despite this.

Heavy Bombers

It occurs to me that the G5N Liz might make an excellent ASW aircraft. If the sub attack routines use the "naval" bombload then a 500kg AP bomb should make a mess of a sub. Or, if it uses the "weight" bombload then half of 8,800 lbs should have roughly the same effect.

I'm going to try using the beasts in this manner for a while. The new pilots need training up somehow and this seems like a useful way to do it.

Kagoshima will likely be the place - US subs are starting to appear around the Home Islands. Or I could even ship 'em out to Kwajalein since the Marshalls are crawling with subs. I even formed an ASW TF of PCs to try and chase them off, most unlike me

[CapAndGown]

When are you going to give up on the Claudes and manually convert them? [:'(]

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

When are you going to give up on the Claudes and manually convert them? [:'(]

I'm not. First, I don't actually need the 6 additional Zeros per month. Second, I am certain the factory will convert but am curious as to how long it might take ...

What I could really do with is Tojo production starting tomorrow. The presence of the AVG in China is effectively stopping me from under-taking any serious offensives. I couldn't spare the Zero groups there even without my "no IJN" rule.

[Captain Cruft]

7 Feb 1942

Finally ... Pago Pago is ours.

It wasn't a cakewalk though. The heavily suppressed (or even obliterated) coastal guns didn't fire a shot, but unexpectedly the colonial troops of the Samoan Marine Defence unit put up a fierce fight. Odds on the automatic shock attack were 2 - 1 (with forts at 0). It couldn't have been closer - it seems I was saved by my opponent's prediliction for building up base facilities at the expense of defensive fortifications ...

As a result, the poor old Maizuru 2nd SNLF are down to 8 live squads again. Nevertheless I have set their objective to Suva and will load them up for the trip to Nandi just as soon as the ocean liners have finished unloading the remaining supplies.

[Captain Cruft]

Just in case anyone was wondering about leaving the Marshall Islands undefended I have 108 Betties there just in case the US fleet should try and have a go. They can reach Tarawa.

The only thing that worries me a bit is the gap between the Marshalls and Suva, in the Funafuti/Nanumea are. I suspect the US CVs could quite successfully raid into this space and I wouldn't be able to catch them. Four unescorted (except for PGs) supply convoys have got through so far but still.

[Captain Cruft]

15 Feb 1942

Little of significance has changed. Here are the salient points:

Malaya

All taken except for the isolated garrisons at Malacca, Kuantan and Singapore itself. My Singapore invasion force is a bit light, consisting of Imp Gds & 5th Divs, an eng regt, 1 tank unit and 2-3 arty units. We are currently bombarding ...

DEI

My opponent is once again being a pain in the arse in this area. However this time, rather than raiding with carriers and surface forces he has created a couple of "strongpoints" at Amboina and Palembang. Amboina seems to solely be an LCU affair, whilst Palembang is home to a lot of P-40s, Hurricanes, Swordfishes, A-24 Dauntlesses (anything useful in other words) as well as a substantial land force.

What am I doing about this?

Well, Amboina can wait. The 2nd Div is planning for it but they are still stuck at Kagoshima awaiting escorts for the trip out. Meanwhile the Nells 'n' Betties at Manado are periodically bombing the virtually empty airfield in order to prevent building of fort. On the plus side, Kendari seems "at default" so I should have no problem taking it and establishing my south eastern flank protection at that point.

In the meantime I am proceeding with the landings in southern Borneo. Tarakan was taken ages ago, Samarinda is next. A MSW accompanied bombardment force of cruisers should arrive next turn, the SNLF the turn after that. Balikpapan will then be addressed via the land route from Samarinda (a road).

As for Palembang, it will be reduced and then invaded The 35th Brigade has been at Kuching preparing for a long time and has > 50 prep points. The only thing necessary prior to making a landing is to get rid of the torpedo and dive bombers at the base. This started today, with a large attack by the 3rd Air Army (recently installed at Johore Bharu). There are no planes left at Singapore BTW. The Oscars and Sallies suffered at the hands of the P-40s and Hurricanes (30 air to air losses) but I have plenty to spare. More Oscars have been moved into Pontianak and Singakawang to help out with escort duties. Plus, the Nells and Zeros of the 22nd Air Flotilla can help out from Kuching. I can do this because there is no shipping in the DEI that I can see. The IJN torpedo bombers don't actually need to attack anything to create a naval exclusion zone ...

Of course I will also be sending in the usual CA led bombardment force too. This is just waiting for fuel to get to Pontianak.

I estimate it will take about a week to persuade Alikchi that keeping aircraft at the Oil Mecca is not a sustainable idea It's going to be quite costly though.

Philippines

Bataan and Clark Field are Japanese. Manila is under siege by the combined might of the 14th and 16th Armies. First deliberate attack was today which achieved the usual 0 - 1 but did however reduce forts to 1. They will not be going back up again either due to constant bombing by the Sallies, Lilies and Anns of the 5th Air Div now installed at Clark.

A few isolated garrisons remain in the southern islands. Namely Cagayan, Iloilo and Dumaguete. These will be taken in good time.

