The War Effort

[Steven Utley]

After protracted fighting, Anzac and U.S. troops captured New Georgia in June 1945, though die-hard Japanese squads remained to be cleared out. The decision had already been made not to invade other enemy-held islands in the South Pacific, for as the shoestring Solomons operation ground on, the general conflict wound down. Symbolic of the precipitous decline of Japan's fortunes was the destruction, at last, of superdreadnoughts Yamato and Musashi. Land-based aircraft from Keelung sank the burning hulks east of Formosa, along with their escorts, the heavy cruiser Chikuma and three destroyers. Whether or not Admiral Nishimura survived could not be determined.

His commanding officer, meanwhile, had moved Combined Fleet HQ to Tientsin with the IJN's remaining warships: battlewagons Mutsu and Nagato, two or three Kongo-class vessels, possibly Hyuga and Ise, and heavy cruisers. Yamamoto could retreat no further. Then, again, if he chose to advance, he could scarcely avoid colliding with the Allies' flank as they moved on the Home Islands. The Allies therefore resolved on a preemptive strike.

First, though, to cover troop build-ups at Amoy, the Formosan ports, and the Ryukyus, they set about extinguishing enemy airpower for once and all. While British carriers, battleships, and carriers pounded Hainan and Haiphong, their American counterparts savaged the Home Islands, particularly Sasebo and Takamatsu, with encouraging results. During the week of the 18th, the Japanese lost 483 aircraft to the Allies' 202, and by week's end just four cargo ships and a single tanker still plied the imperial convoy routes -- activity that ceased altogether the following week. Because Allied submarines in Japanese waters patently outnumbered their potential victims, the majority of the boats withdrew to their bases, presently re-emerging organized into a few large blockade groups.

Of course, these successes came at a price which kamikazes worked diligently to exact. Off Sasebo, Scott's Task Force 86, the fast battleships, drew the unwelcome attention of 87 suicide bombers; all went down, some to F6Fs from nearby carriers, most to flak. (Love that proximity fuse!) Other task forces had a worse time of it. Before the month was out, kamikazes sank a light carrier and sent two more, as well as two fleet carriers, to the repair yard.

[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

Curses, drat, and phooey! Nearly everything went well for the Allies during the week of July 9, 1945 except the most important thing, which was the big carrier strike on Combined Fleet at Tientsin. Several groups of Japanese vessels, ranging from battleships to patrol craft, somehow managed to give the U.S. Navy the slip -- sneaked right past the fast carriers -- and would have got off scot-free but for the diligence of P-38 and P-69 aircrews based at Sakishima. These hammered the IJN a bit, set a battlewagon afire, and sank several smaller vessels. For their part, the carriers, finding nothing to attack at Tientsin, flew off unescorted TBMs against an inland airbase that turned out to be a nest of Oscar aces, and later tried to recoup by bombing depots at Port Arthur. All in all, it was a miserable performance.

Meanwhile, in the far South Pacific, New Georgia was finally cleared of Japanese troops, and in the Home Islands, U.S. battleships with escort carriers in tow blasted airfields and ground forces at Sasebo and Kitakyushu, thereby calling down kamikazes on themselves. Merrill's Task Force 72 bore the brunt of these attacks, losing one of its CVEs to a suicide bomber.

***

In recent game-months, my forces have several times encountered phantom ships, MCS or TK icons with zeroes indicating the numbers of vessels present (or absent, as the case may be). Reconnaissance and attacks are performed normally, the phantom ships take hits, burst into flames, and are pronounced sunk. Is this some weird Shinto mojo, or what?

[Steven Utley]

During July 1945, British, Indian, and Australian troops moved up the China coast from Amoy to invest Wenchow. It transpired that Shanghai, even further up the coast, lay undefended, so the Australian 1st Armored Brigade, which had just arrived from Borneo, reboarded transports and went and captured the place.

These operations kept the Allied navies busy in support, attacking airfields and other targets in the Home Islands. Night kamikazes from Nagoya sank yet another Casablanca-class escort carrier during the week of July 16-22, but two weeks later the U.S. and British flattops converged on Nagoya and Tokyo to exact vengeance. Tokyo port contained four battleships, seven heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, 12 destroyers, four destroyer escorts, 48 patrol craft, and 13 tankers; by the time the carrier planes had finished for the day, three battleships, a Takao-class heavy cruiser, and three light cruisers had been sunk.

***

And now the question is, How do I wind up this campaign? As of 8-6-45, I am an atomic power.

