The pincers are approaching Sian. There are about 65,000 Chinese there, but if the 4,500 AV on the way make it intact, this should be able to take the base.
In the far north we have to make a decision. Keep moving to Lanchow or cut north to far away bases and come back down from up there, or go for Yenan, which has to be very short of supply.
In the South, our army is chasing the equal sized Chinese army trying to reach it before it gets into the forests.
Attachments
14Jan42..central.jpg (783.9 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
We're holding at Pegu awaiting Armour to arrive from Malaya. Our Rgt got trashed in the river crossing, so it's up to the Thai forces to hold here and move forward once the Armour arrives, at least testing out Rangoon.
We're set up well for the air war here, at least until more Oscar 1cs come online and the Sallys committed to Singers are free.
Attachments
14Jan42burma.jpg (905.09 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Just an update. The Oregon Maru and others fulfill their mission to deliver a base force to Tabituaea. All of these islands will get help soon from Naval guard units and engineers as well.
Oregon Maru will head to Truk to pick up resources and then back to Tokyo.
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"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
subs: More interesting sub activity. RO-61 misses with 6 torps against CL Perth near Townsville. Le Triomphant gives chse to no effect. S-173 off the west coast north of San Fran hits xAKL Hirondelle and sinking sounds follow. First kill out here.
OZ raiders: For some reason this SCTF stops short of Carnarvon but shows no detection increase. The ships are still there. Maybe next turn.
China: Tanks again try to deal with a few hurt Chinese Corps on the yellow road to Sian. They come up 1 to 1 but inflict more damage to these units while remaining untouched. Clear hex + armour equals trouble for the Chinese. Bombers plaster Kukong for 53 field hits plus other assorted damages.
DEI: Quiet as fleets move out and get spotted by the Dutch and British. Next turn might be very interesting. Bombing continues over Soerabaja and Batavia, scoring hits on the fields.
Nothing else of note to report.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
subs: Brutal nights continue. Salmon put one fish into xAP Naminoue Maru bound for Balikpapan to pick up another unit for Java. She might go down. Fires are only 1 but float damage is 56. She'll head 2 hexes to Tarakan for a while. Tambor is attacked by a wee PB. 2 DDs get two good hits on KXVI near Samarinda. A DD heading back to Yokohama for repairs sights Nautilus and forces here down but can't crack her shell. Stingray attacked near Banjermasin. Two more attack Pollack near Okinawa. They're moving on up, to the north side ... . And, most heart warmingly, S-37 (5 bomb hits) and KXIV (2 bomb hits) are sunk by a Netties on Port attack at Soerabaja. Thank you recon.
OZ raiders In other news this TF finally decides to commit and nails AS Platypus at Carnarvon. Only one ship here it seems. Now they'll run back.
DEI: The first Fast transport TFs make it to Semarang and Tjepoe and unload peacefully as the mini-KB deals with the chaos of various Dutch and British bombers overhead. Wildebeests come in two sorties, the first escorted by B-339s, and actually make it through to attack. Nothing hits and zeros take out 4 here and 5 more in the next attack. Many little pesky Blenheims and Falcons are also shot down. The amphib TF arrives next turn with engineers and the 38th Div.
China: The push to Sian continues with an attack in each advance, pushing back the weakened Chinese units with heavy losses. I think we'll just make it without destroying them outright. The southern army failed to catch the Chinese units before they fled into the forest. They'll now move north and east trying to cut them off as bombers hopefully slow their progress.
PI: The beginning of the end began for the two PA units left on Mindanao. In spite of heavy losses they held the surrounded hex.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
DEI: The moon is low, only about 5%, so I knew there was danger. Many SCTFs of DDs and TBs roamed the area around Tjepoe and Semarang. Some were attached to their amphib TFs. It didn't matter, as 6 Dutch PTs broke through and hit two xAKs with gunfire and one AK and one xAP with a torpedo each. How do they always pick out the most valuable ships? This is exactly why I prefer fast transport TFs. Can't move Divisions with them though. The ensuing problem is that the TF turned around and ended up 5 hexes from Semarang. We'll have to restart it tomorrow.
Semarang and Tjepoe both fell easily. Our paradrop on Soerakarta did not capture the base, but will prevent the rail being used until reinforcements move in.
subs: The camper at Balikpapan was severely damaged by 3 DC hits today. Near Perth I-121 has a field day sinking xAK Charon with a torpedo in the night and AG Canopus with 5 shell hits during the daylight. Stingray attacked 5 IJN DDs in the Java Sea and missed, and the DDs couldn't track her down.
PI: Near Cagayan the PA Divs still won't give up. Another decisive battle but no surrender. No real hurry I guess as Luzon won't be finished until after Singapore falls.
China: More unopposed bombing of fields.
