Islands of Destiny: RA 5.0 Japanese Side

[John 3rd]

So many targets to chose from...

[John 3rd]

To the south, the Japanese Navy FINALLY begins to deploy and start a careful interdiction of Allied shipping.

1. The 6 CVE divide into two groups and move towards the edge of the map. This will be a short deployment of 5-6 days while KB refuels and rests a day or two at Soerabaja. The Kido Butai will arrive at Soerabaja in two days.

2. BB Fuso and her escorts will make their presence known at Sibolga tomorrow.

3. Several small DD TF move to hit shipping at sea as well on those eastern islands...

4. CMs work as fast as I can pick-up Mines.

5. LCU Developments: An Air Division unloads at Benkoelen today and tomorrow giving enough of a TT threat to seal-up that side of Sumatra. Three BF unload at Singapore to move by RR north. A Garrison unit arrives at Singers as well. It immediately begins to load on RR to go north as well.

[JohnDillworth]

Yes, it appears CR's "Rumpspringa" is coming to an end. The free buffet has closed. I think you did well to put your aircraft on a leash until you could bring some numbers in. Aircraft first, IJN second and troops to follow. A vexing problem you have here but but for now your navy is better and you have more planes. Troops......this is where the Allies will get better and better. It's not just numbers, the 43 upgrades will make his AV better than your AV. Keep em flying!

[John 3rd]

Yes, however, to get those 43 troop upgrades he'll need supplies and command HQ right? I know SW Pacific is present at Sumatra. Does that qualify?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Yes, however, to get those 43 troop upgrades he'll need supplies and command HQ right? I know SW Pacific is present at Sumatra. Does that qualify?

Supplies, yes. Command HQ, no. You must be thinking of TOE upgrades. Device upgrades (such as squads) do not require any sort of HQ presence.

[Cap Mandrake]

Cool fight.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Yes, however, to get those 43 troop upgrades he'll need supplies and command HQ right? I know SW Pacific is present at Sumatra. Does that qualify?

Supplies, yes. Command HQ, no. You must be thinking of TOE upgrades. Device upgrades (such as squads) do not require any sort of HQ presence.

THAT is NOT the answer I wanted!

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Cool fight.

Thanks My GOOD Former Opponent!

It is nuts. Need about 4-5 more days to get things approaching some sense of stability. This is a relative term but it shall be far BETTER then what it has been the last 7-10 days.

[JohnDillworth]

quote:

ORIGINAL: witpqs


quote:

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Yes, however, to get those 43 troop upgrades he'll need supplies and command HQ right? I know SW Pacific is present at Sumatra. Does that qualify?


Supplies, yes. Command HQ, no. You must be thinking of TOE upgrades. Device upgrades (such as squads) do not require any sort of HQ presence.



THAT is NOT the answer I wanted!

More a long term comment. You and CR are playing your Reluctant Admiral mod. Problem is only you are playing it. CR has chosen to play the Princess Bride mod (Land War in Asia). Most of the advantages of RA have been nicely sidestepped so far. I think that will change soon, but and land war slugfest do not play into your strengths. But such is the hand you were dealt. Everyone has their eye on the prize and the prize is fuel.

[John 3rd]

The PRIZE is TOTAL VICTORY over the evil YANKEE and BRITISH IMPERIALIST swine who seek total subjugation over the poor helpless people of Asia!

"NEVER get involved in a LAND WAR in Asia!"

John: You hit the nail nicely on the head. He is avoiding Japan's strengths in RA and is playing against mine (Land Warfare). Well this is about to change my dear readers.

I want to do a thorough update if possible. Once the boys crash and the wife is sleeping I will slink over to the WiFi source and get a serious update done.

[Cap Mandrake]

Perhaps you thought of this but the thread header "Finally HERE" might tip your hand. [:)]

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Perhaps you thought of this but the thread header "Finally HERE" might tip your hand. [:)]

Shhhhhh...we're not REALLY HERE yet...PSYOPs my friend...

[John 3rd]

After getting caught with our pants down (what did Adm Kirk say "Mister Saavik--You go right on quoting regulations!") with Dan's Landings, we have scrambled to form some sort of credible defense. The first line of that to score well and repeatedly has been the Japanese Sub Arm. At the time of the Invasion (11-10) there were six boats working the Bay of Bengal and another on the west coast of India. Orders went out almost immediately to congregate around Sabang and/or Ceylon to begin interdiction missions. As a last ditch effort I had enough supply at Sabang to pull out 6 Midget Subs to contest the landings. I know that they don't do much but this is what Japan had at the start of the Allied Offensive.

