Time for a 5 day update
The strategic situtation has not changed much since the last post.
In Burma North Burma is safetly British, South Burma is safetly Japanese. British air is very active over every base that is in fighter range and the British fighters are pushing up into the 70s in experience. Oddly enough two of my best fighter units are flying lysanders, months of bombing the Japanese has brought their quality pretty high.
As predicted above the Japanese have moved a troop ship convoy to Rangoon to pull some units out of Burma that they need for either Java or the Philipines. Every plane that can reach is on port attack this turn, escorted by the AVG. Also the 2 fast carriers are rushing in from Trimcomalee with 4 BBs and the Hermes coming up behind. I have not spotted a covering force yet so maybe the Brits will be able to do some serious damage. Or if Blackwatch has sent LBA to the area we might have another large air sea battle.
In the Phillipines the supply situation is getting worse but its a long way from critical. Clark has Just over 20,000 supply right now, the other bases in Luzon have nearly 0, Legaspi is isolated with 3,000+ and another 20,000 or so is being unloaded at Davao. There are a limited number of transports flying supply to Luzon which is slowing the rot but not stopping it.
Most Allied aircraft are out of the Philipines right now as I reoganize. The exception is two groups of F4s totaling 36 planes (after they repair) that are going to cover a pair of AKs with 9000 supply bound for Manila. I doubt it will work, but if it does then MacArthur could last well into May or maybe even until June.
In China Chang has relocated to Homan to improve the supply situation in the North. The Chinese have several 20,000 man armies chasing smaller Japanese units around the map and infliciting casualties. Chengting is isolated right now but has enough supply and will be relieved in a week or two, Changsha is besieged but connected to the Chinese rail network, Ichang is full of Japs but under siege by Chinese and there are 20,000 Japs cut off in the city just North of Wuchow (Kwieyang?). The Chinese are moving low supply units out of the siege hex and replacing them with high supply units, hopefully this will allow them to do some serous damage.
In Java the Japanese bombarded Soerbaja and made a mess of the place, but could not make it stick. I am working on getting some mines into the hex. Otherwise things are good there, the US 151 RTC just joined the defense pushing the number of defenders up to 34,000 active (from 29,000) and supply and a US artillery regiment are both unloading at Malang which is now a level 1 port.
The 3 US CVs are at Pearl absorbing thier upgrades.
The Cruiser TF that was doing bombardment missions in the NEI has a lot of sys damage mostly high single digits or low teens from fast steaming and air attacks, its leaving for refit in Sydney. The Brits just got some new cruisers so they may send a similar force to the same area.
I will post some maps in the next set of updates.
The Imperialism, the war against Blackwatch
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
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Tom Hunter
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China
China is currently a fast moving swamp, as small Chinese army groups chase even smaller Japanese raiding forces around the country while the main armies sit and bombard eachother.
Most Chinese troops are in the 55-65 quality range with a small number of units in the 70s and 80s and a few still in the 40s, so the advantage has shifted away from the Japanese in terms of quality.
The circles represent troops of either side that are currently cut off. Each side has isolated troops but I think the Chinese are the only ones who can keep the enemy isolated.
The Northernmost army of 29,000 men is going to reopen the supply line to Chengting. There are about 80,000 men in Homan building up supply and strength, that group will eventually launch a substaintial attack but they are building up for it now. Chang is now at Homan to improve the supply situation, and the Homan area has the largest concentration of uncommitted Chinese troops.
Further South Changsha is under siege but the armies are about the same size and both are in supply so there is no threat there.
Wuchow has a medium sized force in good supply, the troops on the rail line are troops that are leaving the siege to resupply at Wuchow, eventually the whole 50,000 man army that is besieging 20,000 Japanese will be replaced with troops that are in better shape. I am hoping that a regular rotation can be set up and the Japanese will eventually be exausted by the steady flow of fresh, well supplied Chinese.
Off map the Burma road is open and there are about 100 transport planes of various types flying supply in from Ledo. As a result the Chinese supply situation is pretty good, though the Japanese have moved to occupy as many supply producing hexes as possible to cut production. I think that explains the troops outside Yenen and also the army sitting outside Changsha. Even if they can't win they have the useful effect of reducing Chinese supply.
So the story is the same as ever, lots of moving around, lots of people dieing but nothing much changes.