Question. Thinking about Sian already. It's a clear hex, so we should be able to use air power to weaken the troops there. Is it feasible to bring in our 2300 AV on the fast road directly and then move the other across the river to shock in after that? It looks like there will be a good amount of Chinese there when we arrive. At least 2500-3000AV. We'll have 4500 or so. If forts are say around 2, will we get mauled? Or should we go around across the water onto the fast road and take an extra two weeks but get there more safely?
Attachments
14Jan42..toSian.jpg (369.75 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Malaya: Our forces crossed the causeway into Singapore and achieved a 1 to 1 attack. This is the first time I've had them do so well. The isolated and destroyed units during the campaign really helped out, as did changing out all marginal leaders, I imagine. The forts went from 3 to 2. We'll still have to rest for the next attack due to high disruption.
Defending units:
2nd Gordons Battalion
5/14th Punjab Battalion
11th Indian Division
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
2nd Argylls Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
SSVF Brigade
27th Australian Brigade
1st Malay Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
1st Hyderabad Battalion
3rd SSVF Battalion
3/16th Punjab Bn /1
2nd Malay Battalion
1st Mysore Battalion
22nd Australian Bde /1
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
111th RAF Base Force
110th RAF Base Force
Malayan Air Wing
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
109th RN Base Force
29 Battery/3 HAA
224 Group RAF
Singapore Base Force
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
223 Group RAF
Singapore Fortress
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
2nd ISF Base Force
AHQ Far East
III Indian Corps
Malaya Army
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
5th Field Regiment
subs: Interesting things around Sydney. I-3 got a shot at CA Australia, but missed with 4 torps. The second attack on a CA down here recently makes me think a KB raid might be in order. It looks like this port is at least in frequent use.
O21 takes ten more hits at Balikpapan and should be done.
PI: After a 60 to 1 attack, the PA troops near Cagayan continue to hang on and fight. Come on already!
China: Recon cover is pretty thorough here, and we keep spotting fighters appearing in various spots. Looks like the AVG trying to trap some unescorted bombers. so far only one section of it, but more might appear at any point and catch us off guard. I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later. In the meantime, we'll keep it going.
NO PAC: Nothing. Except some sigint reports from Anchorage.
SO PAC: The KB fires up minus the Akagi which is steaming back for repairs after resting and healing up some of the system damage caused by the torpedo hit a few weeks ago. There are no extra pilots at this point in the war, so it's bare bones for each squadron. While the air support is there, the Rgt at Rabaul will head for La Foa and aim to conquer Noumea. I'll point it at Truk with a waypoint near Koumac in case it shows up in sigint reports, and change it at the last minute. Several small SNLF units are zooming around taking bases. Wallis island is on the menu just to make the Allies nervous. I don't plan to do more than use it for recon and search.
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"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
How much supply is lost to a bombing campaign? I know it's 1% lost per supply hit. Then 1% of the remainder for the next one, and so on. Then there is the cost to keep building the fields back up. How much does this cost?
So typical stikes at Changsha have achieved some success, something like this on average per attack by a group of 27 Sallys and a group of 12 Lilys:
Runway hits - 15
Supply hits - 2
Airbase hits - 2
Changsha has 150,000 troops. Say there is around 20,000 supply there. (This seems high, but all of those troops must draw a bit).
That would take out 400 supply for the supply hits alone. Over a month that would be 12,000 supply!! Which is a lot in my book. That doesn't even count the fixing of the other damage.
Even if it only has 10,000 to start with, destroying 6,000 for a month from one bombing destination is pretty good, considering each turn there are 5-8 bombing groups active.
So is this in the ballpark? And does anyone know how much is used fixing the runway and airbase?
My strategy in China is entirely based on destroying supply, taking away centers of production, (Sian and Changsha in that order to begin with), and trying to weaken but not destroy troops so they will have to use both supply and reinforcements continually to try to get to fighting strength.
I'm itching to shut the Burma road, and this is the next big push we'll make once the armour arrives in Burma.
I know my opponent has just started a thread to get advice on China, and I'd love to get some here as well. Are there any JFBs out there?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
China: A group of I-15 Chinese fighters appeared in Yenan today and took down one Oscar 1a and an Ann. Oscar 1as are terrible. Elsewhere the IJAAF plastered Sian with 44 runway hits and also hit Changsha hard and peppered Nanning and a few scattered ground troops.
subs: At Balikpapan O21 hits an ASW DD with one torp, and sends it down, but then takes 9 hits for Heavy Damage. Near Palembang O16 is attacked while stalking our tankers and takes 7 hits including 2 direct. I'm hoping this is another one down. ASW is really getting some hits now. Nautilus is attacked by a PB near Saipan. Near Batan Is Sturgeon is attacked by 2 PBs.
Malaya: Rest now for a few turns at Singers.
PI: In a 98 to 1 attack the Mindanao troops still can't force the 102nd PA Div to surrender. Maybe next turn.