[ February 12, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[mogami]

Hi, having never had to use the bombs I am unsure. I think it becomes amission selection along with train day NI and night (for B-29 groups)

[ February 12, 2002: Message edited by: Mogami ]</p>

[RayM]

The "Atomic Bomb" mission is added to the a/c mission list once atomic bombs become available. I usually assign it to the B29 squadron on Tinian or Saipan with the greatest number of operational a/c. Once selected, the operational a/c numbers goes to "0" and an "AB" tag is added next to the "0." The AI then assigns a target a turn or two later, then indicates that a bomb was dropped on _____ and the states the damage results.

On other matters, I want to add my thanks appreciation for your "The War Effort" reports. Great reading. After reading through all seven sections, I ended up printing all seven pages worth and have added them to my Pacific War Notebook. The best part is that I've picked up a number of new ideas and tips to add to my game play. Many thanks.

[Steven Utley]

Everywhere during the week of August 6-12, 1945, on land, at sea, in the air, Allied forces dealt the once-mighty Japanese war machine blow upon devastating blow. At Wenchow, first the British battlefleet knocked the South China Army about, then Commonwealth troops sent it and its attached units packing. U.S. battleships accompanied by a total of 15 escort carriers blasted Sasebo, Kitakyushu, and Takamatsu again, while long-range bombers, P-51s, and carrier planes swept over the Home Islands at will. Aircraft from 21 big and medium-sized flattops, including five British, returned to Tokyo to finish the job of finishing off the IJN; they cleared the harbor of the battleship Nagato, three heavy cruisers, and nearly every other vessel larger than a subchaser. In all, 37 Japanese ships were destroyed, all by aircraft. Only Allied submariners had nothing to show for the time. There was hardly anything left for them to sink.

***

I assigned my first atomic bomb to the 6th Bombardment Group at Chichi Jima on 8-6-45 and my second to the 29th Bombardment Group at Iwo Jima on 8-13-45. There seems to be no great hurry to use the things, however; the week of the 13th saw plenty of aerial and ship-to-shore bombardments and heavy losses for the enemy (45 squads, 23 afvs, 150 guns, 302 planes -- most of them destroyed on the ground -- against Allied losses of 222 planes and one LST, torpedoed by a submarine), but no mushroom-shaped clouds.

[ February 15, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

Top headline for the week of 8-27/9-2-45:

JAPAN SURRENDERS
Allied Forces Win Decisive Victory
Japanese Agree to Unconditional Surrender

***

I seem to have won without resort to atomic weapons. At least, the 6th and 29th Bombardment Groups did not, as far as I know, perform missions at any time after being assigned atomic bombs; there was no message to the effect that they had.

For those who dote on such things, here are the numbers as of 8-3-45:

Combat Losses

JA - 39,230
JN - 52,065

Phil - 894
Chin - 922
Dutch - 1809
Ind - 3549
Aus - 2725
NZ - 478
Brit - 5041
USA - 4893
USMC - 2294
USN - 8482

Ship Losses

JAPAN
7 x CV, 10 x CVL, 5 x CVE
12 x BB, 12 x CA, 27 x CL, 11 x CS
140 x DD, 42 x DE, 230 x PC
15 x AO, 235 x AP, 1769 x MCS, 184 x TK
52 x SS

ALLIES*
7 x CV, 4 x CVL, 10 x CVE
6 x BB, 1 x BC, 2 x CA, 7 x CL, 1 x CLAA
27 x DD, 19 x DE, 20 x PC
2 x APD, 10 x AO, 14 x AP, 9 x LST, 112 x MCS, 4 x TK
62 x SS

* Figures include a Fletcher-class destroyer and a 10,000-ton cargo ship sunk on 9-3-45 by Japanese submariners who evidently had not got (or perhaps chose to ignore) news of the surrender.

Point totals

Japanese kills - 31,032
Japanese control - 17,290
Japanese production - 483
Total Japanese points - 48,805

Allied kills - 91,295
Allied control - 25,800
Allied production - 17,345
Total Allied points - 134,440

So, how did I do?

[ February 18, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Von Rom]

Great read, Steven.

This AAR thread of yours should be pinned for posterity. There is no better way to help get in the mood to play a game like PacWar, or learn about possible strategies, than to read about other player's game playing and action reports.

I sincerely hope you start another game with version 2.3 (beginning with Pearl Harbour).

PS: Good luck with your writing. What are you working on now?

[Blackhorse]

Well done, sir!

Q: Have you written (published) any alternative history works?

If so, where would we go to find / purchase them?