Most Chinese troops are in the 55-65 quality range with a small number of units in the 70s and 80s and a few still in the 40s, so the advantage has shifted away from the Japanese in terms of quality.
The circles represent troops of either side that are currently cut off. Each side has isolated troops but I think the Chinese are the only ones who can keep the enemy isolated.
The Northernmost army of 29,000 men is going to reopen the supply line to Chengting. There are about 80,000 men in Homan building up supply and strength, that group will eventually launch a substaintial attack but they are building up for it now. Chang is now at Homan to improve the supply situation, and the Homan area has the largest concentration of uncommitted Chinese troops.
Further South Changsha is under siege but the armies are about the same size and both are in supply so there is no threat there.
Wuchow has a medium sized force in good supply, the troops on the rail line are troops that are leaving the siege to resupply at Wuchow, eventually the whole 50,000 man army that is besieging 20,000 Japanese will be replaced with troops that are in better shape. I am hoping that a regular rotation can be set up and the Japanese will eventually be exausted by the steady flow of fresh, well supplied Chinese.
Off map the Burma road is open and there are about 100 transport planes of various types flying supply in from Ledo. As a result the Chinese supply situation is pretty good, though the Japanese have moved to occupy as many supply producing hexes as possible to cut production. I think that explains the troops outside Yenen and also the army sitting outside Changsha. Even if they can't win they have the useful effect of reducing Chinese supply.
So the story is the same as ever, lots of moving around, lots of people dieing but nothing much changes.
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CapAndGown
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RE: China
How do you "freshen up" your troops? Do you take them back to some largish base were they can recover fatigue? What do you consider "fresh?"
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Tom Hunter
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Bay of Bengal
This ought to be interesting.
The British are trying to fight the Japanese but their fighters don't fly far enough, a constant problem. Also the Japanese are trying to withdraw troops from Burma to the more important battles in the Phillipines and Java.
I thought hard about how to deal with this. If the RN can catch the troop ship convoy I could kill a lot of Japanese. But if it gets away it may give Japan the victory in Java or the Philipines a month or two earlier than they will get otherwise. Also if the Japanese have a lot of LBA in Rangoon, Moulmein and Victoria Point they could pound the RN.
So I am choosing the conservative postion. Allied LBA and the RN are going to hit the convoy in Rangoon and try to stop it from sailing. Sinking a loaded transport will be a nice bonus but the objective is to keep the Japanese from leaving Burma. A nice side effect is that the very precious RN CVs will be close to the massive fighter force in Akyab so even if the Japanese do hit them they can get a lot of help fast.
Elsewhere in theater every Japanese base is being reconned by Blenhiems every turn. Lashio seem to be empty and when I get Para's I am going to drop there, then follow it up with a base force and a Chinese division that is building up in Calcutta as I write. That will give me an airbase that is within 2 hexes of Mandalay and that can be supplied by air, and will also draw supplies from Yenen China. That ought to undo the whole Japanese position in Burma, with luck the Brits will be back in Rangoon by early 1943.
On the Japanese side they keep a number of Oscars over Mandalay and Rangoon, and occasionally put CAP over Pagan but Blackwatch knows I want to get him into an attrition battle with the Hurricane and Spitfire production stream and the British pilot pool and he is not taking the bait. Still the offensive which will come in July ought to force the issue.
The British are trying to fight the Japanese but their fighters don't fly far enough, a constant problem. Also the Japanese are trying to withdraw troops from Burma to the more important battles in the Phillipines and Java.
I thought hard about how to deal with this. If the RN can catch the troop ship convoy I could kill a lot of Japanese. But if it gets away it may give Japan the victory in Java or the Philipines a month or two earlier than they will get otherwise. Also if the Japanese have a lot of LBA in Rangoon, Moulmein and Victoria Point they could pound the RN.
So I am choosing the conservative postion. Allied LBA and the RN are going to hit the convoy in Rangoon and try to stop it from sailing. Sinking a loaded transport will be a nice bonus but the objective is to keep the Japanese from leaving Burma. A nice side effect is that the very precious RN CVs will be close to the massive fighter force in Akyab so even if the Japanese do hit them they can get a lot of help fast.
Elsewhere in theater every Japanese base is being reconned by Blenhiems every turn. Lashio seem to be empty and when I get Para's I am going to drop there, then follow it up with a base force and a Chinese division that is building up in Calcutta as I write. That will give me an airbase that is within 2 hexes of Mandalay and that can be supplied by air, and will also draw supplies from Yenen China. That ought to undo the whole Japanese position in Burma, with luck the Brits will be back in Rangoon by early 1943.
