Thinz2 vs Zuluhour

[zuluhour]

**News Flash**

Two more divisions due to arrive forward area SwPac 72 hours.

Kavieng 70% 8(6)AF

Jills and Zeros caught on the ground north New Guinea coast (92mi north Aitape)

PagoPago effectively closed as a base, only a defense Bn remains with local garrison. emergency fuel and supply left at the base. Suva to begin clsoing in thirty days as support troops needed "up front".

Two weeks till first ARD arrives forward area SwPac.

[zuluhour]

February 21st 1944

West Coast: Many ships traverse the Panama Canal in route to the states. West coast ports await the arrival of troop transports from CenPac.

CenPac: Escorts including a CVE reach our ARD making the turn to the Northwest and Kavieng (now at 79% 8(6)AF). Loganville now being closed. A marine Defense Bn will remain with some fuel and supply reserve and some AA which will receive orders for the PI soon. ASW finds a sub off Hiva Ova and puts some damage on her. Supply should reach Manus in 48 hours (in yellow). Aitape receives supply and is now out of the yellow. B24s get some more IJN aircraft on the ground at Vanimo, up the coast from Aitape.

India: Our ARD (Southern Mist) tacks to the NE and begins final leg to Columbo.

Burma: Newly arrived P38j models equip our most prolific squadron which sweeps Magwe for some easy kills.

China: quiet

[zuluhour]

Screen shot at SoPac-SwPac CenPac forward area:

[zuluhour]

IJN submariner losses claimed:

[zuluhour]

February 22nd 1944

CenPac: 93rd Inf Div packs for SwPac. Shipyard clearing out which is good because in 30 dyas there is going to be alot of new arrivals from SwPac.

SoPac: Suva begins shutting down as combat units recieve orders; some units embarking now.

SwPac: Kavieng: status: Port 3(3) AF 8(6) 84% supply: 129,ooo pts, fuel: 24,ooo pts. Manus in supply as LSTs unload. More Jack and Jills mowed down on the ground at Vanimo. Hollandia is shut down. No sign of Yamato.

CBI: IJA evacuates Schwebo, ground attacks shift to Madalay.

[zuluhour]

February 26th 1944

SwPac: Kavieng reaches AF level 9 yesterday. The 104th, 106th, and 108th, USN B24 Sqds and the 408th Group staged in 24 hours ago. In the last 72 hours we score 6 claimed ASW A/C hits and force another to the surface with 24 hits and send her to Davey Jones. Mitchells stage into Aitape. The ARD TF which left Pearl for Kavieng 1st is to the leeward side of the Solomons and should arrive this week. The 2nd ARD for Kavieng is at the half way point. A third will leave shortly. Most of the ships in port in forward area SwPac are refueled. The last of the 9thRAAF BF is landing at Aitape. New orders have been issued to gound troops for two new Ops to precede OpThoroughbred. More on that later.

India: Southern Mist due in 13 days at Columbo, she is on the aweather tack.

Burma: Commando, Chinese, and mountain artillery almost to rally points. Thier progress from there will set the time of attack for the Burma offensive to open the Burma road. More US fighter squadrons are training for China as weak Chinese base forces and engineers try to enlarge airfields for the B29s set to arrive in the middle east in under 30 days.

[zuluhour]

February 27th 1944

New Op:





Be advised: I have no political muscle at all. I consider SoPac-SwPac-CenPac as almost merged. I hope not to gamey.

Burma: Schwebo is reoccupied. Spitfires dominate Oscars and Tonys.

[zuluhour]

O club opens at Kavieng

[zuluhour]

Update: comments??

[zuluhour]

February 28th 1944

West Coast: Enterprise due tomorrow in port. Support forces for OpThoroughbred embark transports as well as 12 fresh squadrons.

CenPac: Supply and Fuel well above 1,ooo,ooo pts. More support forces depart from Pearl for the forward area.

SwPac: Finally the IJN subs seem to be departing the AO. Large raid planned on Truk tomorrow however weather calls for T-Storms. Truk under severe storms today. Mitchells ordered to attack Jap bases in Dutch New Guinea; B24s to attack Hollandia.

Burma: IJAF squadrons sweep three bases; we do not rise to meet them. They do the same to us. Strange day for the fighter jocks. We inflict casualties on Mandalay.

China: Large numbers of fighters arrive in Dehli for deployment to China. The IJAF has a good day over the Chinese in the mountain pass on the Yellow River.

We welcome the late model P47:

[DOCUP]

Where have I been.  Had to get caught up.  Nice job on the subs.
 
Have you been bombing any of the Marshall islands?  Whats the troops on those Jap held islands?  Your map looks good take Wake and the northern Marshall islands.  You will have 2 approaches towards the Mariannas.  More later when I sleep some.

[zuluhour]

February 29th 1944

Joe, nice to see you back! I found a division at Pearl. Looking at the Marshalls carefully.

West Coast: Enterprise sets sail as escort.

CenPac: Pearl Harbor still abuzz with activity.