SO PAC: The KB and its replenishment TF are in a race to Tulagi, and the AOs are winning by 2 hexes. Hmmm. I hope this doesn't indicate how it will perform off the coast of OZ.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
DEI: Wow, our TF escorts finally did their job and protected the big ships from the little ones. One of our amphib TF with 4 xAK and 2 SC was attacked by 7 PT Boats. I would think this would be disaster. After two attacks there were no hits and the PTs ran away. They ran right into the protecting 3 DDs which sank 2 of 7.
One lone brave B-339 keeps appearing over Soerabaja. Escorts haven't yet hit the lucky guy. No bombers destroyed, but a few damaged.
PI: Finally, in a 524 to 1 attack the 102nd PA Div surrenders. Now to move these forces to Luzon and see if we can't move into Bataan. Transport is waiting in Cagayan.
subs: Cuttlefish (near Sendai, getting closer), Stingray, Snapper and O16 were attacked during the turn. This means O16 is still operating, which is too bad. All indications were that it was a goner. RO-66 took out the Dorothea Luckenbach in the straits near Suva with two torps in spite of a DD present. Good news.
China: More bombing. Good attack on Chansha. Armour units leading down the yellow road to Sian took another 300 squads from 3 Chinese Corps. These are mostly trashed now and we'll tone down the attacks to push them out of the way of the main force only. No AVG still.
Troops at Sian bombarded to see what they're up against today. A good amount of Chinese here. Good thing another 2400 AV is on the way!
Defending units:
1st Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
16th Chinese Corps
47th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
41st Chinese Corps
38th Chinese Corps
95th Chinese Corps
36th Chinese Corps
77th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
96th Chinese Corps
2nd Group Army
55th Chinese Corps
34th Group Army
Red Chinese Army
5th War Area
22nd Group Army
4th Group Army
15th Chinese Base Force
4th Construction Regiment
DEI: During the past few turns Nav Search noticed a large TF of some kind of small ships meandering away from Soerabaja. I thought these might be PTs trying to get in range of the two ASW TFs at Macassar. This turn 5 DDs were sent in and hit 14 Amc and 1 small AR, sinking the lot. Good EXP for the DD crews, and a few less trinkets for the Allies.
Today 2 B-339 came up over Soerabaja. 1 Nell down. One B-339 down. For some reason the CAP from Semarang isn't flying here. The zeros are set to escort and 20% LR CAP over Soerabaja. They're fatigued 24% but not escorting or CAPing. Strange. I might send them to Tjepoe to see if it works better two hexes closer and at a base all to themselves.
China: A sweep of 9 Oscar 1c over Sian was intercepted by 1 H81-A3 of the AVG. No planes lost, but this is good info. A bigger sweep will try tomorrow.
Also, in bigger news, an army of Chinese is moving down from Ichang and has reached the clear hex next to Hanchow. It caught me a bit by surprise, but several Divs are being strated in and ENG units from Manchuria will arrive once the rail is clear in a few days, so unless the massive stack from Changsha joins in, we should be alright. I don't thikn the Chinese have the supply to move all of these pieces into an attack at once, but if they did, it would be devastating. Especially with the bulk of our forces moving to Sian. Luckily there is a lot of armour and a few spare Brigades and Divs in reserve in the south.
The combined AF will go after this force tomorrow with every available bomber in range, including a Betty group moved in from the DEI. Take advantage of the clear.
The southern army has turned and is approaching the clear hexes south of Nanchang. Here we should meet his souther army that we encountered earlier at Chusien. It should be around 1200-1300 AV. About the same as ours. One more Div is running along from Wenchow trying to make it for the battle, and is only 2 hexes behind now.
PI: The 2 Sally groups attacking Bataan continue to struggle hitting the base from 15,000. They get on average 3-5 runway hits and 1 supply or 1 base hit per turn. Aircrews are around 64 Ground bombing skill and getting better every day, but can't seem to get this one. Forts must be high already. Oh well. That's the way it goes here.
SO PAC: The KB refueled today. Now to stealth mode for the drive south. The amphib TF has almost reached La Foa on New Caledonia. Koumac fell to a small SNLF and an AF Coy moved in with 6 Jakes for some more eyes.
Malaya: Bombardment at Singers did well today. Our AV is going back up quickly. Once disruption is below 10 we'll go again.
DEI: Well. Any suggestions? What I'm doing simply isn't working. Is it possible to defend these convoys? There were 2 separate DD TFs in the hex, set to react at 1 and 3.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Tjepoe at 54,103, Range 1,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Ariake, Shell hits 1
DD Tsuga
APD Fuji
E Shimushu
SC Ch 5, Shell hits 2
AMC Asaka Maru
xAK Kano Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rokko Maru, Shell hits 2
xAK Santos Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Manzyu Maru, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
PT-31
PT-32
PT TM-5
PT TM-6
PT TM-7, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
subs: Sculpin misses a convoy near Siragao. I-123 is attacked by 3 AMs near Perth. Stingray takes 3 damaging hits near Soerabaja, none direct. KX takes 1 hit near Kongalla.
