Gen.Hoepner vs. Hawker, Mare Nostrum

[Gen.Hoepner]

Here's the map of the Chinese scheldued offensive towards Nanchang. Enemy has 5 units there, with 2 more defending the road west of Nanchang. The bulk of the japanese chinese army is blocked in the area of Hankow and the positions of Y' Army HQ, that defends the river, stops any serious attempt of relieving the threatened Nanchang garrison.
All the other chinese fronts are quiet and stable.
Supply situation looks as good as it could be.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/07/42

Today the Birtish managed to push back the 15th Japanese Army and free Moulmein! The enemy is now struggling on the jungle trail that leads to Reaghen, followed by the Burma Corp HQ, while the III IND Corp is already on the move: direction Tavoy! This is the first, marginal, victory of the western allies. I know it counts very little, but at least is something for my morale.

In Russia, things are changing. He massed a HUGE amount of planes at Sapporo. I moved back my bombers and put my fighters in a more suitable position to defend my bases. At the same time i'll keep the pressure on Mutakiang and Harbin, using the growing efficiency of my bombers. The judgment day for Souther russia is coming...

Hawker tells me in his mail that KB is at sea. That means he's tryin' something. Problem is where... surely not an invasion in the pacific, cause he simply doesn' have the divisions for that task. probably a raiding tour against my supply routes. Well, my recon stations are ready and at full allert!

Marines started to move.

The Aussies too.

It's gonna be fun.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Moulmein

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 101001 troops, 902 guns, 980 vehicles

Defending force 38938 troops, 255 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 [8D][:D]


Japanese ground losses:
518 casualties reported
Guns lost 26

Allied ground losses:
940 casualties reported
Guns lost 49


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Amchitka Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1420 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 54 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Amchitka Island base !!!

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/08/42


Another day of harsh fights over the skies of Russia!

150 zeros, escorting 250 sallies from Sapporo ( as i thought!) striked my main heavy bombers base: Khabarovsk!
I managed to put almost 200 fighters on CAP just yesterday! The battle was fierce and results were not terrible. almost 1-1 air2air kill ratio but some more 50 planes lost on the ground on my side. Anyway, he simply cannot substain these kind of losses if he wants to keep his zeros at high levels, so these battles are just bricks in the wall that i'm building!
The base hasn't been closed, but i moved back my air units in order to breath a bit and reorganize them, as always.

His units should be ready to attack Vladivostok by now. I've done everything i could...so i simply have to wait now.

In China he moved 3 units N-W of Nanchang...a strange move...what does he think he can do with 3 units? My flanks should be pretty safe. The advance goes on!

The score is 19500 to 9300....closer to 2-1 than to 3-1[8D]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Khabarovsk , at 69,29

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 75
A6M3 Zero x 73
Ki-21 Sally x 253

Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 24
Kittyhawk I x 20
I-16 Type 24 x 46
LaGG-3 x 33
Yak-1 x 83

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 57 destroyed
A6M3 Zero: 41 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 12 destroyed, 49 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire Vb: 8 destroyed, 7 damaged
Kittyhawk I: 20 destroyed
I-16 Type 24: 25 destroyed
LaGG-3: 18 destroyed
Yak-1: 46 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 10 destroyed
LB-30 Liberator: 5 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
38 casualties reported

Airbase hits 26
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 175

Aircraft Attacking:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Khabarovsk , at 69,29

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 52

Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 8
Kittyhawk I x 1
I-16 Type 24 x 2
LaGG-3 x 9
Yak-1 x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire Vb: 5 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 2 destroyed
I-16 Type 24: 2 destroyed
LaGG-3: 7 destroyed
Yak-1: 9 destroyed

[Gen.Hoepner]

look at the losses! simply outstanding!

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/10/42

Another good day of tough air battles, but this time the Japs went overconfident in China and got slapped in their back[:D]
It's been a month now since from Canton they have started a straining program for Oscars and Nates, using as target one of my chinese corp that is defending the fields north of the big chinese city. However, every day more than 200 planes took off from Canton to hit these poor guys. I've moved from Rangoon to Chungking in the last days 3 groups of P-36 Mohawks ( 2 were british and one was american). I knew he used a bunch of zeros to escort these training flights, but i decided to take the risk.
My pilots were all between 65 and 70 exp.
I waited for the first day of Overcast and then moved my 3 fighter groups to Whuchow and ordered them to LRCAP the hex where the 44th Chinese Corps was normally attacked.

When the bastards arrived we were waiting for them above the clouds and we dived against them, scoring 4 crack zeros down at the beginning, losing only 1 plane in the process and then assaulting the other fighters, that were unable to manouvre due to the bombs they were carrying

Results were simply great!

