Matrix Games Forums

December 2, 1942

Predictably, John unleashes his land bombers on my forces at Comilla as he anticipates me not having the greatest CAP there; my planes are currently pursuing sweep duties to clear the skies over Chittagong and Dacca where they do a pretty good job knocking down a number of A6M5's (P-38s are the stars here). However, John's bombers suffer a decent amount of flak and operational casualties and bomb to little effect, as I made sure to include AA in my forces at Comilla.

John has ~66 fighters lefts at Chittagong where previously he had ~120-130. Calcutta recently received ~80 fighters, but its airfield is decently damaged and those fighters are at risk of destruction. We do know that there seems to be a minor Japanese CV fleet operating in the Indian area and he might utilize this in conjunction with fighters at Calcutta to try and extract his garrison there. However, we have massed airfields around Calcutta with a number of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, and fighters.



In Australia, John must now realize that with his airfield completely out of commission at Normanton, his ability to resupply the base and its 40,000 man garrison (!) will become increasingly hard. This is backed up by Beaufighters operating from Cairns that sink a small supply convoy most likely coming from Darwin.



In the South Pacific, John belatedly posts subs around Ndeni and they get some good opportunities against one of my slower American battleships before they bombard the island. One even launches 8 torpedoes at the BB Mississippi, but all miss. The boats then bombard Ndeni to minor effect. Meanwhile, my subs get another shot at the same AO they've hit the last 3 turns (with the torpedoes failing every time), and this time they...miss.

He is in huge trouble, and in both theaters. I wonder what he was thinking?

As always he was thinking that the right hardware, in large enough amounts, would mitigate the need for a sound strategy.

I think Obvert was right about India: the success of his invasion all hinged on where he landed. With the amount of naval hardware he has, he could easily have free reign over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Why land at Viza and invade by land through Burma when he could easily have landed in force at a coastal hex near Bombay pretty much unmolested? Perhaps he viewed that as too isolated from his bases at Ceylon/Burma, hindering his ability to provide air support, I don't know, but Indian forces in early '42 are flimsy and not of significant strength.

As for SoPac/CenPac, he seems to be pursuing the standard strategy of significantly overstacking and reinforcing his most external defensive line (i.e. defending the beaches as opposed to defense-in-depth). This has thrown a wrench in some of my plans as I wasn't expecting him to do this and thus had planned for some targets which turned out to have a much bigger garrison than I was expecting (and to be honest its probably more viable on his part given his mobile carrier strength), but I suspect his interior is full of holes as a result.

Regardless where he landed in India, he ruined his strategy when he also committed troops to Australia and far into SOPAC. Those troops might have made the difference in India before you had a chance to reinforce there and buff up the weak Indian units with supply/devices and experience gains. Getting heavily armoured CVLs does not contribute all that much to a land war in Asia!

VP Screen shows VP ration crossing below the 2:1 threshold. Don't worry about "Bad turns" that is my tracker being finnicky.



Top pilots among all the Allied forces. Note the number of KIA/MIA; I'll probably put some of these into TRACOM eventually before being assigned to the training air units the mod provides as instructors. I'm under the impression that pilots' exp in a unit generally trains up to the average pilot xp of the unit, so having more experienced pilots in the group helps with this. Plus, for RP purposes I don't want to see all these guys become MIA/KIA like Japanese pilots in the real war due to overuse and fatigue. A.W. Carvell, for instance, has achieved 17 kills while piloting a Hurricane I; he deserves a break in training duty.

ORIGINAL: Anachro

............................... This has thrown a wrench in some of my plans as I wasn't expecting him to do this and thus had planned for some targets which turned out to have a much bigger garrison than I was expecting (and to be honest its probably more viable on his part given his mobile carrier strength), but I suspect his interior is full of holes as a result.

With 46 more CD units than Sc1, he might have more depth than you think.

40,000 troops in Normanton! Heh.

It always cracks me up to see huge land armies manoeuvring around Northern Australia in this timeframe. In the 1940s, Normanton had about 300 people, no port facilities (all cargo had to be brought ashore by lighter at Karumba), and extremely limited communication and infrastructure. The railway shown on the map is a single-track stretch of old gold mining track, with about 2 locomotives and 10 cars during this timeframe, and no connectively to anything else. One well-placed hand grenade would take it out...

The idea that division-sized forces could move overland in the Kimberley, Top End and Cape York just isn't all that plausible. The environment is too harsh, infrastructure nearly absent, and the distances are enormous. During the monsoon, the rivers are as impassable as the Irrawaddy in full flood. During the buildup, temperatures are 40+ C every day, and there's very little water. Unlike other "difficult" terrain in PNG and SE Asia, population was extremely sparse in N Oz. Maybe the US Seabees could have supported a base of 10K or so at Normanton with a lot of effort, but there is no way the IJN could have gotten and supported 40K there!