Bismarck Archipelago

Rabaul is still an Australian Bastion. Neck Tie has stripped the fleet of virtually everything useful and I am wary of trying to land here without air support. The US CVs might appear.

So ... Instead I am slowly creeping my way via the Admiralty Islands and Kavieng. Both bases have NLFs and base forces installed, the landings having been conducted via fast transport. Admiralty is at port 2, af 1 and Kavieng is at 1/1. The small Toko chutai of Zeros is operating at Admiralty Islands and it's attendant Mavises flying recon/search at Kavieng. Next turn I will start running Tokyo Expresses from Admiralty to Rabaul using a Kongo battlecruiser and a couple of CAs (this represents my "fleet" in this area). There are dangerous Beauforts and Hudsons at Rabaul which have already claimed a Katori class CL and some APDs/PGs/APs. The airfield must therefore be suppressed before anything else happens.

To be honest I probably won't actually land at Rabaul until I can detach a couple of CVs from Neck Tie to support. The invasion force at Truk is quite large and some of the units are approaching 100 prep points so I'm not too worried.

Neck Tie

As reported Pago Pago fell a week or so ago. The Maizuru 2nd SNLF should land back at Nandi tomorrow. Once they have slogged up the road to Suva I will finally start deliberate attacking again. The South Seas Det has just been bombarding in the meantime - Allied casualties have been very slowly been creeping up from these attacks. In addition the Akagi and Kaga have been performing airfield attacks whenever the weather has permitted. I cannot believe there are any supplies left at Suva now ...

I now have an AR, supplies and fuel at Nandi to go with the two AVs supporting the Yokohama Mavises (and now Emilies). The BLOCKADE will be on just as soon as I can kick the blessed Fijians and New Zealanders out of Suva!


And finally ...

The factory at Nagasaki is still churning out Claudes. ROFL.

[Captain Cruft]

19 Feb 1942

I am a very pleased bunny at the moment. Two major objectives have been achieved, namely the taking of Suva and the suppression of Palembang airbase. Details to follow in the next two posts ...

--
Happenings elsewhere:

1) Moulmein (Burma) - both the 33rd & 55th Divs are now across the river. Each crossing triggered a shock attack of course which has left the troops in bad order. Adding to this is almost daily bombing via ground attack from the Southeast Asia air force at Rangoon and Mandalay (Blenheims & B-17s). I have finally decided to start LRCAPing the troops from Rahaeng (77th Sentai, Oscar 1bs) otherwise we are never going to get anywhere.

2) Borneo - we are landed at Samarinda and it should fall next turn. Then it's a matter of marching down the road to Balikpapan. Both these bases have been thoroughly bombarded of course The three CVLs are covering this activity.

3) Manila - fell yesterday. Five divisions now freed up for ops in the DEI. Some are preparing for Palembang and some for Amboina, where there are substantial Allied troops. Others have Batavia and Soerbaja as their targets. There is no way this force can be stopped when it arrives. My only problem is getting it all shipped out of Manila. APs are on their way but I have no spare ASW escorts anywere. This is a real problem all over the map to be honest.

[Captain Cruft]

Fiji falls

I was surprised how this happened. The Maizuru 2nd SNLF was not required, indeed they are still marching up the road from Nandi.

Basically, since I could not get the planes on the CVs to fly ground attack, I just left them on airfield attack. Substantial damage done each time (all 6 CVs have been together for a few days now). Two days ago I noticed a marked drop in the "defence values" (or whatever they are) of the 8th NZ Brigade and Fiji Defence Force in the ground combat screen during the daily bombardment attack. So ... I chanced my luck and tried a deliberate attack using the South Seas Det alone. Result was 4 - 1 odds with 1 fort, so bingo! Subsequently my opponent informed me that Suva went down to zero supplies at the same time as the LCU values dropped so that must be what it was.

Anyway, cool The South Seas Det will now just recuperate for a while until I decide what to do with them next. Perhaps they can help out with Noumea or something (planes have appeared there BTW). Meanwhile, it's no rest for the poor old Maizuru 2nds, who will be off to Tonga as soon as they arrive at Suva. The KB and two Kongos/CAs will cover this.

I do not intend to expand the op to cover the Society Islands. Whilst it would probably be possible I don't want the KB too far out of position in case a counter-attack arrives at Canton or Pago Pago. Also, it just wouldn't be fair ...

Backup and Support

A large supply/fuel convoy is on the way from Truk to Suva. I am thinking to apply the "blockade" until up until about May time, hopefully 50,000 fuel and 30,000 supply will be enough. This leaves Truk a bit bare but much more is on its way from the Home Islands.

Tidying up in the "gap" is also required. The Sasebo 7th SNLF should arrive at Nanumea soon (also from Truk) and will then work their way down the islands ending up at Wallis Island. Tarawa will also get two base forces, being the 101st IJN from Jaluit and 101st IJNAF from Wotje. Finally the 53rd Nav Gsn will be fast transported from Majuro to Baker Island. All these units will be replaced in time from Japan.

There must be no green bases or dots in the entire area. I don't want the US to sneak in a base force by sub or something.

BTW the KB is now down to 386 planes. It has been a costly exercise but hopefully worth it. This is still enough to go head to head with the US carriers should they turn up.