Lost 2 plane and destroyed almost 80 japanese planes!!!!!!!![:D][:D]

Day Air attack on 44th Chinese Corps, at 44,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
Ki-27 Nate x 140
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 72
Ki-30 Ann x 24
Ki-51 Sonia x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 16
P-36A Mohawk x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
Ki-27 Nate: 37 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 22 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-30 Ann: 7 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 11 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-36A Mohawk: 1 damaged



WOW..these are the moments that make Witp comparable to a good sex session[:D]

Anyway, apart from this battle, there was another minor air battle near Vladivostok, where he started to hit my troops that are defending the hex NE of my Russian Capital. He came with sallies and zeros. I had less than 10 russian planes on LRCAP there. overall result was a draw. 7 sallies shot down and 3 zeros, for a total of 8 russian fighters.

Day Air attack on 92nd Rifle Division, at 66,32

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
Ki-21 Sally x 37

Allied aircraft
MiG-3 x 5
LaGG-3 x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed, 23 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
MiG-3: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
LaGG-3: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
5 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
10 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 10000 feet


Then we, as usual, bombed Mutakiang and another couple of Japanese bases in Manchuria.
Harbin has been badly hit in the last month and now we can proudly say that it has no oil left nor HI and more than 1/2 of its resources centers is destroyed. Sounds good!

Still no sign of KB...i just know the big ships are at sea, but do not know where.

In Burma the III Ind Corp managed to shock attack and repulse the 1st jap tank regiment, which was pushed back towards Tavoy, followed by 2 Armoured Tank Bdes of mine. Soon Tavoy will be conquered and Bankok will be very close to our front![:)], while the Burma Corp is keeping engaged the 15th Japanese Army ( 33rd and 55th Divs) near Reaghen.

In China he managed, with the 7th Division, supported by 2 regiments of the 116th Div, to push one of my corps back from its positions NE of Nanchang. I've experienced some problems with the "all follow" command...let's hope this won't lead to the known bug problem[:(]...however, the orderes remain the same: Advance towards Nanchang and at the same time keep my flanks free from any attempt of penetration beyond my lines!


At Sebang ( North of Sumatra) he moved 40 fighters and 140 bombers...he probably wants to interdict my naval traffic in the Bengal Bay....well RAF by now should be quite able to defend its supply lines. We'll see.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 29,35

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 35839 troops, 291 guns, 976 vehicles

Defending force 1180 troops, 0 guns, 84 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 1684 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
856 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 67

Allied ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

[Gen.Hoepner]

air losses of the last day...

[String]

Congrats Hoepner. You're kicking ass [8D]

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: String

Congrats Hoepner. You're kicking ass [8D]

Thanks String:-) But soon Hawker will probably conquer Southern Russia...and he's gonna really kick my ass there....

[Gen.Hoepner]

Burma Map

[Gen.Hoepner]

My Aces...

[Arstavidios]

Looks like you can have some fun in SE Asia

[Gen.Hoepner]

Yes, i think so, even if it's clear that in mid summer 42 the Brits have not enough forces to break through Bankok, also considering that we've lost 70,000 men during the Java campaign ( basically the strenght of 2 divisions and a half, 4 artillery units and 2 tank Bdes). What is interesting is that i can move on untill Tavoy and Reaghen, and once there start to directly threaten his resources centers in Malaya,Indochina and Northern Sumatra...which is defenetly cool[8D].

Now everthing relies on Russia. How long will be Russia able to slow down those 1,250,000 japanese soldiers? The longer they stay there, the longer time i have to set up a new front in IndoChina and make pressure on his strategical areas

[Gen.Hoepner]

Good job! Were your planes all at 25K feet altitude?

None of them. They were set at 17k,18k and 15k ft

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/13/42

Well, time has finally come. In Russia he moved a HUGE army on the positions of the 2nd Red Banner Army NE of Vladivostok and we both started to bombard each other. He has 3 times my numbers, both in men, guns and vehicles. Will be almost impossible to stop him, but i'll do my best.
Today i sent in my LBs in order to provide some destruction on his divisions, and russian artillery did a better job than his.
However, his strenght is so mighty that i really do not see how we can get out of here alive...


----------------------Ground combat at 66,32

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3887 troops, 99 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 139649 troops, 1617 guns, 310 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 66,32

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 12544 troops, 288 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 383850 troops, 3595 guns, 566 vehicles[X(][X(][X(]


Japanese ground losses:
537 casualties reported
Guns lost 1




At the same time his BBs are coming back to hit Vladivostok, while my bombers keep their usual scheldue, bombing every base in range, trying to burn supplies. Harbin is almost completely destroyed. Just some 100 resources points left.

After one week of training and reorganizing, 230 more fighters ( Russian, American,Canadian,British and Australian) are ready to go back to the line of fire to face the next air offensive of Hawker.