That the Subs have done well is an understatement. Here are the result from initial landing to today:

11-11
I-30 hits AK Indira with 1 TT at Sabang

11-12
I-11 damages CA New Orleans with 1 TT near Langsa
I-164 SINKS AK Silversides near Sibolga
I-20 SINKS AK Paul Luchenbach (lose 37 Vehicles) at Sabang

11-13
Ha-40 SINKS AR Vestal with 2 TT at Sabang
Ha-41 hits AE Pyro at Sabang
Ha-36 hits AV Wright with a Torp at Sbang
I-11 SINKS AK Barassa at Sibolga
Ro-34 SINKS DD Buchanon with a Torp at Sabang

11-14
Nada

11-15
Nada

11-16
I-20 SINKS AK Steel Exploer with 2 SH Hits and 2 TT off Sinabang
I-29 SINKS AK Red Jacket with 2 TT at Sibolga
Ro-63 SINKS AK Lihue off Langkawi

11-17
Ro-67 SINKS AO Ramapo off Koggala with 3 TT
I-20 SINKS AK Empire Greenfell with 2 TT at Sinabang and then itself SUNK at that location


In a total of seven days of Operations, Japanese SS have sunk a DD, AR, AO, and 7 AK while damaging CA New Orleans, an AKE, AV, and 1 AK. This is not too bad whatsoever.

The Japanese have lost I-20 and have had three more damaged by ASW where they have been recalled to either Singapore or Soerabaja.

Presently there are three SS working around northern Sumatra and three more taking up position to nail that mass of retiring shipping headed for Ceylon.

REINFORCEMENTS
That wall of SS I had at Cooktown is now reforming and headed into the Theatre of Operations. Five I-Boats have already refueled at Soerabaja and are moving up the west coast of Sumatra. Twelve more are on the way.



Not bad for a start. How about those Midgets nailing three ships in ONE DAY??!! Nice!

[JohnDillworth]

every little bit helps. An AR, AKE and AO this far from home has got to hurt

[John 3rd]

Combat Report
Nov 10-17, 1942

Thought I might cover Dan's shipping losses and then do a detailed Combat Report of the 17th.

11-10
CVE Long Island and Copahee take one bomb each.
AVP and AK SUNK
3 AK Damaged

11-11
5 AK SUNK

11-12
CA New Orleans Damaged
1 APD and 4 AK SUNK
2 DD, 1 AP, and 2 AK Damaged

11-13
DD Buchanon, AR, AO, KV, AP, 5 AK SUNK
DD, AE, AV, and 4 AK Damaged

11-14
1 AK SUNK
DD, 4 AK and 1 AP Damaged

11-15
BB South Dakota hit by 2 bombs from Vals
1 DD and 3 AK SUNK
2 DD and 6 AK Damaged

11-16
1 AP and 5 AK SUNK
1 AP and 3 AK Damaged

11-17
1 AP and 5 AK SUNK
3 AP, 1 TK, and 1 AK Damaged

November 17, 1942
The situation in Northern Sumatra is precarious but not TERRIBLE. Dan has Sabang and all the western islands down to but not including Enggano

Sibolga is under attack and won't hold for much longer. Two Naval Guard have held off 5 Regiments worth of Inf for nearly a week. Give them credit for delaying him this long. Theyw ill get support in the form of BB Bomb this turn coming up. Would love to land reinforcements here but doubt if I'll get the chance.

He has landed at Padang but won't get it. I now have reinforcements landed/landing there and will soon attack to drive him out and away.

Western Sumatra
THINK we have stopped the western side of this disaster at this present point. He will get Sibolga and that is it for the moment. Have counterlanding forces headed to Nias, Sinabang, and Batoe. They will get there within a week and take back the islands. Not much is currently on any of these islands as Dan is totally focused on other bases currently. Any landing will land with Prep very low so I expect total disorganization but will cover using LBA to bomb the troops and, as said, there do not appear to be any real combat units present.

Eastern Sumatra
Elements of the Imperial Guards (50 AV) hold Langsa with Fort-3. They will hold for a while. Dan began landing troops there this turn from 3 Invasion TF.

Elements of 4th ID and an Engineer Unit hold Medan (AV--75) behind Sz-2 Forts

Tand??? has four Army HQ units in it and Forts-2. AV is roughly 100 and there is a CD unit present.