On the Japanese side they keep a number of Oscars over Mandalay and Rangoon, and occasionally put CAP over Pagan but Blackwatch knows I want to get him into an attrition battle with the Hurricane and Spitfire production stream and the British pilot pool and he is not taking the bait. Still the offensive which will come in July ought to force the issue.
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Tom Hunter
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RE: China
Cap,
Fresh in this case is troops with full supply. I am not sure of the fatigue rates of the Wuchow troops but I bet they are in the 20s. I have a very small number of units with fatigue lower than that but they are few and far between.
By comparison most of the 50,000 Chinese who started the siege of Kwielin were at about 50% supply. They had smashed a Japanese army just South of Wuchow and pushed it back to Canton, then they bypassed Kwielin and reopened the rail line to Changsha over the course of several weeks and a number of battles. By the time they got back to Kwielin they were pretty tired.
If you can get China past January then your situation tends to improve. In this game my situation is great because I have the Ledo road open, but even without it if you get 100+ transport planes to Ledo it helps quite a bit. A very important part of that is getting some of your troops some rest, and also moving you armies around so the Japanese player does not know what is going on.
My best guess is that there are 480k Japanese fighting in China right now:
Chengting: 67,000
Yenen (in the North, maybe Yunan?): 27,000
Homan rail Junction: 150,000
Ichang: 37,000
Changsha: 170,000
Kwielin: 20,000
Other forces: 10,000
Other forces are the small units that I am chasing around now. In addition to this the Japanese have a garrison at Canton, Wuhang, and various other places.
The Chinese are as follows:
Chengting: 42,000
Yenen (in the North, maybe Yunan?): 27,000
Homan rail Junction: 170,000
Ichang: 37,000
Changsha: 170,000
Kwielin: 35,000
Other forces: 60,000
Note that my other forces is much larger than the Japanese raiding force.
In addtion I have:
Homan: 80,000 to 100,000
Wuchow: 80,0000
coming to Wuchow: 20,000
And there are some smallish garrisons in various places, as well as some other units in transit, probabley equal to the Japanese garrisons.
So I have 480,000 troops in static engagements, and another 260,000 that are either resting up or chasing small numbers of Japanese around the countryside. Of these 160,000 are near Homan which is why I moved Chang there to improve the supply situation, and the rest are near Wuchow working on the siege of the 20,000 Japanese at Kweilin.
You can aslo be certain Blackwatch is planning something, but at this point I think he is short of troops everywhere, so its not as if there are another 250,000 Japanese about to suprise China. The question is who will spring their plan first, and what will the result be.
Fresh in this case is troops with full supply. I am not sure of the fatigue rates of the Wuchow troops but I bet they are in the 20s. I have a very small number of units with fatigue lower than that but they are few and far between.
By comparison most of the 50,000 Chinese who started the siege of Kwielin were at about 50% supply. They had smashed a Japanese army just South of Wuchow and pushed it back to Canton, then they bypassed Kwielin and reopened the rail line to Changsha over the course of several weeks and a number of battles. By the time they got back to Kwielin they were pretty tired.
If you can get China past January then your situation tends to improve. In this game my situation is great because I have the Ledo road open, but even without it if you get 100+ transport planes to Ledo it helps quite a bit. A very important part of that is getting some of your troops some rest, and also moving you armies around so the Japanese player does not know what is going on.
My best guess is that there are 480k Japanese fighting in China right now:
Chengting: 67,000
Yenen (in the North, maybe Yunan?): 27,000
Homan rail Junction: 150,000
Ichang: 37,000
Changsha: 170,000
Kwielin: 20,000
Other forces: 10,000
Other forces are the small units that I am chasing around now. In addition to this the Japanese have a garrison at Canton, Wuhang, and various other places.
The Chinese are as follows:
Chengting: 42,000
Yenen (in the North, maybe Yunan?): 27,000
Homan rail Junction: 170,000
Ichang: 37,000
Changsha: 170,000
Kwielin: 35,000
Other forces: 60,000
Note that my other forces is much larger than the Japanese raiding force.
In addtion I have:
Homan: 80,000 to 100,000
Wuchow: 80,0000
coming to Wuchow: 20,000
And there are some smallish garrisons in various places, as well as some other units in transit, probabley equal to the Japanese garrisons.
