LoBaron + Robbrennan vs Offenceman, allied secret AAR

[helmseye]

my money is on the indians

[LoBaron]

Welcome James!


So thats the reason why Rob does not stop asking for US planes.
Younger brother. Probably the family kitten. Ah, that explains a lot.




On the US side preparations for first moves forward are continuing, I will reveal the details before the
operations begin, still 2-3 months before everything is in place.

I am very suspicious of the Solomons as a whole:

Lunga, Tassafaronga and Tulagi, the most forward Japanese bases, have no troops and the bases are at 0, which
is bad for any aspiring conqueror.
Munda has what looks like a small BF, Shortlands is built up to a level 4 AF and growing, and Rabaul is maxed out
meanwhile.

What I suspect is that Mike wants me to come this way and I will face a combined threat of significant parts of the IJN airforce
from Shortlands, Rabaul and probably fighter escorts from Munda, plus the KB, in case I want to invade Guadalcanal.
This assumption is additionally supported by Robs and my observation that the 2 engine Netty Nemesis is not very active,
so probably waiting at Rabaul for The One Strike To Exinguish The US Fleet.

From my point of view this invasion is neccesary, even considering the threat. The Solomons are one of the few
places the US can gain ground by attritional warfare without massive island hopping clashes separated by months of preparation.
Also it gives me a foothold on an area which enables me to proceed north without the support of CVs as long as I can
pull some teeth of the Japanese forces there.

So, considering this is a trap, part of the move forward will be a move right into this trap. I already have some ideas how
to cope with the situation but any additionaly thoughts are welcome.
Basically the faster the troops land and can be left alone for some time the better. In 42 the US can only concentrate enough
air for short massive engagements, cover for an extended period of time will drain my pools faster than the Japanese.

Still my hope is on Rob and his valiant battle in Burma, which costs Mike on a near dayly basis. As long as the Japanese can be put under
pressure from multiple directions this will finally work out in the Allies favor.

[Rob Brennan UK]

So thats the reason why Rob does not stop asking for US planes.
Younger brother. Probably the family kitten. Ah, that explains a lot.

Middle actually , younger sister too. so ofc I was overlooked as a child and now rant to get attention [;)]. utter nonsense really , i just NEED planes in burma where the war is being fought rignt now [:D].


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Aug 12, 42

China

Japan did some dastardly night attack on chinese civilians in sian tonight and fires raged through the industrial mines destroying 36 precious resources permanently as there is no way china can repair this damage with 80 supply in Sian. We cannot even repair the few fighters that are still in the citys airfields even with 30 odd c47's fying in supply from chungking. I was hopeing that the AI would prioritse plane repair but apparently not with some of the units here literally dying of starvation !! .. i'm going to take a risk and move out of the city in the hope that i can forage some food in the countryside. Supply over in the central area is OK but not flowing one bit toward where its desperately needed. We did however librate kiuchian with its 20 resources intact.

Burma

WOW , what a couple of days over mandalay , It felt like the battle of britain,Jap bomber raid 1 was unusually exciting as the allies broke through the escorts in record time and even with 44 zeros still buzzing about killed a few sallys then BAM they arrived over the airfields before being much disrupted and caused nasty damage on grouned planes. Then the RAF/USAAF hammered them on the way out killing 90% of the bombers.

Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 54
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 47
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 37
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIa Trop x 12
Hurricane IIb Trop x 47
Hurricane IIc Trop x 55
P-38E Lightning x 16
P-40E Warhawk x 33


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 13 destroyed
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 26 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 10 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
P-38E Lightning: 5 damaged
P-38E Lightning: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed on ground


Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 26

Japans fighter sweeps arrived and with allied CAP being fed in piecemeal i was horrified by the potential losses , most allied planes however dived in , missed , got damaged and bugged out.

Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 42,500 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 37
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIa Trop x 7
Hurricane IIb Trop x 28
Hurricane IIc Trop x 33
P-38E Lightning x 10
P-40E Warhawk x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Raid 3


Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 69
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 8
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIa Trop x 7
Hurricane IIb Trop x 21
Hurricane IIc Trop x 20
P-38E Lightning x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 7


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 15 destroyed, 14 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 damaged
Hurricane IIa Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
Hurricane IIb Trop: 5 damaged
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
P-38E Lightning: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed on ground



Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 23

By this stage the allied CAP was weary, out of position and i suspect a lot had landed for fuel and ammo. They tried to cover the incoming bomber raids (allied) which were targettig japanese ground troops but jap LRCAP was atill very strong and it was in these piecemeal encouters the allies lost most planes with little loss to the japanese.

worst one illustrated below.

Morning Air attack on 55th Engineer Regiment, at 59,46 (Mandalay)

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 28
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 28



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 4
Wellington Ic x 16
P-38E Lightning x 1


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 6 destroyed, 5 damaged OUCH

Japanese ground losses:
49 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Day 2 and only japanese sweepers came in , looks like the bombers had had enough so combat was less furious but still deadly for both sides. See the days losses in the piccie below, I'm certain that japanese losses have been exaggerated and allied minimised from FOW effects but still it has to be claimed as a victory for the allies. Next turn I'll reduce CAP % from a morale sapping 80% to 40% so we get some respite as i suspect we will only have sweeps to worry about as japans bomber morale will be in the toilet after today.

One small but welcome oddity was the japanese Oscar pilots tendancy to fight one round then run away , looks like bad morale and given that most of my losses were from these pesky planes rather than zeros i'm glad to see the back of them. Nicks once again ruled the air when they arrived ! it seems 2E fighters are a good idea after all. even allied ones had a field day in Java hammering helens intent on reducing allied supply in madeoin.

Morning Air attack on Madioen , at 54,104

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-Ia Helen x 22



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Ic x 16


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-Ia Helen: 13 destroyed, 6 damaged




Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49-Ia Helen bombing from 14000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

That'll hopefully either force japan to pull fighters back for escort or cancel thier bombing of the dutch in java, all good experience for the beaus too.

The Commonwealth and allies will now try and retain some air presence in burma for as long as we can sustain it. Losses are almost certainly going to be heavier than replacements however. Interestingly only 7 allied pilots lost thier lives today over the entire map! thats great news.

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Aug 14, 42

In the hope of catching some japanese a/c on the ground in Magwe this turn we sent in the now reinforced B17 groups to hit the airfields.The weather was appalling and CAP did down one B17 despite the reports saying nil and we hope 2 nicks were destroyed on the runways. Not a good exchange but the weather had a large impact i would guess.

Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 7
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 19
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 26



Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 30


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 15 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 15 damaged



Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 8


The andaman islands were finally invaded by Japan but the cunning Commonwealth had reinforced the islands with the assam rifles batallion and the mahratta rifle batallion, neither of these formations is very good but were brought upto 50 exp before being sent to the front. The initial assault was repulsed with great odds for the allies but japan owns the waters here so the end result is inevitable. Sadly the B17s are out of range but the LB30's can reach so we will send them in to disrupt the forces already ashore (before we have to withdraw the unit on the 22nd).

The RAF and USAAF is being withdrawn from Mandalay again even though we won yesterdays encounter for 2 reasons 1) supply 2) I dont want to give Japan a chance to whittle down my limited hurricanes. The CW will fight but on its own terms.

Over in china supply hasnt improved so a large 50 plane c47 airlift is starting tomorrow from chungking to Sian is the desperate hope we can at least dislodge the stuck planes , supplying god knows how many chinese corps is not feasable though. I fear one large enough kick and the entire east china edifice will collapse . No idea why im so supply short , but could be dwon to japanese bombing or poss overuse early on for fort building. either way lessons have been learned for next game.

Heres the B17 raid

[Rob Brennan UK]

18th and 19th aug 1942


Headline News

Port Blair still holds out! (just) .. British LB30's had been tasked with hitting the japs as they mustered on the beaches, but a combination of terrible weather and poor navigation meant that in 4 days only one attack went home and that was ineffective. Still the indian rifles held out while the japanese reduced the fortifications at some cost to themselves.


Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4815 troops, 36 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 160

Defending force 1507 troops, 12 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 57

Japanese adjusted assault: 129

Allied adjusted defense: 87

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
343 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled


Allied ground losses:
325 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Assaulting units:
21st Infantry Regiment
1st Raiding Regiment
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
Yokosuka 3rd SNLF

Defending units:
16/5th Mahratta Battalion
3rd Assam Rifles Battalion
Port Blair RN Det

Japan reduced the forts to 1 on the 19th , surrender is inevitable but the plucky (if not very motivated) defenders held despite the odds and heavy IJAAF bomber attacks.

Other that this , its been a very quiet 4 days (unless you count the American bombardemnt of Marcus island ) , which i will leave LoBaron to elucidate.

Pictured is the recapture of North china, I suspect Japan was having huge supply problems and decided to withdraw , not sure if any of this will help the appalling chinese supply levels but Gen Chang Kai Check <sp> cannot have any more japanese flags on his HQ maps than is absolutely necessary [;)].

[Rob Brennan UK]

North North china, or should that be NE china ? Maps so wonky round here its hard to figure out what the compass is pointing at. [:D]

[LoBaron]

Well, not much to add from my side atm.
&nbsp;
Only news worth talking about is
&nbsp;
- I sent a bombardement TF to Marcus Island to check if it is possible to destroy the
AV at anchor there. Useful information for my grand plan for late ´42, nothing else.
The AV did not get&nbsp;hit but I guess shutting down naval search or at least reducing
it to a minimum in that area should be possible with a small ops.
&nbsp;
Naval bombardment of Marcus Island at 123,85
&nbsp;
Japanese aircraft
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; no flights
&nbsp;
Japanese aircraft losses
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; H6K4 Mavis: 2 destroyed on ground
&nbsp;
Allied Ships
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BB California
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DD Phelps
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DD Selfridge
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DD Porter
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DD Stack
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DMS Trevor
&nbsp;
Japanese ground losses:
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 349 casualties reported
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Non Combat: 20 destroyed, 22 disabled
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Engineers: 18 destroyed, 23 disabled
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Airbase hits 13
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 157
Port hits 3
&nbsp;
BB California firing at Marcus Island
DD Phelps firing at Marcus Island
DD Selfridge firing at Marcus Island
DD Porter firing at Marcus Island
DD Stack firing at Marcus Island
DMS Trevor firing at Marcus Island
&nbsp;
Next turn test two will be commenced, a Cat attack from Wake Island. The pilots don´t have
any ground bombing skill, so I don´t have high hopes but the task is to keep Mike on hos toes in that
area anyway.
&nbsp;
In the next few weeks there will be a couple of operations against Marcus Island and the Kwalein area,
all originating from north or northeastern areas. We want to turn some heads in the direction to reduce the
attention span&nbsp;to the south. [;)]
&nbsp;
- The ther good news is that Suva receives an Armored Brigade and Noumea will be soon in a very strong
position, the 148th regiment, the 23rd Marines and the 14th NZ Brigaed are all on the way from Auckland to
increase the already relaxing troops strenght.
Parts of these units will soon be used to secure the area north of Noumea to prepare for the Guadalcanal campaign
or defend against a Japanese onslaught.

[LoBaron]

Even a blind chicken finds a corn sometimes, at least thats a German saying.
Here it applies to our Wake Island based Cats. [;)]

I halted the attacks now in case Mike wants to relocate some fighters to shoot at
poor undefended patrol planes...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Aug 20, 42

Morning Air attack on Marcus Island , at 123,85

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes


Allied aircraft
PBY-5 Catalina x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AV Kiyokawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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

Next I gonna do some recon to the SW. Wake will continue to look as noisy as possible.

In case anybody knows: I got roughly 6700 troops at Wake, with a limit of 6k. How bad is that
impacting supply consumption? Is there an easy rule of thumb to check at which overstacking level
consumption jumps form a minor nuisance to everybody going frency a eating all thats available?