SwPac: The Massachusetts sets sail for Pearl for major repairs, she passes the first ARD in the night off the northern Solomons. The raid over Truk goes in under clear skies. It is costly but effective:

Afternoon Air attack on Truk , at 112,108

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 14
J2M2 Jack x 27
N1K1-J George x 31



Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 21
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 27


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled



Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 98

A follow up raid by the stragglers does another 25pts of damage and catches another Emily on the ground. It looks like an ampibious assault somewhere (north?) of Truk to get this fortress down and out of the fight.

Burma: Spitfires and Mustangs score 16:1 over Mandalay. Schwebo is now heavily garrisoned as well as Mandalay. I have at least 30 days of bombing before we uncover from the jungle. I would much rather see large formations on the plains then hiding to the south.

China: IJAF hitting hard on the Yellow River positions in the mountains. TWIT HQ contemplates deployment of the Red Army as a reserve in the north. I wonder if the IJA knows some very well trained groups are preparing to deploy in central China.

[ny59giants]

Burma: Spitfires and Mustangs score 16:1 over Mandalay. Schwebo is now heavily garrisoned as well as Mandalay. I have at least 30 days of bombing before we uncover from the jungle. I would much rather see large formations on the plains then hiding to the south.

Have you been able to rotate your divisions back to India to get their infantry squads updated?? Their '43 version has considerable increase in their anti-armor values.

Have you got your India based Command HQs prepping for these bases and close enough?? You armor should be able to push through if used in masse. Don't look at the units AV value as that is misleading. Its an unit's Anti-Soft and Anti-Armor values that truly count (besides the leaders and HQ support you get).

[zuluhour]

I have not done any troop rotations and all the divisions slated for the spring offensive are at their jump off points at the edge of the jungles. Man, this is embarrassing. I'm reading the manual now and trying to figure out if I have time to get one or two out and back while the commandos and Chinese divisions begin to infiltrate. I've got some math to do. The units trying to get around the IJA strong points will need quite a bit of time. The other situation worth mentioning now would be the recent redeployment of large IJA formations to Schwebo and Mandalay. Jap offensive brewing?

[zuluhour]

OpReport March 2nd 1944

[zuluhour]

I checked Alexander's Corp (NW Burma) has all '43 inf. squads.

[ny59giants]

Do two things next turn. When you open the turn, hit the "D" button to pull up the Database. Click on the "Infantry" on the right side and look at the various Anti-Soft and Anti-Armor values for various devices. See why they are important to upgrade. Second, make a list of the divisions that need to be rotated back to India for device upgrades. What I do, is break down the division into A, B, and C. Make sure they are close to a Command HQ (within 9 hexes) and the base they are in has 20k in supply. Turn Replacements "ON" and allow "Upgrades" with unit in "Rest" mode. As long as there are enough devices in the pool, they will upgrade to the newer devices in one or two turns. those old devices should be automatically upgraded to the newer version "IF" they are infantry or engineers. Hit the "P" button to bring up "preferences.' In the middle section on the left, the Japanese player should have the older devices upgrade (button left column).

Hopefully, all this info you already know, but can review it to ensure you have it down.

[zuluhour]

Busy watching the games yesterday, I did not see your post. I have never used those hot keys. When I get the turn tonight I'll post the situation in the divisions. I appreciate the advice. The IJA has reestablished themselves on the Burma plain; I will need all the combat power I can muster to rout them south. Fortunately they do not seem to be defending in too much depth.

[zuluhour]

March 3rd 1944

NYGiants: timely advice; two armored Rgts pulled from the line to refit along with a Div. in Burma. Marine and US Army Divs in SwPac and CenPac are good to go.

SwPac: Large raid ordered for Truk tomorrow, this time we issue orders to well over hundred heavies. The weather forcast is clear. The ARD begins work in Kavieng. Suppression raids ordered for the north coast of New Guinea.

CenPac: third and fifth fleet HQs load for Kavieng. Two more ARs are closing on the port.

Burma: No IJAF air fields appear occupied within range of Mandalay; B24s to attack ground troops tomorrow.

China: P40 squadron transfered to the defense of Chungking ripped by two 32 plane IJAF sweeps. P40 group stages to Ledo (72hours + assembly) to join Fourteenth Airforce.

[zuluhour]

March 4th 1944

CenPac: The Massachusetts is attacked twice by a sub on her way to Pearl for repairs. I-32 puts two fish in her and takes 21 hits before being forced to the surface and finished. The BB should still make Pearl.

SwPac: Mines are discovered in Darwin's harbor. I-157 tries to torpedo a harbor DE when dicovered but misses and may have paid the supreme price. The DE claims 8 hits with heavy fires; an oil slick appears on the surface before they abandon the search. CVs Wasp and Intrepid make for dry dock.

Burma: USS Hake takes heavy damage off Port Blair. Less than favorable bombing results in central Burma; heavy cloud cover possibly playing a role.

China: The yellow River line is assaulted and again repulsed. It may be time for fresh units here.

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 40179 troops, 300 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 1459

Defending force 18930 troops, 128 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 753

Japanese adjusted assault: 811

Allied adjusted defense: 862

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2222 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 339 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 26 disabled
Guns lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
615 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 95 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)


Assaulting units:
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
110th Division
35th Division
10th Ind.Infantry Brigade
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
33rd Chinese Corps
23rd Chinese Corps
19th Chinese Corps
34th Chinese Corps
6th Group Army
7th Group Army