So I have 480,000 troops in static engagements, and another 260,000 that are either resting up or chasing small numbers of Japanese around the countryside. Of these 160,000 are near Homan which is why I moved Chang there to improve the supply situation, and the rest are near Wuchow working on the siege of the 20,000 Japanese at Kweilin.
You can aslo be certain Blackwatch is planning something, but at this point I think he is short of troops everywhere, so its not as if there are another 250,000 Japanese about to suprise China. The question is who will spring their plan first, and what will the result be.
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Tom Hunter
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Java
Finally here is a look at the Garrison of Soerbaja.
The place is a level 6 fort now, going on level 7 though that will take some time. Its got 25,000 supplies and 4,000 more at Malang with more on the way. A US artillery regiment is going to arrive in the next few days and I am starting to think about sending more. I am not sure if I am reinforcing a trap or building up a brilliant defense, time will tell.
The place is a level 6 fort now, going on level 7 though that will take some time. Its got 25,000 supplies and 4,000 more at Malang with more on the way. A US artillery regiment is going to arrive in the next few days and I am starting to think about sending more. I am not sure if I am reinforcing a trap or building up a brilliant defense, time will tell.
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Tom Hunter
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RE: Java
and here is the map
Note that most of the Dutch are well over 60 xp, and even the battalions are working thier way into the 50s. The US RTC is at 60 and the Aussies are in the 70s. Regular supply is helping all of these units get stronger and the Japanese are taking more casualties in the artillery battles than the Allies.
All in all its a tough situation for Japan.
Japan does seem to be considering drastic action though, KB is just South of Thursday Island heading East. Swarms of Beaforts and Allied fighters are transferring to Koepang, Lautem and Darwin, we may have a huge air-sea battle of Timor in a few days.
Note that most of the Dutch are well over 60 xp, and even the battalions are working thier way into the 50s. The US RTC is at 60 and the Aussies are in the 70s. Regular supply is helping all of these units get stronger and the Japanese are taking more casualties in the artillery battles than the Allies.
All in all its a tough situation for Japan.
Japan does seem to be considering drastic action though, KB is just South of Thursday Island heading East. Swarms of Beaforts and Allied fighters are transferring to Koepang, Lautem and Darwin, we may have a huge air-sea battle of Timor in a few days.
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CapAndGown
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RE: Java
Ok, I am still unclear on something: why do you have to pull your troops out of a battle to get them supplied? Shouldn't they draw supply no matter where they are? I have had troops go into the red quite a bit in hard to supply places. After a while, they get resupplied, though. The resupply routine only seems to happen every 3 turns or so.
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Tom Hunter
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RE: Java
For reasons that I do not understand the troops at Kwielin are not resupplying, or at least not quickly, so I am rotating them.
The other reason to do this is to allow the units to draw replacements. I realize this is also supposed to happen in the hex but it seems to work better in a city that is not experienceing combat, and of course fatigue slowly declines as well.
Finally moving them around is part of my fundamental doctrine of not staying in one place. The more I play China, the more I think that is key.
The other reason to do this is to allow the units to draw replacements. I realize this is also supposed to happen in the hex but it seems to work better in a city that is not experienceing combat, and of course fatigue slowly declines as well.
Finally moving them around is part of my fundamental doctrine of not staying in one place. The more I play China, the more I think that is key.
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Tom Hunter
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Bay of Bengal-Gotcha!
Here is the map:
And here is the report:
Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 3
Swordfish x 18
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
AV Sanuki Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Nissen Maru, Torpedo hits 1
AP Nissen Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
and then the second wave came in:
Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 4
Swordfish x 14
P-40B Tomahawk x 24
B-25C Mitchell x 24
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
AV Sanyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Terukuni Maru
AP Nissen Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AV Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Nissen Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PG Akitsu Maru
AP Teia Maru
AP Fukko Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
I am keeping the CV TF in range for one more day and the Hermes will come into range as well. Depending on the Japanese moves I may run a cruiser raid the day after or I may just bug the whole force out. Nothing sank, even though one ship took 4 torps and another took 2 torps and 2 500lb bombs but only 3 of the 8 were unhit in the two strikes. Once some sink I will watch the rescue message to see which units are sinking.
At the very least this will stop a major reinforcement from going anywhere in the next two weeks, it will take a least until May for Blackwatch to put a convoy and adiquate cover together.