Just wondering if the atoll could bear an additional, say, 1500 troops.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Quick update

aug 24th 1942

Sian is now in supply and the stuck planes are moving back to chungking , as a bonus all chinese troops nearby have got full supplies once again. Sadly this ise depleting the capital so i cannot run this forever but i am at least happier about the place.

Spotted 4 days ago was a huge jap death star at luichown (SW china) , i ordered the evacuaton of front line troops as i feared a massive drive north to the capital , fortunately hes moved east , It'll still take some territory but its not the knockout blow i was worried about.

Other than that , not much , Andaman islands still hold (briefly).. and japanese Kates from Java sank 3 allied armed merchants on ASW patrol round christmas island , theye were a test run for a possible new cruiser dash and raid. Better to lose 3 AM's than 3 useful ships [;)]. one interesting note was they used bombs (very very accurately) not torps. I'll try and set up an air ambush to kill the pilots shortly.

TTFN

In case anybody knows: I got roughly 6700 troops at Wake, with a limit of 6k. How bad is that
impacting supply consumption? Is there an easy rule of thumb to check at which overstacking level
consumption jumps form a minor nuisance to everybody going frency a eating all thats available?

Just wondering if the atoll could bear an additional, say, 1500 troops.

I just overstacked cocos by mistake , look there and have a comparison too. Not noticed a massive supply drop but then again i have regular amphibs dropping in a lot from CT.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hello readers ..

September 1942 has arrived and the royal merchant marine is doing some huge overhauls of its merchie ships ,, adding in some 20mm bofors for much needed aa guns <cough> cough.. about as much use as a chocolate fireguard but it makes the crews happier.

We had some duels over chittagong with several P40's downed as (mistakenly) they flew in low level cap from dacca (i messed up the reaction range) lost about 10 but no pilots killed and saw a few zeros go down in flames even though japan claims none were lost . we all know the evil empire cannot be believed so the american flyboys have been given credits for the kills and a few got purple hearts in the process.

The USA is slowly upgrading its B17E's to B17F's and the left over second hand planes have been offered to the british who quite frankly will buy any old crap on credit [;)]. Game wise the Lone B17D units is not at full strength and one B17E unit has been brought upto 12 planes (wow you might say. but they are my only a/c that can get into enemy airspace without me bricking myself about escorts not turning up etc. ).

Australia is a USA free zone right now , but MacArthur has been spotted buying a rail ticket in Brisbane for areas north of Townsville , the aussies havnt yet discovered that he's rather free with thier lives so they gave him a good old fashioned send off involving beer/spoons and a few kangaroos. the british press refuse to print the details.

With america hording its resources in the pacific the commonwealth secretly hope for much success from the forthcoming American operation slated for end 42 , one british general in Mandalay was quoted as saying " About bloody time" but has since recinded the comment and apologised to the only american he could find ( an ex-pat running a tobacco shop in Scwebo).

north china has been fully liberated from japanese control much to the suprise of the local commanders who are now assumed to be plotting against each other given no outside agression from japan local political fueds are reopening old wounds. ther is a large stockpile of oil up there and i hope it'll trickle south to the HI as supply is still very badly needed overall. One possible bright spot is a possible chinese asault in about 4-5 days as reinforcements arrive SE of sian , assuming no new japanese troops we will hopefully have 5000AV vs c1800 .. shock attavck time ? in woods ?? unsure but i might just do it to wake him up and IF we win then all of china will be alight with patriotic fervour and will rise up everywhere to overthrow the invaders (according to the local communist commisar in Sian) .

Once more no picie as not much happening ..

PS A US Sub sank a jap minelayer off marcus island and tried for 3 more today , dud torps once again ! bad luck LoBaron but 3 cheers for the try .. thats one less minelayer in the pacific for both of us.

anyone wanting a pic or piccies pls just ask as not much else to do right now.