While these things happen in Russia, in China we managed to clear the road that leads to Nanchang. Now he has 1 division and 2 rgts that are risking to be cut out of the battle, while his main city in the central China will be sieged....it's going to be fun:-)

Ground combat at 47,38

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 110759 troops, 833 guns, 73 vehicles

Defending force 16162 troops, 219 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 34 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
510 casualties reported
Guns lost 15

Allied ground losses:
1042 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 11


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

This is the III US CORP, operating in China, that attacks and repulses the Mixed Japanese Bde, supported by a mortar Bn, that were defending the hex W of Nanchang. Now the road is free!

In Burma, 2 days ago our mech Kampfgruppe managed to shock attack and conquer Tavoy, while his 15th Army is in a horrible situation in the jungle and swamps near Reaghen, costantly hit by the gun fire of our Burma Corp and by the 222nd RAF bomber group operating from Rangoon and Moulmein!--> Look at how many men, guns and vehicles has the 15th Army lost in this retreat!: 28558 troops, 203 guns, 0 vehicles!!! These are 2 Full divisions and an Army HQ!...they have lost more than half of their guns![8D]

More reinforcements are coming from India!

[Gen.Hoepner]

A China Map

[Kereguelen]

Bombarment results look surprisingly good!

Crush him in China - send SEAC command to Ledo and land as much supplies as possible at Chandpur and Rangoon, enough supplies will trickle to China. If you manage to supply the Chinese will win!

K

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

Bombarment results look surprisingly good!

Crush him in China - send SEAC command to Ledo and land as much supplies as possible at Chandpur and Rangoon, enough supplies will trickle to China. If you manage to supply the Chinese will win!

K

The supply situation in China is really good. No worries about that there. With the Burma Road open and with the Air Bridge from Ledo ( where SEAC HQ is stationed since Jan 42), everything is working fine!

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/14/42

A Good day overall.
He ambushed me in Southern Burma with 2 Zero Daitais on LRCAP over his 15th Army. I've sent in many bombers with light escort of Hurricanes. He managed to shoot down 35 of my planes, but losing 12 high experienced zeros, which is however a good result for me( below the 4-1 kill ratio!).

What rally changes the day is the first defensive victory in Russia.
360,000 Japanese attacked 140,000 Russians over the wooden hills north east of Vladivostok. The attack ended up in a crushing defeat for the yellow devils, losing 14,000 men[:D] Now everything becomes tougher for Hawker, cause when you do not break the enemy's lines at the first attempt is never easy to recover and attack again!

Today arrived CV Wasp. Now i'm almost ready to counterattack!

In China the next week will be decisive for the upcommin' battle of Nanchang!

3 little surprises ready for Hawker for Tomorrow.....[;)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 66,32

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 358956 troops, 3599 guns, 568 vehicles

Defending force 139707 troops, 1614 guns, 309 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 [8D][8|]


Japanese ground losses:
14030 casualties reported[:D][:D][:D][:D]
Guns lost 464
Vehicles lost 65

Allied ground losses:
1598 casualties reported
Guns lost 81
Vehicles lost 1

[Arstavidios]

Looks like Russia is gonna be bloody business.
The Russians get plenty of replacements, keep them alive to use all those infantry replacement squads.

[Gen.Hoepner]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/15/42

Another good day for RAF and USAF in China!
The heroes of last week( when nearly 90 japanese planes were shot down near Canton) scored today another great aerial victory near Hankow. 45 between Nates and Anns were destroyed for no losses on our side! We're creating new aces here!!:-) And in 2 weeks these 3 fighter groups ( old and outclassed P-36s) will be joined by 72 freshly arrived, brand new, P-40Bs....Hawker will be forced to use more of his precious zeros on escort duties or to stop training his Sentais in China[8D]

Day Air attack on 57th Chinese Corps, at 48,36

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 42
Ki-30 Ann x 10

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 16
P-36A Mohawk x 7
I-153c x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27 Nate: 38 destroyed
Ki-30 Ann: 8 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
I-153c: 1 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Ki-30 Ann bombing at 2000 feet


Then there have been 2 more presents for Hawker: two succesfull bombing raids against the ports of Port Moresby and Takao. No losses on my side and 6 transport ships left burning[8D]. Nothing serious, but enough to give some headhaces to my dear croatian friend[:)]


Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 54,93


Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 6
B-24D Liberator x 23


Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Tamaki Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Yoshida Maru #3, Bomb hits 1, on fire


-----------------------------------------

Day Air attack on Takao , at 47,45


Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 3
Wellington III x 7


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Udo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AK Misaki Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Suez Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Kinko Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Port hits 1


In Russia, we're exchanging artillery bombardments, but my guns seem to obtain better results[:D]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 66,32

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 296984 troops, 2979 guns, 96 vehicles

Defending force 137575 troops, 1511 guns, 310 vehicles



Allied ground losses:
44 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 66,32

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 12381 troops, 278 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 361421 troops, 2983 guns, 489 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
232 casualties reported
Guns lost 2