Right now Baby KB is supporting Japanese operations in the Philipines, and KB is 2 days away from Timor. More on that in my next post.
And here is the report:
Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 3
Swordfish x 18
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
AV Sanuki Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Nissen Maru, Torpedo hits 1
AP Nissen Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
and then the second wave came in:
Allied aircraft
Fulmar x 4
Swordfish x 14
P-40B Tomahawk x 24
B-25C Mitchell x 24
Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
AV Sanyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Terukuni Maru
AP Nissen Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AV Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Nissen Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PG Akitsu Maru
AP Teia Maru
AP Fukko Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
I am keeping the CV TF in range for one more day and the Hermes will come into range as well. Depending on the Japanese moves I may run a cruiser raid the day after or I may just bug the whole force out. Nothing sank, even though one ship took 4 torps and another took 2 torps and 2 500lb bombs but only 3 of the 8 were unhit in the two strikes. Once some sink I will watch the rescue message to see which units are sinking.
At the very least this will stop a major reinforcement from going anywhere in the next two weeks, it will take a least until May for Blackwatch to put a convoy and adiquate cover together.
Right now Baby KB is supporting Japanese operations in the Philipines, and KB is 2 days away from Timor. More on that in my next post.
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Tom Hunter
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KB is coming to Timor
And the Allies are getting ready for a huge air-sea battle
Since I only have 3 US CVs I need LBA to do my dirty work for me. So I am pulling planes out of Java and down from the Phillipines to try and get ready for KB's big raid. Lautem is a level 3 airfield with 86 air support, Dili is L1 with 27, Koepang is L4 with 56 and Darwin is L6 with over 300. There are already close to 200 Allied aircraft in the area with another 20+ F4Fs due in the next day. The biggest problem is the need to split them among numerous bases, but still its a pretty significant force. I have even moved in the Dutch Brewsters and Demons because they have range and because they count towards the numbers needed to overcome the restriction against the bombers flying Vs. Japanese CAP. In another day there will be 50 P40s, 25 F4Fs and F3Fs, 16 Hurricanes, 30 P39s, 28 Dutch fighters, and 32 Kittyhawks with experience ranging from the high 70s for the Marine F4Fs to the low 30s for some of the Dutch, who have high moral since they have never fought before. The 180 fighters will be backing up over 50 B17s, 35 B26s, 16 A20s, 50 Beauforts, 26 B25s, 30 Hudsons, 12 A24 Dauntlesses and 12 Martins for a total of over 225 bombers. Amazingly this is about the same number of planes that KB is carrying.
So this will be the most important battle of the war so far if Blackwatch stays on course and comes into the waters near Timor. I also expect a large force of Japanese LBA because he has stopped bombing Java and Timor. I expect a bloodbath, and I doubt the Allies will achieve a big win but it will cause huge attrition among the Japanese carrier pilots and with luck some of the CVs will be damaged or maybe even sunk.
Since I only have 3 US CVs I need LBA to do my dirty work for me. So I am pulling planes out of Java and down from the Phillipines to try and get ready for KB's big raid. Lautem is a level 3 airfield with 86 air support, Dili is L1 with 27, Koepang is L4 with 56 and Darwin is L6 with over 300. There are already close to 200 Allied aircraft in the area with another 20+ F4Fs due in the next day. The biggest problem is the need to split them among numerous bases, but still its a pretty significant force. I have even moved in the Dutch Brewsters and Demons because they have range and because they count towards the numbers needed to overcome the restriction against the bombers flying Vs. Japanese CAP. In another day there will be 50 P40s, 25 F4Fs and F3Fs, 16 Hurricanes, 30 P39s, 28 Dutch fighters, and 32 Kittyhawks with experience ranging from the high 70s for the Marine F4Fs to the low 30s for some of the Dutch, who have high moral since they have never fought before. The 180 fighters will be backing up over 50 B17s, 35 B26s, 16 A20s, 50 Beauforts, 26 B25s, 30 Hudsons, 12 A24 Dauntlesses and 12 Martins for a total of over 225 bombers. Amazingly this is about the same number of planes that KB is carrying.
So this will be the most important battle of the war so far if Blackwatch stays on course and comes into the waters near Timor. I also expect a large force of Japanese LBA because he has stopped bombing Java and Timor. I expect a bloodbath, and I doubt the Allies will achieve a big win but it will cause huge attrition among the Japanese carrier pilots and with luck some of the CVs will be damaged or maybe even sunk.