China: Bombing the troops near Hankow destroys or disables 71 inf squads and 62 support squads with some ENG as well. A good start.
Malaya: IJA bombardment destroys 14 and disables 10 inf squads at Singers. About time for another DA.
DEI: Djokjakarta falls to the 38th Div on Java. On to Soerabaja.
China: The AVG jumped the bombing of the units next to Hanchow, resulting in a few new Allied aces. It had to happen, but they could have been better escorted. Only the Oscars and Nates were on duty, and didn't cover the IJN planes well at all. About 10 pilots were lost, obviously the worst part. Attacks still came through giving these units heavy losses yet again, around 80 inf and 75 support troops destroyed. 11 Betties and 3 Nells lost.
Troops captured Chenchow today.
SO PAC: The KB moving in to support landing at La Foa.
subs: I-20 attacks CA Canberra and is chased by Le Triomphant near Sydney. It would be great if these ships moved out to attack the La Foa invasion. We'll see. I-123 continues to be molested by ASW TFs, with two attacks and no hits today. Changing up that patrol.
DEI: In other bad news the zeros at Tjepoe again did not fly to escort the Nells attacking Soerabaja. In this disaster 7 B-339s suddenly arrived and 7 Nells were lost, and another 5 pilots. Grrr. Hits continue on O21 in Soerabaja port. It must have taken 5 bombs over the past four days. FOW? Later the escorted Betties from Balikpapan arrived and 5 of 7 B-339s were shot down, hopefully also killing some of the newly experienced pilots.
In good news today, the blockade of Java rail is in place, the 38th is progressing toward Soerabaja, and all troops are ashore that we will bring for the moment. 6 units and 15,000 are list now in Soerabaja. This could mean we'll have enough just here to take the base, with about 700-750 AV total.
Attachments
23Jan42Java.jpg (687.52 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
The updated list. Looks pretty solid intel now that 4 of the BBs actually went down. Still surprised to see Boise here. Maybe that one Long Lance was enough.
Attachments
23Jan42..plosses.jpg (258.17 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Yesterday did not help the IJ score here. Still, not bad, and the air to air numbers are great. So may ops losses though. Definitely a reflection of being on the offensive, pushing groups to the limit, and just flying more missions.
Attachments
23Jan42airlosses.jpg (208.46 KiB) Viewed 172 times
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Oh, that's a lot of 2E IJN pilots lost in one day ....
It is a lot in one day! For whatever reason, maybe that bases and armies were so close to the scene, only about half were lost. A few wounded, a few MIA. It was equal to what I'd lost in almost two months previous to that though, which immediately led me to bring in another 45 plane crack zero group.
I'll post overall losses after working on the current turn.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
SO PAC: La Foa invaded. The 144th Rgt here will only take Noumea and the move out on the way to Rabaul. The SNLF from Koumac is on the way to hold the base, plus one AF Coy. No sign the KB has been spotted yet. It will begin moving toward Sydney.
subs: S-40 attacked near Balikpapan. Quieter out here now.
Our subs are moving now to the are near Addu and Colombo, hoping to get into some convoys from Cape Town. Still not much activity either here, around OZ, PH, or the west coast.
DEI: Bettys hit O21 with 2 bombs in the Soerabaja port. That should do it.
In spite of a 614 to 55 AV advantage our attack came out at 2 to 1 and failing to take the base at Soerakarta. Next turn will be a shock attack.
China: Back to normal in China. No opposition to attacks on multiple bases from the air. The troops near Hanchow have turned and are headed back to whence they came. Suits me fine.
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"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
subs: Snapper stalks the Mini-KB near Soerabaja and gets one hit for its trouble. I had all Kates on 30% ASW, so maybe that helped sight it before any torps were launched. S-38 is attacked before launching near Semarang. KXVII goes after an ASW TF with 4 torps N of Borneo and misses. KX and Shark are attacked by separate TFs before launching near Dongala.
DEI: Sending another SNLF to clean up Ambon, which is still hanging on in spite of 3 attacks by the SNLF and ENG units there. I'll use the one that cleaned up Macassar, then send it on to Koepang. No hurry around here anymore. The key spots are secure, with Java about to be added to the list.
China: Nothing new this turn. Just rotating through the bombing schedule. Almost caught up to the Southern Army in a clear hex. This could get fun.
Malaya: Another DA at Singapore comes up 1 to 1 again. Thought it might push through this time. More rest. More bombing. Forts were reduced to 2, so that's good, as were the 94 Allied inf squads destroyed, to 20 for the IJA. 3 Allied units destroyed as well.