TTFN

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

north china has been fully liberated from japanese control much to the suprise of the local commanders who are now assumed to be plotting against each other given no outside agression from japan local political fueds are reopening old wounds. ther is a large stockpile of oil up there and i hope it'll trickle south to the HI as supply is still very badly needed overall. One possible bright spot is a possible chinese asault in about 4-5 days as reinforcements arrive SE of sian , assuming no new japanese troops we will hopefully have 5000AV vs c1800 .. shock attavck time ? in woods ?? unsure but i might just do it to wake him up and IF we win then all of china will be alight with patriotic fervour and will rise up everywhere to overthrow the invaders (according to the local communist commisar in Sian) .

Wow! I'll take you up on that offer of a pic - I'm wondering what is the extent of the area you liberated. BTW, the woods south of Sian are all woods+rough IIRC, which is x3 so watch out!

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

north china has been fully liberated from japanese control much to the suprise of the local commanders who are now assumed to be plotting against each other given no outside agression from japan local political fueds are reopening old wounds. ther is a large stockpile of oil up there and i hope it'll trickle south to the HI as supply is still very badly needed overall. One possible bright spot is a possible chinese asault in about 4-5 days as reinforcements arrive SE of sian , assuming no new japanese troops we will hopefully have 5000AV vs c1800 .. shock attavck time ? in woods ?? unsure but i might just do it to wake him up and IF we win then all of china will be alight with patriotic fervour and will rise up everywhere to overthrow the invaders (according to the local communist commisar in Sian) .

Wow! I'll take you up on that offer of a pic - I'm wondering what is the extent of the area you liberated. BTW, the woods south of Sian are all woods+rough IIRC, which is x3 so watch out!

kk thianks ,, but even if i park them there he'll have a scare at least. also these chinese are far from the novices of dec 41 , Japan continuous bonbardments have created a force with exp averaging 55 , which for china is darn good for now.

china pic 1

Circled Red are liberated cities , Its been chinese cav roaming up from the south as far as Ansi and a semi destroyed chinese corps that was orphaned up north that took the top ones.

The small chinese unit south edge is a 1/3 corps fragment and is bugging out to reform with his buddies.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Agian same idea ..

Recovered city is cirled red ,, wioth movement arrows for the fragmented div. south is a standoff with 6 vs 4 units.

Green are areas with no supply at all !.. im pulling back most of the stuff in Yenan as i really dont care if it falls tbh. token resistance will be left in plave however.

I used a lot of C47's C33's out of chungking to fly supply to sian a few weeks back as that entire area was starving. Oddly its now all ok but still a bit short, although no troops are in the red anymore. I had both american and british AV support in sian as we have house rules about using non chinese /AVG in vhina without national support.

[witpqs]

Interesting - thanks!

[Rob Brennan UK]

Last china Pic ..

sian area and potential chinese movement for attack ..

Bombardment shows this as the opponents

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 33545 troops, 255 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 1212

Defending force 46708 troops, 293 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1875

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



Assaulting units:
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
17th Division
9th Ind.Mixed Brigade
6th Ind.Mixed Brigade
138th Infantry Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

Defending units:
41st Chinese Corps
47th Chinese Corps
55th Chinese Corps
38th Chinese Corps
40th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
76th Chinese Corps
14th Group Army
4th Group Army
15th Group Army

My bad memory stated an AV of 1800 for Japan , looks like it was 1200 , which is much more do-able. I will ofc check numbers properly. Seems my short term memory is about as good as my typing today [;)]


Purple area is Japanese gains , I had evacuated the city before japan attacked ,, might have been a bad idea but supply was appalling (again) and japan had a LOT of troops stacked up. At least now he's having to spread out a bit and red lines are chinese stop lines. Japan really should have driven up in the centre a few hexes west of changsha when she had the chance imo. those 4 cities provide me aith a trickle of free supply which is hugely important to me right now.

FYI the info bar at the bottom is Dacca airfields , now a size 9 and with a lot of CAP if japan tries to bomb it he'll be infor a shock. Im awaiting decent night light levels for a night raid on magwe (70% moonlight needed for an inland target) ..