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Bradley7735
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RE: KB is coming to Timor
I wish you a sincere "Good Luck!!" on your up-coming battle.
Your AAR is probably the best one on the board. I was really liking your last one (when you pulled a slurpidy durp on the Maylay peninsula).
Other than the Saratoga incident, you're just about perfect with this game.
Your AAR is probably the best one on the board. I was really liking your last one (when you pulled a slurpidy durp on the Maylay peninsula).
Other than the Saratoga incident, you're just about perfect with this game.
The older I get, the better I was.
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Tom Hunter
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- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
Quick update
The Japanese transports off Burma sailed into Moulmein and started unloading. One more transport took a couple of bombs and a small raid went after the Hermes but the main action is over. The Sea Gladiator squadron is up to 4 kills which is impressive for biplanes and the RN is now leaving the area.
KB sailed into thunderstorms 5 hexes from Darwin so there was no combat today. One more day to get things ready [:)].
Forces are as follows:
Darwin: 24 Dutch fighters, 12 Martins, 21 Hudsons, 32 Beauforts, 16 B25s, 31 B26s, 58 B17s, 11 F4Fs, 31 Kittyhawks, 26 P39s, 49 P40Es Or 125 Fighters, 154 bombers
Lautem: 8 Dutch fighters, 5 F4F4s 12 F4F3s, 16 Hurricanes, 7 A24 Dauntlesses, 31 Beauforts, 4 B26s or 41 Fighters, 34 Bombers
Koepang: 16 Kittyhawks, 10 Wirraways, 13 Beauforts, 17 Hudsons
Weather is overcast should be a wild turn
KB sailed into thunderstorms 5 hexes from Darwin so there was no combat today. One more day to get things ready [:)].
Forces are as follows:
Darwin: 24 Dutch fighters, 12 Martins, 21 Hudsons, 32 Beauforts, 16 B25s, 31 B26s, 58 B17s, 11 F4Fs, 31 Kittyhawks, 26 P39s, 49 P40Es Or 125 Fighters, 154 bombers
Lautem: 8 Dutch fighters, 5 F4F4s 12 F4F3s, 16 Hurricanes, 7 A24 Dauntlesses, 31 Beauforts, 4 B26s or 41 Fighters, 34 Bombers
Koepang: 16 Kittyhawks, 10 Wirraways, 13 Beauforts, 17 Hudsons
Weather is overcast should be a wild turn
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Tom Hunter
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To April 20th
Well we fought the air battle of Darwin.
LB launched the usual huge strike escorted by 78 Zeros. They ran into a 90 plane CAP and a lot of planes got shot down on both sides. Then the bombs fell and 30+ Allied planes got nailed on the ground. In spite of KB bieng 4 hexes away and me having 30 fighters on Escort with CAP set to zero and another 120 with CAP set at 70-90 none of my bombers would fly.
Net the Allies lost 86 planes that day, the Japanese lost 88, mostly good pilots.
The next day KB was spotted moving East back in the direction of Thursday Island. The Japs bombed Soerbaja hard and Makale weakly so I moved 22 Wildcats to Makale and about 30 fighters of various types to Soerbaja.
The good news, aside from attriting the KB pilot pool is that 6 P39s at Soerbaja shot down a fair number of Japanese inspite of the Zero escorts. That means his pilot quality edge is starting to fade.
Still I am a bit disappointed. By straining some I was able to get the fighter cover at Darwin back up to 125 planes for the second day, and no Japanese showed up.
So we are back to fighting in Java and me trying to figure out how to get supply into the Philipines. The army there is fighting very well but it just dropped below 20,000 supply. The troops are burning about 500 a day more than is being airdropped in which means they will run dry near the end of May. After that Java and Timor will come under a lot of pressure. The question is do I have to lose Java? I don't think the Phillipines can be saved but Allied LBA just stopped a KB raid, could it keep the road to Java open? More on this later.
LB launched the usual huge strike escorted by 78 Zeros. They ran into a 90 plane CAP and a lot of planes got shot down on both sides. Then the bombs fell and 30+ Allied planes got nailed on the ground. In spite of KB bieng 4 hexes away and me having 30 fighters on Escort with CAP set to zero and another 120 with CAP set at 70-90 none of my bombers would fly.
Net the Allies lost 86 planes that day, the Japanese lost 88, mostly good pilots.