I live in Kununurra (a town that wasn't founded yet in WW2) in the Kimberley, and even today the terrain regularly defeats modern 4WDs.

IRL, Normanton supported a few seaplanes during the war and not much else. Really only specialised troops (jungle or desert specialists, as appropriate) could have operated outside the direct environs of the ports in Northern Oz.

December 3, 1942

@ChuckBerger Interesting notes on Normanton. John has 40k there with another 4-8k just outside of it; he seems to have another division (16k men) with some parts at Tennant Creek. I could imagine that in real life trying to supply these areas with so many men would be very impractical. I think part of the forces at Normanton were earmarked for the failed invasion of Portland Roads.

Not much to report. Today, we turn the CAP on in India and down a number of bombers that perform the same exact mission they performed yesterday attacking men at or near Dacca. P-38's and their long-range allow this. John launches some Liz heavy bombers in my rear but they don't do too much.

Nav search / ASW reveals those pesky subs near Ndeni. John has more than expected, with at least 5 roving around in the waters. We turn on our ASW even more with the number of bombers we have in the area. Luganville is currently at 7(5) and building to a level 8 airfield. Carriers were there as John has some combat ships lingering near KiraKira, but they move back to Lunga this turn so we will move back to Auckland before relocating the carriers elsewhere.

Sigint and my map show John to be heavily reinforcing Akyab, which seems kind of risky to me, especially if I take Ceylon eventually. Perhaps he sees it as the viable land route down into Burma and wants to hold the line at Akyab?

@Bearcat One of the CD units you mentioned is partially at Baker Island

The Cl Danae, torpedoed in the Wake Invasion as I forgot to appropriately setup my CAP, seems to be making her way back to Pearl Harbor undetected and unmolested. For a few days, she was harried by sub recon but a change of course to the south threw that off. A few turns back, I sent a few DDs up to join her and help get her safely back. Moreover, her float damage went down from 65 to 59. Hopefully, she makes it back and then will probably be in for repair for a month or two.

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

40,000 troops in Normanton! Heh.

It always cracks me up to see huge land armies manoeuvring around Northern Australia in this timeframe. In the 1940s, Normanton had about 300 people, no port facilities (all cargo had to be brought ashore by lighter at Karumba), and extremely limited communication and infrastructure. The railway shown on the map is a single-track stretch of old gold mining track, with about 2 locomotives and 10 cars during this timeframe, and no connectively to anything else. One well-placed hand grenade would take it out...

The idea that division-sized forces could move overland in the Kimberley, Top End and Cape York just isn't all that plausible. The environment is too harsh, infrastructure nearly absent, and the distances are enormous. During the monsoon, the rivers are as impassable as the Irrawaddy in full flood. During the buildup, temperatures are 40+ C every day, and there's very little water. Unlike other "difficult" terrain in PNG and SE Asia, population was extremely sparse in N Oz. Maybe the US Seabees could have supported a base of 10K or so at Normanton with a lot of effort, but there is no way the IJN could have gotten and supported 40K there!

I live in Kununurra (a town that wasn't founded yet in WW2) in the Kimberley, and even today the terrain regularly defeats modern 4WDs.

IRL, Normanton supported a few seaplanes during the war and not much else. Really only specialised troops (jungle or desert specialists, as appropriate) could have operated outside the direct environs of the ports in Northern Oz.

Gday Chuck,

PIcture on my study wall is Sunrise over Lake Argyle, sometime in 1984.
I also laugh at the ability to swan around northern Australia, evem the deserts of Central Australia are multiple times worse than, for example, the Western Desert of North Africa.
Can you send a bit of rain south, I'm cheering a mm or 2, whats 100mm an hour like??

December 4, 1942

Though it's not really relevant, we capture Darjeeling today (and its tea) using a small force off Humber 1's. Though the garrison was small, it took 3 days to take the base, though I took no casualties in the process. Either way, the situation in India looks good for me and the more I look at it, the more I think the situation for the 38k Japanese troops at Dacca looks grimmer and grimmer. My forces at Darjeeling/Rangpur will move on Tezpur while tanks at Comilla are moving to Silchar. This will open up the rail link between my various bases in the north and Comilla. I'll need to be careful here, however, to prevent John slipping out.



Meanwhile, in the SoPac, it's just my luck that John DOES move down again to Kirakira with a CA/DD force of some sort. He is probably reinforcing that base. Oh well, my carriers are not in position to restrike and I needed to do some underway replenishment today so they won't move much next turn. Meanwhile, John knows I have subs operating throughout his bases in CenPac/SoPac and his ASW efforts are very good. No subs are sunk, but a number take damage in the 30's that will require me to send them back to Pearl, which is probably just as good as a lot of them are due for their 12/42 upgrades.

ORIGINAL: Anachro
Either way, the situation in India looks grim

Should not it be the exact opposite of grim? [:)] Might be a good time to put blocking force in the hex north-east of Chittagong - this will cut supply flow to the Dacca region completely given some units on the roads east of Comilla. I doubt John has ample stockpiles in Dacca given his situation.