We are trying the following for experimental night bombing rules


Night bombing rules 50% min rest levels. 10k min alt

70% can target anything inc specifying industry types (oil/factories etc)
50% can target non coastal cities
20% coastal cities and ports


night radar equipped planes can operate normally however.

[witpqs]

If you can retreat that stack near Sian then follow them with threats both to destroy those units and start romping on garrisons that would be a nice counterweight to the IJ thrusts in the south. They will be obliged to send some force north to prevent a debacle. That would help relieve pressure in the south where IJ forces are penetrating.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK
PS A US Sub sank a jap minelayer off marcus island and tried for 3 more today , dud torps once again ! bad luck LoBaron but 3 cheers for the try .. thats one less minelayer in the pacific for both of us.

Sub attack near Marcus Island at 123,85

Japanese Ships
CM Hirashima
CM Ukishima
CM Kyosai

Allied Ships
SS Drum

SS Drum launches 6 torpedoes at CM Hirashima
Drum bottoming out ....
Sub escapes detection

Yeah that was a nice kill. And then 3(!!) additional CMs the next day?
Currently I think that Mike is overreacting a bit to my attacks on Marcus island, which is perfect because I want his focus there,
or he tries to mine Wake or Midway, no big deal though because for that reason I got a DMS there (or not? must check).

I will continue this funny cat and mouse game in mid-nowhere, Pacific, next there will be a DMS expedition to clean up the mess
the CMs left there. I think after that its time for a new bombardement run again.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

If you can retreat that stack near Sian then follow them with threats both to destroy those units and start romping on garrisons that would be a nice counterweight to the IJ thrusts in the south. They will be obliged to send some force north to prevent a debacle. That would help relieve pressure in the south where IJ forces are penetrating.

Assuming i can win there i will try a slow glacial romp .. i have had several previous attempts to infiltrate small units into the rear before but Mike has spotted and squished them with ease so he's not unobservant , but as you say 15 corps pushing east he just cannot ignore.

anyhoo .. 3rd Sept 42.. most dull day in the histroy of the game , NOTHING happened bar a few land bombardments.

4th Sept 1942

Austrailian and dutch fighter get revenge on the pesky kates that killed off an ASW group a couple of weeks back , allies still lost a small xAP and a PC (decoys) but we downed 14 odd kates and more importantly pilots for no loss, bar some nice xp and dutch Ace kill no.6.

Allies are counjoring up a new strategy for late 42 , don't want to say much more yet but come nov the action will pick up from our side. Why Japan is so passive is a mystery to both of us tbh.



NB , the piccie upload service seems to have died tonight , I'll keep the piccie and try uploading tomorrow , not a major work of art , just air from christmas island splashing kates , makes me happy just watching.

[LoBaron]

Ah, and a Very Sneaky Mike had both of us scratch our heads for quite a while and wasting time for: nothing.
His mail with the turn contained a comment about a "first" in the current combat replay in our whole PBEM.

Rob and me both frantically searched for that "first", I think I am usually quite acribic when watching the replay so
my doubts grew when I noticed nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Until we found out that this was exactly what Mike meant. On 3rd of September 1942 there happened: Nothing.

Rob even watched the replay twice, boy this must have been boring... [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

boy this must have been boring...

[>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:][>:]

Back to a few war related comments , japan bushwhacked the last remaining dutch buffs over christmas island and the aussie beaufighters did not survive too well either , 2 aussie pilots reported dead but the dutch ace (must get his name) survived the the last remaining damaged buff.

Over in china the troops building up for the possible attack have a 3-1 AV edge now , and maybe a 4 or 5-1 when the rest turn up tomorrow. even in crappy terrain we might have ago at shifting him. even if we lose horribly its doubyful he'll break through before we recover (i hope) ..

A new chinese corps has been reduced to 8 damaged squads in a sneak attack in south china , when i though was a base unit was 2 SNFL brigades backed up by 100 sallies. we'll try and commit seppuck soon to get 1/3 back free as the corps is a wreck.

TTFN