The next day KB was spotted moving East back in the direction of Thursday Island. The Japs bombed Soerbaja hard and Makale weakly so I moved 22 Wildcats to Makale and about 30 fighters of various types to Soerbaja.
The good news, aside from attriting the KB pilot pool is that 6 P39s at Soerbaja shot down a fair number of Japanese inspite of the Zero escorts. That means his pilot quality edge is starting to fade.
Still I am a bit disappointed. By straining some I was able to get the fighter cover at Darwin back up to 125 planes for the second day, and no Japanese showed up.
So we are back to fighting in Java and me trying to figure out how to get supply into the Philipines. The army there is fighting very well but it just dropped below 20,000 supply. The troops are burning about 500 a day more than is being airdropped in which means they will run dry near the end of May. After that Java and Timor will come under a lot of pressure. The question is do I have to lose Java? I don't think the Phillipines can be saved but Allied LBA just stopped a KB raid, could it keep the road to Java open? More on this later.
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CapAndGown
- Posts: 3078
- Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2001 10:00 am
- Location: Virginia, USA
RE: To April 20th
Could you post the combat replay for the battle of Darwin? I would be interested in seeing the breakdown on casualties. Your fighters did pretty good. I am guessing that it was the P-40s, Kittyhawks, and F4Fs that did most of the damage. Lots of enemy bombers gone?
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Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: To April 20th
Day Air attack on Darwin , at 36,84
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 67
D3A Val x 134
B5N Kate x 110
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 26
P-39D Airacobra x 15
P-40E Warhawk x 44
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 27 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A Val: 20 destroyed, 19 damaged
B5N Kate: 13 destroyed, 17 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 20 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 9 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 15 destroyed, 6 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 3 destroyed
Martin 139: 2 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 3 destroyed
B-26B Marauder: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
PT PT-32, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
272 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 4
Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 66
Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1
These results are pretty accurate, I checked the losses in the intel screen and the Japanese lost 28 Zeros that day. Notice that I had a small edge in numbers which helped and I lost KittyHawks which is important because I have a number of them in the pool and can recover quickly. I wish there had been more F4s there, I have ton's of them, P40s are in short supply and P39s are not that common either.
Fending off KB really does make me wonder what I can do to hang on to Java. Of course the best way to keep Java is to hang onto Luzon, so I am trying to find a way to get ships into Manila but I am afraid that is a hopeless task. I am supplying Makale by air and building it up, when it gets to L2 it will get fighters and dive bombers, that should make things interesting for a while. Soerbaja is also expanding and I may move B17s in there. I think if I send B17s to bomb the airfield at Balikpapan and single engine planes from Makale to hit shipping I might be able to close that straight for a while and mess up Japanese oil shipping.
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 67
D3A Val x 134
B5N Kate x 110
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 26
P-39D Airacobra x 15
P-40E Warhawk x 44
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 27 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A Val: 20 destroyed, 19 damaged
B5N Kate: 13 destroyed, 17 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 20 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 9 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 15 destroyed, 6 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed
Brewster 339D: 3 destroyed
Martin 139: 2 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 3 destroyed
B-26B Marauder: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
PT PT-32, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
272 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 4
Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 66
Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1
These results are pretty accurate, I checked the losses in the intel screen and the Japanese lost 28 Zeros that day. Notice that I had a small edge in numbers which helped and I lost KittyHawks which is important because I have a number of them in the pool and can recover quickly. I wish there had been more F4s there, I have ton's of them, P40s are in short supply and P39s are not that common either.
Fending off KB really does make me wonder what I can do to hang on to Java. Of course the best way to keep Java is to hang onto Luzon, so I am trying to find a way to get ships into Manila but I am afraid that is a hopeless task. I am supplying Makale by air and building it up, when it gets to L2 it will get fighters and dive bombers, that should make things interesting for a while. Soerbaja is also expanding and I may move B17s in there. I think if I send B17s to bomb the airfield at Balikpapan and single engine planes from Makale to hit shipping I might be able to close that straight for a while and mess up Japanese oil shipping.
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Gen.Hoepner
- Posts: 3636
- Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2001 8:00 am
- Location: italy
RE: To April 20th
why on earth he sent his best pilots in a suppress-AF mission?!?[X(][X(][X(]
Now he becomes really vulnerable...
Now he becomes really vulnerable...