I assume he meant "grim" for the enemy. But yes it did read a bit strange.

The pedants here...yeesh. I wrote that in stream of consciousness obviously and was a bit redundant. [8D] Yes, "grim" is the outlook for the Japanese.

December 5-6, 1942

Most of the action over the past few days has been in India where John stages a surprise CAP over Dacca that knocks down a number of my 2e bombers. Seeing 150 fighters at Chittagong and knowing this is where John is establishing his fighter coverage for his retreating troops, I launch a number of sweeps and raids by fighters/bombers the next day. Losses are even (though unacceptable for my own forces) at ~60 planes each, but Chittagong is showing airfield damage of ~20 and I think I should be able to degrade it as an airbase over time. Meanwhile, John is launching a large number of bombing raids from Burma with high numbers of bombers against my forces moving east towards Silchar, etc. I'll need to devote more to LRCAP eventually.

On the ground, John sneakily tried to have some forces move south from Dacca to the hex west of Comilla, so I moved some there this turn and John reacts by once again sending all his forces east. ~400 AV reaches Silchar this turn, which has 2 units of unknown quality/quantity.

The real fun news for this turn is that we have discovered our first true Submarine ace/hero of the war and it is a Dutchman: the KXIV-class submarine SSKXVIII manages not one, but two successful torpedo attacks on two separate Japanese destroyers. Sinking sounds are heard for the first, a Special Type Fubuki-class destroyer, which is assumed sunk, while the latter destroyer is most likely heavily damaged. Meanwhile, as if in mockery of this, a US submarine in the South Pacific strikes a large Japanese minelayer, but the torpedo fails to explode (this has happened for my subs now in 5 or 6 of the last 7 turns).



In the South Pacific, we spotted a Japanese carrier force at anchor at Tabiteuea - is this a forward operating base for John's carriers?

December 7, 1942

The day sees me continue my attacks on Chittagong, where I I successfully degrade the CAP enough to get my 4Es through, destroying a number of Tojos and A6M5's on the ground. Meanwhile, I set up LRCAP at various points, such as above Silchar, and succeed in either degrading his bombing runs or bringing down some bombers for the day. The totals are ~60 Japanese planes lost and ~30 allied planes lost; the Japanese losses include ~12-13 4E Liz's knocked down as they attempt to hit some of my exposed forces in the south.

We attack Silchar (though I think the majority of my troops were set to Bombard) and find ~170 AV to my 420AV already there. Another 300 allied AV is only one hex away. There is only one fort.

Ground combat at Silchar (59,39)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 8017 troops, 65 guns, 752 vehicles, Assault Value = 421

Defending force 3713 troops, 72 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 171

Allied adjusted assault: 38

Japanese adjusted defense: 95

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), op mode(-), preparation(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
44th Cavalry Regiment
50th Tank Brigade
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
254th Armoured Brigade
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
7th Armoured Brigade

Defending units:
1st Para Assault Division
37th Const Co

Meanwhile, John inexplicably crosses the river again at Calcutta, we think seeking to attack and destroy unsuspecting Allied forces across the river. Perhaps he though the forces here were small. Sadly, my forces were in "move" mode as they were crossing the river to join up with allied forces east of Calcutta. However, John finds 2 Indian divisions and 1 American division there and comes off much worse for wear and we will bomb this hex massively tomorrow while also attacking (it is a clear terrain hex). The only bad part about this is a good amount of American troops were disabled and that division is now operating at around 2/3rds AV capacity.

Ground combat at 53,36 (near Calcutta)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 23186 troops, 83 guns, 54 vehicles, Assault Value = 616

Defending force 34049 troops, 452 guns, 367 vehicles, Assault Value = 1039

Japanese adjusted assault: 442

Allied adjusted defense: 381

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: op mode(-), leaders(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
3849 casualties reported
Squads: 53 destroyed, 328 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 13 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1230 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 175 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 38 (3 destroyed, 35 disabled)

Assaulting units:
4th Division
5th Division

Defending units:
41st Infantry Division
14th Indian Division
26th Indian Division

In the South Pacific, a submarine actually manages to strike a Japanese ship, which appears to be some sort of larger minelayer-class. The commander reported it to be a cruiser/minelayer hybrid Tenryu-class ship. (Side note: This is some sort of ship in the mod and looking at it in game, it seems to be pretty much a Tenryu-class light cruiser with additional minelaying capabilities John gets two of these in addition to two Kuma-class minelayers)

ub attack near Lunga at 114,138

Japanese Ships
CM Tatsuta, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Swordfish

SS Swordfish launches 4 torpedoes
Sub escapes detection

[/quote]

he Japanese losses include ~12-13 4E Liz's knocked down as they attempt to hit some of my exposed forces in the south

How many of these beasties has John lost? In real life Japan managed to produce of total of 4 of these by 1945