PLAN: 10th ID is just two days from Singapore. Will offload it and then reload the ID onto smaller AKL for a quick run-in to Tand???. If I can get that ID there then Eastern Sumatra shall stabilize for the moment. Figure on losing everything north of Tand???

Malaya
Phuket and Langkari have fallen but have 4th ID and another ID getting ready to take them back.

Alor Star continues to hold but just barely. He has elements of 18th ID, 99th Indian Brigade, and 762nd TK Bn. Elements of Imp Guards and a Garrison unit are present. A BF just arrived as well. He nailed Alor Star with a CA and 2 CL, then BBs North Carolina and South Dakota, and finally BB Washington, 2 CA, and 1 CLAA without getting ANYTHING! More troops fly-in by TR and a Thai Brigades should arrive in two days.

BIG NEWS is that he took Singora with a 7-1 assault using Paras. Have two THAI Brigades that should be there ASAP. Missed arriving to PREVENT this exact scenario by one lousy day. Order SWEEPS by two Tojo Sentai to knock down the fighters that shall certainly come next turn to this base. Also order damaged BBs Mutsu and Hyuga to bombard it from the eastern side.


Comment: WHY do this? He should focus all he's got on Sumatra and expand that bridgehead as much as possible before my massed reinforcements arrive. All I see is anything brought here as being sent to die. They are a distraction but not a fatal attack. Maybe he thinks Burma and Pt Blair need supplies or something. They don't. Rangoon and bases up there have nearly 150,000 and Pt Blair has nearly 50,000.

OK. Time to pack and get ready to go home. Will check back in from home in about 5-6 hours.

Thoughts???

[JohnDillworth]

I think you are back on your feet and have a plan. I don't really see how you can cut off supply though. The KB is big and nasty but you can't loiter that far from home and blockade forever. CR has a history of protecting his carriers so you might be able to split the KB, but that is chancy. CR brought a lot and I suppose he brought a ton of supply too.

[Saros]

Seems Sabang is full of his fleet train. Have you tried Betty/Nell night raids on the port? They often carry 800Kg bombs and one of those is enough to sink or put out of action any merchant ship. If you can destroy his support ships he will be forced to go back to Colombo to rearm. Keep it up with the minisubs as well.

Otherwise where are you tank divisions? You should have three by now, all upgraded to type 1 medium tanks and they will be invaluble for any land campaign to retake Sumatra.

[pws1225]

Ah, the war resumes.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: pws1225

Ah, the war resumes.

Back on. Turn sent to Dan.

Did some industrial work and thought I might cover that for a moment:

Airframes
1. JUDY has begun a month early. Converted Vals over to it and will soon have over 100 a month being produced. Got the recon version in September and are producing 24 of those planes. Plan to place them on my heavy CVs for extra air search starting in 1943.

2. Expanded M5 production by about 80 planes taking that toal to close to 200 per month.

3. Expanded Tojo to nearly 400 per month. Tony comes in in January and will build some of them for CAP Defense.

4. Doubled Nick production to about 30.

5. JILL advanced a month forward also and it shall begin in January 43.

I've plateau'd with my HI surplus. Am holding at about 550,000. Are watching to see what this does.

Fuel is a little low but Dan moving the fight to the DEI is GREAT! Don't have to haul any out of the Home Islands and can stockpile. Supply--Resources are rock solid right now. Still have bunches of it at sea prior to the Sumatra situation.

CRIPPLES:
Junyo: SYS 06, FLOT 52, ENG 13--Just about ready to head for repairs. Still would like to make that Soerabaja instead of Home Islands. Got to think on that one.

Mutsu: SYS 29, FLOT 59, ENG 37--Sitting in Port Blair. NOT GOOD! He knows it. Doubt if this ship shall survive without big changes.

NOTEs
1. I liked that Betty--Nell Port Attack option at night. Move a Daitai to Port Blair and order them to try it. Will report when we see any results.
2. Mines laid at Batu Pat a few hexes above Singapore. More to be dropped tomorrow as well as Benkalis on the other side. We're closing this route to the Allies for quick forays against Singers.
3. Three CVL conversions are within a few weeks of being completed. Would love another 100 planes...

We'll get in at least two turns tomorrow.

Everyone got their seatbelts on??!!

[BigBadWolf]

John, can you elaborate on your CV groups composition a bit? Did you go through with CVLs as fighter farms?