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CapAndGown
- Posts: 3078
- Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2001 10:00 am
- Location: Virginia, USA
RE: To April 20th
Your P-40s did very well. What is the date? Did you use the AVG? What was the pilot experience? I once tried using the AVG against the KB in Dec. or Jan. They got slaughtered. Partially, that was due to the fact that they were outnumbered, though. Having a numbers advantage always helps.
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Tom Hunter
- Posts: 2194
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:57 am
RE: To April 20th
The date of the battle was April 18th. It would not be possible to get this kind of concentration together in January, much less Decmber 71.
I did not usae the AVG, the big group of P40s is from one 72 plane squadron that has XP in the 70s, the rest of the planes are 50s to 70s depending. CAP was stacked with the P40s at the highest altitude.
Hoepner, Blackwatch needs to suppress the air in this area or things are going to get really ugly for Japan before the end of 1942. During our first game I was still learning the system and could not have put a defense like this together in April, in fact in the last game I was out of P40s in April with at most 40 of them on the map. This time I am doing a better job and it seems Blackwatch has not adjusted yet. I think he was expecting to repeat a cruise round Timor from our last game where one by one he smashed Koepang, Dili, Lautem and Darwin.
I was suprised that he did not throw a strong concentration of LBA at Timor while KB came into action. He has concentrated a lot of force against the Philipines and is winning the air and sea battle there but not on the ground yet. Once supply runs out for the Americans that will change and then he will get a big boost in Java. But it will be JUne before the Japanese in the Philipines can come South and that gives me a long time to prepare.
I am thinking about the following operations:
Put a lot of engineers and a base force onto one of the dot Islands 4 hexes North of Luganville to start the push back into the Solomons. There is a big air concentration in that area that I would like to get into action.
Garrison and build up one of the islands between Timor and Bali. I might even break up an infantry unit into 3 small forces and garrison all of them as a ruse.
Put more engineers into Aru island, its 49% of the way to a level 1 airstrip.
Put a similar force into Bulla
Next time I open the map I am going to start counting ranges and also checking on the availability of engineers from India.
I did not usae the AVG, the big group of P40s is from one 72 plane squadron that has XP in the 70s, the rest of the planes are 50s to 70s depending. CAP was stacked with the P40s at the highest altitude.
Hoepner, Blackwatch needs to suppress the air in this area or things are going to get really ugly for Japan before the end of 1942. During our first game I was still learning the system and could not have put a defense like this together in April, in fact in the last game I was out of P40s in April with at most 40 of them on the map. This time I am doing a better job and it seems Blackwatch has not adjusted yet. I think he was expecting to repeat a cruise round Timor from our last game where one by one he smashed Koepang, Dili, Lautem and Darwin.
I was suprised that he did not throw a strong concentration of LBA at Timor while KB came into action. He has concentrated a lot of force against the Philipines and is winning the air and sea battle there but not on the ground yet. Once supply runs out for the Americans that will change and then he will get a big boost in Java. But it will be JUne before the Japanese in the Philipines can come South and that gives me a long time to prepare.
I am thinking about the following operations:
Put a lot of engineers and a base force onto one of the dot Islands 4 hexes North of Luganville to start the push back into the Solomons. There is a big air concentration in that area that I would like to get into action.
Garrison and build up one of the islands between Timor and Bali. I might even break up an infantry unit into 3 small forces and garrison all of them as a ruse.
Put more engineers into Aru island, its 49% of the way to a level 1 airstrip.
Put a similar force into Bulla
Next time I open the map I am going to start counting ranges and also checking on the availability of engineers from India.
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cookie monster
- Posts: 1690
- Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 10:09 am
- Location: Birmingham,England
RE: To April 20th
ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
I am thinking about the following operations:
Put a lot of engineers and a base force onto one of the dot Islands 4 hexes North of Luganville to start the push back into the Solomons. There is a big air concentration in that area that I would like to get into action.
Garrison and build up one of the islands between Timor and Bali. I might even break up an infantry unit into 3 small forces and garrison all of them as a ruse.
Put more engineers into Aru island, its 49% of the way to a level 1 airstrip.
Put a similar force into Bulla
Next time I open the map I am going to start counting ranges and also checking on the availability of engineers from India.
Thanks for the AAR.
One thing I will say those (0) airfields are a real pain to build so you would be vulnerable till you could get it to at least size 2. Even then you could be bombarded easily. Just a thought.